Silence permeated the shore of the lake following Vanessa's question. Vanessa was silently waiting for a response of some sort, but after a couple of minutes of this continued silence, she had begun to worry she had offended Serin somehow.

This worry, however, was quickly exacerbated when Serin looked Vanessa dead in the eyes and replied.

"Don't lie to me," she responded with a voice dead of all emotions.

"I have accepted my fate, there is no magic on this planet that can work on my body in any way shape or form. I highly doubt you can perform such a feat as to repair my destroyed fin no matter how powerful you are." continued Serin, whose dead emotionless visage only seemed to grow more permanent along her face.

"I am not lying." was Vanessa's simple reply.

Serin looked as if she wanted to refute Vanessa's claims once again but was interrupted before she could continue. The interruption, however, did not come from Vanessa, but from the lake behind them.

Surging outward from the lake was a battalion of mermen all in full plate armor and holding a multitude of weapons from swords, staffs, spears, maces, halberds and more. Then the water from the lake seemingly surged forward and created a wall behind both women entrapping them at the edge of the water.

Then a man emerged from the water covered in shimmering orange scales, blonde hair, and a smirk on his face that for some reason Vanessa wanted to punch really badly.

The man then proceeded to swim towards the two women.

"Back away from the princess you commoner or pay with your lowly life." spoke the snobby looking merman.

It actually took a minute for Vanessa to realize who he was talking to, but when she did she just replied with.

"Who's the glorified goldfish?" Vanessa asked pointing her question towards Serin.

Serin looked at Vanessa for a second before bursting out in a tinkling giggle that eventually erupted into full-blown laughter after seeing what the face of the merman, now dubbed as 'Goldy' in Vanessa's mind, looked like.

"You disrespectful wench I will execute you here and now for disrespecting me." replied 'Goldy' raising his massive greatsword, as it ignited with a shimmering light, and swinging it downwards towards Vanessa's head.

Serin realizing what was happening was about to scream for the man to stop, however, her words although late were not needed.

For as the blade approached her, Vanessa did something she always thought would be cool to pull off. She could feel that this man, although more powerful than his followers, was extremely weak compared to her. So she decided to break his annoying ego enough to where he would actually have a mutual conversation or just leave and let her and Serin continue their previous discussion.

Vanessa reached forward just as the blade approached her body and then a resounding explosion erupted from there positions blasting the battalion of soldiers as well as Serin backward a few feet from the force of the explosion spraying them with water and air.

And then as the explosion cleared all of a sudden all was still upon the surface of the lake. Nobody, not the soldiers, Serin, or even 'Goldy' was able to speak upon the sight before them.

Vanessa was standing in the same location she was in previously with no physical injuries whatsoever. That in and of itself would be surprising enough, but what really shocked everyone into silence was not that she was unharmed. It was the fact that the massive greatsword that had been on its way to bisecting Vanessa's body in two was now being held back with only one of Vanessa's fingers.

'Goldy' upon seeing such a sight was completely frozen with fear unable to understand who or what he had just attacked and completely out of his element.

"Ahem!!" came a new female voice rife with irritation.

Everyone looked towards the newcomer's voice only to see a beautiful woman with platinum hair, beautiful blue scales and a striking resemblance to Serin.

Then, as if all the merman's heads were magnetized to the ground, every one of them performed dogeza, face first into the water including 'Goldy' all while yelling out.

"My Queen!!"

The only people who did not bow down was Serin because she was apparently this woman's daughter and Vanessa who was confused as to whether she should do so or not.

Those worries were for nothing however, as the Queen in a seemingly exasperated tone heaved a sigh, that Vanessa thought would have made Amanda proud, before pinching the bridge of her nose and spoke.

"I was just notified of my daughter being mauled by a monster from the forest. I just swam from the queen's chamber all the way to the surface of this lake after nearly beating to death every single politician, bureaucrat, and nobleman or woman who thought it would be best if I should not leave my chamber. And I came here to see my daughter with the Lord of this forest. And watched as 'Goldy' over here attacked someone who is essentially a minor god." replied the woman who now showed a stiff smile, that would make any man shiver at the sight, to every soldier who was now bowing and shivering at her tone of voice.

"As much as I would love to hear each and every one of your excu- ahem 'explanations' I really don't want to deal with you lot right now. So get out of my sight before I feed you to the monster that attacked my daughter, as a sacrifice for my own as well as the Lord's amusement." finished the woman showing a face that confirmed she was not exaggerating in the slightest.

The soldiers including 'Goldy' all with no hesitation dived into the water out of sight as quickly as they possibly could.

The Queen then addressed her daughter.

"I'm sorry for the lateness Serin I tried to arrive as quickly as possible, I'm just happy I was able to make it in time. Are you injured severely anywhere?" asked the Queen in a worried tone that all mothers seemed to have developed perfectly.

