Two Weddings and a Mermaid

[Aquisha]

Hello everyone! Well, I've been trying for months to write a continuation to "Fathoms Below". A lot of people told me they wanted to hear how Tony, Ethan, James, and Charlotte would find out about Ariel being a mermaid. I kept thinking about that scenario and something finally came to mind that I finally liked, and I started a story. I know exactly what I want to do with it, we'll just see if it gets there . I hope you like it, it brings back the characters from "Fathoms" and hopefully the same feel as well.

For anyone who's never read "Fathoms Below", all you need to know is that Ariel and Eric are in love (duh but not yet engaged, and they have four best friends who went to school with Eric: James and Charlotte (a couple), and Ethan and Antonia (aka Tony, they are another couple). Also, these friends met Ariel three months ago, but they still don't know that she was a mermaid. "Fathoms" took place in October, and this is taking place the following January.

That's it! I hope you like it, and as always, whatever you feel, please tell me! Good, bad, whatever, I really want to hear it! Thanks guys and enjoy!

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Ariel had just recently decided that a wedding was the most troubling event that one could get involved in. The most troubling event would of course be getting involved in two weddings. And this was just the predicament that Ariel found herself in this afternoon.

She’d known for the longest time that Ethan and Antonia were getting married the fourth week in January. It seemed, until this last month, that week could not arrive fast enough. But, then came the news that her sister Aquata and her boyfriend of three years, Finn, were getting married too, and at the same time as the first wedding. This put Ariel right in the middle of her eldest sister and her new best friends.

She’d been dreading making a decision on this situation for a week. Whatever she chose, she would have to miss one wedding and feel awful about it. She needed advice. So she decided to ask the one person who would surely make her feel comfortable about either conclusion. Of course, she went to Eric.

Arriving assuredly at the large oak doors of Eric’s study, she knocked and waited for a voice that sounded like it was miles away.

“Come in.”

Ariel opened the doors and walked straight to the desk were Eric was sitting. Then she proceeded to hop up and sit on the desk. This was such a common occurrence nowadays, that Eric didn’t even look up from his paperwork.

“Isn’t it a little early for walking on the beach?” he asked.

“Sadly, that’s not why I’m here. I have a dilemma,” she sighed, thoughtfully looking at the oak doors she’d just come through.

“Well, I’ll try my best to help,” Eric said, finally looking up.

“Ok, so Ethan and Tony are getting married in about two weeks, right?” she asked looking over her shoulder.

“Right.”

“Well, so are my sister and her fiancé.”

“Oh. You’re right. That’s a dilemma."

"I know," Ariel distantly replied.

"What do you wanna do?” Eric asked, leaning towards Ariel on his elbows.

“I don’t know. That’s the problem. I love Ethan and Tony and I wanted to be there for them. But then, I’ve been waiting for Aquata and Finn to get married for years. We all used to tease them that they’d never do it. Now that they are, I feel like I’d be missing an event three years in the making.” These last words faded into a piteous whine. “What do you think?”

“It sounds to me like you really want to go and see your sister.”

“I do. I’d just feel so bad about….”

“Ariel, it’s ok. If you wanna go, Tony and Ethan will understand. It’s your sister; you have to be there for her. Plus, you haven’t been to Atlantica since you came here. If there was ever a time for a visit, it would be for this.”

Ariel had brought one leg up on the table and turned to really face Eric.

“You’d hold down the fort for me with Ethan and Tony, right? You’d send my love and tell them how excited I am for them?”

“Of course, what else could I do?” Eric said, with an earnest smile.

Ariel smiled back. Then, she leaned and gave Eric a kiss.

“I’ll send word to Aquata and let her know I’m coming,” she said, energetically hopping off of the desk. “I guess I can go to Atlantica a day before you leave for Greysmith. Is that alright?”

“That’s fine with me,” Eric said, getting up and walking around to the front of his desk.

“Alright. Thanks Eric.”

“It’s fine,” he said smiling.

With that, a decision was made and Ariel went down to the beach to send word to Atlantica.

[ariel7angel]

Sounds like a great idea Aquisha - i have to go to work but i cant wait to read it!!!!

[WickedElphie]

*SQUEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!*

Er- I mean, I'm so glad you decided to do a sequel.

Looking forward to the next chapter.

[Aquisha]

Long story short: I'm only home for a week before I leave for Kansas for 2 1/2 months, where I won't know when I'll be able to write next. Good news: This story is coming quick. Bad news: I have a week to get a lot done. I'll be posting a lot. Hope that's ok.

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The system of getting messages to Atlantica was really quite of specimen a marine co-existence and cooperation. It started with Scuttle carrying a written copy of whatever the message was to a group of sea otters that hung about the rocks of the kingdom. They then dove down to dolphins waiting at an appointed station. They carried it to a line of somewhat nosey clams that would read the message and pass it along until it reached one of the Atlantican guards. He would then get word to Sebastian, who would then let King Triton know. In this fashion, the news of Ariel’s visit to Atlantica came to its destination.

When the news did get there, it seemed that everyone in the palace got excited for Aquata’s wedding all over again. Ariel had been sorely missed, and having her back for an occasion like this one would give the palace a jolt of energy it hadn’t had for quite some time.

In Greysmith, the news of Ariel’s absence at the wedding was met with saddened understanding. Tony had heard plenty of stories from Ariel about her sisters and knew that they were all terribly close. She couldn’t blame Ariel at all for wanting to be with her sister, especially because it was the first wedding in the family. Both she and Ethan wished her luck, and were content that they’d be seeing Eric at least.

