"Another glass of brine, Princess Ariel?" asked a kuo-toa servant from somewhere near Ariel's tailfin.
The still-full cup of heavy brine-gel in her hand forgotten, she tore her eyes from their searching, surprised to see it still there. Careful not to spill it on the long red skirts of her cotehardie that she suspected had only been chosen to hide the vestiges of blue on her tailfins, she handed the vessel to the Kuo-toa with a polite shake of her head.
"No, thank you. I've only just finished," she said, not noticing when she missed the tray with the cup. The kuo-toa tutted softly as he caught the falling glass, and swam off the balcony and down into the ballroom, proper, to serve more attentive mer.
Guests had been pouring into the palace for several hours now, although the foreign dignitaries hadn't yet arrived. Ariel's sheltered view of the ballroom was hidden behind a curtain on one of the dozens of upper balconies that surrounded the architectural masterpiece of a ballroom.
The grandeur of the palace ballroom stretched upward from the ocean floor, its towering walls adorned with intricate patterns of thousands of softly-glowing pearls. The sparkling lights above and below gave the room a sense of verticality that drew guests in a multi-dimensional social dance throughout the space.
A transparent air dome at the top of the ballroom allowed visitors to enjoy delicacies of above-water cooking. Where most cooked foods were made with underwater boilers, vents, or alchemical processes, the simple heat-cooked food of the above was enough to tempt the pickiest eaters. Kuo-toa, one of the rarer amphibious species, gathered in the air dome around an elevated cooking station, and turning out servings faster than Ariel would have known possible. Likely with the help of the kingdom mages, they conjured flames through a mix of magic and alchemical processes, crafting fires that burned without extinguishing in the limited air space.
In the center of the ballroom, beneath the frenzy of cooking, graceful nereids performed aquatic dances that mirrored the motions of the currents and the swaying kelp, drawing the eyes of distracted guests.
Overlooking the bustling scene, indentured asteroidea had been left in seats to the left and right of King Triton' throne to mark the places of royal guests, and smaller pedestaled shells decorated with the shed scales of the suited princesses awaited Ariel and her sisters' formal presentation. The only place that still remained completely empty was the place set for the Angler King Cetus of the Depths. Neither an entourage nor even a response had yet arrived from his ambassadors, and Sephina, though miffed at the lack of purpose she would have that evening, didn't seem as disappointed as duty demanded to be delaying her suit.
The bustle of the ballroom was only making her search more difficult.
Every time Ariel caught the flash of black clothing on a guest, or a flaring tentacle from King Ezra's guard entered, her heart leapt, but the opening dinner had already been served, and the announcements made, and Joe was nowhere to be seen.
"He might still come."
Ariel jumped. Sebastian's quiet approach over the din of conversation thrumming through the ballroom couldn't have been more gentle, but startled her all the same.
"You should be with your sisters, it's almost time," he reminded softly.
Ariel blew a stream of frustrated bubbles out through her nose in a way that would have her etiquette instructors comparing her to things like sulfur vents and blowfish, and other unladylike things.
"He's—they're not coming, Sebastian! And even if they did, it would still only be to say goodbye. I'm starting to think it's better this way—to pretend I can always go back to my friends on the reef, instead of…of whatever this is going to be."
"I doubt anyone can stop you from returning, Princess," Sebastian replied in the sort of infuriating tone that couldn't be argued with. "Even so, nothing is final, yet. You have always been your father's favorite, even if he…has unusual ways of showing it."
Ariel snorted, wrapping her arms around her middle. "Very unusual."
"Introducing the Princesses Seline, Sephina and Ariel, daughters of High King Triton…"
As the blowfish announced their many titles to the room, Sebastian urged her away from the balcony with an insistent flipper.
"Hurry down, Princess. I won't be able to help you if you miss your own introduction."
Ariel didn't need telling twice. Bolting down to the corridor behind the throne, she smiled apologetically at her sisters' silent scowl, before, like them, plastering a calm and regal look on her face, she took her place among the thrones.
