AN: To the person who wanted the Baker King episode skipped, I'm sorry. I did not skip that one. I have a different play on it, so I hope you enjoy. If not, then just wait for the next chapter to come out. ~Immortalshark

*Violet's POV*

Today was a big day. The Villager's Ball tomorrow and we had to get the castle ready. My job was to get Princess Sofia ready for today. When I went into her room, she was already up and the bed was made. I always enjoyed helping Sofia because I didn't need to do much for her.

"Violet, are you excited for tonight?" she asked.

"Of course. It's so nice of the King to throw this ball." I said.

"Maybe I can help you pick out what you're going to wear to the ball." Sofia said.

"That's very kind of you, but it's my job to serve you." I said as I gave a small bow in jest.

When we first met, it was kind of frustrating to try and get Sofia to listen, but after a bit we sat down and just talked. We talked and talked, and kept talking. I told her about growing up in the castle and she told me about how she grew up.

She giggled and smiled a toothy grin, "Violet."

I was actually the only maid she allowed in her room. I left so that Sofia could get ready and she made her way down to breakfast.

*Roland's POV*

Sofia joined us finally and soon we had breakfast. I managed to eat my muffin before Baileywick came and gave me the list of things to do today. I got up and soon the day began. Thankfully, everyone was helping out. Miranda is going to go find decorations. Amber and James were going to be handling the cake. Sofia had come up to me.

"Dad." she said.

"Yes Sofia?" I asked.

"I can help you out by being your right hand and help you with your list." she said.

"Well, that sounds wonderful. Of course." I said.

I gave her the list. Everything is done by dinner and Sofia and I meet up with Miranda, who shows us a very fancy mirror. I was a little overwhelmed at how busy today was and at the promise of an even busier day tomorrow, I really wished I was a baker. It was an easy job. I must have said it out loud because the next morning, I was woken up by Amber screaming.

*Sofia's POV*

After dad wished to be the village baker, the mirror shimmered. I sighed and got ready for tomorrow. Lo and behold, in the morning, I was woken up by a rooster. I got up and got ready, but the dress I was given didn't really cover much in the way of my back. Well, this will be fun to explain if anyone notices. I woke up Amber, who screamed when she realized where we were. Mom and dad come running in.

"What's going on?" dad asked.

I explained what happened and a knock sounded at the door. Dad asked for Baileywick and I pointed out the fact that Baileywick wasn't here. I ran down stairs and opened the door.

"Ah, two loaves of bread please." the man at the door said.

"Of course. Coming right up." I said.

I grabbed two loaves that were good and handed them to him. He paid us and went on his merry way. It just happened. Dad wanted to see how this worked out and that it would be easy. All he had to do was bake some bread and that was it. I sighed. I tried not to fall back into my habits from when it was just my mom and I but I did. Mom did too a bit.

*Amber's POV*

Oh man. The Sofia we knew from the castle was gone and in her place was the girl from the village. The girl who's father just upped and left. I actually went with a smaller cake but James wanted a fifty layered cake. Sofia had gone by mom and mom had caught a glance of something before looking really concerned. She pulled Sofia aside and I watched as they talked. Sofia was quietly explaining something to mom and mom looked really upset. Not with Sofia, but with whatever she told her.

"Sofia. I never would have asked you to do that. I wanted you to grow up a happy child." mom said.

"I did. I have Luna. I have Ruby and Jade. Now I have Amber." Sofia said.

That made me feel all warm and fuzzy.

"Alright." mom said.

Sofia smiled and so I let it be. Well, until Sofia had her back to me and I could see the scars across her back. It was very obvious she was used to hard work from her form but this, this just proves that she had it rough in the village. She never told me the stories, but I knew about them. I heard James gasp. I looked at him to see him look sad. He went over to Sofia to help her with a heavy looking bag. She growled at him for trying.

"No. I got it. I always do." she said.

"Sorry, I was just trying to help." he said.

She took a deep breath and dropped the bag into James' hands. He nearly fell over from the weight.

"Set that by the table." she said.

I went to go get eggs and Sofia called out to check the coop. I did and grabbed a couple eggs. I came back with the eggs.

"Alright. Now lets get baking." Sofia said.

Sofia helped us learn, but she did most of it. Mom and dad had been upstairs talking because mom had dragged dad up there a while ago. Then the note came in for the cake. I glared at James who looked sheepish.

"Sorry." he said.

Sofia looked at it and shot him a glare too before getting to work. Mom and dad came down and we were helping Sofia make the cake. I had managed the batter and Sofia looked really proud of me. James was being a boy and wanted to go play outside to see what the kids were doing. Dad had let him but Sofia had growled low in her throat.

"Dad, he needs to help out. Here in the village, the boys were the ones who helped the most in the shops." she said.

"He's just a kid. So are you. You should go play." he said.

She shook her head and kept working. She told us what had happened and the mirror. She looked up when another customer came in. I watched as Sofia had flipped a switch and she was polite and smiley as the customer asked for a cake. Sofia was multitasking now. Mom was helping out. Dad just watched in a horrified awe at the work it took to keep up with orders. A mom and her kid came into the shop and bought bread. Sofia took the money and had grabbed change but the mom had been pulled out the door by the kid wanting to play on the playground.

