"After all this time, I can't believe I'm seeing you again," Naomi said. 

"I thought they killed you....the people that took you away," Gerrard replied.

"He was the boy you had run after?" Trent asked Naomi disbelievingly. 

"You know about me?" Gerrard asked back. 

"I didn't know you would turn out to be a Magii," Naomi said, ignoring the two questions.

"I didn't know you would be either. Hell, I didn't even know if you were alive or not. I beat myself up for years after I found out you were kidnapped," Gerrard said.

"I wasn't kidnapped. The king found me," she replied.

"Your father-in-law?" I asked. "What was he doing in Europe?" 

"The king used to travel abroad in search of water masters to bring them here to Atlantis. This was back when he had more time on his hands. My parents were both prominent water masters that worked for the Trinity Government. They died fighting the last Trinity war and I was put in an orphanage. The king found out about my parents' deaths and that they had a child and went in search for me. But when he had gotten to the orphanage, I had aleady escaped, running after Gerrard. He found me before I could catch up to Gerrard and then he brought me here," Naomi told us.

"So you weren't kidnapped? You weren't hurt?" Gerrard asked.

"No. The opposite. The king brought me here to Atlantis and gave me to a couple that couldn't conceive. They raised me and then when I was 18, I was engaged to Trent," Naomi said, looking up fondly at her husband. "I always wondered what had become of you," she told Gerrard.

"I was adopted in a sense, too," Gerrard said, referring to Elijah. He glanced at Trent, who was growing more and more impatient. "But I'll tell you about that later," he said.

"That sounds like a good idea. We have a lot of work to do," Trent said. Gerrard nodded and Trent turned to me.

"So how are we doing this?" I asked. "Am I just going to show you the spells I know? Or are we going to do a mock battle?"

"I don't think you're ready for a mock battle just yet. Especially not against me. I think for now, you should show me the spells you know. There is a water supply over there if you need it for energy," he said.

"Is the audience necessary?" I asked, indicating Zayll and Gerrard, who were still standing around.

"If you're uncomfortable, just ask them to leave," Trent told me. I shrugged.

"Bye!" I told them.

"Seriously? I've watched you practice a million times!" Gerrard argued.

"So? This is different. I can't concentrate with so many people watching me," I said. 

"We're wasting time," Trent said as Gerrard opened his mouth to argue back. 

"Let's go," Zayll said, turning around and walking towards the exit of the training grounds. Gerrard gave me a fleeting look before reluctantly turning around and following him. This left me alone with Trent and Naomi.

"Ok, now that we're alone, shall we begin?" Trent asked. I nodded. I moved a bit away from him and Naomi and cleared my mind.

"Just show us the spells you know!" Naomi called out to me. I nodded, closing my eyes to think of the water spells I knew. There were only a handful, so they were easy to remember. But it had been a while since I had used my own elemental magic. In the nations I had visited, I mostly practiced mastering the other elements. I didn't focus on my own element. But now, that was all I had to focus on.

I took a deep breath, held out my hand with my palm up, and whispered the first spell I knew.

"Aqua spheris," I said. Almost immediately, an invisible ball of energy formed in my hand with clear blue water swirling around it. Trent nodded. I tossed the ball into the air and whispered, "Amplifico," and it grew bigger. With a jerk of my hand, I sent the ball flying towards the outer wall where it hit with a splash and then a sizzle of electricity as the energy dissipitated through the water. 

"Good. That's good. What else do you know?" Trent called out. 

"Aqua spheris," I muttered again, forming yet another water energy ball. I tossed it in the air and said, "Glacio!" and it turned to ice, which I yet again hurled at the wall. I formed another energy ball and split it into smaller ones, transforming them into ice and then daggering the wall. 

"Do all of the spells you know begin with an energy ball?" Trent asked after I formed yet another one in my hand.

"Pretty much," I replied sheepishly.

"Then you can stop now. I've seen enough," Trent said, coming up to me with his wife right beside him. "It looks like we have a lot of work to do," he said to Naomi.

"I told you I didn't know much," I said. 

"I didn't realize that you knew so little, though," he replied. "Have you not worked on your element at all?" he asked. I shook my head.

