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Ariana had never been this nervous before. She didn't know what to say to Prince Ivan, so she thanked him once again.
“I didn’t have time to thank you, Prince Ivan,” Ariana said.
“Please call me Ivan... and you already thanked me,” Prince Ivan said.
“Ok, Ivan,” Ariana said, blushing. “You didn’t tell me why you gave me the locket?”
“You might think it is silly, but I hoped that you would return it to me... so we could meet again,” Prince Ivan said. "The locket is a prized family heirloom."
“A family heirloom?” Ariana asked.
“It belonged to my great-grandfather,” Prince Ivan replied. “He made it for my great-grandmother.”
“What does the engraving inside mean? Is it a message for her?” Ariana asked again.
“You are smart, and yes,” Prince Ivan said. “It says, ‘A heart to love, and in that heart, Courage, to make love known‘. My great-grandfather was a gentle and shy man. He was also shy around a girl he liked. He wanted to tell her how he felt, but didn’t have the courage to do so. So he had this locket made, and gave it to my great-grandmother, hoping that she would understand.”
Ariana blushed.
“It is very romantic,” Ariana said.
“I think it is a lovely heirloom, but I had wanted the ring that my brother got,” Prince Ivan said with a sigh.
“You didn’t want this locket... why did you want the ring?” Ariana asked, surprised.
“My great-grandfather gave the locket to my great-grandmother, when their love was still budding, and in its infancy. He gave the ring to her when they married,” Prince Ivan replied. "I think I like the ring better, for it feels like a symbol of a stronger and deeper love."
“That is beautiful,” Ariana said, awestruck by Prince Ivan’s thoughts.
She thought he was poetic. She was curious to know more about the ring.
“What does the ring look like?” Ariana asked.
“The center stone is the color of the deepest of oceans. It had diamonds on the side, that shine like the stars at night,” Prince Ivan said. “It doesn’t matter now. I am no longer envious that my brother got the ring.”
“Why? What made you change your mind?” Ariana asked.
“Because the locket brought me closer to you,” Prince Ivan said with a smile.
Ariana blushed. Maybe the locket was the beginning of another love story? She thought to herself. Ariana thought that the Prince would likely want the priceless family heirloom back.
“Do you want the locket back?” Ariana asked, hoping Prince Ivan would refuse.
“The locket is a gift, Ariana. If you no longer want to see me, you can return it to me... and I will understand,” Prince Ivan replied.
“I hope that I never return it,” Ariana said with a smile.
“I hope so too,” Prince Ivan said.
Victor was getting impatient. He thought he had given Ariana enough time to talk with Prince Ivan, so he came to take her back to the ocean.
“Let’s go, Ariana,” he said to her. “Before your father notices you are missing again.”
“When will you come back?” Prince Ivan asked. Victor ignored the prince.
Ariana looked at Victor, but he was silent.
“I will come back when I can,” Ariana said to Prince Ivan, when she saw Victor leaving.
“I will wait for you until you do,” Prince Ivan said to himself. Victor and Ariana had already left for the underwater kingdom.
Ariana quietly followed Victor. She didn’t ask him when she could return to the surface, because he was frowning, and looked like he was in a foul mood. He didn’t seem to like Prince Ivan very much, but she didn’t consider that perhaps he was jealous.
“I will be busy the next few days, so I can’t take you back to the surface,” Victor said to Ariana.
“I understand,” Ariana said.
“Is that all you have to say?” Victor asked. “I was expecting more protest from you.”
“You have helped me a lot already, and I am grateful to you. You risked your life to help me,” Ariana said in a small voice. “Thank you, Victor.”
Victor did not like seeing Ariana looking so down. Perhaps he could tell her the truth? Not the complete truth of what he was up to, but some parts of it.
“It is not like I don’t want to take you back, Ariana. I am genuinely busy. My mother has given me some important tasks to complete,” Victor said with a sigh.
“So you will take me back to the surface?” Arianna asked excitedly.
“Yes.. but only after I complete my mother’s work,” Victor replied.
“Oh, thank you! Thank you!” Ariana replied excitedly.
“Good, you are happy again. Now stop thinking of me as the bad guy, ok?” Victor said smiling.
Ariana blushed.
“Listen, I know that you want to learn more about your mortal side. I don’t mind,” Victor said.
Ariana nodded. She thought it was funny that he completely ignored Prince Ivan.
She didn’t want to say anything that could cause Victor to change his mind... and she thought she wouldn’t mention Prince Ivan too much in front of him. Ariana noticed that Victor got moody whenever she mentioned him.
———
Victor told his mother Ursula about the siren sisters and the caves, but he didn’t tell her about the voice he heard. He wasn’t sure why he didn’t tell his mother. He didn’t want her to know that a spell had affected him and made him vulnerable.
The sea witch got concerned that her spells were getting weaker. She asked Victor to go check another area deep on the ocean floor.
