Unbetaed and ridiculously long. This has been eating at me to write it for ages, though I'm terrible at writing adventure. Any critique is welcome, and please let know what is wrong so I can fix it. I can't look at it anymore and need to get back to WORK.

The Founding of Filamondria

The ocean was very cold and very black in late October, regardless of how far south she might be or what form she wore. There was only a sliver of moonlight winking at Sofia through the water above her head. The open ocean at night is more than a little beautiful, and more than a little terrifying. Even if there was a stiff wind in the air above her, a few fathoms beneath the torrid waves the water was as peaceful as a placid lake. She was glad that the sound that has been guiding her carried through the water just as well as it did through the air. It was a sad, sweet sound, full of longing and pain.

But it wasn't, as Captain Bell believed, a siren. She'd met a siren once and that is not at all how they sounded, especially when she was wearing her Amulet. That song was hungry, and this was just…sad. But the song wasn't just a trick of Samhain spirits. There was something here, something to discover.

After two weeks aboard ship, Sofia acknowledged that she was just a bit claustrophobic and was desperate for adventure. The months of proper ceremony and courtly intrigue before that\ had also been stifling. There was the occasional bit of trouble and so an interesting person or creature to meet to add some spice. And it was true that some of the books she had discovered hidden in that tiny second library in the family tower in Castle Firenzia and those sculptures on the wall of that temple she had stolen away in Jennai had been very very useful for her ongoing education in….binding.

But on the ship she could only mull over her newly acquired knowledge for so long before her body couldn't stand it anymore. She'd begun to see a faint glow in her skin whenever she thought about the man she longed to bind herself to - the patterns of red and orange and gold as intriguing as the night she'd first seen Cedric alight in the green fires of his own escaping power. Even now, swimming in the icy cold water, light danced across her skin and scales softly as she thought about him. The Amulet of Avalor glowed softly around her neck and the flames died down. If the Amulet was acting to keep her from glowing, something important was going to happen. It gave Sofia strength in her bones-deep knowledge that she was not here on a fool's errand - just some excuse to try out her mermaid's tail once again. Someone needed saving.

Her resolve was tested only a moment later as her belly cramped again, and she fervently wished that altering her body into that of a mermaid also changed the nature of her monthly cramps. They were particularly bad now, as she had run out of Cedric's excellent pain relieving elixir just last month, and had had no access to a cauldron and supplies to try and brew her own. Besides that, her palm plagued her in the salt water, the slice in her skin had opened up just this morning, and it was as mystifying as all the other little injuries and unexplained pains she'd been experiencing the last few months. She hopes that between the inevitable result of her cramps and the slash on her palm she won't attract any sharks.

Never had being a mermaid meant being so uncomfortable. All she really wanted was to be back in her boring bed with a hot water bottle for her stomach and maybe her mother. But she was the Story Keeper, and a princess to boot, and so it was time to ignore the aches and pains of her body and find out what on earth, or under the sea, the song was.

"Someday you'll find me

Then we'll be free.

Someday I'll love you

With love that is true.

Ignore all the gray

Stay true come what may.

Stay true to your heart

And our lives will start."

It wasn't in Enchancian, or any other of the many languages Sofia had learned. The Amulet seemed to make it remarkably easy for her to learn human languages as well as animal ones - she would certainly miss that when she had to give it up. Then again, Aunt Tilly seemed to manage just fine. But Captain Bell and all of the sailors on the ship seemed to have no idea what the song meant, and just spoke nervously about the sounds of the October winds on the sea and that she would be safer in her cabin and away from the tossing waves.

The journal to Cordoba should have been uneventful and quick, but the early winter storms they'd encountered had slowed their progress, preventing any magical acceleration of their ship's speed. It was a slow and plodding pace across unpredictable waters. Sofia had every confidence that she could find the ship again, her speed beneath the waves as a mermaid exceeding the pace of the ship with her most of her sails furled tight in the restless winds.

But she was growing somewhat tired, and was well past midnight, with dawn not much farther away. She would be missed. She would hate to turn back now though, no matter how uncomfortable she was. Alone with her thoughts in a tiny cabin was dangerous, and she shouldn't keep thinking about Cedric like a love sick ninny. His delicious smirk, that hair she wanted to run her fingers through, his voice when he was being commanding, or the binding tattoos, all those dark swirls over taut muscles – gah.

And now the song had gotten weaker. This is what getting lost in thoughts of Cedric always got her lately, into trouble. She twirled in a graceful circle, proud of the swimming prowess she'd achieved, and saw precisely nothing but dark implacable water in every direction. Sighing, she looked up at the unpredictable surface of the sea and thrashed her tail reluctantly toward the surface, fully prepared for the blast of freezing wind that would assault her upon contact with the air.

She broke through the surface with an impressive splash, soaring high into the air before arcing back into the water. The wind was relatively mild, and the sky was clear, the moon still shining brightly. It was actually warmer than she was used to for October, given how far south they'd travelled toward Cordoba across the sea.

