Disclaimer: I own all. I was advised by a reviewer to include here that I do happen to use elements of the original Little Mermaid story so they do not belong to me no matter how much fun they are to use, but I own everything else.
Author's note: I don't like this chapter much but I guess this stuff really needs to be said or I would have been able to throw it away. I tried but it was too long to put in the bin.
Oh well. There's sort of a cliffhanger ending but not really. I just like Hartwin. I like him a lot. He's not in this chapter much. Points to anyone who guesses who he is! I'll tell next chapter if anyone wants to know.
Thanks to Ashy for the beta and thanks to everyone who reviewed. There may not be another chapter for a while. I'm working on some other projects. They may be up on fp soon. I hope so. This story will be taking a backseat to my other stories.
Reminders:
"/Words/" = Common/ English.
"Words" = Melena's home language - Athenian
{Words} = Written words in Athenian
{Words} = Written common/English.
~Memories~
'Until next we meet.' That was something Hartwin used to say when Melena would visit her grandmother. Hartwin had been her grandmother's guard or companion for many years.
Melena was sitting in her room on the large plush window seat. Her thoughts drifted back to the first time she had met Hartwin. He was new at her grandmother's 'palace' if it could be called that.
She was going to see her grandmother! It had been years since she had seen the old nymph. She was dieing to see the loving merwoman again.
Escorted by no one the fifteen year old princess made her way toward Kalypso's home. Reaching the entrance she was stopped by a thin yet muscled, saffron haired merman. He was no taller than she was and looked to be only a year or so older.
"No one sees the enchantress this day," he barked trying not to make eye contact. He held out a long staff, barring her way.
"I will see the lady." Melena answered stubbornly.
"Nay. The lady has said she will see no one." He still refused to look at her.
"I am a crown princess! I will see my grandmother when I wish to!" she nearly screamed.
"Melena! What a lovely surprise. Hartwin, show my granddaughter into the hall, I will be with you in a moment." Kalypso stuck her head out of one of the windows near the ceiling.
"Princess Melena, please forgive me. I did not recognize you." He stumbled through an apology.
"It is quite alright Hartwin. Everything is alright now. I am sorry for screaming." She smiled and followed him into the house.
The blonde and the brunette talked as they waited for Kalypso to come and greet her granddaughter. Melena quickly took a liking to the shy blonde guard and whispered so to her grandmother when the old woman finally came down and dismissed Hartwin for the day.
Sadly she followed him to the door. "Good day Hartwin. This must be good bye then."
"Until next we meet princess." And he was gone.
She smiled and whispered, "Until next we meet."
A loud knock on her door woke Eloren from her musing. Looking out the large window she was leaning against she found that night had fallen. A maid let herself into the room and motioned for Eloren to straighten her dress and then follow the maid.
Grumbling Eloren did as instructed and collected her harp on the way. Silently she followed the timid young woman to a dark heavy set of wooden doors adorned by nothing. The maid tapped nervously on the door and waited.
The door opened quietly and another servant beckoned her. She walked to him and entered taking his arm. The manservant lead her to a small room like a study and bayed her sit until the princes arrived.
Eloren smiled and picked up a book from where it lay on a shelf built into the walls. She sat on a fine couch and began reading. She heard the princes let themselves into the room and acting like the princess she knew herself to be, she ignored them as though they were unruly children or bad dogs.
"/Miss… Eloren is it? You will stand in the presence of royalty./" The elder prince commanded.
"As will you Cassius." She said casually not looking up from the book.
"/And what would you know of royalty? You are merely a play thing for my younger brother./" Cassius hissed.
"I grew up with royalty Prince." She said with contempt. She looked up and saw that Cassius's appearance was twin to that of Deacon's apprentice Robert. She nodded at him, grinning wickedly she decide to try something, "Good evening Robert. So wonderful to see you."
"/Brother, you do know that she knows who Robert is. She can tell mother if she wishes./" Julian reminded his brother.
"/She will not. As you told me before, we still have her son. She must come from that village the smith lives in./"
"Yes, I do and nay, Prince Cassius you do not. The kind guards who escorted us here took him to my sister. He has not been here since they left." She smiled at them.
"/Miss Eloren, please play a song for us./" Julian tried to calm them down.
"As you wish prince." She sneered. She stood putting the book down and lovingly picking up the harp.
She began the sharp opening chords of a beautiful song that she had learned from Deacon. The princes were pleased and she played many more songs before they let her retire to her room.
~*
After that night her days took on a pattern.
In the morning she sat with Abel in the library. They talked about all manner of things. Mostly Athenia and how much Eloren had come to loath the princes. They were insufferable things, haughty and mean.
In the evening she played her harp for the two princes. They also talked with her although their conversations were much less interesting and were usually about why she would not acknowledge any of the suitors who pestered her constantly.
A year passed in just this fashion. The princes never left her alone. The only solace she found was her time with Abel whom she suspected was not who he said he was. With him she plotted her escape. She of course left out the fact that she would be taking him with her when she left.
On the morning of her planned escape she sat with Abel in the library and pretended it was a day like all the others before it. They discussed the Mer-King's fall. "It must be Sarea, no Gilda's turn by now. They will kill each other anyway soon, so it really matters not. Athenia will never have another fair ruler such as father or grandmother." She murmured sadly before rising and making her way to the door. "Good day Abel. I will speak with you later." She left before he could enquire about her slip up.
The last song she played for the princes that night was one she had played the year before for a blacksmith and his apprentice. The very song that had set the current arrangement into action. The prince however had not recognized her yet.
"That song was played at mother's funeral. Father's too, and Claudia's." Cassius murmured. Remembering the deaths of their parents and sister.
"That's true. I can't believe I would ever want to hear that song again." Julian agreed.
"I never did, until almost a year ago. The girl that had come to stay with the family I lived with played it." They were both in a dreamlike state; dumbstruck from the power of her song.
Eloren decided she would like to keep it that way and fled the room before they could wake. She rushed to the library stopping at her rooms to retrieve the small laundry bag she had packed with clothes and provisions also snatching the two heavy ridding cloaks that lay on the bed.
She had pressured a servant earlier in the year to show her the way to Abel's quarters. The girl had been quite happy to as she thought the man very hansom. Stealthily Eloren made her way to his rooms, carrying her items with care.
"Abel!" she hissed when she reached his door.
"Who is there? Eloren?" he asked somewhat sleepily, recognizing her voice.
"Yes, come we must hurry." She whispered pulling him along as she entered his room. She quickly gathered a few things hoping there was nothing important she was missing and tossed them into her bag. Carefully she tied one ridding cloak over his shoulders and pulled the hood up before doing the same to herself.
"We are leaving." She whispered. She took his hand again and led him from his room.
"Wait, leaving? Why? Why take me with you?" he asked stopping in his tracks.
~*
Writer's block sucks people. It really does. I thought I had an idea of how this would go, but now I don't. If anyone wants to help me out with some ideas, I will love you forever and if you want something written, ask, I'd be happy to do it.