I've decided to cross-post this over from my ao3 account. I hope you all enjoy. Once I catch up, I'll be posting new chapters every Monday, hopefully.

In the Shadows of Ships

No human knew of the mermaids who lived in Lunimar Bay, and the merfolk preferred it that way. It was common knowledge that humans were too greedy, curious, and destructive to risk contact with. Secrecy meant safety.

So when the cold waters of the bay were blanketed in the shadow of three galleons gliding overhead, every mer swam deeper to hide.

All except one.

It was forbidden to go near the human vessels, but Marinette went as often as she could. Peering out from the bobbing waves, she examined the closest and largest of the three ships. It was as tall as it was wide, and had more sails than Marinette could reliably count at a glance. Polished cannons flanked port and starboard. Draped all down the hull hung decorative ropes, laced with gold.

Marinette glimpsed the sailors, dressed in merry yellow and white, and dove back below. She couldn't afford to be seen, but she wanted to get closer.

She pumped her tail to catch the galleon, sailing fast and straight for Port Lunimar. Marinette beat against the currents and grabbed hold of the port stern. Clinging to the clinch bolts, she hoisted herself to the air, away from the churning waters of the wake. She wouldn't be spotted here.

Once secure, Marinette grinned and waited. What would she learn today? Another human word? A sea shanty? Perhaps a story. Marinette was fascinated by human invention.

"Daddy!"

Marinette nearly lost her grip. The voice trilled above her, shrill and petulant. Marinette kept low and looked up. The large paneled windows of the captain's quarters were flung open, and the slender arms of a lady dangled outside.

"What is it, sweetheart?" asked a kindly, deeper voice. The lady's father, presumably.

"How much longer?"

"Soon, Chloe dear. An hour, maybe half an hour!"

"Not soon enough!" Chloe-dear whined. "I'm sick of all the rolling and rocking…"

"I know, I know."

"And the waves! They've already ruined two of my gowns!"

Gowns?

Marinette perked. She loved human culture, but by far, what she loved best was their clothing. The merfolk bound themselves in eel weed, but humans wore the most spectacular things made of cotton and linen and silk.

Marinette had tried her hand at making clothing. She wore one of her creations now— a sun bleached shift made from a discarded sail.

She released the stern. She needed to get further behind the boat. She must see what this Chloe was wearing.

The wake grabbed and flung her behind the boat. Once she thought it was safe, Marinette peeked above the waterline.

It was worth the gamble. Chloe leaned out the window. Marinette couldn't see the skirt well, but she marveled at the bodice's beauty. It was pale green, embroidered with yellow land flowers Marinette only wished she knew the names of. The material glistened in the sunlight, and a breeze caught the long lace trim fluttering from her elbows.

Chloe trembled, and threw up into the sea.

Marinette winced. At least she was further away from the stern.

On closer inspection, Chloe's face perfectly matched her gown's pale green. One last heave, and she jerkily combed a loose blonde curl behind her bejeweled ears.

A gentleman in a fine waistcoat pat her back. Chloe slapped away his hand. She slid against the window frame, chin landing miserably on the sill.

The boat lurched across a wave and Chloe's face rammed against the window's edge. Something sparkled as it plunged into the water. Marinette didn't need to guess what it was.

"My earring!" Chloe shrieked, her hands covering the side of her head. "My sapphire earring! I- I'm bleeding!"

Marinette dove. The waters could be deep in this part of the bay, and if the earring fell past the point where sunlight stopped it would be gone forever. But Marinette's eyes were sharp and she caught the glinting trinket out of open ocean, not ten fathoms deep.

She flipped her new treasure over in her hands. Human metals looked all alike to Marinette, but if she guessed, the hook and frame might be silver? The metal cradled a blue stone, as clear as glass, and as large as the nail of her thumb.

"Sapphire," Marinette murmured the new human word, and indulgently placed the jewel across her knuckles like a ring. The way Chloe screamed for it, the earring must be valuable. Would they try to reclaim it?

Marinette returned to the surface, but the ships were already half a league away. None turned back for Chloe's lost jewelry.

Which made it Marinette's jewelry now.

Marinette twirled as she swam back to the atoll, her home.

At the center of Lunimar Bay, there was a circular, rocky reef; the remains of an ancient volcano, long dead. The water was warmer and clearer in the atoll, but also closer to the surface. The merfolk didn't come close, but Marinette made it her home.

