The Mermaid and the Princess

Giselle’s gown whipped it’s silken hems into the wind as if the nymphs of the wind were playing with her attire. Her white and burgundy dress with the high empire waist refused to stay still in all the wind ondeck of the ship. The young woman closed her hazel eyes and breathed in the sea air. How she loved the sea. The smell of the salty water beneath her was invigorating. it had taken her a few days to adjust to the ship and the noisy crew but after her stomach settled and she became accustomed to the constant movement, Giselle found herself loving every minute of the voyage.
This would be her longest journey on boat or otherwise. As a princess, the young woman didn’t have need for such travel. It was all so exhausting the last few months before she left port back in England. The thought of being outside the stuffy palace walls was a comfort to the young princess. Drilling to become perfection day after day was not how Giselle wanted to spend her last few months a “free” woman. She had been engaged to a prince in far off Sweden since before she could walk, and once she could, she had been trained to become the perfect strangers wife. But that was a life of a princess. To be brought up just to be shipped out to another country. That was how she thought of it anyway.

The princess leaned on the side of the ship, looking down into the clear waters. How she wished to just jump in and swim like a mermaid and be free of all the cares in the world. Giselle cupped her head in her palm and stared out into the vastness of the sea. her dark, curly brunette hair struggled to make itself free from the up do that her lady in waiting painstakingly put on her head today. How Giselle wished to pull the pins in her scalp out and let the wind play with her hair.

The English princess was making her way to Jamaica to visit her Aunt Josephine and Uncle Wilhelm on their sugar plantation. Her uncle was her father’s brother, making him a prince, but a very low one at that. He was the third brother inline for the throne, therefore not a victim of royal demands as was her father. Uncle Wilhelm had sought out his own fortunes by investing in British colonies from the Caribbeans to Africa and had become a very wealthy man in his own right. Last year he and his charming wife came to visit the family and Giselle fell in love with her uncle. He told her wild stories of his travels and how he got the most beautiful woman in the world to marry him. In fact, he begged her to come and stay in Jamaica with him during winter of the next year to get away from “all this bloody cold madness” as he put it. Giselle took up that offer after begging for months to be let go for the trip.

“Father I beg you, please before I’m married and have to settle, I would like to stay with Uncle Wilhelm.”

“Out of the question!” he boldly stated. “No daughter of mine will be seen dallying around some island in the Caribbean doing lord knows what with her godforsaken uncle! I will not have it.”

“I’m not asking your permission to become an wanton islander. All I ask is to have an adventure before I. . .”But before she could end her sentence her father struck her across her face.

“I will not have you use such common vulgar language.”He bursted. He breathed a heavy sigh as he saw tears flood to his daughter’s face as she pulled her hand to her now red cheek. Giselle gasped. She had never been struck before by her father. “What has happen to my sweet little girl.”

“She. . .she is right here.” Giselle managed it get out. ‘And I won’t be here for much longer. Please, let me have this. A memory I know I shall always cherish before I am to become a princess of a wintery country.” she whispered. Her father turned to her, looking into her watery hazel eyes. The same eyes that he had stared right back at him.

“Giselle,” he sighed.

“I will do as you ask, father. It was not my place to ask for this.” The princess said as she looked towards the ground. She felt as if she had lost. But she felt her chin being raised and saw the look on her father’s face.

“Dearest, I hate to see you so dismal. it is for your own good that I make you stay.” The tears wanted to spring out of her face. “But. . .I can’t bare to see you like this. A ride should be happy on her wedding day and if this is the only way, then so be it.” At that, the brunette lifted her face in surprise.

“Father?”

“You may go.” And with that, she had been packed and ready to go two months later.

As Giselle look over the waters, a pod of dolphins sprang from the deep and jump beside the ship. The princess let out a gasp but soon turned into giggles at the sight of them. How happy they all seemed together in the ocean. The sun was setting. The clouds grew colorful as the sun hit them just right with shades of pink, purple, orange and yellow. A perfect day at sea. But as the princess looked over, she thought she saw something in the blazing waters, like a dolphin but more. . .human? The creature blended in with the orange colored waters so it was hard to tell. All of a sudden she heard a man cry from the other side of the boat.

“Storm ahead! take cover!” As she looked to where the man was yelling, Giselle saw that the clouds behind her looked angry and swollen with water. A lightning bold busted from the dark gray clouds and thunder followed after.

“We must get you below deck miss.” said a sailor. “The captain doesn't like the looks of it so please remain below deck till we know further.”

“Indeed.” Giselle said. “Let us hope it passes over.”