With all that settled, two days later, Eric was down at the beach to see Ariel off. Having been unconscious the last time Ariel’s transformation took place, Eric was excited to finally witness it.

Sebastian, Aquata, and a rather nervous-looking, ginger-headed merman with a light green tail had come to meet them. Finn had never been to the surface before, and he was only halfway comforted by Aquata’s reassuring words during the ascent. But, Finn had to keep telling himself that if that sweet little mermaid from two years ago could come to live and like it here, it couldn’t be all that bad.

“Now Eric,” Ariel said, as they approached the water. “Finn’s never been to the surface. Take it easy on him, will you?”

“Of course.”

Ariel didn’t know if she could trust that, but before she could give any more warnings, they were at the water’s edge.

“Aquata!”

“Ariel!”

The two girls squealed as Ariel kneeled down and hugged her sister.

“Dere dey go,” Sebastian said rolling his eyes. “Hello dere Eric.”

“Hi Sebastian,” Eric said. Then he turned to Finn and extended a hand to him.

“Hi. I’m Eric.”

Finn apprehensively eyed the hand and looked to the girls on his left. Ariel turned, picking up on his confusion, took his right hand, put it in Eric’s, and started to move both up and down.

“It’s a way of greeting people, Finn,” she told him with a smile.

“Oh,” he said, looking from Ariel to Eric. “Sorry about that.”

“No problem. It’s ok,” Eric said.

“I’m so happy you’re coming,” Aquata said to Ariel. “I hope your friends won’t mind.”

“Of course not, Aquata. I have to be with you! I can’t believe you two are finally getting married! It’s been years, you know.”

“Yes, I know Ariel,” Finn added defensively. “I just like to take my time.”

“Oh Ariel knows about that,” Aquata said, giving a sly look to Eric.

“Thanks Aquata,” Eric said, embarrassed.

“Aw Eric,” Ariel said, with a look of playful pity. “Aquata, where’s Daddy?”

“He entrusted me with getting you home,” she answered proudly.

“Really? He let you have the trident?”

“Yeah. He said I should get used to wielding it.”

Both Ariel and Eric gave her impressed looks.

“And I’m here to supervise,” piped the little crab. “Don’t want you getting home wit half a fin or some nonsense like dat.”

“Thank you Sebastian,” Ariel said, patting him on the head.

“Ariel, you’re really a human,” Finn said looking at her bent knees. “It’s just kind of strange.”

“I know, but you get used to it. I’m really happy here Finn. But, I do miss you guys a lot.”

“Yeah, we’re glad to be getting you back, even if it’s only for a couple of tides.”

Aquata had turned to Eric.

“Eric thank you so much for letting her come. I really need her.”

“Aquata, it’s not a question of me letting her come. With all the things that she gave up to be with me, how could I ever tell her that she couldn’t visit? I have no say over what she does when it comes to Atlantica. No, Aquata, she just wanted to be with you and that was that.”

“You’re a good guy Eric, you know that?”

“I just love your sister, that’s all.”

“We can’t just sit here all day,” called an exasperated Jamaican accent. “We do have to be gettin’ back to Atlantica before your fadder gets worried about you and his trident.”

“Ok, Sebastian,” Ariel sighed. “You know, you’re almost as bad as Grimsby.”

“Humph!”

“Eric, I was thinking; I wanna stay in touch with you while you’re in Greysmith. Can you meet me at the beach there tomorrow night.”

“Yeah sure. We can meet every night if you want. It’ll have to be later though.”

“Why would it have to be late?” Aquata asked.

“Eric’s friends don’t know about the whole ‘mermaid’ thing,” Ariel responded. Seeing the disapproving look on her sister’s face she quickly added, “Yet.”

“You’ll have to tell them sooner or later,” Aquata said.

“I know,” said Eric. “It’s just a hard conversation to start. ‘By the way, guys, my girlfriend was formerly a mythical creature!’”

Aquata laughed and said, “You never know, Eric. They might just surprise you.”

“Still, Eric’s right,” Ariel said. “Even if the guys knew, there’ll be a lot of people around Greysmith who wouldn’t and that could be a problem. Would midnight be late enough?”

“It should be. I’ll make sure I’m there to fill you in on anything you miss.”

“Great! Then I won’t feel so bad.”

Ariel smiled, biting her lower lip. Then she stood up and waded into the water until it was waist high.

“Alright, Aquata.”

Aquata took up the trident and it glowed with a bright, clear white light. Then, she touched it to the water until golden ripples formed around Ariel. Suddenly, the light reached it brightest, and Ariel disappeared beneath the water. For a moment, nothing happened.

“Ariel?” Aquata called, hesitantly.

“Ariel,” Eric called, searching the water.

“Ariel, where are you girl!” Sebastian cried.

Then Aquata nearly jumped out of the water. Clearly something underwater had just grabbed her.

“Oh, my…. Ariel!”

A head covered with wet red hair emerged from the water laughing hysterically.

“Not funny, Ariel!” Aquata cried. “I thought I did something wrong!”

“No, I’m fine. Gosh, you all are so tense!”

She eyed Eric standing un-amused on the beach with his arms crossed.

“You look like my father, Eric,” Ariel said, laughing.

“Try and make sure she doesn’t get herself into any trouble?”

“I’ll try,” Aquata said breathlessly.

Sebastian and Finn waved and dove into the water.

“Bye Eric,” Aquata said before going down.

“Bye Eric! Tomorrow at midnight! I love you!” Ariel called before being pulled into the water.

Eric just laughed.

“I love you, too.”

[WickedElphie]

That was a nice long chapter. It was very sweet, and you did a great job with Finn of showcasing some of the inherent human/merpeople tension. I like your take on Aquata too.

