Chapter 36: The Tale of Lara Anclagon

A/N: For those of you hoping for brand new chapters, I do apologize. On the other hand, I am glad to say the revision is complete and from now on I'll be working on new chapters! Darkest Tide has been looked over from the first words to the newest! I hope you enjoy it!

It took the better part of two hours to find everyone, but eventually they were found and given instructions to meet in the dining hall. Eric wanted to bring in the entire palace seeing as Lara was living there. They might as well inform everyone so as not to cause a panic if Lara used her magic in the open.

But Lara and Ariel insisted on only having her sisters present in addition to Melody, Eric, and Sarah. That and a bath and clean clothes. This was not to be a public announcement. Just information privy to a few ears Ariel trusted to be discrete. Hence why Sebastian and Grimsby were conveniently tasked with keeping the children amused. Those two would need to be handled with care. Even the mermaid princess' husbands were not allowed.

That was how Melody found herself in the dining hall with her aunts, her parents, and Sarah seated around the table as she stood in front of Lara. The brunette was dressed in her faded black pants, which had been washed and "somehow" dried despite the rain. She wore no shirt or shredded top, but instead a long length of red cloth as a breast wrap. Her tunic was slung over the back of a chair. She had one hand on Melody's forehead while the other held her now quite swollen right hand.

"What do you mean you 'sort of' know what you're doing?" asked Melody worriedly.

"I haven't had many chances to use it," said Lara. "So I might be a little rusty."

"R-rusty?" Melody gulped, suddenly nervous. That was not a word she wanted to hear from someone saying they were going to use magic to fix her hand and face.

"It'll be fine. You're not gonna turn into a toad or anything…I think. Maybe a newt."

"A what!?"

"And your hair will grow back eventually," added Lara.

Melody's eyes widened, her face going a shade paler.

"I'm joking!" said Lara. "You won't turn into anything, I swear!"

Melody frowned. "That's not funny."

Lara flashed one of her lopsided grins. "A little bit."

"Would someone please tell us what's going on?" asked Attina, frustrated by the lack of clarification for her being there. "What's this about? All I got was a request from Grimsby to come here as soon as I could."

"Same here," said Adella. "He just said it was important."

"And what happened your face, Melody?" asked Arista. "And your hand?"

"We'll get to that in a moment," said Ariel. "As for why you're all here…Lara, whenever you're ready."

Lara nodded and closed her eyes. "Just relax. This shouldn't hurt. Commuto."

Arista, Alana, and Attina bolted to their feet, knocking their chairs back as white flames leapt off Lara's hands, racing to Melody's cheeks and down her right arm to her hand. The rest of the mermaid sisters settled for wide eyes and gaping mouths. Sarah straightened up in her chair, fixated on the two women. Ariel and Eric flinched, but were otherwise the least responsive of the spectators.

Melody cringed. I did not hurt, but neither was it pleasant in the least. She had no words to describe what it felt like, but it was extremely weird and certainly uncomfortable. It felt like something was extracting the bruising from her.

"Ah…ah!" She winced at the sensation but held still.

"Hold on," said Lara, her face screwed up in concentration. "Almost done."

"Get away from her!" shouted Attina as she bolted from her seat.

Lara released Melody and darted back as Attina grabbed her niece. At once the flames leapt off Melody to Lara, engulfing her cheeks and right hand. Lara hissed and cringed as they burned on her and then went out.

Melody gasped. Suddenly Lara's cheeks were swollen and dark purple with bruises. Her right hand looked as though it had been slammed in a door. She touched her own cheeks. They were normal and painless. So was her right hand. She moved her fingers without any discomfort. Lara did not fix her injuries. She moved them onto her!

"Yeow!" exclaimed Lara, gingerly touching her face. "I should've let you hit me twice! These really hurt!"

"Sorcery!" shrieked Arista, pointing at Lara. "You…you're a witch!?"

"Sorceress!" shouted Lara, Ariel and Melody at once, followed by Lara cringing as she aggravated her new wounds.

"It's sorceress," added Lara, rubbing her cheek gingerly. "Not witch!"

"It's the same thing!" said Arista.

"Trust me, it's not."

"Lara, those look terrible!" said Melody, extricating herself from her aunt.

"Well, better on me than you," said Lara, wincing as she poked her cheek. "But don't get worked up. They'll be gone in a second."

"Gone?"

Lara nodded. "Just watch."

Before Melody's eyes the bruises begin to lighten and shrink. Dark purple turned to paler colors as the marks receded. The swelling in Lara's hand quickly disappeared. In mere moments she was completely unmarked, the injuries she took from Melody only a memory.

"Now you see them." Lara grinned, giving her cheek a few pats. "And now you don't."

Sarah rose from her chair and quick marched over. She took Lara's face in her hands, examining once side and then the other before moving to her hand. She felt all around the bones, moving her joints in various directions. Her mouth fell open as she continued looking Lara over. She did not look frightened or angry, but amazed.

"Regenerative healing…I knew it!"

"You did?" said Lara, sounding genuinely surprised. "But how?"

"The tournament. I knew something was off just watching you and Richard fight. I know what human bodies can do. You have to when you're a doctor. That strength and speed you showed isn't possible, even with rigorous training. Normal muscles and joints won't take that sort of strain for long. And when you grabbed his sword, too. That had to cut your tendons. You shouldn't have been able to close your hand at all, yet you did it just fine."

"Sorry for not telling," said Lara apologetically.

Sarah smiled and shook her head. "Don't be. It doesn't change what you did for us, or how I think of you. And I know it won't change father or the kids either. We have our lives back thanks to you, so magic or no you're still our friend."

"Thank you."

Attina stormed over to Ariel, apparently not taking the revelation as well as Sarah did. "This is why you brought us here? Lara has magic!?"

"How long have you known about this, Ariel?" demanded Adella.

"Since this morning," said Ariel as she rose from her seat. Melody could hear the unhappy edge in her tone, no doubt caused by her sister's indelicate reactions. "And there's more. Lara knows about the merfolk and Atlantica now. I told her."

"You what!?" exclaimed Attina and Adella together.

"Ariel, we swore to keep that a secret!" said Arista. "You promised!"

Attina took her youngest sister by the shoulders. "Did she force you to talk? What did she do to you? Did she use some sort of spell on you?"

"Hey, fish-lips!"

Lara's hair started to bristle in earnest as Attina turned to her. Melody could see the luminous outrage in her golden eyes. "I didn't lay a hand on her! And I didn't force her to say anything! I never would! She saved me from drowning! That's how I found out, got it!? She broke your promise to save me!"

"You expect me to believe—?"

