Rikki could not keep her mind from wandering Monday afternoon. Her body ached from strain on muscles she had never really used before and her head from information overload. The last place she wanted to be was sitting in science class at school. And yet, that was exactly where she was: in body anyway. Her mind was replaying the events of Saturday on repeat, troubled by all that Veridia had told them.

She and Zane had sadly abandoned Terry minutes after he had fired up the grill on Saturday, when they had received Ash's frantic text. They had swum out to mako arriving just after Lewis and Cleo, just in time to greet their guests as they made their way through the front hall of the temple.

The newcomers had surveyed the space in awe, much as they had when they first saw it.

"Amazing!" Veridia had marveled once the introductions were out of the way, "The Southern Temple. We all thought it had been lost to history. I never thought I'd see it!"

Arethusa had stepped forward gleefully, "And I never thought I would see I see a Greater Pod Chief again, or Royals for that matter. You are all most welcome here." She had smiled with a small bow of her head.

Veridia's expression had darkened in disapproval. "And who are you water spirit? You speak for the royals?"

Arethusa blanched then began bowing more profusely. "My apologies My Lady. I simply meant—"

"Hey!" Rikki had interrupted, blood beginning to heat. "Arethusa is the appointed guardian of the temple and our friend. This was her place long before it was ours and if anyone should be welcoming you into it, it should be her!" Rikki had narrowed her eyes. "Then again, maybe she shouldn't be welcoming you."

"Forgive me your Majesty," Veridia spoke genuinely, bowing to Rikki, "It just isn't proper for a spirit to speak for mer, especially for a royal. I understand you not knowing everything, what with being Moon Blessed and all, but being so friendly with spirits?" Veridia had shook her head. "It's not our way."

"Yes, we've heard all about traditional mer treatment of spirits." Zane had spoken up from behind her. "And we're choosing to ignore them."

His firm resolution had ended that conversation, though the face Veridia had made confirmed she did not agree with their sentiment.

Arethusa had stepped forward again with increased caution. "I would be most willing to show your entourage to some of the guest rooms. Mind, it has been eight hundred years and we have little in way of furnishings, but surely some privacy after a long group trip would be welcome."

"Of course." Veridia had spoken this time with grace. "Though there is some urgency, I would like to speak to our Monarchs now if possible."

Monarchs.

"We can talk." Emma spoke for the group as she had looked for affirmations from the rest of them. "The sitting room we used earlier—"

"Alpheus can see you there." Arethusa had nodded to the other spirit as she had anticipated Emma's confusion still as to where things were.

Soon enough the bell was ringing marking the end of science, briefly pulling Rikki from her thoughts. She followed the throng of students. Emma and Cleo followed behind chatting to themselves. Rikki didn't register any of the conversation.

She made her way alone to her history class while her friends made their ways to other parts. She sat and once again found focusing on the lesson a severe challenge.

They had followed Alpheus through the hall. Rikki had turned and noticed that only Veridia and two others were following: a stocky middle-aged man, and a young girl with perfect skin and dark curls. The others had gone presumably with Arethusa to their rooms. The six of them had sat down: their guests careful to sit only once the royals were seated.

"I've asked that our Chief Priest Dusan and my personal Guard Maya sit in on this meeting." Veridia had explained her company.

"That's fine, and excuse me for my lack of formality," Lewis had spoken up, "But what is so urgent?"

"We are war." Veridia had paused. "With other mer."

"What?" Lewis had been in disbelief—they all had. "Another pod? Who?"

"Her name is Aurora. She is the leader of the of the Atlantic Pod – a madwoman who has declared mer as superior to humans. She wants to war with them. Almost twenty years ago now, she sought support from the other pods. When we refused join in her hopeless endeavor, she labeled us all traitors to mer kind and turned her armies against us."

"Us?" Ash had spoken.

"The remaining three great pods. Northern, Southern and," She had paused slightly, "Eastern." She had sighed in remorse. "The Eastern are gone now, and the North has been at siege for over a year, but we still hold out. Though frankly, it was looking increasingly grim, until you showed up."

