Chapter Thirteen: The Golden Trident

Tuesday, January 19, 2016

Disclaimer: I do not own or profit from the Winx Club properties by writing this story. This story is written for pleasure's sake. All rights reserved.

Notes: Thanks to Marielle Chang and anonymous reviewer for the reviews.

This is a longer chapter with multiple scenes. I'm still not quite sure about my chapter length and how much I want to pack into one installment.


"Wilt thou, upon this day, pledge thy fealty to the Crown, and stand as Knights of Laudine?"

Aisha stood at foot of her father's throne, wearing a newly made gown of yellow silk and a diadem of silver on her brow. A row of men knelt before her in obeisance. There were no spectators, only guards standing at the doors and at each column, each of them still as a statue.

Taboc the Wise approached Aisha from the side with a stoup made of silver in his hand. The holy oil inside sloshed side to side.

"Yes, your Highness," the men said.

"Does thou wish to abandon thyself, and be sword and shield for the sake of the greater good of Andros?"

"Yes, your Highness."

Aisha started from the left and moved to the right of the dais, anointing their foreheads with the holy oil. She stopped at the last head, a blond one.

She saw Roy's shoulders rise and fall from his nervous breathing. He was high and dry, out of his wetsuit. For the first time, he wore a white uniform, as befitting his rank as a naval officer. He stood out from the rest of the men with his hair and uniform. It was a sign of his mixed blood and his common birth.

Aisha dipped her fingers in the oil and bent down to anoint his forehead. She felt unbelievably happy for him despite the circumstances. With him, she at least knew firsthand that he deserved this accolade.

"I, Princess Aisha of Andros, do hereby dub thee Knights of Laudine. May your courage and devotion become a shining example to the people of our kingdom."

Her smile faltered as she spoke. She did not feel good. Her tongue felt thick, like she was speaking a lie. Everything was not okay. Roy knew it as well as her.

The men, now knights, rose to stand at attention as she pinned medals to their chests. She stopped for a moment longer than necessary with Roy, her fingers fumbling with his medal plaque. He only had one service medal on his chest compared to the other who had a half-dozen or more. It should have been easy to stick it to his breast pocket.

She dismissed the knights as soon as the ceremony ended. Roy stared at her, brows furrowing in concern, as he turned to file out with the others.


"You're kidding me," Riven sputtered, looking at the line of cadets staring back at him. He snapped his head to Cordatorta and repeated himself. "You are kidding me, right…?"

The older burly man wore a serious expression, trying his best to appear patient. "Riven, this is your team. They will assist you in the supply run. You will be the team leader."

"You're not kidding me," Riven affirmed, exhaling deeply. He wanted to kill someone, but more importantly, he wanted to know which member of his team had recommended him for a leadership position. Brandon and Sky were too busy playing knight and prince. Maybe it was Helia. It seemed like the kind of thing that the poet would do just to push him to his 'full potential', or some lyrical emotional shite.

Timmy looked equally surprised at the new orders, which did not include the bespectacled young man. "Sir, will I be joining the mission?"

"No, you're staying right here on the frigate to manage operations and resources. The Owl has been outfitted with all the necessary equipment and should be on its way in the next twenty minutes. Timmy will give you all the necessary info for the pick up. You are all dismissed."

Cordatorta saluted them curtly, moving on the to next team he had to brief.

Riven did not like the look of the cadets that he had been assigned. All of them looked fresh from bootcamp and they stared at him and Timmy like they were oddities in a zoo. Was it because of the new uniform that they had been issued? Senior specialists wore a different variants of the Red Fountain uniform. Riven's had more armour padding, a V-shaped chest plate but it lacked the signature blue cloak. Timmy had a thicker, darker cloak and a heavier chest plate with his citrine specialist gem in the middle.

Riven rolled his eyes. He could not believe that he had been that innocent once and turned to catch up with his old instructor's pace. "I wasn't told that I had been recommended for leadership."

"Considering the circumstances, the process was expedited."

"Sir, I'm not a leader. I sure as hell don't give motivational speeches and I didn't even ask for this. If this is a supply run, why do I even need a team? When did this happen?"

