Chapter 4

What had possessed him to tell Ariel that he thought she was cute? And dance with her for that matter?! He wasn't helping his situation at all by getting close to the Eric's love interest. He watched as Ariel happily danced with Eric. Why did his heart prick uncomfortably?

No, this shouldn't happen. So what if he shared a little moment with her just now? It never should have happened in the first place. Plus, if he got closer to Ariel, she may pester him a bit more about where he's from. He tried to switch the subject after he called her cute by asking about where she came from, but she went right around and asked about his home! She really does have a smart head on her shoulders. He was somewhat grateful that Eric stepped in when he did, regardless of the fact that Jim wanted to hold Ariel's tiny and curvy form to him.

He rubbed a hand down his face. "I'm sunk..."

He felt Morph move around in his pocket. He patted the pocket. "Sorry, Morph," he whispered. "Just a little longer. Eric said before we left that we wouldn't spend all day in the village. Once we get back to the castle, I'll let you out to roam around, okay?"

Little Morph groaned in disdain, and Jim smirked. He loved his little pink blob friend—he was adorable. He couldn't imagine parting with him.

Jim noticed that Eric made several glances over at him. Why? Did he want Jim to go over and interpret what Ariel was trying to say as they danced? It was unnerving enough that he had to go on this little excursion with them, especially since he is now, undoubtedly, attracted to Ariel. She is mysterious, beautiful, hilarious... there is a part of him that aches to know more about her. But he only went to that point. He was only attracted and curious.

Jim noticed Eric twirl Ariel out, then bring her back to him, just as the band started a new lilting tune. She was grinning, as was Eric. Should he just leave the two lovebirds? They were obviously enjoying each other's company.

As the tune played, Jim chose to go sit in a nearby chair, refusing to look at the happy couple. He noticed a group of three blonde young women across the room point at him. Wait, him? He sat up straight, and the younger of the bunch giggled. He looked away, the heat rising on his neck. He thought about Eric's invitation to see the "beauty" of the kingdom. Those women were certainly attractive, especially the younger one who looked around his age.

Then his gaze landed on Ariel. She and the prince weren't dancing, but Ariel was standing in front of him, moving her arm in a wave fashion. People do that when they are talking about water. Was she trying to tell him about what happened to her? Jim stood up and started walking in their direction. The younger of those blonde women who were eyeing him was walking his way, but he just passed her, and she stared after him, a shocked look on her face. Jim stopped close enough so he could read Ariel's lips.

"I want to go on a boat," he caught her mouth. "Are there any..." She stopped and made the waving motion again. "Lakes?"

Oh. She wasn't talking about her story. She just wanted to go on a boat on a lake. Eric stood there, the expression on his face saying that he wasn't understanding what she was trying to say. He turned in Jim's direction and beckoned him over. Jim had no choice but to obey like a loyal dog.

"Cadet Hawkins, could you tell me what Ariel is trying to say?"

"She's saying she wants to go on a boat on a lake." They both looked at him with surprised expressions. "I read her lips from across the room," he explained, and Ariel nodded.

"Oh, you want to go rowing on a lake?" Eric asked, and she nodded again, a wide and very beautiful smile on her face. Jim looked away before he could be affected by it. "Well, then, to the lake we go. But would you like to stop for some dinner first, Ariel?"

She nodded again, that smile still there. Jim started walking to the door, but noticed that people flocked around Eric again. He went and did as a guard should do and stayed next to his prince just in case anything happened. He happened to catch a glimpse of Ariel off to the side near the band. She looked sad. Why, when she was so happy just a few seconds ago?

The people started to disperse when Eric said that he had plans to attend to. Ariel want right to his side as they walked to the door and Jim held the door open for them. Gosh... those two are so love-struck, it's making my stomach turn. Maybe his little moment with Ariel earlier was noting. She was obviously infatuated with Eric.

The trio walked down the street, and people continued to greet Eric and stop and talk with him. Many of them inquired as to who the young lady was, and Eric always had to say that she was just a friend. Psht, yeah, a friend that he's crazy about. What about the girl who saved him? She may be a part of this village. He may have met her already for all we know, and the girl didn't say anything. Does the guy want her or Ariel?

Jim couldn't stop himself from hoping that Eric would choose the other girl.

