Cite

I don't need your permission, she signed. I was merely letting you know.

– Well! – Attina said, raising her eyebrows.

You made me queen.

– Yes... I suppose we did.

Ariel could feel the twists in the water: the oldest sister, who had tried to take over as mother when their real mother died, and never succeeded in that role. The other sisters, who liked the idea of power and ruling and strength and crowns – for someone else. They all just wanted everything the way it had been when Ariel was one of them, when they were all the same.

But Ariel had never really been the same.

Sebastian wilted.

– All right, go. No one has ever been able to stop you from doing anything you wanted anyway – even when it costs you dearly.

For a moment, Ariel felt her old self surface, the urge to grin and plant a kiss on the little crab's back. He was right. She did have a habit of swimming in where angels feared to tread. No one could dissuade her once her mind was fixed. And it had cost her dearly.

What could it cost her this time?

– Give up, Sebastian, – Flounder suggested. – She's already made her decision.

She dropped the lid and sighed, drifting over to the rock she used to perch on while admiring her collection. Things, so many things. Things she never found out the proper use for in her short time on land. Because she had been too busy mooning over Eric.

He needn't have suggested that as he swam off; with the trident, Ariel could kill an army or call up a storm that would destroy half the sea.

Ariel just shook her head and dove back under the water, tossing a sign over her shoulder as she went.

– The Queen says you may call her Ariel, – Flounder said. Also, under his breath, – You have no idea what an honor that is.

Good queens did not react immediately to new information, especially if they didn't already have some inkling of what it brought. Snap decisions were rash and led to disaster. Ariel had learned this the hard way. Not having a voice was an advantage here: she could compose herself while working out how to say what she needed to.

Ariel twirled her trident casually, letting the water fly from it in a hundred sparkling droplets. Although the merfolk accepted her lineage and rights to the crown immediately, there had still been a definite period of adjustment while they still thought of her as the pretty, carefree baby girl of Triton. Some spoke to her far too patronizingly, some spoke to her far too familiarly. And some folk of non-mer persuasion (sharks, mainly) had needed several displays of her anger before they acknowledged her authority.

She didn't even have to sign. You cannot talk to me that way anymore, little crab. I am queen now.

– When the moment of death arrives, you die.

For several years after the day she lost her father, Ariel had tried to return to the land to see Eric and to take revenge on Ursula. But the wily sea witch had used her now very prosaic powers as a human princess to set guards all along the coast – officially, in «case of an enemy kingdom attack, or pirates». In some cases, close to the castle, guards were literally stationed in the water, up to their calves.

With Scuttle's help Ariel had tried to evade the guards, sneaking in while the gull whipped up a distraction. But it was never enough, and the men were all on high alert for strange, witchy red-haired girls.

– I've just had some strange – really, really strange – news from a plaice, who heard it from a turtle, who heard it from a dolphin... Wait, I think it was the plaice from the turtle. There might have been another messenger in between. A bluefish, maybe?

She and her sisters always teased him, trying to win smiles from him, trying to get him to steal an hour from his duties to play with them. Mostly they had to content themselves with his presence at official functions, banquets, and performances like the one Ariel had skipped – the one that had started the whole thing.

She did not enjoy the attention of the mermen, either. Once upon a time, as a younger, more innocent thing, she had never even noticed boys. Mer boys, at least.

Now she was forced to notice them, to keep an eye on them, to be aware of what ulterior motives they had: to wed the queen, maybe to become king.

The merfolk adored their queen despite her silence and melancholic air. Or perhaps because of it. Mer poets and musicians wrote odes and epics to the tragedy of her existence, the romance that had almost caused a kingdom's downfall.

She did not enjoy these.

Here she was, the youngest, some would say the prettiest – at one time perhaps most thoughtless of the lot – and now she sat on a throne, envying them.

– Just because I'm little flat... So what? I am still growing!

«No matter what world you're in, the bad guys always hang out in a warehouse!»

«And where it is! The famous reincarnated-into-another-world Out-of-Control-Truck!»

– And having said that, there's nothing for me to do. But when it comes to spending time on my own, I'm a pro!

– Say, everyone! Let's not, «Just go for it!» Instead, let's «Go carefully», okay?

– Yes. From an imaginary land called «Japan», I bring you a wondrous tale. This is Altered Folktales From Japan.

– Too much humility is just another form of bragging.

– Приготовимся встретить его, как подобает в нашей стране! Наши с ним страны... Как бы это сказать... Друзья!

– Очень хорошие друзья, капитан Рено! Они нас победили!