Sebastian was not pleased with Ariel's progress in their first harp lesson. For all he could tell, she was barely paying attention to the lesson at all. In fact, it took them forever even to get started because the princess felt like it would be a good idea to stall their lesson by asking one of her sisters about selkies! As if keeping her escapade with the prince a secret wasn't already a difficult task. At this rate, the Sea King was going to make him a crab cake for sure…
And then, as if to add further insult to his soon-to-be injuries, Flounder was here, interrupting the lesson further! "Ariel! Sebastian! Come quick!"
Of course, Ariel tossed aside her sea harp to follow the fish! "Flounder, what is it?"
Sebastian, on the other claw, had no patience for this. "Flounder, you're not supposed to be here! Can't 'dis wait until after the lesson?"
Flounder wouldn't stop shaking his head. "No. I-I don't know how to explain it, but we need your help, now!"
Ariel was already swimming out of the room. Both Flounder and Sebastian had to race to keep up with her, with Sebastian eventually grabbing onto Flounder's tail for support.
"'Dis had better be good, Flounder," said Sebastian.
Sebastian couldn't stop gawking at the state of the grotto.
"I don't know how it happened," Flounder had explained when they arrived, "but one moment, Elsa and I were talking, and then the next thing I knew, it was like this."
It seemed as though the whole thing had been replaced with an irregular mass of sheer, blue ice. Jagged icicles protruded out from every direction, almost blocking the view of the sea cave that was sealed inside the clear, cold shell of the iceberg.
"Luckily, I had made it outside before the ice covered up the exit," Flounder continued, "but Elsa is still in there. I tried calling out to her, but I don't think she can hear me, and I could barely see her through the ice. For all I know, she's frozen solid!"
"We have to tell the Sea King about 'dis," Sebastian insisted to the terrified fish. "I don't care if he knows about your knickknacks. 'Dis could threaten the entire ocean if left un—"
CRASH!
Sebastian and Flounder jumped at the piercing sound and turned to see a gaping hole in the nearest wall of ice, with broken shards still floating around it.
"What was 'dat?!" Sebastian squeaked. "And where's Ariel?"
Ariel did not think twice when she heard Flounder mention that Elsa was trapped inside the ice. Without hesitation, she had grabbed the nearest rock and thrown it at the frozen wall, diving through its resulting hole before anyone could stop her.
Inside the grotto, Ariel's body was startled by the whiplash in temperature. She could almost imagine that she was swimming through the frozen waters of the Ice Kingdom, except her surroundings gave the impression that she had entered the jaws of a colossal shark, with her treasures embedded into its transparent teeth, which pulsed in the dark with dim hues of red and blue.
Silver glints in the sand below caught the young mermaid's attention. Beneath a brittle sheet of ice, Ariel could see what she could only describe as tiny, six-armed starfish, with limbs like bleached coral branches, peeking out of the sand. Many of them were clustered together like a bed of anemones at the mouth of the tunnel. A few more were scattered not far from the cluster. The mass of white coral stars seemed to form the shape of a familiar tail. Ariel reached down to brush her fingers against the outline.
"Ariel, what are you doing here?"
The mermaid looked up to be greeted by Elsa, who seemed frightened, but otherwise unharmed.
Ariel swam out of the tunnel to approach the selkie. "Flounder told me you were in trouble. I'm here to—"
Elsa jumped away. "Ariel, no! Don't worry about me. You need to get out of here!"
"But you'll freeze or drown if I leave you here!"
"You'll get hurt if you don't!"
Ariel wasn't sure why, but the water around them was suddenly getting colder as they were arguing.
Elsa looked up at the roof. "Ariel, you have to go! Now!"
Ariel wouldn't budge. "I am not leaving you here!"
The cave grew darker as the ice grew another layer. Ariel dodged a protruding spike that formed in the process. Elsa hid her muzzle behind her flippers and backed up into the wall. More spikes sprouted where she made impact.
Ariel lunged forward and pulled Elsa away from them, preparing to swim towards the exit. Jagged ice was lining the entrance of the tunnel, but that didn't stop her from diving through.