[dreamer]

I'm so glad your writing another story! I was waiting for you to do another! And this one sounds awesome.

[ariel7angel]

WOw i just love your stories, it has been a hard week for me and it is nice to read your story it puts me in a way better mood, cant wait to read more!!!!

[supebaby]

Yay! You are such a good writer, Aquisha! You create characters so well! I already love Aquata, and she has only had like seven lines.
Good luck in Kansas!

[Aquisha]

Thanks so much you guys! I'm really glad that you like it! I'm sorry that the chapters are kind of longish; I know it's a lot to read at one time. I've got two more chapters done and I will probably post them both today so stay tuned!

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The swim to Atlantica was even better than Ariel remembered. On land, winter’s sway reigned, forcing all living things into a quite retreat. But the ocean still teamed with life. The coral’s colors weren’t as bright as they would be in summer or spring since the winter sun wasn’t as bright, but still, there was movement everywhere Ariel looked. Dolphins were swimming by. Schools of tuna rushed past. Eels slithered among the rocks and sand. (Ariel knew that just because Flotsam and Jetsam had been crooked and sly, not all eels were. Still, she couldn’t help from getting a chill as she passed them.)

Every few moments she would hear a “Hi Ariel” or a “Welcome home” and she’d realize how much she’d missed being in the sea. In fact, she was starting to feel bad about staying away so long. There was so much that she’d taken for granted before that she was so grateful for now. And as she was thinking about how wonderful the open ocean was, they swam over a hill, and Ariel saw her first glimpse of Atlantica in almost a year. The spirals of the palace gleamed and shone and the city itself was so full of hustle and bustle that it looked like a living sea creature.

“Happy to be home?” Aquata asked.

“Yes,” Ariel said, without even looking away from the palace.

In the palace, Aquata led Ariel, Finn, and Sebastian into the throne room. Aquata put the trident back in its stand with a fair amount of reverence. Then, without any kind of formality at all, she cupped her hands around her mouth and called out, “Andrina, Arista, Attina, Adella, Alana! Come down! Ariel’s home!”

There was silence at first. Then, coming from all directions, the sound of squeals came closer and closer, louder and louder. Suddenly, tails of every color burst into the room. Finn pulled Sebastian out of danger as the girls descended on Ariel. They watched as Andrina giggled, and Alana cried, as Attina and Adella asked countless questions, and Arista commented on Ariel’s split ends.

When the excitement died down a little, Adella spoke up.

“How are you Ariel?”

“I’m fine. I’ve just missed you all so much! It feels so strange being back. Like I’ve been gone for years but, at the same time, like I never left.”

“We’re glad to have you back Ariel,” said Andrina.

“How’s Eric,” Arista asked. That question noticeably drew all the girls closer in.

“He’s fine. We’re fine.”

“He’s still adorable,” added Aquata.

“He’s so cute Ariel, and not just for a human,” Alana said sheepishly.

The girls all giggled.

“Well, I’m glad you approve,” Ariel beamed.

“I still don’t see a ring,” Arista noted.

“Thank you Arista,” Ariel replied, smiling through her annoyance. “But I’m not really worried about that right now. And I don’t have to be, because someone else is getting married in two weeks.”

At that, the girls broke out into another chorus of shrieks and squeals as they hugged Aquata and pulled Finn in for his fair share of hugging too.

“I see you made it safely,” said a loud but calm voice, obviously used to talking over this many excited girls.

The girls spread apart so that Ariel could see her father clearly. He was just floating there with open arms that Ariel was quick to fill.

“Hi, Daddy.”

“Ariel. I am so glad that you’re here. We have missed you. Especially this one…”

Triton looked over his shoulder. A small circle of yellow and blue came whizzing through the doors.

“AR-I-EL!”

“Flounder!”

The little fish hit Ariel so hard that she fell over onto the floor.

“So I take it I was missed.”

“You can say that again! My friends from school all wanted to hear about how you defeated Ursula. When I told them, they thought it was awesome. But now, they won’t leave me alone! They think I’m some kind of adventure-magnet. But the only reason my life consisted of anything other than running away was because of you. Oh, I’ve missed you Ariel.”

“Oh Flounder,” Ariel said, giving the little fish another hug.

“Well now dat you’ve all giggled together and hugged each other,” Sebastian said calmly, “you can all start workin’ on dis wedding! I’m not gonna do it all by me-self you know!”

“Right Sebastian,” the girls replied.

“Now,” Sebastian started, as he walked toward a coral cabinet on the side of the room. When he opened the doors, a mountain of papers spilled out into the throne room. “First we need to make a second draft of de guest list. Den, we got to decide on a color scheme. Den dere’s the band, well; I’ll take care of de band,” he added with pride. “But, dere’s more…”

The girls, Flounder, Finn, and King Triton were all looking at each other, sharing the same thought: This is going to be a long two weeks.

[WickedElphie]

No need to apoligize for long-ish chapters on my account. I actually like 'em a bit longer-but that's just me.

Another pitch-perfect installment.

[Aquisha]

Yay for Greysmith!
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With exactly two weeks before the wedding of its noble prince, the kingdom of Greysmith was in a downright tizzy. People had garlanded their shops and houses with every kind of ribbon of every color. There were paper flowers lining windowsills, seeing as how it was winter and the all the real flowers were quite cozy in their seeds underground.

In all the bakeries, special bonbons and tiny cakes were made in celebration of the coming nuptials. The milliner had outdone herself by putting her best wax fruits and vegetables onto every hat as a token for a fruitful and blessed marriage for the prince. Children sang songs about tying knots and everyone was just plain enthusiastic.