The atoll was her workshop and museum. It was where she attempted sewing, mimicking the stitches and cuts of any clothes she found. It was also where she kept all the strange and wonderful things she had plucked from the wake of the human ships she scouted. Most of it was trash— broken glass, frayed rope, and warped metal instruments— but they were Marinette's most prized possessions.

She hummed a sea shanty she'd overheard from a merchant ship last week and poked and played with the earring. The sapphire was beautiful, but she was far more interested in the silver encasing it. The humans had found a way to bend metal into whatever shape they desired. How did they do it?

Marinette would have preferred if Chloe had dropped one of her "ruined" gowns into the water instead of the earring. It was lovely, but Marinette already had plenty of hooks and shiny, colored glass. She wanted human cloth, and ideas on what to turn it into.

Maybe she should take a trip to Port Lunimar. She could catch sight of Chloe in one of the dozens of lovely gowns Marinette imagined she must own. So many, for just one girl.

She rubbed the sapphire stone with her thumb. Marinette would never steal. Every human thing she owned was given up for lost in the sea. But this earring was different. The Lady Chloe might miss this earring very much.

Enough that if it were returned to her, she wouldn't mind that one of her fancy gowns had vanished?

Marinette laughed. It was a crazy idea. She had been scavenging human things for years, but she'd never been spotted by a human yet. That was because she was careful. She stayed out of eyeshot and didn't do anything wild like try to climb aboard a ship.

But she knew where the ships were headed…

But surely, there would never be an opportunity to sneak aboard.

But she might be able to pull it off, physically, at least. Those decorative ropes would make scaling the hull a cinch…

All of Lunimar's harbors were flooded with humans at all times of day. She'd be seen for sure.

But she could go at night. Human eyes weren't as good in the dark as a mermaid's. They slept more too. If she was patient she might get the opportunity to sneak aboard the captain's quarters.

Marinette's mind buzzed with plans to return the earring and grab a gown and everything that could go wrong if she made a mistake.

Was she seriously considering going through with this?

She could make it to Port Lunimar by dusk.

"Marinette!"

Marinette squawked and flinched, dropping the earring. She pawed at the water and scooped the jewel out of its plunge. She swung around the greet her guest, smiling with clenched teeth.

"T- Tikki!" she stuttered. "I thought I was alone."

Tikki was the only mermaid who visited Marinette's atoll. Everyone else in the Bay Mermaid Community found Marinette's infatuation with human things odd and inappropriate. No one knew just how many treasures Marinette had accumulated, or how close she'd gotten to the humans to collect them. Only Tikki, her best friend, knew of Marinette's dangerous activities.

"Well that was certainly suspicious." Tikki said, hands on her hips.

"Sorry, I was lost in thought." Marinette relaxed. She never had to hide anything from Tikki.

Her gaze flicked to Marinette's hands. Marinette grinned and revealed the jewel.

"Look what I found."

Tikki grimaced. "Is it a fish hook?"

"No, it's called an earring. Humans wear them like this." Marinette demonstrated, holding it to her ear. "Usually there's two, but only one went overboard."

"I knew it! You did go up to see those ships." Tikki frowned.

"No one saw me."

"Marinette, can I be honest with you?" Tikki took her free hand. "You're starting to make me a little nervous with all these trips to the surface. It was one thing when it was once in a while, but lately it's been every other day. What if you're seen?"

"I'm careful!" Marinette insisted. "I keep out of sight. The sailors almost never look down into the water anyway."

"I'm not talking about just the humans. If anyone from the community finds out what you're doing you could be exiled like my grandpa… or worse!"

Tikki's anxiety over Marinette's excursions began and ended with her grandfather. Marinette didn't know the whole story, only that he'd been seen with a human in the Silk Sea and was banished for it. He settled down somewhere just outside the bay. Tikki and her family were welcome inside the community, but her grandfather was not.

"No one pays any attention to little old me," Marinette placated. Merfolk were only exiled if they got caught. Inside her atoll reef, Marinette was all alone.

"More people than you think," Tikki insisted. "I heard some sharkers talking about your collection of fish hooks. I think you're getting too much too quickly." She motioned to the human clutter around Marinette's workshop. "You have so many human things already. I know I can't ask you to stop, but maybe you could… slow down for a bit?" Tikki's face contorted. How long had she been so concerned over Marinette's treasures?

Marinette did have a lot of human things. Maybe more than any other mermaid under the sea. Was it enough? What of her plans to go to Port Lunimar? Perhaps it could be enough… if she had a gown. That might fulfill her for a while. Tikki could stop worrying for a bit.

