Bridging the gap

king Olive stared vividly at the stranger in front of him. He wasn't sure if he heard what the young man said clearly. He blinked his eyes over again as he tried to recall what he said.

"Please introduce yourself again, I didn't get you." king Olive said, still doubting him.

"Yes your majesty. I'm prince Amir from whale kingdom." Prince Amir repeated in a low voice and bow his head.

"You are welcome." king Olive mumbled.

He was very scared. He knew he had come for his daughter but why did he changed to a merman to deceive him.

"Thank you your majesty." prince Amir said slowly.

"Please, what do we offer you? We don't mind celebrating your visit." king Olive required. He has to resolve this issue peacefully.

"Nothing your majesty. I'm okay." Prince Amir said in a low voice.

"No problem, may I know the purpose of your visit?" king Olive asked with a weird body movement.

"Your majesty, I came to see you." Prince Amir replied smiling.

"Me? Hope there's no problem?" king Olive asked, feeling scared.

"No, your majesty." Prince Amir replied.

"If I may ask, are you really a merman?" One of the counsel members asked in an awkward manner.

"Excuse me, I don't understand." Prince Amir said.

"You don't understand? You don't have to hide it from us. We know exactly who you are." Another counsel member said in a low voice.

"Who am I?" Prince Amir asked slowly while the counsel members murmur among themselves.

"Stop." king Olive yelled. They became silent and bow their heads.

"I don't want to hear anything from any of you. No one should insult our visitors." king Olive said coldly. They strengthen up and mind their business.

"Prince, you want to see me. I'm here. Tell me what brought you to my kingdom." king Olive said, staring at prince Amir.

"Yes your majesty, I want to marry your daughter." Prince Amir blurted out.

This surprised everyone even the guards were startled.

"My daughter?" king Olive mumbled in a low voice.

"Yes, your majesty." Prince Amir said and curled his lips.

He looked at the king and his counsel members as they were trying to hold their heart from falling out of its position. This made him happy, at least they were scared.

"Why....wh....y...w...why my.....m....y. dau....gh....ter?" king Olive stammered endlessly. His heartbeats can be heard at the slightest moment.

"She's my mate, your majesty." Prince Amir said boldly.

With the king's behaviour, he can tell his daughter is guilty of Mila's death and he had sworn to punish her severely.

"Mate? His mate?" The counsel members murmured among themselves.

"What do you mean?" king Olive asked as he tried to regain his balance. He can't grant that wish, not even in his dream.

"Destiny chose her for me, your majesty." Prince Amir said and smiled.

"Destiny chose her?" One of the counsel members mumbled slowly.

"What do you mean?" king Olive asked, sarcastically.

"Your majesty, the seer told me that your daughter is my mate. She was chosen for me by my grandfather." Prince Amir said slowly.

"Really?" king Olive asked and sigh heavily.

"Where are you from?" king Olive asked again. This made prince Amir furious but he tried to conceal it.

"Whale kingdom, your majesty." Prince Amir answered slowly. He won't answer this question again.

"Oh I see!" king Olive murmured.

"You want to marry my daughter?" king Olive asked sarcastically. This made prince Amir smile though it wasn't obvious.

"Yes, your majesty." Prince Amir answered slowly.

"But why my daughter? Is there no girl in your kingdom?" king Olive asked, trembling.

"She was chosen your majesty." Prince Amir answered in a low voice. He was tired of all these endless questions.

"Chosen? Chosen by your grandfather? Why will he chose her? Didn't he see other girls?" One of the counsel members asked vividly.

"I wonder where he was looking then, I'm very sure he must have been blind or something?" Another member murmured but prince Amir heard him.

"How dare him? How dare him say that about my grandfather? He's lucky I'm in a good mood now, he wouldn't have still stand there." Prince Amir thought.

"Your majesty, what do you have to say about this? You can't be silent like this." Another member said in a low voice.

"My daughter can't marry you. She can't even live with you as a mate." king Olive said slowly.

"If I may ask your majesty, why do you say so?" Prince Amir inquired, staring at the king.

"How dare you question the king?" Another member asked furiously.

"Your king has been questioning me. I didn't complain about it. Why are you making a fuss about that simple question?" Prince Amir asked rudely.

The counsels looked at him shocked even the king was surprised.

"Is that how to speak to elders?" Another member shouted rudely.

"Is that how to address a youth?" Prince Amir shouted in return which made everyone puzzled.

"I endured all the nonsense you have been saying but it seems you don't have brains to notice that." Prince Amir blurted out.

"You have the guts to insult us." king Olive said slowly.

"Your majesty, I am here for your daughter. Where is she?" Prince Amir asked coldly.

