Assana's heart stuttered in her chest. Of all the people she could have met!

The sailor - prince! - bowed politely to her, holding her trembling hand in his. "Milady, it is a pleasure to meet you."

Assana just barely managed to curtsy back. The prince's eyes focused on her, curious, but not unkind. He was probably wondering why she was acting like she was addled.

"And this is his good friend, Mr. Mahkai Arevalo. He is the son of Ersta's commanding general, and apparently attached to his prince's hip." Veronica continued.

The darker-haired man also bowed over Assana's hand. "My, my, a girl who cannot talk! I didn't think such a thing could possibly exist!"

The prince rolled his eyes as Veronica swatted Mahkai with her fan. Assana could feel a bit of her shock being chipped away. She swallowed drily and smirked at him.

"And this coming from you!" the prince cried. "You, who talks enough for four women!"

"I just have a lot of information I think everyone should know."

"Yes, but you never stop and consider if everyone wants your information."

Their bickering was so similar to how Assana's sisters conversed with each other that she felt a sudden, intense stab of homesickness. She'd never been the one to engage in such banter for very long - no longer than it took to complete her hair for a party - but she hadn't realized how accustomed she was to hearing it going on around her until that moment.

"The two of you are thoroughly ridiculous," Veronica declared, lowering herself back into her chair. Not sure what else to do, Assana followed suit. "Not to mention incredibly ungentlemanly."

Prince Riagen bowed low. "My apologies, ladies. We ought to discuss more polite topics. The weather, perhaps?"

Even Veronica laughed at that. Apparently their interactions had long ago surpassed mundane parlor conversation.

"I must say," Mahkai said, turning his brown eyes on Assana, "and you must hear it constantly, but I've never seen anyone with hair quite as red as yours. Orange, yes, but never red."

Assana blushed under the scrutiny and gave him a small smile.

"Orange?" Veronica asked.

"Yes," Mahkai answered. "There's a guard here who has hair that's bright orange. Not nearly as pretty as red, or, nearly-red, as it were. For it's got some brown in there, as well."

Assana felt herself blushing harder.

"And you can't write your name for us?" the prince asked gently.

Assana shook her head as Veronica explained that whatever written language Assana used, it was not one she recognized.

"But I plan to teach her," Veronica announced, almost proudly. "And I promise to be the best governess there ever was."

"I'm sure you will be," Mahkai said, and the way he gazed at Veronica made both Assana and the prince look away. Unfortunately, they ended up looking at each other, which started Assana's blush all over again. He was so handsome, and she was so desperate to ask him a hundred questions. How could it be that her sailor was actually the crown prince of an entire kingdom?

Prince Riagen cleared his throat, causing Mahkai and Veronica to quickly look down. "Well, until then, do you still want us to call you 'lass'? Doesn't seem like much of a name to me."

"We tried out a few earlier today," Veronica said, smiling at Assana, "but none of them were very good. Willow."

Assana wrinkled her face again as the boys laughed. "How about...Mia?" Mahkai asked.

"Avery?" Veronica offered.

"Suzette."

"Hailey."

"Aria," the prince said.

The whisper of his voice sent shivers down her spine. Her mouth went bone dry again as she nodded.

"Ooooh," Veronica breathed. "That's very pretty. Aria it is, then, until we learn otherwise."

"Or perhaps forever," Mahkai added. "Her real name could be quite ugly and she'll want to trade it in."

The prince had not pulled his gaze away from Assana, and she had not moved, either. She was remembering that hour she'd spent on the beach beside him, studying every angle of his face and features. The corners of his eyes crinkled ever so slightly, and he pursed his perfect lips, as if thinking intently. Assana's mouth went dry.

Did he recognize her? Surely not.

There was a burst of laughter to their left, and the spell was broken. The prince shook his head and blinked, as if clearing his vision, and turned to his friend to ask what the joke was. The spell was broken.

Later that night, the boys escorted the girls to the corridor where Veronica's room - and now Assana's - was located. Makhai gave a very elaborate bow as he bid them a good night, and Assana noticed once again how his eyes lingered almost despairingly on her companion. As the girls entered their rooms, Assana nudged Veronica and gave her a very significant once-over.

