Disclaimer: This story draws inspiration from the movie Ever After and Hans Christian Anderson's The Little Mermaid
The year was at its warmest time. The sun shone brighter than it had in months. In the eerie stillness of the sea, the people of Aquaria were able to relax and enjoy the calm day. In the months that had just past, the ocean had been ferocious and unpredictable. Many merpeople were forced to stay in the castle stronghold, or revert to their shells for the season. The queen had neglected her gardens and the people had not been past the palace grounds in months.
Adria and her sisters, King Marin's daughters, had been too long deprived of exploring shipwrecks along the ocean floor. As soon as the waters were warm enough to leave the palace, they swam off looking for a shipwreck.
Adreina, the queen, instilled her daughters, Adria, Alyria and Azuria, with a love for all things human since they first emerged from their sea shells. As a young mermaid, Adreina often explored the reefs along the shore. There, she had seen a human for the first time. Frightened from all the stories mermaids tell about humans, she hid behind a giant orange fire coral. But her curiosity would not allow her to swim back to the palace in fear. She stayed behind the coral and observed diligently. Her fascination grew as she watched the human woman. She loved the way the woman swan without a tail: moving her legs up and down. Her eyes were drawn to the strange way the woman wore her hair, as if bound to her head. All mermaids wore their hair loose.
After seeing that human, Adreina visited the coral reef more and more often. She watched the humans and continued to learn more about them, determined to understand their strange behavior and the differences they had from the merkind.
When she reached 15 years of age she was able to break the surface. After that she spent nearly all her time at the surface. She watched the sun rise and watched it set and watched everything in between. When a ship passed by she would latch herself to the bowsprit and lay there just watching the humans. She found a way to swim through a saltwater stream and watch the humans in the town square from a far. A town square, Adreina learned was similar to the center of a small city in Aqauria. The people glided about, like fish did underwater, only on land and on legs. Her eyes fixated on the strange fabric the women draped over their bodies. They were clothes, she soon learned, something that humans donned at all times.
Clothes are a foreign concept to merpeople. They have no need to cover their tales and mermen have no reason to cover their chests. All mermaids had hair long enough to cover their breasts and they wore it to do so. Mermaids of higher status had flowers strung throughout their hair. The rarer the flower, the higher status a mermaid was presumed to be. The royal mermaids, like Adria and her sisters had pearls strung throughout their hair. It was the only way any creature in the sea could tell a mermaid was the daughter of the Sea king.
The daughters of the Sea king were often granted more freedoms than anyone else in the ocean, but were also denied many freedoms. They were able to control their school schedule, when the governesses came and when they didn't, leaving them the best times of day to explore shipwrecks and visit the reef. But the girls were bound the castle for endless functions and parties. They were able to visit different ocean kingdoms on diplomatic voyages and given the opportunity to explore new waters. But their explorations were kept short by long boring dinners with diplomats.
At home in Aquata, the capital of Aquaria, they were most satisfied. They knew the waters well and where they would be able to find humans. They were able to spent time in their mother's lovely garden where they could examine the new human things they found on shipwrecks and speculate what they were used for.
Adria, Azuria, and Alyria longed to break the surface. Alyria, the eldest, reached 15 first. Her chance to break the surface arrived with it. When she returned she told Azuria and Adria of all the amazing human things she'd seen. She spoke of what their mother had told them about: sunsets, dancing, and clothing.
"It was so strange, yet so normal at the same time. And the sun, it burns like nothing I'd ever expected, but the heat feels so good on my skin," Alyria recounted.
"But what about the humans?" Azuria asked.
Alyria shrugged, seemingly disinterested. "I really didn't see that much of them. I just wanted to feel the sun."
Adria was upset at this response. She ached to know more about the human kind, who had fascinated her since her emergence. "Please go back to the surface to see more humans. And then return home and tell us all about them," she begged.
Alyria promised, but it proved to be an empty promise. Although Alyria had once been just in love with the human world as Adria and Azuria she lost interest in it almost immediately after breaking the surface. With the fifteenth anniversary of a mermaid's emergence more privileges come than breaking the surface. At fifteen a mermaid is able to join in the adult festivities. She gets to eat the intoxicating kelp and go to the adult galas and festivals. A fifteen year old princess gets to sit in on the queen's dinners with the wives of political officials.
Azuria and Adria were stuck in their mother's garden while Alyria was gallivanting about the festival with her adult friends. They were disappointed with their sister and her sudden lack of interest in the air world. They made a pact to never loss their interest in humans.
"And when you reach your 15th emergence anniversary you'll go up to the surface and watch the humans and tell me all about them?" Adria pleaded of Azuria.
