Lyset i Havet | A Little Mermaid Fanfiction

Chapter One | Revising

"King Triton, sir, I have set up today's lesson with the utmost care. First we shall cover his studies, and then move onto the ceremonial dan-- ...sir?" A scrawny, nervous looking fellow followed the king with writing utensils in hand to the throne room located in the heart of the palace. The king seemed to be distracted by some thought in his mind, as he kept scanning the room for something of note.

"Sebastian." The scrawny merman stiffened, squeezing his arms to his sides.
"Y-yes sir!" he squeaked, a crimson tail swishing underneath him.
"Did I not summon my son to the throne room earlier?" Sebastian hastily checked the schedule he had made, nodding when reaching the correct page.
"What about yesterday's dance lessons?"

It took a moment for Sebastian to summon the dance instructor, and the king and servant were informed of Arel's poor performances, especially during waltz trials. The young prince had no rhythm whatsoever, and could not lead to save his life. Triton's thick gray eyebrows furrowed, his aged face looking even more distraught.
"Table etiquette this breakfast?" Sebastian shuffled through scoring sheets till he found the right one, and his face visibly paled.
"He scored a sixty percent today..." he whispered, a bit shocked by the result, himself.

"Go find him..." Triton ordered, his hands forming in the fists. His voice had quivered in anger, quite upset that his only son was doing nothing to prepare for the responsibility of the title of Crown Prince. Sebastian dip his head and turned around to leave.
"And one more thing, Sebastian..." Triton continued as his dutiful servant nervously turned back to face his king.
"I will not tolerate this child's behavior any longer!" he roared. "Arel will be a proper crown prince! Make sure of it." Sebastian apologized, then shot out of the throne room, still apologizing to the king as he swam. He accidentally bumped into many merfolk along the way, whimpering further apologies to his fellow people.

"Okay, Arel. It's not a big deal. It's just a rock. Yeah. And air. And maybe a land walker will see me, and--" The young prince shook his head as hard as he could, attempting to shake away all the worried thoughts. In a few moments, he lifted his head out of the water to scan the area for any land dwellers. Once the coast was clear, he lifted himself onto a large rock near the shore.
"Now that I'm up here..." Arel worriedly scanned the area again, making sure he didn't miss anything. Once he was finally sure to be safe, the young merman let out a breath and giggled. It was his first time breathing above the water!
"Maybe I need to be dry?" he questioned himself, looking at the pale green tail he was swishing up and down. He lifted his hand, and pointed his palm at the tail, focusing on the thought of heat, dryness. Like the sun that was shining down upon him. In a few moments, Arel could feel his tail heating up, and see steam evaporating just above the scales.
"I-it's working!" he shouted with glee, but instantly raised the other hand to cover his mouth. He scanned the area again, hoping no one was close enough to hear him. Back to concentrating.
"Just a bit more..." Arel felt like the scales were going to crack and fall off, but he kept drying himself until he felt like his body would split right down the middle. The young boy felt uncomfortable. He was starting to clearly feel a sharp pain in his lower half, as he continued drying off the tail. It was almost unbearable, but he continued drying himself off. If he wanted to walk around on land, he would need legs. The books he'd read to accomplish such a feat detailed that this would be a painful, but worthwhile process, as it quite literally split a mermaid's tail into two parts.

Arel stared in awe as he saw the scales fade in color until they were a pale creamy color. His caudal fin had completely changed and hardened into bigger, fatter hands. Or feet, as he had read. Curiously, Arel rubbed the new creation, shocked to feel the scales still there. Although, instead of lubricated, they were coarse and rough.

"I...I did it!" Arel cheered, shooting his arms up in excitement. Which was a big mistake. As soon as the arms went up, his body went down, and his back hit the rock with a loud plop!
"Ow...Maybe I got too excited...how do you even work these things?" Arel studied the new, puzzling part of him. Apart from books, he had only heard stories of merfolk who had done this before. They were able to get just dry enough to roam around on land. And ever since he was young, he dreamed of doing the same. Rubbing his back, Arel did his best to pick up his body with his arms. He succeeded in sitting on the newly created appendages, but grunted in pain, as he could feel nothing but soreness and ache in his lower body.