Swimming for minutes at a time was nothing compared to the trip that lay before them. Pretie wasn't sure how long the group had been swimming, but her whole body ached, including a whole new set of muscles that she hadn't previously known existed—and might not have before her transformation. Every sweep of her tail seemed to take more and more effort as she fought around the building cramps.

Her abdomen felt like it was crumpled into a ball. It certainly didn't help that her stomach had started to rumble. She was hungry—that much was obvious—but she refused to eat the fishy mush the others seemed so keen on passing around.

"This is so stupid." Pretie grumbled as they continued to swim. It was hard to determine what time it was exactly, but the sunlight seemed more direct than it had been earlier, streaming down nearly vertically from the water's surface—sometime in the late afternoon, she guessed. While their scenery had shifted the longer they swam, it was all variations of the same rocks, same coral, same kelp. Even the blues of the water, while pretty to a human on the shore, seemed boring and repetitive as time went on.

"Aw, is Princess Prettypants throwing a tantrum?" Ephyra snorted, slowing to swim beside her. The other two remained ahead, Krill keeping them moving in the right direction with the help of his compass. "Are you cranky, Your Highness?"

"Shut up," she hissed, looking fixedly ahead. "This is far from my ideal scenario, you know."

"Right," she drawled in response, letting out a soft bark of a laugh. "You've got a pretty terrible view, huh? Staring up my fins all afternoon. That must really suck."

"It has nothing to do with you."

While Pretie refused to meet her eyes, she could practically hear Ephyra raise an eyebrow at the response. Pretie shook her head and forced herself to swim faster, putting some distance between them. A swirl of ripples beside her indicated that Ephyra had caught right back up—but at least Pretie no longer had to talk with her one on one, with Krill and Melody just ahead.

"I just hate my father for putting me here," she growled under her breath. "Because, let's face it: he's the real reason behind all of this. First, trying to marry me off to some stranger, and then having his advisors put a curse on me when I got in the way of his plan..." 

Out of the corner of her eye, Pretie saw Krill and Melody share a look, but she barely paid them any attention. With her mind fixated on her predicament, her frustration only grew. Her emotions swelled inside her, threatening to bubble over the longer her thoughts lingered on it.

"And how could I forget Virid Stickman, His Royal Asshole, who decided to blab about me to save his own skin? I swear, the only reason I even care about going back to Aecora is to shove him off a balcony."

The others remained silent. Pretie balled her hands into fists.

"I don't even know what's worse at this point: being forced to marry someone I have no interest in marrying, or having my legs torn away and being tossed into the ocean," she groaned. "No, actually—it doesn't even matter. If I could have just escaped when I had the chance, then none of this would have happened. I wouldn't have to worry about marriage, or this stupid trip.

"And it feels like my legs are going to fall off, but I can't even say that, because I don't have legs. So, what, am I supposed to say that it feels like my tail is going to fall off? Because it does and this is stupid and it hurts, and why couldn't I have just outran the guards or something?"

Pretie was faintly aware of the fact that she was being dramatic, but the words continued to flow before she could gather them up. It was like she was feeling everything all at once—the frustration and hurt and longing—blown up to an almost unbearable level.

"Gods, and I'm starving but everything you have to eat is absolutely disgusting—there, I said it. I don't want to eat something that looks like it's already been chewed and thrown back up. I'm supposed to be up there, eating roasted turkey and potatoes and food that's actually cooked... Oh my gods, I wish I was back in the castle. And I wish I could sleep on an actual mattress and pillows—and not rocks and sand—and actually feel warm underneath the covers..."

Pretie's eyes burned, but when she raised a hand to wipe the tears away, she found there were no tears to wipe. Stupid ocean... I can't even cry properly.

Whether the others were listening to her or not, they didn't respond. Krill kept his gaze on the compass tied around his sun-tanned wrist. Melody's squealing had long since faded; her tail didn't twitch any more than was necessary to keep her moving. Even Ephyra was silent from where she still swam at Pretie's side.

"I just wish I was back in Aecora," she hissed. "And when I get back, I'm going to make both Virid and my father pay for what they've done to me."

They swam several minutes more and Pretie stuck to fuming in silence. Every one of her muscles seemed to be working against her; it became hard for her to even keep pace with the others.

Her hazel eyes shot over to the electric green and coral pink of Krill and Melody's scales in front of her and, after a moment, to Ephyra's cornflower blue. Her gaze dropped to her own drab grey tail. "I don't even have pretty scales like all of you. How come my father's moronic advisors couldn't have at least thought to give me a colorful tail? Mine's so ugly and... Greyish."

"You know that's totally common, right?" Ephyra finally spoke. Pretie glanced over, raising an eyebrow.

The mermaid flashed her a crooked smile. "It means you haven't gotten enough sun. Fairly common, especially in the winter months. In your case, it's probably just a side effect of whatever curse you were subjected to."

"So... My scales aren't grey?"

"Maybe not," Ephyra replied in a thoughtful tone. "With some time, they might brighten up to a different color. That's one advantage of you taking this trip with us. You'll get plenty of sunlight." 

Pretie looked away, her eyes catching on the rays breaking through the surface and dappling the sand several feet beneath them. "I guess so," she murmured in response. "But won't that take, like, forever?" If the process was anything like tanning her skin, Pretie knew firsthand how long that could take.

The mermaid chuckled. "I had a feeling you'd say something like that. Impatient one, aren't you?" Pretie opened her mouth to argue, but Ephyra just shook her head, seemingly amused. "Lucky for you, I know a short cut."