"No mother I'm not injured besides my tail and some scrapes, although I would be dead right now if it wasn't for Vanessa's aura calming down the monster allowing me to escape," replied Serin a confused voice before asking a question that had been on her mind for a while.

"Mother, what did you mean by calling Vanessa the Lord of the forest and a minor god?" asked Serin in a confused tone.

The Queen then looked toward Vanessa at hearing this question.

"Well you see my daughter, this woman is no ordinary woman. She is the new lord of the Forbidden Forest. And you and I both know that when an immortal being becomes the lord of a specific physical domain they become a minor god and that all those within that domain are that new minor god's subjects." explained the queen.

Serin looked shell-shocked at the explanation.

"W-Wait s-so y-you are a g-god!! Why didn't you tell me that earlier?!?" asked Serin, who was promptly flicked on the forehead quite masterfully by her mother.

"Show some respect you are talking to a person who has enough power to lay claim to a piece of a celestial grade realm." Serin was chastised by her mother all while being forced to bow down by her mother.

"Please your grace, do not judge our species from first impressions they are ignorant to the ways of the immortal world." said the Queen kneeling next to her daughter.

Vanessa was quick to explain her stance concerning her position.

"You don't have to worry about that, I would rather earn your respect through my actions instead of through my position. I spent my entire previous life being in your position so I know how it feels," replied Vanessa hoping to convey that she wasn't some vengeful god that would smite them just by looking at her.

Both the queen and Serin looked confused at her explanation but understood her none the less.

"Anyway," began Vanessa " Can I ask for your name, no offense but referring to you as the queen in my head is kind of redundant since I already know your daughter's name," asked Vanessa.

The queen of sirens seemed hesitant to reply.

"You will not wish any harm upon me or my people?" asked the queen.

Vanessa was slightly saddened upon hearing this.

"No, I really do mean you no harm as long as you mean no harm to me or the people I care about. Wow, the minor gods in this world must be a bunch of assholes if you are this suspicious of me from our first meeting," replied Vanessa hoping to somehow show that she was serious about her reply.

The queen at seeing the look on Vanessa's face seemed to lose what little hesitation she had left before chuckling at Vanessa's previous statement.

"My name is Kira the Queen of Sirens, and as to your previous comments about the minor gods inhabiting this world, comparing them to assholes is an insult to assholes everywhere." replied the queen in a much more natural and less regal voice that even surprised her daughter Serin.

Vanessa seeing that Kira was not as fearful of angering her as before was relieved.

"How is it that you know I'm the lord of the Forbidden Forest?" asked Vanessa.

Kira was quick to explain how such information was given to her.

"The respective leaders of all species in your domain all receive a notification of the owner of this domain. As to how I knew you were that person ..." Kira paused and blushed slightly during this explanation.

"I-It also came with a notification showing your physical looks in uhh ... ahem, extreme detail by someone named Lilith?" finished the queen.

"Haaaa, yeah that explains a lot. And to answer your question Lilith is the goddess of demons. You see the gods of this world are kind of friends of mine so they interfere a little more than usual. Lilith is ... well I guess you could say a mischievous person but she means well so don't worry too much." explained Vanessa.

Both Serin and Kira seemed to have an understanding look on their faces upon hearing this.

"Say no more, we immortals understand that the gods are fickle beings so your explanation is not very surprising," replied Serin in a knowing tone.

"Anyway I guess its time we continue our previous conversation now that you know that I'm not lying," replied Vanessa.

Both Serin and Kira seemed confused at this statement.

"What do you mean the previous conversation?" asked Kira wondering what Vanessa and Serin were talking about before she arrived.

"Oh sorry for not telling you earlier, but as you can see your daughter's tail is damaged and I was told that she can not be healed because of your races ability," explained Vanessa.

"That is true we are unable to be affected by healing magic, and my daughter cannot be affected by any form of magic whatsoever," explained Kira.

"Well you see I have a couple of ideas as to healing her tail, but bare in mind these are ideas, nothing is set in stone. But ... I want to try, If
I can help her I want to at least try to do so instead of doing nothing even if it might end in failure, that is if you will let me?" asked Vanessa turning her attention from Kira to Serin at the end of her explanation.

Serin looked deeply into Vanessa's eyes for a long and slightly uncomfortable moment before looking toward her mother and speaking her mind.

"I trust her mom, but if you don't then I won't agree." replied Serin seeking her mother's opinion on the matter.

Kira looked to be consulting the matter within her mind quite thoroughly before finally giving her reply.

"You said you wished to earn our trust?" asked Kira to Vanessa.

"Yes," replied Vanessa.

"Then here is your chance, I place my daughter in your hands ... please don't make me regret it." finished Kira motioning her daughter toward Vanessa.