"Is she dead?" Nugh. "It's hard to say." Nugh, my head….. "But she's breathing, isn't she?" The first thing my brain registered upon reawakening was the sound of strange voices. They were all male. My eyes fluttered open, revealing the dark sky to me. It quickly became apparent that I was laying on my back in what felt like sand. With an audible groan, I began to shift around without purpose or direction. The attention of all present was swiftly back on me.
"See?! I told you she wasn't dead," the little blue and yellow fish I saw cheered. My eyes shut again as I grasped my forehead; everything still was kind of dizzy. "I knew that," the seagull replied. Those voices…. My eyes slowly reopened to find three sea creatures gathered around me. Flounder was still in the shallow water near where my body had been dragged. Meanwhile Scuttle and Sebastian were up on the beach by my side. I looked at all of them, blinking incredulously.
"W-Where am I?" I asked, holding my head again; it hurt to talk. "How are you feeling?" Flounder questioned me back, completely ignoring my query. How was I feeling? Well for one thing, my body felt all out of sorts. And I had no idea how long I'd been passed out for. I could see the sun high in the sky, despite the sky being quite dark in itself here….. for some reason. Wait, the sun was out…..? That means that it's morning! I was passed out all night?! This sent a sliver down my spine, and I wasn't the only ones by the sound of it.
"How is she doing? How is she doing?! Just look at her! She almost drowned last night! And doing what? Going on some crazy expedition to find her father!" Boy, was Sebastian upset. "A-Am I in Prydain?" I tried speaking again. "You certainly are, young lady. And let me be the first to tell you: you have no business in a place like this!" You can guess who said that. Luckily Scuttle came to my defence.
"Ah, lighten up. She's here now, ain't she?" "Are you crazy? Wha-… No, wait; let me rephrase. You are crazy! She's in the same kingdom as the Horned King, you idiot!" "But she came to find her father and the other adults. We'll even get king Triton and the rest of the mer-people back! We'll get Ariel back…" Flounder ejected with some hope. "But at what cost? What do you think the king is going to say if anything happens to his cousin?" The crustacean countered. I rubbed my eyes so to give Sebastian an understanding gaze. "His father, Poseidon, gave me the Argo to use," I explained. "That doesn't mean king Triton would want you waltzing about somewhere as dangerous as Prydain!" "But he's gone too, and so are his daughters. I think he has a vested interest in my being here as well."
Sebastian's mouth shot open to rebuttal my point, but nothing immediately came out. I took the opportunity to turn to the other two animals there with me. "How'd you even find me? We're a far way off from Atlantica I'd think." "Now there's a story! I tell ya, it was something," Scuttle began, and I realized that this wouldn't be quick. He was about to deliver me a lengthy tale, and while I didn't believe I had much time to spare, I decided to be polite and let him go on. The seagull cleared his throat, whacking his chest a couple of times.
"You see, I got tired hanging around Ariel's palace and all the fish back in Atlantica were wondering where the mer-people went, so I flew to Auradon to see if I could find anybody. Well, there was no one there either, 'cept for these two kids. But around the time I got there, there was this parade of animals marching in. They were from something called a circus? They were being led by this flying elephant and mouse wearing a red suit. A flying elephant! Can you believe that? Anyway, they were shocked by the lack of people at the castle. This one lady elephant complained that two "unqualified kids" were a horrible reception and she needed more people to tend to her and her pachyderm pals." I didn't say anything, waiting patiently for Scuttle for continue. But I sure felt bad for Carlos and Dizzie who had to take care of those bitter older elephants now.
"The boy taking care of the dogs told the circus folk what was going on and where you were headed. The noisy lady elephant demanded that someone bring this "Mal wretch" back so she could give her "what for"- whatever that means. I heard you'd were going to Prydain but had no idea where it was, so I flew to the jungle to see if the other animals could help. But when I got there, this panther named Bagheera and wolf named Akela asked how you were doing and if you got to Prydain alright." Another pause in the explanation.