Sofia saw nothing but endless waves to the north, and turned around expecting a similar vision to the south, only to shriek in surprise at the gray green ship that was mere feet away from her. She had no time too escape, and closed her eyes in terror, expecting to feel the impact any moment. But a full minute went by with nothing.

She opened her eyes at the sound of a voice speaking a language she couldn't make out.

"Hey það ertu í lagi!"

The ship had stopped dead in the sea. And she was in the middle of it. The ship, not just the sea. She swam away instinctively, passing through what should have been the solid hull of a ship, but she felt nothing but a shiver over her skin. Her eyes scanned the small ship, looking for the owner of the voice she'd heard. Her amulet glowed a dull pink beneath the waves, and suddenly the voice was understandable.

"Hey! You're all right! I'm up here, Miss Mermaid!"

She looked up at the very front of the low ship's prow, and there was a man who was the same grey green as every bit of his ship. He smiled widely at her, a gap between his two front teeth in an other broad but handsome face. She had no idea what the color of his skin or hair might have been when he was alive, but now he was clearly a ghost. A friendly ghost, but still a ghost.

Samhain spirits indeed.

She swallowed thickly. "Hello Mister..." well, it seemed a bit rude to call him a ghost. Sir Dax had never seemed to mind, but unlikely the still somewhat colorful Sir Dax, this ghost was completely grey green and his clothes seemed practically ancient – a thick linen shirt, and was that a skirt he was wearing? The ship was very basic, with only a small square sail that showed no hint of movement in the wind. It slid slowly through the waves, and Sofia swam next to it, looking up at the ghostly captain.

"Mondar! Call me Mondar! I can't believe you can see me! And you are still here! I haven't spoken to anyone at all in...well, I'm not really sure how long. Everybody always runs away!" He smiled widely, and she couldn't really be scared of him with that wide easy grin he wore. But suddenly his face grew serious, even desperate. "Have you ever seen a girl name Fila? Tall, long blonde hair like ripe wheat, eyes the color of spring leaves?

She shook her head, sad that she couldn't help him. "I'm sorry Mondar, but I don't know anyone named Fila." Her every instinct told her this was exactly what she was meant to be doing out in the cold dark sea. Helping out this particular ghost. "Can you tell me more about her, Mr. Mondar?"

"Oh, just Mondar. I'm just a fisherman. Or, I was. Had my own fleet I suppose. Well off enough to offer for her, the chief's youngest daughter. Fila was everything that was good and sweet. Had the voice of an angel, and the heart of a warrior. I'm looking for her – are you certain you haven't seen her."

Sofia sculled the water gently with her tail, keeping even with the ghostly ship as it moved slowly through the water once again. She bit her lip, then answered, sure she was on the right track. "I haven't seen her, but I think I may have heard her singing. Does she like to sing sad songs?"

Mondar nodded sadly from his perch above her. "Not when I knew her in the village. But now, that's all I ever hear. Her voice, calling for me. But I can't find her. That damned magician stole her away and now I fear I'll never save her."

"What magician?"

"Vitki! Vitki the Vicious. He travelled through every village from Fitgar to Polirk, reading runes and selling potions. He'd taken a fancy to her, to my Fila, and he threatened to curse the village unless the chief gave up Fila. But Chief Unruk laughed in his face and told him to never return. The next day Fila disappeared, and all the village animals were sick. And all of the ships had disappeared except this one I'd put up for repair behind my barn. So I chased them. I never stopped chasing them. I died chasing them." His eyes welled with tears, which turned into green mist the moment they touched his cheeks, swirling away into the wind. Sofia found herself crying in sympathy, at a loss for words at the sheer force of his pain.

The ship seemed to waver for a moment, and Sofia saw the heart of the ship was a tangle of wooden board, rope, seaweed and bones. She let out a yelp, but then the ghost ship was back to its full shape, and Mondar had a determined look in his eyes. He pulled away from the edge of the longship and waved an arm at the sails. "I hear her song – I must keep searching. " The sails filled abruptly with the wind, and the ship lurched forward.

And Sofia heard it too, the sad lyrics had grown louder. Sofia swum quickly along the sides to keep up. "I'll help you search!"

Then with a sudden snap, the wind died completely. Mondar pointed forward, his eyes glowing green. "The gray! There's a way through it, I just can't find it." It was a fog – the thickest fog Sofia had ever seen. The wind and waves that had plagued the sea for hundred of leagues around them just stopped, leaving the fog and a glassy sea that was eerie in it's stillness under the light of the moon.

Mondar hit the side of his ship, and smoke billowed up from where he struck at the spectral wood plank. "I've looked for centuries, and I'll look centuries more if that's what it takes. There's nothing you can do to help, mermaid."

"I'm Princess Sofia of Enchancia, and I can do something you can't!"

He stared at her in confusion.

She gave him a wide grin. "I can look underwater."

She dove down, determined to find Fila and let the lovers meet once again. This story needed an ending, and she would be the one to make it a happy one.

