A Prince and two Common Fish
After having left the surface of the water, Noel went in his cove. Looking at all of his trinkets, he found himself humming. Every item he saw reminded him of that human, Mischa.
Noel didn’t know Mischa but he was filled with joy by the idea of him. Oh, what Noel would give to be held in his arms, to walk along side him on the surface.
After about an hour of reorganizing his collection he figured he should head back to the castle. He would have to be around people tomorrow so he couldn’t be tired, someone would notice something was up.
***
Morning he was awoken by his main advisor, Markus.
He cleared his throat before speaking, “Prince Noel, you must start getting ready. Your mother has scheduled an arrangement with Ocean and Savannah for you today.”
Noel sat up from his bed. “Okay, thank you.”
“You’re welcome, your majesty.” Markus gave a quick bow and then left.
Noel hated being treated like royalty, he just wanted to feel normal.
He also hated having his hangouts with his friends be scheduled by his mother. It’s better than her forbidding him from seeing them though. Ocean and Savannah were both common folks.
He met Ocean in grade school, he was allowed to attend the normal town school for a few years. Mainly so he wouldn’t be a complete loner, he was grateful but at the same time always weary. People would never treat a prince like an average person, it was unfortunate. Ocean did though, and he appreciated her for it. When high school came around he was to be taught by a personal teacher. Savannah moved to Atlantica from a far out village, no royalty there, just people trying to get by on their own. Noel wanted to see a town like that. Ocean met Savannah in the town school and then introduced them to each other.
He loved Ocean and Savannah, they were like family. His mother has discussed possibly getting him to marry one of them, she’s leaning towards Ocean. Ocean is a straight A student and Noel has known her all his life, ‘seems almost too perfect’ she says. Little does his mother know he doesn’t like women, actually she does know, she just chooses to ignore it.
Noel was brushing a comb through his hair, humming, he couldn’t get Mischa out of his mind. He wished he could, the tragedy of being from two different worlds felt very cliché.
After he got his hair looking the way he liked then he swam through the castle. Stopping in the dining hall, grabbing a quick breakfast then immediately heading towards town.
He continued to hum as he swam, feelings filling him. He was excited to see Ocean and Savannah but his head was above the sea, on land, with Mischa.
He made it to Savannah’s house, it’s where they always met. Ocean usually stayed with with Savannah so it was just easiest for them to meet there. He knocked on the door, waited a few moments, then Savannah opened it.
“Noel!” She hugged him, her mint green tail wrapping around him a little.
“Hey, Sav.” He hugged her back.
Savannah turned around, facing the inside of the house. “Ocean! Noel is here let’s head out!”
“One minute!” You can hear a muffled Ocean from inside.
“She was doing homework, she shouldn’t take long. If she does I’ll drag her out myself.” Savannah giggled, Noel joining her.
After 7 minutes Ocean came out of the house.
“Noel!” Ocean’s indigo tail flapped a bit when she said his name. “I was thinking today we could take a stroll near the coral reef.”
“That’s a lovely idea!” Savannah said.
Noel nodded, already starting to get lost in his mind. He was happy to be with his friends but the surface had his attention more than normal today.
They started swimming towards the coral reef, Savannah and Ocean carrying the conversations.
Noel was humming looking around the waters for human artifacts. Savannah and Ocean both knew about his love for the human world. They pledged to keep it a secret, especially from his mother.
Noel spotted a pretty red flower, it reminded him of the ribbon Mischa had wrapped around his waist on the ship. It also happened to compliment his tail nicely. He picked it humming and put it in his ear. When he turned to go back to Savannah and Ocean he realized they were right in his face.
“What has you all in your head?” Savannah asked.
“Yeah, you have barely participated in the conversations!” Ocean added, “then you just swam off, you need to be more careful!”
“Oh, sorry. I’m just really focussed on finding artifacts today.” He lied.
Savannah raised an eyebrow at him but didn’t say anything about it. “That flower compliments your tail very well.”
“Exactly what I thought!” He smiled, blushing a little thinking about the real reason he picked it.
“We need to get going, we’re never going to make it to the coral reef.” Ocean said abruptly.
“Why are you such in a rush?” Savannah turned to a Ocean.
“You know we only have a limited time with Noel, we can’t waste it.”
“Right.”
Then the trio started to continue their swimming. Noel participating slightly more in the conversation than he was before. That was until he spotted something reflecting the sun back up at him.
“Hold up guys, I see something!” He quickly swam down to the seafloor.
He picked up the item brushing off sand, observing it. He had never seen a human item like this, it was long and cylinder. It could be expanded and compacted. It had glass that you could look through and when you did things far away became closer. It was really cool.
“What’s that?” Ocean said after catching up to Noel with Savannah.
“No clue, definitely belonged to a human.”
He brushed away more sand and saw golden writing. ‘To my beloved Mischa Bachinski’ he rubbed his fingers along the text.
This belonged to him. To Mischa.
A sharp pain running through him. Of course a handsome man like that had someone to love him, probably a girl. A human girl, who loves the human boy, a merman doesn’t come into this story does he?
Tears starting to well in his eyes, he hugged the item. At least he had something from the boy above.