Word of Momo’s adventure in rescuing the prince spread from one mermaid and merman to another until the story was well known throughout Marbella. The story finally reached the ears of two undines who remembered having seen the party aboard the prince’s ship. They not only knew who the prince was but also where he lived.
The prince lived in a beautiful palace near the edge of the sea, in a land called Beauteous Kingdom.
One of the undines, named Cachina, was a friend of Momo’s oldest sister N’Shal. Cachina agreed to guide Momo as far as the steps that lead from the palace down to the water’s edge.
Oh, what a beautiful palace it was! Carved of marble and granite, the palace was several stories tall with high towers topped by cupolas (that’s what they called the dome-shaped structures on the tops of the towers.) Manmade waterfalls emptied into elaborately carved fountains adorned with statues and carvings inspired by nature.
Through the windows, Momo could see cloth more beautiful than she’d ever seen people wear. Of course, Momo had never seen more than simple curtains (on the prince’s ship) before, so she didn’t know what tapestry was.
To one side of the palace there was a man-made wetland which was home to little egrets, various species of frogs, and other wetland creatures. Momo often swam up to the wetland to listen to the music of the frogs and water birds. She was later to learn that the wetland served a purpose other than to provide a beautiful sight and melodic sounds. Water purification plants were unknown in those days, and the wetland served to purify the palace’s waste water before it reached the sea. Momo observed the palace by moonlight and watched it until the lights within the palace were extinguished for the night. She sometimes saw people come and go in the rooms, but she couldn’t tell if one of them was Prince—oh, what was his name again? Of course, she thought: Prince Arturo.
Momo discovered a canal that passed beneath Prince Arturo’s balcony. At times, when no one was around, Momo would sit on the steps near his balcony and imagine that she was human and that she was his princess. This was risky, as she was almost caught a few times.
Other times, when Arturo came out to his balcony to peer into the nighttime surroundings, Momo settled just beneath his balcony and watched him for the longest time. As he was in a semi-lighted spot and Momo was in the shadows, Prince Arturo was unable to see her.
This worked well for Momo until, one night, Prince Arturo had to relieve himself and—well, let’s just say that indoor plumbing was unknown in those days. From that time on, Momo decided to situate herself a little upstream from the Prince’s balcony when she wanted to observe him.
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