She sped through the dark water, taking in every detail of her surroundings. The gray fog from above did not extend under the water. She came up again to the surface, just a few feet from the fog's beginning, and swam forward cautiously. The fog grew thicker and thicker, until she couldn't swim anymore. There was a crackle of power around her, and she was thrown backwards with a splash.

Mondar's voice called out over the water. "I told you, Princess. No way through!"

Sofia would have stamped her foot, if she'd had feet. She flicked her tail out of the water instead, sending a wave crashing through the preternaturally still water as she dove beneath the waves. And yes, just a fathom down, there was no sign of the thick gray fog barrier. She swam forward tentatively, and she still felt resistance when she came to the point, but following her instincts she dove down farther, until the resistance disappeared and Sofia could swim freely forward.

The water here was pitch dark, with no sign of the moonlight filtering through the water. Sofia pushed down the sense of fear so much darkness evoked, and instead tried to listen as hard as she could for the sounds of the sea. There was land nearby, she could hear the sound of water hitting rock, even if the surface above had been spelled so still. And it was a spell, Sofia had no doubt of that. There were animal sounds as well, increasing as she moved forward, a sure sign of land as well. And, of course, there was Fila's song growing louder and louder.

Excited but still cautious, Sofia ignored the ache in her belly, the stinging of her hand, and the oppressiveness of the dark water to swim forward. It took time, and a few bumps into sandbars and a tangle with a swaying patch of kelp, but eventually Sofia knew she was close enough to land to risk the surface once again.

She surfaced as quietly as possible. The world was still covered in gray fog, but the sound of Fila's voice was an unmistakable beacon. She swam toward the sound, hoping she wasn't being fooled by the fog once again. But no – slowly the fog dissipated enough to reveal a rocky beach. It was an island, one on no map Sofia had ever seen.

Blowing out a slow breath, Sofia touched her amulet, always grateful for its gifts to her. She rose softly in a cloud of golden sparks and touched her slippered feet on to the surface of the rocky beach. She sighed, looking down at the thick cotton nightgown and robe that she wore, and wished she had not been quite so impatient to dive into the ocean and had remembered to dress.

No help for it. She reached into the pocket of her robe and drew out her wand, and with a whispered, mutatio vestimenta, the nightgown, robe and slippers changed into sturdy but plain boots, trousers and a thick linen shirt and wool jacket. Finally feeling a bit warmer, Sofia looked around, curious about this unknown island.

The beach was made up of pebbles and larger smooth stones. Sofia walked careful toward higher ground on legs just a bit unsteady after having spend several hours as a tail. She scrambled up a small cliff face, and at the top looked around with wide eyes. The island was not the tiny speck she'd thought, but large. Very large. In the far distance there was a mountain as large as anything she'd seen in Enchancia, and was that smoke coming from the top? Was it a volcano?

There were a few trees and ferns in small forest stands, but most of what she could see were softly rolling hills of what must be some kind of grass, though it seemed short and stunted from what she could see in the dim moonlight that seeped through the distant fog surrounding the island. It was eerily quiet, though she could hear the soft night sounds of a few birds and the rustling of creatures, so the island was not totally barren of animal life.

Just as she worried that she'd lost Fila's song as a guide, she heard a shout.

"You! You used magic! I felt it!"

Sofia turned at the sound of the ancient language, and standing on a rock not twenty feet away was a green gray woman, her eyes ablaze with light. Her long hair rippled about her on a wind that was otherwise nonexistent, and her dress was just as simple and ancient as those of Mondar in his ghost ship beyond the fog. Sofia was grateful once again for the gifts of the Amulet, as she could speak to this poor broken woman from the past in her own language.

"Fila? Is your name Fila? I'm Sofia. I'd like to..."

"Can you do more magic? Are you a witch?"

Fila seemed desperate, her eyes wide and very very bright.

Sofia held up her wand sheepishly. "I can do some magic, but I'm not really a fully trained sorceress."

Fila closed her eyes and seemed to slump. She sat down on the rock and gathered her knees to her chest, wrapping her arms about her knees. Sofia walked toward her slowly, approaching her as she would a frightening animal. Fila's eyes watched her with such sorrow, and she shed tears that blurred away into green mist, just as Mondar had done. Sofia bit her lip, looking up at the ghost up on her rock and trying to think of the right thing to say, and as usual, she decided that the simple truth was likely the best policy.

"I met Mondar on the sea, you know. He's just past the fog. He's still looking for you."

Fila straightened so suddenly Sofia actually jumped back a bit in alarm. "Truly! Mondar, he's still out there looking for me? But, Vitki told me that no one would ever come for me, that everyone was dead!"

Sofia shook her head sadly. "Mondar did come to look, but there's this fog out there that prevents anyone from coming closer." Sofia sighed, hating that she had to ask thing question, and hoping some kind of resolution to this tale was still possible. "You do know that you are...that you are a ghost, right Fila? That your died long ago?"

Fila gave her a look that was so like Amber than Sofia had to restrain a laugh. "My bones rest on this very rock. I starved to death so long ago I have only sketchy memories of my life. But I remember Mondar."

