Chapter One, The Waiting Game.


Father and daughter hovered side by side, both haunted by the same feeling of fear. Neither knew what the King was planning, despite Jeremy's knowledge and friendship with the King from long before the man had taken the throne. The law and the crown would have different wants than the desires of friends.

The King had been in the study for hours, talking with his four other advisers, having told Jeremy he was to close to the situation to make rational judgment. Jeremy was sad to admit it, but this was true.

Now, cut off from their discussion, Jeremy's scales grew pale. Whatever his child had done, it was serious.

Sam couldn't tell her father what she did, because she didn't know herself. What should have been a warm-up exercise for her magic had quickly gone out of control. The teenage girl was lucky to be alive.

Jeremy was burning with anger at Desiree, the woman responsible for teaching his beloved daughter magic. The witch had been wrong - Sam had not been ready to start on her own. Regardless of Sam wanting nothing more than to master magic, clearly will was not everything.

At this moment Jeremy could not help but be nervous, knowing the four other counselors would be thinking of what was best for the kingdom, never just his child. Desiree and the King, too, would think that way. He couldn't blame them for what they would decide, knowing he would have done the same in their position. Still, this was Sam. The only thing left in his life.

Sam listened the best she could through the stone door. The only way past the door was magic. Sadly, the spells needed to hear through walls were not known to her. But that never stopped the girl from trying. She hated sitting idly by while others planned her fate. The thought almost made her blood boil.

Not knowing all the facts made everything that much harder to bear. Sam had done something, something that was now much bigger and possibly dangerous.

'But if it was dangerous they would be doing something about it, not fighting among themselves,' she thought.

"Little guppy, get away from the door," Jeremy called to his daughter half-heartedly. Sam flicked her fins in annoyance. Waiting was Jeremy's forte, something helped by being older. Sam lived closer to the here and now. The way most kids her age lived too. Jeremy knew he had been hot head until he had someone in his life. It was likely Sam would be the same way.

Time barely ticked by. Ticking, ticking. Sam was ready to tear her hair out. "It's been only an hour!?" she exclaimed after looking at the time.

Jeremy snapped to attention, partly surprised at the outburst, partly angry at Sam for it. She should have known better. This wasn't something new. He had been trapped in those meetings before. Sometimes they would go on for days, only stopping for meals or time to sleep. Those had been the worst.

But while he had hated them, they had been necessary. To take the kingdom out of war, there had been requirements, requirements often hard to meet. To do it, there had had to be sacrifices, and each counselor had their own idea of what they wanted to happen.

"Sam, perhaps it would be best if we went home. They will send a messenger when they are done."

Sam didn't like the idea but knew her father was right. Waiting here was making everything seem worse. She nodded. The castle might have been big, but they had no home there. Sam swam up to her father, leaving hand in hand.


Notes – I am happy with this I feel because Sam's and Jeremy's relationship is so different from the show, it was kind of needed. A lot of the story relays on the father/daughter relationship. I also don't see a lot of this in anything I read. The closest might be Percy Jackson and his own mother, but even then we see her once in the start of most books before disappearing.

This also will be a slow to update, but know this I work full time, I have very little time to myself and for writing. I will try for once a week!

A big thanks to my beta,

The Full Catastrophe. this wouldn't be happening without help.

Please don't be afraid to really point things out. This doesn't flow very well, this wasn't good. Thanks!

Please Review.