That evening, Polvina, Ester and Tubarina were heading back home from the hospital after visiting Leia and her family, or what appeared to be left of it.
"Hey, Polvina," said Ester. "You know how you said you wanted to talk things out after what happened today? Well, why don't we head over to your palace and do that?"
"I'd like that," replied Polvina. "Let's mend our friendship and think about what to do next."
"I wouldn't ask for anything less," affirmed Tubarina.
On the way to the Octopus Palace, Polvina, Ester and Tubarina encountered three people; a girl with pink clothes in the shape of an octopus, a girl with yellow clothes in the style of a starfish, and a girl with blue clothes in the style of a shark. They were looking at what appeared to be clones of themselves.
The clones engaged in combat with the girls, who responded in kind. The girls found that the clones mimicked their fighting styles quite perfectly, but in the end, the clones would be no match for the real thing. Polvina, Ester and Tubarina began to realise that their and Seretao's actions were catching the Shark King's attention; when Polvina asked Seretao about the possibility of this back at the hospital, she was told not to worry about it, which she relayed to the girls at that moment.
Upon making it back to the Octopus Palace, the girls went up to Polvina's room for their talk. Once they sat down, Polvina began to call out Ester and Tubarina for their bitchiness over the years. Their argument over whose father was right when they didn't know what they were even arguing about. Falling out with Polvina when she wouldn't tell them who her best friend was before revealing that she wasn't their first best friend (in some timelines). Falling out over whose pet broke the windows of the Shark Palace while playing ball. Their attitudes towards others like Marli, Vivi, Maurico, Marcello, Dustin and Agostinha, who even dared to show any attitude to them. Polvina's friends leaving Polvina to work on their carnival float and letting her take the blame when it broke down.
There were many more things that Polvina called Ester and Tubarina out for, individually or as a group. Sure, their conflicts were resolved at the time, but Polvina's problem with Ester and Tubarina was that they continued to act as bitchy as they always were, never seeming to learn anything from the lessons they were taught. On top of that, Polvina believed that Ester was negatively influenced by Tubarina even though she admittedly was a good friend to her; Ester was a curious girl who loved to know about anything and everything, but being with Tubarina gradually made her dishonest and bitchy.
In the interest of fairness, Polvina let Ester and Tubarina criticise her flaws. At first, the two couldn't think of any because Polvina was too perfect, a goody-goody even, but then they realised that that was her main flaw; Polvina looks down upon others because she thinks she's so perfect and flawless when she actually isn't. When Tubarina lost Angelica's pet angelfish Scooter, Polvina and Ester purposefully made her paranoid and kept feeding her paranoia without bothering to help her find Scooter. When Polvina hurt her leg grabbing a gemstone from a cave and Ester helped her out of guilt, she continued to exploit her friend's help even after she got better, leading to the two of them falling out. And on top of that, Polvina rarely talks about her feelings with her best friends, instead preferring to let them bottle up inside her until her outburst at the prison.
The girls had been through a lot together over the years, but because of their hectic lives, not to mention the war, they never really had a lot of time to sit down and reflect on all the highs and lows. They were the Divine Princesses of Salacia, after all, and they couldn't afford to let anything bad affect their friendship or public opinion. In any other situation, the girls would have cut ties with each other, or with friends like Marli, Vivi, Maurico, Marcello, Dustin or Agostinha, and made new friends. However, they had to (at the very least) make up with them, for the kingdoms in the World of Salacia depend on each other and the royals' interpersonal relationships formed the backbone of solidarity, diplomacy, fellowship, camaraderie and romance among other things.
"Well, we've talked it out now, Polvina," said Ester. "How do you feel?"
"Do you feel better now you've said everything you needed?" added Tubarina.
"I'm fine, great even. How about you two?" asked Polvina.
Ester replied, "No hard feelings. I'm thankful for the lecture."
Tubarina responded, "Yeah, me too. Sometimes I need to be reminded that I can't be as bossy as I used to be."
And with this, the girls finally made up as they came together in a hug. There might still have been some more underlying issues they hadn't covered yet, but since therapists were hard to come by because of the war, their talk had to do, at least for now.
"You know, now that I think about it," said Ester, "we're like three sisters, and you're like our older sister, Polvina."
"Me? But Tubarina's a month older than me," said Polvina. Tubarina's birthday was in April, Ester's birthday was in September, and Polvina's birthday was in May.
"I don't mind being the youngest sister," replied Tubarina. "You and Ester are clearly more mature than I am, sis."
"Then I suppose being the middle sister doesn't seem so bad," added Ester. "I mean, who cares if you were my first or second best friend, sis?" In some timelines, Ester would call Polvina her "sister" (or "cousin") even though they were not related by blood. This time, even Tubarina joined in with the affectionate nickname as well.
"Well, it can't be helped," concluded Polvina. "Sisters or not, what are we Divine Princesses?"
