ariel-the-lionhearted:

Ariel swallowed, nervous and unsure. Her voice held her soul, kept it pure and good. How would she be able to speak if it was taken? And to leave it at the hands of an unknown? While the woman seemed good, Ariel knew how precious a voice was. But she knew of other forms of sea magic much sought after and all too rare in the human realm. 

“I’ve no need for human riches.” she replied, for her kin had far more precious baubles than a human could dream of. “But to see the human world at last has always been a dream.” she added. And the idea of finding that prince she rescued only a few years ago at last only encouraged her to reconsider. She looked back up at the woman, meeting her eyes.

“As you might know, my kin possess other forms of magic.” she paused, thinking of how sought after Kraken venom, ink, squid ink and sea jewels were in the human world. “I can get  you those easily.” she assured her. “And they’ll be of far more use to you than a mermaid’s voice.” she added, knowing that try as they might, humans could never, and would never be able to, harness the magic of a mermaid’s voice or soul as a mermaid could. 

“I can fetch you an entire bottle of Kraken ink in exchange for you removing the pain of maintaining my land form.” she said, feeling her tail keep her upper torso above the waves.

Regina sighed, her typical smirk, shrinking as she become more serious. She still tried to appear kind and would appear so to the untrained eye. So, she hoped this would work on Ariel. 

The young mermaid was proving to be more tricky than she had first thought. She was quite smart. And, Regina enjoyed the challenge. However, it was still a challenge. Most children she could trick with the simplest offer of candy and false promises. She had done this Hansel and Gretel, and many of the children she had dealt with before them. The bones in the candy house of the witch who attempted to eat the twins were her proof. But, like Hansel and, especially, Gretel, Ariel had spunk. She had family and a nice safe little world to fight for. Regina just had to make her believe otherwise. She had to make her a deal. 

And, as she took in the young mermaid’s words, Regina nodded at her and a sliver of her smirk returned to her face. “Yes. I am well aware of these other riches, my dear. I have encountered a few of them myself. But, much like you, I really have no need for such things. Perhaps, we could make a deal,” she drawled, quirking a brow. 

She took a moment for a dramatic pause, hoping for Ariel to respond. However, her impatient nature took over and she soon got ahead of herself. “How would you feel about exchanging your voice for permanent human legs for three days? It would simply give to a chance to try the lifestyle,” she almost cooed, her smile deepening as she gestured to the many children running joyfully about the beach and brought her gaze back to Ariel.