Cordatorta had met young men from every walk of life, rich or poor, ambitious, angry or aimless, and he had moulded them into disciplined and capable specialists. Many of them had turned out like Riven, accomplished and something to be proud of, but they always needed that extra push.

"I recommended you," Cordatorta huffed, hoping that would shut up the young man. "You're older and wiser. Not like that bull-headed idiot that came to Red Fountain years ago. You're capable of leading a team. Be nice to them, it's their year-end evaluation."

The red-haired specialist was both shocked and humbled by the man's words.

He had no words for a reply and instead bit the inside of his cheeks. Maybe he was a little bit proud that he had the approval of the old man. Years ago, it had been Cordatorta himself that had accompanied the Owl team on their first supervised mission. "What's so special about this pickup that I need a squad? Can't freelancers or privateers transport it? Or anyone in the Androsian royal army?"

"Medical supplies."

"That's it?" Riven questioned. Transporting medical supplies usually had more paperwork and required certain licenses but he sensed that there was more to it than the fact that he had qualifications for transporting sensitive goods.

"No, but I don't want to take measures preemptively without having eyes on the ground. You know what you're good at and that's why you're in charge—in charge meaning that those kids are both your responsibility as well as your cover story."

Riven's lips became a flat line. He sensed that there was more to this but he did not ask, knowing he was already delaying the mission. He was still silently trying to swallow his promotion.

Riven saluted the old instructor and headed for the Owl. The three cadets all sat on their tactical gear boxes waiting for the okay to load their equipment.

Timmy handed Riven a data pad, looking disappointed. Naturally, the bespectacled man had probably hacked the data pad and read the brief in the short time that it took Riven to speak to Cordatorta. "I wish I could go with you but it seems that my skills are needed at the Communications Centre."

Riven read the brief, memorizing it. The information was written in the usual dry upper brass military speak, but Riven could read between the lines and discern their real intent. "You say that now. Wait till I get captured by pirates or end up shipwrecked on an island full of intergalactic dinosaurs again."

Timmy snorted, remembering their past adventures on Andros.

Riven scrolled through the data pad for coordinates listening to Timmy babble and then stopped, his knuckles turning white. He looked up to Timmy with questions burning in his eyes.

"The Republic of Ophir?" Riven said reverently.

Timmy nodded. "Nabu's home."

Both specialists fell silent for a moment.

"It's been almost a year," Riven said.

"Yeah," Timmy exhaled deeply. "It's been such a long time since I thought of him. I used to get updates. Aisha told me that his parents had declared him dead but I never heard anything about a funeral. If you get the chance…and it's totally up to you if you don't want to do it…"

Timmy reached into his pocket and pulled out a package hastily wrapped in what looked like leftover kraft paper. "I'd always meant to give it to him, maybe as a wedding or birthday gift. I wasn't sure which would come first."

The gift was about the size of Riven's palm. Round, a little heavy and cold. Probably a gadget of some sort. He pocketed it in the back of his belt. "Don't worry. I'll do it."

Riven straightened his shoulders and took a breath to clear his mind. It was time to put emotion away and get going. He turned to the cadets waiting. They all still stared at him wide-eyed, like they were star-struck.

"Load it up!" he yelled, scrolling through the profiles of each cadet and accomplishments so far. He climbed the bay door and opened up empty lockers for them to store their tactical gear boxes. Sky, Brandon, Timmy and Helia's tact boxes had been long removed, Riven's was the only one remaining on the Owl from the original team.


Nereus, now Crown Prince Nereus, could not go anywhere without every mermaid, triton or fish bowing their head in deference to the crown he wore. The undersea capital of Thalassia had not suffered from Politea's attack like Laudine. Still, the pollution from Tritannus' dark magic lingered in the water and evidence of Valtor's terror on Andros was still fresh in everyone's memory despite years having passed.

He found Tressa sitting on a rock, deep in her thoughts. The water was cleaner, devoid of the particles of pollution and untouched by the chaos. This was one of the few places untouched by evil and darkness.

Nereus sat beside his sister, his hands in his lap. Tressa had run the gamut with her tears in the last few days and he had no more words of comfort to offer. Tritannus was gone for good, or for worst.

