She glanced at her lost brother in the orb, seeing his smile as he chased the sea turtle in a game of tag, and she sighed deeply, "I sure wish I knew you, Tazio...I wonder if you'd side with me on my...detours to the sea...".
Melody sighed as she closed her eyes. She understood now why her family wanted her to stay out of the sea... because that monster was lurking and waiting... but... after all this time, would he even know it was her or some random common child? Melody took another deep breath as she decided she was going to head to the beach; the little cove where Ariel and Eric said was one of their most special places in the kingdom; which as she had to guess, might have been where Ariel first stepped foot on land as a human.
Melody closed her locket, and then headed to the cove, taking a seat on the saddleback boulder, her eyes glancing between the sea and the orb of Atlantica, smiling amusedly at Tazio's antics, imagining herself in there, playing with him...He might be taller than her if he would be his human, almost 12 year old self...would he have dreams about seeing the world under the sea, or would he rather be traveling through Italy and the rest of Europe?
She sighed softly as she listened to her beloved family's lullaby, humming under her breath when she heard a shriek of desperation, and she closed her locket, looking around instantly when she heard a sob, and she realized that it's around the corner, getting off the boulder, and walked around to see a woman on the sand, holding a broken basket in pieces, kelp all over the place.
Melody was wondering about this woman. She certainly had never seen her before in her life and she certainly didn't look like she was from around the kingdom. Part of Melody's brain was telling her to just stay silent and hide, wait for the woman to leave. But her more compassionate side, similar to her mother's and grandmother's, was telling her to go to the woman, to find out what was wrong with her.
Melody kept her guard up as she walked over, asking, "Ma'am, are you all right?", as the woman of respectable clothes, looking like a daughter of a merchant, having dark blonde hair and hazel eyes, gasped softly, looking up with tears in her eyes, "Oh! I'm sorry, I will clean up, I promise! Oh, my husband will yell at me for sure when he sees the broken basket...I knew I should have knotted tighter about those strands a few days ago...", holding her head in agony, looking at the broken basket, wearing a wedding ring, and such.
"What happened?", Melody asked in concern, and the woman sighed deeply, "I was gathering kelp, you know, as they go rather well with snapper, my husband's favorite. I guess the basket was too heavy to hold the entire weight of the kelp here, and now, with the basket broken, I can't make dinner, and he gets upset when dinner isn't on the table...".
Yet Melody doesn't know that this woman is in disguise, for she's actually the princess of Glowharhen, Princess Lucia. She indeed tried to go marry into the throne of Spain, but with the fact that she was too ordinary and that she was too old for the heir of Spain...it turned out terribly humiliating for her.
"I'm sorry...", Melody said. "Is there any way I can help? I can quickly run back into town and get you a basket if you'll stay here for a few minutes.", Melody offered.
Lucia gasped in surprise, "You'd do that? Oh, thank you! Yes, I'll stay here.", nodding with a tearful, relieved smile, and Melody nodded, turning around to run back to town, finding a sturdy, tough basket, and thanked the stall attendant as she paid him, and headed back to the same spot where she found Lucia gathering the lost kelp into an organized pile, looking up with a gasp, "Oh, oh, that looks wonderful, and so expensive! You don't have to do that; I'd have been glad about a reasonable one.".
Melody smiled reassuringly, "It's alright. I still have some savings left over, anyway. You deserve better than that broken basket. Here, let me help you take those kelp in.", kneeling next to her as she placed the basket between them.
Together, Lucia and Melody scooped the pile of kelp into the basket, and after cleaning up their hands in the water, Melody smiled warmly, "If you wash those kelp in fast water, it will get all the sand and dirt off, and after boiling them, you can then wrap them around the snapper. Well, that's what I know, thanks to watching in the kitchen.".
"Thank you, child!", Lucia smiled happily, and Melody waved it off, "It's no problem. Your thanks are good enough for me.".
Lucia shook her head, "Nonsense. You did a wonderful thing! Hold on, I think I have something...I know it's not as pretty as your locket, but I hope you like this.", pulling out a bracelet of dinged, slightly sparkly, dull crystals in blue. Melody certainly was enamored by the crystals, "Wow... this is..."
"Don't try and argue about it, it's the least I can do for you.", Lucia said. "Where did you get these? What are they?", Melody asked.
"My husband often traveled to different places since he was partners with my father who was a merchant of sorts. He said that this came from England, and those are crystals. They got a bit damaged during the travel, and he gave it to me, and I liked it for a while, but after...seeing that they didn't go well with my looks, I took to wear it less...But somehow, I think I was waiting for the right person, the right home for this, and you'd look wonderful with it as it brings out the best in your eyes...Of course, you might want to polish it up if you want more sparkle.", Lucia explained with a smile.
"Thank... thank you.", Melody smiled as she looked back at them again. "Um, I never happened to get your name, darling.", Lucia asked. "Oh, it's Melody.", the young girl smiled. "And yours?".
