Eric awoke to find himself safely back at the palace. It took him a few seconds to realise exactly where he was, it had been so long since he had been here. The silly quest had meant he had not seen his home for many months. Everything was still the same that he could see. He was in his room, which was, and never would be as fancy as that of his brothers. They may have practically the same furniture but his brothers had covered their walls and shelves with trophies from various quests. Eric had never liked that sort of thing but it was expected that Prince's continuously participate in such pointless antics to prove themselves to the King and become the next ruler. In Eric's opinion, quests were stupid, and taking trophies was only a form of showing off.

He now struggled to remember how he got back there. He remembered setting sail but surely he would never forget his grand return home. He hoped it hadn't been one of those parties where his men encourage him to drink too much and he failed to remember a thing in the morning. He feel no sickness so it couldn't possibly be that.

Then the memory returned.

The waves, crashing around him, creating a deafening roar, and then struggling to breathe, struggling to reach the surface. Then the feeling of panic, followed by exhaustion, followed by something else. Something that he couldn't describe. But he knew that the pain and panic had gone away.

Another thought hit him. He saw a face. A girl. She was beautiful with long silvery hair and eyes that were the same blue as the ocean. The memory began to fade and he concentrated hard to hold on to it. He leapt from the bed, searching desperately for some parchment to draw the face and instantly regretted the action as he was overwhelmed with dizziness and fell to the floor. The crash brought people running and Eric felt himself being lifted back onto the bed. The voices blurred as he fell asleep again but this time he dreamed of the face.

He awoke to a rather annoying flicking of his ears. Bernard had done this since they were children. Eric hated awaking early and one day Bernard learnt the technique of flicking ones ear. Eric quickly learnt that it is impossible to ignore someone when the continuously flick you in the ear. Normally Eric would ignore him as long as he could but on the particular morning he leapt up, scaring his friend and making him fall backwards off the bed. Once again, Eric regretted getting up so fast as he felt the dizziness return. Luckily this time there was someone to catch him. Laughing his friend grabbed him. "Haven't you learnt from last time? You are weaker than you think."

"Yes we all know you're hilarious" Eric replied as he was not in the mood for his friends jokes. "If you want to help me you can bring me some parchment, I have to do a drawing."

"A drawing?" he asked flatly but thankfully he obliged. Eric ignored his friends questions and focused on trying to bring back the image into his head. He drew faster then he even had in his life to try and catch the image from fading. Finally he stopped, satisfied that he had drawn it close enough.

"Ok, you are starting to scare me" his friend said as he strained to see the drawing. "Would you care to fill me in?"

In reply Eric simply held up the parchment. "Very nice" Bernard said, "now why did you rush to draw that?"

"Because she saved me from the storm."

Bernard paused at Eric's words. He decided to humour him. "So this mystery girl just swims around the ocean saving drowning people?"

Eric shrugged "I don't know how but for a few seconds I remember waking up and seeing her face."

Bernard nodded understandingly. "How much sea water did you drink?"

Eric was tired of trying to explain himself, or maybe he knew he was fighting a losing battle. He knew how crazy he sounded. But he was still so sure about her and how he had to find her.

Everything kind of blurred after that. He grew tired and lost count of how many times he was asked "how are you feeling?" He wanted to yell at them "I almost drowned, how do you think I'm feeling?" But he held back. He also held back on mentioning the girl again. Other people in the court would not be as accepting as his best friend and think him insane. Those who were extra spiteful or loyal to his brothers would inform the King, lying and saying that Eric was not in his right mind in the hopes that the King would think him insane and never give him the crown. Eric didn't know if he cared about this or not.

Bernard could see what constantly filled Eric's mind and was not happy about it. He kept reinstating what Eric already knew about "if the King sees you so distracted he will worry and your brothers will use it to your advantage." Eric tended to stop listening at this point. He knew it all but he didn't care.

All he cared about was her.

He wondered if his brothers were happy he was alive. Ezra at least pretended to be. He ran in pretending to be choked up with emotion crying, "take me but not my brother. Curses on you world."

It was a little overdone. "As you can see I'm not dying" Eric tried to tell him but his brother was too deep into his performance. With his hand to his brow in mock pain and continued "I have been a nervous wreck ever since I heard the news. Don't you ever leave again, do you hear me?"

"The whole kingdom can hear you" Eric said truthfully. It was part of his brothers plan, to seem caring and loving which he obviously wasn't. The older brother Edlyn just observed from the side, calculating ways to use this to his advantage. Everything was a competition to these two. Everything was a way to prove their worth to the King.

His mother greeted him with genuine happiness. It was clear to everyone that she loved Eric far more than her other sons. His father's opinion of them changed almost daily. Today, Eric seemed in good graces with him. He was happy to see his youngest son alive and well after such a long absence. "My son" he said warmly as he embraced him. It meant nothing to Eric. He knew that his fathers emotions changed quickly and this time tomorrow he could be an utter disappointment to the man. Still he smiled and joined in the happy family masquerade.

"Promise me that you wont go in search of mystery girl" Bernard said to Eric who nodded half heartedly. "Promise me" he said, louder this time. "Fine" Eric replied, also getting louder. His fingers were crossed.

"Mystery girl?" Eliza asked due to rather rude eavesdropping. "Beat it, this is a conversation for men" Bernard told her and she took great pleasure in ignoring. "But I want to know" she pleaded, pouting in that way girls do to make men do whatever they want. It never worked on Bernard and Eric. They knew her too well. They knew that under her seemingly sweet exterior, she was pure evil. Eliza was in fact the eldest of the royal children but was constantly overlooked. Ruling was a mans job and she served no purpose in the eyes of this.

"I'm not leaving until I know," she threatened and Bernard groaned. They often played this game. When she wanted them to do something she would not leave them alone. This also included loud singing, shouting, non-stop talking and anything she could think of to get them to crack. She always won. All of them stared at each other, waiting for someone to crack.

"Eric thinks that some beautiful woman saved him from drowning and he wont stop talking about it and now he wants to find her even though he's clearly insane" Bernard gushed as he cracked under the pressure.

Eliza gasped excitedly. "Insanity is fun" she gushed "don't do anything embarrassing if I'm not around." And just like that, everything was about her.

"Ill try" Eric told her, rather amused. She began listing all the things he should do now that he was officially insane. Bernard began telling her that she was insane and they began fighting about it as per usual. Eric stopped listening and wondered if he was insane. Surely he could not have made her up.

Regardless, he knew he would search for her.