It was a beautiful, fall morning in Eric's kingdom. The fishing boats were sailing back to the harbor, their decks filled with barrels and crates of flopping sea creatures. Eric finished the goblet of fresh water in his hand and set it on the desk behind him. With one last look at the fishing boats, he closed the lace curtains and went back to his tall chair on the other side of the desk. It was time for him to start his morning duties as king. Grimsby came in briefly with a stack of papers for Eric to review and respond to and sign. The young king sighed and picked up his quill, dipping it into the shell encrusted inkwell in the corner.

"Why did you close the curtain?" came the sweet voice of his wife behind him. Eric turned and watched Ariel walk into the room. She was wearing a simple white dress. Her hair was tied back in a braid with a purple ribbon. The simplicity of it all made her eyes seem even brighter than they always were. "It's a beautiful day out there and you can see the ocean so perfectly from this room."

Eric smiled. "I start daydreaming about you when I look at that view. I have to close it or I'll never get any of this done."

Ariel giggled, a very light blush touching her cheeks. "Why, Eric. I had no idea I caused you so much trouble. Perhaps I'll be going now." She turned around and went back the way she came.

Eric got up quickly and beat her to the door. "Not without a kiss," he teased.

Ariel put her hands behind her back. "King Eric, do you mean to tell me that there is now a toll on this doorway?"

He smiled at her use of vocabulary. Every day, she was learning more and more about the human world. He felt pleased that she was applying what she learned in her everyday speech. "Yes, there is a toll. Because you take a little piece of my heart with you whenever you leave. It's only fair that I get a kiss in return."

She kissed him swiftly. "Any girl would kiss a guy who told her that," she said. "I'm going down to the shore today," she continued. "Maybe you could join me for lunch?"

"Of course! Be safe."

"You killed the most frightening thing in the whole sea almost six months ago, Eric. Without her to threaten me, I'm safe."

Eric watched her walk down the hall and descend the stairs that led to the sea. With a grin on his face, he returned to his desk. How am I ever going to get any work done with her on my mind all the time?

Later, Eric found Ariel sitting on a rock a little ways from the beach surrounded by mermaids in the water. He quickly recognized them to be his sisters-in-law. Their conversation wafted towards him as he walked closer.

"You should see him, Ariel," Adella, the one who could never stop talking about mermen, said. "He's so dreamy!"

Andrina scoffed. "The way you talk about him, you'd think you were the one marrying him."

The sisters laughed. Andrina was good at making them do that.

Alana pulled at a strand of her black hair. "I wish mer-weddings were more like human ones, Ariel," she said. "I love parties, but there is such a lack of fashion under the water. There's not much you can do with seashells and hair accessories. I so wish Atina could wear a dress like the one you had! She would look adorable with all of that billowy white fabric around her!"

"Yes, and I'd sink to the ocean floor like a rock," Atina said sensibly. "Tide and I just want a regular wedding ceremony with the bubbles, seaweed, and pearls. We don't need all of the fancy human stuff."

The raven haired princess grabbed Ariel's hand. "I did find her a special set of shells to wear for the special day! They are light blue with lines of silver and purple in the creases and I added pearls to the top to make it even more beautiful."

"I'm sure they are perfect, Alana," Ariel said. "How does Daddy feel about Tide?"

Aquada, who was always very honest, said, "After who you married, Ariel, any merman is acceptable in Daddy's eyes."

"Thanks, Aquada," Eric spoke up from behind the sisters. They all turned and gasped. When they saw Eric's easy smile, they all burst into giggles. All except for Aquada. She blushed.

"Sorry, Eric," she said. "I didn't know you were standing there."

"I know I'm going to be the strangest of the men that marry into King Triton's family. Unless one of you plans on marrying a shark."

"There you go, Adella," Andrina said. "When you run out of mermen to flirt with, you can start on the sharks."

"I don't need to flirt with any more mermen. I already found-" Adella clapped her hand over her mouth.

"Ooh!" Andrina teased. "There's a boy?"

"Well, yes… I mean, no… I mean…"

"Oh come on, Adella!" squealed Arista, fanning herself with a thin shell.

"Arista, is that mine?"

"Be quiet Aquada. Adella is going to tell us about her boy!"

"Oh, fine! I'll tell you!" Adella said, splashing her sisters with a slap to the water. Eric waded to the rock and sat down by Ariel. When everyone was settled and ready to listen, Adella cleared her throat and began.

"Well, do you remember that day we went out into the village with father?"

"We do that every morning, Adella."

"I know that, Atina! Let me finish." Adella took a deep breath and began to talk quickly. "Do you remember that specific day when I got separated from you guys and you all thought it was because I was flirting with some merman but then I told you I had seen a friend I'd met at a concert and we had been catching up and I had lost track of time and so had gotten separated from you guys and I had to promise Daddy it would never happen again? Well, I was lying. Well, sort of lying. Okay, so I wasn't lying but I tried to make you guys think it was a girl I was talking about. I didn't want anyone to know I was flirting with him. And I did meet him at a concert. We were next to each other at the Bearded Barracuda's concert I went to last year."