Sofia ran after them. While she was doing that, dad was trying to help mom cook. Eventually, we managed to get back to the castle and daddy undoes his wish. The cake was actually decent, though that might be because Sofia and mom did it. James apologized for making more work for them and mom was okay. Sofia was quiet and she saw someone at the ball.

She grinned and ran over to them. It was Violet and Sofia danced with her.

Sofia had actually danced with a majority of the adults, especially the Village butcher. She had cuddled up to him and actually fell asleep in his arms. He chuckled and carried her over.

"The little one fell asleep." he said.

Mom took Sofia and they talked. Soon the ball died down as people left and then that was that. We had school for the next couple weeks and then it was off for spring break and off to Merroway Cove.

*Sofia's POV*

We sailed to Merroway Cove. I was excited because I got to swim again. Not just in the underground lake I found under the castle. I found Luna munching away on a bone. I smiled because she was content. I spotted something in the water and saw that a mermaid had become entangled in the net. I ran down to help.

"Hold on, your just going to get yourself even more tangled." I said to her.

She stopped and I helped her out of the net. We talked and her name was Oona. My amulet glowed and so I knew that I had just gotten a power. Oona said that her comb was enchanted as well.

When Oona went back in the water, we found out that she hurt her fin, so she couldn't swim. She sunk, which was odd, but I dove in after her. I felt the change happen and barely realized that I had a tail. I swam to her and pulled her back up to the surface.

"Whoa, you have a tail. How'd you do that?" Oona asked as we got up.

"My amulet. When I helped you, my amulet gave me the power to turn into a mermaid." I said.

"Cool." she said.

I helped her back to her home and met Sven, the seahorse. I met Cora, Oona's older sister, and got a tour of the cove. After a really long day of chasing after Oona because she was kidnapped by a sea monster and stopping the queen from unleashing a storm to sink my palace, we managed to have peace between us. Plank got to know us and he was polite, but I could tell he was wary of us. Humans were probably the reason for that scar on his arm, but he was willing to try and trust us. We spent the rest of the time enjoying the cove. I went swimming and actually managed to get the amulet to not change me into a mermaid. It was very simple really, I asked if I could just wish to be a mermaid and not be turned as soon as I touched water. The amulet shimmered and I decided to test it by sticking my foot into the water and it worked.

I also had some projects I was working on for gifts. For mom, I decided to make a pendant, dad I made a pin with a picture of the family in it. I made a unicorn for Amber and a wooden sword for James.

When Wassailia grew closer, I made candied carrots for Tempest and the other horses. I had asked the fairies if I could take her home with me and they agreed. So on the day, dad had gone out on some last minute business. I tried not to let my thoughts of what happened last time overwhelm me, so I went to go give Tempest her gift.

I went into the stables and found the horses were sick except for Tempest. I gave her a couple carrots before moving to the other horses and gave them a couple as well.

*Miranda's POV*

I could see Sofia look worried that Roland wasn't home yet. After all, it was right at Wassailia that Balthazar had promised he would be home in time, but he wasn't. When she brought up the idea of going to search for him, I encouraged it. We all went out to look for him. Sofia's pets had come along apparently and they had helped too. So we followed the birds to where Roland was and spent Wassailia with a family who was living in a cabin. Sofia looked at the gifts in the bag before grabbing the ones for her.

"Sofia? What are you doing?" Roland asked.

"I already got what I wanted." she said.

I smiled because she finally began to accept Roland as her father. She calls him dad but there's been a wall that Sofia always puts up. Tonight it was down. She walked over to the kids and gave them the presents. Then Amber followed suit with hers.

"Amber, that one's mine." James said.

"We have enough presents." Amber said.

James let out a little whine of protest and Amber just glared at him. She put the one for him down and grabbed hers before giving them to the children.

"Happy Wassailia." she said.

"For us? Thank you." the girl said.

She reminded me of a little Sofia. A Sofia that hadn't been exposed already to the work world. I had to smile when I saw the girl hug Sofia. Ever since Sofia had been shunned by most of the village kids, she had shut off that part of her. She was cuddly with me and would happily curl into a ball on my lap. But with others, she never let them get close enough to hug her unless it was Ruby or Jade. Amber had somehow managed to get to that spot with Sofia.

The boy had hugged her too in thanks.

"Thank you Sofia." they said.

"Your welcome. Go give your parents a hug. They give you a roof over your heads. Show them your thankful for what they do for you." Sofia said.

So the kids ran to their parents and hugged them. Sofia came up to me and hugged me. She whispered into my ear that she was thankful for what I gave her, that she was very grateful for the life I gave her. She had chosen to help me. She chose to grow up in order to help me with the expenses. She was a genius as she had graduated early from the school in Dunwiddy just so she could help me.

I wrapped her tighter. On holidays like this and Mother's day, I would always spend the day with Sofia no matter what. I loved my daughter and she was finally letting people in. She seemed like an open person but she's not. I know she has things hidden from me for a reason. She's always been seen with animals as she had explained to me that animals have treated her better than humans have.

The next night, I spent with Sofia. I went into her room, which was pretty much a cabin inside the castle and was pretty cozy. Sofia opened up with everything she did before we became royalty. I had to force myself to listen to some of them because Sofia never should have learned how to hunt. I enjoyed hearing about the fact that she had some fun, playing with Lucinda when we were in Rudistan years ago and playing with Nigel. I know she kept the newer things she's doing secret but I didn't care because my baby just told me what she's learned to do since Balthazar left.