Hey guys! Thanks for the wait and I am glad to announce that TheMultiColoredPencil's OC, Leighton (spelled Leightone in this story), has joined the characters line-up! ^^

teamBLAZE: to put it simply, that's due to their merfolk heritage, but as for Allen's endurance maybe I have extrapolated the time too far now that you said it? (Alicia had roughly the same endurance with Melody, she didn't speak until she ate the haleweed)

ToOH: Maybe I will once I have my Christmas holiday! ^^ As for why Allen came along, it's more because he knows if they were to escape, the merfolk would easily chase them, so he thought it's better to play along first... and it's haleweed ^^

Bunnies4ever2: Yes, it really boost my morale to write! ^^

The purple-tailed mermaid moved gleefully around the palace's yard, swimming in circle with an equally cheerful merman whom she had grown up with.

"Hey, Rod," the mermaid called as they kept chasing each other's tail in circle. "Have you ever heard a tale… about a mermaid who falls in love with a prince?"

"I've heard some!" Rod replied before trying to grab the mermaid's tail, although he hand was evaded at the last moment. The mermaid even managed to slap his hand away using her fins before moving away. "There are two versions. The first one ends with the mermaid turns into sea foam because the prince marries another woman."

"And then, the second version?"

"The mermaid marries the prince and they live happily ever after in a palace by the shore."

Leightone, or Leighlee, as she was usually called abruptly stopped swimming and stared at Rod with her deep amethyst eyes. Her purple hair, decorated with streaks of darker shade purple highlights at the sides, flowed gracefully around her. "Have you heard the news?" she asked, this time in a more serious tone. Seeing that, Rod dropped his cheerful attitude and switched to a more serious, more formal demeanour as expected from the first son of one of the King's close advisors.

"Three humans reaching Atlantica unharmed?" he asked, "The King is hosting a party for them, I heard. You should be called for soon."

Leighlee crossed her arms, frowning. "A party? For trespassers?"

"You know how fond your grandfather of parties is."

In terms of curiosity, Leighlee ranked second, just right behind Reine. However, while Reine's daringness to skip classes forged her curiosity into critical, more street-smart wit, Leighlee's careful studies had tempered hers into careful reasoning.

"Something doesn't fit quite right." She abruptly turned towards the palace. "I have to find Gwen."

Closely followed by Rod behind, Leighlee swam quickly to Gwen's private chamber. Just like any other time, the door was closed—but there was no sign of Gwen's faithful companion the equally taciturn dolphin Viserys.

"Gwen's not here?" Leighlee remarked in surprise. "She's not supposed to be working today, right?"

Rod shook his head, equally surprised by Gwen's absence from her private chamber.

"The Princess-Seeress left some moments ago," a servant volunteered the info when she noticed the presence of the fifth princess.

"O—oh, I see. Thank you."

Leighlee turned once again to face Rod. "You heard that? She went out."

"Totally strange." Rod remarked, voicing out the exact same thing with what Leighlee had in mind.

"She must've known something more about this."

Before Leighlee could gather her thoughts, another servant went towards her. "Your Highness, His Majesty asked that you should prepare yourself for a welcoming party."

Leighlee glanced aside and Rod gave her the 'I told you so' look. She sharpened her glare and Rod grinned, mouthing, 'I'll be there,' to her, finally softening her eyes.

Although he was supposed to be one of the guests of honour, Neil was not used to being at the centre of the party hall instead of standing near the table with tray at hand, offering it to any guest who approached him with empty hands. He sneaked out the party hall at the earliest opportunity and went to the palace's courtyard when he noticed that the pink mermaid was leaving clandestinely with the pink dolphin, carrying a sizeable sack with them.

What are they doing?

Curiosity swiftly took over him and he tried to follow them closely. His focusing on them led him not to realize that they were swimming into a deeper sea as they moved away from the central area of the kingdom—where the weeds were trimmed neatly and colourful corals decorated the ground—into the deeper sea where everything were wilder: the corals existed in more sombre colours and the weeds darker and taller. The fishes were also less colourful than those swimming around the palace, majority taking the colour of grey, brown, or even black. With that kind of environment, Reine and Viv's existence seemed to be out of place with their pinky appearance, but it made it easier for Neil to follow them.

After struggling with tall weeds (Neil almost got tangled several times, but he managed to deal with it without attracting any unwanted attention), finally Neil could see the place Reine and Viv were actually heading at. It was a settlement, akin to a village on land. Just like the fishes, the merfolks inhabiting this area tended to be paler in complexion and their tails tended to take on darker colours such as black or dirty brown, or very pale altogether, such as grey.

