Natalia’s P. O. V

It didn’t take long for my leadership duties to take the form of a routine. The day often began with a shared breakfast, with all our members and guests present. Then we began working the soil. After several attempts, I’d long since come to terms with the fact that I was barely capable of keeping a plant alive, but Timothy and Kaesha were naturals, for good reason I suppose. Timothy’s gift gave him a special affinity for trees, which he seemed to apply to other plants. Meanwhile, I suspected that Kaesha’s goddess level of plant care even sans magic stemmed from the unique identity Witches had as keepers of the balance.

I was often shooed away from working on our plants by one of the two. Since the day I’d accidentally set a few young sprouts on fire in a burst of frustration, their trust in me when it came to our crops was lower than the seeds beneath the ground.

After my daily attempts to be useful in the fields were thwarted, I often migrated my efforts to my office, plotting out our projected spending and earnings. Being a princess gave me a plush financial cushion, but I wanted our reliance on that to end as soon as possible. The plan was for Kaesha and Timothy to eventually use their abilities to expedite the growth of our food sources, but we needed to learn how to sustain them ourselves before we got their magical boost, in case they ever became unable to help somewhere down the line.

The Claw Moon Pack had made good on their offer to send trainers, the first three arriving just a few weeks to the end of summer. With their help in both the food and defence department, my members studied under their tutelage in alternating day shifts. With my ban from the fields, I was the only one that seemed to have purely combat lessons. Aside from learning how to fight as a wolf and against a wolf with the others, a member of their defence council held sessions with Timothy, Kaesha, Hailey and I on the fundamentals of keeping a pack safe and secure.

Before I knew it, three months flew by in a blur and resumption dates were upon us. I would have opted to stay till November and then fly back to cram for finals if I’d just had Killdrain to contend with, but my attendance at the Syren school was more than just for the sake of grades or a diploma, so I needed to be there in person to digest the lessons.

So, after months of working in what had come to feel like my element, I was back in the city, on my way to the first class of the day at Killdrain.

Walking in early, I was greeted with a warm chorus of ‘hey’s’ and ‘hi’s’ from most of the study group members. This semester, there was one class we all shared, and that shared class was my first one of the day.

“Looks like someone got a tan.” Beth said with a smile, her skin a nice flush of pink.

I shrugged. I hadn’t taken note of it, but the consistent work in the sun plus the warmer climate than the usual city chill had likely given me more colour, so the comment didn’t shock me.

I noted the intricate braid that had been crafted into a crown around her head, as well as Ada’s fresh braids, “You and Ada seem to have had fun with your families.”

At that, Beth lit up, talking about how she’d gotten the chance to connect with her grandmother and learn more about her family heritage, after which Ada launched into how she’d gotten the chance to be babied and enjoy good food at home.

Throughout their narrations, my being was hyperaware of Annya. Since the day she’d reacted strangely to me after my Uncovering, things had been off. She oscillated between ignoring me outright during group interactions or being entirely too close. And she’d ceased talking to me without someone else present altogether.

Today, she chose to be within breathing distance, nearly leaning on me as she listened to the girls talk about their summers. She was so close that her scent of perfection nearly drowned out every other one my nose was capable of picking up. I would’ve just taken it as the new part of the normal of our relationship, if Nathaniel wasn’t glancing over at her every few seconds, looking ever so slightly uneasy at the proximity between us.

Soon, class began and the morning became a blur of looking for new auditoriums and sitting through lectures prefaced with introductions to new teachers. Once my last class of the morning ended, I said my goodbyes to Beth, Ada and James and began making my way off the campus.

I was rushing through the courtyard when the scent, faint as a whisper, tip-toed through the air and brushed my senses ever so slightly.

Him.

I stopped dead in my tracks, my head on a swivel. After several seconds of thorough scanning, catching every blade of grass and every nook in every brick, he was nowhere within my line of vision, meaning he had to be indoors.

