The Girl with the Green Tail

Chapter One: Ariel

A ship floats by over the grotto. Hardly ever do ships sail through these waters. Something exciting must be going on over at Hogwarts, I imagine. What with magic, wonders, and adventures, the students there must be getting a wonderful treat.

"Flounder?" I call, anxious to ask my questions to my little yellow and blue friend. His scales are yellow with subtle blue stripes, with blue fins, as well as a blue tail and dorsal.

I see a flash of yellow and blue streak past my grotto, and swim with urgency to find Flounder, my long red hair floating behind me, my turquoise colored tail pushing me along. I found him swimming along towards a crowd of mermen and mermaids, whom had also began to feel curious of the new arrivals.

"Ariel!" Flounder exclaims, once he finds me swimming behind him, "I thought I heard you somewhere."

"I was calling from my grotto," I explained to him. "Did you see the -"

But Flounder had cut me off by swimming even deeper into the crowd, where I could no longer see his yellow and blue scales. "Flounder!" I called out, trying to find him again. But when I looked to the front of the crowd, there stood my father, the King of the Sea, King Triton.

"Attention, merfolk!" my father proclaimed, "it has become made known to us, through various mermen who took up the valiant duties of getting news from the shore, that the school which we live nearby is hosting a tournament!"

The group of mermen and mermaids all began talking indistinctly. One mermaid shouted out, "Hope one gets killed!" Another shouted in response, "Let the wizards die!"

I couldn't bear such horrible discussion! We don't even know half the wizards at Hogwarts; why are all merfolk against them? What did they ever do to us?

My father rose his trident in order to silence the crowd, "it has also been made known," he continued, "that one challenge in the tournament..." Daddy paused for effect to get the mermen and mermaids to quiet down. He then continued after all the merfolk were silent, "one challenge will include facing us merfolk."

This statement caused an eruption of angry shouts and hateful slander from the enormous crowd of merfolk. Words like "This is OUR territory!" and "Let us kill those who trespass!" floated all around the undersea court.

Their shouting forced Daddy to shout. "SILENCE!" he called to all the merfolk.

The crowd's shouting ceased at once. "Now," Daddy continued, "we have received information that we will each be given one person whom each champion loves. Therefore, it is our job to protect four people, and - this may be as a wondrous statement for some of you - do whatever it takes to not let the champions get them from us."

One merman shouted, "Let us kill them!" Many others shouted in agreement.

"ENOUGH!!!" Daddy shouted, raising his trident, shooting threatening, yellow sparks into the water around us.

"What I need are a handful of volunteers; mermen only. And ONLY mermen who will not seek to kill the wizards coming into our midst."

About six to seven mermen raised their hands, some eagerly swimming up and down in excitement to take on the challenge.

Daddy then addressed all mermaids, "Finally, to all the mermaids of the kingdom, I want you all as far away from this challenge as possible. The last thing we want is our lovely mermaids getting injured, or worse, killed by a wizard's curse."

A mermaid, with bleach blonde hair and a red bow holding in her ponytail, shouted "If they hurt us, can we kill them then?" My heart sank. The mermaid's voice was all too familiar. It was my 2nd oldest sister, Andrina.

Daddy said, "Now, my daughter, it will be the mermen's duty to defend us against the wizards. You should have nothing to fear while these skilled mermen are on task."

Andrina sighed. She tossed her blonde ponytail back sassily, obviously hoping she could lay her hands on one of those "meddlesome wizards", as she calls them.

Another mermaid, one with light brown hair, with an orange 5-pointed crown holding her high rolled bun in place, wearing an orange seashell bra, with her orange tail helping her swim upward, proclaimed, "Father," she said, another voice I knew only too well, "I agree strongly with Andrina. Mermaids are not weak, and we can fight for ourselves, if need be." My 4th oldest sister, Attina, seemed to disagree with me, and agree with Andrina, whose view on the matter was strongly misconceived.

"I now address ALL my daughters," Daddy said, looking Attina straight in the eye, "any conflict between any mermaid and any wizard is forbidden. Do not converse with one another, do not engage in fighting, and do not provoke them in any way. Understand?"

All my sisters - Aquata the oldest, Andrina the 2nd, Arista the 3rd, Attina the 4th, Adella the 5th, and Allana the 6th - resentfully nodded in agreement, though it was obvious they did not agree.

Daddy finally looked at me. "Ariel?"

I told him, "Daddy, I just don't understand. How can a world that makes such wonderful magic, be bad?"

He looked down and sighed, trident dropping to his side. "Ariel," he said softly, "every human is the same. They like to eat fish. They like to kill us, hunt us, fry us, eat us. And they feel no regret in doing so. The world you imagine is not full of good people, but of bad ones. That's why these rules are in place; to keep everyone safe."

"But, Daddy-" I began.

"No, Ariel," he interrupted, "contact between us and humans is strictly forbidden, only because it is dangerous. Understand?"

I did understand, to tell you the truth. But that wasn't going to keep me from anything. I understand, but I'll never see things the way he does. And I'll see a human at least once in my lifetime.

"I understand." I told him.

But I never said I wouldn't do it.