"What do you want us to do?" Rikki had asked fearful of what this new information would mean for all of them. This was probably the terrible thing they had all been expecting after the coronation.

"You are meant to lead us. You are destined. Chosen." Dusan had prodded earnestly.

Destined

"Look, I know we signed up for this, but we're really new to all of this and not prepared to go to war." Emma had spoken warily.

"We can tell." Maya had chuckled. "No offense."

Veridia had smiled in agreement with Maya, to Rikki's annoyance. "We'll get you trained up; you're going to need it now that she'll be trying to kill you."

"What do you mean kill us?" Zane had nearly shouted.

"She and her people call her Queen of all mer. She's the third to claim herself sovereign monarch following her father and grandfather."

"But she's not though." Cleo had pointed out.

"No, she's not. You have divine right." Veridia had creased her brow. "But just as we did, she'll have felt your ascension. She'll be coming after you. We need to prepare for that."

Divine Right.

"Miss Chadwick?"

"Hmm?" Rikki looked up startled out of her memory. She was met with the serious face of her history teacher. "I'm sorry. What?"

"We're reviewing this weekend's reading. Can you tell me the name of the 17th century political philosophy used to justify monarchical absolutism?"

"Umm. I'm sorry Ms. Santos, I must have missed that." Rikki spoke as she deflated a little.

Ms. Santos sighed, "Does anyone else have an answer?"

A hand shot up from the other side of the room.

"Yes. Mr. Benjamin."

"The Divine Right of Kings."

"Excellent. And what exactly was this philosophy?"

"It was the idea that kings and queens were given their authority from God. And that going against the king wasn't just treason, it was going against God himself." Will answered.

Divine Right. Rikki mused. Figures.

"Exactly." Ms. Santos responded. Just then the bell rang signaling the end of class. People began to stand and collect their things. "Alright students I'd like you to read chapter 11 in your textbook and answer the review questions at the end. And remember we're having our unit test on Friday, so be sure to revise for that." She spoke up over the din before turning to Rikki and speaking at a normal level, "Miss Chadwick may I speak to you for a moment."

Rikki nodded, gripping her books with a bit too much force while waiting for the room to clear out. As the last student made his way out the door. Miss Santos made her way over. "Rikki I'm concerned about you. I've spoken to some of your other teachers, and with what I've already seen from you this year, I know that you're capable of succeeding if you would apply yourself."

"I've had a lot on my mind the last few days."

"I'm sure," she spoke giving Rikki a strange look as she did. "I'm sure we could find you a tutor if that would be helpful."

"Oh, I don't need a tutor!" Rikki assured "I just need to reorganize some things in my life." Yeah, she only had to find a balance between royal training, passing school and a personal life which included a new marriage. Totally easy.

"Well, if you ever need anything, just let me know."

"Will do." She falsely assured before turning and missing her teacher's awed and disbelieving stare.

She had Physical Education after history and her muscles burned from the memory of Sunday's training session while she ran sprints in the gymnasium.

"Alright, Aurora is going to be expecting true royals." Veridia's voice had echoed in the hall they were using as a training room. "Legends tell us that you six are meant to be the strongest of us all. So, let's see what you can do." She looked at them unimpressed, and for a moment Rikki felt like she was a small child again being looked down on by her mum.

"Maya will be your sparring partner," she had then continued as Maya stepped forward. "We'll see if any of you can take her."

What had followed was an abysmal display from everyone. Emma was surprisingly fast but was no match for the warrior. Ash had been confident with his size, but she used that to her advantage to flip him when he made a go at her. Cleo had refused to fight Maya, which was still better than the cringey display from Lewis in which he had somehow knocked himself to the ground without her even touching him. Zane somehow put up the best fight until Maya got his arms behind his back. And Rikki had only managed to get in a single jab before Maya got her in a headlock.

Veridia had smiled with force, "Well that could use some work. Hopefully we have time before Veridia finds you."

"How did you find us so quickly anyway?" Lewis had asked. "Could you sense from across the ocean?"

