BONDED

III

Sometimes I really wonder if they just don't care or they're genuinely clueless, it doesn't matter what you're training me for, you're helping get stronger to challenge you, I thought it would be a joke or some sort of stunt but it isn't, I'll use this to my advantage then, I'll train really hard so I can get stronger and save my kingdom. They won't need to worry about me not complying, I also need to come up with a plan before returning to the castle, what I'm planning isn't something big but its definitely a bit complicated, with that thought in mind I drift off to sleep.

I was awoken to have dinner, I don't even know how long I slept but my muscles were aching, I was tempted not to even leave my bed, if Leo wasn't a mermaid I'd ask for him to heal me, I smack my forehead as that thought hit me, what am I thinking? I'm not getting acquainted with any mermaid, the guard accompanying me sent me a questionable look, great, now he'll think I'm mental, I walk in sighting Leo, his food looking untouched. Why do I have to have dinner with him anyways? 

'Hello princess, did you sleep well? How was your training?' He asks, I sit myself down, digging into my food immediately, 'you hate me, that's pretty clear but you don't need to ignore me all the time, I saved that baby for you, you could at least just speak to me, I'm not asking you to throw yourself at me' he adds.

I sigh, he's not wrong about saving the poor baby, 'it was fine' I choose to respond, I could turn this situation in my favour, if he's trying to be friendly with me, I could use him. 'Well look at you being considerate', he lights up,

'don't make me regret it' I answer, 'Sorry, he smiles nervously, I'm sure you've been told why you're here, I know my brother is a handful but you could always lose on purpose, he won't have a choice but to go for the winner, that'll probably give you more problems though so don't do that. I nod my head in response, focusing on finishing my food and leaving this awkward situation, seems you don't talk much, don't attack me again but if you want to know I can still tell you what happened. 

My body freezes midway, shellfish in hand about to take a bite, I tense looking down at my plate, my thoughts rushing in my head once again, why does he do this to me? I'm trying to forget only for him to remind me every time, my heart feels heavy once again, tears begin to collect in my eye, 'Did I say something? Uneasiness in his tone, I apologise I won't bring it up again if you don't, I didn't expect it to bother you that much', his politeness only making me pissed, my head jerks up at his last statement, a laugh escaping my throat, I get up without a word retreating to my room, that's enough mermaids for today.

I can't leave the manor I'm being kept in, I sit on the window sill admiring the view, it wasn't much but it was refreshing to see something different from what I'm used to, I do want to know what happened but I'm not ready for it, plus I still don't trust Leo, this could be a test or something. I sigh, pushing myself off the window, I decide to take a walk around the house, there were no guards outside my door, frankly there's no need for them anyways, there's three floors, the first is for the maids and guards presumably, I'm on the second and Leo is most probably on the third, the highest, I explore my floor first.

My room was at the end of the hallway, opposite it was a smaller room with nothing in it, it was basically empty, I move further, portraits adorning the walls on each side, I don't recognise the faces nor the landscapes on them, the motion lights light up with my movements, I study the pictures admiring its beauty, we use ink from the sea creatures or the bioluminescent from jelly fish and other sources to make intricate pictures on the wall or a scroll. 

An image catches my eye, it looked familiar but I've never seen it before, I stare at it more closely, it was hypnotising, like it was calling out, trying to draw me in, it was a creature I've never seen nor heard about that, and the landscape looks nothing like what I know, it's eyes were staring straight into my soul, the sense of familiarity I felt from it made me uneasy, it felt like my heart knew it but my brain didn't, I reach out tracing my fingers along its face, an image crosses my eyes at the contact,I retract my hand really fast, it was so fast I didn't see it, what was that? I reach my hand out again, nothing. Am I loosing my mind? A tingling sensation snaps me from my trance, it was coming from the right side of my waist, my mark, I lift my garment, my mark was emitting a faint glow.

I gasp, running my hand across it, that has never happened before, I drop my cloth, pinching myself to make sure I wasn't hallucinating, I take a deep breath, preparing myself to look again, but I could see the glow through my cloth, I pinch myself there, my body shivers but it starts to fade, I stare at it as it goes back to normal, I'm going back to my room to process what just happened, I shut the door, my back against it, I'm going to act like this never happened, all that isolation must be making me go crazy right now, I'm going to sleep. 

My eyes feel groggy while they adjust to the light, I just woke up but it was still dark, its still midnight I guess, I choose to go back to my exploration, this time I go to the first floor, it was so quiet, everyone must be asleep, I pass the dining room, shaking my head from the previous scene, I make my way outside to the middle of the manor, it'll do me some good to get some training done. 

I've been practicing all the moves my mentor taught me and that mermaid, my muscles were aching but I kept going, I practiced in my room all that time I was locked up, so right now, it was like a routine for me, my body moved automatically on its own, 

'Not bad but you could do better, you're fighting the water, to reach your utmost capability, to surpass your limits, to be at your best, you need to be part of the system, you need to be the water' my mentor finished. 'Be the water? I say as I stare at my hands, I don't want to be a liquid'! I exclaim, his laugh booms, 'that's not what I meant, you need to let the water flow within you, you need to feel it pass through every inch of your body, inside and outside, study the direction of the current, the interaction of the atoms, only then will you be "the water" .

His words ring in my ear, I never grasped what he said to me at that time, I smile at my stupid question, how could he possibly ask me to become a liquid, as I practice my steps in this moment, I understand what he meant, free your body as much as you could, let the water guide your movements, if you go against it, it'll be your opponent, I understand it clearly right now, I felt like I was floating, we were in perfect sync, where the current moves I move, I could feel everything, the way the water circulates in and around my body, I swim as fast as I could, dodging imaginary obstacles, throwing jabs and whips here and there. I haven't felt this happy and peaceful for a long time.

Its like I unlocked something in me that needed to be released, that lady helped me incorporate my mentor's training and now I feel unstoppable, my heart pounds faster than it did before as I swim around the courtyard as fast as I could which ends up creating a mini whirlpool, I stop to catch my breath, my heart felt so warm, for the first time in a long time I was genuinely happy and I felt accomplished, nothing mattered in that moment, I let myself sink, arms crossed over the back of my head, my tail lazily floating as I let myself sink, closing my eyes to live in the moment.

Author's note

Hey guys! How do you like this chapter? I decided our princess deserved a happy moment out of all this chaos, what do you think about that incident with the picture? Do you think it'll be useful in her future plans? Or she's just tripping. Well, stick around to find out. Till the next chapter, bye readers!