"It's the truth," said Ariel. The calm honesty in her voice rendered Attina quiet, as well as any other protests from her sisters. "I pulled Lara out of the ocean during the storm this morning."

"How did she end up in the ocean?" asked Aquata.

"Because we got into a fight," said Melody. "I tried to run away to Atlantica before dawn. Lara came to stop me and we…said and did some things we shouldn't have."

Lara folded her arms together. "That's one way of putting it. I lost my temper and hit her. That's where the bruises came from."

"You did what!?" exclaimed Arista.

"I let her hit me back!"

"Aunt Ari, it's fine!" said Melody. "I'm fine! We sorted it out! Just please listen, all of you!"

Hesitantly Melody's aunts withheld whatever statements they were about to make, giving their niece the benefit of the doubt.

"After our spat I told Melody I was done guarding her and ran off," continued Lara. "I didn't think clearly and wound up on a rock out in the waves. The rock was slippery and I got blown off. Lucky for me Ariel came to bring me back, because she found me right when it happened."

Attina narrowed her eyes at her. "Why didn't you just swim?"

"I can't swim. And I hit my head."

Narrow eyes widened in surprise and realization. "You can't swim?"

Lara frowned. "I grew up near the ocean, not in it. Sorry if it's not second nature to me."

"Even if she knew how to swim, Attina, it wouldn't have helped," said Ariel. "The sea was too rough. If I hadn't used the ring I wouldn't have made it in time."

She rose and went to stand beside Lara. "Right after I got her to shore a giant wave came at us. I didn't have my legs back so I couldn't run. Lara woke up and put some sort of a barrier around us." She placed a hand on her shoulder. "If she hadn't used her magic neither of us would be standing here right now. That's the third time she's saved my life. I'd say she's more than earned my trust."

There was quiet in the room. Melody could have sworn she heard the gears moving in her aunt's heads as they let this new information sink in.

Alana rose from her seat. "Ariel's not the only one you've protected, Lara. You and I didn't start on friendly terms either because of something I said. But you still rescued me from those pirates, and you kept Ariel safe from the seaclops. I'm grateful for it, and I'll never forget it. If Ariel trusts you, then I do too."

"So do I," added Aquata as she stood. "Witch—sorry, sorceress or not, you're fine by me. Sounds kind of cool, actually."

"Aquata!" exclaimed Arista. "Are you serious? She's—!"

"Saved your life as well, Arista," added Andrina from her seat. "And yours too, Adella, Attina. Did you forget that skin…uh…"

Lara coughed "assassin" to help Andrina along and remind her of the consequence for speaking about the nyctophiles.

"That assassin wanted to flay us? Lara fought it alone so we could escape. Do you think any of you would be here if she hadn't? I don't know about you three, but I honestly don't care if she has magic. If anything I'm glad, because it means Cora and Nora are that much safer with her around."

Andrina glanced at her younger sister's stomach. "And that goes for your child too, Arista. If I were you, I'd care more about who Lara is than what she is, because that 'witch' protected both of you."

Adella looked to Eric. "I don't have much to add," he said Eric she could get a word off. "Only that Ariel and I promised Lara she would have our support. I'll stand by that, regardless of what you or even Triton says."

Melody had never seen someone look as awestruck or genuinely touched as Lara looked at that moment. She looked like she might cry from gratitude for such strong support. She looked to her, eyes asking if this was really happening. Melody gave her a thumbs up and a smile.

Adella looked like she wanted to say something, but she chose not to. Arista laid a hand over her belly, clearly reflecting on her sister's words.

"Father isn't going to be happy about this, Ariel," said Attina, purposefully ambiguous to whether she meant Lara's magic or revealing the truth about their aquatic origin.

"She was going to find out sooner or later," said Ariel. "With everything she's done for us she deserves to know the truth. I'm the one who told her, so I'll deal with daddy. Now…Lara, are you ready?"

Lara swallowed and nodded. "Yeah, I think so."

Melody followed Lara back to her seat. She saw Attina and Adella's eyes following her like seals watching a shark swim by, neither fleeing but not lowering their guard as Lara took the chair at the head of the table. For two siblings that had been raised around magic their entire lives, she could not understand their fear of Lara's. Still, it should not have been terribly surprising that at least some of her aunts would not be so open to the idea of a mage in the palace with them. Melody took the seat next to Lara, hoping if she showed them she was not afraid it would ease their skepticism.

Lara did not talk right away. She sat there for a little while, hands folded and resting against her chin. She looked nervous, more than Melody had ever seen. Seeing someone who ran with sword drawn towards dangers brave men fled from looking nervous was somewhat unsettling.

Finally Lara lowered her hands from her face. "I know your story now. And like I told Ariel and Melody, it's safe with me. So it's only fair that I tell you mine. But before I start I'll warn you…mine isn't pretty. There's a lot of things I'd rather not remember, hence why I don't talk about it. So bear with me if I have to take my time."

Melody leaned forward as Lara took a breath and started.

"I'm not sure where I was born exactly. I know it on the coast, sort of like Seahaven but not so well kept or sunny. Just a small fishing town in some kingdom. It wasn't bad though. The people were fine, if a bit gruff. And the town itself was decent. Our house was small and kind of run down, but it was home to the two of us."

"The two of you?" said Melody.

"My mom and I."

"What about your father?" asked Ariel. "He was a mercenary, right? He's the one who taught you to use a sword."

"That's my adopted dad," said Lara. "And I'll get to him later. As for my birth father, I never knew him and I don't know anything about him. I don't know if he died or left mom, or she left him. She never said anything about him either. Point is he was never in the picture."

Ariel's face fell. "Oh…I'm sorry."

Lara shook her head. "Don't be. Mom did fine raising me by herself, though it had to be hard on her sometimes. We weren't rich or always well off, so she had to work hard so we could eat. I wasn't the healthiest kid either, so that didn't make it any easier. I got sick a lot. Weak body is what the doctor said. All you had to do was sneeze around me and I'd be in bed with some bug. I got worn out easy too, so I didn't spend as much time out with the other kids as I would've liked."

"What was your mother like?" asked Ariel.

A small smile played over Lara's lips, her eyes becoming distant with memory. "Actually, she kinda looked like you, Ariel. Except for the hair and eyes. Hers were brown. She was caring, kind, funny, smart, loving…she was just a great person. You all would've liked her. Everyone in town did. Always wanting to help people just because she could, even with me to look after. She just made people feel happy. But make her angry or disobey her and…well, I got my ear twisted and a hard talking to a few times. Definitely deserved it too for…anyway."

Lara's eyes suddenly brightened. "Oh, and she could cook! You should've come by our house when she was cooking! You've never smelled anything so good! She used to sing while she did it." Her smile faded slightly. "Mom used to sing all the time. She said it made her happy, even when she was sad or angry. I sort of learned by copying, and when I got good enough I would sing for her."