"Of course not." Veridia had laughed at Lewis like it was the most ridiculous question in the world. "Dusan had a vision the night of your coronation. Aurora doesn't follow the old religion like she should. She'll have to hunt you down by other means, and with any luck that will be later rather than sooner."

"Do you think we have a chance against her," Ash had asked.

Veridia had sighed, "You're the Moon's Chosen, she has to have a plan in all of this."

Rikki had frowned as she heard that statement.

Veridia had clapped, "Now let's see how you fare in the water!"

Before long, school was over, and Rikki was making her way off school grounds. She met up with Zane at the JuiceNet after school. She desperately needed a decompress.

"Hey." He said as he wrapped his arms around her and placed a kiss on the top of her head.

She smiled up at him before pulling out of the embrace. "I need a juice."

He nodded then followed her. They went inside and sat down on the same side of one of the booth seats with Rikki on the inside. She held her head in her hands and he put his arm over her shoulder

They just sat there in silence until Will came over to take their order, "Hey, what can I get for you guys?" he spoke though keeping his eyes on Rikki.

Zane piped up if a tad aggressively, "One Banana Beatbox and a Cranberry Booster."

"You got it." Will ignored Zane's curtness. "Hey Rikki, I might have overheard you and Ms. Santos today. If you need any help in history, I'd love to give you some tutor."

"She's fine." Zane pushed.

She turned and gave him a warning look before responding to Will. "Thanks Will, but I'm sure I'll be fine."

Will nodded then turned away. She turned back to Zane once Will had gone. "I can't believe you were so rude to him, and he was just trying to be nice!"

"I've always thought he had a crush on you."

"Oh, you're not seriously jealous!" She said before whispering in frustration. "We're married, aren't we?"

He made a face that was somewhere between 'in love' and halfway to 'I'm Sorry'.

She rolled her eyes. "Besides, I'm pretty sure he has a thing for the new girl." She pointed toward the door.

Sure enough, Will made a beeline for the door where a cute blonde had walked in. It was no time at all before the two were chatting it up with their demeanors resembling a couple of adorable puppies.

"Okay then, I'm sorry." He chuckled fully apologizing this time. "But if you need help with history, I can always revise with you."

"We're not even in the same school."

"History is history." He shrugged. "But that's not what's bothering you." He expertly read her.

She sighed. "Just something Veridia said. That we have divine right."

"Yeah, we were ordained by a deity, so…"

"But were we though?" Rikki searched his confused face, then sighed. "Two weeks ago, we didn't believe in the moon goddess, didn't know that was actually a thing. Lewis was still trying to explain our powers with science. I guess I've never thought much about whether I believe in God or not, but suddenly there's this deity…"

Zane waited while she tried to finish her thought.

"What if Lewis was right the first time and there's a completely scientific explanation for all of this. Who's to say then that we have any right to a throne?"

"And you think Aurora does?"

"No. With all she's done she doesn't deserve it. But can't you see that Veridia doesn't really respect us. She's only honoring the title and power because of who it comes from.

"You don't actually believe that." He spoke sympathetically.

"I don't know what I believe. I just know that I don't want people calling me queen because they have to. I want to earn it."

"And you will." He smiled and held her closer. "You'll be the best queen they've ever seen!"

A/N: Hey Friends!

My that chapter did not go quite as I originally expected. I worked very hard on the flow of this chapter and framing the multiple flashbacks. I'm actually really happy with it!

Maya is shaping up to a fun character, since we don't know much about her from canon. I'm trying to keep Veridia in character with Mako Mermaids: good if not a bit condescending.

Ms. Santos! I don't believe it was ever said what subject she taught before becoming principal! I imagine her as a history teacher. (Canon technically has two different schools for the two shows, but since the filming location was the same, for the purposes of this story, it's the same school.)

More Will this chapter! A little nod to WillxRikki and some jealous Zane, but that will be about as far as it will go. There will be no unnecessary assassination of Zane's character! (*Cough* Season 3).

Also, can anyone guess who caught Will's eye? LOL :D

Thank you all for reading! Comments and reviews give me so much joy! Stay safe and healthy!

Much Love,

Odd Lady :)