"So, uh, any ideas?" Sajon said nervously, wringing his paws.
"I honestly have no idea where to start..." Marella replied honestly, running her paw along one of the shelves lined with neatly curled maps. "I thought once we got here everything would just fall into place, but… I feel just as clueless now as I was before I got here."
"Welp, when all else fails…" Sajon started pulling random rolls of parchment from the shelves, skimming them briefly and tossing them onto the floor. "Nope…. not you, or you… I don't even know that this one is…. Definitely not you…" He muttered to himself. "I don't understand, Marella. If Mama really meant for us to find this map, why didn't she put it somewhere like our bedrooms or something?"
"Most likely they would've already been searched." Marella replied searching through the shelves in a neater fashion. "This map is super valuable, it would be hidden somewhere she could be sure no one would find it unless they knew where to look."
Sajon sighed, giving up. "If that's true, then why are we searching for it here? Isn't this just what anyone from the enemy side would do if they were looking for the same thing? So by our mother's own design, we'll never find it like this."
"But it has to be here! What else would we be looking f…" Marella stopped, her ears twitching rapidly.
"Uh, sis? You're doing that thing again. With your ears, y'know… when you're thinking?" Sajon remarked.
"No, no, no, wait, wait, wait, what if you're right?" Marella breathed. "What if what we're looking for isn't here at all?"
"But Aunt Serena said…"
"She said what Mama told her. But what if something had happened to her? What if she was captured and forced to tell everything she knows? What if Mama gave her false information to spare her suffering while keeping the location of the map safe?"
As Marella followed her trail of logic, she spoke faster and faster. "And then what if she wanted her to tell us, so we'd come here and find something else we need?"
"Hey, sis, slow dow…"
"And another thing, different but not totally unrelated. We've been assuming something this whole time: That there is a literal map leading to these five hidden kingdoms. Think about it! This stuff that is happening now, with five different kingdoms disappearing… all that is recent! Who would've had time to draw a map for it? Even if given the chance, who would? It's supposed to remain a secret!" Marella forgot the danger they were all in as everything fell into place in her mind, like one domino knocking another over in an ever quickening chain.
"That's a lot to assume, sis. And if what you're saying is right, then we came here for nothing!" Sajon groaned, rubbing his snout with a paw and shaking his head. "And more importantly, if there is no map, where does that leave us?"
"Not helpless." Marella said eventually, her face brightening. "There is something that can help us. Astara Kjron. And we know who has it, too!"
"No, Marella. That's too dangerous. If we lose that, or it ends up in the wrong paws, our resistance will be crushed before it even begins." Sajon replied, crossing his arms. "We gave to the Sirens for a reason. To keep it safe. Plus, our mother cast a spell on it, there's no way we could…"
"Y'know, try optimism sometime, Sajon. I think you'd like it." Marella replied, rolling her eyes. "And no, we didn't come here for nothing. We're gonna hafta go to the Sailor's Circle! And I happen to know exactly where we keep the map leading there!"
"Fine! But hurry, Marella." Sajon relented, looking back at the door anxiously. "We need to leave before the guards come back." Marella nodded and disappeared down an aisle, reappearing a few minutes later with a roll of parchment.
"I got it. Now let's get out of here." Marella said. The two rushed to the door, and Sajon cracked it open to make sure it was safe.
"Alright, we're good." Sajon said, waiting for his sister to leave the room before closing the door.
"We've gotta tell Chase and Marshall we can leave now." Marella whispered. "But I don't know where they are."
"Don't worry, Marella. I told them to get the guards as far away from us as they could, then retreat with the others back to camp." Marella turned to him, her snout a mixture of silent rage and shock.
"When did you say that!? WHY did you say that?!" Marella whisper-shouted. "And more importantly, we're by OURSELVES!?"
"I couldn't risk them getting hurt! I didn't know how long we'd be here!" Sajon said defensively, raising his paws. "Our plan to find the map wasn't a very good one!" There was a soft creaking, then a muffled crash. It reverberated through the walls, sending little ripples through the water. The two instantly went silent. Well, one of them went silent.
"Sajon! Those were the gates! The gates to the Palace! We're trapped in here!" Marella screamed silently, waving her paws around. "I'm not dying here! No, I refuse to die because you sent our friends away!"
"No, no we're not gonna die!" Sajon snapped. "I know how to fight, in case you've forgotten. Besides, we've just gotta get to Mama's room. Remember the trap door? We can use it to escape again. But we're gonna have to be silent as death so no one hears us. That means no chewing me out on the way."
"Find, escape now, chew you out later…" Marella muttered darkly.
The siblings crept down the hall, getting closer to the staircase that led up into their mother's room. Before they got there, though, they heard voices floating towards them, getting louder by the second.
"...and I want every exit closed off. If anyone is still in here, I want there to be nowhere for them to go." The two quickened their pace upon hearing this, reaching the staircase and swimming to the top. They entered the room a few doors down and to the left and shut the door firmly. Sajon immediately locked the door, then pushed a dresser in front of it, then broke the pearl knob off on their side. Sajon wasted no time in pulling the rug away from the trapdoor, then opening it.
"I told you we'd make it." Sajon said proudly. "Now let's get out of here."
Marella had never left the dresser. She was holding a photo of herself, Sajon, and Marina. She was five in the picture, and she was missing a tooth in the front. Marella smiled sadly and wiped a tear from her eye. "How long did she know about all this?" She asked softy. "How long has she been planning all this… for us? What could she have told us that would've made us more ready? Why was she taken away?" Sajon dropped the trap door and swam over, gently taking the picture from her and placing it on the dresser again. He hugged his sister tightly, laying his snout between her ears.
