With the oath finished, I looked questioningly up at Edric to see what I was supposed to do next. He gave me a small smile and let the scroll snap back into it’s natural rolled form, then handed it to his friend, the guard guy who was always hanging around him. Then he looked out to the rows of nobles.

“Let it be known that through all the land that a new Aquarion has risen.”

Then he waved his hand, gesturing for a teenage looking squire who was just barely controlling his excitement and nervousness. Stepping forward, the boy held out a neatly shiny black shirt and King Edric took it, allowing it to unfold to its full length. On the front of the shirt was a stylized dragon made of blue chainmail links. Edrid held the shirt out to  me. I took it, surprised to feel the tiny, cold intricate metal loops that the shirt was made of, this was even finer chainmail than the king’s soul protective socks.

“Bind the mark of Aquarion to your blood, it will be a friend and protector for you during your times in need.”

I raised my free hand up and nipped my pointer finger, hard. Bright blood swelled up and I let a few drops fall onto the black chains before healing the tiny cut. My blood welled on the surface of the chain mail for a moment, then melted into the metal links. The chain mail warmed under my fingers, as though it was coming to life. Then it rapidly melted into a dark mass of liquid metal, it flowed up along my arm and then pierced painfully into my skin. Biting back a wince, I watched curiously as the metal flowed into my skin, spreading in dark swirls under the skin of the rest of my upper body, or what I could see of it, before fading away to leave my skin clear except for the azure dragon emblazoned proudly on the back of my left hand. Feeling the strange warmth floating just underneath my skin, I instinctively ‘flexed’ something with my mind. The shirt rose through my skin like liquid, no feeling of pain this time. It hugged my body snugly under all of my clothes and water dress, and flexed with my muscles when I moved as though it was a part of my body. Smiling, I ‘flexed’ again, and the mail vanished back underneath my skin. Looking back up at Edric, I saw him smiling.

“The ceremony has been completed. Now it is time to celebrate, let us go to the feast!”

I mentally groaned, I had no objection to food, heck, I was already hungry again despite the bone marrow I had eaten earlier, maintaining the dress was a drain on my mana and the feast would mean even more time having to maintain the dress…...Sighing softly, I allowed the king to escort me to the nearby feast hall, the nobles trailing behind us in a long procession.

The feast hall was a vast room, mainly filled by several long, massive tables adorned with a white tablecloth embroidered with gold thread. Fine porcelain plates and polished silverware were set out in front of every single one of the many intricately carved oak chairs that placed around the tables. The floor was a smooth swirling white and pink marble that went well with the glittering gold gilded ceiling and cream colored walls of the room.

I was seated at the main table in the chair on the king’s right hand side, the position of honor. The two guys that had been ordered to guard my room, Brom and Ren, stood behind the king’s seat, and I noticed that their simple embroidered tunics from this morning had been replaced by black chainmail similar to mine, though Brom’s dragon was a light yellow and Ren’s was a deep green. So they were both royal guards? The king actually assigned two of his own guard to protect me last night!?.....Is this guy an idiot!? No one, especially a king, should do that sort of a thing for a Complete stranger, potential royal guard or not…..

I glanced around the rest of the hall as servants poured from side doors, ladened with plates piled with food. There weren’t any other royal guards that I could see, but glancing back at the king, my eye caught on the plain black shirt of of the king’s constant companion, who stood at the king’s left side, behind the left hand chair where the Queen of Serac would sit some day. On closer examination of his shirt, a dark gray dragon was emblazoned on his chest, almost invisible against the fabric-like black chainmail. So, he was a royal guard too……

Still, it was only the three of them that were in the room, I couldn’t spot any other guards. I pondered this fact for a moment, the others were probably stationed in other strategic places, or on missions for the king. From what I had heard on the streets, guarding the king wasn’t the only responsibility of a guard, since the King of Serac was usually quite capable of protecting himself. The Dragon’s were more like the hands and feet of the king throughout the kingdom, though they would gather together for big events, hopefully like the ball that would decide the new Queen of Serac. I couldn’t afford to be somewhere out in the country when that ball happened. Unfortunately, the fact that some guards were still gone right now, despite the selection of a new royal guard being a pretty important event, was giving me some second doubts. King Edric noticed my glances and leaned in next to me as servants began to dish food onto our plate.

“One member of the guards is always stationed on the roof, and the other three are on a mission, normally they’d be here to meet the new member of their team, I even sent all three of them just so that they’d finish up quickly and be back here in time, but the high ranked Worm of Pestilence destroying fields in the western borders turned out to be four of the blasted worms and a whole nest of babies, so they were delayed, though not for as long as they would be if only one of them had been sent. They should be back in a few days though, I don’t think I would have let them come even if they made it on time….one worm is one thing, but that many…..”

