"Very well, little mermaid, I shall accept your challenge."
"It wasn't a challenge you filthy-"
"I, Alexander vow to make you love me before the spell shall break."
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Neris was quite enjoying the company of Jack and Martha now that the prince no longer cared about punishing her. They were sitting down on the docks, giggling like usual and it felt good. Not great, because of the chasm between her and Alexander, but maybe this was how it was meant to be. Neris would just have to adjust to the chasm.
If she'd never begun to form a sort of, unlikely friendship if you will, with the prince then she wouldn't miss his company. She'd never been all that lonely before and ironically Jack and Martha were the most friends she'd ever had. But she knew what it was like to have the prince's voice in her head, to have him tell her useless human stories or annoy her with attempts to 'humanise' her. And she missed his company.
Why did she miss him? He really was annoying and his stories in the stars were all very human. Besides, by her calculations she only had two weeks left with these humans. Neris didn't dare to leave a moment before because of her fear of the invisible wall. Besides, the prince's bond had been strong up until now, why tempt fate by trying to leave? For now, she was content to wait for her year to be up.
She had not told Jack or Martha yet, but that was only because she was putting off the feeling of sadness she knew would come when she did. For now, she would smile and await the moment she would finally be free from her prison.
But was it a prison if she had spent happy moments there? Neris wasn't sure what she would call her time with Alexander, but she knew it had changed her. For better or for worse she wasn't sure yet. She could feel it inside her, something had shifted. Not just the chasm but something completely unrelated.
Neris just kept smiling, and hoping that one day she would understand it all.
○
Only a few days later, Martha came to her, paper in hand. Neris swam towards the docks, curious as to why the girl was here on her own, normally her and Jack were inseparable. Neris smiled at the girl and waited for her to speak.
"Jack is turning ten tomorrow, and I wanted to give you this." Martha offered the paper. "It's an invite to a surprise party."
Neris would have been lucky to understand half of those words, but she smiled and accepted the invite and let Martha place it on the docks where it would be dry. "I'll be there." She promised, hoping that it was just a piece of paper telling her where to be and nothing else.
She hoped it was somewhere near the docks. She wouldn't want to miss whatever turning ten was. It seemed like a big deal. Martha grinned at her, and left the mermaid alone. Neris sighed and shook her hands in the air to dry them before picking up the paper.