"The Merrow King Fain of the Arctic Sea!" the blowfish announced.
The princesses were announced before any of the other foreign dignitaries—to the applause of their own citizens. Ariel was relieved to know that the suitors were being treated more like visitors instead of them, as things would have been if the princesses were instead presented second.
She and her sisters had taken their seats to the sides of their father, and had the pleasure of watching the foreign entourages enter along with the rest of the throng—and what a display it turned out to be.
King Fain, a middle-aged, white-tailed merrow with broad shoulders draped in seal-skins entered through the main doors, surrounded by an entourage of stern-faced otters. The ballroom guests gasped in delight when he was flanked by a flock of penguins, zooming out and tracing designs in bubbles around him. The king, himself, wore a simple crown of enchanted ice, and his face, though sun-streaked in a way that made him look older than he was, was pleasant enough.
"High King," Fain greeted with a bow to her Father, "Gentlemen…Princess." He nodded to Seline with just as much reverence as he'd shown their father. His cold, blue eyes locked with Seline's as he rose, and Ariel smiled when her sister's cheeks involuntarily went pink.
In the dazzling light and general noise of the ballroom after her own introduction, Ariel relished seeing how many of her sisters had come to the palace at once. Adriatta now shared her throne with King Ezra to the direct left of their father. On Ariel's other side sat Amina with the Unagi King of the Yellow Sea, Amicia with her new husband, King Ketea of the Indian ocean, and Arianna with King Vodyanoi of the Black Sea had even come. She longed to hear how their lives had changed in their new homes, although she knew she likely wouldn't get much time alone with her sisters.
"Welcome, Fain!" Triton boomed from his throne, more warmly than Fain had. "Sit down, sit down! It's been years!"
"Time moves a little differently in the north, my king," Fain said unapologetically, the tines on his crown looking a little sharper as he spoke. "The care of the Arctic seas is complex since the Gyre shifted the shoals away from our territories."
"Can't be too dire, Fain!" King Ketea snickered. "That entourage looks plumper than my guppy nursery!"
"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" chimed a chorus of the penguins flying about King Fain's head. Fain dismissed them with a wave, not dignifying Ketea with a response, which earned him a round of disappointed 'oooh's' from the princesses when the penguins disappeared up to the upper air-dome to investigate the smells of dinner. Silently, Fain followed Triton's suggestion, and took his seat next to a very pink Sirena.
"The Angler King Cetus of the Depths!" the blowfish shouted an honorary announcement, but although a gnarled-looking ambassador with far too many teeth took a place next to her second youngest sister, the true king wasn't present.
The ambassador arrived without anything more than the obligatory fanfare, swimming stiffly and alone up to the thrones. His tail was unlike anything Ariel had ever seen—murky brown and black sinew was bloated in places, and his fins were torn as though he'd spent most of his life swimming through craggy rocks. His upper torso was ghostly pale, and clad only in hundreds of strands of beads and teeth—though what had grown that shape of tooth, Ariel didn't know.
"I am Djevel, ambassador to King Cetus. I hope you will forgive the King's absence, I'm afraid there weren't quite enough…means for his visit on such short notice."
Djevel punctuated his greeting with a swig from a hip flask of what looked like spoiled tar. Sephina turned her eyes away politely, but Ariel could see her shudder. Creatures from the depths needed special potions to change pressure when they traveled, but wherever they went, they always looked…otherworldly. The potions required for the pressure-changes they underwent were notoriously rare—hence, why so few of the citizens of the depths visited Atlantis, or so Ariel had been told; however, if it was so rare that even a king and his entourage wouldn't make the journey, then the situation in the depths was either worse than they'd known at the palace, or the resource really was too rare.
In any case, the separation made the Kingdom of the Depths nearly untouchable to Atlanteans, and its rulings were often literally in the dark to the High King. Sometimes, Ariel suspected that her father ruled over it in name only.
