That night as Lily slept, her mind was in a reminiscent mood due to the day's events and Ben opening up to her about his past and her own childhood memories came flooding back to her, some that she had long since forgotten but had been reawakened by recent events.

Some were of Daffodil clowning around and telling her silly stories and bad jokes to make her laugh when she was feeling sad; Rose and Marigold reading bedtime stories with each one telling the other that they were doing it wrong; Daffodil bickering with Marigold and the two getting into an ugly argument when she had taken Marigold's favourite doll, Shellilina for the countless time.

Daffodil leaving her bed unmade and leaving messes around for Rose to clean up, playing hide and seek with her parents and sisters, playing the piano with Daisy and Holley proudly looking on, watching her sisters taking part in the national day concert and wishing she was on stage with them.

She also remembered Fern's change in personality from happy-go-lucky to moody and withdrawn after their father died and Fern, along with Violet, blaming her for it; climbing into Marigold's bed after a bad dream and the older mermaid comforting her and singing her songs; Bluebell constantly having her nose in a book and oblivious to the world around her and Violet bringing boyfriend after boyfriend home.

There were also recent memories such as riding the merry-go-round several times with Daffodil, winning a huge stuffed seahorse at the shell toss and dunking Rose into a pool of water, as she had been that year's unfortunate victim of the 'Dunk the Aquarian Crown Princess Tank' at the Neptune Carnival; giggling at Daffodil's crude imitations of their mother and Senna at the dinner table when her back was turned.

Begging her mother to let her take part in this year's Aquarian National Day concert only to go exploring shipwrecks and collecting treasures with Aurora instead, denying the kingdom the chance to hear her sing , which had been the start of this adventure in the human world…

Now that Lily thought of it, all her memories seemed to involve Daffodil and Marigold, as they had been the sisters she was most close to, despite the eight and six year age difference between them, as they had always been there for her and never resented the fact that Daisy favoured Lily over them, since they were physically and mentally older than her (At least Marigold was, Daffodil was somewhat on the immature side) and she had trusted them to be responsible and take care of themselves.

It was also because she didn't have a close relationship with Fern, Bluebell and Violet in spite of them being closer in age to her, since Fern always hid away in a corner, not wanting to interact with anyone, Bluebell was always reading and Violet was too engrossed in her beauty routines and dating and rejecting boys to play and spend time with her.

Rose, she got on well with but since she was burdened with the responsibilities of being the crown princess, she never really had time to spend with Lily, although she really wanted to and she sometimes envied Lily for being the youngest and carefree while she was weighed down with the pressures of being the eldest and heir.

Lily would often joke that she had 'three mothers' and whenever Daisy went away on trips, Marigold was always the one to tuck her into bed, tell her bedtime stories and whenever she had nightmares, Lily would always find Marigold, who let her climb into her bed without hesitation and she and Daffodil would stay up late whispering and giggling when they were supposed to be asleep and getting told off by the others.

Of all the dreams that Lily was having, three scenes stood out in particular and the first one was the conversation that she had with Marigold, when she was seven and had asked her mother for the first time why she wasn't allowed to go to the surface.

Daisy had lost her temper and had shouted at her to stop asking ridiculous questions, which reduced the little mermaid to tears and lying on her bed, sobbing and clutching her pillow.

Marigold, who was fifteen at the time, saw her littlest sister in tears and gently swam over to Lily's bed and beckoned her to sit on her lap..

'Lily,' Marigold cooed gently as seven-year-old Lily crawled onto her lap and wrapped her arms around the fifteen-year-old's waist as she sobbed while Marigold stroked her hair to calm her down.

'It's alright, tell me what's wrong. I'm here for you,' she said as Lily hiccupped and tried to blink back tears, burying her face into her sister's chest.

'Are you upset because Mum got angry with you and hurt your feelings?' Marigold said, still stroking Lily's hair in a motherly way and was thankful that it was only the two of them in the room.