Sofia let out a breath, resisting the urge to search the ground around rock and avoid stepping on anything looking bone-like. "But you must have hoped he was looking for you. You were singing that song, after all. The song was for him, wasn't it?"

Fila nodded, and let out an enormous sigh that turned into a green shimmering cloud in the air before dissipating. "On this night and a few surrounding it, I can sing for him. I always hope that wherever or whenever he is, he can hear me."

"Oh, he can hear you all right. He's been searching for centuries. And every sailor on these waters has heard you too. You've got half of the tough as nails sailors on two continents terrified of this place!"

Fila smiled wickedly. "Serves them right. Sailors should be scared of something. Why not me!" But then a sad, wistful look returned to her ghostly green face. "How did you get past the fog? I spent a solid month trying, but then I ran out of any food and...it wasn't much longer after than that that I passed away."

Sofia waved a hand toward the water. "It does seem impossible to get here or away via the surface, but the fog and the barrier within don't extend too deeply underwater. And well, the magic you felt was probably me returning to my human form."

Fila blinked at her, and Sofia shrugged, "I can turn into a mermaid. Sometimes."

"I thought they were a legend? Sailors' crazy talk."

Sofia giggled. "Nope, real as you and me. And most people think ghosts are legends too."

Fila laughed loudly, the sound echoing strangely through the dismal countryside and over the too-still water. "Unfortunately, I couldn't swim when I was alive, and I don't think I could start now."

"Are you certain? You wouldn't need to breathe!" Sofia tried to sound cheerful, but it fell a bit flat.

Fila shook her head. "I can't set foot in the water. I've tried. I just seem to melt away. I'm only really here and aware a few days of the year – I don't want to waste that time tyring to literally pull myself back together."

Sofia nodded decisively. "Well then, there's nothing for it. We'll have to get rid of this fog then, and that barrier too. You and Mondar deserve to see each other."

Sofia stood up, presing her hand to the Amulet and getting ready to return to the water and swim back to Mondar, but Fila spoke first. "Be careful, Sofia. Vitki – he poured himself into the spell to trap me here. He poured so much of his magic into his horrible spell that he collapsed when he finished, and died just a few minutes later. I dragged his body all the way to the edge of the volcano in the hopes that he would burn up someday and not corrupt the land. But the spell lasted, long past his death. I figure if my ghost haunts the island, and Mondar's the sea, then Vitki's ghost is part of that evil fog."

Sofia felt a knot of fear clench in her belly, but she pushed it away. "Thanks for the warning, Fila. But I have to do something."

Fila smiled, tears once again leaking in to mist from the corners of her eyes. "Thank you! You are a true princess!"

Sofia tilted her head, curious. She glanced down at her conjured but plain clothes and boots. "How did you know I am a princess?"

Fila shrugged, "How could you not be, if you are willing to do so much for Mondar and me?"

Sofia laughed softly, nodding her head. "It needs to be done!" Then she pressed a hand against the Amulet and felt her need to return to the sea be understood by the rose colored stone.

With another symphony of golden sparks, Sofia dove into the cold, dark ocean, and swam her way back to find a ghostly ship, and more help for her plan.

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On the other side of the fog barrier but still underwater, Sofia began a high-pitched song she knew would sound horrible to anyone on the surface, but worked very well to broadcast a message thru the ocean depths. Princess Oona had spent quite some time teaching it to her, and Sofia hoped she was doing it justice.

But soon enough, an array of grumpy, sleepy but curious creatures began to circle around her, and Sofia outlined her plans. Curious dolphins circled and gave excited chirps, a few whales hovered in silent majesty, sharks circled below ominously but kept a respectful distance, and even a few giant octopi had risen from the depths to investigate her song, a variety of colors rippling along their skins as they listened. She explained the problem, and her plan to attack Vitki's barrier. None of the dolphins, whales, octopi, seals, or even the sharks liked the barrier and what it did to the nearby reefs, so all agreed to help to try and destroy it, and open up the island to sea life once again. They swam off to recruit more help, for this island was no small sandbar – it was the size of a small country.

Sofia talked to many many creatures, filling her impromptu army with a vast number of new recruits. It felt so good to talk to animals freely, to have a bold course of action and the will and strength to see it through. To let her magic, all the magic she had worked so long to master at Cedric's side, to flow freely. After months and months at court with the petty problems of royal personalities to deal with, this felt like a wonderful stretch after being too long asleep.

Hours later, she followed a dolphin who had spotted the green glow of Mondar's ship from underwater just a few minutes earlier, and she breached the water with flip of her tail. Mondar let out a satisfying little shriek, which shouldn't have entertained her as much as it did, perhaps she had hung around Cedric for too long as a child.

"I found Fila! It was possible to get through the barrier from underwater. I assume you never tried that?"

"Can't swim. Never could."

Sofia resisted the desire to roll her eyes. How can all these people live and die so close to the sea, but never learn to swim!

"Well, I've got another plan. I found some animal friends who are willing to try and help push on the barrier once I have a spell in place to help. I'll need you to follow me though – I'm hoping you and Fila might be able to help."