The guests murmured and mumbled at the silence and lack of fanfare, and though Princess Sephina hid her face from the stares behind her delicate sea-fan, Ariel could see from her perch between Adriatta's joint throne with Ezra, and her own suitor's empty place, Sephina's look of relief.
Sephina had forever fancied Adin—not that she would ever tell him. The Angler King Cetus' absence, and lack of evident interest could only give her hope.
"What, not enough potion? Even for their king?" Ketea scoffed half-heartedly, picking up on what Ariel had.
"It is not wise to mock deep-dwellers," scolded Vodyannoi quietly enough that Triton wouldn't hear. "Even we have tales."
Djevel, though he was far enough not to have heard Vodyannoi, only smiled.
Looking at Djevel's….everything, Ariel wanted to ask Ketea if he really wanted the depths to have enough potion for large entourages to the surface. Luckily, before she could make herself an enemy in her sister's husband, the last of the guests was announced.
"Prince Ellian of the Red Sea, representing his father, General Elias!"
Prince Ellian's entourage exploded through the doors in a way that to Ariel could only be described as impatience, although the answering 'ooh's' and 'aah's' from the rest of the guests spread over the floor were impressed.
An escort of ten brightly-finned mer-guards spiraled into the room in perfect formation around Prince Ellian, whose 8ft eel's tail was an impressive display of orange and yellow scales. Each guard held an orange-painted harpoon, doubtless painted to match the prince's natural coloring. What made the group truly impressive, was the occasional orange and green snaps of electricity from the electric eels that curled around the spearheads. A particularly mean-looking cave-eel decorated Ellian's orange harpoon-head, and Ariel wasn't the only one who noticed that it wasn't particularly happy to be there. The guests backed away from its snapping teeth as Ellian swam past, and as he approached the throne, each of the princesses tucked a little further into their husbands' protection.
"Kings and Princesses!" Ellian announced with an overly-wide smile when he'd reached the foot of the thrones. "And which of you would be Ariel—?"
"Prince Ellian, if you would, feel free to dismiss your….people before addressing the High King," Sebastian guided near the foot of Triton' throne, as he pointedly regarded the eel.
"Who are you to addresss the princccce?" snarled the cave-eel as it stretched out its horrible green head.
Prince Ellian only chuckled, giving a flippant toss of his bright yellow hair and a portrait-worthy smile.
"Not to worry, not to worry! Happy to do so." With a wave of his hand, the guards dispersed among the waiting guests, much to the delight of any single mermaids on the floor. "Now, as I was saying, which of you lovely mer is the Prin—
"Welcome to you and your men," King Triton said officially, and the prince's face went a little orange. "I trust your father is well?"
"Ah—yes, High King," the prince stammered. The eel around his harpoon clacked its teeth menacingly at the king, and the prince at last seemed to recall some decorum. "My father sends his greetings—regards."
With some of the bubbles taken out of his gills, the prince tried to ask more questions, when Triton interrupted again.
"And your birthmark? I thought your father was so proud of your royal markings." Triton began to chortle. "Not surprised he was exaggerating. Not to worry, not to worry. It shows a father's pride all the same."
Ezra's expression twisted disdainfully at that, but the look vanished as quickly as it had appeared, and no one else seemed to notice.
"Well then, young Ellian, take your seat! Sebastian! Music! Let this ball begin!"
Any communication Ezra and Ellian had shared vanished, as Triton' clear dismissal rang through Ariel's ears. Somewhat deflated, Ellian did manage to find his seat—the only empty one left next hers.
As the music began, a mesmerizing symphony of coral flute players and shimmering jellyfish harpists blended with the rhythm of drums, and the lively melody beckoned the earlier arrivals—already fed and eager—to the dance floor beneath the half-circle of throned seats. King Fain and Djeval were unfazed when the thrones began to rise toward the air dome where their own air-cooked dining table awaited, but Prince Ellian jumped badly when the seat below him began to move, and his eel hissed, too close to Ariel's ear for comfort. The fingers on her hand closest to his seat tingled with an unpleasant shock as it rewrapped itself around Ellian's weapon.