"I swear,"
But Azuria's promise was just as empty as Alyria's. When the anniversary of her 15th emergence arrived she refused to break the surface.
Adria was enraged at her sister's betrayal. "You promised," she sobbed when Azuria came to visit her for the first time just two weeks after the anniversary.
Azuria embraced her younger sister and stroked her glowing hair. "I know I did little Adria, but there are things that you don't understand."
Adria swiftly pulled herself from her sister's embrace. "I understand plenty," she protested, her voice breaking with each sob she held back.
Azuria looked away, shamed at breaking her promise. "Perhaps you're right," she said, a morose tone in her voice. "Maybe you will understand."
Adria swam closer to her sister, her eyes begging Azuria to explain.
"The world of air is magical," she began. An expression of confusion flickered over Adria's face. If Azuria thought the humanland magical why didn't she want to see it? But despite her disappointment in her sister, Adria listened as Azuria continued. "But I want it to stay magical and mysterious and unknown. Don't you see Adria? It wouldn't be magical if I know what it was all about. You saw what happened to Allyria. She lost interest in that world just as soon as she was able to break the surface. I don't want that to happen to me. I don't want my image of the air world to be ruined the way it has been for Alyria. I want it to forever remain magical. There's no other way."
Adria swam up to her sister and held her tight. From the desperation in Azuria's voice it was easy to tell she needed comforting. Azuria sobbed into her younger sister's shoulders and Adria let her. Her sobs grew softer and softer until they finally stopped. Azuria gave her younger sister a kiss on the forehead as an apology and thanks before swimming off.
Adria still had two years before she would be allowed to break the surface. She moped around the palace grounds for weeks after Azuria's hatching day. Adria longed to know more about the world above and yet there was nothing left to discover under the water. She'd searched all the shipwrecks and seen all there was to see at the reef. It would be a miracle if she could go two years and not go insane from curiosity.
She spent much time in her mother's lovely garden, adoring the pretty flowers. Time passed much easier if she focused on memorizing the detail of each petal on each flower. Nonetheless, sadness was omnipresent on the delicate features of her face.
One day, between the warm and cold months of the year, Adria's mother came to visit her in the palace garden. "I see you like my flowers," she said from behind Adria, startling her to spring up from the flowers and cower in fear. When she saw who it was she relaxed, but her shoulders remained tense.
"I like them very much, Mother. Especially the colorful ones." In her hand Adria held one of her mother's golden flowers, the same color as a school of fish that swam by.
"I think maybe you should have a section of my garden to plant flowers for yourself. You could tend to them and watch them grow." She swam across the garden to a corner with nothing but sand. "Here is a good spot for you, my little one."
Adria's eyes lit up for the first time in weeks. "Really mother?" her voice had lost the poignancy she'd spoken with since Azuria's anniversary. When her mother smiled Adria took it to mean yes. She swam towards her mother, flicking her tail as fast as she ever had, and wrapped her small arms around the queen. Adreina held her youngest daughter tight, glad to see the sorrow gone from her face.
"What sorts of flowers will you plant?" she asked as soon as Adria let go.
Adria pondered the question for a minute, but she already knew the answer. There were flowers along the reef that Adria had fallen in love with as soon as she set eyes on them. Alyria said they were the color of the sunset upon the sea. Adria told this to her mother and her comment was greeted with a laugh.
"They are much deeper red than the sunset. They are the color of blood," her mother explained.
"What's blood?" Adria's question was greeted with another laugh and Adria's face fell once again.
Adreina placed a hand on the young mermaid's shoulder. "You have much to learn, sweetheart. But don't worry about it now. Let's just get you your flowers."
"Mother," Adria began nervously. "Why doesn't Alyria care about the surface anymore?" Adria's eyes were wide with curiosity as she waited for her mother's answer.
Adreina smiled that all knowing smile that came with the years of life. "She still loves the surface, sweetheart. She just loves other things too." When she saw that Adria still did not understand, she continued her explanation. "Alyria is grown up now, that means she can go to the festivals and the galas. It means there is a life for her here, in Aquaria. Before she was sheltered from Aquata life, but once you are immersed in our culture and life, you never want to leave."
Adria furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. What her mother was saying was the opposite of what had happened to Adreina. "Why didn't that happened to you mother?"
Her mother laughed once again and smiled her omniscient smile. She lifted Adria's chin and looked into her eyes. "I never left the surface once I turned fifteen, not until I met your father." Adreina took her hand away from her daughter's chin and watched as she lowered her head in sadness. Adria still did not understand what it meant to turn fifteen in Aquata. But Adreina couldn't help her any more. She swam out of the garden, leaving Adria alone, but turned back on her way out. "Don't worry," she said. "You'll have your turn."
Adria looked up at her mother once again, but she was already gone.