"I was busy trying to master the others," I said. He sighed, sounding a little frustrated.

"Well, we have a lot to get done over the next few weeks. You're going to have work really hard," he told me. I nodded.

"I'm prepared to work as hard as you need me to," I said.

"Good. That's what I like to hear," he said. "Do you have any comments?" he asked Naomi. She nodded.

"Your form needs a lot of work. You are very stiff when you perform magic. Not only will that tire your muscles in strenuous battle, but it also hinders your ability to perform more advanced magic. So we will need to work on that in addition to your spell-casting," she said. "Also, do you know how to perform magic without saying the words?" she asked.

"I do, but it's harder," I replied.

"We'll need to work on that with you, too," she said. "We need you to be a strong witch, Caley. I can sense that you have the capacity, now we just need to work on your ability." 

I sighed and nodded. It was going to be difficult, yes. But I was a born water master. It was about time that I learned how to master my own element.

                                                  ~**~**~**~**~**~**~

"Stand up straight," Sabrina instructed from her seat on the couch. Groaning, I pulled my shoulders back and stuck my chest out a little more. "Not like that. You look stiff. You have to look natural," she said, standing up and coming towards me.

After I had finished my training session with Trent and Naomi, I ate lunch with Gerrard, Anoki and Zayll and then met up with Sabrina to work on my speech. We had been at it for an hour and we still hadn't even talked about the speech yet. Sabrina was entirely concerned with my appearance and I was growing more and more aggravated.

"Well, naturally I don't stand straight so..." I remarked. She gave me a flat look and then put her hands behind my back. She eased one of my shoulders down and pinched the back of my neck, making me cry out.

"Ow! What was that for?" I asked.

"Feel that tension? That shouldn't be there. That's why it looks forced," Sabrina said. "Posture is a huge part of giving a powerful speech, Caley. If you look confident, your words will carry all the more meaning to them. If you look too relaxed, then no one will take you seriously," she lectured. I huffed out a breath and frowned.

"They won't even be able to see me. I'll be all the way up on the balcony," I pointed out.

"There will be cameras on you that will project your image onto screens in the plaza area. No excuses," Sabrina said. I wrinkled my nose, unhappy with this news. "Also, you need to watch your facial expressions. You may not realize it, but it is very obvious when you look annoyed. You roll your eyes and you have an overall bored expression. When people come to meet you, you have to be lively and friendly. You don't want them to think you don't care."

"How am I supposed to monitor my face every second if I can't even see it?!" I exclaimed.

"Self-control, Caley. When you're giving your speech, alter your facial expressions so that you back up what you are saying. Be passionate and show passion. You are trying to convince these people that you are the Chosen One and that you will save them," she said. 

"But what if I can't?!" I cried, throwing my hands up and covering my face. 

"Maybe right now you can't, Caley, but this is your destiny. So you must," she said.

"This is a lot of pressure. I don't think I can stand up there and lie to all those people," I said. 

"Why would you be lying?" she asked, tilting her head to the side.

"Because I haven't found the countercurse yet. I haven't even begun to think about it yet!" I said. 

Sabrina rubbed her knuckles on her forehead, clearly growing as frustrated with me.

"Caley, listen to me. Even if you haven't found the countercurse yet, even if you haven't started thinking about it, it doesn't matter. You are the Chosen One. All they know is that you are meant to break the curse. They don't care about the details on how you will do that. They just want reassurance that you will. And if it is in your destiny that you will break it, then you will, even if you haven't yet. Sometimes, a good leader needs to lie a little bit. If the great leaders of the world told their people everything they were doing all the time, they would have never gone down in history as great leaders," she told me. 

"I just don't want to let them down," I said, my voice quiet.

"If you care about the people like I know you do, then you won't," Sabrina replied. I looked up, meeting her blue eyes with my own.

She was right, of course. I did care about the people of Atlantis. Yes, I didn't know any of them personally just yet, but I did know the royal family. And if their kindness was any indication of how the rest of the nation was, then I knew that I cared about these people. But aside from the personal aspect, I knew I cared about them because they were my people. These were the first water masters besides my father and Elijah that I had run into ever since I found out about magic. These people were a part of my race, my magical ethnicity. It was in my hands to save them. The least I could do was reassure them of that.

