Jessica's Point of View
I spent my days in Atlantica with the princesses. Every morning would be the same. Marina woke us up, and we would join the king for a morning swim before we were dismissed. As the days passed, it became more apparent that Ariel was tired of the routine and craved something new. One morning, she spoke up on the issue. As usual, we swam into the throne room to greet King Triton, and we lined up. "Good morning, girls," King Triton greeted.
"Good morning, father," The princesses replied with a bow. I bowed along with them but didn't say anything.
"Marina," King Triton added.
"Good morning, Your Majesty," Marina said with a bow. Sebastion, King Triton's right-hand crab, cleared his throat. "Sebastion."
"You're late," Sebastion commented. Marina didn't seem to know how to reply, so she awkwardly swam next to Sebastion. "Your majesty."
"Well, I presume you've all been attending to your royal duties this week," King Triton mentioned.
"Yes, father. We've been working diligently," Attina answered while swimming in front of our group.
"But we're always done early," Ariel brought up. Attina tried to shush her. "And the coral is in bloom." The other girls quietly tried to get Ariel to stop talking. Regardless, Ariel continued. "So I thought maybe we could go for a swim on the reef?" I thought it sounded like a wonderful idea and hoped that King Triton would say yes.
"Not today, Ariel," King Triton refused.
"But it only happens once a year. It could be fun," Ariel tried as she swam closer to King Triton.
"I don't have the time," King Triton stated.
"I was thinking we could just skip the morning walk," Ariel suggested.
"Ariel! Your father said no," Sebastion cut in.
"Yes, sir," Ariel sighed as she took her place with me in the back of the group.
"Nice job," Attina muttered sarcastically.
King Triton got off his throne and headed out of the palace. "Let's move it!" Marina huffed. The princesses and I formed two lines behind King Triton and followed him.
"Okay, we're coming," Adella replied.
"Time to go," Andrina groaned.
"Great," Attina added.
Ariel hesitated before swimming alongside me. "I thought it was a great idea, Ariel," I whispered.
"At least someone thinks so," Ariel smiled.
We followed King Triton all through the kingdom. Ariel found a piece of seaweed and used it to brush up against Adella as Adella was trying to say hello to a merman. Adella didn't see Ariel and panicked when she felt the seaweed. Ariel and Andrina started giggling. Adella was furious with Ariel and chased her around. The rest of the group hadn't seemed to notice until they came swimming back and ran into the group, making myself and all of the princesses topple. King Triton and Sebastion didn't seem to notice. "Get up," Marina urged worriedly. We chuckled a bit as we formed a line.
King Triton turned to us. "That will be all, Sebastion, Marina. Good day, girls," He said.
"Goodbye, father," The girls chimed with a bow. Once again, I bowed with them but said nothing. We started to swim away.
I wanted to see if Ariel would like to go for a swim on the reef with me. "Hey, Ariel, I was wondering if you still-" I started.
"Ariel," King Triton interrupted.
Ariel swam back to her father. "Yes, Daddy?" She asked.
"Come on, Jess. You don't need to stick around. Ariel's just in trouble again," Attina advised before swimming off. I glanced back at Ariel before I swam back to the palace.