aetheling | nautical

Cymbeline doesn't really like boats, but they're the only way to get anywhere in a reasonable period of time, especially when "anywhere" isn't on the mainland. Today he is sailing to Vectis, to oversee the change of governorship; his father the king is needed for courtly matters back home and his mother the queen, despite being the source of his royal blood, declines to involve herself in affairs of state when she can avoid it. Zoyah takes more after Ranae than after Charles in this department. So, it falls to Cymbeline.

Walking on a boat is even more difficult than walking on land, and Cymbeline is no great shakes at the latter to begin with. Unfortunately, neither he nor Kerem, the court magician and Cymbeline's confidante, have been able to figure out how to apply the principles of practicable magic to alleviating princely clumsiness. So Cymbeline is clinging to the railing of the boat, watching the waves, trying to avoid having to walk anywhere.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

alicornucopia

The witch has the sense to fear Triton, but not the sense to let that keep her far away. She's findable, if you know who to ask.

Here she is, deep inside the twists and turns of a stinging reef, with her garden of polyps, and her collection of sea-glass with small trapped moving things in each piece.

From:

treasuresuntold

"I want some magic," Ariel announces. Her voice fills the reef. She's good with her voice.

From:

alicornucopia

The witch creeps out from the maze, peers around a corner.

"Do you? Well then, pretty voice, why don't you come in," says the witch, mimicking the inflection, if not the power. "And we'll see if we can't make a deal."

From:

treasuresuntold

She swims inside fearlessly. There are things in this ocean she fears, but stinging reefs and creeping witches aren't among them.

From:

alicornucopia

The witch is themed purple where Ariel is green. She's half-octopus, not half-fish, but still certainly a mercreature. Her hands skim over her sea-glass collection. "Now what would you like? I've got someone's charmed hands, nimble as you please... got whales' strength and sharks' ferocity and several sorts of poison and glitter for your scales - what's your fancy?"

From:

treasuresuntold

"I want legs," Ariel says firmly. "I want to go up on the surface and walk around."

From:

alicornucopia

The witch starts to reach for something, but then she says, "In the interest of repeat business - the legs I have are not the best models - I took them as a curiosity, got them for a song, but I wouldn't use them. Cursed, painful."

From:

treasuresuntold

Ariel shrugs. "And I care? How painful can they be?"

From:

alicornucopia

"Oh, very, it'd be like putting all your weight down on a narwhal's nose every time you took a step - you want them anyway?" inquires the witch with interest.

From:

treasuresuntold

Ariel laughs. "Can't scare me."

From:

alicornucopia

"Innnteresting. Well, they are certainly available... what will you give me for them?" says the witch with a smile. Octopus tentacles rearrange themselves into what might be called a businesslike posture under her.

From:

treasuresuntold

"I could give you a song," she snorts. "I don't know, what do you want?"

From:

alicornucopia

"That's just an expression, but from you, I'd take a song - so to speak," muses the witch, creeping forward a bit. "The entire voice would be ideal..."

From:

treasuresuntold

"I like my voice," Ariel points out. But she doesn't point it out very hard.

From:

alicornucopia

"But my dear," says the witch, "so do I."

From:

treasuresuntold

Ariel snorts.

"Whatever, then."

From:

alicornucopia

"Now," says the witch, "you are absolutely welcome to keep the set of legs indefinitely. However, my personal skills run more towards the encapsulation and the transference, not so much to the sticking. They have ludicrous numbers of practical magicians on land, I'm sure you won't have any trouble getting someone to attach them permanently if you like them. If you can't, they'll come off and you'll have a tail again, but I can reattach them for another try, no extra charge." She plucks the glass containing the legs off its coral shelf. "Do we have a deal, my dear?"

From:

treasuresuntold

She tosses her head; her hair flows out behind her.

"Yeah."

From:

alicornucopia

"Excellent," the witch grins, "this may sting even before you walk on them, be a dear and don't move," and she reaches for Ariel's throat; her grip is firm, but not painful.

The transfer takes about five minutes of humming concentration, and the moving shape in the glass changes, and Ariel's tail is sliced right through the middle and changed.

From:

treasuresuntold

She only wriggles a little bit. (It tickles.)

From:

alicornucopia

"All done," says the witch, grinning from ear to ear, "you have fun!"

From:

treasuresuntold

Ariel opens her mouth to say 'thank you'.

She makes a face, then shrugs.

Swimming with feet is hard - she misses her flukes already - but she gets the hang of it after a few false starts, and she leaves the witch's reef, and she heads for the surface.

From:

agnatic

The beach where Zoyah's brother washed up isn't too far from the palace. Zoyah is poking around idly, looking for any signs of a speaking seal or a dolphin with hands or (Kerem's outlandish notion) a mermaid. So far she hasn't found much.