Eric has a set of four abs, strong and broad with wiry shoulders, sun-tanned like the rest of him, and by merman standards, he would easily be on par with the guards in Atlantica, and of course, it doesn't hurt that he's very handsome, with his inky black hair, and ice blue eyes.
Ariel nodded, "I'm glad to hear that you are able to defend yourself like that. I hope you don't need it much here on this island.".
"I hope not either... at quite a disadvantage without one for sure.", Eric sighed as he walked over to the cave exit. "Anyways, I'll be right back, okay? Just hold still again and I'll be back with the firewood in a few minutes.".
Ariel smiled softly, "Okay.", as Max went to her side, laying down beside her, and Eric nodded before leaving once again, to grab some good firewood. Ariel then petted Max warmly, "Strangely enough, I feel like everything's going to be alright for some time, and I feel like I'm safe with him, Max.".
Max yipped softly, licking her hand, and Ariel giggled, "I know, boy, I'm safe with you too.", smiling as she gazed out on the cove water, and as she now knows that there's no other people besides Eric, she feels safe enough to warm up her voice, softly singing, growing into her passionate, genuine song from her secret grotto.
After a few minutes, Eric was right at the entrance way before hearing Ariel's singing voice echoing from it. He stopped for a moment as he listened, practically under its hypnotic spell almost before he finally came back to and walked in when Ariel suddenly stopped.
"You know, you can keep going if you want, you have quite the singing voice.", Eric chuckled as he started to put down the sticks that he had collected.
Ariel blushed brightly yet happily, "You like it?", and Eric nodded, "I sure do...Honestly, I think you would have given my mother a run for her money...She had a lovely singing voice.".
"You should have heard my mother sing...She was wonderful at it...Daddy said that I inherited her gift...", Ariel smiled bittersweetly. Eric smiled back at her, "Well, I am sure your mother would be proud of that...Honoring her while you sing, that would be the greatest gift for her, indeed.".
"It would be nicer though if she was here.", Ariel rubbed her arm as she sighed. "Yeah... I know the feeling.", Eric admitted as he leaned down with a few sticks. "Okay then... since I don't have any flint... hopefully these sticks should get something going.", he said as he started to rub them together to get a spark going.
Ariel watched him work for a few minutes as she asked, "So, the rocks isn't working since they aren't flint?", and Eric shrugged, "Flint is usually found on old riverbeds and some beaches, but not all of them.".
"Oh.", Ariel said before noticing Eric's badly ruined boots, "How come does humans hide their feet in those things?", and Eric blinked in confusion before realizing what she's talking about, and chuckled as he still rubbed the sticks together, "Those things are called boots, through boots isn't the only thing that we humans wear on our feet. My boots protect me from sharp rocks, losing my balance on the ship or any other surface, staying dry from water or mud, and occasionally, they are advantageous in being a bit taller than some people, and kicking people away during battle.".
"I see... Scuttle always called them something different.", Ariel said as Eric chuckled, "Why do I get the feeling that's not the only thing he's told you that's wrong?".
Ariel chuckled, "I guess since Scuttle can't talk to humans, he tries his best to understand human speech and all, but he must have gotten mixed up in things and such. Still, I hope there are stranded human things on this island so I can ask you all the questions I want.", before gasping in surprise as Eric finally got a small fire going, and Eric gently breathed into it, feeding it with branches and such as it grew into a comfortable-sized fire, contained by the circle of rocks.
"So, that's fire...", Ariel breathed in awe, scuffling closer, and Eric warned gently, "Yes, and it's very hot, so no touching as you can get burned...Fire is a light for darkness, a way of warming people up, and it cooks raw food we have on the mainland to certain temperatures, edible then for us humans to eat.".
"Interesting...", Ariel nodded as Eric put his hands close to warm himself. "You can get a bit close to it for some warmth, but too close and you'll burn yourself. Hopefully this will last through much of the night.", Eric said that last bit to himself.
Ariel copied Eric and smiled in delight as she looked at the fire, "This feels nice...", and then she reached for the shirt-bag of kiwi, peaches, and oranges, and picked three of each, and Eric chuckled warmly, grabbing the orange, "You peel this, see?", peeling the orange, and cracking the orange open, splitting the slices, and handing one slice to Ariel, "Try this first.".
Ariel took a bite of the orange and smiled as she chewed. "Wow... that's actually really tasty.", she said as Eric chuckled, "Thought you might like that one. Of course, you'll probably love the peaches then since they're much sweeter."
Eric then plucked the peach and broke it in half, giving the first half to Ariel, and Ariel took a bite, her eyes widening in awe as she gasped, "You're right, this is much sweeter than the orange! I love it!", and Eric smiled as he ate his second half of the peach, while taking slices from the orange to eat as well.