Tressa's hands were curled around Tritannus' trident. She had not let go of it since their brother's banishment to Oblivion.

"Are you ready?" Nereus asked.

She nodded and pushed aside her coral red hair. She spun the trident, getting used to its size and weight. Tritannus' trident got lighter and lighter everyday as her resolve strengthened. No more tears, no more crying for what they could not fix.

She no longer wore her mermaid guard armour. The girl that had been too afraid to fight Valtor was gone and replaced with a powerful princess, a true princess of Andros. The might of the waves and power of the currents were in her hands, encased in the magic-forged metal of the trident head.

The brother and sister kicked off and swam for the Reef of the Two-Tailed Goddess. From afar, it looked like any reef. The coral was rampant and overgrown, fighting with forests of seaweed for dominance. They swam by two towers of stone covered in pink coral. They were massive, large as any whale.

When Tressa swam by them, she looked through the fluttering coral and saw the remnants of a neck and shoulder. They were beheaded statues with missing fins and arms. Left and right, she began to see what had once been a glorious city. Nereus led her through the ruins to a glade of thorny kelp.

He parted the kelp and revealed an ancient cavern entrance. They only had their natural bioluminescence for light in the dark tunnels, but they did not need it. They followed the current that pulled them deeper and deeper into the cavern.

Tressa gasped.

Suddenly, she came upon open chamber, where the water was warmed by thermal vents. Hundreds of mermen and mermaids turned to Nereus and Tressa when they entered the chamber. She recognised many of them as important family heads, clan leaders, political representatives and officers.

They stood in the remains of an old throne room, circular in nature radiating from a high throne. The mural behind the throne was covered in algae but someone had taken the liberty to clean it up. It was an intricately tiled image of a mermaid goddess with red scales. The goddess' lower half split into two curved tails at exactly where the throne sat. This was the forgotten mermaid goddess of Andros. She held a trident in one hand and a sword in the other, the legendary Androsian weapons.

The whispers grew to a fevered pitch in the chamber. Light poured down from above onto the throne, bathing Nereus in light that brought out his darkened scales.

Tressa stood behind her brother, trident in hand. She had the firmness of a warrior but the serenity of a princess. Some mermaids bowed their heads in obeisance and whispered prayers.

Off to the side were several hooded figures surrounded by an aura of air.

One of the cloaks was stark white. Unable to make out a face, Tressa saw the head bowed and hands clasped together in a prayer, whispering Tritannus' name.

Surface-worlders, Tressa thought.

Nereus called for silence in the chamber.

"Today, we have an opportunity. Prince Tritannus was unjustly banished to Oblivion at the insistence of the surface-worlders and their vile Sovereigns Council. Tritannus' actions were disgraceful, but we all know that my beloved brother had been under Valtor's Mark. On the day of Valtor and the Trix' escape, Tritannus and the mermaid guard had been the first line of defence, stationed at the Omega Portal. He had been one of the first to fall under the Valtor's thrall. He had succumbed to curse and it had eaten at his sanity and soul until his coup several months ago."

There was an onslaught of outrage. Tressa backed up against the walls as she listened to Nereus recount the truth. Even she felt the rage in her heart.

"We know first hand the effects of Valtor's Mark, but Valtor's powerful magic and Tritannus' royal blood was an unpredictable combination. Nothing could have been done to save him except to let him live his life as peacefully as possible.

"It was not Prince Tritannus' fault that he had been placed in a prison cell next to the Trix, the former loyal servants of Valtor. It had not been his fault when not even the greatest wizards of Andros could not break Valtor's Mark. It was not his fault when he did not realize that he was no longer in control of his own actions. He was not of sound mind to defend himself in front of an Alliance tribunal."

Indignation and anger rose to a fevered pitch, almost deafening as the sounds echoed around the room.

Nereus raised his sheathed sword up to the portrait behind him, the same sword in the two-tailed goddess' hand. The cries of fury came to a crescendo.

