Chapter Six

If Melody heard another word about Atlantica, she thought she would scream.

Normally the young princess loved hearing about her mother's childhood home. As she was growing up, they were her favorite stories to hear from the servants. Her parents never encouraged her listening to them and brushed them off as fairy tales because they were trying to protect her from Morgana. Ever since the truth became known, her mother would tell her stories of life beneath the sea every night, sending Melody off to sleep dreaming of swimming with the merfolk.

But since they arrived at the town square, Alex would not shut up about how different Atlantica was. How better Atlantica was. The chickens were too weird looking. Birds were too noisy. Doors were stupid. Everything smelled bad. In contrast, Archimedes marveled over every pebble and cloud he saw. Currently, he was at a nearby stall where the vendor was selling small piggy banks and was having a conversation with the man about the importance and significance of their shape.

Then, Melody smiled. She had an idea. Quietly she left Alex and his great uncle at the stall and went over to Vincent's bakery nearby where she got four sticky buns. She couldn't have a long conversation with the baker as he was busy with customers.

"Try this." Melody distributed the pastries among her mother and friends. She readily bit into hers and closed her eyes at the sweet taste of cinnamon and honey. It was ooey, gooey goodness.

She opened her eyes, expecting to see Alex smiling. But he wasn't.

"What is it?" Alex asked after one bite.
At least he's not gagging. "It's a sticky bun." Melody said. "A land delicacy."

"I think I prefer kelp cookies. Hey, maybe next year we can bring some to the festival."

"Great idea." Melody said through clenched teeth.

The musicians had started to play so people began to dance. The merfolk were split; some rushed to the square and tried to mimic what the land people were doing. The rest stayed by the sidelines and watched with interest. The queen danced with King Triton, her father danced with Aunt Adella, and Archimedes danced with Aunt Alana.

Melody didn't bother asking Alex if he wanted to dance. He stood on the sidelines, watching the twirling figures. Alex didn't look bored exactly, but it was hard to tell if he was enjoying himself.

Confused and disappointed, Melody walked away, drifting through the crowd of familiar faces. She wandered aimlessly until she came across the public fountain, where she sat down on the edge. Idly Melody traced a finger across the water's surface.

Why am I so angry listening about Atlantica? She wondered to herself.

"Meow!" A grey cat with a fluffy tail leapt up beside her. It ignored Melody and focused on the small goldfish swimming about in the pool.

"Sixpence! Those are not for eating." An elderly gentleman wearing a yellow shirt and purple vest ran over to scoop the cat up. "I hope my cat didn't disturb you, fair maiden."

"Not at all." Melody tried to smile, but her gloominess was detected by the stranger.

"Well, erm, it is a fine fair here today. You know, I knew a fine fellow once who went to a fair. He was a simple peasant and lived in a hovel with his wife, but the world never knew a happier couple."

Melody became entranced as the stranger told the tale of how the man wanted to exchange his horse at the fair. Along the way, he traded the horse for a cow. Then exchanged the cow for a sheep, then a goose, then a hen, until at the end of the day he brought home a sackful of rotten apples. Rather than being displeased with her husband, the wife kissed him when he told her about his day. The whole story was so absurd Melody found herself laughing at the end of it.

"Melody! There you are." Queen Ariel arrived. "Why did you run off?"

Both were distracted by the storyteller staring at Ariel. When his stare was noticed, the man blushed and clutched his top hat in his hands.

"I beg your pardon for staring, my lady. It's just that your hair, well, it is a rather striking red. In fact, I've only seen something like it once before. Close by, in fact, about twenty years ago. But, well, it couldn't have been you. My savior lives a lot closer to the seaside, shall we say." He shook his head. "Where are my manners? Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Hans Christian Andersen. And this here, is Sixpence." The stranger petted the cat perched on his shoulder.

"It's nice to meet you, Mr. Andersen." Queen Ariel gave a curtsey. "And this is my daughter, Melody. Are you enjoying the festival?"

"Indeed I am. When I heard about Tirulia's alliance with actual merfolk, I had to see for myself how true it is. And how accurate I got."

"Accurate?" Melody asked.

"The encounter I had twenty years ago prompted me to write a story. I'm a writer, you see." Mr. Andersen pulled out a thin book from his vest pocket and gave it to Melody.

The title read "The Little Mermaid".

"Mr. Andersen, you do seem familiar. This encounter you speak of, does it happen to involve a submarine?"

"Why, yes, it did. How did you know? Wait," Mr. Andersen paused, "it was you, wasn't it, then? But how?"

Ariel laughed in delight. "You must join me and my family for dinner so we can talk some more. Is anyone else with you?"

"It'd be delighted to join you. It's only me and Sixpence, here." The cat meowed in confirmation.

"Wonderful. We're all heading back to the castle now for dinner."

Melody followed behind her mother and their new guest, gazing at the books cover. The binding was black, and the only decoration was disconnected lines that formed the shape of a mermaid sitting on a rock.

Yep, it was HCA himself that made the other appearance in "Metal Fish". I'm assuming that by this time Ariel has been on land long enough to have heard about submarines. Sixpence is meant to be a kitten of the cat, Penny, from the episode. The story HCA told Melody is a lesser known tale of his: "What the Old Man Does is Always Right".