"Oh," Veronica stammered, "hush, you."

Assana would not relent. She may have not been very involved with her sisters' lives, but she had still been a sister, and she knew when a girl was hiding secrets, especially about a boy. Veronica, despite having no experience with sisters, was nevertheless persistant.

"We have only just met," she said, shaking her long hair free of the last of its pins, "and just because you can't talk doesn't mean I get to drop all my problems onto you. One day, maybe, but not today. Let's end the day happy."

Assana wondered what on earth could be so upsetting about a handsome boy flirting with you, but having no such experience herself, decided to let the matter drop. She looked around, fingering the embroidered hem of the sleeve of her nightgown.

Veronica turned down the covers of her plush bed before facing Assana. "Well, um, the queen suggested...it's what she used to do with her own sisters sometimes, and...but I have no siblings, and I don't know if you do, and if you don't want to..."

Assana couldn't help the wide grin that spread across her face. How often had she spent the long nights alone, listening to Marilla and Nanamei giggling together for hours on end? She hopped into the bed and patted the space next to her.

Veronica smiled too, although she seemed a bit shy. She blew out the lamp, plunging the room into darkness, and crawled into bed. Assana pulled the deliciously thick blankets up to her chin, sighing in perfect contentment. She listened to the soft sounds of Veronica settling next to her, feeling the warmth of her body gradually radiating out across the mattress.

"He is ever so handsome, isnt' he?" Veronica whispered into the dark. "Who would have thought that such a beautiful boy would ever look that way at me?"

Cordelia was exhausted. For weeks now, she had been acting in place of her father, albeit unofficially. Her father was rarely seen and even less likely to speak to anyone, let alone continue the running of a kingdom. The council could have made decisions without him, but by the stars, Cordelia had trained for this her entire life, and there was no way she was going to sit back and let the rest of her life fall to pieces.

Unfortunately, the council were less enthusiastic about her "interference" in their work. Cordelia had never before felt anything more than indifference from them, and while that was bad enough considering she was the heir to her father's throne, the attitude that now rolled off them in waves bordered mutiny.

Cordelia groaned and buried her face in her arms. She was in the now-empty meeting hall, and it had been quite a while since the council had filed out after a disastrous meeting. No one seemed to agree with her; Cordelia was willing to bet they disagreed simply to avoid having voiced the same opinion as her. She wanted to discuss recent reports from the townsfolk about more deep-sea creatures approaching the city limits, but the council insisted people were just being paranoid. She was concerned about upcoming yearly tide changes and cooling water temperatures, and what they would do for food and supplies, while everyone else insisted it was far too early to be thinking about such things. Cordelia shuddered to think what those stodgy old mermen would say if she even breathed a word of her terror over her sister, Assana.

This, however, would have been less of an issue if her sister didn't seem to take on the exact same approach. None of the girls wanted to speak of Assana. Most believed she had run away, since, as Darya put it, "There's nothing to say something happened to her, other than the fact that she never belonged here in the first place." Nanamei changed the subject abruptly every time her closest sister came up, and staunchly refused to speak of her, though from which emotion that stemmed, Cordelia could only guess. Marilla simply cried constantly whenever their baby sister was mentioned, or anything else came up that would remind Marilla of her. She was too emotional, even after so much time, to be of any use in finding any degree of information.

Cordelia had never felt so alone in her entire life.

She didn't know how long she'd been there, too tired and emotionally numb to even consider going to her room or anywhere more private, when she heard the gentle swish of kelp through water. Cordelia jerked her head up, eyes darting to the curtain separating the room from the hall.

Travis Chapman, the only son of a council member, hovered in the entryway. Cordelia relaxed, but only slightly; Travis had been a quiet, but constant presence at her side for weeks now, ever since the horrible, awful moment where Poseidon denounced his youngest daughter.

Maybe she wasn't that alone, after all.

"Your Highness," he said, bowing formally. He was all that was proper, but his eyes never left her face. "Might I be of service?"

"No, Mr. Chapman," Cordelia answered, scrubbing her hands over her hot, itchy eyes. "I'm fine, I promise."