"Ok," I said with a nod, "I can do this."

"Good," Sabrina smiled, "then let's practice what you're going to say."

                                                           ~**~**~**~**~**~**~

I ran my hands over my dress as I looked at myself in the long, vertical mirror. Valencia and her girls had really outdone themselves this time. The dress I wore was the same light blue as the water that surrounded Atlantis. It was made of a a silky satin and rippled like water. My hair fell down my back in soft curls and around the circumference of my head sat a delicate silver headpiece. On my sternum sat the water stone necklace that Trey had bought me so long ago. I brought my hand up to it, curling my fingers around the stone and feeling a sense of calm restore itself within me.

"God, I wish you were here, Trey," I breathed to myself.

I heard a knock at my door which was shortly followed by a voice.

"You look stunning."

I turned to see Sabrina standing in the doorway to my room. She had a soft smile on her lips as she came forward, holding her arms out and enveloping me into a strong embrace.

"I feel like there are a thousand butterflies fluttering in my stomach right now," I said to her as she pulled away. She laughed.

"It's just nerves. Perfectly normal," she said. "Just remember everything I told you and you will be fine, I am sure of it. But mostly, find that passion and bring it out," she told me. I nodded stiffly, the nervous feeling in my stomach intensifying tenfold.

"How many people are out there?" I asked.

"You'll find out," she replied with a wink. "Mother and father are waiting for you upstairs. They will go out and introduce you. And then you will make your speech," she explained. I nodded. She squeezed my hand. "I have complete faith in you," she said.

"That makes one of us," I blurted out. She chuckled and hugged me again. 

"Zayll is waiting outside. He will escort you upstairs," she said, moving towards the door. Before she exited the room, she turned around and beamed at me. "Best of luck!" she said. And then she was out the door only to be replaced momentarily with Zayll.

He looked handsome in a dark navy suit and light grey shirt with his hair swept out of his face messily. He smiled when he saw me, striding towards me and taking my hand in his. He brought my hand to his lips and kissed it, causing a flush of red to spread over my cheeks.

"You look beautiful. As usual," he said.

"You need to stop flirting with me," I told him pointedly. He laughed.

"I cannot help it. You make it impossible not to do so," he said. I rolled my eyes at him and shook my head. "Are you nervous?" he asked.

"You know those nests of monarch butterflies? How they just cling onto their nesting trees before taking off for migration?" I asked Zayll. He raised an eyebrow. "Well imagine that. Except at the moment of migration; when they all take off. That's what's happening in my stomach right now," I said. He chuckled.

"You have a funny way of saying things, Caley," he said. 

"I'm not joking. I might throw up on everyone out there," I said.

"A first impression to be remembered," he said, a glint in his eye as he hinted at the first impression I had made on him.

"Right," I mumbled, tugging at the dumbbell shaped sleeves. "The point is, I'm extemely nervous," I said.

"That's a good thing. I would be concerned if you weren't," he replied. I bit my lip, feeling perplexed. He noted this and brought his hands up to my shoulders. "Look, you have nothing to worry about. Sabrina said that she thinks you are ready and if she thinks you are, then it must be true. And I will be right behind you the whole time. You have nothing to be afraid of," he told me. When this didn't convince me, he sighed, letting his hands drop to his sides. "Caley, you have a spark in you; a passion. When you feel strongly about something, you speak your mind. You are an independent figure of strength. All you have to do now is tell the people what you're passionate about and why and how it relates to them," he said. I dropped my gaze to the ground, tears forming in my eyes.

"Do you really think I'm that strong?" I asked in a quiet voice. He put his hand on my chin and tilted my face up so I was looking at him.

"Caley Lucia, I am honored to be one of your followers," he replied. My eyes welled up and he smiled at me. I returned it and then without thinking, I threw my arms around him. He was caught off-guard at first, but then responded by wrapping his arms around me, too. "You are going to be great out there," he whispered. I dug my face deeper into his neck.

"I hope so," I whispered back, Trey's face swimming in my mind's eye.