"We cannot ignore the fact that our right to self-determination was trampled on by King Teredor and his Sovereigns Council. King Neptune, my father, was a coward and let this happened. Our place in the Sovereigns Council is a farce. We cannot let this insult go unpunished anymore. Teredor and his people are interlopers from realms beyond our solar system. We are the true citizens of Andros, descended from the two-tailed goddess: mermaid, triton, nokken, serenian, selkie and many others."

"The surface-worlders have poisoned our waters with their oil and garbage. We the people must take a stand against the kings Teredor and Neptune of Andros. Hundreds of cities above and below the sea have allied themselves with our movement. We are the Golden Trident."

The room erupted into a cacophony of roars and screams. Tressa stood beside her brother and raised the trident above her. She let out a battlecry, her shout joining with hundreds of others. The fury coalesced and gathered in Tritannus' trident, imbuing it with power.


"Name and flight," Riven said. He stood in the passage between the bridge and the cargo bay of the Owl. He looked at the cadets, trying to measure them. Two boys from Red Fountain and a girl from another school. His own introduction had mainly consisted of "Riven, infantry specialist of the First Wing."

They looked at him like they were star struck. Most of the time, Riven was used to that kind of reaction when he was with Musa, since she was the popstar and fairy.

"Cadet Edric Daundelyon of Sabre Flight."

"Quinn Bartlett, Sabre Flight, too…sir."

Riven aimed a pointed look at the cadet called Quinn. "I am not a 'sir.' I am not a general or the Prince of Eraklyon. I am your mission leader. I may be doing your year-end evals, but the mission comes first."

The three of them nodded. Riven eyed critically the uniforms of the specialists for faults. Edric was a purebred blond-haired and blue-eyed Eraklyonite, almost like a younger combination of Sky and Brandon, and just as eager to please authority. Quinn's file claimed that he was also from Eraklyon but he did not have the same ethnic look like Brandon and Sky. Quinn had unruly dark brown hair and dark eyes. Then again, Riven never considered himself an expert on Eraklyonite ethnic groups.

"I'm Cadet Honey Ryder from Themyscira's Second Company," said the girl. "It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance." Her words were obviously stilted, a sign of her nervousness.

Red flags were already waving in Riven's head. He did not know why though. Riven already had two RF specialists, one to act as a copilot and a third for shift rotations. Looking at their profiles told him that they were suited to the mission, but sending a cadet from a ground-based academy like Themyscira did not make much pragmatic sense.

He crossed his arms and scrutinized the girl. She had light blond hair but her skin looked deathly pallor although she did not seem sick. Even her lips were a pale mauve, like she had been frostbitten but she spoke as normally as one would. She had a flickering aura that only the trained eye could see. "You are aware that we're heading for the republic by air?" he asked

"Yes…" she said. She brushed her hair out of her face, flushed.

"The Second Company of Themyscira is a land-based training unit. We're on a planet that is ninety percent water and we're getting to our destination by air. Do you have a permit to fly or operate any of the machinery on this ship?"

"I don't think so…I'm clearly out of my depth on an airship," she said. "I'm trained in diplomacy and intelligence."

"Do you know planetary communication protocols?"

The girl nodded and understood her role in the mission.

The three cadets moved into action. Quinn and Edric took to the Owl's consoles naturally. Honey pulled her hair back into a large ponytail. He saw a black mark peak out from under her uniform's collar. She blushed when she tried to move past him.

The fine hairs on Riven's neck stood on end. He placed a hand on her shoulder when she tried to move past him, realizing what was wrong. He saw through her flickering glamour and felt the natural coldness of her being.

He tightened his grip on her. Beneath his gloved hand and all the way up to his arm and chest, his skin heated from the magic tattoo that would dispel her glamour.

"You're a fairy," he said under his breath. "And not just any kind, you're an Earth fairy."

And she definitely was not Roxy, because Roxy was the only known Earth fairy allowed to attend a school in Magix.

The girl became even more paler, her eyes widening in not just fear but determination. This was the determination of a warrior fairy of Earth. She fisted the charm at her neck, the centre of the glamour charm. It was a plain golden cross on a chain. The cross symbol was a universal symbol that almost any culture could apply meaning to, but Riven recognised the form of the martyr on it. It was a trinket that every other girl on Earth wore.