After Ariel finished eating the peach, she looked to the kiwi, and Eric, after eating, grabbed it from her, and dunked it in the water, cleaning it off before splitting it open, and handing the other half to her, "Okay, there you go.".
Taking a bite, Ariel blinked, thoughtfully chewing before gulping, and replied, "That's good, actually, but I think peaches are my top favorite.", and Eric chuckled, "Duty noted. Good thing we have plenty for us to last for a few more days before I can go off and pick some more.".
"And then of course...", Eric added. "Some meat might be worthwhile too if I can find some. Er, have you ever had any before?", he asked her as she shook her head, "No, just really the only stuff that I mentioned before with my usual food.".
"I see. Well... certainly could use the meat for Max, that's for sure. He can't live off of just fruit.", Eric replied. Max barked as he chewed and nibbled on, licking and eating a peach, and Ariel nodded, "Right...", and Eric smiled at her, "But that will wait for a while, and besides, Max has plenty of water here, so he won't be thirsty, which is good.".
Ariel smiled, "Yes, fresh water is safe than sea water.", before looking at Eric, "It's good that I'm not alone, Eric.". Eric nodded, "Me too, Ariel.", and so, the trio settled in for their first night, eating a few more fruits before going to sleep as it was a long day.
With some idea of a plan, the first week went well, with changing the bandages on Ariel's tail, finding more fruits and an occasional rabbit that Max helped catch, and Ariel was soon able to swim gingerly in the cove bay, discovering algae and kelp, happy to have a bit of her usual diet, but happy to make it a bit different by eating more of the fruits, and much to her surprise, after cooking and all, she enjoyed the occasional rabbit meat.
Eric and Ariel had developed a secret code in case if there are other people coming without letting Ariel know by the secret code that it was Eric, and the couple became more comfortable with each other, with Ariel asking questions upon every little human thing Eric found on the beaches and such on his outings.
Max was delighted to smell the aroma of attraction growing stronger between them, growing to love Ariel, and hopes to have her as his master's mate, his mistress, loyal to her as much as Eric.
By the second week, Ariel searched for other questions to ask as there were only so much human things to be found, and with Ariel unable to walk on the surface with Eric, she asked more about personal things, and she hasn't forgotten about certain things.
Eric, on the other hand, still was fairly awkward about a few of those questions she was asking. It truly wasn't his place to say things, especially related to the female anatomy in many ways. And talking about intercourse and that sort of stuff; like when she asked how human women give birth, really just was really placing him in an embarrassing place.
"Eric, I've been patient about it.", Ariel said as Eric rubbed his neck. "I know, I know... it's just... I feel weird telling it to you.", he admitted as she rolled her eyes.
"I swear, you sound like Daddy almost when I was asking where merpeople come from.", Ariel chuckled. Eric stood up as she sighed. "You're going to go out exploring again, aren't you?", she asked as Eric nodded.
"Look, I think I've explored most of this island, but there's some bad terrain that kept me from an area. I'm going to try and see what's there in the east.", Eric said, knowing which direction things were thanks to the sun.
Ariel sighed deeply, "Alright, I will give you a break, Eric, but don't think that I'm finished yet.", and Eric chuckled weakly, knowing now that Ariel is more stubborn than him, "I know. I'll be back within a few hours. You want Max to stay here or should I take him with me?".
"Take him with you this time... he might be able to get to places better.", Ariel said. "I'll be alright alone.", with a firm nod. "Okay then.", Eric took a deep breath. "And Ariel... I promise you, tonight, I'll answer those questions for you, okay?".
Ariel smiled at him gratefully, "Okay. You boys be careful, alright?", ruffling Max's fur warmly as he barked, licking Ariel's face before prancing off to Eric's side, and Eric nodded, "We will. There are still some leftover fruits if you're hungry for a snack a while later on.", with a smile.
"I know. Now get going before the day flies by!", Ariel looked at him with a raised eyebrow, and Eric chuckled a bit stronger, "Yes, ma'am. Come on, Max.", and Max barked again, running on as Eric followed by.
Ariel slinked back into the water, deciding to swim a bit, and take a nap before heading back up to the surface to eat a fruit or two.
In the meantime, Eric was finding himself scaling quite the imposing hillside as he was trying to keep close to the coasts, despite the vast cliffs. "Quite a rough island, Max!", Eric called out as he managed to pull himself up with the dog easily hoping a few rocks to get to him. "Show off.". The dog barked as Eric sighed. He glanced around before taking a few more steps up the hill before he reached the peak. "Okay... now let's see where... we... are...", his voice trailed off as he was looking east... and clearly seeing the sight of a small village right on the coast with a small dock.
