Author's Note: This story is taking a little longer to write than I had thought, but that's normally the case with all of my creative work. I've actually done quite a lot of research to underpin it and ended up drawing a blank and therefore making a pure guess at the 1805 Cruzan road system.

I would like to thank everyone who has reviewed Juletrae for their thoughts and encouragement, and the Nameless One for reminding me that I have until January 7th to finish it all before Christmastide ends as observed throughout Christendom.

That gives me time to complete the chapter 16 of Sael after I finish chapter 3 of this story!

Publication Date:Tuesday, December 29th, 2015 (Major Emendations: Friday, January 1st, 2016)

Juletræ

Chapter 2 – Reflections in the Falling Rain

~~~ Saturday, the 30th of November, 1805 AD ~~~

~ 3:51 p.m. ~

Christiansborg Palace – Christiansted, Sankt Croix

A hundred yards to the south upon its low hilltop perch, an old windmill churned and creaked against the increasingly bitter and rain-laden wind, its great sails whirling round and round, driving its inner shaft and gears in whatever mundane task to which they had been appointed. The sound cut through the gusts of wind, serenading the couple in the pass below with its forelorn and burdened cries. The palace soldiery sat in a loose circle around the phaeton, keeping a respectful distance from its two occupants.

Eric let the rain fall for a few minutes more, holding his fiancée in his arms, listening to her soft breaths against the background of the pattering downfall, feeling the delicate flutter of her heart pressed up close against his own. She seemed to have recovered somewhat, and her little quip had brought a smile to his face. His soft kiss to the top of her head had followed in reply. After everything that had happened to her, she was still his Ariel, yet her stillness troubled him. What was she thinking, had she fallen asleep?

"Ariel? Aren't you … angry with me?" he asked softly, in case she was indeed sleeping, though he quietly hoped that she wasn't.

To his surprise, she shook her head. With her left cheek laid against his right shoulder and chest, it was just the slightest of movements, one very subtle; but after what they had so far endured, Eric had become very sensitive to how Ariel spoke to him, spoke to him without words. And to think, it had all begun with three all too short days.

From under the fringe of her crimson, almost rose-red bangs came a single soft word, one syllable, barely audible over the din of the falling rain.

"… no."

The young prince found himself speechless. After all, she should have been angry with him, at the very least quite upset, after all, his words had brought her to tears again, this after he had hoped that he had banished her sorrows and fears the Sunday before last, along with Knudsen and Østerby.

She had cried far too much the day prior to that, but following that night her only tears had been ones of happiness, even joy. That in his stupid, unthinking anxiousness he had nearly just provoked an argument with her when he had simply wanted nothing more than to enjoy her company … made him ache inside. There were better ways to explain such things to her. Why was it always like this with him, his words either too hasty when said, or not there at all when needed?

Against his chest, Ariel let the fingers of her right hand play about her ring finger as she wondered at the strange feeling of it being so … occupied. The former mermaid smiled softly, but she had already been smiling, on the inside at least, ever since Eric had described his scolding statement to her as "stupid" to Captain Carlson.

While it wasn't stupid, from that little comment to the Captain, the young woman knew that Eric was upset because of what he had said and regretful of how it had affected her; and now she suspected why he had said it in the first place.

"Eric, I know you just want me to be safe. That's all that Daddy wanted for me too." she whispered as she lay there quietly, feeling her prince and husband-to-be breathing in and out, also quietly, softly. She could hear his heart, pounding away in his chest. She could hear him thinking as he caressed her, her hair, her back, her shoulders. Even after less than two months of being truly with him, Ariel could feel that he was listening to her. So she went on.

"I owe it to you to at least try to be careful. To try harder I mean." She sighed. After a moment of quiet, she continued. "You risked everything for me, and I didn't deserve that."

The rain pelted the cloth top above them as the wind carried a spray of drops against the cloak in which Eric had surrounded Ariel earlier; earlier before they had set out back for Christiansted and the Palace. The same rain fell against the black oilskin that now lay spread across their laps, legs, and feet, keeping them reasonably dry. From there the water ran down onto and across the footboard, then further down off the right side of the phaeton and onto the road. Pooling, it trickled away in little rivulets off to the side of the road, then off east to join the nearby swollen brook. Even through the rain and wind, the babbling and churning sounds of the brook could be heard clearly beneath the low stone bridge ahead.