Mondar fairly bounced on the deck of his ghostly ship. "Anything! Anything! This is the best chance I've had in centuries to see her!"

The clouds and potential storms of earlier in the night had passed over them, and the sky was slowly lightning into the brighter cerulean blue of pre-dawn through the patchy clouds that were left behind. The ocean here was still affected by the too-calm water from near the fog barrier, and it was easy enough for Sofia to stay treading water with her tail as she spun away from the eager Mondar to awkwardly reach into the halter top of her mermaid guise to find her wand where her wand had always appeared once she shifted forms. Sofia wondered if the Amulet had a sense of humor about all this, but where else would a mermaid store a magic wand? Tails didn't come with pockets after all.

She spun around once again to face the barrier, then slipped beneath the waves to sing out her signal to all her new animal friends.

She reappeared, shaking her wet hair, which had long fallen out of her nighttime braid, away from her face. Taking a deep breath, she began a flurry of spells to counter the remaining magic of a long-dead mage.

"Caligo evanescet!" and the fog mostly dissipated, leaving a blurred dome surrounding the entire island like an enormous pot lid.

"Cooperari magnus!" Her voice boomed out, loud enough to be heard on the surface and below. She couldn't see Mondar, her focus totally centered on the vast dome that had been revealed, but he was staring open mouthed in wonder at her power and at the heads of hundreds of creatures that had risen to the surface and poked their heads above the sea surrounding the blurry grey thing that had been hiding in the fog as long as he'd been a ghost. He was really a bit terrified. This mermaid was really rather scary when she was determined.

Shaky at first from growing stronger, a pulse of purple white light streamed out of Sofia's wand and because to stream from dolphin to whale to seal to shark, touching each sea creature on the head and illuminating them up with a pure white light that seemed to light up the pre-dawn more than the setting moon. When the light had disappeared into the horizon it took only a minute for it to reappear in the other direction, revealing yet more animals surrounding the barrier.

When the light returned once more to light up Sofia herself, she smiled widely. Her voice rang out again, ringing with command. "Subtraxerim util!"

And every animal swam toward the barrier, and Mondar cringed, waiting for the inevitable violence of the barrier throwing them all back, but it never came. The barrier shrank from the oncoming hoarde, shrinking farther and farther toward what looked like an island beyond.

Mondar began to leap around the deck of his ship, his sails filling with mystical wind and he moved forward, knowing he was closer to Fila than he'd been in many lifetimes.

When the barrier slammed into the first rock on the coast of the island, Sofia's focus was broken by the enormous bang and the rain of pulverized rock falling around her little navy. She stopped the spell, resorbing the light of her magic that had been stretched farther than ever before. She felt tired but exhilerated, and she knew she still had more to do. The animals came up to her, chattering or bellowing or slurping their questions, and Sofia tried to calm them.

She turned to Mondar, "Get as close to the barrier as you can without harming yourself. I'm going back to talk with Fila and see if she can help guide you closer.

Sofia dived under the water, and was relieved to see that she could still just squeeze under the barrier and get to the same beach that she'd left Fila on those hours ago. She called on her Amulet again, and though she was yet again in nightgown and robe when she reclaimed her legs, she didn't have the energy to fix the problem. She staggered a few steps up the beach and found her own rock to sit on while she rested her weary body. Her cramps were back and her hands still stung, and she was so hungry she had contemplated trying to see if mermaids could digest seaweed, but she'd accomplished something to help these lovers. She was still a Story Keeper of sorts, even if she was far from the Secret Library.

"You actually changed it. I, I can almost see through it." Fila seemed to whisper from her rock just a few feet away. Sofia was surprised she'd managed to get so close, she was just that tired.

"I hope to break it, if I can catch my breath." Sofia replied with a smile in her voice. "Sing your song, Fila. Let Mondar know you are here."

Fila sang her song, which was markedly less sad than it had been earlier in the full dark of the night, and she stared out to sea, enraptured at the revealed barrier, so close now it almost touched the outlying rocks at the edge of Fila's beach.

Instead of staring outward at the barrier she planned to break, Sofia closed her eyes and focused, pushing down and inward, trying to tap into the maximum extent of her magical resources. She heard Fila's song fill the unnatural quiet. She felt the cool, unmoving air against her skin. The scent of old seaweed and the salt from the sea tickled her nose. She moved deeper within. Aunt Tilly had introduced her to this technique, but it had been Cedric who'd helped her use it to improve her focus in magic. And so it was here she felt closest to him, here in the core of her magic self. In some impossible way he was there, with her. She could feel an echo of his presence, wry and cool and soothing in the warm turmoil of her exhaustion. She felt her breath slow and strength return to her body as her magic swirled within her, as though he was fast asleep and dreaming far away and his restful state translated to her tired body.

When she opened her eyes, she wore a soft smile.

