Ah, but while the prince had not seen her...
Another human had. How could he not have...? She had been jumping and singing and drawing a lot of attention to herself. Unluckily for the princess... This had been just the wrong human for her to be seen by, for he would know what she was, and more specifically... who she was. This man's name was Damian McFinn, and he knew a lot about the sea, and that was partly why he was such a great fisherman.
Once, he'd been poor as dust, hungry, and barely catching enough fish to survive like a beggar. Bandits would rob him daily for half his catch, beat him for not catching enough, and induce debts on his head, like bullies. He had no wife, no kids, so he hurt none but himself... but he could not understand it: he was doing everything right! Why should he have to suffer?
The answer was simple: Merfolk liked their fishie friends, and did not want ugly, smelly humans killing them. They would herd the fish, they would make them avoid his nets, and he only caught them by chance, like a hungry spider in an austere room. When he learned this, from a voice he could not identify back in those angry days, he vowed revenge. Before, he'd released merfolk who he had caught... it only happened once or twice in his whole career. this was ten or so years ago, when he was in his twenties. He killed them. He went out of his way to chase them down and slay them. Naturally... the merfolk were not happy with this. They called a great storm down upon him, on his little ship, and forced all others to port. They singled him out when he was in the middle of the bay, and drove his ship to a sand bar when he was most vulnerable: putting down the sail.
He went overboard, and was at the mercy of the merfolk... but he had a guardian angel of sorts on that night, when all would turn against him. The captain smiled in remeniscience of that... She was so like an angel... absolutely beautiful... she destroyed them before his eyes, she sent those selfish creatures screaming to hell, stayed the storm, saved his life. She was a mermaid... yes... but she was one unlike the others. She was massive, her human torso bound inside the body of a great monster, a leviathan dragoness. She was so alien to his eyes... so terrifying, but she was beatiful despite all that, in a way no human girl could ever be. She was brilliant, funny, adorably ambitious... everything he'd been searching for, AND she had been watching him, and loved him. She even had a big vendetta against the merfolk, who had cast her out and made her change like this into what she was. A monster. Merfolk were such cruel creatures... to them both.
The two became lovers. She would keep the merfolk at bay, teach him how things worked under the sea... how to catch enough to flourish, yet let the creatures of the sea prosper as well. He was no longer a poor fisherman. Soon, he was making enough to hire a crew, get a decent ship and equipment, and get lessons in the arts of the captain (fencing, footwork, magic, the like) and learned everything he could from anyone who would teach him. He was patient and persistant, and for that, in ten years of love with his beloved lady... he became a gentleman, even took notice of the king, who gave him free reign of that whole bay, as long as the king could use it freely as well. He was merciless in driving out the other fishermen, who did not care for the sea, using cannon, sword, spell, and diplomacy to drive them out of the water. With the help of his maiden, he could do anything.
He lowered the lookingglass from his eyes, and barked several commands to his men. Tehy were bewildered, but they knew him... it was a secret to the whole world but his loyal crew: they were hardened ex-pirates the king had spared to serve him, and the captain had taken them in, made them prosperous, cared about them. He was good to them, so they owed him their lives. They were absolutely loyal, and loved him.
"We're heading back to the Cove! Look lively, men!" he said, pulling out his already-filled pipe and lighting it, taking a few puffs at it, shooting the mermaiden a glance once more.
---
"--And thats the situation, my love..." Mcfinn finished, the human upper body of his beloved mermaiden nestled tight in his arms. She, even fresh from the sea, smelled in such a way that he found soothing... she smelled like the sea, and he loved the sea. She was warm and moist, and stroked him gently, her lovely violet eyes staring right into his own. She had bioluminescient skin, and glowed softly in the dark of the cavern in which they were, two massive limbs holding her up on either side of him, each about half the size of his ship, dwarfing them both. She was a magnificent creature indeed, her thick scales glistening like a dark pearl.
"She'll be back... She'll come back to see that prince again, my love..." she said, her voice vibrating unnaturally, yet soothingly in such a way he found very lovely. "Once they see the sky, they always do. When she does... when you see her love the prince... catch her. I will help you. Tell her that there is a way she can be with her prince... that there is..."
"Heh... a witch.. who can give her legs, make her able to walk beside her prince... right?" he said, wrapping his palm about her cheek, avoiding the frillspines she had that would numb his hand for a few hours if he pricked himself on them. She smiled sweetly and nodded.
"But why help them, my love..." he said, curiusly... "I thought you despised them..." he said, concerned. She smiled. "Exactly. I want revenge... if I help the princess... and take her from that bastard king... nothing would please me more than to watch him lose his own daughter to something she herself agreed to... And the king of your world... well, he'll be more than happy to have his son fall in love with a merfolk princess..." she suggested, grinning.
Thats why he loved her as much as he did... in addition to being kind and warm, she was brilliant, and could come up with a complicated scheme at the drop of a hat. She was wonderful...
And so the captain bid his farewell, and set sail again.. ready to do his thing.