1.

Fishes were meant to be caught by men, but why was her prince caught by one?

All those stories she'd heard about the sea were lullabies for nightmares. None of those spoke good about the currents. None worshipped the song of sea breezes. None loved those giant waves the sea artfully crafted and used to wash the kingdom's shores.

None, until Eric came along and bombarded them with pretty tales of merpeople and lovely sea animals. Of course. Of course, Eric loved the ocean as much as he loved his mother who passed away when he was barely ten. Eric, a prince with a father of steel who basically worshipped honor over wealth, was so into the idea that the vastness of the sea was calling him, luring him in unimaginable ways one would never have believed possible. Eric, kind and charming Eric, defied princely rules everyday just to rebel his way to the boundary of sea and land.

He was always a believer that the sea is basically still on land, but nobody believed him anyways. Not when everyone in this kingdom was ruled by the fear of something uncontrollable.

Nobody really knew how these fascinations of his started. Perhaps his mother told him wonderful tales of the sea when he was still a babe, or perhaps he read something particularly interesting that ignited a spark of pure curiosity and bliss inside that wonderful brain of his.

Eric is a shot of pure joy in a kingdom filled with loneliness. He was always that odd member of the monarch that every other people would find very intriguing to be acquainted with. Odd, in a way that lords, ladies and other rulers of states would find themselves entranced and genuinely truthful with how they interact in front of the lively prince, seemingly forgetting the fact they were vipers of all sorts. Odd, because with all the trouble he unintentionally caught himself into (and mind you he was ecstatic because of the "excitement") that would have given him a black-sheep-and-an-undesirable-prince title, but surprise-surprise, he always finds himself a hole and escape by charming his way out.

"Emily, you seem to forget we haven't got all day to spend on daydreaming," A shrill voice started, interrupting the wonderful blabbing in her head. Looking up, Rayna looked at her as if she's a mother scolding her young kid. She had a scowl in her face and clearly, she isn't happy finding Emily dazed and lost in thoughts.

Emily smiled sheepishly and apologized. Standing up, she turned towards the view she lost herself into. There's nothing much, just that this window overlooked the sea and a good portion of the kingdom. The old tower will forever be her little sanctuary. Hers, because every other maids in this castle aren't really into the idea of daydreaming in a dilapidated tower, not to mention "pretending" she's some kind of distressed princess waiting for a prince to rescue her.

Emily looked longingly towards the far edge of the sea and smiled because she probably need to really stop this weird habit. Who is she kidding really?

The prince won't be coming back. Not without his armada who sailed back bearing bad news and a scathed warship.

She turned away and laughed because Rayna still had her scowl painted in her face.

"Okay, okay," she said. Holding her hands up as if in surrender, she started walking towards the door with Rayna in tow.