Though he worried about leaving Derek and his men soaking in the rain and cold, Eric couldn't not devote his attention to his fiancée. The banns would be published the next day across the island while the letters would be soon enroute across the Atlantic on the next ship with the Governor's dispatches. The day after Easter Sunday they would become man and wife. As soft as they were, Ariel's words were now all that Eric heard, and while he welcomed what she said, he couldn't accept the generosity and self-denial of her conclusion.

"Ariel, yes you did. You did deserve it, everything I did for you was merely my returning the love you had offered me."

He brought the fingers of his left hand to her right cheek, caressing it, playing gently in the wet tendrils of her crimson hair, hair that in the dull daylight now took on the hue of the petals of a dark red rose. "You risked your life to save mine, more than once; and you almost killed yourself just becoming human on the chance that you might find me." He paused again, his eyes distant, seeing something other than the girl laying there within his arms. "… Just on the hope that I might return your love."

Ariel remained quiet against him as she contemplated his words, remembering the things that had come to pass between them, thinking about how he seemed to have perceived her actions, wondering if and how he might have still found her, had it not been for her one desperate act.

"I didn't know that before, when I first found you, but I do now; and I don't forget such sacrifices Ariel." He was quiet for a moment, lost in thought again, then continued. "I hope that I haven't disappointed you."

He began to stroke her hair again with his left hand, to once again gently caress her back beneath her long red tresses, now half hidden by the half-folded hood of his cloak that she wore. "I'd do it all again for you … I promise. I'd do anything for you Ariel, except let myself lose you again. I'm sorry, that's just the price of having me, and you're going to have to live with it."

Her eyes were growing wet again, but not with tears of sadness, rather those of happiness and love. She hadn't grown angry with Eric because she had understood how he felt about her, though she herself was unwilling to believe that she really deserved him. She didn't. But he stubbornly insisted upon telling her repeatedly that she did, that he wanted her.

It comforted her, he comforted her, just as he had when the Witch had come for her and he had fought it when she couldn't herself, just as he had when it had come again for both of them, when he had refused to leave her. Since she had awakened days after the battle with the Witch, he had never ceased to tell her how much he desired her in his life.

How could she not forgive him, not try to understand how he felt about her taking such risks? She never did with her father and look where it had led her; well, almost, had it not been for the man who was now holding her safe and warm in his arms.

Sometimes she said hasty things too, words inspired by passion and not very clear thinking, even though she was quite capable of the opposite; at least she hoped that she was.

Had it been Eric in her place, wouldn't she have felt the exact same way – hurt, jealous, protective, just as she had when Vanessa, the Witch, whatever she was, had almost taken him into a cursed marriage and then on to oblivion?

Had the Ulusûlêth succeeded it would have been her fault for dragging Eric into her folly, her nightmare. That part of what Henrik Knudsen had said last week had been true, almost, and she hated herself for it, for having been so blind to the dangers she had brought down upon Eric, upon her father, and upon their peoples.

She sniffed, wiping at her tears.

"I love you Eric." she whispered, as she fought off her thoughts and fears of what it would be like to lose him. They terrified her, more than falling, more than lampreys, more than hateful sailors, more than the Witch … more than anything. The thought of being alone without him, it was something she had trouble even bringing herself to contemplate; and when he had collapsed on her the very week after it seemed that she, that they, had gained everything they had both ever desired; it had seemed like her world was ending suddenly … horribly.

"I love you too, my little mermaid." came his reply, quiet and gentle as his fingers slid through her soft red tresses, soothing her and making her eyelids grow heavy.

She sighed.

Ariel mused how he always liked to call her that, and how it hadn't been long after he had first done so that Aubrey and Carlotta had followed suit. She liked it too. Actually, she loved it. Those three words like few others he said made her feel so warm and loved inside. She was at home with Eric. When she had asked him why he called her that a month ago, he had simply said that he never wanted either of them to forget who she was, who she had been, and what she had given up to be with him; as well as how much he recognized and adored her for it.