About twenty minutes later, Zayll and I entered the wide room that was situated at the tip of the gaping domed arch of the central palace. At the far end of the room, there was a set of long double doors that led out to an elongated balcony where the king and queen addressed their citizens. Inside the room waiting for me was the entire extended royal family. I didn't have time to be introduced to everyone, but when I walked in, all the children looked up at me doe-eyed. 

Isla came up to me and hugged me tightly.

"You look amazing," she told me, beaming at me.

"Thank you," I replied, a little breathless. Even through the closed balcony doors, I could hear the sounds of the crowd outside. I still couldn't see how many people were out there, but I feared that all 100,000 citizens had shown up for my speech. I felt my pulse rate quicken, but then felt someone brush my arm. I looked over to see Gerrard standing next to me. He looked down at me with a small smile, taking my hand and squeezing it. Almost immediately, I felt my nerves settle.

King Caspian and Queen Cordelia both came up to me, dressed in their regal attire. Cordelia pulled me into a motherly embrace and King Caspian simply smiled at me. 

"Are you ready to do this?" Caspian asked me.

"I'm as ready as I'll ever be," I replied.

"That's better than nothing," Caspian said jokingly. I tried to smile, but it turned into a grimace instead.

"We will introduce you first and then Zayll and Isla will bring you out onto the balcony. You will address the people then," Cordelia explained to me. I nodded stiffly, my heart thumping loudly in my chest. "You are going to be amazing," she added in a whisper of reassurance, bringing her hand up to my cheek. I smiled weakly.

"Let us begin. The people have been gathering in the plaza since the afternoon. Let us not keep them waiting any longer," Caspian said. Cordelia nodded and followed her husband to the double doors. Someone on the balcony--probably a duke or a government official--turned and received a nod from King Caspian. He turned back towards the crowd and said something. Then, the doors opened and sounds from the crowd increased tenfold. My eyes widened as fear enveloped my senses. 

The king and queen both stepped out onto the balcony and two guards shut the doors behind them. Almost immediately, the crowd quieted to listen to what the king and queen had to say. I felt myself holding my breath in anticipation.

Any time now.

I clutched onto the necklace Trey had given me, but even its soothing powers could not comfort me. My heart was beating loudly in my chest, so loud that I could hear its drumming in my ears as blood pulsed through my veins. All I could hear was the sound of my own heart. I had no idea what the king and queen were saying. White spots appeared in front of my eyes and I felt dizzy. Perspiration gathered along my hairline and upper lip. I was having a panic attack.

"Caley," I felt Gerrard whisper in my ear. I looked up at him, swallowing. He faced me, his face calm and collected. "It's going to be fine. Just pretend that you're talking to me. Don't think about how many people are out there. Don't think about the pressure. Just pretend that you're having a conversation with me about why you want to find the countercurse. And everything will be fine," Gerrard told me quietly. 

"I think I'm going to vomit," I said. He let out a breathy chuckle and then stepped forward, pressing his lips to my forehead. I closed my eyes at the intimate touch. His lips lingered on my skin for a moment, his hands wrapped around my wrists. When he felt my pulse rate drop, he pulled away. I opened my eyes and looked up at him.

"Take a breath," he instructed.

I did.

"Relax your shoulders," he said.

I did. 

"Smile," he told me.

I frowned. He quirked an eyebrow. I forced a smile on my face.

"Dear Merlin. If you smile like that, the people will you're the enemy," Gerrard joked. I laughed and just like that, my nerves disappeared.

"Thanks," I told him.

"Thank me when you come back," he replied, nodding at the balcony doors, which were now opening. "Remember: pretend you're talking to me," he said. I nodded and Zayll and Isla came to either side of me.

"It's time," Zayll whispered in my ear.

I fixed my gaze on the stone ledge of the balcony where the King and Queen were waiting for me expectantly. I set my jaw and squared my shoulders, remembering the stance that Sabrina had told me to take. I tried to channel my inner Sabrina, took a deep breath and then started walking foward. As I drew closer to the balcony, the sounds of people cheering intensified.

