Cite

As queen and as girl, as someone who could sing like the gods and someone who had been mute as a stone, one thing about Ariel had never changed: she was a terrible liar. Most of the time it didn't even occur to her to lie.

Which, now that she thought about it, would have made things a lot easier with her dad.

Besides monumental art and kings and queens, humans were very recognizably similar to mer in their normal, everyday lives. The women over there, heads bent together, were obviously gossiping. The men over there, heads bent together, were obviously discussing something they thought was very important and that they had great influence over – but which, of course, was also just gossip.

For there were obvious similarities between them that could not be demed. The tendency toward ridiculous monuments that commemorated unlikely events, for instance. The mer had a mural the size of a reef illustrating the division of the two worlds, embedded with gems and bright coral that hurt the eyes to look at. The Tirulians had an ugly fountain in the square where she and Eric had once danced. Neptune was caned into the face of the bowl, along with some utterly unrealistic dolphins. The Tirulians believed that the sea god had a fight with Minerva over who would be the patron god of Tirulia: and that he had won by creating this font of undrinkable salt water that was somehow channeled up from the sea.

(All wrong, as the mute Ariel couldn't explain to Eric at the time. Neptune had lost the fight, because he'd made a useless salt spring while Minerva Athena had made the olive tree. Oh, and it took place in Athens, because, well – Athena).

Of course she knew that a ruler's actions had an effect on the people, but up until now, she had thought only of the direct effect. She wouldn't send merguards to storm Eric's castle, for instance, because she didn't want to put their lives at risk. But... would she have thought of how sending soldiers into battle might impact bakers, down the line? Was this something her father understood, and which had tempered his own decisions?

And with that, the pie maker turned his back on her.

Ariel was a little flummoxed. She was queen; no one ever turned his, her, or its back on her. To someone who couldn't speak aloud, that was the most effective – and devastating – way to end a conversation with her.

Ariel studied the baker: what was his age, really? He seemed young, but spoke with a strange authority on the subject. Like a mermaid suddenly made queen.

«I want this castle put on high alert», – Ursula snapped. – «I want a meeting with a captain of the guard. I want watches doubled, tripled. I want everyone to know about a certain red-haired enemy of the state. I want a reward put out for a sighting and another for capture. I want dozens of men on the beach again, men in front of every low window, and for every maid to be told exactly what she looks like». «Absolutely, Ursula», – Flotsam said with a grin. «About time, Ursula», – Jetsam said with a sneer. Vareet said nothing.

And was Eric regaining his will? He had acted a little odd at lunch, but sometimes it was hard to tell with humans. Especially dumb ones.

«I was dangerously close to becoming my little sister's little sister there...»

iTunas

MMORPG: Mostly Men Online Role Playing as Girls

«Damn Kerori. Making me out like I'm a cross-player... Though there really aren't that many girls playing net games. The cute girls are just old men in disguise...»

«I've been plenty careful to make sure it was safe. Why would this happen now after he's been a girl for almost a month..? «A month»..?»

– Огурчики! Толстые, шероховатые и полны удовольствия!

Не важно, что за сон тебе снится, приходит время, когда ты должен проснуться.

– Хотела кушать. Присматривала за домом. Кушать нету. Не могла уйти.

– Так, Муроми-сан, что на этот раз?

– Спаси её. Спаси её.

– Подумаем... Раз, два, три... Семь звёзд и надкусанное яблоко. Неужели ты – Белоснежка?

– Бинго!

– Я что, угадал?

– В этом мире есть вещи, в которые лучше не совать свой нос.

– We tailed her for half the day, and not only did she not meet anyone, all she did was eat and poop.

– She entered a family restaurant.

– Behavioral psychology suggests it's suspicious for a teenage female to enter a family restaurant alone.

– Eww! Gross!

– Is there a problem you're facing? Just let me know and I'll make it go away!

Scuttle shrugged. «I don't know, Ariel. She's evil, right? Who knows why she does anything? To make more evil, maybe? Or maybe she just likes it here. Whatever is going on in her crazy head, we gotta take her down, that's what we gotta do. We'll eighty-six her, get your dad back, get the prince, and everyone lives happily ever after».

An explosion of grey and white feathers landed on the beach next to them. As soon as he recovered himself, Scuttle threw his wings around her in a gully embrace.

Without spoken language and no knowledge of signs, back then she wasn't able to tell Eric what had happened to her or how she loved him. She wasn't able to tell her father not to trade places with her. She wasn't able to rule her kingdom without the help of a fleet of people to interpret and speak for her.