"I didn't know you had the power to see through glamours. Does that mean I'm kicked off the mission now?" Honey lowered her gaze to the floor.

"Your file says that you're not a fairy and that you're from Callisto. Obviously, that isn't true. You're clearly one of Aurora's arctic fairies and you have the old mark of the Black Circle on your neck." Riven used his chin to point at the blackened skin hidden under her uniform collar. All Earth fairies that had been captured by the Black Circle had this mark despite the wizards being gone. It was a sordid reminder of their imprisonment.

"Why are you lying?" Riven asked. "Did Nebula and Morgana send you? Or Aurora?"

"What?—No! I came to Magix for my own reasons. Nothing to do with you, Roxy or the Winx Club. I'm not a spy or anything. Please, don't tell anyone! I don't want anyone to know I'm here," she begged.

Riven regarded her demeanour. Her voice, her posture, gestures, her desperation. His instincts told him that she was telling the truth, or part of it. He released his grip on the young girl. "One false move, and I will make sure you never fly again."

Honey stiffened, her eyes wide with terror.

He clarified his threat. "The Black Circle took your wings away once, but I can make sure that they never grow again."

"I thought you were supposed to on the side of good! You helped to save us from the Black Circle," she flared indignantly. She looked him straight in the eye before averting her gaze again. She was either shy or ashamed at being caught.

Quinn and Edric looked back at the two. They only saw Riven giving a hard time to the only female cadet in the squad. Riven cursed himself and knew what conclusions the other two boys were thinking.

"I am good—to people who don't use illusions to get onto my ship," Riven said in an undertone. "Right now, we are heading to the Republic of Ophir, home of the man who gave his life to close the Black Circle for good. Roxy is a good girl, but I don't like the rest of her kind."

Honey sucked in a breath, trying to find the right words.

"No witty repartee?" He arched a brow, daring her.

"I…I don't usually wear glamours. It's just I didn't want you to recognize me, but I guess that didn't work," she offered as a form of excuse. "I'm not here to hurt anyone, I promise. I did it to get away from Earth."

Riven chewed over that piece of info. "I don't have time to care about your reasons. I have a mission to get underway," he said brusquely.

Riven stepped onto the bridge, coming to stand behind Edric and Quinn's seats. Honey followed right behind and took her seat at the communication console. He watched them go through pre-flight procedures. Despite his misgivings, they all knew their stuff, even Honey. In a moment, they were in the air and speeding over the oceans of Andros.


Much to his consternation, this was not the first time Brandon found himself behind bars—or rather this time, behind a solid light wall construct that let him have an unabridged view of the wall opposite to his cell. The wall gave off a yellowish glow reminding him of its presence.

With the push of a button, he pulled out the bed that slid out from the wall with a hiss and lied down. The adrenaline was still flowing in his veins. He could already begin to feel the bruises forming along his body. The guards had been kind enough to leave him a chill pack for the black eye already forming.

The first time he had been captured by Yoshinoya's ninjas and taken in as a prisoner of war for half a year. This was when there had been an attempt on Sky's life all those years ago on basic survival training exercise.

He had not known that Sky was the Second Prince of Eraklyon at the time. He only knew him as a new arrival from the monasteries on the Ice Crown Mountains. Sky's arrival had been an everyday occurrence. It was normal for second and third sons to train in monastic orders to drive out the need to kill their elder siblings and then return to their homelands for their required military service. Many boys had come from such orders.

Brandon on the other hand had been a first son, the only son, in his family. Once upon a time before the Great War had come to Eraklyon, he had had nine sisters. Three died with distinguished honour in wars prior to his birth, two more had died when Havram had been destroyed by the Ancestral Witches, one during a raid on Yoshinoya's fortress so many years ago and another two had been declared dead after two years of no hint or clue as to what had happened to them.

Brandon sat up, hearing footsteps. When he saw the slip of a burgundy cloak, he got to his feet and stood at attention.

Speak of the devil.

Angry did even begin to describe Dame Ariana's expression. She was furious, her hands clenching and unclenching, like she wanted to reach out and slap him. If she could breath fire, Brandon would have no doubt been a pile of ash right now. It was hard to believe that they were siblings. She with her dark complexion and dark eyes, and him with his handsome always smiling face and chestnut hair.

