“I wasn’t hurt, I didn’t go there on purpose, I was out for a swim and lost in my mind but since I was there, why not look?” he shrugged his shoulders and started to put the pearls away.

“You’re going to get yourself into a lot of trouble one day, Tavus,” she sighed with a shake of her head, “I came to tell you dinner is about to be served,” with that Sofee left the tower. Tavus wrinkled his nose at the thought of heading to dinner to hear about how once again he would be left here while Aeryn and his father went off to do important things. With a soft sigh Tavus took up the last two pearls, instead of putting them away he placed them into a cloth satchel and swam out the window with them. As the waters grew darker from the setting of the sun on the surface, luminescent coral brightened the palace and city in hues of green and purple, animals with the same ability becoming dancing lights in the distance. As was his custom, Tavus entered the palace through one of the windows, swimming into the hall outside the dining room.

Roman, his sisters and brother-in-law were already seated with little Lyra seated between her parents. When the little girl saw Tavus she lit up and was quick to move from between her parents to seat herself next to his chair, causing a grin to spread on her uncle's face.

“Just in time, I was just telling everyone I will be leaving sooner than planned,” Roman said, watching his son take a seat. It was only moments after Tavus joined the table that servants came in to lay food trays on the table.

“How soon?” Tavus asked reaching out to stab his knife into a piece of meat.

“Tomorrow, Aeryn is leaving for the surface and I am travelling to the deep waters,” Tavus frowned but nodded, his next words were directed at his sister rather than Roman.

“For the wedding, have you figured out a gift for the Queen?” he bit into the meat on his knife and tore off a chunk as he watched Aeryn’s face, little Lyra next to him copying the way he had torn off the piece of meat.

“I hadn’t even thought about it, I was busy packing,” she responded with a frown.

“Well, I was thinking you could give her one of these,” Tavus’ eyes moved quickly to Roman before reaching into his satchel and pulling out one of the blue pearls holding it out to Aeryn.

“Where did you get that?” Roman asked, scowling at Tavus suspiciously, Aeryn however, took the pearl and turned it over in her hands.

“I found them,” Tavus shrugged his shoulders and tried to look innocent, but he could tell his father wasn’t convinced.

“It’s beautiful,” Aeryn said softly as she studied the pearl in her hands.

“Where?” Roman asked again, Tavus could see his face start to flush,

“I don’t recall, I was going through my collections in the tower and thought maybe the Queen would like one,” he grinned as he pulled out the second and held it in front of Lyra, “I also brought one for my favourite Princess,” he laughed as Lyra gasped and snatched it out of his hands, her eyes wide and she stared at it.

“For me?” she squeaked,

“Well if you don’t want it, I’m sure I could find someone else,” he teased, chuckling as she hugged the pearl and pouted at him,

“No,” she whined, wrinkling her nose as Tavus’ ruffled her hair

“Tavus,” Roman growled, drawing back his son’s attention, “Did you leave the grounds again?”

“Father, how could you think that? I’m too young to do exciting things like that,” Tavus scowled back at his father, his gills fluttering and releasing bubbles as he tried to keep a tight rein on his growing temper. “Besides the last time I tried to go out on my own, you placed a guard on me for weeks, remember?” the two of them glared at one another silently.

“Father, Tavus, let us enjoy this meal together? It’s going to be the last one for a little while,” Emzella interjected, always the one to try and smooth things over. Tavus didn’t say another word during the meal. Conversation started when Emzella asked about how long Aeryn would be gone and who Roman was taking with him to hunt down the willoce. Tavus made his excuses to leave as soon as he could, even though he had respected his sister’s wishes and not picked a fight with his father he was angry all over again that he was treated like a child. Kissing his niece on the cheek and telling her goodnight before he turned and swam away quickly, he hated the palace, especially when he was angry. He always felt like he was caged in when he was inside the palace walls, his tower wasn’t so suffocating.

Sinking down on the top of his bed and glaring at the ceiling, if he wasn’t the son of a king he wouldn’t have so many rules and could do as he wanted. With a sigh Tavus moved to one of his windows, looking out at the illuminated city while leaning against the window frame. When he turned his head to watch old Baldwin in the garden a strange blue glow caught his eye. Turning a bit he looked at the chest under his desk, the silhouette of the merfolk on the top were glowing a shimmering blue. Squinting his eyes he pulled the chest out and put it on his bed before rummaging in his trunk for the saw made from animal bone that he used to cut pieces of coral.

It took him a long while of sawing at the rusted lock before he even made a dent with his saw, his arm was aching from the constant pressure needed. Tavus had to pull his hand away quickly when the saw finally broke through to avoid cutting himself. He smiled triumphantly and his heartbeat a little faster with excitement as he pulled off the lock and slowly lifted the lid. Tilting his head down to peak into the chest as the lid opened, eager to see when he had found. Tavus’ eye grew wide as he dropped the lid open, inside, placed on beds of cloth sat two identical giant golden, reptilian feet, the tips of the claws holding large transparent blue gems with smooth faces and sharp cut angles.

He had to use both hands to lift out one of the clawed feet, it was heavier then he thought which was strange since the chest itself wasn’t that heavy. The bottom was flat like they would sit nicely on a table or desk and there was no mistaking that the feet themselves were not from a water-dwelling creature. He had never seen gems like this before, the light reflected off its faces and seemed to illuminate the entire gem, making it glow. Placing the treasure back in the chest he noticed for the first time there was a scroll inside. Tavus was careful with the scroll when he removed it, old scrolls were known to fall to pieces if handled too roughly. When he unrolled the scroll he couldn’t make out what was written, for the most part, it was faded, except at the bottom where it held his family seal. Just above the seal was the only bit of writing he could make out.

“Sapphires set in golden dragon’s claws, taken from the kingdom of Oron after the battle of air, land and sea,” Tavus frowned and looked back at the gems, he had never heard of the battle his ancestor spoke of. The only war he had ever been taught was the one with the Mad-King. If there had been a battle between the merfolk and the surface folk it would have been a huge part of their history. Rolling the scroll back up, placing it back and closing the chest again, Tavus hid it back under his desk and left his tower, the grounds and palace were quiet as most the residents were probably in bed. Tavus headed for the library and began is search for the oldest scrolls and books he could find about Azra history, he wanted to know more.