By the time Eric got there, he thought the town was liable to explode from its own frenzied high spirits. As he entered the grand hall of Ethan’s castle, he was met by even more commotion. He had stepped out of four people's way within the first two minutes of being inside. He was about to be toppled by a young girl with an oversized spool of fabric, when a hand took his shoulder and pulled him into a small parlor.

“Don’t you know it is dangerous out there?” asked a familiar and exuberant voice.

“We’ve been in here for most of the morning,” remarked a second stoic voice.

Once he’d gotten his bearings back, Eric turned to face the four people he never got tired of seeing. The first voice was James', who was still looking at him incredulously from his seemingly heroic saving of Eric’s life. Charlotte, the second voice, was looking down at a table full of flowers (which had been imported), tying ivory ribbons around them. Tony, who was at the same table with Charlotte, doing the same dull task, had turned in her chair and was beaming at Eric. Ethan had just walked to the center of the room from a seat under a large window in the middle of the far wall, which was covered with papers.

“Hi,” Eric said simply.

“Eric!” Ethan said, rushing across the room and nearly toppling Eric with a huge hug. “I’m so glad to see you. This is complete madness! Did you see it out there,” Ethan asked, ushering Eric to a chair next to his own window seat.

Tony had gotten up from the table and moved her chair to her fiancé. Before she sat, she went over to Eric, leaned over and kissed him on the cheek.

“I’m glad you’re here,” she said with obvious relief.

“Wouldn’t miss it,” he said to Tony, before turning back to Ethan. “It looks like someone declared war out there.”

“I know! It’s crazy. Mother can’t even do anything about it. The cabinet has taken over control of the whole affair in order to ‘calm the royal mind’. Do they call this calm? Then, oh then, they’ve given us these ‘easy’ tasks to do so that we can feel helpful. The girls have been waist deep in flowers for days while I’ve been spell checking proposals to get the girls more flowers!”

“He’s about to implode,” said Charlotte, as she leaned over and hugged Eric before going over to a small table and pouring herself some water.

“And James, what have you been doing exactly?” Eric asked.

“The usual: providing moral support, an aesthetically-pleasing distraction, and artistic supervision. By the way, Charlotte my love, you’ve gotten lazy on the last arrangements. We can’t get sloppy now, can we?”

Eric gave Charlotte a ‘please don’t kill James’ glance before turning back to Ethan. “Wait, your mother’s here already?”

“Of course, you know her. Father will be here next week, but Mother’s been trying to get a hold of things. To little avail as you can see.”

“She did come with cookies though,” James said as he shook Eric’s hand and pulled him into a hug as well.

“Well, I guess that’s a relief,” Eric replied, half with sarcasm and half in earnest.

Queen Jane, Ethan’s mother, was everything that Eric liked to think that his own mother had been. She was the most caring and elegant woman he had ever known. Since he was a little boy he had both deeply respected and loved her. Right now he really wanted to see her himself, but obviously, Ethan was in need of some help.

“But Mother’s gone to Glowerhaven to see about the fabric we ordered. She won’t be back until tomorrow morning, giving all the wedding coordinators free-range.” At that thought, Ethan cringed.

“How are you doing besides all this, Ethan?” he asked.

“We’re managing, I guess. As long as I remember who it is I’m trying to marry, I’d say I was doing alright. It is the blonde, right?”

Tony shot her fiancé a playfully stern glance, then, she turned to Eric. “He’ll be alright, Eric. He’s just nervous. How’s Ariel? Did she make it to her sister alright?’

“Yeah, she’s fine. She’s so upset that she can’t be here though.”

“It’s fine Eric. She needs to be with her family. She hasn’t visited her sisters in a long time, has she?’

“No she hasn’t, actually.”

“I was quite hoping to see that little fireball,” James remarked.

“I know, and she quite wanted to see you.”

“Well that goes without saying.”

Charlotte rolled her eyes. “She’s not missing anything. We’ve just been cooped up in here for the last two days.”

“Then let’s get out,” Eric said.

“But Eric,” James implored, “we can’t out there with so many coordinators and decorators, especially of the wedding persuasion. It could lead to serious maiming or even loss of limb.”

“I doubt that it’s that bad. Come on,” he said getting up from his chair and walking over to the door. “There’s got to be something more interesting that we could take charge of. Even if it’s small, we can work our way up from there.”

“I was thinking that my part in my own wedding preparations would go farther than arranging baby’s breath,” Tony said.

“As long as we stay out of the way of any cabinet members,” Ethan added, “we could pick up on the work that Mother was doing before she left. It’s got to be more exciting than this.”

Eric opened the door, and his friends gratefully filed out in front of him. The last one out was James.

“Goodness Eric,” he exclaimed. “I’m not used to this take-charge, no-nonsense attitude of yours! Honestly, what has Ariel done to you?”

[WickedElphie]

aquisha said:

“Goodness Eric,” he exclaimed. “I’m not used to this take-charge, no-nonsense attitude of yours! Honestly, what has Ariel done to you?”

If they only knew.

I, of course, loved this latest chapter. I'm interested to see what you're planning...

[Aquisha]

You guys thanks so much for responding to each new chapter and for your encouragement with the story. It gets me excited to write more! With this being my last week at home, I'm trying to get a lot up here. That's why there's so much coming all at once. I have a place I want to; hopefully I'll make it. Anyway, thanks again guys!

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On Eric’s initiative, the rest of the day went considerably better than last two had gone.

