"Heavy Water" for autumndays

[sirvalkyrie]

Title: Heavy Water
Fandom: The Little Mermaid
Characters: Ariel, Athena
For: Sally (autumndays)
Rating: G
Summary: Young Ariel shows her mother one of the neat things she has found in her exploration. Her mother then explains what it is.
Note: I have never seen any of the sequels. This was based on my imagination of what her mother would be like from watching the first movie. I only borrowed the name for her from the movie because I rather like it.

 “Mom, hurry up.  You’re too slow,” Ariel cried out over her shoulder at the mermaid trailing behind her.

“I’m not as young as I used to be, Ariel,” Athena replied.

The child mermaid swam back to her mother, swam around her and back out again.  She kept doing this, disturbing the small creatures living on the ocean floor.  Athena was not moving slowly, but she was not going so fast as to wear herself out either.

“See, look!” Ariel pointed off the edge of a cliff in the seafloor.

The water was so deep down there it grew to be the color of a squid’s ink.  In the middle of that darkness was red, orange and yellow.  The bright colors stood out in the black.  Even from here the two mermaids could feel the heat.

“It is so pretty.  What is it mom?” Ariel turned her head to face her mother, red hair fanning out around her.

“We call it heavy water.  It comes out from beneath the ocean floor.  It is hot and flows like water, but it is heavier so it stays on the bottom of the sea.”

“Let’s go get some! I want to show daddy.”

“No, we can’t do that.”

“But why?”

“If you touch it then your skin and scales will crack and turn red, they will be destroyed and the cold water will hurt where your fins used to be.  It is better if we leave the heavy water where it is.”

“If it is dangerous then we should have Daddy use his triton to get rid of it.”

“No, dear, come on, let me show you.” She took her daughter’s hand and she began to lead her further down into the warm waters.  They were not going so close as to be cooked, but they were going closer than Triton would have liked.

There was an underwater mountain from where the heavy water came out.  There was movement on its slopes.  There were homes there.  Ariel could not believe it.  She could see homes.  They were small homes.  As they got closer she could make out shrimp, crabs and barnacles.  The shrimp seemed to be everywhere.  They were working, playing and going to school.

“Hey there, upper water neighbors, care to come down and have some delicious bacteria with us? Freshly harvested,” a nearby shrimp asked the two mermaids.

“Can we, mom?”

“I’m sorry, dear.  We can’t get any closer.  It is too hot over there.  But thank you, Mr. Shrimp.”

“No problemo, if you come again some other time we can bring some bacteria up for you, eh.”

“That would be lovely,” Athena said.  The two mermaids waved goodbye to the shrimp as he swam back down to his fields of bacteria.

“Why do they live someplace so dangerous?” Ariel asked her mother when he was gone.

“Because of the heavy water they can grow and harvest a lot more food than they would at other places.  Because of the heat and the heavy water itself there are fewer fish that can go down and give them trouble.”

“So the reason why we can’t have Daddy get rid of the heavy water is because some fishes depend on it for their livelihood?”

Athena smiled at her daughter.  She was so proud of her youngest one.  “That is exactly the reason why.”

Ariel swam in a loop the loop.  “We should go visit them again and try the food they grow.  I bet it will be delicious.”

“That sounds like a good idea.”

“Come on, Mom.  Let’s go!  I have more stuff I found when I was exploring that I want to show you.”  Ariel had already begun swimming off as fast as her little fins could take her, which was actually pretty fast.

Athena shook her head, smiled and swam after her inquisitive daughter.

Comments

[qem_chibati]

Awww, super cute. Sounds like it could be a scene in a disney special.

[sirvalkyrie]

Thank you very much.

And I swear that I see you EVERYWHERE! You are like a ninja!

[qem_chibati]

Hee. Maybe we just share similar awesome circles and taste? :)

[autumndays]

That is so unbelievably cute <3 I love little Ariel.

[sirvalkyrie]

I am glad you like it! I was unbelievably nervous. I am used to having more information when I write a gift fic. I am sorry it is so short, but every time I tried to pad it out it looked like it was being padded for the sake of getting a word count. If you would like I will write you a second fic.