How could she be angry with him given all of that? How could she be so lucky? She was so happy now, felt so serene, just because he was holding her. That he was so jealous, even of sweet old Archimedes; it actually made her feel a little warm inside, and somewhat guilty as well. As she lay there against him, she realized how clear now everything had become to her, just by waiting quietly for a handful of minutes, by not allowing herself to grow angry, by not allowing herself to be selfish and rash as she might have just two short months ago, a lifetime ago.

That had been how her mother had been … calm and quiet, even serene. Ariel smiled. Both Attina and Alana were that way too, sometimes; most of the time actually. Was she too becoming more now like her mother, growing into her mother's image? If so, then she couldn't be too unhappy about it; after all, there were far worse ways to be than how her mother had been.

"A penny for your thoughts … Princess." Eric whispered through her hair, into her right ear.

"Eric!" she whispered, snapping out of her reverie and raising her eyes to him without lifting her face from her Prince's chest. "That's what I asked you." she whispered back.

He nodded, lowering his lips to her right temple, kissing her softly, wetly; which she resisted not one bit, instead closing her eyes as he did so. "That's right, and instead of answering I made you cry. I'm sorry love."

A mischievous smile returned to her lips.

"It's all right Eric ..." she whispered.

She opened her eyes once again, eyes that sparkled now with newfound mirth, stealing his breath away as she so often did.

"… as long as I get to drive the carriage the rest of the way back to the palace?" she finished, her eyes looking up into his, full of hope.

To such a wonderful, sweet entreaty, how else could he possibly reply? He chuckled so softly that it was barely even a sound, just a loving rumble beneath her, from deep from within in his chest as he continued to caress her hair, neck, and back.

"Whenever you're ready, my love." taking care to subtly emphasize the last two words.

Ariel sighed and smiled even more brightly, closing her eyes and cuddling with him against the cold and the rain, feeling the slender filigreed golden band and its stone of adamant upon her finger, thinking of her wedding day, their wedding day, and what might someday be born of it. She dreamt of babies, of their children, of a lifetime and a family of her own with Eric.

Oh, if only someday; but adventures too! There was still so, so much to see and so, so much to do between now and then! She also wondered how it all worked, babies, that is … human babies; and realized that she still didn't really know very much about how it all worked with merfolk either. The whole matter felt a little, well, embarrassing to her.

But this, being with Eric so; this was so nice … and so warm.

She nodded softly against him, at which she felt him slowly sit up as his arms raised and steadied her. Ariel found herself looking into his eyes once again, her former smile fading, a look of embarrassment and even regret taking its place. "I'm sorry that I cried, Eric." she whispered.

"Ariel, don't be … please. It was my fault for making you cry."

Ariel looked at him innocently, puzzlement lingering in her eyes. She wanted to agree, but knew that she would be wrong if she did; if not wrong in fact, then in spirit.

Eric studied her, then decided to elaborate. "I meant well, but I have to learn to think things through, how I say things before I say them, just like Grim says." He stopped, thinking of the seeming unlikelihood that the Two Crowns might ever be offered to him. The ability to speak, to control his thoughts and manner in discourse was of immense importance, and he would need those skills were he ever to be King.

"I'm not used to it, having to think through my words so carefully, and it breaks my heart when I fail to do so, when I say things that make you cry." The young prince stopped, considering his next words.

"It's just that, Ariel, I'm used to talking to sailors, to men like Hans and Hendrik, men like Derek's soldiers, not to ladies. I never mean to be callous like I was when I said that to you, and especially not to you." He paused. "I'm trying to learn though, please trust me when I say that."

She listened, trying to decide what to say. That he was right? That she understood? That she trusted him? That she would always trust him? But she too found herself at a loss for words, despite all of the thoughts that had passed through her heart and mind since he had brought the carriage to a halt. So instead … she kissed him. It began as a soft and tender kiss to his lips, but as he returned it, it grew deeper and stronger until they at last parted, breathless, each slowly opening their eyes to look into the other's.