Ethan resolutely walked into his study and impressively demanded that he, Antonia, and his friends take over his mother’s duties. Everyone quickly learned that Queen Jane, while still actually doing real work, had been in charge of the best parts of the wedding planning process. These included tasting the possible dinner entrees and the cake, picking colors of flowers (not arranging them), and screening dresses for the bridesmaids (this of course bored the boys, but, they were at least amused by Tony and Charlotte’s excitement).

The only breaks they'd had were for food, and by the end of the evening, they were all ready to go to sleep.

Eric went upstairs with everyone, and they all exchanged goodnights and sleep-tights. He went into his room and did a little unpacking until ten minutes before midnight. Then he silently left his room, put on his coat, crept down the stairs, and out to the beach.

Ariel was hiding behind a small rock wall that jutted out into the water. The wall curved at the perfect angle to hide Ariel from anyone from the castle who might be walking along the beach. She was behind the wall, admiring the reflection of the moon on the water when the sound of something hitting the water pulled her from her thoughts.

“So, how’s Atlantica?”

Ariel turned to see Eric sitting next to her, his legs in the water, and a hand extended to help her up onto the wall.

“It’s amazing Eric,” she answered, settling on the rocks. “Everything is so bright and colorful and rushed. It’s just like I remember it, but better. I wish you could see it.”

“Yeah,” he said, taking off his coat and putting it around Ariel. “Well, maybe you could take me some time.”

“You would go with me to Atlantica?” she asked with a look of disbelief. “You know you’d have to be a merman to go?”

“Yeah, I know. Why do you look so shocked? You can’t tell me that you’ve never thought of me with a tail,” he said with a smirk.

“I have, actually," Ariel said, embarrassed and noticeably avoiding Eric's eyes. "I just never thought you’d want to go.”

“I do. With the way that you and your sisters talk about it: the magic, the adventure; I want to see it for myself. Plus, without a giant octopus to distract me, I can actually appreciate how beautiful you are like this, and that’s incentive enough.”

If she wasn’t embarrassed before, Ariel certainly was now. She lowered her head, fighting a losing battle against a smile, then, she took a deep breath and looked at Eric.

“Alright. Then the next time I visit, I’ll take you. I promise.”

“Shake on it,” Eric said, holding out his hand.

“Fine,” said Ariel, shaking on their new deal. “So, how are the bride and groom?”

“Well, Tony’s fine. She’s enjoying everything and having fun, like always. Ethan is just a little frazzled at the moment.”

“Ethan? Frazzled?”

“I know. It’s strange for him to be that nervous about anything, even a wedding. He’s always so calm and level-headed.”

“But, Ethan is always calm and level-headed for his friends when they go through some big, life-changing event. He’s been there for everyone else so much that he probably has no idea what to do when he’s the center of attention.”

“That’s true. That’s very true. He’s a little better now that we’ve got him doing less stressful things like cake tasting. He can handle cake tasting.”

“Well I’m glad,” Ariel said with a smile.

“What about you? I’m sure Atlantica’s going crazy over the wedding of King Triton’s eldest daughter.”

“Well, there is a lot of excitement going around. Not that I could really tell. Sebastian’s got us all working non-stop. He’s planned everything out and there can be no deviating from his schedule. ‘9:00-9:30: Review da guest list. 9:30-10:30: Double check da seating arrangements. 10:30-Noon: Practice da song you girls will be singing (oh, don’t tink dat won’t be singing at dis wedding!).’ Don’t get me wrong, I love Sebastian to death, but it’s a little demoralizing taking orders from a creature the size of your fist.”

“I’m sure it is,” Eric said, fighting back a laugh.

“I mean I know a wedding is a big deal and that it takes planning and order, but it can still be fun, can’t it?”

“I think so. Strangely enough, I'd actually think you should enjoy your wedding. But try telling that to someone like Grim.”

“I hadn’t even thought of Grimsby! We’d be put to work before we could even say ‘engaged’.”

“Oh, no. If Grim plans the wedding, he won’t even trust us to work at all. He’d lock us in rooms on opposite sides of the castle, where we couldn’t get in any trouble or get in anybody’s way.”

They both laughed, even though Eric’s prediction had a frighteningly high likelihood of coming true. Ariel leaned and put her head on Eric’s shoulder.

“It would be awful,” she said, “and we’d be stressed and nervous and scared to death.”

“Yeah.”

“…But it does sound like fun,” she said closing her eyes.

“Yes it does.”

And Eric leaned his head on Ariel’s and put his arm around her while the moon rose steadily over the ocean.

[WickedElphie]

Aww. Ariel and Eric are sooooo cute. Love. Love.

You do realize that if Eric doesn't end up fulfilling his promise within this story you will have to write ANOTHER sequel, right?

And I know that I'm a horrible horrible hypocrite, but I'm actually working on my story I swear. It's just that I realized I hated some things I did, so now I'm editing ALL the chapters already posted before continuing.

I'm so slow. And I'm so glad you're not.

[ariel7angel]

WOW i cant wait to read more, i just could read your stories all day - keep up the great work!!!!

[dreamer]

That was a great chapter. keep it up!

[Aquisha]

Unfortunately, these will be the last posts of this story for a while. It could be until Monday, or it could be longer than that. Anyway, I did get to where I wanted to be. Yay! There is more on the way but I don't know when it'll get written. As always enjoy everyone and hopefully, I'll be able to write soon!

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There was nothing more amusing to Ariel than the fact that she was swimming to see Eric every night with her father’s blessing. “Be careful,” he’d say warmly, “and tell Eric that we all say ‘hello’.” That sentence was enough to keep Ariel giggling all the way to the surface. And even though it was funny, she still couldn’t shake that old feeling that meeting a human late at night was something forbidden and sacrilegious. But of course, to Ariel, that just made it more fun.

