(Circe's P.O.V)

I stood on the edge of the balcony and breathed in the cool night air. The sky was a deep blue, illuminated by the thousands of stars that seemed close enough to touch from this high and far below, the diamond incrusted city reflected the light straight back up, twinkling as brightly as the stars above.

It had been four nights now and yet I still wasn't accustomed to such a breathtaking sight. I imagined that I could become very old and still stare at this view with as much wonder as I did now. It was unbelievable to think that this world had always been here, right above my head and I never noticed. Never suspected a thing. 

I wondered though, if perhaps I had sometimes looked up at the sky and seen a few extra stars that weren't really stars at all, but reflections from the diamond palace. From where I was standing now it seemed very likely. 

I sucked in a deep breath and then let it out slowly, trying to calm my thoughts as I had been trying to do in vain for the past four nights. My mind was still buzzing with all of the information I had received and I had a feeling that it would be a while before I managed to fully wrap my head around everything. 

Nathaniel was my brother, or my half brother at least. This was the part that was the most clear to me, the most certain. It made sense, the way I had always felt about him, the way he had always looked at me with nothing more than a sisterly affection, yet he was always so protective of me. It felt right, that he and I should be related so closely. In a way I felt as though I had always known it, I had just needed someone to confirm it. 

I knew I was not human at all now. Again this made sense in a strange way and although I was still slightly upset, and a little jealous, that Nathaniel was more related than I was to the man that I had always called Father, I knew that with time, I would get over it and move on. After all I had an Air Queen for an Aunt now. I smiled wryly at the thought. It sounded so strange. 

What was a little harder to comprehend was how old I was. Although my new Aunt, she had asked me to call her Airocei, explained that I really was only seventeen years of age, I couldn't quite get over the fact that I had spent one hundred and ten years inside my Mothers womb. 

I shook my head a little, as though the movement would clear my thoughts. I had been right in thinking that age would be the most difficult to understand in this strange new world. When I had asked why my Mother had lived longer that a Sirens excepted one hundred and fifty to two hundred years, it was explained that because she was half Water Sprite, her life expectancy was alot longer. Also factoring into her incredible age was the fact that she was Royalty and Royalty lived longer than most due to the vast amount of magicks that they controlled.

"Cissy?"

I started and turned quickly. Nathaniel stood in the doorway, his blue eyes clouded with sleep, his blonde hair tousled. He had been sleeping with me for the past few nights, at my insistence. This new protectiveness I felt for him had refused to let him out of my sight, especially now that I knew how magical folk felt about human half breeds. I had lost him once, it would not happen again. 

"What are you doing?" He padded silently over to me, his striped blue and white pajama pants hanging low around his hips. Inclosing me in his arms as I turned, he pulled my back into his chest and kissed the top of my head.

"You look troubled." He said it without question, as though stating a fact and unconsciously I reached up to touch my forehead, feeling for the small crease between my brows that I knew would be there.

"I'm just thinking." I murmured. "Why did you wake?"

There was silence for a moment and I felt him shift restlessly behind me. I didn't break the silence, he would speak eventually.

"I was thinking of our brother." He muttered finally. "I don't think the Queen believed me when I said I didn't know where he was. But Circe, I wish that I did. I can't believe we have a brother out there somewhere ..." His voice trailed off wistfully and he rested his chin on the top of my head.

We had a brother. That was the other thing that I hadn't even begun to comprehend yet. Someone out there, looked identical to Nathaniel, someone out there shared our blood. Well shared half of mine anyway. 

Nathaniel was right in thinking that the Queen hadn't trusted his answer. Her eyes had taken on a steely glint when he had insisted that it had always just been him, he never remembered another. I did my best to back him up, explaining that we had been close from childhood and I had never seen another boy about about the village that look even remotely similar to Nathaniel. 

Eventually she had grudgingly accepted that he knew nothing, agreeing with her guards when they had suggested that maybe the captive Siren would know something. 

"Do you think that maybe ... Mother ... might know where he is?" Nathaniel interrupted my train of thought and I frowned.

