Arthur swam outside of his home palace and enters through the main Merkingdom marketplace, he was almost immediately greeted and praised by his fellow merfolk.
“Hi, Arthur…”, a couple of young mermaids said in unison to the merprince, trying to flirt with him.
“Hey, Arthur, good luck!”, a young merman said to Arthur as he gave him a high five.
Arthur smiled. He was loved being a prince of such a welcoming kingdom. Growing up, he always had a close group of friends and admirers throughout his life. Being praised and taught wisely by his family, Arthur grew up being confident on the outside and on the inside while also having a sense of wisdom.
Despite all the clamoring around the Merkingdom and the praises they gave to the prince, Arthur knew he had to be careful of who to choose. As a child, he was told by his parents that there will be many mermaids that will only want him for his body and his crown - making it vital to choose a mate that truly loves him for who he is as a person.
In order to not pressure their son, King Damon and Queen Charlotte made a deal to their son that Arthur is free to roam throughout the world and come back to the Merkingdom once he finds someone he really loves.
Swimming past the commotion of the marketplace, Arthur swam further, feeling excited about where he was going.
When Arthur was a baby, his father King Damon would tell bedtime stories about the surface and how it was like to be a human prince in the land. He was enchanted of his father’s descriptions of the skies that would change color throughout the day and the sprouting flowers that decorate the green grass. While King Damon was vivid in his positive depictions of the surface world, he also told Arthur of how difficult human life was and why he was happy to give up his legs for a tail when marrying his mother.
Arthur was grateful of his position and home to not want to live permanently as a human on the surface, he merely wanted to observe a human setting and examine its people for a while before returning to the ocean.
The merprince grinned to himself as he swam out of the Merkingdom and swam outwards to the general ocean, next to schools of colorful fish.
“So many women, so many mermaids, and human women to choose from… But which is the right one for me?”, Arthur chuckled to himself.
Finding the perfect woman when the choices are right at your fingertips was a nice problem to have.
Noticing a giant shadow of land and the water becoming a little more shallow around him, Arthur flicked his strong tail and swam upwards to the surface, jumping out of the water with the confidence of an eager young merman ready to find a lover.
Arthur's body collided with the water again with a huge splash. He laughed in joy as he took a breath of the surface’s air.
When the splash subsided and his eyes adjusted to the sunlight, Arthur was awed by the bright blue sky that was above him.
“This… This is awesome!”, he exclaimed.