Wincing, I nodded my head in understanding, I had the chance to fight Worms of Pestilence on a occasion, and while it was a pain to kill them when they kept escaping through the ground, the worst part was when they self-destructed near death, splattering their killer with slime that stank to high heavens, and was practically impossible to wash out normally. Through desperation, I had actually found a solution that worked wonders on neutralizing most of the smell. I could have published my findings for good amount of coin, but after all those people making fun of me because of the smell, there was no way I was going to let some other poor soul escape the same misery. I can be petty like that sometimes. Anyhow, I could only imagine how bad being slimed by four worms And dozens of babies would be, I might have to make an exception to  sharing my solution, just for the sake of saving my own nose.

I stared longingly at the delicious food piled on my plate as we had to wait for everyone to be served. The side of gleaming honey roasted pork looked especially delicious…...Mmmmmmm, and that pile of mashed roots covered in a sweet cinnamon sauce smelled divine ….Oooooohhhhh, that pile of sauteed greens dripping with rich melted butter…...so hungry……

I had to hold back tears of relief when everyone was served. After a small spell was quickly used to check that the king’s food was free of poison, he held up his golden goblet and smiled.

“To Aquarion! Let the Feast…..Begin!”

Using only a fraction of a moment to make sure my own food was also free of poison, I dug into to my food as fast as I could while still retaining all of the proper court etiquette, which, sadly, wasn’t all that fast….I listened to the idle chatter happening around me as I ate, glad, for once, that I wasn’t able to speak, and didn’t have to stop eating to politely participate in talking. Through the several hours of chatter and eating the feast was over, I was stuffed to the gills and ready to go to bed, even though the food had replenished more of my spent energy, my mind was still tired from the strain of the spell. The final toast was given by King Edric, some mumbo jumbo about the future of Serac and my being a royal guard, my mind was a little too tired to care about processing what anyone was really saying, well, unless it was a threat against me or permission to finally go to bed.

“Blah blah blah…...blah blah blah…..And now, sadly, I must announce this feast is at an end. Night will soon be upon us, and you all have homes you need to travel to.”

I perked up as I caught some promising words. King Edric rose his feet and gestured for me to stand as well. I stood, making sure to move gracefully despite my full stomach. Allowing King Edric to take my arm, he walked me to the open doors of the feast hall…..and then stopped, turning us so we would face the slow stream of departing nobles. Fish Poop! Now I had to wait until we said goodbye to all the nobles too!????

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I could barely stop my shoulders from slumping as I fixed a polite smile on my face and nodded to each noble as they swept past me. It took ages for all of the nobles to meander out of the hall, they kept stopping to talk with each other, or to talk to King Edric, or to talk at me. By this point, I wanted to light all their clothes on fire so that they’d hurry up and leave to find a bucket of water, or burn up to ashes, at this point, either option sounds fine. That Archduke guy took especially long when bidding farewell to the King, though it was clear, even to my tired mind, that the man’s pleasant facade hid the depths of a calculating and greedy personality. I would need to watch out for that guy. Finally, the last noble, a round and portly man who had stains from food on his white shirt, trundled out the door.

Breathing out a gust of air, I turned and looked expectantly at the King, I could go to bed now, right? King Edric was staring after the departing nobles, a distant look in his eyes, as though he was remembering something. I poked him hard in the arm, surprised at how hard his muscles were under the well-tailored satin jacket he was wearing. He jerked in surprise and looked down at me, I raised an eyebrow and then pointedly raised my hand to politely cover a yawn. His surprise and confusion was quickly replaced by sheepish realization.

“Ah, I suppose I should let you get to bed as well, Miss Delta, I imagine maintaining that spell is draining, I trust you can make your way to your room?”

I nodded, I had made sure to remember the way back to my new room when Grace had led me to the ceremony hall, and by now, it felt as though the location of my room had a gravitational pull, tugging on me to go to my new and very comfortable-looking bed. Letting my arm slip away from the King’s. I practically floated happily to my room, my food-weighted stomach the only thing keeping me from skipping. Opening the door to my room, I reluctantly moved to the bath first, instead of the inviting bed. Stepping into the large empty basin,  I cut off the the spell running through my mind to maintain the dress. All of the water sloshed off of me at once, my head much lighter without the extra fake water hair and ornaments. Sighing happily, I pulled off my now soaking shirt, not bothering to dry the scales covering my legs as they happily absorbed the water that had hit them. Dipping a hand into the water, I formed another spell, this time one that would feed off the ambient mana all around us. The surface of the cool water roiled and bubbled as though it was boiling before the massive form of a transparent hound rose out of the tub. Seeing the massive creature made of water, I nodded in satisfaction, my new guard dog would act as a warning system for intruders, and a small deterrent, though this water dog didn’t have any actual attack capabilities. I hadn’t had any mana left to form the spell last night, but I didn’t have that problem now, it was a precaution I usually took when assassination was a possibility.