"Maybe you're right," Marinette conceded. "I should take a break from going to the shallows."

Tikki's shoulders slumped and she smiled.

"But…"

Tikki tensed right back up. "But?"

Marinette twisted guiltily to the side. "But I want to go to Port Lunimar tonight."

"What? Why?"

"I'd like to return this earring to the human who lost it."

"What? What?! Oh Marinette, that's sounds like a very bad idea," Tikki groaned.

"One last trip to shore and then I'll stop. For a month! Or maybe a week or two."

Tikki groaned louder.

"I'll be so careful, Tikki. If there's any chance that I could be seen, I'll swim out of there. But this earring is very precious— by human standards. The human girl who owns it is bound to miss it and it would be wrong if I didn't at least try to return it to her."

Tikki no longer attempted to communicate with words. She spoke only with long, pained groans of mental exhaustion.

Marinette didn't need Tikki's permission to go anywhere, but she was determined to set her friend's mind at ease.

"If I leave soon, I can make it to Lunimar just after dusk. I'll scope out if there's an easy way to trade in the earring…"

"Trade in?"

Marinette plowed on as if she hadn't slipped up, "If there's an opportunity, I will. If there's not, I won't, and then I'll head straight home." Marinette waited for Tikki's reply.

"...And then you'll finally take a break from humans?" she asked.

Marinette nodded, with what she hoped was a reassuring smile, and not a mischievous one.

Tikki sighed. "I'll wait for you."

Marinette hugged her before spinning off. She waved. "I'll see you then!"

"Be extra careful, okay? And not just with the humans…" Tikki called after her.

Marinette appreciated the sentiment, but found it unnecessary. She was always careful.

-o-o-o-

The Violet Papillon was once the pride of Edoire's royal fleet, but she had not left the royal docks of Lunimar for ten years. King Gabriel no longer used the ship, but he refused to let her rot in harbor. Her keel was kept clean of barnacles and her hull received a new coat of paint every few months. Rigging hung from the three masts like massive cobwebs, the sails stored away and forgotten. She was a well maintained corpse, chained to the castle docks.

Adrien had been aboard the royal ship a few times. But it was long ago and the memories of being at sea grew mistier with each passing year. He remembered enjoying it, and he remembered his mother's laughter as they bounced against the waves, but not much else. His mother used to take him out on smaller boats, crafts she piloted all by herself. Adrien wanted to learn how to sail as she did, but he hadn't the courage to ask his father for permission. Not yet, anyway.

Adrien and his father, Gabriel, King of Edoire, stood in the shadow of the Violet Papillon, awaiting the three gaudy galleons of the Regency of Troubadour to make port. Their personal valets Plagg and Nathalie attended them.

The Royal Harbor was reserved for the exclusive use of the Crown of Edoire and their guests. It lay in an imposing, rocky cove secluded from Lunimar's golden beaches. The harbor was surrounded by high cliffs, coated white by the sea birds who nested along the crags. And at the top of the cliff loomed the Black Palace, Adrien's home.

"Why on earth did he bring three?" Gabriel asked with barely concealed irritation.

"Showing off, I suspect," Nathalie replied in her signature monotone. "Regent Bourgeois seems the type to not realize that a fleet of galleons might be seen as an act of aggression, Sire."

"Aren't they heading to Huangxa after stopping here?" Adrien asked. Troubadour and Edoire were allies and Adrien shared a childhood friendship with the Regent's daughter. He and Gabriel recognized the ships for the shameless flaunting of wealth they were, but it was likely to send another message to the people of Huangxa.

"Nathalie, when you have time, would you perhaps inform His Excellency about how his little armada might be interpreted by the Huangxese emperor? Delicately, of course," Gabriel amended. "I'd hate to be called into a war because an ally couldn't read the room."

She bowed her head. "It will be done."

"Thank you, Nathalie."

"You'll have time," Plagg chirped. "No doubt the regent and his daughter will be staying with us longer than the two days arranged."

Nathalie didn't react at all, but Gabriel shut his eyes with understanding.

"Why is that?" As usual, Adrien was the only one who wasn't clued in.

"There's a bad storm coming up from the south. It should pass through here… late tomorrow? The next day? In any case, soon," Plagg said.

"Will Lunimar be all right? What about the other port towns?" The last hurricane passed through Edoire six years ago. Port Lunimar suffered heavy rain, but other Edoirean ports along the coast had been destroyed. Rouge Town finished rebuilding it's lost pier only a few months ago.

