Sol's Shine and the Kingdom of Water

Chapter 22 The Mermaid's Farewell

 Between still being young and naive, Sol was still learning how to be a proper leader his own kingdom expects him to be. The prince sits on the steps inside the lighthouse, looking out the window to see nothing but gray clouds and a bright blue ocean. He starts to wander in his own thoughts for a while. He no longer wants to keep doubting himself about being a good leader since if there was anything he learned while he was in the Kingdom of Water was that making mistakes, no matter who you are, are going to be inevitable.

However, Sol knew he wasn't quite ready to take on a leader's role, not yet. As they all waited for the Kinrocs to arrive, Sol got to speak with Brook and Cinder earlier. Sol got to learn Amon's real name (aka Ra) and what that kid went through to become a star demon. It was just like what happened with Sol's first adoptive father Ipos (aka Apollo) where Sol couldn't remember those who were close to him before. Sol was told before that he got rid of his own memories because he didn't want to feel the guilt of what he had already done, whatever that was. A new type of guilt was washing over him now because of his past decision. There were people in his old life that still remember him quite clearly and yet Sol no longer recognizes them.

It was as if Sol himself was the same as Cinder and Paula. The both of them had lost memories of who they once were and couldn't remember their loved ones. Having Yvonne be one of Sol's new friends, he was truly able to see just how badly this sort of thing would affect another person. From what Brook and Cinder had told Sol, he should be able to get his memories back if he finds the star demon that goes by the name of Mithra, an older elven woman.

"I'll have to worry about her another time." Sol says to himself as he gets up from sitting on the steps to head back down to the beach. Even as Sol's forgotten past catches up with him, he didn't have any doubt that he had to keep himself in the present. The prince ran down that hill that would lead him to the beach. From there he could see that there were two airships that were just arriving from Atlaqua and Sol came by to stand right by Brook to see them land.

"I thought the sirens were only going to get one airship for us, what happened?" Sol asked him. "Krissy stepped in at the last second to request another. She said something about wanting to own one herself and I don't blame her." Krissy couldn't help but overhear what the two were saying and came over to elaborate on her decision. "Well yeah! It would be nice to have a ship again and besides, we're going to be parting ways soon. You have that war to worry about back home while me and my crew need to finally start worrying about our own kingdom." Krissy was excited and upbeat, particularly because they got the rain back or it was mainly because she was getting an even better ship than she had before.

"I'm going to miss you guys. Just be careful if you ever run into Amon again. That kid is strong." Sol said to her with a grin. "I'm strong too but it's not Amon that I'm worried about, it's Mithra." When the boats finally landed, they could see Lilac and Ella waving at them from one of the ship's decks. "I guess it's finally time." Brook walked closer to the ship with Sol and Krissy not too far behind. The Kinrocs got off one ship while each of Sinnel's cult members, including Quill, were being escorted onto another. The ship Krissy was going to take would first have to make its way to Atlaqua to drop off a few prisoners while the other flying ship would be Sol's ticket home to the Kingdom of Fire.

"You guys pulled it off." Ella said, being the last one to get off the ship they were on. Krissy handed over the axe she had back to its original owner, Lilac. "You can take this back. Sorry for taking it so suddenly. I'll have to just get one of my own someday." Krissy said to Lilac. "It's no problem. Are you going to go back to the Kingdom of Metal soon or do you and your crew plan on staying a little longer?" Lilac asked her. "We're going to stay a little bit longer to see Brook's plan through but there's one person on my crew that asked me to go with you guys instead." Krissy pointed at William who was sitting on the ground, talking to everyone else along with a couple guards. Aria eventually noticed Krissy looking at them and couldn't help but to try to gesture them over to join the conversation.