'Mummy is so mean, Mari,' Lily said, or rather whined, 'She never lets me do anything. What's wrong with going to the surface? We used to be able to go but since Daddy died, I'm not allowed to go anymore! Why did Daddy have to die? Why is Mummy so unhappy and why does everyone blame me for his death?

I miss him so much and I want him to come back and make everyone happy again! If I hadn't got my tail caught in that rock, he'll still be here!'

'Lily, darling,' Marigold said, 'you mustn't blame yourself for Dad's death. It's not your fault, we were just at the wrong place at the wrong time and Dad was just saving your life because he loved you and wanted you to be safe even if it meant that he had to lose his. I miss him too, we all do even though it's been two years and Mum has to do the things she does because she's afraid of losing any of us to humans and wants us to be safe.'

'But what does that have to do with not being able to go to the surface?' Lily then asked and Marigold said,

'Lily, do you remember when Daffodil wanted to go to the kelp forest alone even though Mum told her not to?'

'She got lost,' Lily said, somewhat confused.

'And what did Mum say, when the guards eventually found her after a few hours?' Marigold asked.

'She said that Daffy should've listened to her. She said that Daffy was thirteen and should've known better to go alone and told her not to, but Daffy was naughty and didn't listen to her and she got lost.' Lily said.

'That's right, Lily, Daffodil was being very naughty and did a silly thing when Mum specifically told her not to. So you see, sometimes she has to say no because she knows what's good for you and what isn't.

That's how mums are. Sure you think that she's being mean and unfair but she has to say those things now and then because she wants you to be safe, okay?'

'Okay, Mari,' Lily said, hugging her sister, 'but why does Mummy have to shout so much?' as she pouted which made the second eldest mer-princess smile and unsuccessfully conceal her snickers.

'I don't know, Lily, that's the way she is,' Marigold said.

Another significant memory came back to Lily, as she remembered another conversation she had with one of her sisters, this time with Daffodil, as the nine-year-old caught her stealing Shellilina for the umpteenth time…

'Daffy, what are you doing with Mari's doll?' nine-year-old Lily said, when Daffodil was hastily shoving the doll under her pillow, 'are you stealing it? Because if you are, Mari's not going to be very happy with you and she'll tell Mummy and Mummy will be very angry with you.'

'Uhhh..' fifteen-year-old Daffodil said, faltering and trying to find a convincing excuse, 'of course I'm not stealing Marigold's dumb doll that she's too old for!

You see, Lily, thieves are very bad people and they make lots of people sad by taking their stuff away! There is nothing worse than a thief!'

'Like the Catfish Burglar who went around stealing treasures and Mummy had him thrown in the bad merpeople's place for his crimes and the guards said to him 'Crime doesn't pay,' Lily said.

'Exactly, you don't want to be like him and stealing is a very bad thing that mer-princesses like you and me should NEVER do!' Daffodil said, trying to sound like Rose and wagging her finger at Lily, but failing miserably, only succeeding in making the little mermaid laugh.

'But you do it, Daffy,' Lily said, 'like when you took Vi's compact when she pacficially told you not to use it and she was really mad at you and when you keep taking Mari's things like Shellilina without asking. Isn't that stealing?'

'Of course it isn't, Lil, it's not stealing at all!' Daffodil said, 'it's called 'borrowing!' while using finger quotes when she said 'borrowing,'

'I'm 'borrowing' Marigold's doll because she is the most selfish mermaid in Aquaria who needs to learn to share her stuff instead of being so over-protective of her property and acting like a killer whale every time I 'borrow' her things!

'Borrowed?' Lily said, confused then smiled at her sister, 'oh, that's a relief, I thought that you took Shellilina without asking!'

'Ah, asking, schmasking!' Daffodil said, 'you can borrow anything you like just as long as you bring it back before it's missed. Everyone knows that, right?'

'Okay!' Lily said, hanging on Daffodil's every word.

'And if Marigold asks where the doll is?' Daffodil said.

'You borrowed it!' Lily said, happily.

'Exactly!' Daffodil said, hugging her little sister, 'you're a good kid,' as Lily then swam away happily, while the older mermaid breathed a sigh of relief and whipped the doll out from under the pillow.

