For three hours, the six mermaids huddled together. Attina clutched the trident. She, and her sisters, had never felt so torn.
On their right, the ship had dropped its anchor, and remained stationary as those on board sang, danced, and ate. In the midst of them their little sister laughed and danced gracefully. It had been years since they had seen her so happy.
Twenty feet to their left was quite a different sight. Their father floated in the tide with his back to them, his arms crossed. He stared at the horizon with glazed eyes.
For the first sixty minutes, he felt nothing but rage. He wanted to take Ariel in his arms and shake her until she came to her senses. He wanted to ask her whether she had visited the sea witch or stolen his trident to affect her transformation. He wanted to splinter the ship and drown every human on it, save Ariel.
Finally, he took a deep breath and began to rationally consider what should be done next. As much as he wished it, he could not time-travel to a week ago. Ariel's actions had changed their family and Atlantica forever.
First of all, this human – Eric – was, by law, now a Prince of Atlantica by virtue of his marriage to Ariel. No matter how much he suppressed the fact and tried to bury it, it would always remain a part of his family's genealogy. And what a scandal it would be, for a King of Atlantica to kill one of the princes!
Second of all, his trident did not have the power of erasing memories or changing minds. If it had, he would have made Ariel forget that she had ever heard of the surface years ago. It was very clear that Ariel would never be the happy mermaid he wanted his daughter to be. He remembered how she had sobbed during the destruction of Eric's statue. If a stone replica of this man had such an effect on her, what would she do now that she had felt his embraces, kisses, and heard his proclamations of love? She would always consider herself his wife, or his widow.
Third of all, the humans on the ship were…different…from what he had expected. Eric had not condemned Ariel for feeding Sebastian and Flounder. He had expected that a human would hate fish as much as merpeople hated humans. But Eric seemed to have no issue with his wife having a fondness for sea creatures. And during King Triton's deliberations, several dolphins jumped in front of the ship. The humans pointed at them and exclaimed. They were clearly admiring their beauty, and had not the least intention of capturing or eating them.
The sun set. Suddenly, a series of bangs were heard. King Triton and the mermaids gasped and instinctively moved away from the ship. It was only after a moment that they noticed the colorful lights in the sky.
"They are beautiful!" Andrina exclaimed, as she and her sisters watched the fireworks display. "I can understand why Ariel -" she remembered herself and swallowed the remainder of the sentence.
Triton had heard and seen enough. He swam back towards his daughters.
"Give it back to me," he said to Attina, stretching out his hand for the trident.
The Crown Princess studied his face in the moonlight, and found that she could not read its expression.
"Daddy…are you sure?" she whispered hesitantly.
"I have made my decision. Give me the trident."
Attina's hands shook, but she could not refuse a direct royal command. She handed over the powerful instrument.
Triton activated the trident, aimed, and fired.
The question is, at what – or who – did he aim at? Reviews, as always, are appreciated!