Once the royal family was comfortably seated above-water, the kuo-toa set dishes of steamed halibut and roasted sea-lettuce and bladderwrack before them, to the obvious enthusiasm of any of the north-dwelling diners.
"This is a treat," Djeval said appreciatively before following Triton' example and eating with relish. Then, to Ariel's surprise, he quietly and politely started to speak with Sirena who, though she was clearly still disturbed by his one-too-many rows of teeth, visibly relaxed into whatever topic he'd offered.
"Air-cooked food. Only in Atlantis," King Fain made a salute of thanks toward Triton before eating.
"Well, not only in Atlantis," Ellian bragged next to Ariel as he made a show of stirring his steaming filet about his plate unappetizingly. "My father has revolutionized the air domes in our kingdom. This meal would be a paltry appetizer in our kitchens."
"This is the appetizer, highness," the kuo-tao serving him said, bringing the next dish. "Is it not to your liking?"
Ellian flushed orange once more. "And in my palace, the servants never speak unless spoken to."
The kuo-toa moved to set the next plate in front of Ariel, but the eel on the spear Ellian insisted on holding throughout dinner hissed and sent it scurrying away. Ariel could hardly blame it. As the courses passed her by plate by plate, she was getting ready to scurry after them.
Ellian peppered her with questions about the kingdom and palace functions, all of which she tried to answer before realizing he was really only making openings to talk about his own kingdom, which, though much smaller than Atlantis, seemed to be far more important in his eyes.
"—in fact, we were on a squid hunt only this morning! What a season! We found some beauties in the wrecks, but of course it's still too early for a real hunt…"
It was difficult to keep ahold of Ellian's stories, and Ariel found herself scanning the ballroom again for any hint of Joe's coloring. There weren't many cecaelia invited, and all of the ones present were given a wide berth by the other Atlantean citizens. Though it made her search a little easier, Ariel doubted that Joe would put himself in any place that was easy to spot.
"—of course, it wasn't a wasted trip, so many gorgeous shipwrecks in this corner of the ocean, and we caught an unpapered cecaelia near the border trying to sneak into the city. Of course we did the palace soldiers a favor and took care of the whelp—"
Ariel snapped to attention. "What did you say?" she demanded.
"Really, Princess, you will have to learn to listen if you plan to rule with me," he started to ramble away, and to his eel's displeasure, uncurled it from the point of the weapon to show where his harpoon hook had been snapped off. "It really was a fun little hunt, even if I did lose a tip—"
Ariel gasped. "The cecaelia you mentioned. What did he look like?"
"Oh, nothing impressive," he fixed her with a falsely humble sneer. "Nothing as terrifying as the giants we'll see in the coming weeks once the currents bring in the males for season. Thought the boy was a squid at first. They do look so similar from a distance."
"What do you mean, you 'took care of him?'" she asked, dreading the answer, and trying to keep her gills from hyperventilating. Although she didn't want any of her cecaelian friends who made their homes in the Atlantian reefs to be hurt, she guiltily knew she would feel better if Joe and Krill had shown up, and tried desperately to soothe herself with the thought that Ellian could never have beaten Joe…not fairly, at least.
Ellian preened under the attention, and started off on some unimportant detail about how they'd found the outer farms quite difficult for the hunt.
She gulped, taking in just how many guards he'd brought with him. "You couldn't have killed a cecaelia," she said hopefully. "I've seen one take on a giant squid on his own."
"Of course I killed him," Ellian scoffed, as though to him the life of one cecaelia was worth far less to him than the state of his harpoon. "I never leave a task undone. It would be unprincely! And of course you didn't see one take on a squid,"
She could feel her eyebrows rising as he continued.