Eric exhaled, biting his lip as he realized that this is sort of bad news...People means salvation for him, but danger for Ariel...He looked down at Max by his side, "What do you think? A bit of spying to see what's there, Max?", not wanting to be seen, but if he gets close enough to learn a few things including the name of the town, maybe he would have some idea of where this island is...
After all, he had scoured over maps while planning for sailing trips and such. Max whined softly, yipping as he glanced back west, and Eric sighed, "I guess you're right. I better talk to Ariel about this...I wish I had a telescope. At least I could see the signs on the village...I already climbed this hillside for almost an hour! Who knows how long from here to the village is?".
Max yipped lightly, and Eric ruffled his head, "Yeah, better get back to Ariel, and see if I can go early in the morning to get the sense of how long from this place to the village is, maybe find a better way than all of this climbing. Come on, let's go.", turning around, and climbing back down.
The two of them moved as fast as they could while also being careful since the last thing that they needed was a tragic accident and leaving Ariel all alone without knowing what had happened to them. It was getting well past high noon with the sun bearing down hard by the time Eric returned back to the cave and Max running ahead of him.
Eric smiled in relief as he heard Ariel's voice laugh happily, "Max! Alright, alright, down, boy!", and Eric came through the cave to see Max licking Ariel's face heartily, and called out, "Come on, lunkhead, relax!", and Max barked, settling down as he went to quench his thirst from the fresh water.
Ariel smiled at him, "Eric!", before blinking softly, "You found something, didn't you?", and Eric sighed heavily, "Not quite found, but seen...In the east over the tall hillside, there's...a village, a fishing village, it looks like...".
"Any other humans?", Ariel immediately asked. Eric nodded, "I think so. We really didn't get close to look but... it certainly looks fairly normal. Architecture looks... familiar. Certainly not north African so I don't think it's the Barbarys.".
Ariel sighed in relief to hear that it wasn't a pirate town...It would have been more than dangerous for Eric, and herself, and Eric sighed, sitting down besides Ariel, "You know, you can swim away now since your tail's not painful anymore and all.".
"Are you crazy? I am not going to leave you, especially when the village might as well be an enemy of your kingdom, if it's a different territory and such.", Ariel glared at him sharply.
"I don't know, it might be fine, and I'm not exactly that well known; I can easily just not say I'm a prince and few would even know.", Eric pointed out. He then sighed, "Ariel, listen... these past few weeks... I'm deeply debated to you for what you did for me... but I don't want to you stay separated from your family any longer because of me.".
Ariel sighed, "Eric, you're one of my beloved friends, and I trust you. And until I know that you'll be safe in finding a way back to your kingdom, I'm sticking around, and don't ever think that I won't keep an eye on you while you're on your way to the village. I am fast and clever, and I can hide anywhere.".
"Now I know why you're headstrong...You always see things through to the end.", Eric chuckled softly, appreciating her incredible friendship and tentative stubbornness. Ariel smirked, "Why, thank you, Eric. Are you going in the morning?".
Eric nodded, "Yeah, if I get an early start, I can get back to our cove here before dark. Don't worry, I will be careful, Ariel.", and Ariel sighed deeply, "I know you will...Now, enough about that...I haven't forgotten your promise.", with an intrigued look.
Eric nodded as he rubbed the back of his neck, "Yeah, I did promise you that. So... I guess... well, what is it exactly you want to ask first then?"
Ariel curiously looked at him, "What is the difference between me and a human woman down there? Does they lay eggs after pregnancy or do live birth like whales?".
"Okay, well, it's easier to answer that second question for sure. It's a live birth, like whales. Human babies aren't eggs like birds... like your friend Scuttle.", Eric answered.
"I see.", Ariel nodded as she looked at him with rapt attention. "And the difference?", with a smile. "Well, for starters... legs.", Eric joked as he pulled on the remains of his pants that he still had.
Ariel giggled, "Obviously. What else?", and Eric exhaled, blushing lightly as he replied, "Human women has their maidenhood, or in other words, a vagina...It's almost similar to your...ah, vent, except that they don't have scales to reveal it, but rather skin folds...On certain times of the month, they lose an unfertilized egg or two, from when they turn 12...Sometimes, it's a later age, rarely, it's an earlier age...Before and after those certain times, they still have the ability to get...pregnant...".
"So, similar to a mermaid.", Ariel said as Eric nodded, "I assume, you'd probably know that answer better than me. I don't know too much myself to be fully honest; usually that's left for the doctors in terms of that kind of information and more knowhow. I only really learned thanks to my teachers, especially in recent years since they've been trying to set me up with a bride."
Ariel chuckled softly, "Fair enough...What about the length of pregnancies? Some species of mermaids carry eggs for seven weeks, and the eggs hatch several months later, while my species of mermaid, we carry eggs for seven months, and the eggs hatch one month later.".