"You're going where, Your Majesty?" Harold the seahorse asked the sovereign in confusion later that day.
"I am going on a…journey with Ariel, Eric, Urchin, and Gabriella," Triton answered vaguely. "We will be gone for a few days."
"Very good, sir." Harold was clearly still confused. "I shall alert the dolphin stables to ready your carriage, and-"
"No, no, that won't be necessary," Triton interrupted quickly. "We will go on foot, er, fin."
Harold looked so horrified at this news that Ariel almost laughed, until Urchin nudged her.
"We're not taking the carriage? The headquarters is nowhere near Atlantica. It'll take forever!"
"Don't you see, Urchin? Daddy can't use his carriage-it attracts attention wherever we go, and we can't let anyone know what we are doing. Not yet. Not when we don't know where the kids are."
Urchin remained silent as he digested this, while Triton dodged more and more of his herald's questions.
"No, I wouldn't call it a family trip," Triton was fumbling, "not really, the rest of my daughters are not going."
"Understood, sir," Harold replied, not really understanding at all. "Just Your Majesty, Your Royal Highnesses, Urchin, Gabriella, and your children, Her Royal Highness, Princess Melody, and Alex."
"No," Eric jumped in, seeing his father-in-law's flummoxed face. "Melody and Alex are staying here-uh, they're not coming, I mean."
"Of course, Your Royal Highness." Harold studied his notes, more baffled than ever. "I shall assign them a chaperone at once until your homecoming."
"Actually," Ariel chimed in, "I've already taken the liberty of assigning my sister Attina to watch over Melody while we are gone. And Alex is staying with Ollie."
Ariel wondered if Harold would be confused as to why Ollie, Gabriella's sign language interpreter, was not going on the trip (most or Urchin and Gabriella's friends and family knew enough sign language to be able to communicate, though Ollie remained a dear family friend), but he simply looked relieved that he would not have to do anything further in the area of chaperoning. He finally let the royals and their friends leave after a few more questions, but the group could tell he was confused-maybe even suspicious.
"We need to go now," Ariel pleaded an hour later, after everyone had packed some essentials. "Please, Daddy-our daughter is out there. Please."
"Ariel, we have to wait until it's darker," Triton explained patiently for the third time. "We can't risk being seen. If anyone gets wind of the kids missing or of us going to the Coalition headquarters, it could spell trouble for all of us."
"I know." Numbly, Ariel sat down next to her husband, who took her hand. They glanced outside simultaneously, where the shadows of dusk were appearing.
After more prodding, the king finally agreed that if everyone would put on a disguise, they could all head out the back gates of the palace gardens.
Gabriella poked her head out the gates cautiously, then signed to the rest of the party, The coast is clear! Let's go!
One by one, Urchin, Eric, Triton, and Ariel paraded out of the gates after her.
"We made it!" Urchin whisper-shouted, giving his wife a squeeze.
In fact, the mer friends had made it out of the gates; unfortunately, they hadn't noticed the reporter from Royal Watch hiding just outside the palace.
"Are you hungry, too?" Alex asked his girlfriend tentatively.
It was the next day, and the mer teens had been swimming without a break for quite some time. Melody's stomach had just growled.
"You heard that?" Melody asked, mortified.
"Yeah." Alex chuckled at her blushing face. "Aww, it's okay. It's cute. When my stomach growls, it sounds like a monster." As if on cue, they heard the aforementioned noise and both laughed.
"See? I told you. A monster!" Alex made his hands into "claws" and playfully chased after Melody.
"Ahhhh!" Melody shrieked, swimming in the other direction as her boyfriend pursued her. She was a fast swimmer, but she slowed so Alex would catch her.
"Gotcha!" Alex locked his arms lightly around her waist.
"If you kiss me, I'll turn into a princess," Melody teased.
"Don't mind if I do." Alex slowly leaned in, but was startled backwards by the dual growling of empty stomachs. "Maybe we should eat first."
"Good idea." Melody fell into step beside him, and he grabbed her hand. "But, uh, we don't have too much money…"
"We don't?"
"No. I brought some money-"
"So did I."
"-but I was worried about getting robbed or something while we slept, so I didn't bring a lot." Melody experienced a sudden longing for the kelp-and-seaweed sandwich she had eaten yesterday at the start of their trip. She hadn't eaten anything since, and neither had Alex.
"How many more days is it?"
"A few, plus we have to get back after we talk to the headquarters."
Melody looked worried, so Alex dropped to the sand and pulled her down into his lap. "Well, we will figure it out. Just think about how amazing it will be when we petition the council."
"You're not scared?" Melody looked up at him, wide-eyed.
"Nope." Truth be told, Alex was a little nervous, but he needed to help Melody be strong. "Plus, once they hear what we have to say and abolish the stupid royal marriage law, we will have the biggest celebration ever."
"We will?" Melody rested her arm on his leg and smiled up dreamily at Alex. "What kind of celebration?"
"We will get married."
Their eyes met, each shocked by the words that had left Alex's mouth. The thought had just occurred to him, but he was glad that he said it.
"Married?!" Melody leapt up from the sand. "You want to-you want to marry me?"
"Hmm." Alex pretended to think. "Do I want to marry the most beautiful, smartest, adventurous princess under the sea? Yes, I think I do."
"Oh, Alex." Melody leaned in and kissed her boyfriend, ignoring her hungry belly. "Are we really going to get married after we petition the council?"
"Only if you want to." He smiled knowingly at her.
"Of course I want to! I can't believe we are going to get married!"
Alex jumped off and swept Melody off the sand into his arms, kissing her deeply. Even though they were miles away from home, hungry, scared, and unsure, she was with Alex, who loved her and wanted to marry her.
For now, that was all she needed.