He sat there, still holding the young maiden loosely, she perched in his lap looking into his eyes, his right hand still drawing tender lines and small circles beneath her slight shoulders. "Would you like to take the reins now?"

The former mermaid smiled and nodded demurely, shifting back to her right as Eric slid her gently off of his lap and back onto the tooled black leather seat. Ariel brushed some of the speckled raindrops away, smoothing her skirts beneath herself as she did so. As she seated herself, she thought again about all of the other human things she had learned, customs, etiquette, ideas, and habits. Things as simple as basic movements. Thinking of such things made her happy. Only once she seemed comfortable did Eric actually offer her the reins. She smiled at him, and took them into her slender fingers.

Eric looked up now at Carlson, who sat drenched astride his horse now just ten paces away.

"Derek, everything's fine now." Eric began, raising his voice against the wind and pouring rain. "I'm sorry to keep you and your men waiting out here in the weather."

"It's our pleasure, your Highness." the Captain replied without a hint of irony in his voice, then looking back beyond and to the sides of the phaeton, he turned his attentions to his men, "Men, your stations please."

Ariel watched as in neat order the men drew their horses into the same positions in which they had been escorting their carriage earlier. In a way their precision on horseback reminded her of her father's best warriors, how fluidly they moved and with such discipline. These men were the same four soldiers who had been with or around her and Eric for the last two weeks. Privates Jens and Anders she both knew, but was quietly embarrassed that she didn't know the first names of the other two soldiers, Privates Bech and Brandt. From what Eric had told her, just like her people, humans usually had several names.

They reminded her of Apollo, of even Urchin and Flounder; and she liked Private Jens' youthful sense of humor, and Thomsen's dry wit. They seemed … interested in her, they answered her questions, and it was nice to get to know other humans, especially ones whom she felt she could trust and talk to. Aside from Apollo, her father's warriors had never shown such an interest in either her or her explorations.

She smiled as she remembered that she would herself gain a new name, Oldenburg, when she and Eric at last were wed! She wondered what it meant, if like her names and Eric's, that name had any meaning or significance at all. With that thought in mind, Ariel looked over to her fiancé and then back to Captain Carlson, her eyes asking if it was safe to go once again.

"Whenever you're ready your Highness." Carlson replied to her directly, responding seemingly to just her questioning look.

"Thank you Captain!" she said sweetly, softly, smiling at the officer and then back at Eric. With a gentle snap of the reins she set Trooper into motion once again.

The carriage quickly regained its former speed under the horse's strong pull, a fact quickly attested to by how the raindrops once again began to pelt at her face, wetting both eyelids and eyes. The fullness of her bangs provided some protection against this even though they were damp, and growing ever damper.

Under her guidance the carriage rolled steadily along, its wheels splashing on through puddles and mud, across cobbles and grasses, and was now passing between high hills off to her right and lower hills to her left. Ahead lay a fork in the road, the right branch of which would take them into pretty Christiansted and onward to Printsensbakke.

Though the air about her was filled with falling water, the land beneath it looked nothing like the familiar floor of the sea. Instead of barren rock or sands spotted with floating and swaying plants, the hills were green with trees, tall grasses, and all manner of dense plants the names of which she had yet to learn. There were animals, cows, sheep, and goats, huddling against the rain and chill. The trees and bushes swayed in the wind, catching the rain drops and wicking them to the ground, their normally vivid greens seeming much subdued beneath the cold and rainy skies. There were no birds to be seen. They must not like the cold either.

As they went, the former mermaid listened; listened to the sound of the wind around her in the trees and grasses, to the sound of the falling rain, its drops sharply striking the pools of water on the ground after their long plummet from the clouds up above. The sounds of the surface world, the human world, they never ceased to amaze her, enthrall her, so sharp and clear they were. Ariel marveled at the long streaks and different shades of gray strewn out across the skies above, the low strands and puffs of rain-laden mist that scudded (Eric had told her that was the word) below a sullen ceiling of cloud.

It was beautiful … so beautiful … but cold. How had it gotten so cold?

"Yes, they are." Eric said flatly, interrupting her thoughts, leaving his words hanging in the air.

