The ice-breaking ship crashes through the solid, beautiful ice, churning up the water below and the peace of that dark, cold world. The sailors are jovial, boasting of the whales they've seen, while Eric smiles indulgently and takes Ariel's hand as they look over the railing together.

She shivers and misses the thick layer of fat she once had, before she was stripped down to a body just larger than her bones, and she thinks of her seal-tailed sisters bursting up through holes in the ice to slide around laughing at each other, but she has no words and will not seal-bark at the dark ocean so she just shows her teeth in a smile to the prince instead.