Lucia replied, "Oh, call me Nola, please.", with a warm smile, and Melody nodded, "Thank you, Nola!", before noticing the sun, "Oh, I better get going! Maybe I should buy some peaches for Mom for dessert!".
"Of course, I should do the same before it gets dark. And oh, be sure to get the best ripe ones, I hear the peaches are best that way. I hope I'd get to see you around, Melody.", Lucia smiled softly, and Melody smiled back, "Yeah, maybe! Bye, Nola! And thanks, again!", before running off back to the village.
Lucia waved, "Goodbye!", with a nod and chuckle as she picked up the basket, walking the opposite direction, humming lightly until she reached another secluded cove before giving out a dramatic huff as she dropped the basket, "Uh, the next time comes, you do this, Cetus!".
"You talked to her then?", a familiar voice purred warmly, and Lucia glanced to see Cetus lounging lazily on a boulder, and Lucia nodded, "Heard me, talked to me, helped me, and received the bracelet...Just like you said...You were right...".
Cetus grinned from ear to ear, "Perfect! Are you glad that you have a friend in me now? After all, soon, you will be having Eric all to yourself without that daughter or wife of his.". Cetus tactically planted dark magic into the bracelet itself, disguised as a regular old bracelet, and when Melody polishes it sooner or later, Cetus will have a way to talk to her through her mirror without alarming the magical shield.
"I still don't see the need for her.", Lucia huffed. "If you need to get into Atlantica, I could easily do the job.".
"Ah, but see, there's a bit of an issue.", Cetus smiled. "If I make you a mermaid, Atlantica's defenses will notice my magic with you... not very easy to get the trident when the entire palace is looking for you.". Lucia rolled her eyes. "We just wait until the girl is molded well enough and then she'll easily come to us.".
Cetus is too careful not to tell her that Melody is King Triton's descendant, and only family of King Triton can take and use the Trident, well, that is, without force of dark magic like how Ursula did.
Lucia nodded, "Fair enough. Too bad I wouldn't be there at the ball.", and Cetus hummed lightly, "Indeed. It's lucky that the shield doesn't pick up dark magic on regular things, but you...you'd be in trouble. Still, I have a plan to ruin the ball in a way that she will fight with her mother...maybe be grounded, and then she'd be stuck in her room, trapped, bored, and then she will polish the bracelet out of boredom.", with a cackle.
"Oh, any chance we can watch through the windows? I'd be interested to watch the drama unfold.", Lucia asked with an excited grin, and Cetus chuckled, "My boys will be positioned to watch it all. I love drama as well, Lucia.", and the duo laughed.
Meanwhile, as Ariel was being pounded into the desk on her back by Eric in his private office, Ariel paused in her cries of pleasure, blinking in confusion when Eric noticed, "Ariel? Did I do something wrong?", and Ariel shook her head, "No, it's not you, Eric...I just have a funny feeling...It's not good or bad, but...it's...I don't know.".
"You picked a bad time to have a funny feeling...", Eric said as already the mood was dampened by it. "Besides, we might not have too much more time before Melody comes home.", with a nod. "You're insatiable sometimes, you know that?", Ariel chuckled.
Eric smirked at her, "Why, thank you, I try.", before kissing her on the lips, ignoring the layers of skirts under his chest, and Ariel held his face in her arms as she squirmed, moving her hips deeper into him, causing Eric to growl softly, "And you're a minx sometimes, you know that?".
Ariel giggled, "Thank you, I try.", before Eric resumed his rhythm, soon bouncing back in speed to pound into her, earning Ariel to cry out in pleasure, moaning as she held onto the edge of the desk with her feet.
"Still feels so perfect even after all these years...", Eric said as he kissed her cheek as she laughed, "Eric, stop saying stuff like that! You're making me feel so old!".
Eric smirked, "You? Old? No way! You're almost 30! Now I should be the old one since I am 32.", with a teasing groan, and Ariel giggled, "You're still handsome for being 32, my love, and really good even after all those years.".
"Aw, now you're making me blush!", Eric purred as he then kissed her passionately as he pounded harder into her, and Ariel gasped, crying out even louder in pleasure, ever so glad that the door is up tightly locked.
Ariel soon felt it coming, "Oh, Eric, please, I'm so close! Please, please fill me!", pleading, and Eric chuckled as he caressed through her hair, "As you wish, my little mermaid.", as he grunted, pounding even faster.
Two minutes later, Ariel screamed out in pleasure, "Eric!", as her orgasm came through her body, as Eric shouted, "Ariel!", as he came hard into her, filling her up.
The two of them collapsed as they were exhausted from all the energy they exhorted. Both of them were wrapped around each other tight as they took deep breaths. "We're gonna have to get this desk cleaned...", Ariel chuckled.
