Chapter 16: Amelia Forms a Plan to See Emily

 
   Amelia's grandmother Glynis becomes concerned about Amelia's frequent visits to the palace and her spying on Prince Arthur.  Amelia answers that, among humans, this kind of behavior is considered romantic.  She gives the writings of Edgar Allan Poe as an example of this phenomenon, believing Poe to be a writer of romantic literature.
     Her grandmother suggests that the raven's cryptic remark, "Nevermore," is advice on Poe's literary career.  She further reminds humans that humans live in houses made of dead things and that they like to surround themselves with other dead things.  In the sea, she says, they're surrounded by life.
   
 During a royal party, Amelia sneaks away to the house of the Sea Hag and asks for a means of developing legs and living like a human on land.  When the Sea Hag asks for her voice as the price for what she wants, Amelia thinks for a moment and refuses.
     After Amelia leaves the house of the Sea Hag, the old mermaid recalls a time when she was young and happy and known by the name Aleita.  Her husband had been the royal doctor and they both had enjoyed the friendship and respect of mermaids all around.  In fact, she and Grandmother Glynis were the closest of friends. Then Aleita's husband was captured in a fishing trawler's net, and she never saw him again. Her life deteriorated to the point that she had to leave and live to herself.  She became the Sea Hag.

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