"You can sing?" asked Aquata.

"When I feel like it. I only sang for mom. It was the least I could do for her given all she did for me. We didn't have the perfect life, and it wasn't always comfortable. But we were happy because we had each other. I loved her and she loved me. That was more than enough. It was all we needed."

Something occurred to Melody as she listened. Lara kept using past tense to refer to her mother. She hoped she was wrong about the reason. "Lara, you keep saying your mom was. Is she…?"

"Dead? Yeah."

A lump formed in everyone's throats. The atmosphere was suddenly much more somber, tainted by the grim information. Melody felt that leaden guilt returning to her gut. "Lara, I'm so sorry! What I said earlier, I—!"

"You didn't know," said Lara.

"What happened?"

Lara folded her arms over her chest. She took a full minute of silence before speaking. "Pirates."

Already Melody could tell this story was about to become very painful for Lara. The edge in her voice held anger, sorrow, and no shortage of pain. It was how her own voice sounded when she talked about William. She had a feeling she was about to find out the origin of Lara's hatred of pirates.

"They came at night," continued Lara. "I don't think anyone heard them till the cannons started. They set fire to the town and looted it. Anyone who got in their way was killed. Everyone who surrendered or couldn't fight back got taken prisoner. Mom and I tried to run but they caught us. We were taken to the ship with everyone else and thrown in cages. They were going to sell us as slaves somewhere. Sable was the captain's name. Charybdis was the ship. You think those pirates from the docks were bad? They were pups compared to this bunch. You can't imagine a viler pack of sea rats with blacker souls than Sable and his crew. Genuine barbarians. Other pirates feared them they were so vicious. If it was him at the docks the other day he would've cut both Alana's ears off before negotiating, then started on her fingers for each minute after."

Alana clapped her hands to her ears, grateful to find them still there.

"First thing they did when they got out to sea was bring us all up on deck. Anyone who looked sick or old got picked out. Sable put them all on a chain and…" Lara gulped hard, her hands tightening. "He tied it to the anchor and dropped it."

Everyone gasped loudly. Melody covered her mouth in horror. "You mean he—!?"

"Yeah, he killed them. They wouldn't make good slaves, and anything less than that wouldn't make him money. So they were garbage to him. Mom kept me from seeing, but I heard them." Lara shuddered. "I'll never get the sound of them screaming and clawing at the deck out of my head. But Sable wasn't done. He started looking for someone to 'make an example of'so the rest of us wouldn't get ideas about escaping or fighting back. Guess who he chose? Me."

"He would kill a child!?" exclaimed Ariel.

"He would've done it with his bare hands if it wasn't easier to just shoot me. He tried to drag me out, but mom wouldn't let him. I kept my eyes closed, but I could hear him hitting her again and again. Then he released me and started screaming. I saw his hand bleeding and mom with blood on her face. She bit two of his fingers off."

Melody saw Lara's arms start trembling, her golden eyes glassing with moisture. She was clearly struggling to say what came next. "Sable, he…he put her against the rail and made me watch as he shot her. Put a bullet in her stomach, then her heart, and then in her head. The last time I saw my mom he threw her over the side of the ship."

Melody felt sick. Not just at the horror of what Lara said, but remembering what she said to her. What would a freak like you know about being loved? She said that to someone whose mother died trying to protect her. Lara saw her mother die when she was only a child. Lara should have left the bruises on her.

"Sable didn't kill me," continued Lara. "And he didn't sell me like everyone else. I was the kid of the woman who crippled his hand, so he was gonna get payback using me in mom's place. I became the ship's private slave and punching bag. My job was anything and everything they said. If I they didn't like how I did it, I got beaten. And they found plenty of reasons. I didn't get their food fast enough—beating. I got it too fast—beating. A rope was loose—beating. I was sick—beating. They got bored—beating. It was raining—beating. You name it, I got bruises and busted lips for it. No one was gonna help me, or show mercy no matter how much I cried and pleaded. I stopped asking for both after the first three months. Fighting back didn't do much better, but at least I got bites and scratches in on them. When Sable was in a really depraved mood they'd stick me in a metal cage and tie meat to it. They'd chum the water and then drop me in with the sharks. They'd come after the meat, and once that was gone they'd come after me. Or sometimes they'd hang me off the front of the ship just to tease them. Shark baiting, they called it. They found all sorts of ways to hurt me, but Sable never let them kill me. He wanted me alive, and made sure I stayed that way."

She turned to Melody. Her eyes were glazed over with pain and memory, yet there was deadness to them as well. A dark that made Melody's hair stand on end. "You asked me how anyone could hate the ocean. It's because all it ever brought me was pain and fear. It's left scars on me, and I don't just mean physical ones. I'm still terrified of the ocean because of it. I can't swim because I could never learn. I can't even get in past my waist before I start panicking."

"Why didn't you try to escape?" asked Attina, her suspicions softened slightly by sympathy.

Lara turned her eyes down to the table. "Because I wanted revenge."

Now Melody knew what that darkness in Lara's eyes was. It was the hunger for vengeance. She should have recognized it earlier. She had it in her eyes once too.

"Sable killed my mom," said Lara, a dangerous edge in her voice as she gripped the arm of her chair so hard the wood creaked. "I wanted him dead. I wanted to kill him more than anything else. And I tried, too. I stole knives, planted gunpowder, used poison—sometimes I just went right at him. But I never got him. I was a little kid. He was a hardened killer with a whole crew at his disposal. He thought it was amusing so he put up with it. I got plenty of beatings for it too. That was basically my life for two years. Hungry, battered, miserable, angry, and no one I could turn to for help. I was completely on my own. In that time Sable and his crew only got more violent and more notorious. Everywhere they went they slaughtered, looted and burned. They spent their gold as fast as they stole it. They weren't looking to store up a huge pile and then retire. They enjoyed piracy. The fouler and bloodier their crimes got, the higher their reward went and the fewer people were willing to go after them. I saw a lot of bad things because of that ship. Raiding, killing, raping, torture, executions, people bought and sold like property. It was a bad place for a kid to be."

Lara stood up and walked to the window, staring out over the sea. "Then they went too far. Sable caught word about some sort of treasure ship setting sail. They tracked it down, killed the entire crew and took everything, right down to the gold buttons on the officer's jackets. It was the biggest haul I'd seen them take. It didn't take long for word to get out. All that killing and piracy had gotten too much attention. The reward offered more if they were brought in dead than alive. Within a week there were entire fleets from different nations out hunting the Charybdis. Newer and faster ships as well, and not overfilled with treasure. It didn't take long for them to appear on the horizon. By nightfall they were closing in. The fog started rolling in, so Sable ordered the ship dark and silent and his men broke out oars. Every single light out, no one making any noise as they moved off course. The fleet ships started going right by thinking the pirates were still in front of them."

