"So, we're not going back inside?" Miles questioned from just behind me as we passed the servants' entrance.  I didn't answer, grumpily gathering a piece of my skirt into my arms so I didn't step on it.  One of these days, I was going to wear pants under my dress and simply take the cumbersome thing off once I was out of my mother's eyeshot.  It would be easier than being forced to stitch the tears in them during my sewing lessons once a week.

"Princess,"  Miles began,  "I feel as though I should be... um, not here.  What I mean is, I should be in the castle, tending to..."  He trailed off, and I almost laughed out loud.  We both knew there were enough servants and staff members around to pick up his slack.  "I just feel bad, being out here with you."  

However reserved Miles may have been, he followed me into the woods at the back of the grounds.

"Now, Miles,"  I said as I stepped over a group of bushes between two trees, "I think you're really going to like this-- uh, thing, I am going to show you, but first I have kind of a, oh, let's call it a safety question."  I stopped walking and turned to face him.  "You don't like girls, right?"

Having just nearly run into me, Miles had already stopped short, but the question almost made him take a step back.  He didn't look hurt, or offended, or even nervous like usual;  He seemed as though he had been caught off guard.  "What?"

"You aren't interested in girls.  Romantically.  Am I right?"  For a split second, my stomach started twisting into a knot, and I was worried I had misread everything.  Please don't be mad,  I thought at him, knowing it wouldn't make any difference.

Then Miles nodded, a tiny grin dancing on his lips.  "You're right.  Was I that obvious?"

I laughed lightly.  "Oh, no, I think Andy was oblivious."  I watched Miles's smile droop slightly, and I realized he had hoped Andy might notice.  "However,"  I quickly added,  "He did seem amused, if not a little interested in you."  The words sounded dumb coming from my mouth.  I felt like punching myself in the throat.  Why am I such a terrible friend?

Miles appeared to be unperturbed by my ridiculous attempts at consolation.  He shrugged and explained,  "I have had a crush on him for a long time, but I knew nothing could ever happen between us.  He's royalty, and I've seen him with enough women to know he isn't interested."  Miles didn't look at the floor once in the whole time he was talking.  It was almost as though he was trying to convince me he was fine, and that he didn't need to be lied to.

"That's not necessarily true.  The interest part."  I didn't know why I was telling him this.  It was probably his eyes, clear as the ocean's water on a sunny day, that had a bit of defeat in them.  I hadn't seen that quiet pain in Miles's face before.  "He can basically do whatever the hell he wants, since he's not next in line to the throne and he's not directly related to my father.  He doesn't need an heir.  He may like men, I have no idea."  Andy never seemed too invested in the women he had courted.  Their relationships hadn't been very long.

Miles smiled at me warmly.  "Whatever you say, Princess."

"Please call me Winnie.  Or even Winifred!"  I threw my hands in the air and turned around to continue walking.  Miles chuckled and followed my lead.

"Winifred?"  Miles asked barely a second later.  "Why was that a safety question?"

"Because,"  I replied, reaching the clearing just before Miles, "You are about to see something fantastical!"

At least, I hoped he would.  Otherwise, he was going to think I was insane for the rest of his life.

I walked slowly through the clearing to the edge of the dock and knelt by the end.  Miles followed me, but since the dock was so narrow, he stayed behind me and peered over my head.  "Um, what should I be seeing, exactly?"

I frowned.  "Stop bothering me.  Just wait, you'll see."

I leaned farther over the edge, searching the deep pool.  "Symphony..."  I called softly, knowing she couldn't be too far away.  Hoping, really.  Please, please, please...

Suddenly, a splash erupted from the other side of the pool.  My head snapped up and I saw ripples coming from around the large boulder near the edge of the pool.  I gasped.  I thought the pool ended at the boulder, but it must extend past it.  "S-Symphony?"

Her head popped up halfway between the boulder and the dock.  Her golden hair draped across her face and back, but she pulled the hair from her eyes like it were a curtain.  Her perfect complexion cracked into a dazzling smile when she saw me waiting on the dock.  I had almost forgotten how beautiful she was.  The moment stretched as she swam toward me, bliss and calm.