"I don't think she would to be perfectly honest. From what the Queen said, it sounds as though she hasn't had anything to do with us since our birth. Whoever took our brother must have come afterwards. What I would like to know though is why she split us up. Why not leave all three of us together?"

"I don't know," Nathaniel said. "she must be able to answer that at least. When do we leave?" He shuddered around me. "I'm quite eager to get out of here, I don't know, there is something about this place that makes me uneasy."

I made a noise of agreement. "I don't like the way that they ... look at us. The maids and other servants. It's unsettling."

And it certainly was. Every-time we ventured from our room, heads would turn as we walked through the corridors. All of the people here had the same white skin, white hair and pale blue eyes and those unnerving eyes followed us as we moved, never leaving our faces until we turned around a corner or stepped into another room. 

"I always feel like I shouldn't be here. Like I don't belong."

I laughed at that. "But that's it isn't it? We don't belong. I mean look at you!"

Naddy spun me round, his face offended but his eyes twinkling with laughter. "What do you mean 'look at me'" He asked, his tone disgruntled.

"I mean exactly that! Your so different, look how dark your skin is, in comparison to them, and your hair is golden like mine, rather than a colorless white. Even our eyes are a darker blue. We stick out like sore thumbs every-time we leave the room!"

He snickered. "Not to mention what the Queen said about having less color with the more magicks you wielded. So ..."

I burst out laughing. "So basically we look to be about as non-magical as the Christmas pigs back home!"

Nathaniel snorted in a very piglike manner. "Precisely."

I grinned widely at him, all worrying thoughts at the moment forgotten. "Have I mentioned again how happy I am to see you?"

Nathaniel grinned and pulled me to him, ruffling my hair. "Yes you have but I wouldn't mind hearing it again sister."

I sighed against his chest and wrapped my arms around him. "I still can't believe your my brother, I mean it makes sense, but still ..."

His hands rubbed my back in a soothing circular motion. "I think I know how you feel," he murmured quietly. "I loved you for years you know, and I think for a while, I tried to believe that I could love you as something more ... but it never seemed quite right. Now that I know what I do, I've finally found the right way to love you." He buried his face in my hair. "It feels good." He mumbled.

"I understand," I said simply. "I love you too." And I did. I had never quite settled on what was the right way to love Nathaniel and now that I knew what the right way was, I could feel our already close bond strengthening. 

"I also agree with you on the matter of wanting to get out of her as quickly as possible." I frowned. "I'm not quite sure on how long the Queen expects us to stay."

"We will ask her tomorrow then." Nathaniel decided. "Either that or we could ask Aranel."

Surprisingly, Aranel and Naddy had immediately hit it off. I had been quite shocked, half expecting her to treat Naddy with the scorn that she had shown towards Obsidian and Cobalt, but instead she had answered his questions easily, more easily than she had answered my own and had even smiled at him once or twice. 

That didn't mean that I liked her though, she still had a horrible temper and took any and every chance to talk down to me. 

"Yes," I said grudgingly. "Or Zalas." 

"Do you think they are going to accompany us?" Naddy mused aloud. "I mean, how else are we going to get to Mother? I don't know about you, but I certainly don't know the way to the Water Kingdom."

I had spent the first day and a half briefly educating Nathaniel on what I had learned on magical beings so far, so he was reasonably up to date on everything. It was only now that I realized that I hadn't quite told him everything and I shifted uncomfortably, unsure of how he would receive the news.

"Naddy, we already have a ship waiting for us, on the outskirts of the Air Kingdom." I said uneasily, trying to think of the best way to tell him that the people we would be traveling with were the people who kidnapped me.

"Oh thats great!" He said. "Who are they?"

"The people I left home with."

I cringed as I felt his body stiffen. It was a moment before he spoke and when he did, his voice was cold. 

"You mean the Pirates."

"Well they aren't Pirates exactly, I mean some of them are, but the two brothers are half human, like you, and one of our Mothers guards is on board ..." I babbled desperately.

"One of Mothers guards?" 

I breathed a sigh of relief at the slight softening in his tone. "Yes, his name is Bernie Hobbs, he is a Merman, one of the Royal Guard and also my Teacher. You will learn a great deal from him. They kept me safe Nathaniel, they are sailing under the protection of our Mother. We can trust them." I decided to leave out the parts where I had been manhandled and almost killed on more than one occasion. No need to go into details. 