"Ariana?" Brandon gulped. The name sounded fuzzy and foreign on his tongue. It was not a word he said often with any warmth or love. He did not feel his best but he stood his ground anyways. "How is Sky?"

"You are not in control of this conversation."

"I didn't realize that I was being interrogated by my own sister—"

"Enough!" she hissed.

Brandon shut his mouth. He knew better than to argue with her when she was pissed off.

"You have disgraced us beyond redemption! Years of hard work so that I could put you in a key position and you do this to me!"

Brandon bit the inside of his cheeks, taking his chastisement like a child. He wanted to yell too but he did not have the courage. It was like he had suddenly lost his voice.

"Do you ever think about he consequences of your actions?" Ariana said. Her eyes were wild and dilated from a lack of sleep. "You assaulted a royal member of the family. You could be executed for this!"

"I'm sorry," he said meekly. He felt like a little boy again.

"Save your excuses for the King and Queen. You know I can't carry Father's name because I'm a woman. You're the only surviving male heir from our house and you've made it abundantly clear that you don't care about this family at all." Ariana adjusted her golden headband and brushed the hair out of her face, pacing as she did so. She could only shake her head at her wayward younger brother

"First, you mislead the Princess of Solaria into thinking you're a prince and make promises you cannot keep. Then, you had the balls to continue your liaison with her! And then, you started giving our mother's heirlooms to her!" Ariana counted Brandon's sins on one hand. "You can't marry her, Brandon. She is the future sovereign of a foreign realm and you are a baron. Our family's name will die with you if you do not grow up."

Ariana went to lean against the wall and crossed her ankles. She brought a hand to her mouth to hide her expression, either her disgust or her disappointment.

"Prince Sky is not your brother, Brandon. He is your liege lord and your future king. We are his indentured servants and his bodily shields," she reminded him, like she did hundreds of times before. "I don't know what Prince Sky told you when you two went off to Red Fountain to make you act like you did. It kills me to look at you because you look too much like Father. You're a great warrior but you don't have any of Father's sense of responsibility."

"Sky was the one that threw the first punch!" Brandon defended hotly. Even to his ears it sounded like a weak excuse.

"And you thought goading him was a good idea in his current condition?" she snapped. "You're not his psychotherapist."

"I'm his best friend!" Great gods, he hated this. He wanted to get out of this room and hide from his sister's accusations. She had a way laying bare the truth that made him feel naked and impotent.

"You're the one who convinced him to date Bloom when it was in our family's political interest to keep him and the Princess together."

"He's a guy like everyone else," he explained as calmly as he could muster. He was not quite sure who he was making excuses for: himself or Sky? "He deserved to know what a normal life was like, Ariana. No one knew that the Day of the Royals would turn out the way it did."

Ariana shook her head in disbelief. She turned, ready to leave.

"So, what happens now?" the disgraced knight asked.

"I don't know." The older woman knitted her brows together, looking on the verge of tears.

Brandon flinched. "Ariana?" he said, the name still sounding weird on his tongue. He moved to see her walk away, her shoulders trembling. This was the first time he had ever seen his sister shake.


There was no rest for the weary in Laudine, least of all for its princess. She was in the throne room appointing knights one moment and then see was out the door heading for her other duties in the next. Aisha read through stacks of reports, putting her father's official wax seals on this and that, and oversaw the salvage of the Andromachus. A fleet of barges had been anchored around the ruined ship.

Aisha yawned or sighed, she was not sure, and stood up. "I need a break," she told her guards, cleaning up her papers and data pads. "Thirty minutes for lunch."

"Yes, Highness," they said.

Aisha left the tent, walking around the deck and stretching her arms above her head. She looked over to the side and sat Diaspro's mile high wall of pure diamond still obstructing the bay. Hell, Aisha had no idea what they were going to do with it, but they needed to do something about it soon or else pirates would soon be visiting Laudine in force.

