"We have not received any stranded people in the Southern Isles, Sir Liam." Hearing the report of the Southern Isles' front pier operator, Liam's jaw tightened slightly.
With a nod of his head, he thanked the man, "Thank you. We'll be taking our leave now." Just as Liam turned around to leave, ready to board the small ship he's been using for the past two weeks.
All of a sudden, the operator stopped him in his tracks, "Wait, Sir Liam."
Turning around with a confused look, the operator smiled and suggested, "If I were you. I'll try looking in Arendelle too." Although his suggestion is appreciated, not exactly a surprising one but still, Liam nodded his head out of respect.
As a matter of fact, he has already considered Arendelle as one of the places to search, but not only is the Kingdom on lockdown, but Arendelle is also the farthest from where the shipwreck happened.
He doubts someone could survive while drifting towards that place.
Aboard the ship, he was met with the expectant gazes of his retinue, but a single shake of his head extinguished that.
"But that's impossible. This is the closest island that the Prince could've drifted to…" One of the knights murmured to himself.
Liam simply gave him a look. He knows that what they're doing is useless because there's no way Henry could've survived alone deep in the water with a heavy wooden pole on his chest.
At this point, what they're actually doing is more of a punishment rather than finding the prince. However, Liam doesn't want to tell them that. If he revealed that what they're doing is pointless, then they'd lose hope, and finding Henry, even with a sliver of chance, would fade away.
"We'll try the other islands. We'll take Arendelle as our last stop." Liam decided and the rest of the retinue and crew nodded their heads in unison.
Everyone aboard this ship loves their crown prince and wouldn't want to see the nasty brothers sit on their throne.
Out of the Princes and Princesses. Only Henry and Lily showed compassion to people like them—in their eyes, Henry is a real down-to-earth kind of person, not a single shred of arrogance that can usually be seen on royal families or nobles.
———
"You want to talk to me, doc?" Knocking on the door and opening it slightly, Henry peeked his head inside, looking at Dr. Dolittle sitting on a chair while caressing a golden necklace with his wrinkled hands.
The doctor raised his head, "Take a seat, Henry."
Henry nodded his head and did as told, confusion still reigning on his face.
There was silence for the first few seconds. Until it was broken by Dr. Dolittle, "I've heard from Polynesia about what you all have been doing this past week. I didn't even know you were both a wizard and a prince." His words made Henry uncomfortably shift in his chair.
'Yeah, he's probably going to ban the magic performances.' Henry was already sure of it.
"Can you do something for me, Henry?" The doctor raised his eyes and stared at Henry's.
When he nodded his head, Dr. Dolittle dropped the bomb, "Do you think you have what it takes to take care of them?"
Henry blinked several times in surprise, even using his pinky to clean his ears, "I'm sorry, what?"
The doctor patiently repeated but this time, with more clarity, "I'm already old, I can no longer keep up with them. I've heard about what you've been doing with them and I'm sure you're capable enough to take care of them." With a deep breath, he continued, "That's why I want you to take them back to your Kingdom."
"Wait. Wait. Let me stop you there, doctor." Henry rubbed his temples, "Please don't tell me you're dying or something."
John Dolittle chuckled as he shook his head in denial, "Are you underestimating me, boy? I'm a doctor, and I know how to take care of my body better than anyone. Besides, even if I was, it has nothing to do with why I want you to take them under you."
"Then what is it?"
"I'm sure Polynesia already told you about my current situation here in Arendelle." Removing his monocle and rubbing his eyes, he continued with a deep sigh, "I'm ready to settle down with Mary."
Henry leaned back on the chair, "The baker lady?" When the doctor nodded, Henry sighed.
Eventually, after a few seconds of thinking, Henry shook his head, "I don't think you'll get what you want, doc. I'm sorry."
Dolittle frowned, "May I ask why?"
"I think you're underestimating their love for you, doc. During the past few days I've been with them, it was always your name that came out of their mouths—praising you, thanking you for taking them in, and sometimes, Too-Too would badmouth you but in a good way." Seeing the melancholic smile on Dolittle's face, Henry instantly knew that the man was not determined in this decision.
So he asked, "If you're truly planning to settle down, let me ask you quite a few things." Leaning forward, he raised one finger, "First, are you a citizen of Arendelle?" And when Dolittle shook his head, he continued.
"Then you're gonna need to be one. From what I know, it costs 50 gold and requires 2 years of residency in the Kingdom to become a citizen. And when you do, that's where the second part comes in, marriage." From the look of surprise on Dolittle's face, Henry could immediately tell that the man did not prepare for this.
"Marriage needs 10 gold coins to be officiated by a priest. Another 20 if you want to have a feast and another 5 to hire a coachman to escort you two." He raised another finger.
"Last but not the least, the Kingdom currently does not have a King and Queen, hence no one would be there to sign the certificate of your marriage. Normally, a city official should be the one to do that but Arendelle is small and only has one capital city inside its territory, so the official of the entire capital and Kingdom is its King." At this point, Dolittle frowned heavily before sighing in defeat.
"I-I didn't expect them to have so many procedures."
Before the problem could plant itself in the doctor's mind, Henry proposed, "If you want. I have a suggestion. Something that can solve all your problems, including our friends." Dolittle gave him an appreciative look for referring to Polynesia and the others as friends instead of animals or pets.
In the doctor's ears, calling them as such sounds offensive. Truly, he's right about Henry.
