In Polvina's room, the girls opened their books and turned to the page where the guardians of Salacia were named.
"See, it says it right there. The guardians of Salacia are the starfish! Ha, I knew I was right!" Ester pointed to where it said so in the book.
Polvina was still confused. "Well, then how come mine says it's the octopuses?"
Tubarina joined the others at the table. "You're both wrong, it's the sharks! See? It's right here."
"The books can't all be wrong." It was then that Polvina noticed something on the page. "Oh, look at this. Where it says who the guardians are, someone scratched out the real name and written one of our family names. It's the same in all three books."
"Why would anyone do that?" questioned Tubarina.
"Good question. There must be a copy somewhere that tells us the truth," replied Ester.
It was then that Polvina realised something. "And I know just where to find it - the Grand Library of Salacia. To the library!"
As Polvina rushed off, Ester and Tubarina followed after her. "Huh, she almost makes that sound exciting," Tubarina remarked.
The princesses arrived at the library and found the public copy of the History of Salacia on the shelves. They took it to a table and they began finding the chapter on the guardians.
"Don't be surprised if it's sharks. I won't be," remarked Tubarina.
"Look for the heading that says starfish," asked Ester.
As Polvina turned the pages, she realised that something was wrong. "Oh no! Someone has torn the whole chapter out."
"Why would someone tear pages out of a history book?" wondered Tubarina.
"It's like they don't want us to know the truth," replied Ester.
Polvina added, "It's very weird. We've gotta find out who did it and why."
Tubarina piped up, "Hang on, that's going to be hard. This was meant to be an easy assignment, remember?"
"It'll still be easy," reassured Ester.
"And a lot more interesting. Come on!" said Polvina.
The girls left the book on a trolley for reshelving before they left the library. On the way, they encountered their little friend, Bib the blowfish.
"Hi Bib!" the three said.
"Hi girls! Did you want to play with me again today?" asked Bib in his language.
Polvina replied, "Oh, we'd love to, but we're busy doing an assignment for school. Maybe we'll play together another time."
Bib just said, "Okay then. See you!" and saw off the girls as they left.
Tubarina was curious at the interaction that just ensued. "Hey, have you noticed how we can talk to Bib like he understands us and we can understand him back?"
Polvina was intrigued at the realisation. "Yeah, normally we can only understand the animals we represent and they can understand us back. That's why we have to translate for them."
Ester asked, "What about Panjo, the seahorse? We can understand him somehow and he can understand us back. It's not like he and the other seahorses have a royal family."
Polvina replied, "Yes they do. Ellie and Elise are the Seahorse Princesses. They live in the Farlands and their teacher is Mr Gippson. They go to the same campus as Queen, Venus and Crystal." Queen was the Rainbowfish Princess, Venus was the Sea Lion Princess and Crystal was the Sea Serpent Princess. As with other princes and princesses hailing from the Farlands, Queen, Venus and Crystal went to a separate campus of the Sea School in the Farlands and once every semester, Miss Marla or Mr Gippson would take their class on a week-long excursion to each other's campuses. Polvina continued, "We're actually capable of speaking to other animals at times, it's just a matter of whether they can understand us. Vice-versa however, that's out of the question, except for seahorses. The Seahorse Royal Family taught us how to understand seahorses because we ride on them so much."
"Okay, but that doesn't explain how we can understand Bib. Shouldn't he have, like, a Blowfish Prince or Princess?" questioned Tubarina.
Ester thought for a second. "Yeah, you're right, Tubarina. Do the blowfish have a royal family and if so, why haven't we heard about them before?"
The girls were left pondering the question as they continued on. Meanwhile, Bib met with the mysterious saline to report what he just saw.
"I see. So they've begun digging deeper into the mystery. That's just like them. We know where they're going. Get everyone to head there and keep an eye on them when they show up."