I'm so sorry - ack, wait. Forgot to say hello. HELLO! Okay now I'll launch into the apology. I'M SO SORRY ITS BEEN LIKE HALF A YEAR. I mentioned that I was in starting college in the beginning of the year? Yeah, well, I'm in college for creative writing. This means that I have written more in the past year than I have THE REST OF MY LIFE. Good GOD that was hard. And I did alright grade wise, thanks for asking. Lol, anyways! It's summer, which means I get my mermaid itches and that includes in my storytelling. So we're back in this wonderful world that is just only beginning to expand! Hopefully, hopefully, I get back to writing this kind of fun fantasy now that it is summer! I hope you enjoy this chapter and look forward to more, as the plot is beginning to come together. Bye for now, and remember, review! (Lol I wrote reviee and it sounded funny in my head. Just thought I'd mention that typo but not keep it)

Zen didn't mean to go to the beach again.

It was a horrible habit that always sent Garack and Yatsufusa into a frenzy, making them run down the dunes calling his name. Then, once they found him, Garack would examine his skull and make him go through a so called "sanity test" to see if he was alright. After all, what person in their right mind would want to go back to his almost grave?

But he couldn't help it. He remembered the pirates - the way they had spat on his boots and kicked at him. He remembered the night that he was taken from his honor guard on the way back to the castle - stolen from his own tent. He remembered the songs the pirates sang while they sang over the high seas. Out over the horizon, there wasn't much else to do but sing and make music. Unfortunately, away from all of land's expectations, the words turned crass and gaudy at best. One song Zen remembered was about mermaids and how absolutely stunning a night with one would be. It both repulsed him to remember the lyrics, and stirred something within him. Mermaids…

He had seen a real mermaid. Heck, he had kissed her, if his distorted memory was right.

Zen felt a blush rush to his cheeks at the memory. He scowled at his own embarrassment and ruffled his hair, discarding specks of sand from his fingers. Then he coughed heavily, feeling his eyes water with the pain of it rattling his chest. It felt as if the air wasn't what his lungs wanted to breathe. Then came the grueling pain, where it felt like his bones were trying to leave his body. He groaned, holding his stomach and resting his forehead on his knees. For a moment, the pain stayed. He thought about calling out for help, but just before he took in the breathe the pain began to fade. He slumped in relief and pulled himself back into a normal sitting position.

He was a Prince of the Clarines Kingdom, and the castle was no doubt throwing a silent tantrum over his whereabouts across the country. Garack insisted she would return him to the castle as soon as she was sure of his health. The random attacks of pain like he had just had kept pushing the recovery time. It was up to Yatsufusa to wait for a knight to come to the town and tell him of Zen's reappearance while the Prince himself healed. The poor man went out to the roads everyday to watch for someone he could trust to tell. If one did not appear by the time Zen was ready to travel, the three intended to make the week long journey to the castle themselves.

Zen let some sand trickle through his fingers again, finding the touch of it soothing. No one in the town had recognized him yet. There wasn't really anyone to, honestly. This little town was as far away from the castle as it could be, and Zen had never been here before. The drawings that they had of him in the local taverns were from when he was a mere child. He looked completely different, and the pictures were not in color to point out his white hair.

Zen picked at a piece of his hair. From so many days in the sun it had officially bleached into pure snow white. Usually, it was just little more blonde colored.

Even just lived in this port town for a few days, Zen could understand it. It felt like a tiny pocket of the world, like it's own island. Disconnected from the mountains behind it, it lived off the sea. Zen could see it as a retirement home, although retirement was nothing but a untouchable dream for the likes of royal blood like himself.

Zen considered the town's ignorance and isolation a blessing. He was not in the right mind space to face his royal life. All Zen wanted was to try and sort out his jumbled memories. He had a sinking feeling that the answers lie in the very far, unforgiving ocean.

Zen gasped at a memory of a sound - the sound of soft singing. He jumped to his feet, and the world turned purple. He slipped on nothing and fell back to the sand with a groan. "Okay, not ready for fast motions." He noted. He took a minute to steady his breathing, then pulled himself from the soft sand. He brushed away the grains and found a little hermit crab had grabbed the lapel of his jacket. He sighed and removed it delicately, and set it down on the sand. He stood again, listening. Eventually, he slumped. Somehow, the gentle lullaby of the waves eating at the sand had sounded like a woman's voice to him for a moment. A familiar voice.

Zen took a step back. "Maybe I am crazy." He thought out loud, his voice sounding weird and off to him. He stared fearfully at the foam where the waves met the shoreline. As much as they terrified him, they also called to him.

He ripped his gaze away and stumbled up over the dunes, heading to Garack's to once again take a sanity test, and maybe throw up while he was at it.

Shirayuki was not feeling well.

She had returned home just yesterday, after being unsuccessful in finding the pirate ship that had taken Zen hostage. The entire experience left a bitter taste in her mouth, like she had swallowed some of her own herbs.

Oh wait, she just had some.

She groaned and pressed her head to the cool stone of her cave. The lighting was a ghastly green, all of the Vidre in her house responding to her feelings. She wished that they could have aligned themselves with something different, as the shades of green didn't help her throbbing eyesight.

She was sitting on a flat spire of rock that let her see out her window. Enchanted magically, nothing could come in that she didn't like, and it let her watch the different colors of her village flicker as mers swam out and about. Her home had a wonderful view of the shopping center, as she was usually part of it. Her herb shop was the front half of her home, but she had closed it up to allow herself a few days of rest.

This unfortunately had alerted her homepeople to her sickness. All day today she had been forced to receive care packages and well wishes. While their worry made me feel loved and happy, she also was not in the mood to see any person be they human or mer. Still, thankfully now she could get by at least a week without needing to work for food.

Human or mer…

A piercing pain spasmed through Shirayuki and she gasped aloud, covering her mouth and clasping a hand over her stomach, though that was not where the pain was. The pain was in her hands and on her lips. Still, the pain was so immense she thought she might vomit.

After a minute, she removed her hand. She slumped heavily against the door, her tail twitching. She wasn't sure what her body wanted from her. Every so often she would have these sort of attacks, where it felt like her bones were trying to move inside her skin. Sometimes it would only happen in her arms, other times in her tail, but always in her lips. There would be the urge to vomit, the urge to sneeze, the pounding of a headache. She wasn't sure how to cure this with her herbs, so she stuck to the simple numbing and sleeping mixes she made. Shirayuki assumed she had to let her body sort this out herself.

Meanwhile, her mind was reeling.

In the span of a few days, she had met a Sharkman. She had met a human, and not only that, kissed one. She had witnessed the Aigua in all its terrifying might. And she had failed to sink a pirate ship. But her mind always went back to the human prince. She wondered why the Sharkman - or, no, that would be the ocean had decided to let him live. She wondered if he was alright, then got mad at herself for caring. She also wondered if he would tell the tale of what he had learned, and if anyone would even believe him.

Her eyelids blinked slower than usual. So with a sigh she forced herself away from the wall. Keeping her hand on it at all times, she swam up around all of her things and let herself drop into her bed. Her mattress was a bed of soft kelp grass, woven just right to support her and also still be as soft as a mother's arms. She relaxed immediately and ran her hands across the strands, liking the touch of it. It was calming, as her herbs took effect and she closed her eyes for as fitful of a night's rest she could get.