They stopped at a little pub about a block away from the dancing hall. What time was it? Jim pulled out his little pocket watch that Delbert gave him as a parting gift before he came to this planet. It was only four o'clock. They wanted to have dinner now? It was a little early. Regardless, they went in and were seated by a young woman who was extra courteous to Eric, and gave a wink to Jim. After she took their orders, Eric nudged him, and Jim smirked. He knew what that sly look meant.

"I already said that's not the reason I came along," Jim leaned in and whispered to Eric as Ariel was occupied with looking around at the pub and the people in it, utter fascination in her eyes.

"I'm just saying, Jim... there are a lot of pretty young women in this village."

"Not any that I'm interested in." He glanced at Ariel. Maybe there was one.

"All work and no play, huh?"

"Not when I'm taking a test."

"You deserve to live a little."

Jim has lived a little, and that almost landed him in juvenile detention on a few occasions. "I'll pass. Just worry about you and about this girl that you want to find."

Eric leaned on the table, his arms folded. He said in a quieter voice so he could not be heard by anyone other than Jim, "I'm starting to have the desire to not continue looking for her." He glanced at Ariel, who was still looking around at everything. "I'm pretty taken with Ariel."

Something pinched Jim's gut. "That's an understatement, Romeo."

"Romeo?"

"Nevermind."

Their food came, and Jim could not help but watch as Ariel tried with all her might to eat her slab of beef with her fork and knife. He tried not to laugh at the looks of frustration that she was making when her knife would slip. She was just so darn cute.

The dinner went on, and on and on. Ariel made a game out of having Eric guess what she was trying to say. Honestly, Jim was enjoying himself too since she would mouth words, and Jim knew exactly what she was saying and Eric had no idea. She made it clear that she didn't want Jim to say anything. This went on for a while, and when Jim checked his little pocket watch, it read 6:45. They were in the pub for nearly three hours!

"Do you want to get going?" Eric asked mainly Ariel. She nodded, and the three made it out to the street. The sun was low in the sky, almost gone behind the trees, but it was still light enough to see. "Do you still want to go out on the lake? It's almost dark."

She nodded again, vigorously. Why did she want to go out on the lake so badly? You would think that she would stay as far away from the water as possible after what she has been through. Then again, they had no idea what she actually went through. Jim itched to know.

The three made it back to their carriage, and Jim sat on the end again, with Eric in the middle. So much for making interpreting easier. Jim saw Ariel try to grab the reigns from Eric. He let her take them and he instructed her again of how they are used. The moment she took hold, she slapped the reigns and the horse went speeding away. Jim had to hold on for dear life, and try not to laugh hysterically at the scared look on Eric's face. They came to a crevice, and both Eric and Jim's faces turned to that of alarm. "Ariel!" Jim shouted, but the horse leaped over the crevice and made it over. Jim slumped in his seat, as did Eric. Ariel looked as happy as can be holding the reigns.

"Oh, boy..." Jim let out and nudged Eric in the arm. He leaned over and whispered, "Why did you let her have the reigns?"

"She wanted to try it out."

"Can you read her lips now?"

"I think the little game earlier helped. I'm getting better at it. I'm actually really glad because I was a tad jealous of the two of you."

That made Jim's heart jump. "Jealous?"

"Yeah... I saw you two dancing earlier, and I just... well, I just wished that I could communicate with her as well as you could."

Jim hadn't realized that Eric was jealous of him. Him. Some rebel kid from Montressor who would have been put in juvenile hall if he hadn't discovered that map of the universe and left on the grandest adventure of his life. "I'm sorry. Maybe I should have taught you how to lip-read."

"What would have been the point before since we didn't know that Ariel would show up?"

The carriage suddenly came to a stop, and they found that they were at the lake. The sun had set, and the sky was starting to twinkle with a few stars. They got out of the carriage, and the sound of crickets and bugs buzzing filled Jim's ears. He had to swat away a fly from his face. He looked around at the lake, and saw that there was a large willow growing right in the center of it. Maybe this was once a field that flooded over at some point.

"It's pretty spectacular, isn't it?" Eric asked both Jim and Ariel. Ariel's eyes went wide as she looked around. She mouthed "Beautiful." Jim smirked. She and this place had something in common.

