After dinner with Grimsby, Eric invited Ariel for a stroll upon the beach. Happily she accepted, and they set off together.

“Are you feeling better now?” Eric inquired kindly, after they had walked in silence for some minutes.

She nodded, wishing she could speak, wishing she could truly answer him.

“You’re sure? You’re not gonna faint on me again, are you?” he joked.

“Maybe you have no idea what I’m talking about…”

She half-smiled, half-shrugged. It would once upon a time, when she had a voice, have been called a laugh. If only you could know the things I long to say…

Eric was studying her, watching her watching him. “There’s a lot more to you than meets the eye, isn’t there…?”

If only I could tell you what I wish I could convey! Ariel thought ruefully, as she smiled a little in acknowledgement.

They walked a bit farther in companionable silence. Ariel took off her heeled shoes, as, elevated or not, sand kept getting into them and making her feet uncomfortable.

Finally they stopped. Eric sighed contentedly as they watched the sun, glowing red like a ball of fire (Ariel thought), sink below the sea, almost as if it had been swallowed up by the waves.

Eric cleared his throat as though he wished to speak, opened his mouth, closed it, opened it again, shut it a second time. He looked like a fish, Ariel giggled to herself. A charming, handsome fish, to be sure, but a fish nonetheless.

Finally he spoke, softly, though it carried despite the perpetual crash of waves upon the sand. “You know how sometimes you meet someone—and everything changes, just like that?”

Ariel nodded, although since it had been a rhetorical question Eric was not looking at her. She did indeed know that feeling, having experienced it just as he had, in the same place, at the same time, and in the same body…

Perhaps he knew it was her?

It’s in my every glance, after all, she thought. My heart’s an open book—

“…and suddenly the world comes together,” Eric was saying. “You know what you’ve been missing all of your life.”

She nodded energetically. You’d see it all at once if only you would look!...

“That’s happened to me,” Eric explained, as they turned and headed for the castle. “You see, I met this girl…”

Oh.

Sigh.

His face had taken on a dreamy quality “…her voice was…” Eric trailed off. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be bothering you with all this.”

They walked quietly again, until they reached Ariel’s chambers.

Eric touched her elbow in farewell. “I really enjoyed our talk,” he said, fervently, although they both knew he had done most of the speaking. “Sleep well.” He smiled, bowed and headed off for his own rooms.

Ariel opened the door and went in, shutting it behind her. There was a sort of squishy platform, heaped with cushions and cloths, which Ariel knew from her salvaged books was the human equivalent of the sea-beds she once shared with her sisters.

“Once” shared? That was just yesterday, she reminded herself, reaching precariously around the back of her dress to unhook the openings. She produced a deeply aggrieved sigh as she slipped into the soft, cool pink night-gown that had been laid out for her by one of the maids.

If only you could glimpse the feeling that I feel. If only you would notice what I’m dying to reveal! The dreams I can’t declare, the needs I can’t deny: you’d understand them all if only you would try…

Had Ariel been able to speak then, she could not have anyways, for a thick lump in her throat prevented any verbal noise. She parted the bedcovers, poked a dent in the pillow for her head, extinguished the candle, tried to go to sleep, and failed miserably. She swallowed hard, attempting to rid her throat of the horrid lumpy feeling, but only succeeded in tears.

All my secrets—you would learn them, all my longings—you’d return them—all my shackles, they’d be broken. Not a word would need be spoken!…

Unbeknownst to our valiant, yet currently melancholy, heroine, Eric was meanwhile having wistful musings also. He undressed slowly, thoughtfully, and climbed into his own bed. He rolled onto his right side, fell back upon his back, even tried to find comfort with his stomach against the mattress.

Naught worked. Eric rose and crossed to the window, from whence he could see a tower room. He watched as a petite young woman in a long nightdress walked slowly to her bed, hugging her arms to herself as though troubled, and blew out the candle. The glass doors grew dark, yet Eric did not move from his own window.

What is it about her, he pondered, that’s so wonderfully—impossibly—familiar? Why do I feel dizzy in a way I’ve never felt but once before?

He had become acutely aware that his unexpected guest bore a striking resemblance to the young woman who had rescued him. But it could not be the same girl, as She had had a beautiful singing voice and this girl was quite evidently mute.

How come when she looks at me it seems like time stops moving?—almost like the way it did that day upon the shore!…

But…that voice!

The beautiful voice—like angels sighing, like warm summer skies…

If only it were true! sighed Ariel, if only for a while—

O, that Voice! Eric agonized.

If only you would notice how I ache behind my smile!

There’s that voice!

Ariel, who was sitting up in bed, her elbows propped upon her knees, shook her head sadly. I guess you never will; I guess it doesn’t show.

But if I never find a way to tell you so…

She settled down again in bed, pulling the covers up to her chin.

O what I would give, if only you could…

…know…

Eric returned to the Royal canopy bed and sat there for a long time, toying with his flute. Memories fade. Strange, how they blur—

But, when she calls to me, I’ll know it’s her!…

Ariel fell into sleep by fits and fears. Her last conscious thought reflected the worries both prince and mermaid were having…

If only…