The Servant Girl and The Sea Prince

Chapter Seventeen: MELINDA AND POSEIDON

King Poseidon was amazed by how well his beloved Melinda adapted to being a mermaid. Within days, she was outpacing him in playful undersea races, her strokes powerful and graceful.

Thalassa, Marina, Oceana, and Aquata quickly became the sisters the former human had never had. Even Pearl, initially wary of Melinda, eventually succumbed to her kindness and adventurous spirit.

Melinda finally married Poseidon on her eighteenth birthday, nearly two years after her transformation. No one in Pacifica was familiar with the old human superstition that a bride should wear "something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue" on her wedding day for good luck, but a beautiful tiara made of light blue and pale pink pearls, that King Poseidon's mother, the late Queen Nerissa, had worn at her wedding to King Neptune was both "Something Old" and "Something Blue". She borrowed Marina's favorite necklace, a pink pearl pendant, and her bridal top was a new, pure white shell bra, custom-made by Merletta, that was heavily embellished with shiny, baby pink pearls.

The King of Pacifica's five younger sisters served as Melinda's bridesmaids. They each wore brand-new, jewel-trimmed seashell tops, similar in style to the bride's, but dyed in vibrant shades that matched their mermaid tails. Aquata's top was bright green, and trimmed with emeralds. Oceana wore a warm purple, amethyst-trimmed shell bra. Marina's seashell bra was coral-colored, just like her tail. Pearl wore a gold top, which was decorated with golden pearls, and Thalassa's shell bra was royal blue and sapphire-trimmed.

The royal wedding was held outdoors in the Pacifican palace's picturesque coral gardens. Merfolk royalty and other dignitaries from all over the four oceans were in attendance. As Melinda swam toward the coral altar, an all-crustacean orchestra played the traditional Pacifican wedding tune. She never would've dreamed of having such a fancy wedding when she was a human, as she had always expected to have as simple of a ceremony as her parents had.

The head Elder of Pacifica led them in the traditional Pacifican wedding vows. Melinda's emerald green eyes locked into King Poseidon's blue-green orbs, as they held hands and promised to love each other "forever and always...with the fierceness of a protective shark, the unwavering loyalty of a mated seahorse, and the endless grace of a dolphin leaping through the waves".

The reception, which took place in the ballroom of the royal palace, was a lively affair, filled with joyous laughter, upbeat music, and energetic dancing. A five-layer sweet kelp cake with creamy clam juice icing, tastefully decorated with lovely pearls and tiny seashells, was perched in the center of a driftwood table.

Melinda absolutely loved to dance as a mermaid. The athletic flips and elegant twirls of Pacifican ballroom dancing were downright exhilarating, especially in the strong arms of a partner like her dear Poseidon.

Suddenly, an uninvited guest crashed the merry celebration. It was Tempest!

Neither Melinda nor King Poseidon had seen the raven-tressed, silver-tailed mermaid in quite a while. She had enrolled in the Magical Studies department at the University of MexiSea, and only occasionally came back home to Pacifica. The University of Pacifica did not have any classes on that subject, as the majority of Pacifican merfolk and Civilized sea creatures never used magic.

"Melinda..." she sang, slithering up to the royal couple. She eerily chanted in Archaic Pacifican, an ancient language that the ex-human couldn't understand at all. Poseidon, who had studied the tongue for years in school, could comprehend enough to know that she had cursed his sweet bride to "have no children, for five years...then you'll have one daughter, who will suffer from human weaknesses...". Tempest undoubtedly wished she could enchant the King of Pacifica to forget all about Melinda and marry her instead, but one of the fundamental laws of magic was that it was impossible to force somebody to fall in love with you. At least not true, lasting love, as a powerful Siren could certainly brainwash a human sailor into being so infatuated with her that he follows her to a watery grave.

Poseidon recalled Melinda mentioning to him that Tempest had once cursed her to have a miserably itchy mermaid tail. That curse had worn off after only a few hours, probably because Tempest had still been pretty inexperienced with magic at the time. Now his former friend was apparently a formidable supernatural force to be reckoned with. The King of Pacifica instinctively stroked the Enchanted Royal Aquamarine, which he had worn on a silver chain around his neck ever since his coronation.

"Lady Tempest Lamarr..." Poseidon began, his voice burning with tranquil fury. "I Banish you, Lady Tempest...not just from Pacifica, but from MexiSea too, and any other known merfolk kingdom! For the unforgivable crime of cursing my darling wife, Melinda, the Queen Consort of Pacifica, you shall be Banished to the Far North, a frigid place as cold as your heart!". 

It was the very first Banishment Poseidon had performed as the King of Pacifica.  The Enchanted Royal Aquamarine ofPacifica lit up like an electric eel lamp, and the guests at the weddingreception collectively gasped in wide-eyed astonishment as a magical portalthat resembled a swirling whirlpool materialized out of thin water.

"I'll have my revenge, someday!" hissed Tempest as she vanished into the portal. Once she was gone, Melinda, Poseidon, and everyone else in Pacifica had forgotten that Tempest had ever existed. This sort of magical amnesia was a peculiar side effect of Banishing a criminal with the mysterious power of the Enchanted Royal Aquamarine of Pacifica.

Queen Melinda did indeed suffer from infertility for years. Because they had no memory of Tempest's curse, her and King Poseidon blamed it on her human heritage. They speculated that although Melinda's transformation appeared complete, her mermaid reproductive system may not be functioning properly. This broke Melinda's heart, as she very much wanted to be a mother, since she had grown up without parents of her own.

Following five long years of failing to produce an heir to the throne of Pacifica, Melinda and Poseidon at last welcomed a merbaby, who they named Nerissa, after his late mother, into the royal family. Crown Princess Nerissa had lovely auburn hair and blue-green eyes, just like her father. The shimmery scales on her stunning mermaid tail were in pretty pastel shades of pink, violet, and blue.

Even though her mother, Queen Melinda, had been an excellent swimmer even as a human, Nerissa, who was called "Rissie" by her family and close friends, was an exceptionally weak swimmer and mediocre singer by mermaid standards, as Tempest had cursed her with "human weaknesses". Despite her limitations, Crown Princess Nerissa of Pacifica grew into a lovely and bright mermaid, who faced many trials and tribulations with both courage and compassion, but that's another story for another time...