Title: Above the Waves
Fandom: The Little Mermaid (Disney version)
Rating: PG
Length: ~350 words
Content notes: none
Summary: Imagining a different course for the story



imagine if
Triton
raised up
instead of stomping down

if he knew
that a subject -- or daughter --
needed to know
the reason
behind his 'no'

so instead of
punishing transgression
while speaking in fear-fueled anger
and apparent bigotry;
closed ears, closed heart,
destroying hard-won treasures
and precious relationships,
driving the one he would keep safe
into reckless, despairing alliance
with the witch of the sea--

if, instead, he
respected
her choice
her interests
her love
herself

and chose not to tell her
but to show her

give her legs
without taking her voice
(except perhaps a small
geas or binding
to keep her from careless words
that would reveal --
endanger --
the world beneath:
no talk of mermaids or witches
or fish friends or shipwrecks
or enchantments or sea-kings)

let her come to know humans
not in fantasy, idealized and perfect
not in hatred, evil and twisted
but in the paradox of reality

where they take a girl from nowhere
feed her and clothe her and
laugh at her odd backward ways

where they keep and tend pets
and care for their needs but
eat fish and crab unthinking

where they dance and make music
and sing unfamiliar songs and
sneer at her for not knowing

where they speak of freedom
but then stop her from freeing
the ornamental koi fish
that swim in mute mindless circles
kept prisoner because they are pretty

where they care for their vulnerable
yet talk of war and conquest
as carelessly as if they fought for
pebbles instead of lives

and ask where she comes from
the strength of her king’s armies
the resources of her land
and she laughs and pretends
she does not understand
because she does, and understanding
chills her to her bones

And when a week has passed
not spent chasing romance
bur instead building relationships
her father asks her:
Will you stay or will you go?

For he knows she must choose --
the world above the waves
can never know
of the world beneath;
so it has been, so it must
always be --
but the choice is made with her
not for her

imagine
how this story
might
continue
If.