So the living condition in sea and shore aren't so different, after all. Neil remarked inwardly, hiding behind a tall bush of weeds. He watched quietly as the merchildren gathered around Reine—their gleeful voices could be heard until where he hid—and received the package that Reine and Viv had carried. Neil finally saw the content of the package: the party food.

Did she steal it from the kitchen?

It was then Neil felt there was something behind him. He turned around and saw two rows of sharp teeth bared at him. That, plus a pair of perfectly round eyes that protruding out from the sides of the head staring at him intently.

"WHAT THE HELL?!"

He stumbled on the weed and fell onto the ground, rolling his way down. When his body stopped rolling and was about to float, something held him down and he opened his eyes, his breath still ragging from his earlier shock.

"You followed us here?" Reine asked with a tone of annoyance.

"Wha… wha… I…"

Reine sighed heavily and helped him to stand, or rather float properly. "Don't worry, that fish is harmless." She said, grabbing his white shirt, "Most probably attracted by this."

Neil pounded lightly on his chest several times to get over his shock. "I've never seen that kind of fish."

"Of course, you never swam this deep before." Reine quipped.

Neil turned around and noticed another pair of eyes staring intently at him. This time it was a small mergirl, probably around six or seven years old. Her hair was dark brown while her tail was very dark blue, almost the same with the water surrounding her.

"This is Mika, my little friend," Reine introduced him, "And Mika, this is…" only then Reine remembered she never really got to know his name. She glanced at him and Neil took the hint. "Neil."

Mika scanned him from top to bottom, pausing at his feet. "Reine, what's wrong with his fins? It's very small."

Hearing Mika's innocent question, Viv and Reine burst out laughing, much to Mika's confusion. Neil quickly looked down and realized that his black trousers might look like a tail (albeit being a very strange one at that).

"Yeah. He's a strange merguy." Reine finally said.

"Is he your friend?"

"Um…" Reine hesitated for a moment. "You can say so."

Finally the mergirl turned at Neil and flashed him a bright smile that brightened up the dark deep sea with her row of white teeth. "Hello, Neil!"

"Uh… hello." Neil replied hesitantly.

"I have to go back now," Reine suddenly declared.

Mika's dark eyes glistened playfully. "Is he your boyfriend, then?"

"YES!" Viv shouted at the top of her lungs, granting her a sharp elbow jab from Reine, "Eeeek! Whyyy~?"

"Shut up, Viv, don't shout nonsense!" Reine then turned to Mika, "No. He's not my boyfriend."

"Then, why are you leaving once he appeared?"

"Because… I remembered that I haven't done my group work with him!" Reine grinned, satisfied with her impromptu lie, while Viv rolled her eyes in an exaggerated manner.

"Will you come back soon?"

"Yes, as soon as I could."

After saying goodbye to the other merchildren, Reine pulled Neil away while Viv swam close by. After they had put considerable distance from the settlement, the mermaid spoke up with the earlier hint of annoyance came back again.

"Don't you dare bring this up to my grandfather."

"He doesn't know?"

Viv nudged Neil on the small of his back and Neil turned around. The dolphin then shook her head slowly, prompting for Neil to drop the subject altogether.

"Any case," Reine said, "If you followed me thinking I could help you with going back to the surface, sorry, you're wrong," she quickly added, "Unless we're talking about sneaking out at night."

"What?!"

"You have better chance if you ask Gwen to intervene instead of me."

"Gwen? Who's that?"

"The other mermaid earlier. The one with the veil covering the lower half of her face."

Neil remembered seeing such a mermaid earlier, for she was the only mermaid who covered her face, albeit partially. "Why her?"

"Gramps' favourite." Reine replied curtly. "I can help you in talking to her, but that's all I can offer."

True to her words, Reine talked to Gwen about the fates of the three humans in private and although Gwen didn't say anything to her back then, Reine knew that Gwen immediately went to the Throne Room after their conversation.

The three humans were summoned to the Throne Room before dinner, with the court high-ranking officials being present as well as the seven princesses. While the six princesses stood below the stairs leading to the raised Throne, Gwen stood at the side of the Throne, indicating her formal position as one of the King's advisers (although she rarely appeared).

"There are still questions on how humans like you could reach Atlantica while still retaining your lives." The King admitted. "One of you must agree to undergo a quest. Only after that I will release one of you."

"So, we'll need to complete three quests to release the three of us?" Allen asked.

"That is correct."

Neil immediately stepped forward. "I'll go."

Alicia gasped in horror while the King seemed to take a careful look on Neil before declaring. "You will do." He said, "Fetch me the Flower of Illusions."

This time, every merfolk in the Throne Room, except for Gwen, gasped in surprise. Reine immediately stepped forward from her place and raised her hand. "I'll go with him."