Eric blushed, "I didn't even think about that...At least we got the paperwork done already, otherwise there'd be questions...", and Ariel giggled, "True...Thank you, Eric...I didn't realize that I really needed it...", with a sigh...
"Hey, it's okay, planning all that stuff for the ball sure was a lot, luckily, it's only arranging the music and the food, and of course, the decorations for the next couple of days, but nothing more stressful than that.", Eric reassured her with a kiss to her cheek.
Ariel smiled softly, "Indeed. At least we got all the invitations sent out last week.", nodding before glancing at the clock, "Dinner's in 15 minutes...".
Eric sighed deeply, "Right...I really was bent up this time...Give me a moment...", groaning as he felt that he wasn't done emptying his tank into Ariel yet. Ariel kissed his cheek, "It's okay, my king. We know the shortcuts in this palace, and we can make it for dinner in short time.".
Nodding with a smile, happy that he has a clever wife, he relaxed with her, waiting for the moment he's done, and then finally, detached from her, with Eric quickly helping cover her up with her underwear and leggings, with recovering his underwear and pants from his spot on his shoes.
Ariel slowly got up, and rubbed her back, "Okay, I have to admit that the bed is better than a desk in this position...", and Eric chuckled, "I agree with you, but you are so perfect either way.", smiling as they straightened up the chair, and left a note for the staff to clean the desk in embarrassment yet knowing that there's no cleaning supplies in the office itself.
They left the office, with Ariel slightly adjusting her gait, "You were right, you were truly bent up...Definitely a bath after dinner, just for the sake of my back.", and Eric smiled apologetically, "Ah, it was worth it, still, right?".
Ariel smiled, "Oh, yes, Eric.", and Eric gave a chuckle of relief before something came to his mind, biting his lip nervously, not wanting her to be upset, but he honestly had to know, "Ariel...if that monster is found and killed instantly...would you go again for a baby? I mean, you're perfectly in prime age.".
Ariel looked at Eric. "R-Really? After all this time?", she asked as Eric nodded.
"Well, Melody... you know, she's mentioned a few times of how she doesn't want to rule and well, perhaps another child would help with that, but... I don't know, I just kinda feel like we really should have a few more tiny feet running around this place some days.", Eric admitted.
Ariel widened her eyes in surprise, hearing that Melody doesn't want to rule...She is almost 12...She could always change her mind...yet Melody has been lonely, even if she had occasional friends in the village kids here or on Othonoi, and Max can only play so much without needing to rest lately...
Yet Ariel honestly missed the incredible feeling of having children within her, moving, kicking...She somehow had a feeling that even without Melody's reasons, Tazio would ask for a baby brother if he was here...
She glanced down at her belly, her hand resting on it in a familiar gesture of nostalgia, remembering how Eric doted over her, touching every moment he could, swelling up every week and month...glowing with the aura of motherhood...
She always wanted to have a family, perhaps not quite as big as her family in Atlantica per sec, but it makes her happy...She smiled softly, looking up at Eric, her hands taking in his hands, "The moment that monster is killed, once I know that Melody and you are safe, we'll go again for a baby, okay?", her mind slightly feeling like she momentarily forgot something during the planning of the ball, but figured that she will remember again when it comes back to her.
Eric nodded as he sighed and gave a small smile. After all, this all fully depended on the monster being killed and it had been almost 11 years to the day since he was last seen. There was no sign that this was going to change... and for all they know, they might wait forever because perhaps that monster got killed somewhere else. Who's to say that some warship didn't fill him with cannon fire somewhere?
Ariel leaned up to kiss him gently on the lips, "I know that look, Eric. Don't worry...We just need to hope with all our hearts. After all, he cannot hide all his life as he would want to win...", and Eric replied, "Yeah, yeah...You're right. Let's not be late for dinner.", with a squeeze of her hands, and so, they headed to the dining hall.
Meanwhile, Melody had quickly returned to the palace and gone to her room; once more to look at the locket, she was practically obsessed with it. She laid on her bed and was feeling remorseful, watching it, sad that in some way, Tazio was gone because of him trying to save her in the womb.
Melody sighed, glancing at the bracelet Lucia aka Nola gave her, with a smile before hearing a knock on the door, "Melody, honey, dinner's ready! Your parents are waiting for you!", with Carlotta's voice behind the door. Melody murmured softly to Tazio, "I wonder what your favorite food would be to eat, Tazio.", with a glance back to see him chasing the sea turtle...She knew it's only a projection, but she sure wished Tazio would see her just for a moment, actually interacting with her. She then closed the locket, calling out, "Yeah, I'm coming, Carlotta!".
Melody left her bedroom, heading down to the dining hall, with Carlotta smiling at her, "I got your favorite, Melody! Spaghetti and meatballs!". Melody smiled, "That sounds great, Carlotta. Can I have milk to go with that?".