We shared a stilly gaze with each other like always. Attina lifted her chin pompously so she could look downward at me. “Bring her in.”

 I moved closer with the officer's urge. I was not sure what she was thinking as she glowered at me, but I wanted to be out of her presence and soon. With King Poseidon absent, who knew what she would feel the power to do?

 “My princess, I rescued her from the clutches of two wayward mermen.”

 There was something about the way the officer addressed my sister. The way he said 'my princess' sounded a trifle familiar for a guard.

 She glanced at him briefly before saying to me, “Rescued?” Her regal form relaxed as she appeared to have concern. “The evasive, invincible Ariel was... captured?” Attina swam up to me. The hands she kept together in a 'downward prayer' at her anterior separated, reaching out to me. “My little sister.”

 I gave her a puzzled look. Her arms remained outstretched. Something in me told me not to trust the gesture. But some other part of me yearned for any familiar touch I could get. Conflicted, I didn't immediately go into the hug. I stretched my hands to hers slowly making contact with our fingers.

 To my surprise, she took hold of my hands lovingly with her own supple ones. Hands that never knew what it was like to lift a heavy, wooden yolk under a blazing sun. They clashed with my rough, experienced hands. Her tight lips became a warm smile. It was too much at once for me to understand. I continued to gaze into her emerald eyes.

 Her lips pressed together sorrowfully, then she drew me into her, embracing me like an older sister only could. My older sister. I felt her many pearls against my chest. “I missed you, you little scoundrel,” she whispered. Then she withdrew with a sigh. “But, you have made an irrevocable mistake.”

 I frowned, nodding.

 “So, what are we to do with you?” she said, slipping her finger into a flowing lock of my hair, looping it around.

 “Atti—”

 “What wAS THAT?!” Attina shouted as she whipped her head toward the presumptuous merman. The look she shot him was full of threat.

 He swallowed, blushing a little. “Forgive me. Princess Attina. Do you mean to send her away with your father absent?”

 “If by ‘send her away’ you mean ‘to prisoner passing’, then no. That is no place at all for a mermaid to be. Princess or not.”

 Still the same Attina.

 “But I am going to punish her as I see fit.” As her face turned again to me, I became unsettled by her mischievous smirk. I could tell she was contemplating her retaliation. “I know just the thing...”

...

 The webbed iron doors creaked a subatomic tone as the two gaurds pushed them outward. I entered through the gigantic arch opening, approaching the hollow space. The water in there seemed murky and mysterious. It wasn’t until I had allowed myself to be in it far enough that I noticed the soft light trickling down from above. Although, it did not trickle down to me.

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 “This is where you shall stay,” my sister said behind me.

 I turned to her, knowing she could not see the pain in my expression. Nor could I see her since she was practically a silhouette in front of me.

 “You will serve me, no one else. You will come when I call on you, and return here when I am done with you, understood?”

 I held out my arms and shrugged to say, Why?

 She continued to stare at me. A frozen statue. “I have to do this. For my sanity I have to do this.” There was a quaver in her voice. “You know, he still loves you. It's why he hates you so much.”

 I tilted my head, not understanding.

 “You’re still his favorite. No matter what you do. No matter what I do.” A sense of anger surged through as she spoke. “I am the one who listened, who stayed. And yet...” She paused, returning to her sensibility. Which hurt me more. I actually thought she was being vulnerable with me for once. I guess not yet.

 “I hope you understand, Ariel. I need him to forget you.” She turned around, passing the officer whose gaze followed her with a turn of his head. She didn't regard him, swimming away.

 He came forward to me. “Your meals will be brought to you. And I was told to give you this.”

 I couldn't see what he was handing me but took it. I feel the smooth inner side, and the rough outer side of the shells. Lining the inside was marine mucilage to make them stick to my breasts.

 “A proper covering,” he said. It sounded strange to me now to hear shells considered more proper than the cloth I had wrapped around my chest. Then he held out his palm, looking away and waiting.

 Even though he didn't see me, I moved away from him, unwrapping the layers of cloth.

 “I can relate to you.”

 I freeze, my back still facing him. He was talking to me? Why?

 “In fact I envy you. I too know what it's like to love someone you can't.”

 I wait for him to finish his thought.

 “Though, I never found myself mesmerized by a woman from the surface, there is one mermaid who has always been... above me in a way. She and I have only recently been properly acquainted, but I loved her the moment I first laid eyes on her and she knew nothing of me.”

 I was putting on the shells now... I heard him sigh.

 “If only she wasn't so keen on propriety, I'd tell her how I feel.”

 I relaxed, sighing as well. I knew he was talking about Attina.

 “But that's also what I admire about her. I respect her boundaries. Respect the rules. And that is what makes me different from you. I will remain a respectful citizen while suffering inside. Yet you pursued your prince, and now you are scorned. An anomaly... and a disgrace—”

 I shoved my cloth at him, wanting him to stop. For a moment, he did. I held myself, panting angrily.

 Then he said, “My name is Evander. And I'm telling you all this only because I know you can't tell anyone else.” A short silence followed before he made a brr sound as he shook off the awkwardness. “And that's the last time I ever do that. Right, I'll leave you now.” He finally made his way back to the arch. I was almost relieved, when he turned to say, “And you’re welcome. For the rescue.”

 Now he left. I am unsure what just happened, why a gaurd opened up to me before my sister ever will. Maybe it's like Arne said. I must be somewhat charming. To everyone except Attina.

 The doors wrench closed. I am left in the dark. I look upward at the light coming from far, far away. And here I am, in a secluded tube squished between the other rooms of a palace. I'll never get out of here.

 It felt like what it was— bondage. The thought made me brush the ring on my finger again. But I realized that I only felt my finger, not the ring. My eyes widened, heart pounding. I was both elated and devasted. Where was the ring?

 I retraced all the moments of today in my mind. I knew I had it on when I entered the palace. It didn't make sense anyway that that ring would just release from my finger. That should only happen if...

 The witch’s words echo in my mind: “When you are in the castle, let go of the snake. When it finds Sebastian, it will wrap itself around his finger.”

 Let go of the snake? But I couldn't let go of it. When did I..?

 Then it was clear. The immediate memory of reuniting with my eldest sister came to mind. When she reached out her hand to me, and I reached out mine, and our fingertips touched. That must have triggered the golden snake to release.

 Holding myself tighter now, I hoped I was wrong, because if not, my sister was under Ursula’s control.