"It's Travis, please, Princess," he insisted for what was probably the thousandth time. "Mr. Chapman, as you know, is my father."

Cordelia did her best to smile at him. Though it was characteristic of nearly all her interactions with the people around her, it felt very strange to refer to him so casually while he called her by her title. More importantly, she felt he earned the honorific far more than his father ever had.

"Are you sure there's nothing I can do for you?" Travis said again, quieter this time.

Cordelia swallowed past a lump in her throat. She didn't want to ruin the nicest conversation she'd had in days by complaining.

"Yes, I'm sure," she said, rising and moving towards him. "Is there something I can do for you? Did you need me?"

He fidgeted with his hands, the movement becoming more pronounced the closer she came. For some reason, it made Cordelia feel lighter and nearly giddy with some unknown but not unwelcome emotion.

Before he could answer,a guard burst in, nearly knocking Travis over in his haste. "Princess Cordelia! Have you seen the king?"

The guard's face was wild with panic, and his chest heaved from his efforts. It was so unlike the usual stoic expression seen on all the guards that Cordelia could barely comprehend what he'd asked of her.

"My father?" she rasped. Her mouth was suddenly dry.

The guard's eyes scanned the room, then refocused on her. He hesitated for only a second before changing course.

"Your Highness. The city is under attack."

Cordelia's chest tightened. She swallowed once, twice, three times before speaking in an even softer voice than before, "Who...?" She couldn't even finish her sentence.

Distantly, she felt Travis' hand brush against hers.

The guard knew what she meant. "Different creatures from the deep, Your Highness. Giant jellyfish, squid, angler fish, and others. They are attacking people in their homes without provocation. I have never seen so many in one place before, and never up this high from the depths at that. We don't know where they came from, or if there is someone or something leading them, and they are still coming, in droves."

Attacking people in their homes, without provocation.

Cordelia snapped into action, "Get as many merfolk as you can into the palace. Close all ports of entry except the west gate and keep the citizens coming in from that direction. Send someone else to find my father and take me directly to the captain of the guard. I assume he's at the reef?"

The guard did as she bid without hesitation or a hint of fear. He barked orders at every guard he passed while leading Cordelia at a breakneck speed through the palace. Travis followed close behind.

The reef was the highest point of the palace, where a guard was always stationed to oversea the city and all points of entry. What might have otherwise been a rather obvious target of attack was cleverly disguised beneath a huge coral reef that stretched across the entire roof of the palace.

The captain of the guard was indeed stationed in the small space, a small, glowing trident in his hand. He didn't bat an eye at Cordelia's appearance. At least some people in this place respected her position.

"Your Highness," he said.

"Forgo the formalities, captain," Cordelia answered curtly. "We are having all the citizens come to the palace. What's happening?"

Suspended above the captain's trident was a bubble that showed an image of one of the main streets of the city. Cordelia watched, horrified, as a hammerhead shark destroyed a small home and charged inside. No sound was transmitted through the image, something Cordelia was grateful for, as small clouds of murky water began rising through the cracks of the structure.

"My men have just entered the city," the captain said. "At least half a dozen peace treatises have been violated by just the appearance of some of these attackers, and so they have been instructed to do whatever necessary to fend off these predators, but they are not fully trained to combat some of these monsters. We never expect to see them anywhere near Alantia."

Cordelia knew what he was not saying. They would need the power of her father's trident to truly defend their position with minimal loss of life. Unfortunately, it was unlikely that her father would be in the right frame of mind to act appropriately to the situation, and the trident could only be wielded by the sitting monarch. Even if Cordelia could get it, it would be little more than an elaborate fork in her hands.

"Surely, we have stores of ammunition we can use against at least some of these enemies." Travis spoke up.

The captain shook his head. "Alantia has seen peace for too long. Our supplies of magical ammunition were destroyed over a decade ago."

What a foolish, naive thing to do, Cordelia thought before she could stop herself. That was her father she was referring to.

"How well can we fortify the palace?" she asked instead. "How many folk can we support, and for how long?"

"It will be tight, but based on what I can see, the...survivors will all fit inside the palace. Our only issue will be food. We cannot support that many folk for long. A month, perhaps six weeks at the most."