My feet had taken the first few steps back to the main building before I jolted back to reality, remembering that I was on a time crunch to get to the Syren school.

I shook my head, my brows tense as I stared questioningly in the distance, before turning back to leave.

What he was doing at my school, I didn’t know. And I didn’t have the time to find out.

I got to the School for Syrens with seconds to spare before the bell rang.

This session, our afternoon classes consisted of Special Abilities, Syrenlina Economics, continued Syren History and Inter-species Relations, and our choice of elective.

Sitting in Syren History class, I sent silent greetings to Jenna and Lucy before facing the teacher. Half of my mind was on the lesson the new teacher prattled on about, but the rest of my thoughts were at Killdrain, wondering what the dark-haired stranger could be doing there. Seeing him at the Royal Palace had been jarring, especially after I’d recognised his scent from a café not too far from Killdrain the previous year, but for his scent to be lingering within the halls of my school.

Just who was he?

Living in the city, I was presented with the so very obvious humanness that clung to the scents of humans. And attending the Syren school, I’d been familiarized with the woodsy, ethereal note that followed Elves, the whimsical element of the Fae’s scent, the heavy wilfulness in the Enchanters’ and Enchantresses’ smells, as well as a few others. But for the life of me, his scent told me nothing of what he could be.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

My mind only fully returned to the lesson when the teacher was wrapping up.

“Next lesson, we’ll be covering the Insurgents.”

The class broke into chatter, sharing hushed whispers at the mention of the topic. I glanced back at Jenna and Lucy, my brows furrowed with the question on my face. Jenna’s look was pensive as she mouthed a silent ‘later’ to me, while Lucy looked somewhat excited.

And so, I waited for later, going through the rest of my classes wondering who the Insurgents were and why they elicited such a response from everyone. The only thing that kept me from wondering was Special Abilities class. I was engrossed in my flames, carefully weaving two moderately-sized balls of fire through the air, with a pitcher of water and fire extinguisher nearby.

“Good job, Natalia. Looks like you put in some work over the summer.” Miss Asa said to me at the end of the class, noting my improvement.

I smiled, “Thank you.” Then left to find Jenna and Lucy.

They were waiting outside, seated under one of the massive trees with browning leaves. I laid my hoodie on the ground and joined them.

The first thing we did was share a hug and catch up. Both Lucy and Jenna had spent the summer in Syrenlina, catching up with extended family and doing things that I couldn’t even wrap my mind around, like floating island gliding and untethered-river sailing. Spending time in their own world had given them a tranquil glow that I’d noticed on some other Syrens too.

“What did you do over the summer, Natalia?” Jenna asked.

“Nothing much, just helped out with my pack.” I said, then shifted the topic, “What was all that about Insurgents? Who are they and why did everyone get all conspiratory when they heard their name?”

A dark look crossed Jenna’s face, “They’re this radical group in Syrenlina.”

“More like revolutionaries.” Lucy contradicted.

They shared a look, obviously at odds, while I looked between the two of them.

“What did they do?”

My question pulled their gazes off each other and back to me.

“They believe that the Royal family shouldn’t be allowed to move about as freely as they do.” Jenna explained.

My heart sped up, and I was glad that none of them could hear it.

“Oh, stop it, Jenna. They just want to keep Syrenlina safe.”

“By locking the Royal family up and breeding them like cattle!” Jenna snapped.

The beating stopped and the organ dropped to my stomach.

What?

“You know that’s not what their main ideals are.” Lucy shot back.

Jenna faced Lucy, her entire body turned to her in barely contained annoyance, “Their main ideals are that the Royal family, as Rebekah’s descendants and the anchors of Syrenlina, should be kept in Syrenlina and allowed to do nothing but roam the castle and pop out babies.”