Walking over to the bed, I pulled the silk sheet up and slid under it, enjoying the smooth feel of it on my skin and scales. Stretching out happily on the extremely comfortable bed, I closed my eyes and quickly drifted to sleep.

-Far Away in the Kingdom Tede-

A dark clothed man knelt in front of the stern, grey haired king Sorin, the hall empty of any others except a single guard who stood at the old king’s side.

“Our spies in Serac report that a new Aquarion guard has been located…..the new royal guard is a woman by the name of Delta Aquis, twenty-five years of age, with blue-”

The king cut off his spymaster.

“Leave Me.”

The man looked up, startled.

“But sir, I believe this girl has connections to your niece, the Lady General, who has been gone for over twenty years. This girl’s fighting style is reported to be just like her’s, and her appearance is report to be quite similar, her daughter perhaps, the time gap is correct, the general must be fifty years old now….When the other Generals hear of this….”

The old man rose from his throne.

“I told you to Leave! And you will tell no one else of this!”

The spy master hesitated, and then moved quickly to the door. Sorin turned to his faithful guard, friend, and advisor.

“Zane, you go too, I need some time alone, I’ll be in my chambers if something urgent comes up.”

The man looked slightly confused, but nodded silently and left the throne room. King Sorin turned and walked behind his throne to the door hidden behind it. There were some secrets that even his closest friend, Zane, didn’t know about. Tapping his emeral ring on the door, the slab of stone slid to the side, revealing the hidden room that no one else in the castle knew about….probably.

Walking into the bare room, Sorin headed to the only table inside, where a simple blue orb sat on a dusty black pillow. Placing his hand on the orb, he pushed mana into it as he leaned down. A light flickered within the orb and Serac growled out into the empty room.

“LANCE, What the ‘ell has happened to my dear niece!”

The orb sat silently for a moment before Delta’s father’s voice echoed out from it.

“Sorin…..It’s been awhile since we’ve spoken, so…..I take it you’ve heard about my daughter?”

Sorin’s face darkened.

“No, all I know is that she just became the new Aquarion royal guard. What is going on Lance? Delta would never do this kind of thing under normal circumstances, it gathers too much attention. It was her decision thirty years ago to become one of my Generals to gain experience and then retire and vanish before her lack of aging became too obvious. This appearence will gain the attention of those idiots, her swordstyle is too distinct, they’ll figure out it’s her eventually…..”

The orb issued a long sigh.

“That’s not something she’s probably even thinking about right now Sorin…...Her voice, it’s been stolen, she’s trying to get it back now, the King of Serac is her only lead.”

Sorin’s vision turned red, and his fingers crunched into the edge of the table, sending small splinters of woods flying through the air away from his aged fingers.

“I thought that young upstart was better than his father, someone I actually could hold peace with. But so help me, I swear to the gods, if that boy has stolen my niece's voice, his kingdom will be in for the greatest war it has-”

“Woah, calm down, he isn’t responsible, he’s the target, some little princess wants to become Queen of Serac, she hired a mage to capture a mermaid and steal her voice to make certain that would happen. That mermaid ended up being Delta.”

Sorin carefully pulled his hands free of the mangled wood, his face grave.

“That’s not good, she doesn’t have any idea who the princess is?”

“No, there’s too many of your human princesses wandering around, anyways, Delta has mainly been down here taking care of Melody for the past eighteen years, except for the few times she goes to secretly visit you, she wouldn’t have had a chance to meet any new faces, she didn’t hear a name for the princess either. The mage’s name is Cedric, have you heard of him?”

Sorin shook his head, despite knowing that Lance wouldn’t be able to see him.

“Never heard of him, I’ll have people starting looking for him though. I’ll try to keep word of Delta from Those three idiots for as long as I can, though they will hear of her eventually. Hopefully they won’t realise it’s her for a while since they expect her to look fifty years old, probably will thinks she’s her daughter or something…...man, that is confusing….But I don’t doubt they’ll figure it out eventually, and when they do, they’re going to rush over there….”

He winced at the idea even as he said it. Lance, however, didn’t seem to be as concerned.

“Meh, she was always able to handle those Generals of yours, don’t worry. I’ll imagine it’ll be easier now that they’re older, they will at least be discreet…..won’t they?”

Sorin considered it for a long moment.

“Mmmmm, probably, they won’t want to give the others a heads up when they find out, so each of them will be sneaky about contacting her.”

Lance sighed.

“Really, I don’t understand those guys...”