The Servant Girl and The Sea Prince

Chapter Twelve: POSEIDON

He was on sandbar nine after his latest clandestine late-night meeting with Melinda. Poseidon acknowledged that it was probably irrational at best for him to fall head over fins for a human girl he had only known for about a week, but he simply could not help how he felt about her.

The limerick that Melinda had recited about him warmed his heart in a way Tempest's seductive singing certainly never had. He was usually a pretty serious young merman, yet that human maiden brought out a playful side that he didn't realize had existed deep within him.

From what little he knew about Melinda, the girl obviously had quite a hard life. He could easily relate to the tragic loss of her parents, but as Crown Prince of Pacifica, it was difficult for him to comprehend being too poor to afford even basic necessities. He yearned to shower her with shiny pearls and sparkly jewels, and to whisk her away to a beautiful palace built of coral.

But it's impossible for us to ever really be together...Poseidon reminded himself. No matter how much he cared for Melinda, nothing could change the indisputable fact that she was a human and he was a merman. She could never truly be part of his world, right?

That night, he dreamed of the girl magically transforming into a mermaid with a pretty pink tail. Her emerald green eyes sparkled with pure joy as they swam hand in hand through a colorful undersea wonderland.

"Melinda...". He woke up saying her name out loud.

Much to his surprise, he opened his turquoise eyes to see Thalassa floating beside his kelp bed. "Po, are you okay? You overslept. If you don't get a swim on, you're gonna be late for your classes at the University!".

"I overslept...?" Poseidon echoed lamely, as he glided out of bed.

"Yes, and you were talking in your sleep!". Poseidon's 15-year-old sister put her hands on her hips. "Would you mind telling me who this Melinda is? Is she the one you bought pearls for, at the marketplace the other day?"

Poseidon's face suddenly turned as white as his SeaSatin bed sheets in shock. "Melinda is...well...she's...um...different..." he muttered. How much of the truth should he tell her?

Thalassa patted her older brother sympathetically on the shoulder. "Believe me, Po. You can tell me, and I won't judge. After all, you never judged me for liking other mermaids that way! Whatever it is, I swear to Amphitrite, the Goddess of the Sea that I won't tell another soul!"

The Crown Prince of Pacifica sighed. It was a fair point that Thalassa's atypical romantic leanings most likely caused her to be more accepting than many other merfolk. "Okay, Melinda is...she's, uh...she's a human girl..." Poseidon whispered hesitantly.

Thalassa's jaw dropped. "A human?" she repeated. "As in, she has two oversized arms on her lower body instead of a tail and no gills? Wow..."

"I know, Thalassa...I've lost my senses completely..." Poseidon admitted. "I barely even know her, and it could never work out, for a million valid reasons!"

Poseidon's sister gave him a brief hug. "I deeply believe that love is love, Po. If the two of you really and truly love each other, you'll find a way a make your forbidden love work for you".

"Do you really think so?" questioned Poseidon. He was so touched by Thalassa's extremely open-minded reaction. "Love is love, huh?". He cracked a smile.

For weeks, Poseidon and Melinda met up nearly every night. Little by little, their connection deepened as they learned more and more about each other and their respective worlds.

He was very pleased to know that the human girl did not like to eat fish. Prof. Yellowtail made it sound like all humans had a more insatiable appetite for the taste of the flesh of finned creatures than Wild sharks did. Poseidon told Melinda about how in Pacifica, there were Civilized aquatic animals who talked and thought just like merfolk did, unlike the Wild sea creatures who inhabited the Wilderness outside his kingdom.

Melinda had listened intently when Poseidon explained to her that merfolk's main source of protein was a tofu-like substance created from red seaweed called SeaPro. His kind ate small shellfish such as oysters and clams as well, and they harvested the shells and pearls of such animals for clothing and jewelry.

"I always wanted sisters!" Melinda had exclaimed wistfully one night when he mentioned that he had five sisters. "I mean, I was around lots of other children at the orphanage, but it's not the same...".

Crown Prince Poseidon was disheartened to find out that Melinda grew up in an absolutely dreadful place called the Southern Kallia Asylum for Orphaned Children, where the wardens had physically abused her if she disobeyed their strict rules. She also told him that she was currently employed as a cleaning maid in a human nobleman's household.

Conscious of the vast class difference between them, Poseidon felt slightly awkward informing Melinda that he was the Crown Prince of Pacifica. "My father is King Neptune" he told her on a particularly starry night. "He's terminally ill with the Rare Aquatic Virus. He could foam any day now. After he foams, I will succeed him as King of Pacifica...and I don't feel the slightest bit prepared for the great responsibility that comes along with ruling my kingdom..."

On a warm April night, Poseidon at last kissed Melinda on the lips, under a full moon. Her dainty pink mouth was softer than the petals of one of the lovely sea flowers grown in the palace gardens.

He also discovered that Melinda's toes were exceedingly ticklish. The nasally giggles she let out whenever he touched her large, pale-skinned feet never failed to make Poseidon grin from ear to ear.