Before Pretie could ask her what she meant, Ephyra called out to the others. "Let's take a quick break, gang. I want to show Prettypants something real quick."

The two slowed to a stop ahead, turning around to face them. Krill glanced down at his compass before offering a shrug. "Sure. Shouldn't put us too off schedule."

"You have a schedule?"

He snorted. "Of course I—" Upon noticing Ephyra's challenging stare, he paused. "Um, well, no. No, I don't."

Ephyra rolled her eyes, grabbing Pretie by the forearm. "C'mon."

"If I have to swim a bunch more just to see whatever you're trying to show me, then I swear—"

"No more of that. Complaining will only make it take longer."

Pretie forced her mouth shut before she let a few choice words slip out. A smile tugged at Ephyra's lips, though it only lasted a second before she tugged Pretie down to the sandy ocean bottom below. A small reef came into view as they descended. Unlike much of what they'd passed on their trip so far, this patch seemed more diverse and colorful, sporting layers and layers of plant and animal life. Columns of pale purple coral scattered around the outskirts of the reef served as guard towers, protecting the other organisms within—coral taking the shape of branches and brains and hands shot through with vibrant veins. Neon-bright fish darted in and out of the arms of orange-pink anemones, while spindly sea urchins sat just out of reach, moving at an infinitesimal pace. Pretie couldn't help but watch, entranced.

She felt Ephyra release her grip on her arm, leaving Pretie to watch as she drifted around the reef, her eyebrows scrunched as if she was looking for something. A few small, colorful fish darted out of her way, ruffling Ephyra's hair.

"What are you—"

"You don't have to talk all the time, you know."

Pretie sputtered, her mouth flapping helplessly open and closed before she finally managed a confused, "What?" 

"It's alright to be quiet sometimes. You know that, right? It's okay to just... Let others take the lead. You'll be alright." Ephyra looked up to offer her a smile that seemed to be halfway between kind and amused before returning to her search. She tentatively poked at some of the harder pieces of coral and the bumps in the rock underneath, using them as handholds to maneuver her way around the patch. Eventually, she shoved her hand into a small crevice. "Here we are..."

Pretie drifted closer, unable to tamp down her curiosity as Ephyra pulled her arm back, something clutched in her fist. The mermaid turned her way and, when she opened her hand, Pretie saw that a wriggling worm sat in her palm. She peered closer, noticing the worm held a faint glow. Her eyes widened.

"I like to call this a ray worm. Just eat it, and you'll get all the effects of spending a ton of time in the sun. Except, instantly."

"Wow," Pretie whispered, watching the worm inch its way across Ephyra's hand. "Wait, did you say eat it?"

The smirk on her face was the only answer Pretie needed.

"I'm not eating that."

"Then I guess you'll just have to stick with those plain, ugly..." 

"Fine!" She blurted, whipping her hand out. "I'll eat it. Just... Give it to me so I can get this over with."

"Vain Princess Prettypants," Ephyra chided with a cluck of her tongue, shaking her head. "Here you are. Enjoy." She plucked the worm from her own palm and plopped it into Pretie's. Oh my gods, it's sticky. I didn't expect it to be sticky.

The girl stared at the wriggling invertebrate, grimacing. Up close, she could see every slimy bit of the creature in all its murky yellow glory—though she still couldn't tell where its eyes were, assuming it had any. Every time it moved, it made a wet squelching sound.

"Oh, this is so disgusting." Pretie glanced up at Ephyra, noticing her raised eyebrows. She groaned. "Fine, fine, I'm doing it. I'm doing it." 

Taking a breath to steel herself, Pretie forced her eyes closed and picked up the worm between her pointer finger and thumb. She opened her mouth and, before she had the chance to second guess herself, dropped the worm into it.

Much to Pretie's surprise, the texture was the only thing that made her gag. Otherwise, it tasted... Better than she'd expected. The worm was strangely sweet, with some sort of underlying nutty flavor. 

"Not too bad after all, hm?"

"Yeah, yeah, I get it. You were right, and..." Pretie trailed off as she felt a sudden burst of energy shoot through her veins. The scales of her tail began to twitch. She stared at them in wonder as, scale by scale, the grey faded away—like ink dripping from parchment—to reveal in its place a deep royal purple. As Pretie let her tail rise and fall to catch the light, she caught a glimpse of shimmering blue flecks scattered throughout. No longer was her tail the dull grey of a wintry storm, but instead the color of a cloudless night—the color of the time just after sunset, when the sun had finally dipped below the horizon and the stars were beginning to blink into view above. If Pretie stared at her scales long enough, she could practically see the lanterns flickering to life in the streets outside her window back in Aecora; she could practically hear the raspy squawk of the night herons staking out their spots on the beach. 

"Not half bad." Ephyra's rough voice was enough to draw Pretie from her trance. When she looked up, her hazel eyes locked on the mermaid's dark ones. Ephyra's gaze was softer than what she'd seen from her before—vulnerable, almost. 

"Not half bad," Pretie agreed in a whisper. "Thank you."

Ephyra blinked, a flap of her tail putting some distance between them. She cleared her throat, her gills fluttering. When she spoke again, it was paired with what Pretie had come to recognize as her characteristic smirk. "There you are, Prettypants. Now that's one less thing to complain about. Let's... Let's get back to the others."

Pretie watched as Ephyra swam over to meet Krill and Melody, though she herself hesitated beside the reef. She couldn't stop replaying the moment in her mind—Ephyra's dark-eyed gaze focused not on her newly-brightened scales, but on... My face? Huh. 

Shaking it off as nothing but a trick of the light, Pretie swam up to join them.