"Princess!" One of the court officials exclaimed in surprise.

"Reine…" the King trailed off, "Why?"

"You are a just king." Reine declared boldly. "Is it fair to send an ignorant human for such a task without any proper help? There is no road nor map in the sea; I believe it is only fair if somebody were to act as his guide."

The Throne Room fell into silence as Reine's words sunk into the wisest men in the kingdom. The King stared at his youngest granddaughter in a mixture of awe and disbelief, never really noticing her growth up until this very day.

Meanwhile, the three humans were equally shocked: what was exactly required in the mission that one of the princesses offered her help personally that the Throne Room fell into this cold silence?

"I want to come along!" Alicia whined for the fourth time as Neil and Reine were about to set off since she couldn't condone the idea of Neil spending time alone with a mermaid.

Initially, the King was against the idea of letting Reine go, but Gwen managed to convince the King to let Reine had her way. The first quest was agreed to be Alicia's exchange, since she was the youngest and the only female member.

"I want to come along!"

Reine sighed and faced the human princess. "You can come along, you don't even have to be useful."

Alicia let out an excited 'Yes!' before she heard Reine's next sentence: "But are you sure you won't be a burden?"

"Such a tone!" Alicia cried out while grabbing Reine's face with both of her hands. "Are you saying I'm a burden?!"

"There's a limited amount of haleweed we can carry along," Reine remarked, "I don't entertain midway emergency surfacing."

"But… but…" Alicia trailed off, reluctant to voice out the real reason of her wanting to come along. She bit her lower lip and scanned Reine's carefully, especially on the defined curves of her body that wasn't covered by any piece of cloth but her pink bikini top. "You're ugly." She mumbled.

"What does that have to do with the mission?!" Reine asked back sharply.

"I… I want to come along!"

"That doesn't make any sense!"

"You're not denying that you're ugly!"

"Still doesn't make sense! Don't waste my time, you spoiled brat!"

"I'm not a brat! I'm fourteen!" Alicia exclaimed in frustration, almost at the verge of tears, as she tried to stomp on the ground—but of course, there was nothing beneath her feet to stomp on.

Reine sneered, "You act like a four-year old." She set her tail before Alicia's face and made a sweeping downward movement, sending a strong current on the princess' face, strong enough to loosen some strands of her hair from the braided arrangement. "And if you want to stomp, do it properly like the one I did."

"Alicia, just stay with me, will you?" Allen finally stepped in, seeing that the mermaid might feed his sister to some scary fishes if he didn't do so.

Alicia turned at Allen, feeling dejected and dissatisfied as Reine finally swam away to Neil who had been waiting with Viv about ten metres away (hence not hearing any of that argument).

"Such a spoiled princess." Reine snorted.

"Who? Alicia?"

"Is that redhead guy a princess?" Reine snapped back.

Neil shrugged. "She might seem to be spoiled, but—"

"YOUR BODY IS LIKE AN OLD AUNTIE!"

Reine disappeared from Neil's side in a flash and reappeared before Alicia, her scarlet eyes glaring sharply at her, "Listen, you brat, if you are really sure you can not be a burden, be my guest. And when I say not a burden means no screaming when you see fanged fishes—and there'll be lots of them swimming at you with your whiny attitude since you sound like a dainty fish asked to be eaten!"

"F… fanged fish? Fish with fangs?"

"You heard me right."

Colour was drained from her face as Alicia tried to imagine a fanged fish—maybe with tiger straps on its body? Or black spots like a cheetah's? In any case, Reine made it sounded like these fanged fishes were worse than piranhas somehow.

Finally Allen stepped in between the two of them, "You said you don't want to waste time, right?" he reminded her, before smirking, "Besides, your body totally doesn't look like an old auntie."

Reine glared at Allen momentarily before she turned around and made her way back to Neil and Viv, this time much more slowly.

Meanwhile, Neil watched the scene (still not knowing what they were talking about, plus he didn't really care about it) from distance, amazed by Reine's swimming speed earlier.

"She can outswim a blue shark when angered." Viv remarked, "And scarier, too."

Neil gulped in a renewed awe for the mermaid, as well as nervousness for what awaited him.

Looking at that, maybe he shouldn't be too worried whether this mermaid princess could survive the mission. Maybe he should be worried about himself, instead, since why would Reine offer help otherwise?

Seems like Reine doesn't realize Alicia's jealousy :P

and how will their journey unfold?

Stay tuned for the next chapter!

Thanks for reading! Please rate and review! ^^

A/N: by the way, Reine's sixteen, so she's not that much older than Alicia although her body has already developed the curves and everything that incited the latter's jealousy. ^^