To their right Private Lund surged ahead and off to the right to investigate something. Eric's eyes followed with a look of slight concern as the man and his horse disappeared behind them over the embankment. In his absence, Private Thomsen rode forward, placing himself directly between the phaeton and the low earthen ridge.

Ariel looked over to him briefly smiling softly, then back to Eric. "Are? Are what?" she asked. Happy to hear his voice again, she wondered worriedly how long she had been distracted, if she had been ignoring him; and hoping that she hadn't.

There was a short silence, just long enough to make Ariel want to ask her question again; but before she could speak Eric playfully jumped back in.

"Smart." He paused, smiling at her calmly. "Horses. You had asked me if all horses were all as clever as Trooper. Not all of them, but most are very intelligent, from what I understand the more so the wilder they are."

"Oh! There are wild horses?" Ariel asked. "Where? Here on the island?"

The Prince was relieved when he saw Private Lund and his mount leap back up over the embankment to rejoin them, trading glances with Captain Carlson, Private Thomsen, and finally Eric himself as he did so. With a single shake of his head he indicated that all was well, that whatever he had chased after had apparently amounted to nothing, then resumed his previous station.

Eric shook his head slightly. "No. Not on Sankt Croix, but there are some in Puerto Rico and Cuba from what I understand, and there are even more of them in America. Derek says that the prairies and lands out beyond the Missouri River have huge herds of them, just roaming across vast open plains."

Sometimes when Eric spoke, the new words and names came so quickly that they simply overwhelmed the former mermaid; so when she heard words that she recognized, they almost acted as familiar safe havens for her sometimes addled mind. She had heard one such word and was about to ask Eric about its meaning when yet another one with which she was unfamiliar caught her attention instead.

"Misery?" Ariel asked, her voice falling sadly as she unsuccessfully tried to remember what the other word had been. Such a name sounded so sad for anything, let alone something as magnificent as a river. As she gently brought Trooper and the carriage about a slight bend in the road, the young princess mused at how often Eric mentioned the Captain as a source of the many things he knew and had learned of the world.

"Mizz-ooo-ree." Eric corrected her gently as he slipped his arm around her once again, content now that she was herself, and once again comfortable driving. Given that she was a novice, Ariel actually was quite good at it, especially in the way she just seemed to be able to sense what the horse was about to do, or perhaps how the horse was able to sense where she wanted to go, and she didn't even seem to know it.

"It's a large river in the North American west. The United States just purchased the lands along it a few years ago."

"Mizz-ooo-ree." the young woman repeated, carefully forming each syllable, exactly as Eric had said it, albeit in a voice far fairer, and far lovelier. She smiled when she decided she had gotten the sounds right. "Is it far? What is the United States?

Ariel knew the two men were good friends, despite the Captain being many years older than Eric. Their relationship, the more she had observed it since last week, seemed almost brotherly. The Captain had always insisted upon maintaining such formality around her and Eric that she hadn't even been aware he had such a warm and caring side, not until that day two weeks ago at least. How was it possible that she still couldn't clearly remember so much of what had happened on her third day as a human?

Someday soon, she wanted to sneak out in the morning to watch the two men sparring with one another, whatever that meant. From how Eric had described it must mean practicing fighting for whatever reason.

"Boys …" she sighed to herself, smiling rather wistfully. Ariel found herself amused at her thoughts and all of the strange feelings she had been having. When had she started thinking of men like that? Human men! Had it been after she had met Eric? … Certainly not before? Once again she found herself thinking of Apollo and Urchin.

"Far? From here?" Eric asked, musing at how he could see how his little mermaid had learned to speak such beautiful English. She had an excellent ear for sounds and ability to produce them almost perfectly, and perhaps sometimes even an intuitive sense of what they meant.

"Yes, it is, thousands and thousands of miles; and the United States, it's a country, the one the Americans come from. It used to be part of England, the British Empire."

For a moment Ariel was caught up in thought, in comprehension. Alatairë, the great Ocean, she knew it to be thousands of miles across, and at least many miles deep; and that knowledge gave her a sense of the immensities to which Eric was referring.

"Oh." her voice fell. "That sounds really far."