“Victor, I want you to go to the deepest trench in the ocean,” Ursula said to her son.
“Why are you sending me there, mother? It will take me two days to get there,” Victor said.
“I want you to see if the ancient creature down there is still asleep, and has not woken,” Ursula replied.
“What ancient creature?” Victor asked.
“An ancient monster known as the Kraken. It was trapped nearly a millennium ago. After what you told me about the caves, I want to make sure that it is still asleep... that the spell is still working,” Ursula said.
“The Kraken? But that is just a lore, mother,” Victor asked, surprised.
“All the lores are true, Victor,” Ursula said. “The Kraken was a terrible monster that terrorized the seas, a thousand years ago. None of the other creatures could match its power.”
“How was it trapped then?” Victor asked.
“None of the spells I used worked. Not even the sea king could match its power. We were getting weaker each day, our magic slowly dying. We thought that the Kraken would keep terrorizing the oceans, and eventually destroy the underwater kingdom... the only relief we got was when the Kraken would go missing for days,” Ursula said.
“The Kraken would go missing for days? Where did it go?” Victor asked.
“No one followed it to know where it went. We used those days to recover and strategize. One day, the Kraken returned, but it was weak. It had received a terrible injury. We trapped it in the deepest trench, casting a spell to keep it asleep forever,” Ursula replied.
“An injury? Where did it get the injury from?” Victor asked.
“I am not sure,” Ursula said. “How it happened doesn’t matter now... But we have to make sure the spell on the creature doesn’t break.”
“I understand,” Victor replied. “I will go straight away.”
“If the creature is awake, Victor, do not engage with it. Come back and tell me,” Ursula warned Victor. “As much as I hate it, we will need the sea king’s help once more.”
“I will do as you say, mother,” Victor replied to the sea witch. He bowed to his mother before leaving.
How did the Kraken get that injury? Victor wondered. If both mother and the sea king could not stop the terrible creature, what other power was strong enough to harm it?
Victor swam until he reached the deepest part of the ocean. The trench went miles down until there was nothing left but darkness. Victor lit a ball of light with his magic to see the path below. He swam for hours, but came no closer to the bottom.
It was eerily quiet. Victor could even hear his heart beating. But it wasn’t his own heart he was hearing, rather it was the heartbeat of a monstrous creature. The Kraken was so big that Victor had mistaken it for an underwater island. The water around the creature vibrated with its beating heart. The Kraken must have been a mile long in width.
Victor saw that the Kraken was in chains and bound to the ocean floor. It was thankfully deep in slumber and did not stir. The spells were still working, Victor thought with relief.
He went closer to the creature. The Kraken had an enormous body, and teeth the size of boulders. It looked like it could easily swallow a dozen whales and destroy anything with its long arms. Victor counted that there were a dozen of them.
“I am sure glad that you are asleep, my monster friend,” Victor said. “Sorry, but I would not want to be around you when you are awake. Especially knowing how grumpy you might be after napping for a thousand years.”
Victor's heart startled when the Kraken opened one of its monstrous eyes. The creature quickly went to sleep again.
Did it wake just now? Victor wondered. Or was it how it slept?
Victor was feeling extra curious, or maybe extra stupid, so he poked the Kraken's eye. The creature didn’t stir.
When Victor was sure that the creature was asleep, he thought of returning. He couldn’t leave the creature without adding a few protective spells of his own.
I can add a few more chains as a precaution, Victor thought.
“I am sure that you make a wonderful pet, Mr. Kraken,” Victor said to the sea monster. “Forgive me for adding an extra leash.”
The Kraken was deep asleep to be offended by Victor’s extra chains. With his task complete, Victor couldn’t wait to go back to the underwater kingdom. It had been days since he saw Ariana.
He promised to take her back to the surface, so he knew that Ariana would wait for his return.
———-
With Victor gone, and no other hope for going to the surface, Ariana was miserable for days. She even stopped going outside the castle, staying locked in her room. Her fish friends called her from outside her window, but she remained in her room.
The sea king got concerned.. perhaps he was too harsh with Ariana’s punishment last time? He hoped that it didn’t discourage her from leaving the castle.
While Ariana waited for Victor’s return, she tried to practice her magic. After several hours, she lit a small flame the size of a dot.
“Great,” Ariana thought miserably to herself. “At the rate I am going, I might reach half of Victor’s magic level in fifty years.”
Ariana thought, If she couldn’t get stronger in her magic, she couldn’t hope to go on the surface on her own. She would need Victor’s help until then. Ariana wished that Victor would hurry with his task. She wanted to talk to Prince Ivan again, and she wasn’t sure how long he was staying in the fishing village.
She wondered if Prince Ivan was waiting for her by the beach. It had been five days since she last saw him. He probably would have stopped waiting for her by now, Ariana thought miserably. She will only know when she goes back to the surface. She could only go to the surface when Victor returned. Victor would return only when his task was complete. Ariana’s thoughts were stuck in a loop.