“They believe that the Royal family needs to be kept safe for the good of Syrenlina and all who live in our world. Look at what happened with the Queen! She went missing, had a kid that was unaccounted for, and families were torn apart for almost sixteen years! And even with that, the Princess still won’t make herself known to put our minds at ease. No one knows who or where she is, what if something happens to her? I just got my parents back, I can’t lose anyone to another Jam again. I won’t!” Lucy was close to tears, her breathing heavy with the labour to keep them falling.

Jenna’s expression softened, and she placed a hand on Lucy’s, “I’m sorry Lucy, but you won’t lose anyone again, I promise. There are better ways to do this than to keep our leaders locked up for all their lives. It’s not like the Queen was just running around unaccounted for, what happened with her was out of anyone’s control.”

“Then let’s keep it within our control. It’s not like the Insurgents want to breed them or never let them leave the castle, they just want us to be safe…”

“We can’t know their intentions for sure, Lucy.”

Lucy wiped her eyes, sniffling, “Then we’ll just have to agree to disagree.”

“Alright…”

“I’ve gotta go home, my parents are waiting for me.” Lucy mumbled, packing her things up and waving us goodbye as she walked away.

Jenna sighed as we watched her leave, not looking at me as she spoke, “Lucy doesn’t know… She doesn’t know the lengths they’re willing to go to. With everything that happened with The Jam, their ideology has spread to more of Syrenlina than ever. They’ve even got backers in the High Court now, and many of those backers are Nobles and Council members that would love nothing more than to take their intent from just keeping Syrenlina safe to making the Royal family nothing but baby-making figureheads.”

She looked down at her hands, at her crest ingrained on her caramel skin, “Honestly, I think the Princess is smart to not reveal herself now. Syrenlina needs time to heal from The Jam before she comes back fully.”

We were silent for a while, before she shook her head and offered me a smile, “You don’t need to worry about all this though, Natalia. It’s all just Syren politics and I’m sure you’ve got a lot on your plate from your Werewolf side already.”

“Yeah, I guess…” I said, returning her smile with one of my own. I prayed she couldn’t sense my unease or my rising temperature.

After parting ways with Jenna, I went straight to Super Banking, greeting Melody at the counter on my way to see Mrs Burton.

She was at her desk when I walked in, offering me a welcoming smile, “Welcome back, Natalia. I hear things went well with your plans over the summer.”

“Thank you. Yeah, I made some progress…” I said, taking a seat. I’d intended to come today to make my proposition for Syrens to ally with Werewolves by offering some packs land, but the argument between Jenna and Lucy had put a queasy, questioning feeling in my stomach.

Did I need to do this?

“So, what brings you to my office?”

I took a breath, steeling my resolve. It wasn’t like I hadn’t known that my life had more attached to it than my soul, so a faction of Syrens wanting to keep me in Syrenlina for their own safety shouldn’t surprise me.

More than anything, I needed to stay alive.

I explained my idea to Mrs Burton, how Werewolves were in danger of not having anywhere to call their home, should humans decimate all the forests, and how access into Syrenlina could be regulated on the basis of applications and merits.

When I finished my explanation, she nodded thoughtfully, “We’ve never had much contact with Werewolves, but an arrangement like this could be the start of a promising alliance. The only issues I can think of are the existing stereotypes. Most Syrens see Werewolves as uncultured beasts, and I’m sure Werewolves probably aren’t even aware of our existence. Besides organising the logistics and construction, getting over those ideas will be the biggest challenge.”

I nodded, remembering the disgust on some of my classmates’ faces when they found out I was a Werewolf, “Yes, but an alliance like this could be a step towards improving our overall standing in the Supernatural world. If we have more allies and credibility, we won’t be in as much danger from our natural enemies.”

Mrs Burton was quiet, smiling at me like I was her pride and joy, “You’ll make a fine Queen, Natalia.”

My insides warmed, not from my fire, but a maternal warmth I’d been missing for years. I found myself aching to hear my mother say those words to me.

“Thank you... I really hope so.”