Then her mind caught up to everything he had said after the rather depressing "thousands and thousands of miles." He had said "Americans!"

Eric could hear the disappointment in her words. It wasn't the first time he had heard that sad tone in the past month and a half he had spent with her. Ariel wanted to see so many things, to do so many things that involved the distant places he told her of. Sometimes he wondered if he could ever possibly fulfill her dreams. Then again, he wanted to see most of those same places too, do most of those same things too, otherwise he wouldn't have known or told her about them, would he?

Some probably weren't very safe for ladies or princesses though, especially beautiful ones like Ariel who happened to have been mermaids for most of their lives. This he thought as he was admiring his young fiancée's eyes as they watched the road and rainy sky ahead, her elegant upturned nose, her high pretty cheekbones and delicate chin.

Eric realized his mind was drifting, badly, and snapped his attention back to their conversation, sighing. He never tired of looking at his love, her beauty and her many expressions. It was like looking into her soul, the one she insisted that she didn't have, the one he could see manifest so clearly in her.

"It is. The only reason that I know of it is that Derek talks about it sometimes when we're practicing." Eric paused, troubled by the tone in her voice "Ariel, is there something wrong? You sound … sad again."

She smiled back to him, then lifted her left hand to shield her eyes against a sheet of rain. Eric quickly raised his own left hand above her eyes to let her drive with both hands. "Thank you." she said, smiling at him, wiping the rain from her forehead and eyes before returning her left hand to the reins once again. Having to pull the water from her face and even her hair was so strange.

"Are you all right, love?"

"Oh, well yes." Ariel nodded. "It's just that I've always wanted to see a river. I've read about them. Is it true that they're like the sea but only move in one direction, like a cu … curr … current?"

"Yes, that's right, but they aren't as deep or as wide as a sea." He paused, thinking. "Though I've heard of some that are so wide at points you can't see across them, like the Amazon!"

"Really?!" Ariel gasped. It wasn't often she heard such excitement in Eric's voice and she wondered why that was. She tried to imagine what an enormous river like the ones he had mentioned might look like. "Then … they are like the sea!? Those ones at least?"

"None of them are close though, love. There are some small, short rivers in Puerto Rico, but here in the islands we just have little brooks and streams. Even the Salt River is really just a glorified lagoon."

"Oh." she replied, then just as quickly continued onto a different but related thought. "What's the 'Ama-zon?'" she asked, smiling proudly to herself as she often did when she heard herself produce the same sounds Eric had made.

She looked over lovingly at him, hoping to catch that look of approval and even surprise she sometimes found in his eyes at how good she was becoming at learning new words and names. She was greeted with precisely that, her love's eyes fixed upon hers, an admiring smile on his face as he held her.

She giggled silently. She had gotten it right! Sometimes being a human girl was so amazingly fun!

"It's an enormous, immensely long river in Brazil, you remember Brazil right? No one really knows where it, that river I mean, begins, save that it's in the jungle and probably the Andes Mountains far beyond it."

Ariel nodded, remembering finding Brazil together in a book the week before when he and she had been discussing of all things, coins. She thought about the words and names Eric was using, remembering some from things he had shown to and read to her, and wondering what the Andes Mountains were.

Sometimes, she smiled, Eric reminded her of Grimsby when he used long words like "enormous" and "immensely."

"Is it thousands and thousands of miles?" she giggled, a playful look dancing in her eyes, as taking her eyes off the road for a moment she glanced at him, happy to use the same words he had so often with her to characterize the enormous distances of his world, … her new world. "Long, I mean?" she added.

Eric nodded, smiling back as he kissed her forehead. "Yes it is. Eyes on the road love." The latter part he whispered, gently, and with a loving touch to her hands.

Ariel giggled again, turning her head back and focusing her attention once again on road. She took note of the Captain, still keeping the same distance out ahead of them. She wondered how he was able to do so without looking back at them all the time.

It was so adorable sometimes, how Eric expressed himself, just as though Eric really was Aubrey's own son; which was good because it helped her vocabulary, and Aubrey was such a nice man. Yet another reason not to have been mad at the man she would soon marry.

