Envy is a Dangerous Shark: The Little Mermaid: Ursula's Version

“Unbelievable!” Athena dove into my cavern. “This is unbelievable, unprecedented, and unacceptable! You can’t marry a guard!”

“That’s up to the elders to decide tomorrow.”

“Even if the vote is in your favor, it won’t be unanimous. Do you have any idea what kind of trouble that might start?”

“If the majority of the elders approve, nobody will dare cause any kind of trouble.” I assured my younger sister.

“Approve? The elders being strong-tailed into granting you permission doesn’t mean that they approve!” She yelled back. “You are royalty, Ursula! You must marry royalty! It’s the rule, it’s our tradition, it’s what all the elders want. It’s an insult that you’re even making them discuss this, and it’s mortifying that you’ve threatened never to marry if they don’t refract the law for you. You’ve put them between the offensive position of having to renounce what they believe in and the dangerous one of having to go on without a king and a queen.”

“The law is offensive to us, Athena.” I reasoned. “Why must we marry for power and not love when we’ve already been born into power? We’re born princesses, and our parents’ throne is our birthright, why must I marry someone I don’t love to secure what is already mine?”

“Because the power is ours so long as we remember that our lives aren’t.” She fought back. “Our lives belong to the kingdom; we must always think and act for the best of our kingdom.”

“The queen and king being in love is what’s best for the kingdom.”

“Oh?” She raised a challenging eyebrow. “Suppose you fall out of love? Suppose he breaks your heart? How would that reflect on your ability to make decisions for the Three Seas? Father had it carved in his will that you mustn’t marry someone who stirs in you emotions that might inflate your mind, and lately you’re behaving like your mind has completely drifted to the shore!”

“Roka would never fall out of love with me or break my heart.” I looked through the stalactites at him guarding our court. How could he ever fall out of love with the most beautiful mermaid in the seven seas? Who could he possibly replace me with? How could he turn on his princess who turned the law to turn him into a king?

“You think if the elders succumb to your whim, all Three Seas will?” She countered. “Princes and princesses are raised in the public eye so that everyone can know and trust them. Nobody knows who Roka is, how can they accept him as their ruler? His own comrades detest him.”

“They’re just envious of him.” I resisted the urge to add ‘Just as you are of me.’

Athena had always loved the throne – she raced to be the first one to sit on it when it was decorated for ceremonies, and she chose it as her mourning spot after our parents died; she wouldn’t leave for days, but not once did I see her cry.

She was even supportive of my relationship with Roka at first, urging me to follow the tides of my heart, until I refused to relinquish the throne to her.

Had it been possible for anybody else to take the responsibility of the throne off my shoulders, I would’ve gladly swum with Roka away from the burden of our duties. Had Athena been different, I would’ve gladly handed it to her, but my sister, who accused me of only thinking with my heart, only ever thought with her mind.

Since we were merkids, Athena only did what was logically best – best for her, that is. She didn’t care who got hurt – whom she had to hurt – to get what she wanted, which did not make for a good ruler. I, on the other hand, did not have it in me to hurt anybody, not Roka by rejecting him based on his status, not myself by suppressing my feelings, not even Athena who casually threw in my face father’s will by reminding her that the words specifying my marital details came immediately after his insistence that she never sets tail on the throne.

“He’s not better than any of the other guards, many surpass him, and yet he’s getting ahead for no particular talent or act of grandeur other than being your lover, that hardly sounds fair.”

“It doesn’t to those filled with envy.”

“Envy is a very dangerous shark, Ursula.” She swam till her face was merely a sand-shell away from mine. “Very dangerous.”

“What exactly are you talking about?”

“I won’t let you bring shame and chaos onto our kingdom, but you’ll bring shame and chaos regardless of whom you marry, so I’m giving you one last chance to step down from the throne.”

“Are you being serious right now?” I almost laughed. The elders would’ve sooner arranged my marriage to a tailless human than placed the crown on Athena’s head.

“You are not going to be the queen.” She snarled at me.

“Athena, I love you, sister, but let’s keep the pearls in the oysters.” I looked her straight in the eyes. “It’s my initial that’s already been carved on the crown. Tomorrow, the elders will hold a meeting that permits me, as well as you and every future prince or princess of the Three Seas, to marry whomever we please. The public will be introduced to Roka, and they will learn to love him for all the things I love him for. And I’m sorry, but there’s nothing that you can do about it after.”

