UNDER THE SEA

When Marcus had mentioned his assistant, Lia thought it would be one of the guards or someone from a higher rank, yet what she didn't expect was for a minister to rush inside the hall from the same hole Lia used.

What surprised Lia was how terrified he was. Not to mention that his whole body was trembling as he apologized profusely for being late, but also some colored liquid came out of his body that Lia identified as sweat.

The trembling didn't cease even after the king had chuckled lightly and brushed it off, which made the minister bow down even more. "I swear on our great kingdom. I won't do it again."

The king sighed, "Now, Now, no need to be this serious. Unless you want our dear guest to get the wrong idea?" Lia thought that his two crescent like-eyes were forced.

"No, No!"

"If so, let's move on," having passed such calamity, the minister raised his head, a mix of relief and worry were still etched onto his face. Only then was Lia able to get a more proper look at him.

From his skin and big lips, Lia was able to tell he was a puffer fish descendant. Probably mixed raced from how his body was longer and leaner than normal pufferfishes. His mental abilities were also stronger as he was capable of hiding his thoughts from Lia.

He brought a swollen hand onto his puffy lips and coughed. "I would like to thank Lia, the heir of Ster, for agreeing on becoming a candidate," he said with a smile, both of his dark pupils sparkling with joy.

Lia tried lifting the corners of her mouth.

"Any details that will be mentioned here will be kept a secret." then he nodded toward a guard, who brought him a list. "Here are the details you have to be concerned about,

"First, your main mission is to rescue Mo, a guard who has been kidnapped by humans. Second, you will be trained for a month before going to the land, to be able to blend in better with humans. Third-"

"Um, I'm sorry to interrupt." Lia extended her hand gently, glancing toward the king as she did so, only to see that he was busy pouring more drink for himself. "A month? For what?"

The puffer fish stared at her for a second, lost for words. Lia wondered if her question was out of line before she heard him chuckle nervously. "For what? Well, you have to learn their languages-"

"Don't they have thousands of languages?" Remembering that it would be weird for her to know such a thing, she added swiftly, "from what I have read from my dad's books."

"Hence the month," the king slowly put his drink down. She saw that it was empty already. "Naturally, if you are able to learn fast, the learning duration will be even shorter."

Lia frowned, silently thinking. She wasn't sure if it would be enough for her to learn all human languages. Especially since she had read that some of them were extremely complicated.

She heard the minister chuckle, "Not only that, we need to check your ability and know if you are compatible with our tracking devices."

Tracking what-

Before Lia could say anything he continued, "Anyway, Third you family would be taken care of during the mission. Fourth, you may not contact your family during the mission, in fear of people discovering your identity. Fifth, you may not reveal your identity or powers to anyone from the lands, unless otherwise mentioned to." Lia saw him getting immersed in his role. He not only mentioned what she could and couldn't mention in front of her friends, but he also told her about what she couldn't tell the land.

"Fifty, you are responsible for your actions on the land. Fifty-one, you will have to fend for yourself on the land. Fifty-two, you have to constantly update us while doing the job." Lia was getting lost.

"One hundred, you have to stay discrete. At all times." With that, the puffer fish closed the list he was holding and sighed in content. He had cleared his throat before he threw a smile at Lia, "I hope that was clear."

Lia found it hard to smile. Her thoughts were in chaos as she heard the rules. Even though there were so many of them, yet all of them were so vague and nonspecific. Also, weren't they too few? Not to mention that she had never gone outside of the sea, she didn't really know anything.

She raised her hand again. "I-I actually have a few questions-"

"You may ask them later," the king interrupted, drinking his thirtieth drink. Lia saw herself slowly retreating her raised hand. "You may go now." he flicked his hand off, signaling for the minister to go. She saw as the puffer fish bowed and left eagerly.

Lia bit her lip silently. She felt anxious thoughts rushing inside her head. A dark premonition slowly started to spread around her chest.

"Look at you," the king chuckled again, wearing his — now too familiar — smiling face. "No need to be this anxious. You may now go back home. But remember not to mention anything." Being ushered out, Lia couldn't share the same happiness that the puffer fish had.

~~~ ~~~ ~~~

"Mother, please answer me," Lia knocked on her mother's room for the umpteenth time, and got the same answer as she did for all the previous times. Nothing.

She sighed and leaned against the stone door. The slight touch, made memories rush into her head. Memories of times where she had run across the hall, chasing the servants until this door would suddenly open and her mother's wrath would be freed upon her. Or when she would be invited into this room to be read a nighttime story to, engulfed by her father's warmth and her mother's rare sweet tone.

'Way to go, Lia,' she thought.

'You had to go and ruin everything, didn't you?'

Lia lacked the words that would make her mother forgive her. No, if anything she had those words and knew of them. But, the slight thought of actually saying them made her heart clench in pain.

And that alone, made Lia realize how selfish she was.