Eric wasn’t finding it as easy to get to their midnight meetings. Queen Jane had returned to Greysmith, overjoyed to see all the kids together, and even happier to see that they had taken to helping with the wedding. She promised that as long as they worked hard, they could keep helping her with the fun stuff. That was fine, but it meant long nights of work, enjoyable though it was. Those long nights made it hard for Eric to sneak out of the castle un-noticed. Eric really didn’t have any proficiency at bending the truth, so each night he’d just say that he was going to bed, and left in the direction of the stairs. For everyone else, Eric’s absence was a little unusual, but nothing extraordinary. For James, who was always ready and looking for a good intrigue, he noted Eric’s strangely regular bedtime with considerable interest.

It wasn’t until the night that found Eric, Ethan, and Queen Jane in one of the castle’s studies that James’ suspicions were truly aroused.

It was late and the room was dark, even with the fireplace going and few lamps lit. All three sat at a table, where they had been for at least an hour, pouring over paperwork.

“Eric, darling,” said Jane, looking up from the table. “We do appreciate your help. I don’t know what Ethan would have done if you hadn’t come.”

“I’m sure he’d have been fine.”

“What are you talking about, Eric?” Ethan asked. “I was ready to lose my mind before you came. This is exactly why you’re my best man.”

“Well, what are god-brothers for?”

“Eric,” Jane said, “I really do wish that I could have seen Ariel. She’s such a sweet girl. You’re not doing anything to upset her are you, like that little incident in October.”

“You told your mother about that?” Eric asked.

“She wanted to know how the masque went,” Ethan answered, trying to look innocent.

“Well, Eric…” Jane pressed.

“No, Jane. We’re fine.”

“Good,” she said matter-of-factly. “I’m very glad to hear it. After all, I promised your father that I’d make sure that you grew up to be happy and I can tell that you’ve never been happier than when you’re with her.”

Eric smiled shyly as the clock struck twelve.

“Oh, gosh. Ethan, I have to um….”

“Go to bed?”

“Yeah. Yeah, go to bed. You can handle everything, right?”

“Sure. I think Mother and I have got it.”

“Alright. Night Jane,” he said, giving her a kiss.

“Good night, darling.”

Eric walked out of the room in a hurry, leaving Jane with her son.

“I think he’ll be next.”

“Oh without a doubt. We all know they’re getting married, we just don’t know when.”

Jane had hardly been listening to Ethan even though she was looking straight at him.

“You all are growing up so fast. I remember walking into your room and finding you and Eric building forts and arranging battle plans on your toy chest. Spring breaks with all of you hardly old enough to know who you were let alone who you wanted to spend the rest of your life with.” She sighed deeply. “What happened Ethan?”

“I don’t know mother. It does kind of seem like time’s been moving a little faster these last couple of years. In any case, without us knowing it, it seems we’ve all grown up. But you know mother, everyone’s fine and we’re really happy, and that’s thanks in large part to you.”

Then, Ethan simply took his mother’s hand and gave it a squeeze.

“Thank you, darling,” she continued, wiping her eyes. “Now, what did you decide about the second course for dinner?”

“Oh. I have no clue. Eric knows though. I’ll run upstairs and ask him. He can’t asleep already.”

Ethan ran out of the room and up the stairs. He got to Eric’s room and knocked on the door.

“Eric,” he called.

When he knocked again, the door swung open.

“Eric?”

Ethan let his eyes adjust to the darkness and then he walked into the room. As Ethan walked towards the bed, the moon shone in through the un-curtained windows. This allowed him to see that Eric was not in the bed. In fact, the bed hadn’t even been touched. Instinctually, he turned to the closet. When nothing turned up there, he searched the bathroom, and still, nothing. After he’d checked the room up and down, not only did Ethan find that Eric wasn’t there, but that he hadn’t been there for some time.

This made no sense. Eric had gone to bed only ten minutes ago. He should be in his room.
As Ethan thought about where he could possibly be, he walked over to the window. He was looking down at the beach and it was there that he found what he was looking for. There was Eric walking away from a rock wall and back towards the castle.

At this point, merely finding Eric wasn’t going to appease Ethan. What was he doing on the beach, he asked himself. Why didn’t he tell anyone? Is that where he’s going every night?

His mind was racing. He wasn’t as susceptible to curiosity as James, but still, Ethan couldn’t shake the feeling that something was going on. Whatever the case was, Eric was coming back and he couldn’t stay here and ponder it now.

I’ll ask Tony about it tomorrow, he thought. She’ll be able to keep a level head about all this. His mind a little more at ease, Ethan stole out of Eric’s room and back downstairs.

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“Tony, could I speak to you alone for a moment?”

“Sure Ethan.”

Antonia excused herself, after getting untangled from the yards of measuring tape she’d been wrapped in, and walked out of the room with Ethan. As they walked down the hall, they passed a room where James was draped in fabric from head to foot and another where Charlotte was nearly fighting some poor young girl who was trying to curl her hair.

Ethan ushered Tony into a small and seldom-used study at the far end of the hallway. Once inside, he turned and made sure to shut the door behind him.

“Ethan, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong, Tony. It’s nothing about the wedding or anything like that.”

“Well,” she said relaxing considerably. “That’s a relief. Alright, then, what is it?”

“Ok. Last night, around midnight, Eric said that he was going to bed, right? At about ten after, I went upstairs to ask Eric something. I got up to his room and he wasn’t there, in fact it looked like he hadn’t been there since the night before.”