"It was likely just two of them in the early season. You do know about the creatures' seasons, don't you? It seems I'll have to teach you about more than just history." At that, he winked at her lasciviously, and Ariel had no doubt as to what kind of 'things' he thought she didn't understand.
Any remnants of her appetite were long-gone. "You said he was young? Short hair or long?" she demanded, realizing she wasn't going to get him to change his mind, but might at least give her some information.
Ellian brushed off her comment with another flip of his wrist, more concerned with rewrapping the eel's body to hide the broken tip of his weapon, and the leering smile didn't leave his face even as he turned away from her to do so. "Does it matter? They all look the same."
Ariel felt sick. The pool of worry curled in her fins, and she could swear she could feel the blue creeping back up the length of them.
"No. No, they don't. And they are citizens of this kingdom," she emphasized.
"Not the unpapered ones. They would never be allowed in the red sea, of course," Ellian carried on, oblivious to her discomfort.
"I thought you were allies with King Ezra," she interrupted, fighting the emotion that threatened to grip her tongue once more, and suddenly, she found that her anger was enough to
"Yes, well, royalty is royalty," he said, as though that explained everything. "Perhaps I'll tell you the history of the Cecalian people and the war with this very kingdom! I promise you'll feel the same as I do when you've learned more."
Her fins curled angrily under her skirts. "I'm quite familiar with my own kingdom's history," she grumbled, but not quietly enough.
"Perhaps you two should dance and Princess Ariellina can tell you some interesting tidbits about the inner city. You wouldn't believe the things the royal family can tell you about the palace," Adriatta, who to Ariel's knowledge hadn't been paying much more attention to Ellian than she had, chimed in the moment Ariel's tone had slipped into anything less than princessly.
Ariel gave her a narrowed look, suspecting that what listening Adriatta had done was her reason for getting Ellian away from the table, but Adriatta didn't say anything more, giving Ariel an unhelpful shrug.
"An excellent idea! I happen to be highly trained in all the latest styles!" Once more oblivious to the more subtle cues around him, Ellian rose from his seat and offered a hand to Ariel.
Ariel would rather have eaten silt than take his hand, but with her sisters, uncle, and father's eyes on her, she didn't have the option to refuse. Casting a desperate glance at Sebastian, who could do nothing more than shrug his flippers, she took his hand and let him pull her out of the air dome and back into the water.
To her horror, the lively drums and flutes of the initial dance died down nearly the moment they took the floor, and were replaced by a heart-rendingly romantic piece from the strings. Ellian fixed her with a soft, sickly sort of gaze that she knew all too well from the bottom-feeders Joe and Adin had done so well at keeping her away from in the slums. She shuddered as he pulled her too close, and yanked her around the floor in what he seemed to think was the 'latest style,' and in what she was sure hadn't been in fashion since Triton courted her mother. At every turn, they garnered more stares, which Ellian found deeply flattering, and made Ariel want to hide. The only benefit of their positioning was that she could see nearly every face at the ball, though once more, Joe's wasn't one of them.
At the end of a few long, torturous songs, the music at last picked up its pace, and Ariel might have liked staying to dance had she been with any other partner.
"Prince Ellian, thank you for the dances, but I really have to—" she tried to excuse herself. She would order one of the guards to dance with her if she had to to spend a few songs away from Ellian, but he still had ahold of her wrist, and wasn't letting go.
"Princess, we've nearly lost the sunlight from the upper dome, and before all we have is this coral to see the room in, there's something I'd like to…show you."
Ellian was fidgeting with a small parcel on his waist. Ariel had no doubt it was some sort of jewelry or other binding engagement gift he'd brought, and she wanted none of it.
"No, sorry," she shook her head, swimming back a few feet. "I really have to—"
"Yes," he smiled, the horrible leer creeping over his expression once more. "You do have to."