"So my new mission was finding you and reporting back to the other animals in Auradon….. Kinda forgot about the circus elephants when I think about it. Oh well! Every bird that could fly volunteered to search for the Argo and Prydain; we needed a lot of birds since we didn't know where it was. I'm serious! There was Orville, these four vultures with interesting accents, Boomer and Dinky, Archimedes; even Dumbo and these three weird stone gargoyles from Paris. Apparently they can fly really high! We all went off in different directions, and these two joined my search after I told them what's up," Scuttle stuck his feather thumb out at Flounder and Sebastian. All I could do was stare at them dumbfounded. That was…. quite a story.
My mouth sputtered open for a moment. "So….. you came to find me, so to report back to the animals on Auradon about my welfare?" Scuttle nodded happily. This caused me to blink into nowhere thoughtfully. They were still concerned for me….. That warmed my heart a little. Then something came to me.
"We're in Prydain…. We actually made it to Prydain…." "Isn't that where you were headed?" Flounder sounded confused. I looked at him, realizing how might have came off. "It is! Only…. Do you happen to know where the Argo sailed off to once it was on this side of the wall?" "You mean the ship? Sorry, lost track of it," Scuttle shrugged. Oh….. My eyes trailed downwards. I… wasn't sure if that was a good thing yet or not. After all, if I could face the Horned King alone, I'd feel better knowing only one person could die in that scenario. But I didn't have time to think about that for long. Sebastian crawled over to me sternly.
"Now you listen to me, young lady. We're going to find the Argo and get you back on it. Then you're going to sail home." My gaze shown down upon him. "I can't do that." "Yes, you can. You shouldn't risk your life like this, Mal. You're too young….." Sebastian…. Growing ever fonder of this crab, I scooped him up into my hands. "I appreciate your concern for me, Sebastian; I really do. But this is something I need to do. It's not about me- it's never been about me. It's about Daddy and the rest of the adults. I want my father back, just like I'm sure you want my cousins back." Sebastian hesitated for a moment, still acting rather reluctant. A smile crept across my face as I lifted him up to my face; I brushed the side of his little head against mine.
"You're a good crab, Sebastian. I can see why Triton trusted you to watch Ariel. I'll be alright, and even if I'm not…. I will be. We all know what it's like to miss people who are precious to us. I promise I'll get Triton and the other mer-people back. Heh, I'll even tell him that you tried to stop me if it'll make things easier for you. Trust me; I'm on your side." "And we're on your side," Flounder said, grinning kindly at me. With a kiss to Sebastian's cheek, I gently set him down and stood up. It took a full minute to brush all the sand off my clothes, skin, and hair. They all watched me as I did so.
"Alright, I'm going further into the kingdom. I've got to find the Horned King's castle….. somehow. You three go back to Auradon and tell everyone that I made it here in one piece…. Hey, wait. How did you get through the wall surrounding the coast?" "There's small holes underneath it in the water," Flounder elucidated. "Not big enough for any whales to get through," I was worried for a second. They shook their heads. "No, just small fishes." "Well that's good…. and oddly convenient. But never mind! I've gotta get going," I spun to face this dreary place. Before going though, I flashed them a smile. "Thanks for saving me. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you." "And we're not done yet!" Flounder now shouted. "Huh?" My eyebrow raised up puzzled.
"Scuttle, you take her further into the kingdom," Sebastian commanded the hyper seagull. "Uh, no, that's….." I was cut off by Sebastian's continuation. "Take Mal to those people you met earlier." This definitely caught my attention. "People? Wait, there are people here? Are they close by?" "Sure are! Though they aren't like any humans I'd ever seen before," Scuttle informed me. My eyebrow lifted a second time. "Why?" "Well they're kinda tiny and they fly a lot." Fly? What does he mean by "fly"? The dwarves that Snow White met were small, but they certainly couldn't fly. More than that, were they friendly? How would they react to meeting an outsider like me? And most important of all, did they know the direction of the Horned King's castle?