Lara grit her teeth, hands clenched tight in anger. "But I wasn't gonna let him get away. Not this time. This time, I was gonna make him and his entire crew pay for what they'd done. Not just to my mom and me, but everyone they ever hurt. I was gonna drag them down to the Pit if it was the last…"

Melody must have let her fright at the anger in Lara's voice show on her face, because she stopped when she saw her. Her expression quickly softened, almost apologetic. "Sorry. I didn't mean to startle you. This isn't the easiest stuff for me to talk about."

Melody gave what she hope was a forgiving smile. "It's all right."

Lara gave a small smile then walked back to her chair. "Since everyone was either rowing or trying to be quiet it was easy for me to sneak around. I stuffed as much gunpowder into my pockets as I could, stole some flint and climbed up to the sails. I dumped the powder in the highest one and lit it. Problem was I didn't think past that. The sails caught fire way faster than I anticipated. I was barely starting down before it jumped to the other sails. The crew tried to get the fires out, but they couldn't because the flames were too high up. The fleet ships saw and started turning. They didn't ask for surrender or give a warning shot. They just threw everything they had at the Charybdis at once. One of their shots must've set off the powder magazine, because suddenly the whole front of the ship blew up. It threw their treasure out like bullets and killed a good number of them. The main mast protected me, but something still grazed my eye. That's how I got this scar."

She grabbed the end of her breast wrap and started unwinding it. Embarrassed flush came to Melody's cheeks. "Lara, what are you—?"

"Sable must've seen me while I was up there or something," continued Lara. "I just needed a glance at him to know that he knew I started the fire. I tried to run for the water, hoping I could float on some of the debris. He got my legs with grapeshot from a swivel gun before I could make it."

Eric's eyes widened. "The scars on your legs…those aren't from that girl, are they?"

Lara shook her head. She covered herself as the last of the wrap came free. "I was using them to make a point about how dangerous she is. Sorry. Anyway, the cannon crippled me. All I could do was drag myself over the deck. Rev'aln."

A streak of white flames raced over Lara's back and quickly went out. If it caused her any pain she did not show it, though it made most everyone flinch away.

"I almost got to the water, but Sable got to me first. He dragged me away, grabbed a broken knife…" Slowly Lara turned her back to them. She reached behind and pulled her hair aside. "And did this."

Melody could not contain the horrified scream that came out her mouth, nor could Ariel or any of her sisters. Eric's face paled white as a sheet, and Sarah covered her mouth to keep from shrieking.

It looked as though someone tried to carve out Lara's spine. Long scars ran from the middle of her neck down the entire length of her back, disappearing below the waist of her pants. They were misshapen and pale, raised above the rest of her skin. Their edges were jagged and rough as saw blades. The knife had not cut so much as ripped into her.

"Now you know why I keep this hidden," said Lara, not looking back to them. "I was hurt by that demon and his crew almost every day for two years. I've felt pain again and again since then. Nothing's ever come close to the agony that knife caused me. I stopped screaming when I lost my voice. I wanted him to just stab me and end it, but he just kept going."

Melody shakily stood up, causing Lara to glance back to her as she approached.

"He…did this to you?" she asked, her voice wavering with shock.

Lara only nodded.

For some reason Melody felt compelled to touch the scars. Maybe to confirm her fears that it was real. Or her hopes that it was not. She looked to Lara, her expression asking wordless permission. Lara waited a moment, and then slowly nodded. Melody brought her hand to Lara's neck and gently touched. Lara flinched but said nothing. Slowly Melody traced her fingers down, following the disturbing marks along her spine her. She could feel every bump and indent of her vertebra as she went, all in proper place beneath the scars. She traced to the small of her back before stopping, eyes following it the rest of the way down.

She almost cried as she imagined a young Lara lying defenseless and screaming as that monster lay the broken knife into her again and again. How could anyone do this to another human being? To a child no less! It was unconscionable! Beyond barbaric! Evil! Just outright evil!

She stepped back, having to lean on the table as her legs started feeling weak. Sarah stepped up, examining Lara's back with more trained hands. The more she felt the more alarmed she looked, as though not wanting to believe what her medical knowledge and senses were telling her.

"In the name of—he did this with a knife!? Lara, he must've cut into your nerves! It's a miracle you're still alive, much less moving! How did you not bleed to death!?"

Lara stepped away and quickly wrapped herself before turning to address the table. "I don't know how I got away from him. Maybe Sable got killed before he could finish. Maybe the ship blew up again. Maybe I managed to crawl away and don't remember it. I woke up lying on part of the deck floating in the middle of the ocean. No Charybdis, no Sable, no navy, and no land or ship in sight. Don't ask me how long I was out there or how I didn't die, because I really don't know. I kept coming in and out of consciousness for seconds at a time, sometimes at night and other times in the day. I wanted to stay knocked out because of how horrible the pain was. Eventually I started wishing I could die so it would stop."

Melody tried to wrap her head around the idea of a pain so terrible she wished she would die as she sat heavily in her chair. Actually, she had a pretty good grasp of how terrible that pain could be. Emotional torments could be just as unbearable as physical pain.

Lara pulled her chair out and sat down again. "Eventually the currents brought me to a shore somewhere."

Lara suddenly smiled. It was such a genuine heartfelt smile Melody forgot her shock at Lara's disfigured back. She looked like she was remembering something truly happy, not a nightmare of pain and loss. It must have been a very warm and pleasant thought to make her smile after the dark and terrible tale she just told.

"That's where my dad found me," said Lara.

"You mean your adoptive dad, right?" asked Eric.

Lara glanced up and frowned at him. "As far as I'm concerned he was my real dad."

Another lump formed in Melody's throat. That word again. "Was?"

Lara's face became pained for a moment, but then she shook her head. "He found me on the beach. He said he thought I was dead until I swatted at a gull that was pecking me. He brought me back to his home. He tried to fix my spine with just medicine, but Sable really did a number on me. The damage was just too much. So when medicine didn't work he turned to magic. Yeah, my father wasn't a mercenary. He was a sorcerer. And a very strong one."

Lara pointed to her eyes. "There were some side effects from what he did. I wasn't born with these. I had brown ones like mom. I still took a while to heal, but without magic and someone as skilled and powerful as him I'd probably be paralyzed or dead. Thanks to that, and a lot of care and food, soon I could run, jump and move better than I ever could. A few months later I was completely healed. I wasn't as strong or fast as I am now, but I was stronger than I had ever been."

