The Mermaid and the Princess

The mermaid swam speedily towards her Aunt Ophelia’s cavern a few miles away from the city of Aequorian. The sea got darker as she swam deeper into the depths of the ocean. many merpeople of heard of Aurelia’s famous aunt who use to live in the palace with her and her family many years ago. It was said that Ophelia had gone to the surface on her sixteenth birthday like any other mermaid her age had done. As she swam around on the surface, she saw a little boat with a man inside. Unafraid she went right up to the boat and showed herself to the human. It is said that the human had fallen madly in love with her as well as she did with him. They carried on an affair for several weeks, meeting in secret to be with one another. The mermaid wanted nothing more than to be a human so she could live with her beloved human, so she went out into the ocean to find a way to turn herself human. She was then taught by a famous sorceress the dark magical arts of the sea and learned many things, but the one she had most use for was to turn her tail into a pair of legs. She readied the potion and went to her human. Sitting on the beach with him, ready to turn human, she soon found out that her human was not so in love with her. He pulled out a net and tried to capture her poor aunt. In self defense she cast a spell on him to drown himself in the water. As if sleepwalking, he entered the ocean he walked to where the water was over him and he drowned. Heart broken, Ophelia returned to the palace and told her brother, Aurelia’s father, the whole tale. Angry with his little sister, he banished her from the city not only for showing herself to a human, but for killing him with dark magic which was forbidden in the kingdom. There in her cavern away from the palace, she lived quietly, helping those who seek wisdom and aid through her magic.

Aurelia reached the cavern and entered into the dark murky room. As she swam further, she saw a light coming from a cauldron in the center of the room. It was frightening in here, seeing jars upon jars of herbs and rocks. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw something move. She turned around to see her aunt standing next to the cauldron with a pleasant smile on her face.

“My dearest Aurelia, my how you've grown.” said the sea sorceress. She was a very skinny mermaid bright purple eyes and long dark black hair that had a streak of white running threw it. Her green tail flicked back and forth as she swam towards her niece. She still wore her royal clam shells on her tail even though she had been outcast. The mermaid guessed that her aunt was still proud to be apart of the royal family.

“Aunt Ophelia! how did you know it was me?” said Aurelia.

“I don’t know anyone else who has hair that shade of red beside your mother and the gods know she would never come to visit me. Last time I saw you, you were a little tadpole.” the older mermaid giggled as she came over to the mermaid. She lifted her niece’s arms to take a good look at her. “Ah, you must be of age now to see the surface. an important time in a young mermaid’s life.”

“Yes. My birthday was yesterday.” Aurelia said.

“Oh my, well happy birthday darling!” she said as she gave the little mermaid a hug. “So how was your visit to the world above? Tell me everything.” And that’s exactly what she did, sparing no detail to her aunt. After she told her everything, Ophelia was quiet for awhile. She seemed distant and sad somehow.

“Have I offended you, aunt?” The little mermaid asked.

“No, dearest, no. I. . .I just don’t know what to say is all.”

“I know, it just happened all so quickly.” Aurelia said. Things were quiet again and Ophelia finally looked at her niece and sighed.

“So you want me to help you become a human, dearest child.”

“More than anything in the world! I would give anything to be with her again.” said Aurelia. Ophelia turned away from the little mermaid and looked very sad.

“You don’t know what you’re asking for, child.”

“But I do!” cried the little mermaid. “Please don’t turn me away.” The look in Ophelia’s purple eyes was not a very happy one.

“Human’s cannot be trusted. They don’t feel the way we do. They will tell you one thing and mean something completely different.” shouted her aunt. She was getting angry now and the little mermaid shuddered to think of her aunt wielding magic while in a fit of rage.

“She’s not like that! I swear it.”

“How would you know? You haven’t even talk to her!” It was true, the mermaid had not really shown herself to the human girl.

“I don’t care.” Aurelia said, feeling hurt.

“Please darling, settle down with your prince, lay your eggs and start a family. Nothing will bring you more happiness than that. Turning human will only hurt you. How do you even know that this girl would be interested in a woman like yourself. It isn’t natural for two human women to be together like that. Their world wouldn’t allow that. You wouldn’t be able to have children with her either. It would be a choice you could not take back. I dearest child, I don’t want you to make the same mistake that I did.” Aurelia could help it any more. She felt as if she would die if she could not be with the human girl. After another bout of silence Ophelia continued once more. “Come back in three days. I’ll have your potion done then.”

“Oh thank you!” said Aurelia, sweeping her aunt into a hug. But Ophelia wasn’t about to hug her back.

“This way, it will give you time to think about what you are doing, what you’re leaving behind. You can’t get something for nothing.”

“What do you mean?” asked the little mermaid.

“I mean that in exchange for legs, you need to give me something in return. Something personal that means the world to you. And I don’t mean an object either. I mean something personal like your eyes or your hair.” said her aunt.

“But. . .why something on my person?”

“To complete the spell, something of equal value must take it’s place. Like I said before, you can’t get something for nothing. It’s just not how magic works. Beside that, you also have to sacrifice so much more to get what you want. If you become human, you will never be a mermaid again. You will never see you mother, brother, or your sisters for the rest of your life. That is something you can’t take lightly my dear.” Aurelia was now starting to understand why Ophelia was acting so dramatic about the whole thing. It wasn’t as simple as Aurelia had thought it would be. “If you do not return in three days. I will understand, child.” her aunt said to her.