A blinding burst of light trapped Cordelia's next question in her throat. The biggest jellyfish she had ever seen was curling its tentacles around a storefront. Its longest arm was linked with another of its kind, which was also entangled with a shop further down the way. Together they blasted the shops full of electricity, creating a light show unlike anything underwater had ever seen. When the spots disappeared from her eyes, Cordelia saw that the shops were slowly crumbling.

She squeezed her eyes shut at the first sight of a floating blue fin. A small, child-sized fin.

"I have to help," she whispered, eyes still closed. "I have to do something. Captain, tell me what I can do."

"Your Highness…" he trailed off.

"Wait," Cordelia interrupted. She whirled and faced Travis. "Will you come with me to the west gate?"

"Of course."

"Captain, wait here for word of my father. I give you full permission to act in any way you see fit to save as many lives as possible, for whatever it's worth. We have to get as many merfolk into the palace as possible. We'll figure out what to do after the chaos has died down. Perhaps they'll all leave, and everyone will be free to go home tomorrow."

It was wishful thinking, though perhaps not entirely out of the realm of possibility. After all, the attack was entirely unexpected.

Cordelia left the reef before the captain had lifted himself from his bow. She flew to her room and retrieved her own small trident - a thing she hardly ever used, but was traditionally granted to the heir for "practice" - and almost before she knew what she was about, they were at the west gate, helping a quartet of guards usher merfolk inside.

Travis quickly proved himself invaluable by directing everyone to the large ballroom, stationing maids along the way to prevent anyone from getting lost. He found several large male servants to stand guard at the entryways and windows. Though they didn't have the training of palace guards, their presence was at least an effort at making them feel safe.

Cordelia was hoping her own presence was doing the same. She wanted the citizens of her city to see her and know that their rulers were taking charge, and would take care of everything. She had no idea if it was working, though; the merfolk who passed by all had the same distant, panicked expressions of shock and disbelief on their faces. Some called out to loved ones whom they'd lost in the crowd, while others clutched seemingly random possessions as if their lives depended on it.

A scream pierced her ears. A massive angler fish was bearing down on the gate. The merfolk rushing to safety began to move even faster, pushing and shoving in their haste to get away. Cordelia rose above the tide of refugees, clutching her small trident to her chest. It was a plaything compared to her father's, but it was all she had, and by the stars, she wasn't going down without a fight.

Cordelia pointed the trident at the angler fish and began to murmur the incantation; she wasn't nearly powerful enough to perform unspoken magic. The trident began to glow in her hand, growing brighter as the cadence of her chant increased. She felt the magic vibrating through the handle and all the way up into her shoulder, but she refused to let her aim waver. The angler fish seemed to smirk at her as he continued to advance.

Cordelia shouted the final word of the incantation, and a blast of magic burst from the tips of her trident. It struck the angler fish square between his eyes. The rebound shot the trident's points into the air and sent Cordelia spinning. Travis grabbed her arm.

"What happened? Are you all right?" he demanded.

Cordelia didn't answer. She shook the dizziness from her eyes and scoured the area for the angler.

He'd been shot back a significant distance, and was now eyeing the gate warily. Cordelia bit back a groan of disappointment. She'd been trying to disintegrate him.

"Your Highness!"

"I'm fine, Travis," she finally answered.

"You don't look fine."

Cordelia met his eyes, confused. Travis pointed at her right hand, still clutching the trident. A blistering red burn graced her palm, though she still didn't feel any pain.

"I'm fine," she insisted, and moved back toward the gate. Cordelia could feel his eyes on her, but she refused to acknowledge it, or how it made her stomach flutter.

The angler was still hovering where he'd landed within sight of the gate, prowling the edges of Cordelia's reach. The trident in her hand buzzed suddenly, sending an ache up her arm. Cordelia gave a flick of her wrist, and a voice burst forth from the weapon.

"Your Highness!" It was the captain of the guard. He'd no doubt seen what she'd done from the reef, and was now reaching out, probably in the hopes that she'd located her father. "Can you summon another blast?"

"Another -" she didn't get to finish.

"There's a great white approaching from your left, Princess!"