Lara looked at her hand, opening and closing it a few times. "I can't tell you how amazing it felt. To not only run and jump around again, but to be free of those pirates and that ship. I didn't have to scavenge food scraps or find places to hide for the night. I didn't have to live in fear every day. I didn't listen to screaming or cannon fire. I was somewhere safe with someone who wanted to help me. When I healed completely he gave me a choice. He would take me to a town somewhere and find a family that would take care of me. Or, if I wanted, I could stay with him."

Melody did not need to say it, but she did anyway. "You chose to stay."

Lara laughed. "Of course I did! How could I say no? He saved my life! I couldn't leave without finding some way to repay him! And where was I gonna go anyway? My old home was nothing but ash. And I didn't want to get dropped off with some random people. He was the first person to show me any kindness in a long time. I had to stay. To be honest, I think he was hoping I would. He seemed lonely. Not many visitors where we lived."

She tilted her head back and smiled at the ceiling. "It wasn't the same as with mom. I never had a dad, and he never had a kid. It was a learning process for both of us. It wasn't till a year later that I started calling him that, but he seemed happy when I did. He did the best he could, and I love him for that. He was as good a parent as mom was. Thanks to him I had a home, and food, and mile after mile of mountains to roam in. He gave me everything I needed, even if sometimes I didn't want it."

Melody did not see the little knowing grin Ariel sent her.

Lara reached into her pocket, pulling out a red marble around a chord. "He gave me this for my tenth birthday."

Melody leaned closer to see what it was. Her eyes widened when she saw the red was actually a flame. A burning, living flame inside the pendant. It was enchanting to watch the oranges, reds and yellows dancing within the glass, more dazzling than any jewel. "It's so pretty!"

"He gave me these too," said Lara, running her finger over the spikes in her left ear down to the rings. "I got the tattoos when I turned twelve."

"Your father gave you piercings and tattoos?" said Adella, who sounded like she wanted to have a very stern talk with Lara's father about what were appropriate gifts to one's child.

"Wasn't that painful?" asked Melody.

"One of the benefits of dad knowing magic." Lara grinned as she tied her pendant around her neck. "It's a way of being closer to him. And I think they look good. But he wasn't a big softie with me. He could get pretty strict, and his lessons could be a bit…rough. Made him angry once—never did it again. And he definitely didn't know how to sing! Talk about someone who's tone deaf…yikes! I'd never really been to school either, so he made himself my teacher. He had a huge library for me to learn from. More books than I ever thought possible. He taught me how to read and write, and how to fight and use a sword. He taught me his magic too, so I'd never be a victim to someone like Sable again. But he also taught me not to become one of the villains, when to run and when to fight, and when it was best no to do anything at all. He steered me away from revenge and to use what he'd given me for what I knew was right. He didn't just teach me how to use a sword but when. Doesn't mean I always listened to him, but I didn't disappoint him either. And he told the best stories."

Lara held her pendant up to her face, smiling nostalgically. "Like I said, as far as I'm concerned he was my real father. Because I can't imagine having a better one."

"What happened to him?" asked Melody.

Lara's expression fell as she tied the pendant around her neck. "I don't know."

Melody cocked her head slightly. That was not the response she was expecting. "You don't know?"

Lara shook her head. "It happened five years ago. One night I went to sleep like I always did. When I woke up I was in the middle of a forest with a bunch of thugs debating how much they could get if they sold me as a slave. I knocked them out, took what I could off them and ran. The only things I had from home were my clothes, my knives, my sword, and my pendant. I don't know what happened to dad or how I got there, but I'm certain he's dead."

"But you said you don't know what happened," said Alana. "How can you know for sure?"

"Because he would've found me by now if he was. With his power it'd be easy. He promised that if I ever needed his help he would come. In five years I've never found a trace of anything to suggest he's still alive, so…" Lara traced the tattoo on her left arm. "And even if our home's still out there, I can't find it because I can't remember where it is. I've searched my memories again and again, poured over every map I could get my hands on, hunted down one potion and magical relic after the other looking for answers, and it's no good. I remember home itself. I remember what the mountains looked like in each season. I remember sledding down the hill outside, and watching the snowfall beside our campfires when we were out. I remember the aspen glade where dad gave me his sword. I remember the wolf pack that denned up in a boulder cave ten miles away, and that the eagles had a nest in the lighting-struck tree to the south. But I can't remember where any of that is. I couldn't even tell you where to start looking. It's just a giant blank spot, like I never knew in the first place."

"Did you know where you were?" asked Andrina. "When you woke up, I mean."

"No…" There it was again. That tone in Lara's voice and the look in her eyes that told Melody her guardian was about to go through more memories she did not want to remember. "But I found out soon enough. I was in a province called Hun-Rao, part of the eastern kingdoms."

"I've never heard of Hun-Rao, or the eastern kingdoms," said Eric.

"I'm not surprised. You know that desert on the other side of the mountains?" asked Lara.

"The Sand Ocean? Of course. It's supposed to be endless."

"It's not. On the other side they call it the Devil's Steppe. I crossed it to get here."

Melody's eyes widened. She did not know a lot about the Sand Ocean, but she knew its name came from its sheer size. It was a literal ocean's worth of barren sand. The accounts she read and heard described an infinite plane of it stretching for many horizons. It was inhospitable and uncrossable in the extreme. Getting to it meant going through the White Iron Mountains, which were notorious for their sudden blizzards and treacherous paths. Only the ambitious and the foolish dared to venture into that natural furnace, quickly driven back to the comforts of home by the blistering dry air and absolute vacancy of water.

"On the other…you mean the eastern kingdoms are on the other side of that?" exclaimed Eric.

Lara nodded.

"You crossedthat on your own?"

"Magic, remember? Otherwise I wouldn't have made it."

"What's it like in the eastern kingdoms?" asked Ariel, her adventurous curiosity piqued.

The air around Lara changed as though Ariel had flipped a switch. Melody had never seen Lara look so haunted. That distant glazed look came back to her eyes, but now there was hollowness in them. She saw a quiver come to Lara's hands as her face got paler. She had a bad feeling about this.