If Ellian didn't still have a grip on her hand, she would have bolted, but his hold didn't let her move another inch. She considered shouting for a guard, but what would she say to them? That her suitor wanted to give her a gift against her will? The scene that it would make alone would have her locked in her quarters until the wedding day, and she truly would never say goodbye to her cecaelian friends—or be able to check if they were alright.
"Prince Ellian, you're hurting me. I'm sure you could show me this…thing tomorrow. There's a luncheon planned with Sebastian."
Ellian scoffed. "What and have every moment chaperoned by that old turtle? I think not, Princess." WIth that, Ellian yanked her toward one of the alcoves at the side of the ballroom.
At first, she thought he was going to pull her out onto one of the curtained balconies—all of which had guards posted by the windows, and to her horror, saw that the corner he was pulling her toward connected to one of the corridors away from the ballroom. Ariel looked around frantically, trying to catch the eye of someone she knew, but not only did she not see any of her friends among the guests, but the mer watching her actually looked jealous.
I'll trade places with any of you! She wanted to scream.
"This isn't proper!" she protested weakly. "If you're seen taking me away from the ball early, it isn't going to help your suit."
"Ah, because you've been so receptive to my suit, princess," said Ellian. "Come along," He winked at her with the first sign of real understanding he'd had since they'd started speaking that evening, and it was a crying pity that this was the first of her he really seemed to notice. "I really do have something for you to see. A real marvel. Surely you don't want to hurt my feelings so early in our courtship?"
As he dragged her toward a curtained entrance to one of the side corridors, she realized they were already far enough from the dance floor that if she called for a guard, none would hear her over the jaunty music.
Ariel made the mistake of laughing nervously, which he took to mean that she was finally willing to play along, and only pulled her harder and faster down the corridor. To her relief, however, he did release her arm once they were far enough down the hall that the music allowed for a regular speaking volume, and instead of trying anything untoward as she'd fully been expecting, he pulled the purse from its place around his tail, and pulled a fragile-looking coral pendant from the material.
The last of the light from the dying sun that filtered through the curtains in the vaulted corridor made the chain sparkle, and on the clasp sat a tiny carving of the Sunfish, her favorite constellation.
"Oh, that's…that's really lovely," Ariel said honestly, glancing between Ellian and his gift. "I've always liked the Sunfish," she offered again, when he didn't do much more than smile that infuriating smile.
"I thought you might," said Ellian sweetly. He held out the necklace. When she didn't move to take it, his tail gave an irritated flick, but his grin only widened, and he swam round her back. "I see you'd like me to fasten it for you? No need to ask, love, I am already well informed on what will make you happy," he said suggestively.
She rounded on him with a glare. Not only had he not yet explained himself, but he hadn't made any outright demands. "What are you talking about, Prince Ellian?"
"Still so formal," he sighed. "Of course I suppose it isn't the worst thing to have you already respecting your betrothed so well. It's only a formality, all these tedious meetings they have planned, don't you see? Wouldn't you rather avoid them, too? After all, there are so many more exciting things we could do. We'll just announce our betrothal while the guests are here this evening and have done with it all."
Ariel felt something inside of her snap.
"Unlike what you may think, Prince Ellian, none of this is set in stone—in fact, you'd be surprised to learn that none of this has been a formality at all. You do not impress me, Prince, and I have other suitors to consider. Please go back to your far better-run palace. I won't be marrying you."
Ellian's leer at last dropped from his face, but instead of looking down-hearted, he was outraged. With a speed that Ariel couldn't have matched, he slithered forward, and snatched her arm painfully. Ariel yiped as Ellian snarled into her face.
"I'd hoped to give you a choice, Princess. I'm honorable. Any mermaid would give their senses to be with me—and you will!"
With that, Ellian snapped the coral pendant in half, and in the last dying rays of the sun, an iridescent powder shot out, filling the waters around her gills. Ellian flapped his tail hard, sending it in her direction as he, himself, backed away from the stuff.
"Stop!" she heard a familiar voice bellow, as the dust flew toward her face.