"There's a greenish glow just out there, and I think Vitki is angry." Fila said, crouched on the very tip of her rock, poised as though she would jump into the surf on the beach below if she possibly could. Sofia looked at the barrier just beyond the beach and frowned. There was a green glow, no doubt Mondar's ghost ship. But between the two of them and the green glow of the ship, there was a thick barrier, swirling in malevolent patterns of dark grey. Sofia looked toward the barrier above them and on either side, and she noticed that it seemed thinner, clearer. Sofia wondered if on the other side of this vast island if there was now no barrier at all.

Sofia smiled, just a bit wickedly. She could do this.

She stood on her rock, and leapt lightly on to Fila's rock, which seemed to shock the ghost.

"What are you doing, Sofia?"

Sofia kept smiling. "I'm getting you as close as possible to your Mondar, of course."

She bent and tapped her wand against the uneven bounder jutting into the sea, and spoke softly, "Partum naviculam."

Fila gasped as the surface beneath her gray green misty feet went from craggy rock to rough wood. With a thump and a splash, a raft set sail into the calm sea, heading straight toward the barrier that had created misery for a thousand years.

Fila wailed softly, dropping to the surface of the raft and clinging for dear life, though she had none of it. She looked back at the stark, barren island with sheer desperation.

Sofia chirped confidently, "Sometimes we need to try something new to get want we really want."

Fila nodded and gritted her teeth as the raft went further out into the sea to meet the swirling grey barrier and the green glow beyond.

Closer and closer they came, and Fila could see that the green glow was a ship. One of her people's ships. Specifically, Mondar's ship.

"How is this possible?" Fila cried, as she recognised that the blurry figure at the ship's prow must be her Mondar, still searching for her for so many years.

"You waited for him, and he searched for you. A love like that is stronger than one silly dark magician. Love can conquer anything." Sofia spoke with absolute conviction. Love could defeat evil, and it could also convert one stubborn some-what dark sorcerer into enough of a prince for a cobbler princess. In that deep place in her soul that she was still connected to, she felt a stirring remarkably like Cedric's darkly amused laughter.

Sofia brought the raft as close as she could to the barrier, before the sheer malevolence pushed the simple wooden craft backward. Fila stared across the gap, trying to see Mondar's face. And just as Sofia had hoped, the deep love and need that Mondar and Fila shared after so many years kept apart flared like the strongest magic.

Where Fila and Mondar looked longingly at each other across the barrier, the barrier reacted. It grew clearer and clearer, thinner and thinner, as though the heat of their gaze was melting the evil standing between them.

But a few feet away, the barrier swirled darker and darker with black anger that Sofia watched with apprehension. With an audible growl of gleeful rage, the barrier fought back, the hole that the lovers had made growing smaller once again. Sofia took out her wand and prepared to fight.

Sofia filled her heart with love. Love of her friends. Her family. Her country. And for her sorcerer. And with that strength buoying her up, she aimed her wand and the barrier and prepared to fight anger with love.

"Figere amorum!"

A stream of energy, the red and gold fire that made up her very being, emerged from her wand and struck the barrer just above where Fila and Mondar were riveted by each other's presence. The barrier shrank back, retreating like darkness flees the light. Fila and Mondar both cried out, reaching toward each other as the barrier fell between them.

Sofia gave a glad shout of triumph, but it was too soon to celebrate. With a vicious crack like thunder, the barrier shuddered as the dark rage that was all that was left of Vitki flowed back along the stream of her power, trying to eat into the heart of her. She pushed back, holding him at bay with all her strength, but the world around her seemed frozen, waiting for the outcome of this battle. Beads of sweat stood out on her brow as she desperately threw her power, her love, her very life force against the dark hate, the possession and desire and rage that bombarded her.

She called out, though she knew it was pointless. She screamed wordlessly, wanting help, wanting someone to save her though she knew there was only her in the middle of the vast ocean. But her Amulet knew differently. In her heart of hearts she had asked, and when the bearer was deserving, the Amulet offered aide.

The rose glow of the Amulet grew brighter and brighter, and Sofias heart leapt, hoping that one of the princesses could offer help – but she had no idea of their advice could help her now. But it was not a princess at all. The light flickered from brilliant pink and rose to vibrant green and blue and purple, a distinctive set of colors that Sofia knew well since she saw them often in her dreams.

Cedric the Royal Sorcerer appeared, manifesting beside her on the wobbling raft she'd made. He wasn't flesh and bone, but light so dense and thick that he appeared solid, the dark silver tattoos across his chest and arms glittering with magical power and his eyes dark amber and burning with intelligence. Sofia smiled, her heart soaring and her power sending the dark stream of energy that was reaching toward her farther back toward the barrier that had birthed it.

Cedric looked extremely confused and adorably befuddled, as though he'd just woken up out of a dream. But he came to his sense quickly, glancing between the two ghosts stretching to touch each other, the virulent black energy swirling toward Sofia, and his favorite troublesome princess.

"Ok you impossible woman, what trouble have you gotten yourself into now!"

Sofia breathed heavily, trying to push back against a force that hungered to suck you dry. She gritted out between clenched teeth, "Evil magician's ghost. Kept those two apart. Have to defeat him!"