"It's night and day to here. In every way you can imagine. People are hungry, and poor, and dirty, and desperate. Orphans are everywhere because their parents abandoned them or died. People turn to whatever they have to in order to escape misery, whether it's begging, crime, or drugs or drinking. The worst sort of criminals run free because no one's strong or brave enough to stop them, and most don't care. The rulers…almost all of them are a disgrace compared to here. They're tyrants and thieves. They hoard up wealth so they can get fat and spoiled while everyone else starves in the dirt and mud. The towns are ruins. And the wars…the wars never stop. If it's not between gangs it's between towns. If not towns then kingdoms, and if not them then empires. Just non-stop fighting with more destructive and creative ways to do it. Entire forests have been stripped, and whole kingdoms left in ruin. You wondered why I was so reluctant to tell you all I had magic? Because magic is considered the worst form of heresy over there. Religions call it an offense to whatever god or gods they follow, while everyone else calls it evil. It doesn't matter if you use it for good. You can be the most generous and kindhearted person the world's ever seen, but if you have magic you're evil by default. You're barely even human anymore. Anyone who practices it ends up a target for mage hunters, and there are big rewards for it. The ones that do survive are the worst. Dark witches and warlocks who practice black magic, and use it to terrorize the masses."

She looked up over the table, not noticing her voice growing louder and her trembling more prominent. "I spent the first two years there trying to find a way home, but the last three were just trying to survive. I wasn't just a woman, or an 'exotic'as the slaver's called me. I had magic, and that was enough to validate whatever they wanted do to me! If they didn't want to rape or rob or enslave me, then they wanted to kill me for the reward they'd get! Almost every week I had someone after my head! Day after day I fought just to keep them off my back! The more hunters I put down the higher my bounty went, and the more they came after me! And the more that came the more I had to…I had to…!"

Melody knew something was wrong. Lara had gone frighteningly pale. Beads of sweat started forming on her face. Her breathing was fast and sharp with panic, as though she were running for her life. Now it was not just her arms, but her whole body was shaking. Her hands kept clenching and unclenching over and over, as though trying to grab something. Her eyes were even wider, staring down at nothing but clearly seeing something. Her mouth hung open, making quiet sounds somewhere between a cry and choking.

"Lara? Lara?"

Lara was not aware that it happened, but suddenly she was no longer in the dining hall. She was not even in Seahaven. She was back on that distant battlefield. Screams filled the air with their songs of fear and agony. She smelled the acrid stench of burned corpses and gun smoke. Fires burned with the colors of chemical fuels, dark towers of smoke rising to the blood red sun. Distant gunfire and thunder of cannons sounded. The corpses were crawling towards her now, dark unseeing sockets fixed on her as they dragged themselves. They moaned and screamed as they closed in, encircling her from all sides.

"Murderer!"

"Witch!"

"Monster!"

"Killer!"

She backed away, only to feel hands grab her ankles. She spun around to see a pair of the dead had ahold of her, their cloudy eyes glaring up at her. Even dead and rotting she recognized them. They were a pair of bandits she crossed paths with.

"You killed us!" they shrieked, clawing their way up her legs. "You killed us!"

"No! Get away!" screamed Lara, wrenching out of their grip. They fell to the ground, immediately crumbling to pieces like flakes of burned paper, blowing away in the wind. Her heel caught on an arrow and she tripped back. She needed her sword. Where was her sword? Her knives? Any sort of weapon! Without one she would be—!

"Lara!"

Suddenly the battlefield and dead vanished. She was in the palace again. She was on the floor, her chair knocked over and skin damp with frightened perspiration as she clutched her head. She felt cold, as though left in night's chill with nothing to warm herself. The panic-pumped adrenaline was making her breaths hard and fast as her racing hart, eyes darting about the blurry room.

She flinched as a hand clutched her arm. She blanched at the pale dead face before her. They followed her! The dead followed her out of that hellish landscape into reality! They had her now! She could feel its cold dead grip on her as it prepared to lunge for her throat. She grabbed its wrist and wrenched its hand free.

"Ow! Lara!"

She blinked, bringing the world back to full clarity. No, not dead faces. Sarah's face, very much alive and looking as concerned as Melody beside her. She was trying to pry Lara's hand off her wrist.

"Lara! Snap out of it!" said Sarah. "It's me!"

"S-Sarah?" She quickly released her. "But you were…I thought you…"

Sarah rubbed her wrist, the cuff red from how hard Lara gripped her. She quickly put a hand on Lara's forehead then took her wrist and lightly pressed two fingers to it. Ever the doctor, even after her "patient" almost snapped her wrist.

"Are you all right, Lara?" asked Ariel as she rushed over, Eric indicating to her sisters that they should remain where they were as he followed after.

"What happened to you?" asked Melody. "You were talking and then you just froze up. You looked like you'd seen a ghost."

"It's nothing," lied Lara as she got to her feet. "I'm fine."

"No you're not!" said Sarah firmly. "You're chilled, your whole body's shaking, and your heart's going faster than I thought hearts could! If I didn't know any better I'd say you had a full-blown panic attack! You're definitely not all right!"

Lara looked down at her hand. It was indeed shaking, just like the rest of her. She could feel her heart hammering away in her chest, slowly winding down its frantic pace.

Fine? The only one she was kidding here was herself. She barely started talking about the east and she got dragged into her memories. She could deny it all she wanted, but she was definitely not okay. In the last twelve hours she had a terrifying nightmare, attacked Melody, almost drowned, revealed her identity as a mage, and just spilled out most of her life story and caused herself to have another flashback. The day was taking its toll even on her.

She bit the inside of her lip. This was so frustrating. Kodama said the answer to getting rid of these episodes would come from herself. What was that supposed to mean? And now that her medicine was loosing its efficacy she felt even more pressured to find one. But how was she supposed to find an answer when a hundred different nightmares were waiting inside her head, all of which the medicine of a forest spirit was losing its ability to keep at bay?

Sarah turned to Ariel and Eric. "Your majesties, forgive me if I speak out of line, but as Lara's friend and a doctor-in-training I can't recommend continuing. It's just a guess, but I think her memories are what triggered this. I'm worried about what could happen if she goes through another one. If you please, end this here. At least for now."

Lara suddenly felt very small and embarrassed. Of all the times for that to happen, it had to be now. Right in front of everyone she was dragged back into her nightmares. She thought she might have the mental fortitude to go wading back through those last five years, but it seemed those were still too much for her.

"I agree," said Ariel. "I think that's enough for today. And please, you don't have to be so formal. Just Ariel is fine."

Sarah gulped in amazement, astounded at the queen's request for first names. "Uh…as you wish, your maj—I mean, Ariel."

Ariel smiled then turned her focus to Lara. "I think you've earned a rest, Lara. I'm grateful you'd share this with us, but I don't want you to force yourself if it's too difficult. Why don't you and Melody take a quiet day in? It'll be lunch soon anyway."

As though on cue Lara's stomach growled loudly. She blushed brightly, embarrassed as giggles broke out some of the princesses.

"I think your stomach likes that idea," said Aquata teasingly.

"Shut up," mumbled Lara.

Melody laughed and headed for the door, beckoning for Lara to follow. "Mom, we'll take lunch up in my room."