"Very well. Tomorrow we shall inquire as to when we will be leaving then, and who shall be accompanying us."

I nodded. I also had to speak to the Queen at least once more before we left. I could not forget that the reason we had come here in the first place was to retrieve the Air Pendant. I still wasn't completely sure why my Mother needed the pendants, I had an idea, but I needed to see first if the Queen could give me any answers. 

Nathaniel's arms tightened around me. "Do not trouble yourself sister. Everything will be fine."

"Yes," I breathed, turning away from him again to look out over a view that some would liken to heaven. "everything will be fine."

*      *      *      *

"Four more days? What do you mean four more days?"

Aranel pursed her lips as I stared at her, my mouth agape. That would mean I would have been away from the ship for a whole week and in my mind, taking into account the damage the two Dragons had done to the vessel, a week was far too long.

"I mean that you will remain here, under my Mothers care for four more days Princess." She spat out the title with disdain. "If you have a problem with that then that's really too bad."

I opened my mouth again, ready to protest but before I could speak the door swung open and Zalas strode through, a heavy scowl marring his perfect features. 

"Aranel," He said stiffly. "Mother wishes to see you at once."

Aranel scowled at me as though it was some how my fault she had been called from the room, before quickly exiting and slamming the door behind her.

As soon as she had left, Zalas's face smoothed and he turned to face me. This was the second time I had seen him since our arrival, from what I had gathered he was very busy, he was in charge of most of the goings on in the Kingdom as one day he would take over from the Queen.

Before I could open my mouth he had already begun to speak. 

"Perhaps you would be a little more compliant about the length of your stay if Aranel had explained to you the exact reasons you are to remain here for another four days."

Nathaniel chose that exact moment to come out of the large washroom that was connected to our bedroom, a towel covering his face as he rubbed his hair dry. 

"Cissy did I hear voices? I-"

He broke off as I tugged on the corner of the towel and it slipped off his head and onto the floor, allowing him a full view of the pale haired angelic looking man in front of us.

"Oh. It's you." He said flatly. Quite abruptly, he turned away from us and started rummaging through the draws for a shirt. 

I rolled my eyes at his behavior and gestured for Zalas to continue, which he did without hesitation. Naddy felt the same way about Zalas as I did about Aranel, although I could not find a reason as to why. Zalas was always polite.

"Firstly, you need to have a brief understanding of my people before we leave, although, when we do, I will continue to teach you personally. There are however, some things that must be shown, not taught and there is no place better to do that than here."

"Does that mean that you will be accompanying us on our voyage?"

Zalas nodded gravely. 

"Yes it does."

There was a snort from Naddy's corner of the room and I could almost hear him rolling his eyes. "Oh joy."

Zalas ignored him and continued on with his explanation although his face had hardened slightly.

"Also Captain Bone's ship is currently under-going repair so that it will be fit for the voyage."

His tone had turned rather sheepish and I narrowed my eyes.

"How much damage did you do exactly? You do realize that that ship is part of my Mothers fleet don't you?"

Zalas scratched the back of his head and diverted his eyes to the side. "That wasn't a fact that we were aware of at the time which is why we are giving our best resources towards the restoration of the ship under scrutiny. This will take four days at the least, hence the reason for your extended stay."

I was nodding in agreement as he talked, everything that he was saying made sense. I felt a slight twisting in my gut at the thought of being away from the ship for another four days, especially after we had left everything in such a disarray. I hadn't even seen Cobalt before we had left and the image of Obsidians bloodied face was still burned into my mind. 

And then there was the fact that I had never apologized for all of the things that I had said to him. I was sure that the apology had been there in my eyes, when I had looked at him for that last time but it hadn't been spoken aloud. I needed to say it aloud. I needed him to know that I was sorry for branding him as a selfish barstad. 

"Very well." I said, my voice edgy. "Are we to start today then?"

Zalas nodded. "Yes. Unabonan has spoken to the Dragon King and it has been decided that you should also be educated as much as possible on Dragon history before you leave, and since it is something that is harder to teach on a ship than my own history, he will be educating you for the next two days."