But halfway through the tunnel, Elsa pushed away from the mermaid. Something exploded from her flippers and narrowly missed Ariel.
That's when the realization finally came to her. "Elsa, are you creating the ice?"
Elsa flinched, unwilling to look at her. "Yes."
"Do you know how to make it stop?"
The selkie shook her head. "You should go. Maybe it will go away if I…"
Ariel shook her head. "No, there has to be another way. I'm not leaving until we're both safely out of this cave."
"Look around you, Ariel!" Elsa cried. "Look at me! I'm not safe to be around. If I leave, I might just make everything worse. There's nothing we can do!"
Ariel threw her hands over her head. "There's always something we can do! You can't give up already!"
Elsa shook her head. "You don't understand. If there was another way, I might have found it a long time ago. I shouldn't have asked for your help. Because of me, you no longer have a grotto."
"Elsa…," Ariel no longer knew what to say. Looking down in defeat, she gasped when she noticed the cluster of silver coral stars from before. She reached down once again to touch the half-buried objects.
"No! Ariel, don't—"
Nothing happened. The sand and the shapes buried within it were cold to the touch, and while sand crumbled away from Ariel's fingers, the cluster did not move. She examined the shape of the cluster and looked back up at the selkie.
"Are these your tears?" Ariel finally asked.
"I don't understand," said Elsa.
"These stars," Ariel explained. "They remind me of sea glass. My sisters and I sometimes shed scales when we've been crying. One of them told me that selkies cry differently from merpeople, but I'm still not sure how…"
"Yes," Elsa replied. "Those are mine. I never meant to cause all of this damage. I don't understand how you can forgive what I've done."
"Elsa, I don't know what you're talking about."
"You don't know anything about me!" Elsa said. "How could you still be willing to help me? You should be afraid of me by now."
Before Elsa could swim back through the way they came, back into the cold jaws of the frozen cavern, Ariel swam in front of her, blocking the path, and taking a calm, deep breath, she began to sing…
"Why do you say that I should be afraid?
Nothing between us is going to change.
I still see you as my friend."
Elsa shook her head, trying to find a way to swim past without touching Ariel. Tiny stars of ice began to materialize in the water around them, but Ariel only stared at them with a gleam of wonder in her eyes.
"Most of my friends come from different places
Have different interests and different faces
Those just make me want to know them more…"
"Ariel, I'm trying to tell you," Elsa tried to protest. "I'm too dangerous to help. I'm incapable of being one of your friends. Or anyone's. I'm too much of a monster…"
"Where you see danger, I see adventure.
Past the outside, I see the center!
Even the hardest shell holds a pearl.
Where you see a monster, I just see a girl."
Elsa was finally noticing the dancing stars. She stopped protesting, but Ariel could still see glints of fear and sadness in the selkie's eyes. She could tell that there was something on Elsa's mind that she wasn't ready to tell her yet.
"Even with secrets you want to hide
You can trust I'm always on your side
And that this is a safe space.
Just cause you're human with hidden magic
Doesn't mean all that will come is havoc.
Deep inside, I know we're all the same."
Ariel began to swim across the frozen grotto, brushing her hand across every beam of ice that she passed, filling the tunnel with melodious chimes.
"Where you see mess, I see where it's art
When things seem wrong, I follow my heart
Say what you will, but I'll still defend
Where you see a monster, I just see a FRIEND!"
With a belt and a leap, Ariel swooped back to where Elsa was and swam around her with a swirl of snowflakes. Elsa started to smile, and the ice around them slowly faded away into the surrounding saltwater until all that remained was a single snowflake, which floated between the two girls. Ariel reached for the snowflake and held it gently between her hands. She looked directly at Elsa as she finished her song.
"If you're upset, I won't lose my temper.
If things seem lost, try to remember
I will support you until the end.
I don't see a monster. I only see…
My friend."
Author's Notes: I'm finally sharing this chapter! As you might have noticed, it includes an original song that I decided to call "I See a Friend". I might try and figure out how to make sheet music for it in the future, but I'll save that for once I actually finish this story. In the meantime, thank you so much for reading this far, and I hope to have the next chapter or so ready sooner rather than later.