"I don't know why you listen to that junk," said Arista. "There music has no beat to it. It's all so slow and melancholy."

"It's not melancholy!" Adella protested. "It's romantic. Anyway he swam me home and I didn't see him until that morning when we were out with Daddy and so we were catching up and he invited me to an exclusive BB concert for that night and I've been sneaking around to see him ever since."

The sisters all began to talk at once, asking questions and making comments.

"One at a time!" Atina yelled. "We'll go in age order. LIke we used to. Me first."

"You always suggest age order so you can go first, Atina."

"Alana, you're next. Stop complaining. Okay. My question is, why did you think you had to keep it a secret from us?"

"Well, because that day I started seeing him was also the day after you announced your engagement to Tide and I didn't want Andrina or anyone else to tease me about trying to keep the romance spotlight on me."

"That's silly," Andrina said.

"You just can't help teasing me, can you?" Adella huffed.

"My turn!" Alana said, waving her hand in the air. "What does he look like? Does he have good grooming standards?"

"That's two questions. You only get to ask one," said Aquada.

"They go together."

"Fine."

Adella's eyes drifted up. "He's strong and has hair like the sun, and a red tail. He wears an arm band that he found that's just a solid rock shaped like a ring that fits around his muscle so perfectly…" She sighed. "And his eyes are so green…"

"Okay, he's a dreamboat. We get the picture," said Aquada. "My turn. I can't believe no one has asked this yet. What is his name?"

"His name is Cato."

"Cato and Adella," hummed Ariel. "Oh, they sound lovely together, don't they?"

"Arista's turn!" said the blonde princess, pointing to herself. "Since I already know he has no taste in music, my question is can he sing? Or does he play a musical instrument?"

"Yes, he plays the harp."

"Okay, my turn," Andrina said. "I promise I'll be nice. Is there another reason you haven't told us about him, besides that fact that you didn't want to steal the spotlight?"

"Yes."

"Well, what is it?" the witty mermaid asked. "What haven't you told us?"

Adella smirked. "I'm sorry. Only one question per sister." Andrina turned to look at Ariel. "Please please please use your question to ask her what she hasn't told us yet!"

"Only if Adella wants to tell," said Ariel.

"She wants to," Andrina replied.

"No, I don't!"

"Please?" begged Andrina.

"Okay! He's fat!"

There was an awkward silence.

Ariel cleared her throat. "That doesn't matter to us, Adella. I'm sure he is handsome and as long as he is good to you, he could be as big as a whale and we wouldn't care. There are plenty of beautiful and handsome merfolk who are a little on the heavy side."

"Yeah," said Atina. "It shouldn't be something you're ashamed of. Especially if you love him."

Adella looked down. "Oh, I'm not ashamed of him. I just really didn't want him to be picked on by my family."

"Goodness, Adel. We're your sisters, not monsters," Aquada said, placing a hand on Adella's arm. "I feel bad that you even think we would be so rude."

"It's just that…. I mean, I haven't always been the skinniest mermaid in the sea and none of you ever picked on me for it but I always felt different and I don't want Cato to ever feel like that. You're all so beautiful and thin and Daddy is so… mighty and fierce looking…"

"I"m sure he's very good-looking, Adella!" said Alana. Eric was surprised that Alana would be the first to speak up. She was very particular about outward appearance. "If he is the first boy to tame your boy-crazy heart, then he is special. If you marry him, we will all treat him like we would any other brother-in-law. We'll love him just as much as we love Eric and Tide."

A flash of red caught Eric's attention. Sebastian, the court composer and one of Ariel's closest friends was crawling up the rock where he and his wife were seated. The little crab bowed to Eric and Ariel and then turned to the girls. Eric couldn't quite hear or understand what the crustacean was saying, but Ariel's sisters did. They all frowned as soon as he appeared to finish talking.

"Aw, Sebastian. Daddy said we could talk to Ariel until the sun set."

Sebastian waved his claws around.

"He's right, girls," said Atina. "Daddy and Tide will be wondering what happened to us if we don't make it to the performance. We are the stars of the show."

"Oh, I wish I could sing with you girls again!" Ariel exclaimed.

"We'll plan another lagoon concert for human and menfolk as soon as we can, I promise!" said Arista, sharing a glance with Sebastian. She liked to help the crab plan shows, picking out the songs and the venue.

The girls bid Ariel and Eric goodbye and dove together under the surface.

"Goodbye," Ariel said to the trail of bubbles they left behind.

"Do you miss living with them?" Eric asked.

Arial leaned on his shoulder. "Oh of course I do. I miss sharing a room and pranking them and being the annoying little sister. I miss Atina's sense, Alana's beauty tips, Adella's flirting, Aquada and Arista's squabbles and Andrina's wit. But I wouldn't trade my life with theirs for a million thingamabobs. I love them, I chose to live with you and I wouldn't exchange you for a million sisters."

Eric kissed her cheek. "As long as you're happy."

"Of course I'm happy. I'm part of your world."