"I don't know, Marella." He murmured honestly. "I don't know if we'll ever know. But I'm ready to go find some answers to all this. You in?"
"Yeah." Marella wiped her eyes again, and smiled a little. "Always."
"Well, then." Sajon replied, lifting the trap door again. "After you."
The rest of the night went by without a hitch. The moon was bright that night, and its light led them back to camp. The royal duo made it, shaken, but in one piece. The Paw Patrol was sitting on the sand in a circle, talking amongst themselves. Chase looked up and saw the royal siblings coming first, and waved at them.
"Glad to see you made it back alright." He said. The pups all chorused their agreement. Marella simply glared at him. Sajon laughed awkwardly.
"She'll be okay." He said silently. Chase nodded and gave him a paws up.
"The mission went smoother than I expected." Skye remarked, stretching out.
"Yeah, but do me a favor and remind me never to do something like this again." Marshall groaned. "I'm not too fond of sharp things being pointed at me all the time."
"Noted." Rocky replied, yawning.
"All injury free this time!" Skye added, twirling around. There wasn't a mark on her.
"Speak for yourself." Marshall replied, wrapping a bandage around his forepaw. "I keep tripping on my own paws at the worst possible moments."
"What doesn't kill you makes you stronger." Rocky said absentmindedly. "Most of the time."
"Well, that's reassuring." Rubble replied. He crossed his paws. "I didn't even get to fight. At all. You guys get all the fun." He pouted grumpily. "I mean, Rocky and Zuma got to shoot a bunch of merpups through the heart, even though Zuma missed his target most of the time."
"Hey!" Zuma protested. "I only missed… well… never mind…" He hung his head, ashamed. "Rocky didn't miss at all."
"You did great out there, Zuma." Rocky whispered, lifting the lab's head with his paw. "And you've never touched a bow a day in your life. And you'll get better too, cause I'm gonna teach you."
"Hehehe…" Zuma felt his snout heating up, looking into Rocky's clear eyes. "I'd like that." Rocky winked at him, and turned back to Rubble, leaving the sixteen-year-old looking into space with a slightly lovesick look on his snout.
Rubble was still animatedly telling about the violence he'd been able to watch, but unfortunately been unable to participate in.
"...and then that guy died with this terrified look on his snout! And the water started getting all cloudy, with all the blood and whatnot, and Skye was in the middle of it with this determined look on her face before sinking her blade into…"
"Alright, mister, I'm getting rid of all your video games when we get back. And I do mean all of them." Chase interrupted. "You can play Animal Crossing with Marshall next time. And Marshall! Why are you playing those violent games with Rubble! And don't give me that face, you're the one who bought them."
"Heheheh…" Marshall rubbed the back on his head. "It's quality entertainment!"
"You're so irresponsible." Chase muttered, tossing his fair head.
"Ugh, enough! Remember, this isn't about fighting. Enough of Puplantis has been destroyed by that." Marella said gravely. "This is about stopping Zavok. Everything else will fall into place after that." Silence re-established its kingdom for a while, then Zuma snapped out of his daze to ask a question.
"Speaking of which, did you get the map you were looking for?" He asked eagerly.
"Uh, not exactly." Marella replied. "It was actually more of a game of logic than a search today for me." She quickly caught the pups up on their new mission, who listened intently, intrigued.
"So this… Ast…astata…. The thing you said, why can it help us?" Chase asked.
"Astara Kjorn." Merlina said, giggling. "It can help us because it can show you whatever you ask it to. Something hidden. Something far away. Something close by. And it always only shows the truth."
"So what, it's a glorified map? That doesn't seem too dangerous." Rubble cut in, unimpressed.
"And that's exactly where you're wrong." Sajon replied gravely. "As soon as the war started, we gave it to the Sirens for safekeeping. They remained neutral in the war, but they did grant us a favor." He sighed. "You'll understand its importance soon enough."
"But you should all get some rest." Marella continued. "The Sailor's Circle is pretty far away from Puplantis, so be prepared to travel."
There were groans and protests of more walking… errr… swimming… from the pups, but they all spread about and settled down to sleep on the sandy ocean floor. However, one pup had no interest in sleeping.
"Hey, I never noticed before that you can see the stars as clearly underwater as you can on land." Marshall said, nudging Skye. Skye groaned and opened her eyes.
"Some of us are trying to sleep, Marshall." She muttered.
"Sorry, it's just... it's just really beautiful. The starlight is so much more pure when it's filtered through the water."
"Yeah... yeah, I can see that." Skye agreed, turning towards the stars herself. "Y'know, there's a bunch of stuff I never thought I'd be able to do underwater that I'm doing as a merpup. Isn't this transformation cool?" She flicked her tail pointedly.
"Yeah, yeah, I guess." Marshall replied. "But I can't wait to change to my regular self. Not really a fan of my tail and hind paws being fused together." Skye laughed, and batted his snout playfully.
"Endure it a while longer." She replied. "I really think we can do this. Together, all of us. We can make a change."
"One mission at a time?" Marshall asked.
"One mission at a time." Skye breathed.
Marshall slipped his paw around Skye's, absentmindedly feeling her wispy fur. She laid her head on his shoulder and continued looking into the sky. Time passed, and when Marshall looked back at her, she was fast asleep. He smiled and glanced over at Chase to make sure he hadn't woken up. He hadn't.
"Goodnight, Skye." He murmured, kissing her cheek, blushing afterwards. "And sweet dreams~"