The girls put their hands on top of each other before they said together, "Best friends forever!" The girls then broke out in a laugh, as was the standard that marked the end of their adventures in some timelines, monotonous and repetitive though the tradition was.
Meanwhile, Marli, Isa, Nico and Nicole had just left the hospital while Caramelo and Saula wanted to stay a little longer. They were on their way to drop Marli off at the Swordfish Palace before Isa and the Narwhal twins got a ride back to the South Pole. On the way, however…
"Leia?" Marli asked as the group saw her on the side of the road. "Shouldn't you be in hospital?"
"It's not just her. Look!" said Nicole, pointing to Caramelo, Vivi and Maurico approaching behind Leia. "Shouldn't Caramelo be with Leia at the hospital too?"
"What's going on? Why aren't they talking?" Nico asked.
It was then that Leia, Caramelo, Vivi and Maurico got into a fighting stance. Isa said, "I don't know what's going on, but it looks like we'll have to deal with them first!"
Elsewhere, Hugo, Tata, Sirilo and Angelica encountered Juli, Jessi, Camarina and Elektra, who began attacking them for seemingly no reason.
"Elektra, stop this! Why are you fighting us?" Tata pleaded as she defended herself.
"I don't think they're the real thing! They're only clones!" Hugo pointed out while fending off Camarina.
"How would you know that?" asked Sirilo, who was fighting Juli.
"Oh, shut up and keep fighting!" said Angelica, who was being engaged in battle by Jessi.
Somewhere in the Farlands, Dylan, Wilmer, Merlo and Flourison along with Delfi, Goldina, Matilda and Jaune were fighting off clones of themselves.
"It's no good!" said Flourison. "They just keep coming!"
Jaune replied, "Hey, is it just me or have we seen clones of ourselves before?"
"Yeah, we've seen them at school and all over Salacia!" answered Goldina. "How did we never realise that before?"
"Beats me," said Wilmer. "I just don't know why so many of them would be swarming us right now!"
Dylan and the others finally managed to eliminate the clones. "Man… fighting these clones has made me tired. Just where have these clones come from?" Dylan wondered.
"Beats me," shrugged Delfi. "It's already hard to find anything small in a world as big as Salacia."
"I just wish there was someone we could ask about all this," mused Merlo.
Matilda added, "It's too bad Miss Marla's too busy to talk to anyone right now. Imagine all the notifications she's getting right now."
Over at the Shark Palace, Soraia was comforting Veto in his room when Veto saw something strange outside. He took out his binoculars to see an army of Tubarina clones approaching in the distance.
Veto then quickly went outside. "Guards! Servants! Soldiers!" A bunch of them began gathering at his call. "Lock down the palace. Siege protocols, right now!"
Meanwhile, Marcello and Caton were passing by the Starfish Palace when the butler, Ayrton, called out to them. "Prince Marcello! Prince Saulo!"
"It's Caton, you stupid bimbo underling!" he retorted, low-key roasting Ester behind her back.
"Prince Carlos! Get off the battlefield, right now!"
The boys turned around to find themselves in front of an army of Ester clones. "Whoa, where did all these Esme clones come from?"
"Come on, let's get out of here!" Marcello said before he and Caton quickly ran out the way of the Starfish King's men.
Back at the Octopus Palace, Polvina, Ester and Tubarina were happily talking after mending their relationship with each other.
"Man, I miss Bia," reminisced Ester. "Remember the adventures we had with her?"
"Yeah…" Tubarina replied. "I remember she couldn't leave the Abysmal Kingdom in the daytime because the light in Salacia was too bright for her. I wonder if she learned how to adapt?"
Polvina added, "Well, wherever she may be right now, I hope that Bia's alright. If only we could tell her what we've been through since she left Salacia." She then turned her head and looked out the window. "Girls, is it just me or are there more of me outside?"
Ester and Tubarina looked out the window, then the girls quickly went downstairs, where the Octopus King's men were preparing for a siege against an army of Polvina clones.
The butler, Aldo, saw the girls and went to intercept them. "Your Highnesses, it's too dangerous outside. You should head back upstairs."
"It's okay, Aldo," said Polvina. "We can hold our own against them. Besides, there's different clones of me outside and I want to take a closer look at them." Aldo let the girls out to the front of the siege line, where they saw some of the different Polvina clone types, such as…
…a normal variant of Polvina with pink clothes… "There's an old saying on Dryland. It goes, 'A true hero recognises trends and adapts to the circumstances.'"
…a secondary variant with red clothes and pasties instead of a bandeau… "Onbeishiramandayasowaka… Onbeishiramandayasowaka…"
…a provocative variant calling back to a surprise makeover… "Hello, young man. Can I buy you a drink? Maybe we could have a little dance together?"