"What in sweet hell?!"  Miles yelled, his knees running into my back as he stepped forward.

So much for that.

Symphony's eyes grew wide and her smile slipped off her face.  She sunk her face halfway underwater and violently shook her head.  She reached the dock and grabbed both of my wrists.  Keeping her lips sealed shut, Symphony frantically gestured at Miles with one hand and tried to communicate something to me with her eyes.

"Symphony, calm down!  Miles is fine, he's just surprised by your sudden appearance."  I tried to peel her fingers away from my wrist, but she only looked more panicked.  She pointed to her pinkish lips, then to Miles and back again.  I was slightly distracted by the coloring in her cheeks, but I put that to the back of my mind.  I hope Miles doesn't do something dumb, like jump in the pool.  Heck, I hope I don't do something dumb.  Wouldn't that be embarrassing?

"Oh, that.  He's not interested, so... I'm pretty sure he'll be alright if you talk."  I patted her hand where it still rested on my wrist, attempting to calm her.  Her grip loosened, and I found that my skin was tingling where her skin touched mine.

Symphony peered above my head to where I would assume Miles was staring, then back to me.  "Are you sure?"  Symphony whispered, her lilac eyes wide and worried.

I tilted my head.  "Mostly,"  I replied truthfully.  "I could jump in after him if you decide to lure him to his death."

"Wait, my what?"  Miles piped up from behind me.

"Okay, Winnie,"  Symphony said at a normal volume.  "What's his name?"

I paused, thinking Miles would respond, but he didn't.  "He can talk too, you know."  I felt around behind me until I found his foot, then I tapped it impatiently.

"Oh, my name is Miles,"  Miles answered her, having been distracted before.  A second later he was pushing me to the side to sit on the edge of the dock with me.  We barely fit, with his right boot dangling in the water to the side and my left barely staying tucked under me.  "So, are you a siren?"  He flashed a bright smile at her, his whole face lit up with excitement and curiosity, his eyes watching Symphony's lovely tail.  

So much for subtlety, Miles.

"Symphony, what he meant to say was..."  I thought about the words I was about to say.  What are you, exactly?  sounded quite rude and sort of intrusive.  At that moment, I couldn't think of anything less rude to say, so I finished by saying,  "Yeah, what he said."

Symphony's neck and shoulders were out of the water, being suspended there by her powerful coral colored tail.  For some reason I hadn't expected it to be so long, or quite so... fishlike, I suppose.  "I suppose I am a siren, if by siren you mean a half woman, half fish creature who roams the seas with others like her, singing to pirates and sailors to lure them to their deaths."  My stomach dropped as she spoke, her musical voice seeming more and more like a threat.  Her large, innocent lilac eyes stared up at me, probably taking in my terror.  If she decided to grab both Miles and myself off of the dock, neither of us would be able to do much.  Fear took the place of my stomach, pooling inside of me at an alarming rate.  A little smile was playing on Symphony's plush lips, and I wondered for a moment if her teeth could become fangs if she wanted them to.

Then she laughed, a strikingly beautiful tinkling sound that was music to my ears.  "I'm just joking, dolls!"  Symphony giggled, and I noticed for the first time that she had an accent.  I couldn't pinpoint where it was from, but it was quite proper.  Symphony flicked her tail, and suddenly she had popped up out of the water and was resting her elbows on my legs, peering up at me from beneath a section of hair that had fallen back in her face.  Water dripped onto my dress from her hair, but I barely noticed.  My heart was racing from my fear only a moment before, but now it was racing with something else.  Perhaps adrenaline.  She was putting weight on me, but not a lot.  Just enough to remind me there was a laughing siren laying in my lap.

"Sorry about that, I've just never met humans before,"  Symphony continued, and her laughter ceased.  "Well,"  Symphony added, looking toward the sky thoughtfully,  "I've never met humans who don't want to kill me or keep me as a 'pet'."  She put air quotes around the word pet, and I almost laughed.  

"Are all sirens like you?"  I asked, trying to act like the fact that Symphony was resting her arms on my legs was no big deal at all.  "I thought that they... well, drowned people.  For fun."