Ariana wondered, not for the first time, why Victor’s mother hadn’t gone herself. What task did she give Victor that it was taking him so long?
Victor probably wouldn’t tell her, though, even if she asked him. He wasn’t like Prince Ivan, who was an open book and easy to talk to. Victor seemed to keep a lot of secrets. Victor’s mysterious nature probably caused the other girls to swoon even more for him.
Ariana was busy mumbling to herself about “stupid, secretive Victor”, when she heard a tapping on her window. It was probably the fishes again, asking her to come outside. She ignored it completely.
After a few minutes, the tapping started again, louder this time. Ariana closed her ears.
Now, someone was throwing shells at her window.
“I told you, I am not coming out of my room today! Can’t you leave me alone...” Ariana exclaimed. "Victor!"
It was Victor who was throwing shells at her window.
“You still don’t want to come outside?” Victor said with a grin. “I can leave you to mope some more.”
“Don’t go! I will be right there!” Ariana said happily.
While Ariana got ready to see the outside world again, the sea king had been pacing outside Ariana’s bedroom. Brutus was thinking of knocking on her door for the past ten minutes. He wanted to see if she was ok, but didn’t want to intrude on her privacy. Just then, Ariana’s bedroom door burst open, and she came rushing by. She wasn’t paying attention and bumped into her father.
“Oof! Father? What are you doing here?” Ariana asked, surprised.
“You were in your bedroom all day. I wanted to see if you are alright..” the sea king said, guiltily.
“I am great! I was just going out! Bye, father,” Ariana said.
“Where are you going in such a hurry?” the sea king asked, but Ariana had already left. He wasn’t sure what was bothering her before, but the sea king was glad to see Ariana happy again.
“Victor! You are back,” Ariana said to him.
“Yes! The work is done, now it is time to play,” Victor said.
“Are we going to the surface?” Ariana asked.
“We will go, wherever you want to go,” Victor said with a bow.
Ariana was giddy with excitement. She chattered all the way to the surface. Victor was still tired from his journey, but he came to see Ariana right after reporting to his mother. The sea witch was pleased with what he told her. Ursula told him to check on the creature again in a couple of months’ time.
Ariana was full of energy and swimming much faster than Victor. He laughed and told her to go ahead. He said he will catch up to her, and they will meet on the surface soon. Ariana reached the surface a few minutes ahead of Victor. She scanned the beach for Prince Ivan, but was disappointed to see no trace of him.
Dejected, she was going back in the water, when Prince Ivan called out for her behind.
“Ariana! You are here! I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to see you before I left,” Prince Ivan said.
“You are leaving?” Ariana said, her disappointment visible in her voice.
“I have come every day to the beach since we last met. Today was my last day in the village, and I thought I would miss you before I went back to my kingdom. My father sent a message for me to return home,” Prince Ivan said.
“Is everything alright?” Ariana asked, worried.
“I hope so.. I think it is related to the war. Regardless, I won’t be able to see you until I return home. It will take our ship three weeks at least,” Prince Ivan said.
“Three weeks? Why? You will be on the water..” Ariana asked.
“I can’t risk the ship crew seeing us. It won’t be safe for you,” Prince Ivan said. “I hope that we can meet soon.”
“How will I know where to find you?” Ariana asked.
“Go straight from here to where the ocean ends. Stop where you see flags of this symbol,” Prince Ivan said, as he gave Ariana a coin with the royal symbol. “I am sure that as a mermaid, you can get there faster... but wait for me to reach there first.”
“I will have to wait three weeks?” Ariana asked.
“I am sorry. I have to go as my ship is leaving,” Prince Ivan said. “Farewell, Ariana!”
Prince Ivan left quickly. Ariana stood on the beach, turning the coin in her hand like a talisman. She saw Victor come out of the water and sit immediately on the shore.
“Wow, I didn’t know I would be this tired,” Victor exclaimed. He stretched and yawned loudly.
“I want to go back,” Ariana said.
It surprised Victor. “Don’t leave on my account, Ariana. I am sure I will recover in a few minutes,” he said.
“The sun is too bright today, and I don’t like it,” Ariana said as she left for the water.
Again, Victor watched her in surprise. He looked at the overcast sky above and got even more confused.
“Maybe she doesn't want to stay because she thinks that I am tired?” Victor wondered. “It might as well be. My magic wouldn’t have lasted that long on the surface today.”
He followed Ariana back into the water.
“Since you are not enchanted by the surface world today, would you rather see the wonders of the sea?” Victor asked.
Ariana was still upset that she wouldn’t be able to see Prince Ivan for weeks. She thought she couldn’t take it out on Victor as it wouldn’t be fair. Victor kept his promise and came to her, even when he was obviously exhausted.
“Sure.. what do you want to show me, Victor?” Ariana asked, curious.
“Just follow me,” Victor said, mysteriously.
———