Landlocked 47

        "You don't look so hot." The blond merman commented upon seeing his friend.
Ariel and Flounder met with Urchin in one of the smaller conference rooms in the palace. He motioned her into a seat. "I came by to deliver your--uh-- package. Is something wrong?"
"I've been and done the whole human shtick, Urchin," Ariel confessed.
"What?"
With a bit of prompting, she went on to tell him the whole story.
"So you had the whole thing in the bag, and then you gave it all up for some alien?" Urchin guffawed, sitting back in his chair. "I gotta tell ya, I'm sort of mad at you right now. I mean, do you plan to have all the cool adventures without me?"
Ariel looked down at your lap. "I--I'm sorry." Urchin bit his lip and started to say something, then she continued. "Anyway, you can keep the stuff. I'm not turning human again without my father's permission."
"So-- what about your lover? You're just giving up?"
Ariel scowled at him. "He's not my-- no, I'm not giving up. I just don't know what to do."
The merman rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Well, he's in that chef's villa, right? To me, the obvious plan is to just wait for him there. He has to come out eventually.
"I'd stay hidden, though." Urchin added as an afterthought. "If he really doesn't want to see you, he probably won't come out if he knows you're there."
Ariel raised an eyebrow, but Flounder voiced what she was thinking. "I-isn't that like... stalking?"
"After making a deal with the sea witch to become a human behind your dad's back, I think stalking is a step up on the morality scale."
Ariel frowned, but had to admit he was right. She would try his plan, only because she couldn't bear never being with Jim again.

         "Why don't you come stay at the castle?" Eric suggested to Jim one day over coffee and scones. The prince had visited Jim every day since he had woken up, their argument four days previous forgotten. "Sable has been sent to the winter palace until a suitable punishment can be thought up for her, so she won't be a problem. But between the two of us," Eric put down his cup and leaned forward in a conspiratorial manner, though only the two youths, Max, and Morph were in the house, "She's been a bit loopy ever since the Ursula affair. Mumbling to herself, not eating, being uncharacteristically quiet: I think she's shaken from the realization that she aided the near destruction of civilization as we know it. Added to your rejection of her, it was more than she could bear."
Jim grunted into his coffee mug. He was not happy about the duchess's degradation, but was content that justice had been served.
"So?" Eric prompted.
"So what? Oh, um, no... I can't stay at the palace. It's too stuffy and-- gold." Jim took another sip of his coffee, and his companion chuckled.
"I get it. You refuse to be with her, yet you cannot bear to be parted from her."
"Not this again, Eric."
"I'm just saying. She's just as madly in love with you now as she was a week ago, and you with her. Staying away or being together, it doesn't matter. So why torture yourself?"
"Well, what about you?" Jim asked, desperate to change the subject. "Is the search for a suitable princess back on?"
"No, actually," Eric blushed, and Jim raised his eyebrows inquiringly. The prince reached inside his shirt and drew out a gold chain. Hanging from it, a modest silver ring caught the light.
"Really?" Jim whistled. "So fast? Who's the lucky girl?"
"Ah," Eric laughed. "Jean--Jeanette."
"Jeanette? You proposed to--"
"She proposed to me, actually."
Jim guffawed, the gusto of his laughter almost spilling his coffee. "She proposed to-- proposed to you? Ah ha ha!" Morph caught on to the mirth and laughed as well, rolling over in an over-enthusiastic display of joviality.
Eric scowled at them. "Yes, well, I wasn't aware that she had such feelings for me. She asked me to marry her in the middle of bandaging my arm, and I said yes before I knew what was happening."
"But she hasn't saved your life, or brought peace to warring countries." Jim pointed out.
Eric smiled sheepishly, slipping the ring on his finger. "She doesn't have to."
        After Eric left, Jim wandered about the house, thinking hard about his situation, among other things. He thought about Sable's banishment and impending trial. He thought about Eric's impromptu and taboo engagement. He thought about the treaty between the mer-people and humans Eric told him Ariel aided in. Most of all, he thought about Ariel and Eric's insistence that separation would not make the burden any less.
"I'd have to disagree," Jim told Morph as he watched the sunset. "But I can't stay cooped up here until the Academy comes. I should enjoy what little this planet has to offer while I still can." Morph cooed encouragingly and nudged Jim's arm. The sailor smiled.
        In the end, Jim could find nothing he wanted to do more than walk along the beach and star gaze. Yes, Ariel could be there, but he decided to take the risk. With a resigned sigh, and a racing heart, Jim descended the stairs into the night.
        When the door to the villa opened after dusk, Ariel's surprise nearly threw her off of the rock she was hiding behind. She regained her balance, her heart thumping painfully in her chest when Jim caught the pale moonlight. The mermaid watched as he walked down the beach, then slid into the water and followed him when he walked too far away. Even from underwater, with his form distorted by the waves, he was handsome. Suddenly, he stopped and looked out to sea. The mermaid dashed behind a rock. As much as she wanted him to spot her, wanted to talk to him, she was embarrassed about stalking him for the past three days. So she waited with bated breath as he scanned the waves.
        The more Jim walked, the more irritated and paranoid he became. She was out there, nearby in the waves, he could feel it. If she wanted to see him as badly as Harris and the prince claimed, why didn't she show herself?
What am I thinking? He wondered, slowing to a halt. I can't see her. Doing so will only make everything worse... Then, Jim realized something.
        What would he give for one more day with his father? His dad wasn't there for most of Jim's childhood, but that didn't make his ultimate departure any less painful. In fact, he wished his father had spent more time with him, even if he still left in the end.
Would he be like his father, and leave Ariel the same way?
"Ariel? Where are you? I know you're here!" He yelled into the waves. Nothing. He called again, running into the surf. "Ariel!"
Still nothing.
Jim kicked the wet sand in frustration. She had given up on him. Not that he blamed her, but how was he supposed to reach her? He gritted his teeth, his eyes glassy. Would he ever--
"Boo."
Jim jumped a full foot into the air before landing on his rump, crab-crawling away from the source of the sound.
"Wow," Ariel grinned, allowing herself to wash up on the beach. She placed her chin in her hands. "I never knew you were so excitable."
"Voices out of the dark can scare anybody," Jim replied, irritated that he was so relieved. "Especially if the voice belongs to mythical creatures that throw rocks at your head."
"Oh, you're never going to let that one go, are you?"
"Not really, no." He shrugged. "Besides that, I'm still not used to you making noise."
"Noise? Quite the charmer aren't you?" Ariel held up a hand against his retort, getting right to the punch. Her voice, however, came out soft and timid. "Why did you wait so long to visit me?"
"I, uh," The spacer looked up at the stars and sighed, deciding to tell the raw truth. "I was afraid that being around you, when I knew I was going to leave, would ultimately hurt you... me... us." He sniffed, embarrassed of his past notion. "I thought separation was the best way to ease the pain."
"That's kind of hypocritical, Jim."
"Yeah, I know. Have you always been so outspoken?"
"I was mute."
"So?"
"So," Ariel bit her lip, changing the subject again, "Is this just a one-time thing? You visit me to make up for lost time and then lock yourself back up in your ivory tower?"
"You know that nothing in that house is even close to ivory." Jim chuckled. "But no. I've realized that I will regret not spending as much time with you as I can."
Ariel blushed, tapping her fingers together girlishly and looking up at him through her eyelashes. "Why?"
"Because--" Jim blushed, too. "You're going to make me say it, aren't you?"
"It's not that hard." She insisted. The mermaid fixed her big, blue eyes on his, and he couldn't help noticing how they reflected the starlight. "I love you, Jim."
Jim grinned in spite of himself. "I love you, too."