Strange events occurred over the course of Ariana's recovery.
No one could understand how every physician who treated who grew ill shortly after. It was concluded that she could have a terribly sickness that spread easily and there were few physicians who came in the end.
The lucky thing slept through the entire thing. She would have hated the knowledge of how many people she inevitably hurt.
Awaking was a curse in many ways. The agonising throat burn's return was the most impending of these reasons. The main reason however, was the reminder of her task.
The sea still called out to her with promises of its enveloping rapture. The intolerable itching returned that informed her of the scales reforming.
The inner curious child of Ariana still enjoyed the time of her life as she explored the human world. Her mad drive for learning could have been from the control of said inner child, or more likely as a means to avoid Eric as much as she could muster.
Thankfully he learnt early on that she was supposedly opposed to contact. Little did he know that this limitation was for the purpose of his life.
Needless to say, Ariana had no plan. She never did. Days passed as she was unsure over whose side she was truly fighting for.
What she needed was someone to tell her.
And that someone came shortly.
It had been an uneventful morning previous. Bernard had taken it upon himself to teach the poor girl chess and she spent many an hour learning simply the piece names. So obviously the game would not fare well to her. Eliza took pity on her and hovered over her shoulder, whispering words of wisdom, much to Bernard's dismay. Eric happily played away at the piano, mainly because of Ariana's constant requests and his desire to do anything she asked. Clay was present also, but he grew bored of chess and music with a great pace and began drinking in the corner.
The happiness was broken by the door suddenly being thrust open. Ezra strode into the room with pride practically beaming off him. This would have been due to the beautiful woman on his arm.
There was something about her characteristics that seemed familiar to the humans.
"Attention all," Ezra said in that booming voice of him. "I would like to introduce you to a special young woman that has just come into my life. This is Christobelle."
It was clearly a ruse. In a desperate attempt to win back some pride, it seemed that Ezra had gone out with the mission of finding the most gorgeous woman he could to compete with all of the attention his brother had achieved. She would have to extraordinary to take the place of Ariana in the people's hearts. Practically everyone in the village rejoiced in the idea of their favourite prince falling for a commoner and this was only heightened when they meet her and her kindness was made obvious.
This new woman did not have the same aurar and obviously had a lot of work ahead of her. She looked around the massive room with an upturned lip and muttered, "it's not very big is it?" She looked at each other people in turn and muttered, "I wouldn't say much for it's inhabitants either."
Ariana rose from her seat, appearing extremely angry. "What gives you the right to judge us?"
Christobelle looked her up and down and uttered a single scoff. "My superiority obviously. Now sit down child."
"Child?" Ariana said in an indignant tone.
"Would you prefer fool?"
"Would you prefer a slap?"
"I could destroy you in a heartbeat."
"Well here is your chance."
All present watched in horror as the two strode up to meet in the middle of the room.
Then in a shocking turn of events they broke out enormous smiles and leapt at each other, not in the presumed fighting stance but in a deep embrace.
'What?" Ezra said but trailed out before he could form a question.
"Did I not tell you this was my baby sister?" Christobelle told him with a smirk. "Now I only needed you to get in the palace. So you can leave now."
"But," he stuttered, completely shocked at her change in character.
"Door is that way genius," she said in a bored tone and turned back to her sister. Ezra puffed out his chest in a feeble attempt to gain dignity. This failed but he strode out all the same.
"So we finally get to meet someone from Ariana's famous family?" Bernard said, more to himself as it was obvious that neither sister was paying attention. Finally they all saw the distinct characteristics shared between the two. The perfect faces with the sea blue eyes and the silvery blonde hair seemed obvious. Christobelle wore hers straight and cropped short around her face but the same beauty remained. She was also a considerable height taller than her sister, something that did not go unnoticed between the two.
"How was I the one stuck with the tiny things," Ariana muttered quietly.
"You anger the council, you get punished. But anyway," she turned to the others and said, "aren't' you going to introduce me?"
The sight of the humans reminded Ariana of the dire situation and this brought a realisation of how her sisters presence here may not be so innocent. She was suddenly precautious.
Introducing them in turn, she left Eric till last. She wanted there too be as much time possible before her sister learnt which innocent human was the target.
As soon as she heard the name, Christobelle was suddenly more alert. She had a smug look on her face that worried her sister.
"So it's not that I don't love you, but why are here?"
"I've come to take you home you fool."
It was the humans turn to be on edge. None of them wished to see Ariana leave, least of all Eric and he was quickly defensive. "Are you so sure that she wants to leave?"
Christobelle snorted, in a rather un-ladylike fashion and ignored him. "Come child," she said grabbing her sisters hands. "Let's go somewhere we can talk so I may inform you of my master plan."
"I'm not a child,' Ariana said as she pulled her hands back. This startled the other mermaid as it was not the reaction she had expected.
Turning to Eric, Ariana calmed him by saying, "just give me a moment with this crazy one here. I'll be right back." She gave him that special smile that never failed to result in a return.
Now Christobelle was the one of edge. Angered, she clasped her sisters arm and pulled her from the room. "What was that?" she said angrily, not caring how loud she was.
"Chris calm down," Ariana said but sadly her calming powers seemed to only work on Eric.
"Why aren't you leaping for joy right now? Did you not hear me? I have a full proof plan that will get you back in the ocean without destroying those hundreds of pathetic human lives that I know you want to protect."
These words made Ariana finally listen. So Christobelle continued, "your mission was to get the Prince to give that stupid key right? Well, you can't do that, if there is no Prince."
No longer listening, Ariana turned to leave. "Where are you going? Did you not hear the plan? It's perfect! One life instead of hundreds. And the council will have to give you back your tail as there is no possible way for you to complete it! We just have to make it look like an accident."
"I can't kill him Chris!" Ariana said and finally Christobelle figured it out.
"You don't. You can't possibly," she said softly, hardly able to form the words. "No!" she cried and slapped her sister on the face. "What do you think you're doing? Do you ever have a plan? There is no way that could work." Ariana couldn't say anything and avoided eye contact. Christobelle also had nothing to say anymore but filled the silence by smashing anything breakable she could find in the room.
"Chris!" Ariana called as she tried to hold her back.
Finally, taking many a deep breath, Christobelle seemed to regain control. "You are a fool sister," she said calmly. "But luckily I deem fit to help you." And before Ariana could stop her, she walked away.
Any help from the likes of that mermaid would not be preferable.
Eric saw her leaving and quickly joined Ariana. He had been close by as soon as he heard crashing and that protective instinct awoke. Thankfully he had kept his distance so nothing was heard.
He put his arm around her, seeing her obvious need for comfort. There was the initial jump on her part that always occurred as she assessed that he was not directly touching her. Satisfied in the clothing shield, she relaxed into the comfort.
Sadly he was still on edge, Ariana seemed different and the idea of her leaving worried him. The wild sister was gone for now, but how long would she stay gone for?
He was right to stay on edge.
Christobelle planned to murder him later that night.