There was a great gust of wind and suddenly Unabonan was perched on the open edge of the dome shaped room, his great claws scrabbling at the marble tiles, his wings tucked neatly at his sides. 

Hello Vanima

The roughly accented voice grated through my mind, lingering there even after the words were spoken. 

I inclined my head towards the great beast in greeting before turning towards Zalas. 

"Will you be accompanying us?" I asked nervously, my stomach dropping when Zalas shook his head. 

"No, the Dragon King wishes for you to learn from a dragons perspective only. Unabonan is more than capable of doing this. He will look after you, you need not be afraid."

I chanced a glance over to Naddy, now dressed, who was standing in the corner, his arms crossed and an unreadable expression on his face.

"What will my brother be doing whilst I am gone?" I asked carefully, noting how Zalas's face tightened the smallest amount. 

"Aranel is going to show him around our town. It is important that he too has some kind of knowledge of our kind, no matter how small." This whole sentence was spoken without a single glance in Nathaniel's direction and I frowned at Zalas's obvious disregard for the half human behind him.

It's alright, Naddy mouthed at me and I nodded absentmindedly, still feeling slightly annoyed at Zalas's attitude. 

I sighed. "Okay then, it sounds like a plan. Naddy, I'll meet with you before dinner?"

"Actually," Zalas interrupted before Nathaniel could speak. "My Mother requested a private dinner with you tonight when you get back from your lessons."

I threw my hands up in frustration. "Fine, whatever. Naddy I'll see you later alright?"

Nathaniel nodded. "Definitely sister." He crossed the room in one stride and hugged me tightly. "Be safe."

I breathed out into his neck. "You too."

I pulled away from him and moved over to where Unabonan was regarding me with bright white eyes, refusing to acknowledge Zalas as I passed by him.

Unabonan set his scaly neck down to floor level indicating that his was the way I should climb up. 

I breathed in deeply and took hold of one of the ridges that decorated his head in order to steady myself. With the dragons guidance, I settled myself into the crook between the start of his neck and his shoulders. Silently Zalas reached up and handed me two thick pieces of material.

"You need to strap these to your thighs or your skin will be rubbed raw from the dragon scales. The thick material of your dress was enough to protect you before, but these are more convenient. We usually have ours sewn into our pants, Mother has sent out orders for clothes in our style to be made for you. You will no doubt be needing them later."

I nodded stiffly. "Thankyou."

"You are most welcome." He murmured, his pearl colored eyes taking on an eerie glow as he stepped back from the dragon. 

I took me a few tries, but eventually I managed to fix on the strips of thick material that felt akin to the leather that my old shoes were made from, using the adjustable straps attached. 

Are you ready Vanima? 

I answered him in my mind, clutching tight to the off white spine in front of me. 

What would happen if I said no?

Unabonan's only answer was to laugh loudly in my mind before falling backwards into thin air anyway.

_______________________IMPORTANT PLEASE READ______________________________

Hey Guys!! 

Firstly I need to apologize for having kept you all waiting for so long, I don't really have an excuse other than real life got in the way - however, I should have made sure to upload at least once a month to let you guys know that I hadn't dissapeared off the face of the earth :)
I did start writing this chapter a few weeks ago and I am currently half way through the next one, I just needed to make sure that I had the plot correct and all of the puzzle pieces were going to fit together properly before I attemtped to write anymore haha I guess you could say I had a bit of an overload n.n

ANYWAY I hope you enjoyed the Chapter, it's not very exciting and I personally am finding it a little difficult to write without my Obsidian being in the picture but he is returning soon, (thank god), so don't worry :D

Thankyou to all of my gawjus fans who have kept checking for updates, you know I love you guys to bits right?? 

LASTLY - I'm wondering, if I start a Facebook page for APK would you guys join it? I'd be keen to set something up where people can leave messages and things, rather than filling up my inbox - it would be much easier to reply and post photos and such :) Let me know what you think!!

Lots of Love,

Daisychain xxx

UPDATE - Here is the link for the Fan Page on Facebook guys! http://www.facebook.com/groups/273281456093631/