Travis uttered a curse. Cordelia and the guards whipped their heads around to look.

Above them, his signature white belly difficult to see in the lighter waters, was the shark. He was heading straight to where the angler fish was apparently waiting for him.

Since when have great white sharks and angler fish worked together?

Cordelia shifted the trident to her uninjured hand, wracking her brain for another, stronger incantation. She cursed her father for refusing to teach her more than was absolutely necessary, and herself for not practicing what little she did know. The guards began barking orders to the few remaining merfolk still making for the palace. They lifted their weapons higher, pretending not to notice how the tips trembled in their shaking hands.

Cordelia pointed her trident again, breathing hard, chanting as fast as her numb lips would allow. Her body flashed hot, then cold, then hot again as she struggled to control the magic she was summoning. With a final shriek, she sent her blast.

It missed.

At the very last second, the shark had turned, and the blast only grazed his fin. Cordelia let out a cry of pain and rage as her other hand was burned. She would have been sent spiraling away again if Travis hadn't been hovering directly behind her, acting as a brace. As it was, they both stumbled back a few feet.

"We have to get them inside," Cordelia panted; a handful of merfolk were still racing to the gate. They'd caught the eye of the shark. He brushed off Cordelia's attack and made his way towards them.

The gate guards let out a war cry and surged forward, but Cordelia didn't think they would make it in time.

The angler fish, bolstered by the shark's attack, rushed forward as well, gnashing his teeth in anticipation. Cordelia's stomach turned as she watched the shark snap his jaws at the nearest merman, catching the edge of his fin. The man's wife screamed.

A shot of golden light struck the shark's dorsal fin, and before Cordelia could blink, the predator had evaporated into thin water. Poseidon appeared from behind her, his trident still glowing as he prepared another blast.

Thank the stars!

Her joy was quickly squashed, though, when she heard more screams. The merman whose tail had been in the shark's mouth was still writhing in agony, while his wife was in hysterics beside him. Cordelia saw the glow from her father's magic lingering on the man's tail - or more accurately, what used to be his tail.

He was disintegrating, too.

"Father!" she shrieked, but there was no use. Poseidon was already charging at the angler fish, another blast shooting from his trident. Cordelia picked up her own weapon and made for the distraught merman, even though she knew she couldn't possibly make it there in time, let alone do anything to help.

The merman faded away just as Cordelia reached his side. His wife let out a wail that rattled Cordelia's very bones. She swallowed against the bile rising in her throat as she watched the mermaid's entire world dissolve around them.

"Come," Cordelia said quietly, holding out her burned hand to the widow. "We must get to safety."

The mermaid stared dumbly at her, but made no protest as one of the guards pulled her away. Cordelia stared after her father as he swam off towards the city without a second glance.

Travis turned to her. "Back to the reef?" She nodded, her throat tight. She couldn't believe what her father had done.

Back in the reef, the captain looked nearly as frantic as she felt. "Your Highness. One of my scouts has spotted a chariot heading towards the city. It's my belief that the coordinator of this attack is in that chariot."

"My father?" Cordelia asked, unable to breathe for her umpteenth dash across the palace.

"He's not answering," the captain lifted his trident to indicate his many efforts to contact the king. "But, he is in the city, taking action."

Biting her lip, Cordelia peered out over the city. Her father was easily tracked through the city by the swaths of glowing destruction he left in his wake. Fortunately, most of the merfolk seemed to have made it to the palace, but their houses - and their dead - were not spared. The city looked as though a massive child was knocking over block towers.

"How far away is the chariot?" Travis asked. "Can we see who is inside?"

The captain held up his trident. Inside the vision bubble, a chariot pulled by a pair of black-tip sharks was rapidly approaching. He angled the trident to get a better view of the driver.

It was Estavilde the sea witch.

"What can she possibly want with us?" Cordelia whispered. The captain and Travis shook their heads, eyes fixed on the image before them. She was soon visible to the naked eye, and the witch wasted no time in barreling towards Poseidon.

The king fired a shot at her sharks, unfortunately only hitting one of them. The chariot tilted off course, but Estavilde merely drifted free of the box and floated leisurely down to the floor before Poseidon.