"People of Atlantis, it is my great honor to present to you, Caley Lucia, the Chosen One!" King Caspian exclaimed, his voice magically magnified so that it echoed throughout the land. After this exclamation, the crowd went wild. Literally. A roar of sounds and cheers dissipitated through the atmosphere, reaching towards me and beckoning me forward. With Isla and Zayll at my side, I walked onto the balcony to stand next to the king and queen. They both smiled at me supportingly before leaving my side to stand behind me. Without their presence next to me, I was left at the center of attention.

I had been right. It looked like nearly the entire nation had come out to see and listen to me. About a hundred feet below me was a sea of faces looking up at me, cheering me on, shouting my name. I felt like a celebrity that didn't deserve all the praise. As the seconds ticked by, the crowd quieted. And as the volume of the crowd lessened, my nerves resurfaced and intensified. 

After a moment, the crowd was quiet, staring up at me expectantly. My heart was beating in my ears again and my breathing became unsteady. But I remembered Gerrard's words and the words of everyone who was supporting me. I glanced down at my hands and saw my engagement ring. I saw my mother's bracelet. I saw the dove part of the Trinity crest peeping out from under my sleeves.

This is what I was fighting for: peace and love. Now all I had to do was convince the crowd that I could do it.

With this in mind, I pulled on a smile. My face reflected back at me from several hovering screens that were set up around the plaza. The crowd was quiet and waiting. It was my turn now.

"Someone once told me that a leader is only as great as the nation that he leads. And if the fantastic leadership of King Caspian and Queen Cordelia is what we are looking at, then I would say that this nation is quite magnificent," I began. The crowd erupted in cheers. I could feel Sabrina's eyes on me.

"Capture the people's hearts," she had instructed in my lessons the past two days. That is how I chose to begin.

"I would like to thank the king and queen and the entire royal family for being so incredibly kind and hospitable to me for these past few days. Ever since I learned of magic, I had been searching for a place where I truly belonged and finding Altantis has made me realize that this is that place. So thank you for accepting me. I truly am grateful for everything you have done for me," I said. 

"Now I am aware that the vast majority, if not all, of you know the prophecy of the Chosen One. I am also aware that you have been waiting a long while for the Chosen One to come your way. And now you have me standing before you--a young girl of only 21 who is not so well-learned in magic--claiming that she is that long-awaited Chosen One. And I am going to be honest with you right now. I didn't believe that I was the Chosen One. In fact, it wasn't until very recently that I came to terms with the fact that that was who I was," I paused, letting the crowd accept my honesty.

"I was in denial for a long time. How could I be the one to break the curse? I don't know anything. I'm not the most powerful witch. I'm not the smartest witch, either. I am emotional and spontaneous and extremely ill-tempered. I act on impulse, I make stupid decisions, and I have a tendency to see things only in black and white. But when I found out that I was indeed the Chosen One, I changed my perspective. Yes, I am still emotional. Yes, I am still impulsive. Yes, I am not powerful. I am still ill-tempered. But what does that have to do with me being the Chosen One?"

"Those qualities are just what make me human; they are what make me a person, make me a unique individual. They are who I am. But what makes me the Chosen One are not those qualities. What makes me the Chosen One is only a single thing: the fact that I want to be in love and that I want to see peace," I said. 

I paused. There was a hush as my words resonated around the room. I had gone completely off-script. I had prepared a nice long speech about how I was the Chosen One and how I was going to save all these people and blah, blah, blah.

But that speech wasn't honest. If I was going to convince these people that I was the leader that they had been waiting so long for, they were going to have to accept me for me, including all of my dysfunctions and flaws. I wanted them to know that I wasn't the ideal leader, but that I was the One they were looking for because I wanted the same things that they did: peace and love.

"Three years ago, I fell in love with a young man who I am now engaged to. We had this connection that I realized later was due to the curse. The longer I was with him, the more I knew that I could not ever live without him. When you love someone so much, it hurts, but in a good way. But when you find out that something could threaten that love, you fight for it. You struggle. You try to defeat all odds. A forbidden marriage. Distance. Disease. Whatever it is, you fight," I said.

"We all have a curse. As water masters, we are all cursed to never be happily in love. We experience true love and then the worse thing happens: we get it taken away in some way. We fight, but it does no good. We struggle, but the inevitable happens. And I know that you are tired. You are tired of fighting, of struggling for something that should be a basic human right."