Even now, Taboc the Wise and the other wizards were doing everything in their power to dispel the wall with little success. They were wave wizards after all and their grasp of earthly magic was limited. Pure diamond was not an easy element to work with either. Figures that the damned Diaspro would use the hardest known natural substance to make a barrier against Politea's dragon. The implications of a possible economic crisis were too terrible to imagine.

Aisha ate a simple curry fish stew with a scoop of rice, a meal that the kitchen staff profusely apologized for being subpar food to offer to a royal princess. She could only smile and reassure them that it was delicious. She was sure that they thought she was lying.

She needed away from this whole mess. The emotional barriers that everyone put up around her was too much to bear. No one ever spoke the truth to her face unless it was one of the Winx. It was part of the reason why she had ran away in the first place.

She heard the giggling and caught the sight of a toy rubber ball flying through the air. She looked over the railing and saw four mermaids toss a ball about. When the ball landed in the water, away from the quartet, one of them dove after it. The ball was in the air again the with a fancy flick of a tail, resuming another round of volleyball.

These were the same mermaids that had helped Roy defend her castle while she had been fighting Tritannus. She knew their names after asking about, thinking of giving them a medal or accolade: Perline, Melite, Corrissa and Deianeira. They were Rhinemaidens, part of a warrior tribe of mermaids, all of them sisters born from the same clutch.

Mermaids had this way of getting under a woman's skin. They had an unnatural beauty complimented by their colourful scales and serene voices. Always giggling and playing and luring people to their deaths.

A blond turf of hair breached the waves, a blue form rising out of the sea majestically. Roy raised his hands above him and he blocked a pass between two of the mermaids, playfully sticking out his tongue. Melite splashed water at him with her mauve tail.

Mermaids, Aisha thought disdainfully. She felt her nails score half-moons into her palms. She should not have been bothered by this. Mermaids were mermaids after all. It was in their innate nature to lure men.

Thankfully, Roy had a better constitution than most men. He weaved his way to a wave-washed rock and climbed out, dragging a net. Melite followed after him, chatting him up. She sat on the edge of the rock, her scales shimmering in the sunlight like jewels.

Roy pulled out a fat calico bass from his net. The fish struggled in Roy's hand before he pulled a knife from his belt and killed it. Methodically, he skinned and gutted it, throwing the gills and stomach innards back into the water.

He wore a smile on his face all the while he did the terrible act, chuckling at whatever the mermaid was saying.

He split the meat between the two of them. The mermaid bit into the fish head, looking elegant as she did so despite the blood on the side of her cheek. Roy skewered slivers of meat on a stick and used a magical flame to cook it.

Aisha flared her nostrils, telling herself that she was not jealous. Maybe she was in want of company. Her friends were at the Sovereigns Council meeting and she had not been able to see them since the incident. Still, her feet had a mind of their own and she found herself on the floating dock where smaller boats were moored.

"Lieutenant!" she called out. She told herself she was saving Roy from the clutches of an amorous mermaid. "Roy!" she called out again.

The blond looked over and waved.

She placed her hands on her hips and glared.

Roy straightened when he saw her serious expression. He dropped everything and dove back in the water, swimming towards the barge. He pulled himself up the side of the dock, his firm toned body flexing beneath his wetsuit.

"Princess Aisha." He lowered his head and bowed. His wet hair fell over his brow.

"What do you think you're doing with her?" She pointed to the magenta-haired mermaid sucking on her fish head.

"Her?" he asked, confused. "All I see is someone who wants to steal my lunch. What about her?"

"Your lunch? Sir Roy, is the onboard mess hall not to your liking? Why would you need to spearfish for your own food when there's a whole team dedicated to just that on the barge?"

Roy quirked an eyebrow, a little confused by her blunt manner. "With all due respect, what does my choice of lunch have to do with anything? Just because I'm a knight now doesn't mean I'm going to be eating fancy dishes all the time."

Aisha huffed and tried to maintain some form of ladylike composure. Honestly, she had no idea what she was thinking calling him over. "It is not proper to eat with a mermaid, especially raw fish. You are a Knight of Laudine now. You must act like it."