With a hopeful look on his face, he asked, "And that is?"
Henry allowed a smile to creep into his face, "Simple. As you said earlier, I'm the Crown Prince of Lioncrest Kingdom, one of the Five Great Kingdoms on the continent. With a single word from me and a snap, I could arrange everything you need with Mary."
Dolittle's eyes widened in understanding, "You mean to say?"
Henry continued it for him, "That's right. I want you to come back with me to the Kingdom. Everything you need, a home, a bakery for Mary, citizenship, and even Marriage can be solved by me. Not to mention, you'll still be with the others. There's no need for such goodbyes when it can easily be solved." With a confident smile, he asked for the second time, "So what do you think. Do you agree?"
What else is there to be hesitant about? Everything that Henry just said sounds too enticing to be true. However, there's no denying it, Polynesia already told him who the boy in front of him is.
He might not be knowledgeable when it comes to continental affairs but Polyenesia would never lie to him, the parrot herself is even capable of reading people's faces.
"What else is there for me to refuse?" Dolittle chuckled softly, "I just need to ask Mary. I'm not sure if she's ready to separate from this place. It's going to be hard considering the bakery is the last thing that she inherited from her father."
Henry's lips thinned, 'Yeah, good luck convincing her about that.' Nevertheless, his help was appreciated and once Mary agrees, Henry will find a way to get back home with them.
Either wait for the merchant ship that is set to come 6 months later or find another way.
Just then, Dr. Dolittle leaned back to his chair, his posture relaxing as if a huge burden was just lifted off his shoulders, and he spoke with a hint of gratitude, "You have no idea how much I've been worried about breaking it down to them. You just saved my arse, Henry."
Henry chuckled and casually waved his hand, "Don't mention it. After all, you helped me when Kristoff brought me here. You didn't even bother to ask for payment immediately and instead, gave me as much time as I wanted." And then the final bail to a coffin, he continued, "Besides, you're my friend. And this is what friends do, right?"
"…Friends," Dolittle repeated the word with his tongue, as if the word itself was something foreign to him. He never had human friends, the only friends he had were animals and that's the very same reason for his lack of human friends.
They chatted for a little while, with Henry introducing more about himself.
By the time the afternoon arrived, the doctor felt his eyelids getting heavy. Even though night hasn't arrived yet, the man's old and frail body needs more sleep than before.
So Henry left him alone while informing Polynesia about it. He hasn't told anyone about what they talked about yet. Henry felt like it should be Dolittle who reveals it himself.
"Quick! Quick! Tell me about your adventure! I heard you fought a bear with your bare hands!" Jip the dog, as energetic as ever, eagerly asked for storytelling.
Having enough time before the sun goes down, Henry found a chair to sit on, narrating the events of how he met Anna, discovered Elsa's situation—to which he made them promise that they won't tell anyone, though he doubted it. And then finally, the rest of the adventure starts from leaving the castle to meeting the rock trolls.
He also hid the fact that he was gifted with a blessing of being able to tell if someone is lying but there's no need for them to know about that for now.
By the time night arrived, Henry went out to buy some gifts. It's been a while since he last met Ariel and he hopes that a gift would compensate for the nights they didn't spend chatting.
As he arrived at the beach, someone was already there. It was Ariel, instead of hiding behind a huge boulder on the sea, she's now boldly floating near the shore.
Thankfully, that confidence came from the fact that there are no people around the beach at this point in time.
As soon as their eyes met, Ariel's widened in surprise and she immediately started to wave her hand, calling out to him as if her figure being so out in the open was hard to spot, "Henry! Henry over here!"
Henry jogged towards her, gesturing for her to keep her voice down, "We don't want to attract unnecessary attention now, do we?"
However, instead of replying to him, Ariel pouted and crossed her arms, "What took you so long! I-I've been waiting for you here every night!"
"But didn't Too-Too deliver you a letter? I swear, if he didn't I'll pluck his feathers one by one!" Imagining the smug expression of the owl for getting one over him, made Henry grit his teeth.
Fortunately for the bird, Ariel disagreed with Henry, "No. The weird scuttle-looking bird actually sent me your letter two days ago." Henry didn't bother to ask about the nickname she gave for Too-Too and instead, he asked.
"So you do know that I'll be gone for around two to three days, right? It was written in the letter." When she reluctantly nodded, Henry then confusedly asked, "Then what're you mad at me about? Surely, you didn't visit here every night after reading the letter, right?"
Soon enough, Ariel's cheeks turned beet red as she looked anywhere but Henry, all while murmuring with a pout, "W-Well, I can't help it. I just can't stay asleep without having to talk to you…"
Her words made Henry exasperated as he berated her in his mind, 'Then why in god's name are you mad at me about? It's clearly your fault!'
Of course, he didn't dare to say it in front of her face. If those words accidentally made her cry and go back to her father's arms—Henry can't imagine what it takes to face the King of the Sea's wrath.
Just thinking about it is enough to make him shiver.
"Alright. I'm sorry. So what's going on with yours these past two days? Found some more sunken ships to loot?" Henry gave her a teasing smile, hoping to shift the topic to a more lukewarm one.
Ariel shook her head and casually dropped a bomb, "Nothing much. Father discovered about us and now he's eager to meet you…"
Henry instantly froze, stammering slightly after he recovered, "M-Mind describing how eager he is?"