‘So as you see, in my household you would never lack anything, and of course there would be no need for this running around and riding, and even-’ the latest of Susan’s suitors, this one a minor prince more odious than most, shudders as he says: ‘fighting’, and throws her what he must assume is a charming smile.
Susan dredges up every last bit of willpower she has left and opens her mouth, intending for a polite but firm rejection, when suddenly a lightning fast projectile shoots out of the sea and hits the prince straight between the eyes, and knocks him out cold.
Before Susan can do more than kneel at his side, finding a strange looking disc-like object about the size of the palm of her hand lying in the sand, the waters part again and this time a determined looking mermaid appears.
The mermaid’s eyes furtively search the beach until they land on Susan and her companion, and then they visibly widen: ‘your majesty!’ she exclaims ‘I am sorry, I didn’t see you there, I don’t suppose you saw..-’ ‘This?’ Susan interrupts, holding up the disc.
She throws the object to the mermaid, who eagerly grasps onto it and immediately dives back down, and moves forward to peer into the water, just about managing to catch the mermaid whack the disc through the water with her tail and race after it.
Susan stares after her, startled and amazed, and when she eventually steps back to try to rouse her suitor she is already thinking about what she’s going to tell her sibling, and whether it might be possible to observe this strange activity again.