“We shall see.” said the little mermaid.

Aurelia left the cavern behind and started towards the palace once more. The importance of what she was doing was now weighing on her more than before. Of course she wanted to be with her human girl, but at what price was it worth? To leave her family behind and to give away something like her eyes to achieve it, was it all to much? It made sense that her aunt would caution her against something like this. Then it dawned on the little mermaid. What was it that her aunt would have given away to be with her human. She was willing to do something like that for what she wanted, then why not Aurelia?

After that, the mermaid spent the next three days trying to figure out if she was willing to sacrifice everything she knew for a chance at love with someone who may not love her back. She looked at her dear sisters with their husbands and little merchildren. Her sister Selenia had laid her first eggs and was waiting for them to hatch still. Aurelia always wanted children, but not with someone like Prince Lacus of Rosqua. She didn’t even know him. All she knew was that he was a prince of the eastern waters and would soon be inheriting his kingdom from his father. It wouldn’t be all that bad to be his queen. She would still be royalty and have plenty of little princes and princesses to help caring on the Rosqua line. And maybe someday, she would learn to love him as well. But Aurelia didn't want to learn how to love someone, she wanted to be loved passionately from the start. But would that happen with her human?

The little mermaid went to her mother’s quarters after a while and decided that she needed to talk to her. Not about what she would be doing per say, but something else.

“Mother,” Aurelia said. “I need to ask you a few questions.”

“What is it daughter.” replied the Queen.

“What do you think is my greatest attribute? My greatest physicality.”

“Why would you ask that?” asked her mother.

“I. . .uh, just curious is all.”

“Are you worried about your intended?” That was the least of Aurelia’s problems, but she would play along for now.

“Yes. I’m afraid he won’t find me. . .appealing in any way. I’m not as pleasing to look at like Flavia, or have beautiful hair like Cyania.”

“Oh, my little one. You have something no one else has. Your voice.” That was true enough thought Aurelia. She had always had a talent for music and was told to have the sweetest voice among her sisters. maybe that was the key to get her legs.

“You really think so?” asked Aurelia.

“I do. but why would you ask about that? Prince Lacus would be a fool not to think you beautiful or dislike anything about you. You are so precious my little mermaid. You are a jewel among mermaids. Anyone who can’t see that doesn’t deserve you.” Aurelia started to hug her mother. It made her heart swell to hear such words from her even though she didn’t understand why Aurelia was so happy to hear them.

“Thank you mother,” said Aurelia as she started to swim away. There was one more thing Aurelia had to do before she went to receive her potion.

Aurelia broke the surface of the water and looked around. This looked like the place that she took the human girl to after the wreck. She swam towards the shore, only to find that her human was indeed there on the beach. What good timing she had. She saw the human girl with her long curly brown hair wafting in the sea breeze. A smile was on her face as she dipped her toes into the sea water. But something unexpected happened. The girl seemed to be talking. . .to her?

“I hope that you can hear me, sweet angel.” said the human. “I just wanted to say goodbye before I left.” Goodbye? where was she going? How was Aurelia to find her? “I cannot express how thankful I am to you that you have saved my soul from a water grave. I owe you my life for that and I shall not waste it, I swear to you.” Was Aurelia the angel she was talking of? What was an angel anyway? Must have been or else it wouldn’t have made sense. The little mermaid swam closer to her what the girl was saying. But the mermaid splashed a little too loud which got the attention of the human.

“Is someone there? Please, don’t be afraid.” Oh no! She had heard her. What was the mermaid suppose to do? Should she show herself to the girl? should she tell her that she was the water angel she was looking for? But what if she terrified the girl to where she would hurt her? the mermaid headed towards the rocks to hide herself even more.

“Are you the angel?” she said to the rocks. Great, now the girl knew where she was. In a split second, Aurelia decided that she needed to leave so that the girl wouldn’t see her in her mermaid form.“Don’t go! I need to see you!”

“No you don’t” whispered Aurelia as she dove into the sea as quickly as she could. At a good enough distance she came out of the water once more to see her precious human staring at the water. She looked sad and hurt that Aurelia chose not to let her see her. A woman called for the human girl and told her it was time. And what was it that she called her? Your grace? Was that her name? How odd it sounded to her. The girl looked at the water once more with tears in her eyes.

“Goodbye then, my sweet angel.” she murmured to the sea. the human girl walked away from Aurelia and disappeared into a wooden box drawn by two strange looking beast.

It seemed as if the girl was sad to leave her there in the water. Does that mean that the human cared for her? That she indeed loved the mermaid back? But from the way she talked, it sounded as if she wanted nothing more than to thank her and nothing more. But if that was it, why did she cry so when Aurelia refused to show herself. And that was all it took for Aurelia to come up with her decision. She would trade her voice to Ophelia for legs so she could dry those tears away from her human’s eyes. She never wanted to see her cry again, not while she was around. A sad smile came to her face as she dove back into the ocean. Tomorrow she would go to her aunt and change her life forever.