Symphony's face fell.  She looked over at Miles, and I suddenly remembered he was there.  It wasn't that I'd forgotten him, since his leg was just about crushing mine.  Symphony had been focusing on me the whole time she'd come up to the dock, and I'd almost felt alone with her there.

"Oh, no.  Most of the sirens in my pod are positively wicked!  They are awful, and catty, and rude, and they drown young men for fun!"  Symphony slid back into the water, though I found myself wishing she hadn't.  Her whole mood had changed, and her beautiful features were riddled with worry and pain.  Her bad mood was contagious, my own mouth turning into a frown as I listened.  "I would never drown someone, ever, even if I was completely in love with him and he was perfect and I wanted him to stay with me forever."  Symphony's eyes were darting between Miles and I, imploring us to understand.  "Because humans die underwater.  They cannot breathe."

Miles and I were both quiet for a moment, slightly stunned by the outburst.  "Yes, Symphony,"  I finally said,  "Humans can't breathe underwater.  So, why do some sirens drown humans?"  I hoped the question wouldn't set her off again, and that I might get some information on this species no one had truly discovered before.

Symphony's face fell into an even sadder expression, her forehead creasing, her eyelids drooping, her lips turning into a frown.  "Some of them don't even realize what they are doing.  I have tried to explain what I have learned, but they believe they are singing their love to their lover, and their lover simply wants to join them forever."  As Symphony continued, she slowly became more aggressive and angry.  "However, most of the girls in my pod enjoy it.  Killing humans, that is.  Men have wronged them, all men are terrible human beings, it was too easy... they think up all sorts of excuses, but they simply find pleasure in watching the light leave a man's eye, too enchanted by their song to struggle."  Symphony was glaring and breathing heavily, but I was no longer frightened of her.  She had shown herself to be trustworthy and kind.

I was frightened of her pod.

"Where is your pod right now?"  I asked cautiously, peering around the depths of the water.  "They aren't here, right?"  Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Miles doing the same thing, scanning for vicious sirens near the shore or across the pool.

"They are not here yet."  My gaze shifted back to Symphony's eyes, which were flashing with a warning.  "But they are on their way.  Ships from a different nation nearly caught one of our sisters, so we decided to move west.  We are not supposed to be discovered, and we are not supposed to have human friends."  Symphony closed her round eyes and shrugged, her lips curving up on one side.  "It looks like I am breaking all of the rules today."  She laughed again, all tension from earlier gone from her body.

The tension did not disappear from my head, so I asked the beautiful siren, "Where is your pod now?  Near our land?  Or are they out at sea?"  Realizing that Symphony had once been out at sea and was now in this pool of water, I added, "Wait, how did you get here from the ocean?"

Symphony pointed to the boulder behind her.  "This is an inlet from the ocean.  I just swim around that large rock, and there it is!"  Symphony turned back to Miles and myself, smiling slightly.  

"Oh,"  I said distractedly, looking at the boulder.  I really couldn't see around it, so it wasn't my fault for not knowing, but I felt a little silly.  "Wow."

"Winifred, did you hear that?  I thought I just heard someone yelling for me..."

"Okay Miles, go back then.  I'm going to stay here with Symphony."

I looked over at Miles, and he looked a little upset.  I tried to ignore the guilty feeling in my gut, to little avail.  "I just want to get to know her!  You're the one who wants to go back."

Miles's eyes narrowed.  "I'm the one who has a job to keep."

And with that, he stood up and stalked back toward the castle.

As I watched him push through the brush on the way back to the castle, I felt a knot of guilt begin to grow in my stomach.  Being the princess of Aglon was a surprisingly lonely occupation, and I couldn't help but feel it was because of me.  Not me being a princess, but just... me.  My slightly over the top sarcasm, my outgoing personality, even my accidental selfishness.  It may not seem like it, but I want to have friends too.

I set my jaw.  I would fix Miles's hurt feelings when I found him later, but I would make a new friend first.  

I needed to work on that.  Making new friends.

I turned back to the water, where Symphony was floating and looking innocently perfect. Oh Lord, I thought to myself. She's so damn pretty.