“Maybe he forgot something downstairs.”

“No he didn’t. I went to the window and looked down, and there he was on the beach.”

“Oh Ethan you know Eric. Remember back at school; anytime Eric seemingly disappeared, we’d usually find him on the beach or at the docks. He just likes to get some fresh air every now and then.”

“Then why would he say that he was going to sleep? I mean, he has been ‘going to bed’ at the same time ever since he got here. Maybe he’s been sneaking off to the beach every night.”

“I have been wondering about that,” she said, mostly to herself.

“And so have I,” said James, as he confidently walked into the room. Charlotte was right behind him, with one fourth of her hair straight and the rest of it an unruly mass of curls.

“James, we were having a private conversation.”

“Ethan, there is no privacy among friends, especially when those friends have gathered to discuss the privacy of another friend.”

“I believe that would be a touché, Ethan,” Charlotte said coolly.

Ethan, knowing he was bested, just sighed and nodded his head.

“I do agree with you, though, Ethan,” James started. “Something is most definitely up with Eric.”

“I don’t believe you two,” said Tony. “Eric is our friend. We know him enough to know that no matter what he does, whatever it is, it’s nothing sneaky or sinister.”

“Maybe you two should just calm down a little,” said Charlotte.

“She’s right,” Tony said, touching Ethan’s shoulder. “Maybe you’re just throwing your nerves for the wedding onto Eric.”

The look on Ethan’s face was a mixture of trying to indulge his fiancée and trying to stick to his gut feeling. He didn’t want to upset Tony, but at the same time, he didn’t want to back down. Thankfully, for Ethan, James was in the room and he was not about to let go of all his snooping and calculating that easily.

“Well, Tony,” James began. “If you’re so sure that nothing’s going on, then you wouldn’t have any problem with following Eric to the beach tonight, would you?”

“To let you recklessly gallivant into Eric’s personal life?” asked Charlotte accusingly.

“No! We’d be doing this solely to settle poor Ethan’s overwrought mind, of course.”

“Of course,” echoed Charlotte.

“If it would make you two settle down, yes,” agreed Tony.

“Alright then, it’s an accord.”

With that, James bowed slightly and left the room. Charlotte promptly rolled her eyes, shot Tony an apologetic glance, and left after James.

“Thanks for amusing us Tony,” said Ethan.

Tony stood there as Ethan left the room smiling at her. She couldn’t help but think that Ethan never had the tendency for drawing wild conclusions from ordinary circumstances. He never went with any of James’ outrageous theories, and for the first time, they agreed with each other. It doesn’t matter, they’re still wrong, she thought. Eric lying to everyone to go walking on the beach alone at midnight every night isn’t strange at all…Right?

[Aquisha]

Just a bit more...

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That night found everyone once again, working late. This time, they were all in the kitchen working on finger pastries for the luncheon that would be a few days before the wedding. With so many guests coming, Jane had insisted on getting a head start on the culinary preparations.

Eric was unanimously elected to spearhead the operation, seeing as how he was the only one who had any experience or skill in a kitchen. Jane had left him in charge with keeping everyone organized and on task, but by about 11:30 that evening there had been at least two and a half food fights and countless impromptu taste-testings which left them with far less to show for their efforts than expected.

“You know,” said James, “if you had told me when I was twelve years old that one day I would be making cookies for Tony and Ethan’s wedding, I would never have believed you.”

“I know,” said Tony. “But I would never have believed that you and Charlotte would be dating either.”

“I still can’t,” said Charlotte.

They all laughed.

“That just goes to show,” said Eric, “that you never know what life is going to throw at you. It can take even the most familiar things like a friend or the sea and make you see something in it that you’ve never seen before.”

“Wow, Eric,” said James. “That…that was beautiful.”

“Why, thank you.”

Then James turned and looked at Eric with his large green eyes.

“Can I have a hug?”

“Shut up, James.”

“Stop it you guys,” said Tony laughing. “I think you’re right Eric. Life is funny that way,” she said looking at Ethan.

“Well I’m just glad that you could all be here,” Ethan said.

“Well, it is the end of an era,” said James, mercilessly kneading some dough.

“What do you mean?” Eric asked.

“This is the beginning of the end of our youth, that’s all. We’re growing up. We’ll have wives, and children, and responsibility. But, we did have a good run, didn’t we? We enjoyed ourselves while we could. True, it will be a bitter pill to take: no parties, no spontaneity, and no leisure. But we’ll endure won’t we? True, those days of blissfully sailing aimlessly upon the sea of life are over, but still, life will go on, somehow. Right?”

There was complete silence. They all just stared at James with faded smiles. They really didn’t know whether to be hopelessly depressed or totally amused. But, it was late and they were giddy. Whether James was right or not, the latter won out, and they all started laughing hysterically.

It really was a laughing fit, the kind that is painfully funny in the moment, but whose cause will not be remembered the next day. James was literally rolling, Eric had to sit down on the floor, and Charlotte was crying. It was a few minutes before everyone had truly regained their composure and even then there were giggles every now and then. When they’d all taken a few deep breaths and gotten their bearings back, they realized that they’d lost something.

“Where’s Eric?” Tony asked.

They all looked around and noticed that there was a distinct lack of black hair and blue eyes in the room.

“He must have slipped out while we were laughing,” James said. “Well, come on! He’s got at least a few minutes on us.”

They rushed out of the kitchen, into the foyer, and out the front doors of the castle. Once outside, they tried to scan the hillside. It was hard to see much of anything since it was such a cloudy night. But suddenly, the moon peeked out from behind a patch of grey mist and Ethan noticed a small figure making its way down the hill to the beach.