"There are boats to rent over there," Eric said, and pointed to a little shack near a dock that jutted out into the lake. They made it over there and rented a boat from the owner of the shack, and as Eric did with the baker, he gave a tip. Jim shook his head. Eric was a little too nice, wasn't he? It wasn't a bad thing, considering the people needed someone to look up to. Jim has learned, just by watching Eric in the past two months, to be generally more nice to people. Given, his job made him do that, but having a friend to look to helped as well.

"Now, how about Jim and I row on each end and Ariel can sit in the center of the boat?" Eric suggested, and Ariel's eyes went wide. She shook her head. He started to mouth something, and Jim payed close attention to her rather attractive mouth. His heart sunk like an anchor when he interpreted what Ariel was trying to say.

"She... wants to go in a boat with you, Eric, while I follow behind in a different one," Jim said, and eyed Ariel. She gave him an apologetic look. She mouthed, "I just want to spend some time with him."

That prickling feeling came back, and he nodded, trying not to let his jealousy—was that what it was?—show. Eric said, "Oh, okay. Well, I'll go grab another boat."

He left to the shack again, and Ariel followed after. That's when Jim's mouth turned into a frown. Of course Eric would be okay with this. Eric was crazy about her, and she was crazy about him. No wonder she had a look of disappointment when she found that she had to dance with Jim instead of Eric at the dance hall.

The extra boat was attained, a smaller one for Jim, and the men set the boats out against the dock, and Jim got in his as Eric and Ariel got in theirs. Eric rowed them out as Jim stayed behind for an extra minute, then left the dock. He rowed in the low light, and Morph moved around in his pocket. "Okay, you can come out, Morph, but stay low, okay?" The little blob did so, and floated near Jim's lap. "Sorry, I didn't know that we were going out here."

Morph looked to Eric and Ariel, then he looked up at Jim, who had his brows creased, glaring at the two lovebirds. When Jim noticed his little friend staring up at him, his features turned to normal. "I'm not jealous." Morph changed into a green neon sign that blinked LIAR. "Really, I'm not, I just..." He eyed the two again, and Ariel was sitting there, dreamily gazing at Eric. Jim's chest pinched. "Okay, maybe a little. But mainly, I'm just upset that this is what this test has come to—watching two people make goo-goo eyes at each other."

Morph changed back and Jim rowed on. Ariel and Eric entered the draped willow branches, but he could see them through an opening. Some screeching sound encumbered the air and Jim saw that it was seagull sitting on a branch to the large willow tree. The seagull stopped with the ruckus when Ariel gave the bird a glare. Funny. And was it his imagination, or did he hear singing? This whole situation was making him lose his mind.

"Well, I'm just going to sit here, Morph," Jim said and stopped the rowing. He saw Eric lean in to Ariel, and he quickly reverted his gaze, knowing what Eric was about to do. "I don't want to ruin their special moment." Morph laughed, and Jim knew that the blob was making fun of his annoyance. Morph turned into a miniature version of him and began chanting 'Jealous, jealous, jealous.' Jim tried to grab at the blob, but it dodged his hand. "Morph, c'mon, stop it. I just... look. I didn't ask for this boring test, okay? I just want there to be some excitement. I'm a soldier after all."

Right as he said that, Eric screamed, and then there were splashes. Jim bolted up in the boat and saw that the boat Ariel and Eric were in was upside-down in the water. Eric re-surfaced, but Ariel was still unseen. Jim ripped off his jacket and dove into the water, ignoring Morph floating there with a horrified look on his face. The water was cold, like the ocean, but it didn't phase Jim. He had been up in the skies where the temperature dropped to freezing sometimes. Underwater, his eyes opened, and he was thankful that it was fresh water and not stinging salt water. He saw Ariel floating down to the bottom of the murky lake, her eyes closed. Fear pulsed through him. He swam towards her, and caught her just before she hit the lake floor. He swam up with her, and as he was doing so, he saw Eric under the water as well, a frantic look on his face. He surfaced, and Jim did afterward with Ariel. Who wasn't breathing.

"Get her to the shore!" Eric called.

"I'm working on it!"

Jim swam with Ariel, and his limbs felt like they were going to give out due to her wieght. He saw glowing yellow eyes off in the cattail, but he paid them no mind, thinking it to be a couple of fish. He got to the shore and dragged Ariel onto the wet sand. She looked pale. Her lungs were probably filled with water. He did the first thing that his instinct and training told him to do—CPR. He pried her mouth open with his fingers and attached his mouth with hers. He breathed deep breaths into her. Eric gasped.

