Coral swam closer, and closer to the site of negotiations, being careful of course, not to let her mother catch her. If her mother caught her at this time she’d have her scales for a suit.

Still this was the legendary Princess? She wasn’t much to look at, then again if she was as powerful as they claimed she really didn’t need to be. All she had to do was kick the tail of anybody who was a jerk about her.

Were they really talking about how to fight both the shark and the duck? That was unthinkable, one of those things could sink a ship all by itself, and both had, on numerous occasions. She had to get closer.

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Aquarelia was well aware of her daughter’s attempts at stealth. It was hard to miss considering that not a single item of “cover” she chose hid her tail, or much of the rest of her really. But now was not the time to acknowledge having spotted an eavesdropper, that seldom ends well as far as diplomatic talks go. Besides, the guards would show up soon enough, and this time her dear daughter would be grounded for a bloody season if that was what it took to get the message across.

What the hell was she even thinking trying to sneak into a place like this? Surely she could see the ramifications. But it was too late now, she could see the guards entering the cove.

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Mibbet, having plenty of experience of teenagering, thanks in no small part to the influence of Rosalind, (go figure you don’t very often see teenage frogs, turtles, sure but not frogs.) Was carefully pretending not to notice the young Mer girl, hiding off to one side, and concealing her presence as well as a pachyderm hid behind a tree.

She did her best not to glance the girls way, as she discussed tactics with Aquarelia, so far the tactics seemed to consist of “hit them a lot and hope that works.” Which, while it would have made Rosalind’s berserker ancestors proud of her, was not likely to work against a massive bloody shark, or for that matter a sentient wall of rubber with tentacles. They needed a better plan, fire magic might have worked rather well against the duck, if not for the fact it was swimming round in an instant extinguisher. Oh and of course there was also the issue that neither Mibbet, or The Mer considered that particular school of magic to be their forte. (You can imagine why multiple creatures that spend their entire lives in water would struggle to wrap their heads around the basic principles of thaumaturgic conflagration. Probably difficult to practice in their current circumstances, and for the most part amphibians, in a human chassis or not, tended to steer clear of encounters with such things as boiling pots, or for that matter pots that were gradually increasing in temperature all subtle like. When you relaxed was when they got ya. Fire, Or adventurous chefs who were giving them a look. This led to a definite dearth of skills in this particular field. They also talked (much to Aquarelia’s horror,) about the possibility of harpoons. Eventually vetoing the idea on the grounds that throwing sharp, heavy pieces of metal round, near a creature which could rebound faster than most people after a bad breakup, and possessed appendages capable of throwing them back, would most likely not end well for anybody involved. (Except The Duck, and The Shark, who always came out a winner when the humans handed them the means to make kebabs.)

Harpoons were also vetoed in the case of The Don, because harpoons usually came with a lot of rope attached, and were often anchored to the ship. When something larger than the ship dives, it is usually a good idea not to be too attached to it unless you are really, really good at holding your breath.

They had just about decided to take a break, when all hell broke loose.

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Annie nite was a guard in charge of protecting the Chieftains daughter. Yet despite being a big, tough, adult Mer, she had freaked out over a few itty bitty bottom feeders. (It was the weird way they swam, and their sucky mouths that did it, they were creepy, and downright gross, and she didn’t even want to THINK about what they were eating.)

Well she was going to have the last laugh here, she’d managed to track the kid down, it had taken the best part of an hour, but she’s managed it, and now the other guards were closing in too. She could see Coral eyeing them warily, while trying to stay hidden, but the jig was definitely up. She swam slowly closer.

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Jimmy Niatas was determined to do this, he didn’t want Annie to get in trouble, it wasn’t her fault that she’d panicked. Not like she could suddenly just stop a phobia was it? He took cover behind a statue (far more effectively than Coral, then again she didn’t have any training, and a lot of people had spent most of her childhood convincing her she was really good at it, because 1. It was freaking adorable to watch her try, and 2. They knew her, and really, really, REALLY didn’t want her to start thinking she was bad at it and start practicing, she was quite enough trouble without such a skill set.) Then once he spotted her nanny Nurse Sharque coming in from the other side, he POUNCED.

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With a shocked squeal Coral swam to make it out of the opening between the charging trio, managing somehow to squirm clear of the resultant scrum, as each participant, who seemed to believe every other participant part must be attached to her, flailed about in a terrible tangle of arms and tails, while Coral made good her escape.

Eventually the guards seemed to notice they’d grabbed each other and parted with a blush.

Mibbet watched as they charged out in pursuit of their pint sized escapee, as the beginnings of a plan entered her mind.