It was evening, the sun was just starting to set. Ariel, a young mermaid swam towards a cave that was hidden behind a large boulder. She moved the boulder slightly aside with ease, she has done this many times before, and dashed inside quickly before she got caught between the gap. Only once she reached the end of the cave which was a "room" she had furnished herself as her secret grotto Ariel could breath and finally relax
She had just been released from a gruelling 5 hour rehearsal for the upcoming music concert honouring her father King Triton, the ruler of Atlantica, and Ariel and her sisters were obliged to perform a few musical numbers as a tribute. Now Ariel usually loved music and singing, but only on her terms. Whenever she was pressured to do something at the behest of someone else, no matter how much she liked it, her natural instinct was to rebel. It didn't help that the songs Sebastian the musical director composed for her and her sisters were terrible. Too gaudy and chipper for her taste. To make matters worse, her relationship with her father was currently strained due to him giving her a hard time over her infatuation with the human world. The last thing she felt like doing right now was sing his praises onstage in front of the entire kingdom, making a public spectacle of herself. Ugh! Ariel was really not looking forward to the concert. She tried to get out of attending the rehearsals whenever she could, but she could not avoid today's. Sebastian made sure of that.
With a deep sigh, Ariel collapsed onto the large rock that stood in the middle of the grotto, and curled herself into the foetal position. The sun's rays reflected onto the ocean's surface, bathing the mermaid in a comforting light. All around her were shelves full of objects the mermaid had found herself from a nearby sunken ship and made them as part of her collection. Ariel closed her eyes. Learning about the human world was one of the only things that gave her a sense of joy and fulfilment. The other was Flounder, her only true and loyal friend. Other than that there was no one else she could turn to. Although she loved her sisters dearly, she wasn't close to them, and being the youngest one meant she was taken less seriously by them and her father. So she created this grotto as her own safe haven to protect her forbidden hobby, as well as to unwind from the pressures of her strict, royal life.
Only a few more hours until she was expected back at the castle for dinner. And then, the same routine will begin all over again. As the light from the sun began to fade, Ariel slipped into a deeper sleep, cradling a small, ceramic vase in her arms.