'Oh, that was a close one,' Daffodil said, holding the doll, 'I hope that Lily doesn't go spilling the pearls to Marigold and I don't want to get through THOSE fights with her again.'

That day, after Daffodil's 'pep talk', which was a term used rather loosely as it was obvious that Daffodil was being a total hypocrite, Lily, bored of sitting around in the palace all day and eager to explore outside the kingdom, went on her very first adventure.

And it was when she was swimming through a sunken ship, she found her very first human treasure- a music box and it was after this day, her curiosity about humans and their forbidden world and her love of their things was born.

And since she was neither stealing nor borrowing the objects she had found as they had been dropped into the ocean or left on the surface, she figured that it was alright to keep them, although they were the very things her mother abhorred…

Lily smiled as she turned over before waking up and finding it was still dark, judging by Senna muttering in her sleep, no doubt dreaming of Maximus again and the clock that told her that it was three thirty in the morning.

But try as she might, she couldn't get back to sleep and silently snickered when she heard Senna mutter and saw her puckering up her lips, obviously kissing Maximus in her dream although to Lily, it looked like a reminder that she hadn't kissed Ben yet despite having two chances to do so yesterday.

Sighing silently (oh, how she wished she had her voice and wondered why Sharla had wanted it in the first place, so that she could tell Ben that she loved him and had saved his life) she then reached over and picked up her bracelet, running her finger along the charms.

They were two maroon and gold beads, the state colours of Queensland, Ariel's green dress (she had picked that because it had her middle name on it) a fish that reminded her of Aurora , a silver heart that said Best Friends on it (which Ben had picked especially for her) and a silver 'L'.

Fingering the fish charm, Lily soon thought of Aurora and found herself falling asleep again and dreaming of meeting the little fish for the first time, when she was eleven and was swimming around the coral fields outside Aquaria.

She had wished that she had a friend to play and to go exploring with and was feeling lonely when she saw the scared little pink fish swimming around the fields aimlessly, as she had been separated from her school and they hadn't come back to her.

She was unsure about where to go and what to do and was feeling just as lonely as Lily was and the mermaid could see herself in Aurora (who wasn't called that yet) and where she stood in her family as she swam closer to the fish, careful not to frighten her…

'Oh, you poor little fish, are you okay?' the eleven-year-old mermaid said, approaching the little pink fish who was already scared about being abandoned and lost in an wide and scary ocean, where many dangers lay and sharks lurked in the shadows, waiting to feast on a timid, vulnerable guppy like her and seeing the strange mermaid swimming towards her, the fish yelped and swam behind some coral, shaking in fear.

'It's alright, don't be afraid, come on out,' Lily said gently, holding out her arms but the fish kept backing away, clearly scared of the mermaid, although she meant no harm and was speaking to her in a soft, sweet tone which made the fish feel at ease somewhat but she was still reluctant to come out.

'Come on, little fish, you can trust me, I promise that I won't hurt you,' Lily said, 'you look so scared and alone but I'll be your friend. I know how you feel, being all alone, without a friend. I promise that I will look after you. Come on out,'

Reluctantly the little fish swam slowly towards the mermaid, in awe of the stranger in front of her but there was nothing but kindness and love in her eyes as she sat on the ground and held out her arms to the fish.

Lily smiled encouragingly and the fish swam into her arms but didn't say anything yet she felt strangely safe in the mermaid's arms and as she looked at her tail…

'Hey, you have a pink tail like me!' she said, which made Lily jump in alarm at hearing the fish talk that she nearly sent her flying.

'You can talk?' Lily said, amazed.

'Of course I can, I trust you,' the fish said, 'and like I said, you have a pink tail and the same colours as me!' as she tickled Lily with her tail and fins which made the mermaid giggle.

'Why, yes I do,' Lily said, wiggling her tailfin in a coy way and tickled the little fish with it Lily sending her into giggles, 'and you have such a pretty flower in your hair!'