…a zombie variant presumably caused by defects or laziness… "Bruuuhhh, I've come to eat your brains…"
…and a politician variant combining elements of different political leaders… "I am once again asking for you to get on the beers…"
Across their palaces, the Octopus, Starfish and Shark Kingdoms began attacking the clones of Polvina, Ester and Tubarina. At each respective palace, Polvina, Ester, Tubarina, Marcello, Caton, Veto and Soraia joined in the fight as well. Although it seemed like the three armies were on the verge of being overrun, the arrival of Duante, Seretao and Miss Marla helped them turn the tides.
After the battle ended, Duante approached Polvina, Ester and Tubarina. "The clones must have been released when we bought everyone's memories back. I think this must be a side effect caused by the memory synchronisation system. Because the clones have the same memories as you, they're remembering everything as well."
"How are we going to deal with this? What are we going to tell people? What is the Shark King going to say when he hears about this?" asked Polvina.
"I'm leaving that to Seretao and Miss Marla. There's something important I have to do with you." Duante then turned to Ester. "You've waited long enough, Ester. I'm sorry for evading your questions and making you wait all these years. You and your friends deserve to know everything about me, so I'll tell you all about myself and you can ask all the questions you want to ask."
Duante went inside the Octopus Palace with the girls. They sat down in the living room and Duante told the girls his story while they kept asking him questions. Ester was so eager to know about Duante that Polvina and Tubarina had to stop her from constantly interrupting him.
Duante was orphaned soon after birth and was taken in by the goddess Salacia, who raised him to be a guardian of Salacia and a healer of sick and injured sea creatures. Like the blowfish and their royal family before him, Duante was given the ability to understand and communicate with every creature in the sea. As such, he spent his life travelling around Salacia and the many other oceanic realms, doing what he can to help any sick or injured creature.
However, because he, like Dinho and the blowfish before him, had to keep his identity as a guardian secret from anyone else, he had to keep moving and not stay anywhere for long periods of time. Some people Duante met would do anything to meet him again and while there were times where he would entertain their desires, there were some who either weren't what they seemed or who wanted to introduce him to their friends without asking if he wanted to meet them first. This is why he blames the people he meets for potentially revealing his secret when he never told them about it in the first place, a particularly paradoxical conundrum that doesn't make sense to anyone.
After years of reflection, Duante realised that his constant evasiveness made him seem impolite to the people who wanted to get to know him, so now, he doesn't blame Ester for tricking him into meeting her again because he realised that it was natural for people to be curious of him. When Duante confessed to the girls that they were the first three people he revealed his secrets to and they asked him why, Duante said that it was because they were the Divine Princesses. The girls didn't think that could be the only reason because they were humble to the point that they didn't believe in lording themselves as "divine". They pressed Duante for another reason and he told them that Ester was the first person who he gave his name to because he felt her curiosity about him was genuine, never mind the other people who were genuinely curious about him as well.
Polvina asked Duante to explain how he ended up working with Seretao and Miss Marla. During the war, Duante continued to heal sick and injured creatures as he did, but it got to the point where he wouldn't be able to catch up with the lines of creatures looking for him because their kingdoms and hospitals were already working over capacity. It was then that Seretao and Miss Marla found him, knowing of his backstory, and recruited him to their cause; Duante accepted because he wanted to see this war end so that no more creatures would be hurt because of the war. Since then, Miss Marla and Duante have been working behind the scenes to facilitate Seretao's covert operations while using their current duties as a cover for it.
"So, yeah, that's my backstory," said Duante. "Can you forgive me for not telling you more about me all those years ago?"
"I forgive you," said Ester. "Hey, do you remember the last thing you said to me back then?"
"What, my name?"
"No, silly! You said that while we couldn't be friends, you never said it would be forever. So… would you like to be friends with me? And with us?"
Duante smiled. "I thought you'd never ask. Yes, Ester, I would love to be friends with you and your friends." Ester and Duante hugged before Polvina and Tubarina joined in as well. The four of them decided to have dinner together at the Octopus Palace so they could continue asking questions of each other.
It was late when the carriage brought Tubarina back to the Shark Palace. She went upstairs to her room to relax before getting ready for bed. As she went upstairs, her father, the Shark King, was following behind her. "Evening, Tubarina," said the Shark King.
Tubarina was startled at her father's voice as she turned around. "E-Evening, Father," she replied.
Despite knowing everything that his daughter and her friends were doing, the Shark King feigned ignorance. "You came home late. Did you have a lot of things to do with your friends?"
Tubarina was somewhat fearful of her father given how he was implicated in a lot of things she had learnt about. "Yeah, my friends and I had a lot of things to do and a lot of things to talk about."
"That's nice to hear. Well, I won't keep you, I'm sure you've got a lot to do before you go to bed. Good night, Tubarina."
"Yeah. Good night, Father." As she watched her father walk away, Tubarina was confused as to whether he was aware of what was happening. Despite this, she went into her room and breathed a sigh of relief.
End Part C