The Princess Who Wasn't

Chapter Fourteen: Blessings

Multiple days passed with Merilla drifting at sea. She would awake, sip at her water, eat a small ration, day dream or watch the fish, and then sleep again. However, as a routine became regular it was not monotonous. The routine was peaceful, beautiful, and she wished often that it could last forever. However, it wouldn’t be long before she ran out of food and water so she would have to return to the shore. She did think about spending as much time as she could in the ocean after her return to the shore. She even wanted to try swimming. It would be spectacular to feel the water humming around her and the sand in-between her toes.

It was the cold splash of the water that broke Merilla’s routine and awoke her. She was unsure of how much time had passed or where she was on the ocean. All she knew was the feeling of droplets on her skin, the dryness of her mouth, and an odd pulling sensation coming from her legs. She sat up and blinked her eyes open as she looked tried to clear them from the fog of sleep to see around her. The fish repeated his jump out of the water, again splashing Merilla with the cool drops. She smiled for it was a beautiful sight and she didn’t mind much that the fish had interrupted her sleep. She leaned towards the side of the small boat and tried to cross her legs but they didn’t move and felt much heavier than they aught to have been.

Looking down she gasped and in her shock fell backwards which only made her fall sideways due to the weight where her legs should be. The small boat tilted sideways and unable to maneuver her body as she was used to, Merilla was spilled out into the ocean. The shock of cold water hitting her body made her gasp and swallow water which in turn made her start flailing about until she realized she had floated up right and was bouncing with the waves in the water. Slowly, she calmed down and took deep breaths while peering under the water. This wasn’t stress induced, or a trick of the light. She got had a tail. Green, blue, and dazzling right before her eyes.

Merilla wasn’t sure what exactly she was feeling but she knew she was a little amazed, a little frightened, a little excited and very extremely curious. There was a strong pull that she felt with her entire being to go with the current. She wasn’t sure how to navigate her newly found tail so she didn’t have a choice but to get back in the boat and allow the current to sweep her a long anyway. However, as she decided to pull herself back into the boat so she could inspect her new found tale she found with the extra weight of her tail she was unable to lift herself. She tried multiple time and was only able to pull the boat down with her so low that small waves of water splashed over the side into it.

Giving up on hoisting herself inside, Merilla decided to simply hold onto the side of the boat so she wouldn’t drift apart from it and focused of trying to learn to use her tail while keeping an eye out for things like sharks, as she had heard that they eat people and she had no death wish. Soon Merilla learned using her tail was simple. It was as simple as pretending she was using her legs both at the same time. She learned how to propel herself up, and relax her tail so she would sink. She also learned to go any one direction all she had to do was use the upper half of her body to navigate. As she played around in the water she also let the tide carry her towards the pull and as the moon rose yet again in the sky she felt it becoming stronger and stronger with every passing hour.

*--------------------------------------*

Queen Mirabelle jerked awake as she suddenly felt the pull that would lead her to her daughter. She turned to awake King Jasper but he was already awake and gazing out into the water. The two royals turned to Bryon expecting to wake him but he had awoke when he felt the shift in the water from his King and Queen waking. As soon as he saw the couples faces, eyes wide and mouths turned upward into genuine grins, he knew the pull for their daughter was back. The trio took off swimming against the waves harder than they had in the previous days. They were going to find their lost princess and take her home.

Several hours of harsh swimming brought the trio closer and closer to the girl. With the more time that passed the pull between parents and child increased just as their growing excitement did. As the sun dove behind the ocean and the moon rose in its place the pull that felt like a rubber band stretched too tight and trying to return to hits original shape turned into a warm, comfortable sensation. This was how they knew they were close. They finally, for the first time in almost 15 years, where going to see the beautiful girl they had lost all that time ago.