Cedric frowned. He reached into his robes for a wand, but found nothing because he was only wearing his sleep pants. He sighed in frustration. "Couldn't you call my astral projection to you when I was daydreaming and fully dressed instead of in the middle of the night?"

Her eyes trailed over him from bare feet to tossled gray and black hair. "Not sorry!" Sofia quipped and stuck her tongue out.

Cedric laughed darkly. "You are so wicked when I am dreaming."

"Not dreaming!" Sofia cried out, pain flooding her with a particularly vicious push by Vitki's ghost. The stream of red and gold was almost back to her wand, and neither Cedric or Sofia wanted to see it touch her want. Sofia pushed back hard, reaching into the very depths of her magic and thrust herself forward, pushing Vitki back into the barrier and made it shake violently.

In that moment, Fila and Mondar, who had completely ignored the arrival of Cedric or Sofia's desperate battle, had stretched themselves out across the water, until their hands met and clasped together. The burst of energy from that connection rippled outward, causing great chunks of the barrier to tear or shrivel like paper begin set to flame.

What remained grew darker, more sinister, swirling with an oozing dark that seemed to suck in the light from the brighting sky. Dawn was coming, and Vitki seemed to know that his time was almost up.

Sofia felt the pressure against her magic let up and she breathed a sigh of relief, exhaustion hitting her hard. But she cried out in horror as she saw the remains of the barrier close in on Mondar and Fila, flooding toward their clasped hands as though it meant to sever them completely and absorb the remains.

Sofia pushed her magic toward them, trying to will her magic into an opposing barrier to protect the ghosts she was trying to help. Her body erupted with red and gold flames, causing Cedric to suck in a breath of surprise through clenched teeth. The flames soared out to surround and protect Fila and Mondar, but the black kept coming. When the black magic met her own fiery red she screamed, pain flooding her body. Cedric let out his own undignified squeak of pain, then took action.

He wrapped his arms around her, placing his hands over hers, his chest to her back, surrounding her. Sofia gasped, this time in pleasure. Wherever his body touched hers, where his flames of green and purple touched her own magic fire, they burned together, white hot.

They both moaned, his voice low and hot in her ear. She pushed back against him, wanting to become part of him, wanting this to be real. He bent to whisper darkly, "Do you feel that from your enemy? Darkness. Possessive desire for something he can't have. Lust and destruction. That's just like me, little girl. You think you want me, but how could you want that? You keep offering yourself to me, and someday I'll take it, and I'll never let you go." He cut off sharply, his elbows pulling her tight into his body, until she was tingling all over from the heat of their combined magic.

"I don't want you to let me go. And I want you to possess me, to want me. It's not evil if I want you to possess me, and I plan on possessing you right back. You're mine, sorcerer! I love you!" Her power flared out in determination, and Cedric gasped in pleasure as her magic ran through him, pushing out in a gush of flame toward the remains of Vitki's barrier. Cedric pushed his own out to follow hers, and the white rush of pure magic burned the black ooze of hatred wherever it touched. They burned together, bright and hot, and as the sun rose over the horizon into a clear autumn sky, the last whisps of Vitki's ghost swirled away into Hell.

Sofia and Cedric dropped her wand arm, but he didn't remove his arms from around her. He pressed his long nose into her neck and inhaled her scent, thanking the gods for this brilliant dream of her. She relaxed in his arms, grateful that he was there, magically, impossibly there, to hold her up when she felt like she was about to collapse.

They watched together as Mondar stepped lightly onto the raft, his own ghostly ship disappearing in the dawn's light. Sofia used the last remains of her power to push the raft back to shore, and all four passengers stepped on to the pebbled beach. Mondar and Fila had eyes only for each other, as did Cedric and Sofia. Sofia turned into his chest, wrapping her arms around him and pressing her face into the symbols on his chest, pressing a light kiss to the mark that looked like her amulet emblazoned in dark silver over his heart.

"I love you, you insane woman." He muttered at her, and she stared up at him, blue eyes wide and happy. Cedric seemed to realize what he had said and grew red as a beet, huffing with sudden terror until he smiled a mad smile. "Dreaming! I'm dreaming! I can tell you anything I want when I'm dreaming. That I love you. That I want to lock you in with me in my tower and make love to you until neither of us can walk straight. That my magic began going haywire when I was thirteen and our coach passed a cottage that I later found out was likely your family's when you were a baby, and that I've apparently been trying to link your magic to mine for your entire life. I told you I was an evil man, Princess."

Sofia looked up at him, her smile growing wider and wider with every word he spoke. "We're not dreaming, Cedric. And you just told me we've been fated to be together my whole life? That's not evil, that's true love, my silly sorceror." Her smile turned wicked. "And when I get back to Enchancia, my love, I fully plan on locking myself in your tower and demanding you follow through with those 'evil' plans for me."

Cedric looked down at her, his mouth wide open and eyes blinking in shock. "Well, it's my dream, and that's just what you would say, isn't it?"