"My mother loved my father. She was not a water master, but she loved him dearly. She knew about the curse and she fought to break it. But it wasn't her job to do. And because my father was a water master, their love was destined to fail. My mother died trying to break the curse. She gave her life for my father, but it didn't work. She failed."

"Breaking this curse means a lot more to me than just doing it for love. I owe it to my mother to succeed where she could not. I owe it to the one I fell in love with to save any future we have together. And now, I owe it to all of you--the people of Atlantis, the water masters, the past, present and future lovers--I owe it to you to break this curse. I promise you this: that I will find the fault in my mother's method and the problems in all other attempts in finding the countercurse and I will break this curse so that you may all love again," I paused because after these words, the crowd erupted in tears. Behind me, I heard someone sniffling, most likely Queen Cordelia. But I wasn't finished yet. When the crowd settled, I kept going.

"Before I finish, I wanted to address the other thing that I am fighting for: peace. I think this is what sets me apart from all others who have claimed to be the Chosen One. I am not only fighting to break this curse for the water masters, but I am fighting to break this curse for all Magia," I said. "Over the past year, I have traveled to many different elemental nations. I learned their ways, their philosophy, their magic. I participated in their rituals and their ceremonies. I observed and listened. And the more I listened, the more frustrated I got."

"Let me give you some perspective. In fact, let me give you a perspective that I doubt anyone has ever taken before. Once upon a time, the Magia were a single nation united under the banner of magical ability. We were strong and lived in peace for many years under the Original witch. But then the curse created problems. Not only did it create problems for the water masters, but it also created problems for the relationships they made. I'm not talking about love now. I am talking about peace. The water masters were doomed to never be in love. This weakened them and gave the other elemental Magia a chance to control them. What happened next? The water masters split, torn away from the whole because of their curse and the atrocities it brought on them. And then slowly, every other element split, too. And what did this do? This created a divided magical community. The fire masters are scattered in nations of their own. The earth masters, the air masters. And there is just one water nation. Atlantis."

"We are all separated. The only magical community that I have seen that is integrated is the one I come from. But that community has its own problems. Why can't we integrate? How have we let this curse weaken not only our love for our significant others but also for our Magia brothers and sisters?" I asked.

I was completely off-script now. Everyone told me to dig deep and find what I was passionate about. I was passionate about bringing together all of the nations that I had been to. I knew that there was strength in numbers and the magical world was falling apart. We needed a united front to end the evil that Elijah and his dark interpretations were wreaking in the magical world. We needed to come together and bring magic back to its respected roots. And that's what I felt my bigger purpose was.

Two fishes swam in a stormy ocean.

That stormy ocean was the tattered remains of the magical world. And if I was the Chosen One, then I was meant to restore peace to that ocean.

I glanced down at the dove tattooed onto my wrist. 

Let the dove on this bracelet serve as a reminder of what you are fighting for.

My mother had pushed me in the right direction and Gerrard had brought my attention to it. I was the dove in this. I was the one that would bring peace not only to the water masters, but to the magical world. I was the Chosen One, not only to break the curse, but to restore the peace.

"I am fighting for you, I promise you that," I continued. "But I am also fighting for peace. I cannot do this alone, though. I need your help. If you put your faith in me and give me your strength and your numbers and your willingness to help me fight for this, then I promise you that I will not fail. I promise you that I will restore the Magia world to its former glory and that the water masters will once more be a powerful force in that world," I said, my voice growing stronger with each word. 

The crowd was stunned into silence. Even behind me, I couldn't hear the breathing of the royal family.

"I promise you that," I finished. 

And the crowd erupted in cheers and shouts.

_____________________________________________________

A/N: Long chapter. Took me a damn long time to write it, too. 

There was Caley's speech. What did you all think of it? 

Can anyone guess how Caley's going to break the elemental curse, restore peace, AND find a way to get rid of the blood oath curse?

Don't forget to vote! And check out the song I posted. It's called Age of Aquarius by Digital Daggers. If this book was a movie, I imagine that song to be playing while Caley is giving her speech.

Until next time...

XOXO