"Before you ask, there was a bit of magic that went into creating the coral walls for the buildings."

Her silent question had been answered making her smile knowing she was right about the walls being made of coral and she loved that they were. She dreamt of a day where she would see this much sea life in one place. But as she looked around and watched the small fish swim around like they weren"t apart of something completely bigger than themselves.

She swam up to a small school of fish and watched them swim around her like they wanted to play. They weren"t scared of her and she was intrigued by that fact. Usually, when she scuba dived they would scatter away from her. When Raj swam up to her he broke the focus on the school of fish. He waved his arm for her to follow him down to the main part of the city.

"When we get to my part of the castle I can give you a tour. I will have to warn you of something. I do not live alone. I was right in saying that I did not take a wife after I left you so I did not have any other children." He gave her a side glance when he said the word children. He wanted more than anything to make sure she knew how special she was to him.

"Who else lives with you? If you"re not married or have any other children....Do you have a mother that lives with you? You told me your father pa.s.sed away so..." She inquired gently so she didn"t come off as rude or intrusive.

"It"s true that he pa.s.sed away the day I left your mother and you. You"re correct in thinking that my mother lives with me. I am very excited for you to meet her, she"s always wanted a grandchild regardless of how you came to me. I haven"t told her of you yet so she may be more shocked than I"m predicting. But that isn"t the only person that lives in the castle with me." He was being more cryptic than usual and it worried her. Maybe there was some weirdo that wouldn"t like her living with him?

She thought wildly about who else would be in the castle with them. She wanted to imagine who else it could be but they arrived at the entrance of the city.

She looked up at the gate that separated them and the building beyond it. She was br.i.m.m.i.n.g with excitement and something else she couldn"t put her finger on.

The gates opened without Raj or her touching it. She wanted to ask how that worked but her attention was fixated on the people she was about to swim past. There were guards on either side of them as they swam past the entrance. Raj paid them no mind but Darya"s eyes couldn"t stop wondering.

She was nervous, to say the least, but she didn"t want everyone to know that. She swam as close to her father as she could without b.u.mping into him. She didn"t want to get lost in a city under the sea that she had never been to, or even knew existed before a few days ago.

She was having a bit of trouble swimming so slowly as they strolled down the road that leads to the middle of the town. The closer to the buildings they got the more people - merpeople - there were lining the street. She was overwhelmed by a number of people that had shown up to welcome them back. Well, to welcome Raj their king back. They didn"t know about her.

She bit back the nerves that were making their presence known quickly. She looked over to her father and saw his winning smile, the one her mother spoke about fondly, he used it on the people around them as if he did it all the time.

As for her, she smiled at everyone whose eyes she met but she was only given glares back. She could have sworn they wanted to eat her with the way their death glares bore into her.

She shrunk away from their glaring eyes and tried to stay as close to Raj as possible. When they reached a building that looked nearly the same as all the other ones, only bigger, she tried her best to stand as tall as possible while everyone looked at her. She wanted to reach out to Raj and ask why he had been so silent through the trek up to the buildings but she realized he must have been greeting all of his people.

"Raj...Dad...Why did they stare at me like that? I feel like they were going to attack at any moment." She confessed through their link and hoped he didn"t think she was unappreciative for him bringing her here because she was it was just a little too much for the time being.

"It"s the color of your tail. Remember when I said everyone has a certain color?" He asked her as the people from the roads began to gather in front of them, why? She was unsure, but she would find out in a minute she was sure.

"Yes, yours and mine are pearl white because of the royalty factor. That guard was light green because of his status as well." She replied trying to remember the small lessons he told her along the way.

"They were looking at the color of your tail, it"s the only way to know someone before linking them. Please don"t take their looks offensively it"s all they know about you. You swam in here with the king and have the same pearl white scales and matching tail as the king as well. I didn"t give them a heads up so they are even more confused. I do need to give you a heads up about something though..." He explained the glares she had gotten, but she still felt uneasy about the death glares she had received but she would save that for another day.

"My mother will be joining us in a moment and we will announce your presence. It needs to be done as soon as possible. Also, there is something else..." He spoke in her mind with an almost ominous tone.

"You"re the only one that is wearing a bikini top." He said with a hint of embarra.s.sment that he tried to hide.

She looked down quickly and then at the people in front of them and noticed what he was saying. They all had scales that covered what needed to be covered and she was the only one wearing a bikini top. She would have to see if her scales covered the same thing later and if so, discard the top for when she returned home in a few months.

Raj turned suddenly, making the water whoosh her around slightly. She turned to see what he had and her non-existent breath was caught in her throat. There was a very lovely merwoman with long silver hair that flowed behind her as she swam toward them. She stopped in front of the two of them and Darya"s eye went wide when they landed on her moss green eyes.

This was his mother, this was her grandmother. Her hands shook and if she could sweat she would be sweating buckets.

"I will have you link her in just a moment, let me speak with her first," Raj spoke to her through their bond. She wasn"t sure if she was more nervous about speaking with her through a link or whether or not she would accept her in the family or not. Darya fixated on the pearl whitetail with scales that cascaded down from the sides of her rib cage to the tips of her fin. She wasn"t even being weird about only scales covering the important bits of her grandmother.

"Mother, this is your granddaughter, Darya." She heard Raj speak through the link almost startling her. What she didn"t expect was the reply of her grandmother sounding off in her head as her father"s just did.