She was sitting in her corner again. It had been days, maybe weeks since she had first came to occupy the tank she now sat in. It was night, and all the staring faces had gone. Now was the time for her to swim, without fear of being pointed at, it was time to feel free.

She slowly drifted out of her corner and started to swim circles in her tank. It was small to small, she felt like a goldfish trapped in a round fish bowl, and that's exactly what she was, but at least she was back in the water, and not still in that lonely cabin. She had at least a taste of her freedom back.

"Hello."

Ariel turned and looked at a face, he looked about sixteen, certainly not that older if she were wrong, but in her state of bliss she had almost smiled at him before darting back over to her corner and covering herself.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to frighten you... I only want to talk."

Ariel didn't say anything.

"I've been to see you a couple of times, you always look sad, so I assume you are not here on your own terms are you?"

Ariel continued to cover herself in her corner.

"I wouldn't have thought you to be real if I hadn't snuck in here tonight to see you. May I ask you a question?"

Ariel stayed silent.

"That's fine... you know if you where to tie some of those leaves up together you could cover yourself with them, and if you didn't have enough you could use the seaweed the people throw down to you. My name is Jordan by the way."

Ariel looked over at the floating kelp and thought his words to be true, she would try that once he left. And finally she responded to some of his ranting.

"Ariel."

"That's a beautiful name, it was my mum's name before she passed away. I'm on my own now, but I manage. May I ask you about the ocean?'

Ariel slowly floated out of her corner, still covering herself, and sat in front of the cage facing Jordan. She figured that if she was to be trapped here, she might as well gather friends on the way. She couldn't sit in the tank forever and talk to no one.

"What would you like to know?"

"Everything."

Ariel smiled now.

"It is a beautiful place, full of other creature, and other merfolk. The landscape seems to never end, and there are amazing friends to be made. Even at the dark part of some oceans you find creatures to marvel at. Creatures that glow in the darkness, that seem to keep fighting the current despite their frail bodies, but not all of the ocean is a paradise. Their are other parts, dark parts, that are inhabited by vile creatures that only work for the goal of hurting others. These places are usually around the volcanoes, the heat seems to attract creatures like that, but we, being creatures that we are can not travel close to the vents, or skin is too frail to sustain such heat, but yes it is a beautiful place."

"Then why are you here?"

Ariel looked in his eyes and started to cry, but she was in the water, he could not see her tears.

"Because these men willed it to be, once they kidnapped me from my home."

Jordan did not say anything, he just stared at her, and his smile faltered into a frown. He seemed like he was hurting.

"Oy... who's there!"

Jordan turned and looked in another direction. Someone was coming.

"I will be back tomorrow night, and every night thereafter... Ariel."

Ariel pressed her hands against the glass and watched as he ran off towards a standing gate. She smiled once more.

"Goodbye... Jordan"