Lara quickly said goodbye to Sarah and followed after her. This all felt so strange still, as though she was walking through a half-reality. Mere hours ago she threatened to break Melody's head in because of a sentence spoken in a moment of anger. Now she just spilled most of her life's story to her and her family, entrusting them with the secret of her magic and the knowledge of her past. In return, they entrusted her with the secret of Ariel's mermaid heritage. It made sense to exchange such secrets, though. Now they both had leverage on each other to prevent someone ratting them out if…

Lara shook her head. That was how things worked in the east. It was not how life went here. Ariel did not want her story for leverage, nor did Lara want hers for such a purpose. Ariel genuinely trusted her, as did Eric, Aquata, Alana, and Andrina. Even after learning about her magic, something that made her a target for persecution and mage hunters in the east, they openly affirmed their confidence in her. They said they trusted her with their lives. It felt strange to have someone defend her for once after so many years without it. Maybe the other three were not so keen, but she doubted Ariel would not have brought them in if she thought they could not be trusted, or at least reasoned with.

As for Melody, it was too early to tell how things would go now they had agreed to start over. Their issues were not going to resolve in the matter of a day or even a week. And just saying they were starting with a blank slate did not mean they could ignore the past. But Lara had to admit that whatever thinking Melody did after their confrontation had caused a significant change in the girl. The Melody she decked earlier hardly cared one way or another about Lara, until she got in her way that is. She was distant and sorrowful, always forcing smiles and snapping at her. These smiles she was showing now were not forced, and she seemed sincere. She was lighter, as though a significant burden had been lifted off her after they laughed together. The Melody walking in front of her was like a different person. Was this the Melody that Ariel had talked about? The spirited, tomboyish, adventurous if sometimes stubborn princess who dreamed of the sea as her mother once dreamed of the land?

The corner of Lara's mouth lifted in a trace grin, the tremble in her body fading. If it was this Melody, maybe things could be different this time around.

"What are you getting?" asked Melody, watching from the window seat as Lara fished around in her pack. The brunette made a comical picture with her tongue sticking out the side of her mouth as she dug around, trying to see inside the pack with her hand. Her sword was propped nearby, it and the shadowsilk cloak folded atop the bed. She was back to herself, not the frightened survivor of pirates and the eastern kingdoms they witnessed earlier.

"You remember that friend I went to get my sword from?" asked Lara.

"The one you took the tree branches and blossoms to?" said Melody.

"That's the one. Aha!" Lara withdrew her hand, opening it to reveal two small dark pellets. "He made these for me."

Melody leaned closer. They looked completely unremarkable, almost like flecks of dirt. "What are they?"

"They keep me from having…episodes like downstairs." Lara popped them into her mouth and quickly swallowed. Not fast enough if the sour look she made was an indication. "Bleugh! Taste awful though."

"By chance, is this friend of yours magical as well?" asked Melody

"I don't know if I'd call him 'magical,' but he has magic. And he's cryptic. And old. He talks with this really ancient-sounding speech. It's all 'thou art' and 'come thee hither' stuff. It takes some getting used to, but he's always honest at least."

"Sounds like quite a person."

Lara rolled her eyes. "You have no idea. Caceo."

White flames ran down Lara's back, causing Melody to jump. The waved and burned for a moment before disappearing, hiding her scar beneath flawless skin once more.

"Doesn't that hurt?" asked Melody.

"Not the least," said Lara. She scratched behind her ears. "You know, this is kind of weird."

"What is?" asked Melody.

"You talking to me and all. Yesterday we barely exchanged a dozen sentences. Now we're trying to start over with all that behind us."

Though it stung, Melody understood. She had to admit this was strange to her as well. She felt as though she had woken up from a dream, now adjusting from one reality to another. She knew they would not repair their relationship overnight. There were bad habits she would have to break, and she was bound to slip up along the way. But at least the two of them were talking now. It was a start.

She was still letting Lara's story sink in. It was hard to imagine a person could endure that much suffering and still smile. To have her mother murdered before her eyes. To spend years being abused at the hands of ruthless, cold-hearted criminals like this Sable she spoke of. To gain a new home and a father she never had, only to wake up one day and find them gone. And she still knew nothing definitive about what Lara endured in the east, but she was sure it was no less trying. And yet Lara was still Lara. She laughed. She smiled. She joked. She lived. She was not broken and hiding away in self-pity and sorrow, though neither was she unfazed by her ordeals. Clearly she had her own traumas to work through. There were cracks in her, but she was not about to shatter if touched. What sort of spirit and fortitude did she possess to not give into despair?

Melody shifted so her back was resting against the wall. "Lara, why didn't you leave the eastern kingdoms earlier? They sound terrible. Why would you stay there for so long?"

"I wanted to," said Lara, adjusting her wrap and goggles. "And terrible isn't a strong enough word for it. But I didn't know where else to go since I can't remember where home is. And if leaving the east was easy I think most people would've done it already. Farther east is the sea, and that's swarming with pirates and all sorts of monsters further out. South is more desert, and the north is 'cursed.'"

Melody straightened up slightly. "Cursed? What do you mean?"

Lara sat on the edge of Melody's bed to face her. "Apparently there was an entire empire up there a long time ago, but they were toying with some sort of weapon and it blew up in their faces. It poisoned the water, the air, the earth—everything. Whatever it is it's made the land completely dead. People have gone in and come back perfectly healthy then fall apart and die weeks later. I didn't want to risk it even with my healing. But things got so bad over there I decided to risk the desert and…well, here I am."

She flopped back on the bed and sighed. "Look, can we talk about something else? I'm still touchy about this stuff."

"Sure," Melody went and hopped onto the bed, sitting cross-legged. So far, so good. A few days ago this was more conversation than they would have in a week. "So…uh…your dad gave you your piercings? And your tattoos?"

Lara nodded. She offered an arm to Melody, allowing her to see the markings up close. She leaned in, reading over the strange writing under her skin.

"What does it say?" she asked.

"Not actually sure. He just said they were the marks of a sorceress. It was to signify I'd become his full-fledged apprentice."

"Did it really not hurt to get them?"

"Nope." Lara sat up, brushing her hair back to give Melody a better view of one of her spiked ears. "Almost painless."

Melody remembered how it felt to get her own ears pierced. The thought of having those spikes put in made her wince. "It didn't hurt to have those shoved through your ears?"

"If he just stabbed them through then yes, that would've hurt a lot!" Lara scratched her chin thoughtfully. "I think the best way I can describe it is he used magic like a pen and wrote them onto me."

A stab of gloom came to Melody, remembering the writing she read last night. Just like the many others she received over the past few weeks from her friends. She looked over to her vanity table, seeing the letter next to the now useless runaway note.