She wondered how this "Easter" would be, and what it would be like. But her wedding day was not the only thought on her mind.

"And the jungle. It's like a forest?" she continued, shifting her wide, excited eyes back slightly to her love, within whose embrace she warmly and comfortably still sat.

Eric nodded. "Yes, but not a pleasant one, love. Jungles are dangerous."

"They are? Why?" she asked, a soft concern in her words as she leaned a little closer into him, which was hard, actually, given that she was already nestled so close to him.

"Well, the big, deep ones are. They're dark, it's always raining, and they're teeming with deadly animals, vermin, and all sorts of poisonous things." Eric left out the stories he had heard of cannibals, not wanting to scare her more than she already seemed to be; definitely not safe for a lady and a princess. "We have one here on Sankt Croix, did you know that?"

Ariel shook her head to this, thinking, then grinned and cried out happily "We do! W … where!?"

Eric smiled, though he really hadn't stopped smiling since they had begun moving once again. For Ariel, the possibility of an adventure or seeing and exploring someplace new always trumped fear, at least at first. He canted his head back and to the left. "It's in the northwest part of the island, but it's just a small one. To be honest love, calling it a 'jungle' is something of an exaggeration."

"Oh! Well, if it's small, is it one of the safe ones? Can we go see it?" she cried excitedly. "Eric, please, will you take me? Pretty Please?" she leaned her head back towards his, capturing his eyes with hers just as they were rounding the bend into Christiansted.

Ariel pulled the reins slightly in order to slow Trooper, knowing that much greater care and skill would be required in the town. She looked to Eric, smiling softly, then to the reins.

Returning her smile, he gently took her left hand into his own, but held it only tightly enough to make her feel comfortable. With a little bit of adjustment of how she lay against him and the position of his right arm, he took both of her hands into his own. Thus she continued to drive, with only silent guidance from him when she seemed uncertain of which direction to take them or when she seemed to hesitate when action was needed. With the confusion of streets, horses, and carts it was a harder task than driving down the long and relatively wide Frederiksted road, made easier only by the fact that Captain Carlson was out ahead, leading the way.

"Pretty Please!?" Eric thought. How was it that Ariel already learned about "pretty please?" Had Carlotta at last taught her every girl's secret weapon?!"

Now that … was hardly fair.

Even as it stood Eric could barely resist Ariel begging him for anything (meaning … he couldn't); now that this new qualification was to be added to her requests; and with those eyes!

Eric sighed wistfully.

That was it, he was doomed, happily doomed to be sure, but doomed nonetheless.

Alas, such was the price of falling in love with the girl of his dreams, the love of his life and his true love; a girl who just happened to have not long ago … been a mermaid.

Author's Note: Like the last, this chapter is almost purely Ariel and Eric, wherein we're seeing our former little mermaid experiencing her new world more fully than we've yet been able to in my stories.

In terms of the timeline, there is much that is hinted at that still has yet to be seen in Sael, and in the even things take a sudden unexpected turn in that story, the events and dialog herein will change as well to maintain both consistency and cohesion.

The next chapter, "How to Warm a Little Mermaid's Heart," is well underway, being edited, and with my anticipated effort I hope to have it up by tomorrow or the day after.

8. "The Little Maiden" - An Inverted Lens on Ariel in the Human World

9. Regarding the Weather (Depictions of Weather and Climate in "Ariel's Isle")

Acknowledgments and Credits:

Cover Art: "The Little Mermaid: The Holiday Treasure Hunt." (Thanks again Converse!)

Creative Contributions:I would like to acknowledge the influence on this story of Crisis Rose's many wonderful stories, especially "Broken Strings", "Prince Eric - Parts 1 and 2", and "Keep Holding On"; as well as TardisBlueMermaid's gorgeous "Fallen Angel." Many of the thoughts and themes from these have found a place in "Juletrae." As mentioned previously, "Altered Reality" and "No Ocean's Too Wide" by Converse R Life, "No Words" by Enchanted Mountain, "Out of the Dark" by xSummersx, and "Spring" by LocalSportsTeam have had particular influence on my thoughts and the scenes I have visualized.