She grinned up at him, "Is it? How interesting."

Fila and Mondar coughed. Sofia and Cedric turned to look at them. The dawn light wasn't kind, and the grey green light that made up their forms was fading, disappearing into the dawn of the night after Samhain.

Fila spoke, her voice filled with happiness. "Thank you so much, Sofia, and to your man as well. I'm happy you too have a love as well, so you can understand our joy!"

"Yes!" Boomed Mondar, "Thank you Princess Mermaid. Your magic was so much more powerful than Vitki's evil. Thank you for helping us. Is there anything we can do to thank you?"

Sofia hugged Cedric to her and smile. "Just be happy, you two. Let your happiness shine out and fill this place up with love!"

Fila and Mondar smiled, then turned to each other and kissed passionately. That kiss was filled with magic. So much magic that both Sofia and Cedric had to take a step back. Fila and Mondar grew and grew, their green light turning warm and golden, filling up with the light and strength of the dawn itself. They merged together, Fila and Mondar disappearing into a shower of sunny sparkles. Like fireworks, the light burst over the island, and what was a grey and barren land suddenly glowed with magic and life.

Sofia and Cedric watched dumbfounded as golden spots of light swirled out over the island. The volcano smoking out a cloud of noxious steam quitted, and a water began to cascade down the mountain, running out into a wide river into the sea near their feet. They backed away, up the pebbled dunes, and watched as the sparse trees became a lush forest, and the dried and scraggly grass became fertile grasslands dotted with bright wildflowers. Sofia finally lost her battle and sat on the ground, Cedric collapsing with her to stare out at the island swelling with life into a vertitable paradise around them. They never let go of each other, holding each other as they witnessed a miracle of magic, of love that had grown for a thousand years let loose to thrive.

They watched birds circle in the sky and sing sweetly, and Sofia pressed a kiss to Cedric's cheek. "It's beautiful here. I'm not sure I ever would want to leave, if you were here with me."

Cedric shrugged. "This is yours, Sofia. If it is real, which I doubt mind you, then this island, this paradise is yours. Your own kingdom. You conquered it, by right of battle with that thing."

"It's ours then. I couldn't have done it without your help. Our own island. Filamondria." she nodded her head with that decisive Sofia flare.

"Filamondria. That's a mouthful, but it does have a nice ring to it."

Sofia smiled up at him. "It would be a nice place for a honeymoon, wouldn't it?"

Cedric turned red and stammering once again. "I'm dreaming. I'm dreaming so yes, yes it would be lovely." He picked up her wand and pointed it at a stretch of lush grass at the egde of the beach, and a canvas pavilion appeared, lavender with the white scroll symbols that Sofia had once worn on the dresses of her youth when she was first a princess. And inside the pavilion was a beautiful bower, with a mattress that was beyond inviting. Cedric picked Sofia up in his arms, which was really quite a feat for what should have been a magical projection, and strode toward the bower, laying Sofia in the wide bed with infinite care. She pulled him down beside her, and he curled around her body.

She flinched slightly, another attack of cramps happening despite all the other demands of her body for food and sleep. Cedric moaned in her ear, clutching at his own stomach. "Damn you woman, is this why my stomach hurts every month now?"

Sofia laughed darkly. "I ran out of your pain potion, and you, my love, are the best potion maker in all the kingdoms I've visited. But what about this?" She held up his right hand, and then showed him her own, sporting identical slashes across the palm. "Please be more careful when cutting up potion ingredients. Remember to spend some of that magic healing youself, or I'll feel it too."

Cedric looked down at her, stunned speechless. "We really are sharing our magic, aren't we? Even across all these miles?"

Sofia nodded, smiling wearily. She lifted her head and pressed her lips against his, and they shared their first true kiss, warm and tired and so very, very sweet. They fell asleep with smiles on their faces, their arms around each other.

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Cedric was gone when Sofia awoke. The sun was high in the sky, and it was a truly beautiful day on the truly names isle of Filamondria. She sat up in her bower with a sense of wonder that it had been real. There wouldn't be this beautiful island, much less this tent and soft bed, if all the events of the past night hadn't been stunningly real. Including the fact that the man she loved returned her feelings in full measure. Even if he couldn't admit it in real life when he didn't think he was dreaming.

"Princess! Ahoy! Princess Sofia! Is that you?"

Sofia heard a voice call off in the distance, and she stepped out of the pavilion and looked out to sea. And there off the shore was her ship! Captain Bell waved enthusiastically from a rowboat filled with sailors, and they were surrounded by dozens of sea creatures, seals and dolphins and even the occasional shark – the remains of her little navy from last night. They must have brought her ship here.

"It's me, Captain Bell," she shouted. "Welcome to Filamondria!"

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Later that day, the slash across her palm was suddenly healed, and Sofia wondered just how much of last night Cedric had put down to a dream. A few weeks later in Cordoba, a package arrived from home, containing close to a year's supply of Cedrics best woman's pain potion. Sofia knew then that some part of Cedric accepted that what had happened between them was far more than any dream.