“Perhaps there is something that I can do… NOW!” She screamed, and distant screams echoed on cue. I looked through the stalactites to find several guards down with spears in their backs, having been stabbed by fellow guards.

“What’s happening?”

“What should have happened a long time ago!” She charged at me.

“Athena!” I clapped my hands against her wrists to keep her from driving her dagger into me. “What are you doing?”

“You were supposed to die with mother and father. The Three Seas are meant to be mine.” She fought against my hold. “I’m not going to let you take what’s mine and run it to the sand.”

She was angry, she was desperate, she was hopeful, and she was strong. I felt the sting of her weapon against my chest for a moment before she flew off me as Roka rammed into her side.

“We have to go.” He grabbed my arm and swam at full speed, my tail flapping furiously with terror.

“What…? What…?” I couldn’t even turn my confusion into a question.

“I don’t know.” Roka shook his head, equally baffled. “It’s Athena, I don’t know how she did it, but she turned most of the guards on you. We can’t trust the guards to keep you safe anymore, we have to go to the elders.”

But the elders’ compound had guards, too, and while they didn’t attack us, they refused to let us in, as per the elders’ command. The elders had been informed about the events of the night, and they decided to claim neutrality on the matter because their loyalty was to the throne, and the throne belonged to the better ruler, and the better ruler had to win.

Was Athena right all along? Were they so against changing one law that they would accept her as queen and watch her kill their real one?

“What do we do now?” I stared wide-eyed at Roka. It was a fight, a battle, it was his domain.

“We fight, of course.”

“With what army?” My arms and tail began to shake. “We don’t know who’s on our side and who’s not. I can’t get my guards in line only to have the ones at the back stab those in front of them.”

“Then we fight alone, even if it’s just the two of us, we levitate our ground and fight.”

“Fight whom? My own merpeople? How will they ever trust me to lead them if I’ve killed their loved ones?”

“How will they trust you to lead them if the weak-minded and traitors among them defeat you? How can they trust you to protect them against the outside and the king of the Four Seas if you can’t even protect them from within?”

“The king of the Four Seas!” I gasped. “That’s it! We have to go to the king of the Four Seas!”

“Why would the king of the Four Seas help us after you rejected his marriage proposal twice?”

“He’s been on the throne for decades. He’s proud, but he’s also wise and sensible. He’s known to value loyalty and tradition; he won’t allow for his neighboring kingdom to be ruled by a deceitful second-born.”

“Ursula, w-” he started, but I quickly pulled him behind a reef as a few guards swam close by. “I don’t think this is a good idea,” he sighed as he looked after the guards, not knowing if they were still his friends or were now his enemies. “But I can’t think of a better one. Go. They’ll think you’re with me, so I’ll lead them away. You do what you have to do to save our kingdom.”

I watched as Roka swam away, almost immediately chased by several guards he once trained and lived and formed intimate relations with.

I blew the whistle around my neck and waited for my dolphin to follow the signal to me. I rode him to the edge of the kingdom of the Four Seas. The guards recognized my crown, and I was instantly escorted to king Triton’s palace.

I found myself just as nervous about seeing him as I was about the future of my kingdom. I’d only met king Triton twice before.

Our first meeting was at a festival arranged by our parents before he ascended the throne. He spent the event admiring my beauty and ended it by admitting he couldn’t imagine not looking at my face every day now that he’d seen it. I refused his proposal, and my parents humored my young age at the time by not making a big deal out of it and telling him to give me a few decades.

The second time was after my parents’ death, on the day I was declared the pending queen. He once again offered to unite our kingdoms, confessing that he’d spent every tide since our first meeting recalling my beauty and searching for its like within his realm to no avail, but I was in love with Roka and had no intention of marrying another, especially not someone who knew nothing about me and was interested in knowing nothing about me but my beauty.

I expected him to be a bit shocked to see me, a bit happy to be needed, a bit repulsed at the injustice, but he looked at me with utter boredom as I relayed to him the events of my night and how my merpeople were killing my merpeople, and I shuddered at the thought that Roka might’ve been getting hurt while I took my time detailing and insufficiently pleading for help.

“Why should I help you?” King Triton raised an amused eyebrow. “I offered you my protection and power before, and you turned your tail on it. What does it matter to me who rules the Three Seas?”

“Because my sister won’t just stop by throwing me off the throne, she’ll come for yours.” I explained. “Athena is ambitious and has no fear or heart, she’ll come for your kingdom, too. At least you know I’ll honor our parents’ treaty and continue to preserve the peace and respect between us.”