“Come on,” he whispered. “He’s going down the north side.”

Now, it is much easier for one person to get down a forested hill quietly than it is for four, but they tried their best not to make too much noise.

Finally they got to the beach. Quickly, they found a large grouping of rocks that backed up to the cliffs of the beach. This put them a ways away from the water, but they could still make out a good deal. Straight in front of them was the rock wall, and on it, was their quarry. Once again, the moon had gone behind a cloud, but still, they could tell that it was Eric. He was sitting on the wall alone facing the beach.

“See you guys,” Tony started. “He’s alone on the wall. Can we leave now?”

“Alright,” said Ethan, tentatively relieved. “Let’s go home.”

“No wait,” said James. “He’s talking to someone.”

On closer inspection, even Tony could see without a doubt that Eric was talking to someone and apparently, that someone was talking back.

“Who is he talking to?” asked Charlotte.

“Wait, just wait,” James said.

Eric had reached down like he was going to grab something. A moment later, from behind the wall, the figure of a young lady had appeared. Eric had helped her up onto the wall. She was sitting right next to him, but, she was facing away from the beach.

“Oh my God, it’s…it’s a girl,” said Ethan in utter disbelief.

Instantly, everyone stopped breathing. No matter what they’d thought, no one had even dared to think that a girl would be the reason for Eric’s disappearances. Right now, Ethan was so sorry that he’d ever seen Eric on that beach.

“That cad,” said James.

“No, that can’t be it,” said Tony, who was noticeably upset. “It can’t be a girl.”

“Tony,” said Charlotte, “I’m sorry, but it looks like it is.”

“Who is she?” asked James.

“I don’t know but I want to find out,” said Ethan. “I mean, she’s from Greysmith. He’s going out behind Ariel’s back with a girl from my kingdom.”

“Ethan,” said Tony, “we could have invited that, that wench to our wedding!”

“Look,” said James. “The moon looks like it’s just about to come out again. When it does, we’ll be able to see who it is. Until then, we’ll just calmly plan what we’ll do to Eric for doing this to Ariel. I’m thinking tar and feathers.”

“Fine, we’ll wait,” said Tony, who was now practically beside herself with disappointment.

They sat in awful silence for a few moments. When the clouds rolled back, the moonlight spilled onto the beach, letting them get a clear view of this girl who’d stolen Eric’s heart. Strangely, the girl in question happened to have a very familiar head of red hair.

“Wait. Wait, that’s Ariel!” James said.

“Are you sure?” Ethan asked.

“Yes! Ethan, he’s right,” said Charlotte. “There’s only one person whose hair is that red. Plus, listen.”

Even from where they were hiding, they could hear a giggle ripple from the shoreline. That bubbly sound was incontestable proof.

“That is Ariel!” said Tony.

“You know, Tony,” said James, “you did invite that wench to your wedding.”

“Ok, nobody tell Ariel that I called her wench. I didn’t know it was her! Plus, I was, well, I was distraught.”

Ethan laughed.

“Well that’s a relief!” he said.

“Honestly,” Charlotte started, “I was ready to go over there and drown Eric.”

“I know,” said Tony, starting to laugh. “But wait. How did she get here? She’s supposed to be with her sisters.”

While everyone’s faith in Eric’s fidelity was being restored, the conversation that he was having with Ariel was starting to get heated. Well, playfully heated at least. They were laughing and smiling but their voices were getting louder. Suddenly, Ariel said something that sounded like, “I can’t believe you would…”, and she swung herself around to face the beach.

As soon as this happened, the question of how Ariel got to the beach was forgotten entirely.

“It’s a blanket,” said James, staring straight in front of him. “That’s it. She’s just wearing a green blanket.”

“A fin-shaped blanket, James?” asked Charlotte.

“Guys, it’s just a trick of the light,” said Ethan, trying to sound confident. “Sometimes, light reflected off the water plays tricks on your eyes.”

“Ethan,” said Tony, without looking away, “I’m not so sure.”

“It can’t be what we think it is,” said Ethan, unconvincingly. “There are no such things as mermaids!”

It is a widely held belief that fate has a sense of humor. There has probably been no better example of this theory than what happened next. Apparently, Ariel and Eric’s discussion reached a boiling point. All that could be heard from the beach was Eric saying, “Oh really? Oh really?” and Ariel saying, “Eric, no!”. Suddenly, Eric scooped up Ariel and threw her in the water. When she came up, she started using her tail to splash Eric.

“What were you saying about the non-existence of mermaids, Ethan?” said Charlotte.

“How…how is that possible?” Ethan asked in shock.

“I don’t know but we’d better get back up to castle,” said James, getting up and moving back towards the hill.

When Ethan, Charlotte, and Tony looked back, they saw that Eric was saying his goodbyes to Ariel. Soon, he was walking down off of the rock wall. Without a word, they all scurried up the hill as quietly as they could.

Once they reached to the castle, Ethan turned to Charlotte, James, and Tony.

“I think the best thing to do is just go upstairs and go to bed. We can talk about everything in the morning.”

They all nodded in agreement as they heard the front door opening. Quickly, they all ran up the stairs and into their rooms.

Eric walked into the silent castle and closed the door behind him. He walked into the kitchen to find no one there.

“They must have gone to bed.”

With that, he was confident that he’d eluded discovery for one more night, and he started up the stairs to bed.

[WickedElphie]

You are evil!

But wonderfully so.

[ariel7angel]

WOw i cant wait to read more, i wondering what they fight was about - i just love your stories - cant wait to read more!!!!!