I already knew Symphony was beautiful. She was a siren, enchanting and mystical and magical. But it wasn't only her lilac eyes and glowing blonde hair that made her pretty. It was her laughter and her sweet innocence, her respect for human lives, and even how she earnestly convinced Miles and I that she would not hurt us. She was just a beautiful person overall.

Siren. Not person.

"So," I said, drawing out the vowel for longer than necessary, hoping to disperse the awkwardness,  "Your pod... members? Are they your sisters?"

Symphony swam closer to the dock and used her powerful pink scaled tail to propel herself to the dock like she had before. I scooted back slightly so she could rest on the dock rather than my lap. "Well, we do not call each other 'pod members'. We just call each other sisters. But no, we are not all related, if that is what you are asking." Symphony tilted her head to the right, expecting more questions.

And I had many more to ask, most about sirens as a species and where they came from, how long they had been around, if they had a government system... but I really wanted to know more about Symphony herself.

"Are you... Were you-- Are sirens born sirens, or are they changed into sirens?" I wanted to crumble in on myself at the uncomfortable nature of the question. But the words had already been said, so I watched as Symphony considered the question.

"Well, I was changed." The answer was almost too blunt for me, just tossed out carelessly like a commonly known fact. "I am not sure how a siren would be... born." Symphony furrowed her eyebrows.

"Oh, right." I almost followed the conversation's path into the anatomy of sirens, interested in how that worked since they had once been humans, but Symphony cut me off.

"Do you think Miles is upset with you?" Her light, innocent eyes, coupled with the question, made my breath catch in my lungs. Of course she would notice that kind of thing, considering that she had probably never made anyone upset, ever.

"Uhm..." I sighed. Deciding that telling her the truth would be the best way to be her friend, I resituated myself on the dock, laying on my stomach instead of sitting on my knees. "You know what, he probably is. I'll talk to him later."

Symphony searched my face worriedly, her eyebrows drawn together in concern. "But he is your friend, is he not?"

"Well, I hope so. My other friend just left on a trip for another four days, and it will be pretty lonely without him around." I thought about that. How I only had two friends.

Depressing, right?

But that's not counting Aunt Audrey, and she's my friend too. Maybe Symphony would be my friend. Maybe my mother would calm down a little once I was queen and allow me to go on ambassador trips to new lands. Maybe I would make new friends there.

But Symphony made me think about Miles, and that made me feel guilty, which made me want to go back to the castle and apologize. It wasn't his fault Susan was awful to the servants. I was sure he needed this job, and I suddenly realized that I never asked about his family. He was most likely working to help support them. No wonder I don't have friends, I thought. I don't seem to care enough about the ones I have now.

"You're right, Symphony," I said finally. "I should go apologize to him. But I want to talk to you, okay? I want to be your friend." I paused for a second, before continuing, "I don't really have that many."

Great, now I sounded desperate and slightly depressed. In case you haven't noticed, I am neither of those things. At least, I didn't think I was...

"Do not worry!" Symphony chirped cheerfully, slipping off the dock and back into the water. "I do not have many friends either!"

She grinned up at me from the rippling pool, her joy completely at odds with the statement she had just made, and I simply had to grin back. Stupid siren magic, I thought to myself.

Honestly, I didn't mind a bit of innocent happiness. With my eighteenth birthday coming up just around the corner, I was expected to take over control of the kingdom from my father. Of course, he would be at my shoulder, telling me his opinion and pressuring me into anything and everything he wanted for the kingdom, but it was still a big responsibility. I had been spending as much time outside the castle walls as possible the last few weeks, knowing my free time would be cut short once I was queen. So I accepted Symphony's contagious delight, hoping to free myself from the loneliness I felt and ignore the looming threat of power and control, if only for a moment.

"I'll see you later, Symphony,"  I said, smiling at my friend as I stood up.  "Don't swim too far away."

~~~~~

A/N:  Hey everybody!  I'm so sorry this chapter took so long to get published, but it was a little longer this time and a little more went down... If you enjoyed, please make sure to vote!  I really appreciate feedback as well, so let me know what you thought!

Okie dokie, til next time!  Adios amigos!