“Respect?” He laughed out loud. “You showed me respect by rejecting me for a guard?”

“Your majesty…” Was that what he deemed more important to discuss at the moment? “I hadn’t meant to reject you. It would’ve been disrespectful of me to feign sentiments I didn’t have. I respected you by offering you my honesty.”

“Alright then, respect me by offering me your honesty regarding your sentiments right now.” He smirked. “Do you really care about the kingdom of the Three Seas or just about one merman swimming safely within it?”

“I…”

“What exactly does this guard have that I, king Triton of the Four Seas, don’t? What can he give you that I couldn’t?”

“Right now, your majesty, he’s risking his life for me.”

“Ah, is that why you’re so agitated?” He looked at my shaking hands as I kept levitating up and down uncontrollably. “Would you be willing to risk something for him?”

“Anything.”

“How about that beauty you’ve always taunted me with?”

“I…” I couldn’t remember ever taunting him with my beauty; I never promised him anything, I never used it to get on his good side or get anything out of him, I never even smiled at him after learning about his intentions towards me. I was simply beautiful. How was my mere existence considered an offensive taunting?

“Give me your beauty, and I guarantee that both you and your lover will remain alive and free to do as you please.”

To be with Roka, alive and free and in love, was all I ever wanted. Unlike King Triton, Roka loved me for who I was on the inside, he fell in love with my ugliest moments before my pretty face, and I knew that being alive and free and in love with me was all he ever wanted as well.

“You just have to give your consent.”

I didn’t have time to argue or discuss my options, I was running out of time. I didn’t know how many guards Athena had tempted into her plot, but I knew that there were many that envied Roka and had tried to poison him when our relationship was first exposed. I knew that with each passing second, his life was in whaler danger. He could’ve already been caught, he might’ve been tortured as I thought my future through, there was also the possibility that he’d already been killed – No!

King Triton was a merman of his word, and even if he wasn’t, my agreement to his terms bound him to keep up his.

“Alright.” I nodded. “You can take my beauty.”

He finally got up from his throne and made a circular motion with his trident. I watched as a golden circle of mist moved towards me until I was in its center. Then, it shrank and shrank until it seeped into my skin, tearing it apart.

I screamed, in both pain and terror, as my tail split into six parts, each twice the size of what my one tail had been. My red hair fell off all around me, and I felt a spiky, itchy texture springing up in its place. I couldn’t see my face, but I knew that it was no longer my face, it was too heavy to be my face. Then, the golden circle of light erupted from within me, in its center was the reflection I always saw in the mirror, but I knew I never would again.

“King Triton, behind you!” I yelled for him when I saw Athena closing in on him.

“No, beside him.” Athena smiled back at me as she stood at his side, taking his arm in hers.

“Here you go, my beloved.” He motioned with his trident for my image to fall onto her, and I watched with horror as her body and colors and face twisted into an exact replica of what my own had been.

“What’s going on?” I asked, my voice no longer the one I’ve always known.

“I’d had it arranged for you to die with father and mother, but you’ve overstayed your welcome in my kingdom.”

“You can’t do this! The elders won’t stand for this!”

“The elders will see your face as you come to your senses and decide to enter a union with King Triton, becoming the queen and king of the Seven Seas.”

“They know me, they won’t believe you.” I shook my head, but it was too big and heavy and unbalanced.

“You poor, unfortunate soul,” she shook her head with a smirk. “It’s my word against a monster’s.”

“What have you done to me?” I looked down at my hands that weren’t mine.

“Nothing that you haven’t agreed to,” King Triton shrugged.

“And here’s your part of the deal.” Athena clapped her hands and two guards swam in, dragging a hand-tied Roka between them.

“Roka!” I screamed.

He looked up at me with horror, then begged Athena and Triton not to be given to me.

I tried to swim away, but I didn’t know how to in my new body, and I heard the new king and queen laughing behind me as I desperately tried.

With my face, Athena announced that there had been a mutiny that took her sister’s life, and to honor her, the beauty changed her name from Ursula to Athena. She solidified her initial on every new crown by the seven daughters she had with Triton, and each one of them inherited something from me along with my looks. Attina inherited my dislike of conflict, Alana my love for glamour, Adella my obsession with finding love, Aquata my possessiveness, Arista my curiosity, Andrina my formerly fun nature, and Ariel my willingness to do anything for a lover.