"Your Majesty," the witch said in a mocking tone. Her voice was unnaturally loud, purposely of course, to ensure that everyone watching could listen in on the show.

"Call them off!" Poseidon shouted. His voice sounded foreign to Cordelia's ears.

"I think not," Estavilde said smoothly, admiring her nails.

Poseidon raised his glowing trident. "Call. Them. Off!"

"Temper, temper," she scolded, still avoiding the king's gaze. "We'll never get anywhere with that, now will we?"

"I have nothing to say to you!"

Estavilde shrugged. "Then I guess the rumors really are true. You don't care about your youngest daughter."

Cordelia's blood turned to ice in her veins. She strained against the railing of the reef, desperate to rush to her father's side in order to restrain him, to soothe his temper, to convince Estavilde to tell her everything. Even from this great distance, Cordelia could see every muscle in her father's body tense at the mention of Assana.

"She has abandoned us," Poseidon ground out. "I will have nothing to do with her. You will leave the city immediately."

"She has gone to the surface, that's true," Estavilde continued as if the king hadn't spoken. "But I can get her back. A very simple spell, really. Or, you can leave her to the surface. I care not. I simply thought you might want something in return from me. Surrender your city and your throne peacefully, and I will summon your daughter. Resist, and I will take your power by force and your daughter will be forever lost to you."

Poseidon's response was to destroy Estavilde's remaining shark. Cordelia's stomach flipped over and she clenched her fists so hard her knuckles popped. Her youngest sister, lost, as well as the city and her home. How could her father be so stubborn and foolish?

"Very well," Estavilde sighed, and raised her hands. Her creatures converged on Poseidon.

"You will never take this city!" Poseidon roared, thrusting his trident at the witch.

Giant jellyfish, sharks of all breeds, angler fish, piranhas, and some predators Cordelia had never seen before all converged on the king, teeth flashing and tails snapping. Poseidon let off blast after blast from the tips of his trident, not caring about the buildings and bodies that got caught in his wake. The animals pushed closer and closer to Poseidon, trying to corner him against debris or each other's bodies.

"Your Highness," Travis said. Cordelia startled at the sound of his voice, having been so engrossed in the events unfolding in the city square. "We should go."

"Go?"

"Yes. To the next town," he said quietly, soothingly, almost as if he were afraid she'd run like a skittish seahorse.

"To the next town?" Cordelia seemed only capable of repeating everything he said, as her mind refused to understand what he was really trying to tell her.

The captain nodded his assent. "Yes, good idea, sir. We ought to retreat to -"

"Retreat? No, no, my father -" Cordelia flung a hand back towards the city, then froze. She could no longer see Poseidon's face. "Father?"

He was surrounded now, buried beneath an ocean of fins and tentacles and teeth. Cordelia caught sight of a flashing trident tip, but nothing else. Estavilde hovered over the scene, her own tentacles flaring and undulating eagerly beneath her. A lump rose in Cordelia's throat as she waited, tail quivering, watching for a flash of Poseidon's magic.

"Your Highness," Travis repeated, touching her arm.

Those giant jellyfish moved faster than she'd ever seen one move before, navigating to the front of the group and winding their tentacles around the king's limbs. Before Cordelia could even blink, thousands of volts of electricity were coursing through her father's body.

"Daddy!"

A nimble, slithering eel darted between the bigger, slower sharks and nipped right up to the king's side. With a quick flick of his tail, he plucked the trident from limp fingers and brought it to the sea witch.

Screaming reached Cordelia's ears, but it wasn't her. No, her own throat was too tight, strangling, cutting off all air to her brain and body. A tug on her wrist made her turn, sluggishly, to face Travis, and out of the corner of her eye, she saw Marilla. Marilla was wailing, veins popping in her neck as her fingers dug into the captain's arm where he held her back. More jewel-toned fins peeked into the edges of her vision, but Cordelia looked away.

"Cordelia," Travis said again. "We have to go."

Cordelia turned back to the city. Estavilde was raising the trident in one hand, and a small, white seashell in the other, holding both over her head. They glowed brightly, sending power surging down the witch's arms.

"Yes," she gasped. "Let's go."