"Hard to say, but probably." Plagg shrugged. "Historically, hurricanes only brush up against the bay, but I'm not in charge of the weather. As for the other ports, they ought to have a system in place by now."

"I had Captain Hardrock and the Liberty deploy aid in preparation, on top of the usual collection of goods," Gabriel said. Adrien recognized the name. The Liberty was the ship his friend Nino worked on. In less peaceful times, the Liberty sailed as a privateering vessel, but nowadays the royal family used her primarily for trade and news from across the kingdom. "I fear we won't learn until after the storm which towns received aid in time," he added.

Was Nino going to get caught out on sea in the middle of a hurricane?

"When were they supposed to get back?" Adrien asked his father, alarmed.

"In two days, when the storm will be at it's strongest."

The wooden harbor creaked as the heavy footsteps of a castle guard lumbered up to King Gabriel.

"Your Majesty."

The guard panted, his head covered in sweat. The only land path to the Royal Harbor was through the palace and down the winding, ancient staircase carved out of the cliff. The descent could be daunting at a walk, but the guard looked as if he ran down it.

"Rise," said King Gabriel.

The guard nodded and allowed himself a breath before giving his report, "You asked to be informed immediately when the runners arrived."

"From the south?"

"Yes, Sire."

Gabriel looked to sea. Two of the galleons held back and made anchor in the bay, but the third, the one which surely carried the regent and Chloe, drew near. Adrien could make out the daisy colored uniforms of the Troubadour sailors at this distance.

"I see. Adrien," Gabriel turned to him, "please greet the Regent in my stead. I'll be out when I can."

"Yes, father."

Adrien and Plagg were left on the dock.

"So, uh, Nino's probably going to be okay," Plagg said. Adrien must have made a sour face without realizing it.

"You think?"

"Sure! That dumb boat's been through worse than a little subtropical storm. I'd bet right now he's all safe and sound in Catseye, watching the rain fall."

Adrien was sheltered, but he was worldly enough to know one didn't just sip tea and enjoy the sound of raindrops during a hurricane. Regardless, he appreciated the attempt at comfort.

"Thanks, Plagg."

They stepped out of the way of the dock workers, who with the sailors aboard the regent's galleon helped belay the ship to port as it backed into the cove. They were efficient and the accommodation ladder was lowered in a matter of minutes.

First off the ship tottered the portly Regent Bourgeois. He strolled over to meet with Adrien, a smile on his face.

"Prince Adrien!" He shook his hand. "It's been so long. How have you been, my boy?" If the regent was disappointed to see only Adrien there to greet him, he did not show it. Adrien was grateful.

"Welcome, Regent. I hope you had a nice voyage."

"Oh, yes, most agreeable. Great weather."

"If I may ask, where's Lady Chloe?" Adrien felt compelled to bring up her notable absence.

Regent Bourgeois' jolly countenance turned into a nervous frown. "Ah, well, there was a small incident. She just needed a moment to-"

"Adrikins!"

Adrien reeled in response to his old moniker. He'd hoped it would fade from usage by the time he turned ten, but Chloe was loathe to give it up. Like a show pony, she trotted down the accommodation ladder before leaping to wrap her arms around his neck. "Oh, I've missed you!"

He loosened her grip and stepped back to take a look at her. Her head was lopsided, gauze and bandages taped over her left ear.

"Chloe, are you alright?" Concern made him drop the title from her name. "What happened to your head?"

Her face morphed into the caricature of a pout, "It was awful! Wasn't it awful?" she asked her father, but did not give him time to answer. "I was sitting by the window… taking in the fresh sea air... when a rogue wave hit! I might've fallen out the boat!"

"And you hit your head?" Adrien surmised.

"The force of it ripped my sapphire earring out! They were my favorite pair, too! But Daddy promised me I could do some shopping while I'm here in Lunimar and get three more pairs to make up for it, didn't you, Daddy?"

The regent shrugged and nodded in response. Dealing with Chloe could be an exhausting ordeal when she entered one of her moods. Or so Adrien had been told. Chloe had never given him trouble before, apart from being a tad clingy.

"Well, the important thing is that you're alright," Adrien said, patting her arm.

Chloe beamed. "Oh Adrikins, you're so sweet! We have much to catch up on." She laced her arm in his and led him to the harbor stairs. "Let's have tea!"

Chloe was difficult to argue with. But there were worse ways to pass the time than tea with an old friend.