Lara followed her eyes to the table. "So I take it your friend's letter was the same as the others?"

Melody sighed, falling over into her pillows. "I invited Elaine here just to spend an afternoon together. Same response—I'd love to, but I can't because insert new reason here. This time it's relatives visiting from Glowerhaven."

Lara rolled herself backwards off the bed, walking over to the vanity to see the letter for herself. "Seems like they've always got an excuse…it's not me, is it?"

Melody shook her head. "No, I never mentioned you except that you're guarding me. It's just been one thing after another with them. First Gregory has a cold, then Elaine needs more tutoring because she's fallen behind, and then Rupert…you get the idea."

She sighed again. She seemed to be doing that a lot today. "I know I haven't been myself recently."

"No, really?" said Lara sarcastically. "I thought you were Princess of Groucherhaven!"

Melody arched an eyebrow at Lara, not sure if she wanted to groan or laugh at the joke. "Princess of Groucherhaven?"

Lara shrugged. "Hey, it's what I came up with."

Melody smiled and rolled her eyes, staring up at the ceiling. "Okay, I'll admit I wasn't just unfriendly with you. I was pretty cold to them for a while. But I'm starting to think I'm pounding on locked doors. It's just been one excuse after another not to see me. Not just Elaine, but all of them. It's like we're not friends anymore."

"Hey, Melody?"

She turned her head to Lara. She was reading the letter with a rather intense expression on her face.

"What?"

"Do you have any older letters from Elaine lying around?" asked Lara.

"Older?" asked Melody, confused by the question. "You mean like the one from last week?"

"No, I mean way older. Like before your birthday older."

"I have a few. Why?"

"Can I see them?" asked Lara.

"Why?" asked Melody as she left the bed.

"There's something bugging me about this letter."

Melody went to beside Lara, her curiosity piqued as she looked the letter over. She did not see anything odd about it. It was normal ink on normal paper in Elaine's normal hand. "What's bugging you?"

"That's the thing," said Lara. "I'm not sure. I need something to compare it with."

"Uh…okay." Melody went to her wardrobe, Lara following and still looking over the letter. She pulled out a drawer in the bottom, revealing papers stacked willy-nilly on top of each other. Their authors varied from friends to family, all kept for sentiment rather than content. No small number were from William. She needed to sort through them one day.

Melody pulled out a handful, quickly rifling through until she had five with Elaine's signature. "Here's a few."

Lara wordlessly accepted them as she knelt, laying them out in a row on the floor.

"What you're looking for?" asked Melody.

"Just a minute." Lara was silent as she read, golden eyes scanning each letter while glancing back and forth to the one in her hand. She continually muttered to herself, not in words but sounds that had some meaning only she was privy to. Melody read the letters for herself as she waited. There was nothing unique about them except perhaps their content, hence why they had been saved instead of eventually discarded.

Finally Lara collected the letters together and stood. "And all the letters they've sent since your birthday have all turned you down?"

"Not abruptly after," said Melody as she rose. "I wasn't very willing to meet with them for a while. Or anyone, really. But the last six weeks it's been almost the same. Lara, mind telling me what's going on?"

"I think this letter's a forgery."

Melody thought Lara had no more surprises for her today. Apparently she was dead wrong, because she succeeded in giving her a brand new one.

"A fake!?" she exclaimed. "You mean it's not real!?"

"Well, that's sort of the definition of…" Lara stopped at the wilting look she gave her. "I mean, yeah. I don't think it's genuine. "

Melody grabbed Elaine's letter, scanning over it with as much scrutiny and speed as she could combine. She scanned through once and then twice. She saw nothing wrong with it. Normal ink, normal page, normal script, all brought to her in a normal envelope. There was nothing to remotely suggest it was a forgery.

"But it looks normal!" she said.

"It's the writing." Lara picked out one of the older letters and held it next to the one Melody had. "Yeah, something looks off. See here? And here?"

Melody followed Lara's finger, pointing to certain letters in the script. Whatever Lara was seeing she was not. They looked the same to her. It was Elaine's writing, she was sure of it. She had read it many times before. She could not see any deviation between them.

"I don't see it," she said. "How can you tell it's a fake?"

Lara grinned sheepishly. "Uh…well, to be honest I'm not a hundred percent sure it is."

"How sure are you?"

"Maybe fifty-fifty? Forty-sixty?"

Melody gaped at Lara. She suddenly had an urge to tweak her nose. She dropped a shock like that on her, and she was not even sure herself about it. "This better not be one of your jokes, Lara. Because it's not funny!"

"No joke, I swear!" said Lara, holding up her hands defensively. "I'm not pulling your fin! I mean, leg! Wait…which one is it?"

"You just said it's a fake!"

"I said I think it's a fake!" clarified Lara. "If I was certain I would've said it is a fake."

Melody frowned at her. "So you have no idea?"

Lara opened her mouth to speak but stopped. She looked as though three candles had just lit in her head at once. She darted to her patchwork cloak, slinging it around her shoulders before grabbing her boots.

"Where are you going?" asked Melody, confused by Lara's sudden excitement.

"We are going into town!" she said excitedly as she tied off one boot. "Get something on your feet and grab a rain cloak! And bring those letters!"

"Wait, what—?" Melody darted aside as Lara zipped around the room, finding Melody's own shoes and rain cloak in record time. "What's gotten into you? Why are we going into town?"

"Because I can't tell if that letter's real or not!" said Lara as she quickly wrapped her shemagh on and adjusted her goggles on her head. "But I know someone who can!"

Melody found herself feeling as excited as Lara did. She set her letters down and quickly started putting on her shoes. "You do? Who?"

"Big Teddy's an expert with this sort of stuff! If anyone can spot a forgery, it's definitely him!"

"Big Teddy? Who's that?"

"You'll see when we find him!" Lara strapped her belt on and quickly tied her sword to it. "Come on! I know where he'll be!"

"Lara, wait!" Melody scrambled after Lara, tying on her last shoe as she clutched the letters in her teeth. "Where are we going?"

Lara flung the door open, turning back to grin at her. She looked like a kid on a treasure hunt. "To the best tavern in all of Seahaven!"

A/N: The roads we travel in life will inevitably cross through hardship, loss, and pain. For Lara, her path has taken her through pain few can imagine, and she bears the scars of the thorns she had been bled by. But that path has led her here, to a place where she has found the camaraderie and security she was denied in the war-torn lands across the desert. Though she and Melody have much to reconcile, and the trails they have tread are far and distant from each other, they can now take the road before them. Not as antagonists, but as friends.

Disclaimer: I do not own "The Little Mermaid" franchise, Disney, or any of its associated characters and intellectual property. Everything else, however, is mine =)