"Jim, what are you going?!"

He ignored his frantic friend and detached his mouth and started with the compressions. After a few of those, he placed his mouth on Ariel's again and he refused to let the touch of his mouth on hers affect him as he was trying to save her life. He detached, and compressed again, and finally, Ariel threw up an impressive amount of lake water. Jim leaned back on his hind and exhaled with relief. She's alive...

"Ariel, are you alright?" Eric asked, kneeling next to her in the sand. Jim could have sworn he saw a little red crab crawling near Ariel, but he could have been imagining it. His body was filled with shock. He just saved Ariel's life.

She nodded and sat up. She coughed, and Eric wrapped an arm around her. "Maybe going on the lake wasn't such a good idea," Eric said. "We both fell in, and if Cadet Hawkins wouldn't have gotten to you and pulled you out and did what he did..." He looked to Jim. "You might've drowned."

"What did he do?" she mouthed, and Jim caught it. People didn't know about CPR during this time, according to what he was told in his training.

"I, uh..." Jim began. "Well, where I'm from, it's called CRP, or mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. I just blew air into her lungs and pressed her chest so the water could escape."

Ariel looked to Jim, and her eyes widened. She put a hand over her mouth. Eric frowned. Jim knew what the guy was thinking. To him and anyone watching, Jim was kissing Ariel and pounding on her... chest. Oh, how horrible and scandalous that sounds!

"All the same," Eric said, "Ariel's alright. Can you stand up?" he asked her. "We should get back to the castle."

Ariel nodded and Eric helped her stand up and the three made it back to the carriage. After Eric helped Ariel in, he stood close to Jim and muttered, "Jim, what was that back there?"

He saw the hard look in the prince's eyes, and Jim's heart pulsed with annoyance. "I already said what it was. Where I'm from, that's how we save people who have swallowed too much water. You should be thanking me for saving your beloved."

Eric was a bit taken aback by those firm words said with an edge. He cleared his throat and his features softened. "Yes. You're right. Thank you, Jim. It's just, it looked like..."

"Yeah, I know. But that's not what I was doing. I wouldn't do that to you."

"Right," Eric said, nodding. "Thank you again." He smirked and said even more quietly, "And just between you and me, I almost kissed her, but the boat tipped over just as I was about to. I have no idea how, but... that's just what happened."

"Strange."

"Yeah, I know." He climbed up into the carriage. "Let's go back."

"Alright." He looked around for his jacket and realized that it was still in the boat that was all the way over by the willow, as well as the one Eric and Ariel were using. He might as well. "I'll be right back. I'm going to return the boats to the owner." He went and jumped right back into the lake and retrieved both boats—how else was he going to do it? Sopping wet again, he made it back over to the carriages. Morph floated next to him, but went inside Jim's pants pocket this time. On the way back to the castle, it was silent. Ariel looked away from the two guys at the passing scenery, and Eric stayed facing the front, driving the horse.

Eric wasn't happy. He recalled Eric saying that he was jealous that Jim could communicate with Ariel better than him. That had to be it, along with Jim getting to Ariel's lips before he did. Truthfully, the feeling of Ariel's lips against his will never leave his memory, and he will remember that feeling every time he looks at her and sees those rosy red lips.

Would Jim really stab Eric in the back and fall for the girl he's in love with? He wanted to answer no, since he did not want to lose his friendship with Eric, as well as fail his test, but... he couldn't help but think that it was already too late. In fact, he knew it was. His test is as good as failed.

Ursula laughed hysterically with glee as she watched that guard "save Ariel's life." It was a close call with the prince almost kissing her, but her worries faded at seeing Ariel covering her mouth the instant she found out what the guard did.

"This is fabulous!" she hollered. "She is falling in love with the guard! It would be a really big shame for her to miss the deadline because she and the palace guard fell in love with each other and she forgot about the prince," she said mockingly as Flotsam and Jetsam came swimming into her cave. "We will just let things pan out they way they are now. She will fail and she will belong to me! In turn, her father will beg for her back, and I will make him trade himself for her! The ocean will finally be mine!"

She and her eel minions laughed cynically and disappeared in Ursula's cloud of ink.