'Thanks,' the little fish said, 'I'm just glad to see a friendly face in the ocean since I got separated from my school when we got caught in a whirlpool and they didn't come back for me..' as the fish started crying.

'Oh, I'm so sorry, little fish,' Lily said, hugging her and the fish leaned against her chest, knowing very well what had happened to the school and feeling the same pain as the fish that she had only known for a few minutes,

'It's okay, I know what it's like to lose someone you love and to be all alone in the ocean and not having a friend. Sometimes I wish I had a friend that I can play with and to go on adventures with since my sisters don't have the time now that they are older.'

'I'll be your friend,' the little fish said, 'I promise that I'll always play with you and to go on your adventures with you, no matter how scary or dangerous they are and I'll always be by your side, in fact I'll be your best friend and you can be mine since you have been so kind to me and I already trust and like you.'

'You will?' Lily said and the fish nodded, 'oh, thank you, little fish, thank you so much! And my name's Lily, by the way. Or if you want my full name, Lily Ariel Clamarius, Princess of Aquaria, but just call me Lily, please!'

'You're a princess?' the little fish said and Lily nodded, 'that's so cool! But I won't treat you any differently, as you're just Lily and that's how I see you as, my best friend.'

'Thanks, little fish..oh, do YOU have a name?' Lily asked, 'I can't keep on calling you, 'little fish, can I? Surely, you must have one!'

'Well, my name is Girl Guppy #3, that's what everyone was called in my school,' the little fish said, 'I don't have a proper name.'

'Then, I'll give you one if you like,' Lily said and the little fish nodded eagerly, while Lily thought of a name to give her new best friend.

She soon found herself thinking of the book she had read last week in her grotto about a princess that she liked and the pink dress she wore, which was the same colours as the fish and her own seashells and tail and suddenly she had her name.

'Aurora,' Lily said to the little fish, 'I'm going to call you Aurora after the princess in a book I read and liked and I think that it'll suit you.'

'Aurora,' the little fish said, sounding out her new name and her eyes sparkled and her tailfin wiggled, 'I love it, it's such a beautiful name! Thank you, Lily, it feels good to have a proper name and not being known as 'Girl Guppy #3' anymore!'

'You're welcome, Aurora and I think that we're going to be best friends forever!' Lily said, hugging Aurora again and the little fish nuzzled happily against her.

'Best friends forever?' Aurora said, hopefully.

'Best friends forever,' Lily said, tucking Aurora under her arm, 'come on, I want to show you my grotto where I keep my treasures, that is, if you can keep a secret!'

'Of course I can!' Aurora said and the new best friends swam off to the grotto, having formed a very close and unbreakable friendship…

Lily smiled as she thought of Aurora and how she had always been by her side, even when she put her through dangerous situations such as being chased by the shark, going up to the surface, Aurora following her to Sharla's lair and witnessing her transform into a human, which was terrifying for but still stuck by her by helping her swim up to the surface and coming to see her on the beach.

Oh, how she missed the little fish, even though she had seen her yesterday and had been swimming along the canals when she and Ben drove by them, ready to assist in any way she could, like she had always done and proved time and time again how much she cared for Lily, having never been so far apart from her since the day they met.

Sure, she took Aurora to dark and scary parts of the ocean, into sunken boats, deep caverns and to the surface to see Sandy, to find adventures and treasures but the two had always had fun, though it was a terrifying kind of fun but still exciting.

Lily then wondered how Ben would react when he found out that a fish and a crab would be included in his circle of friends and smiled to herself as she put her bracelet back on the bedside table and went back to sleep without any more dreams about her past.

A past she was still keeping secret from Ben.

Wow, twenty chapters and still going strong! I'm so glad my little mermaid has followers that love her so much and in this chapter, you learn more about her and her relationship with her sisters and when she met Aurora for the first time. Sorry it took so long to post (slight writer's block and Internet issues don't mix!) but I'm glad that you are still enjoying this story!

Read and review, as Lily spends a day in Dreamworld in the next chapter!