The King and Queen swam through the halls of the palace, holding hands. Before long, they reached the corridor where their daughters' room was. Athena held a finger to her lips. She suddenly longed to surreptitiously glance at her little darlings and see what they were like before they saw her and possibly became shy.

She swam up to the purple curtain which hung in the threshold and parted it an inch and peered inside. Triton stood behind her, also looking in.

Inside was a disheartening scene. Five mermaids sat with long faces sat at their dressing table, quietly preparing for bed. By the window sat Ariel, staring out at Atlantica. As her parents watched, Attina, her oldest sister, swam up to her.

"Come now, Ariel, you can't sit there forever," she said softly.

Ariel only turned away even further and remained silent.

"Ariel," Attina murmured, "for what it is worth, I agree with you."

Her redheaded sister finally looked at her, stunned.

"Yes, I agree with you. I wish we could have music too. But he is our father, and our King! We need to be loyal to him, at least for the sake of the kingdom. But I promise you, when the day comes when Dad is with Mom again and I am Queen of Atlantica, I will reverse his decree on music. We will all know what happiness is again."

Triton felt his heart shredding in two again. Ariel had been outspoken in her critiques of his methods of governing, but he never expected that Attina harbored such opinions! He had always trusted in her support for whatever he decided…instead, she was merely better at repressing her opinions than her sisters. And Athena had to see this…his complete failure as a father!

He could not bear it. He swept aside the curtain, left his wife in the corridor, and swam across his daughters' bedroom to Ariel. As he did so, every daughter except Ariel instantly arose and bowed. His heart ached. That was all he was to them. A king. Not a parent.

"Ariel," he said gently, "you and Attina are right. Banning music was a dishonor to your mother's legacy. This is not how you should have been brought up." His daughters stared at him. "You should know that I reversed my decree a few minutes ago. Music is now not only legal, but will be encouraged in Atlantica."

Ariel's eyes lit up instantly. Without restraint, she swam straight at him and threw her arms around his neck.

"Daddy! Oh Daddy! Thank you!"

Triton held her close. He suddenly realized how much he had missed such displays of affection from his daughters. Why had he deprived himself of them for years with his cold manner?

Attina, on the other hand, was staring at him, trying to piece together what she had just heard.

"Sir," she said hesitantly, "why did you change your mind?"

"A miracle," the king replied. "An absolute miracle. I only regret that the seven miracles in this room did not make me change my mind sooner," he said, gesturing to his daughters.

"What miracle, Daddy?" his youngest asked, looked at him with confusion.

Her father gently pulled himself out of Ariel's arms and swam to the purple curtain. He drew it aside and revealed the mermaid behind it.

The princesses uttered a collective gasp. It was as if ten years had suddenly melted away. They all recognized her, even though her hair was powdered with grey.

Athena swam forward, giving her daughters a loving look.

Attina was the first one to speak. With a lump in her throat, she managed to say,

"Mom?"

"Attina!" her mother exclaimed, swimming to her with outstretched arms.

The usually stately girl rushed forward and nearly knocked her mother over with the force of her embrace.

As if on cue, the rest of her sisters joined her. Athena suddenly found herself in the center of a pile of mermaids. Through the maze of arms and tails she heard her husband laughing with pure joy. It took a full hour of hugs and kisses before the princesses had had their fill of affection. Then Athena settled down on their windowsill, in the exact place where she had always sat and sang lullabies to them, and began to entertain their questions about where she had been and how she had found her way back to them. Her husband sat at her side, asking his own questions. Athena felt like she was learning volumes about her daughters…Alana seemed to be very much into facial creams, and repeatedly asked how her mother had managed to keep her skin so soft despite living in the sun's bright rays for years. Ariel, on the other hand, seemed fascinated with the human world and kept asking about what sorts of objects humans used for this or that. They passed the whole day in that manner.