The green-eyed monster inside of her rolled her eyes at her weak excuse. She was still not sure if she was ready to open up to boys after Nabu. Just the thought of him brought up a swell of black emotions. With Roy, she felt she could at least talk to him as a fellow countryman without feeling the need to put up the usual social walls of class and gender. Lieutenant Roy du Pont Mercier had not grown up in the city of Laudine or in the rich Republic of Ophir. He had joined the Royal Navy of Laudine as a salvage diver but he had surprising moved up the ranks swiftly with recommendations from many officers of note. As his name suggested, he was of common birth and his hair told her that he was of mixed blood. Roy was still mindful of their differences when needed but she felt like she could open up to him and speak her mind out truthfully without being judged.

Roy looked at her incredulously. "Did you call me over just for that?"

"Um…yes…?" she said nervously. Well, no, she thought, I just didn't want you to fall for one of those siren songs.

Water glistened off the contours of his wetsuit-covered muscles, making her gulp.

"Are you a lunatic?" Roy gritted. His expression turned dark. He took a step towards her, now cowed by their difference in social status. "This isn't the royal court, princess. Last I checked, decorum and etiquette didn't apply when I'm was out on a salvage job. You can't come out here and then tell me how to do my job. You've been off Andros for almost three years. If you would remember, you were the one who ran away from Andros in the first place. I don't recognize your authority as princess or future ruler of this kingdom because you've never been here to learn about your own people."

Aisha stepped back, her heeled boots narrowly missing the gap the between the planks of wood. Her jaw had dropped and she could stare wide-eyed. She was utterly taken aback by Roy's harsh words, not expecting his sudden tirade. The other three mermaids stopped their game, the ball forgotten in the water.

Roy stepped forward again, getting into her personal space.

"How dare you!" he yelled. "You have the audacity to come out here and tell me that how I should eat and with whom because of my newly appointed status as Knight of Laudine? I don't have time to waste with royals like you who only exert their authority when it suits them best. One moment you're throwing drinks in a guy's face and then you're saving another guy's life. The seas of Andros will dry up first before I ever think I should feel indebted to you for saving my life. I only slept four hours this morning before I had to go out with Melite and the other girls to catch enough fish for the kitchen. There isn't enough food to go around because someone is hoarding all the rations in the city!"

Roy pointed to the castle looming over the city of Laudine.

It took several moments for Aisha to comprehend. Before she could say anything, Roy jumped back into the water, splashing her in the process.


Notes: Well, a lot of things happened in this chapter. (A real understatement.) Please leave your thoughts and comments in the reviews or drop a line at Winx Writers Anonymous.

Next chapter is tentatively titled Gilded Cage, which is about Diaspro's past and present

References: (a whole lot)

1) Aisha's knighting speech is a copy of Princess Euphemia's speech in Code Geass, episode 18 of season 1, "I Order you, Suzaku Kururugi." Honestly, I don't know how to write ye olde English. From my research, I've determined that these ceremonies may be overly long and possibly boring.

2) The Republic of Ophir: I'm reusing Nabu's alias Ophir as the name of his native country in Andros. In my mind, he was pressed for finding a new and being the lovestruck genius that most guys are, he uses the name of his own country—not that people aren't named after places.

3) Edric Daundelyon, Quinn Bartlett and Honey Ryder are original characters (OCs) that came from older, abandoned fanfic called Verboten.

4) Themiscyra is the name of an all-female specialist school. It's a recycled element from Test of Character, another abandoned fanfic. In real life, it's the home of the Amazons. I don't know if it's obvious but I treat Red Fountain as a military and flying academy (well, it is a super structure that floats in the sky…) while Themiscyra as a regular ground forces academy.

5) Brandon refers to being imprisoned by Yoshinoya. This was referenced in episode 14 of season 2, The "Wrong Righters"/"Battle on Planet Eraklyon" as the reason why he and Sky switched identities.

6) Perline, Melite, Corrissa and Deianeira: These are not official names because I don't know if they have any. I'm specifically referring to the four mermaids that helped Roy fight off the mutants in the last episode of season five.

7) Lieutenant Roy du Pont Mercier: It was never explained clearly who Roy was, what rank, how he was a specialist, where he came from. I wanted him to be more than just a pretty boy on a yacht, so I gave him a last name and a rank in the Androsian royal navy.