"So mannerless. You want my daughter after insulting me?" king Olive asked angrily.

"Your majesty, I'm still respecting you because of her." Prince Amir said rudely.

"You are not just mannerless but also useless." Another member said angrily.

"Don't say that again. You might not live after it." Prince Amir warned.

"What nonsense?" king Olive shouted.

"Your majesty, may I see your daughter? I have some questions for her." Prince Amir said in a low voice.

"Thank goodness, she went to the human world. He should keep asking after her." A counsel member murmured but prince Amir heard him. This caused some stir in his body.

"Human world? You sent her away?" Prince Amir asked and turned to the king. Everybody was puzzled. They never thought he heard that.

"How can you send her away?" He yelled. The king looked at his counsels shocked.

"Who made that statement?" king Olive shouted angrily.

"Sorry your majesty." All the counsel members chorused.

"Who said it is not important?" Prince Amir shouted as they stared at him.

"Why would you do that? You know she committed a crime." He shouted again.

"Cr...c....crime." A member stammered endlessly.

"Yes, crime." Prince Amir shouted again. All members were scared, they exchanged glances before turning to the king.

"My daughter did nothing wrong, I sent her to that world so she would bring her sister back." king Olive said boldly.

"Really?" Prince Amir asked angrily.

"You are talking as if you are qualified to be her husband in the first place." A counsel member blurted out.

"She isn't even qualified to be my personal guard's wife or even my maid." Prince Amir retaliated.

"We are saying the same thing. We won't let her marry you at all." A counsel member said and others nod their head in agreement.

Prince Amir looked at them slowly and he noticed they were saying something different from his. His understanding of that statement is different from theirs.

"What do you mean?" Prince Amir asked in a low voice.

"You don't understand, yet you agree with it." A counsel member said. This made the others laughed.

"This is the problem with children. They are always jumping into conclusions without thinking about what they heard." Another counsel member said and smiled.

"Stop abusing your mouths, I will cut it off." Prince Amir threatened.

"You can do whatever you want. We won't take it to heart. It's the behaviour of monsters." Another counsel member murmured slowly and others began murmuring too.

"Stop.....it" Prince Amir shouted and everywhere started vibrating. The members became more scared.

"What do you mean by that? Who do you call a monster?" Prince Amir shouted again. This amused the counsel members and some of them laughed.

"Is that why you are shouting? Do you want to fall our kingdom before leaving? Haa! Look at this lad." A counsel member said.

king Olive looked at them worried. He knew his daughter had committed a crime but he won't allow this monster take her away like that. Her disobedience had finally brought doom to the kingdom.

"Are you denying your identity?" king Olive asked in a low voice while the prince looked around shocked.

Does he look like a monster to them or was it their eyes deceiving them.

"I am not a monster." prince Amir defended. He won't spare them this time.

"What do you mean? I thought you are from Whale kingdom." king Olive said and his counsel members agreed with him.

"Yes, I am from Whale kingdom but...

"We have been saying the same thing, you just don't understand yourself." A counsel member said and others laughed.

Prince Amir became shocked, so this means he has been talking like a fool without thinking. He recalled what his mother said, this hurt him more.

"Make sure you listened carefully. Don't rush into conclusions and don't judge anyone. Let them do most of the talking. Just calm yourself and listen. Only then will you understand them." Queen Zoey said to him when he was busy packing some ornaments.

Somehow she was right but he never noticed till now.

"My daughter told me she killed a pine in your kingdom." king Olive said, staring at him. Everyone turned their attention to the king.

"She wanted to collect a multi coloured shell at the bottom of it but she couldn't get it so she had to kill the pine. That shell is very powerful. It took her sister to a strange world, I know you would come for revenge. Monsters are always verging for revenge anyway so I sent her to bring her sister back." king Olive explained.

This made prince Amir more angry, 'who is a monster' kept ringing in his mind.

"Please forgive her, it was a mistake." He pleaded in a low voice.

"I should forgive her, you think that's just a pine." Prince Amir said angrily.

"She told me it's a pine." king Olive said slowly while the prince smiled in pain.

"That pine was my mate, your daughter ruined me by killing her. And destiny decided to chose your daughter to fill the hole she dug." Prince Amir said sadly.

Everybody could see his pain clearly, king Olive couldn't say anything, for his heart was grieving. It's really painful to have a wrenched daughter.

"And let me make something clear, I am not a monster. No one in my kingdom is a monster." Prince Amir said and this made everyone noisy as they were debating if it was true or false.

"I know you doubt me." He added. This draw the attention of everybody.

"But it's the truth. My father protected the creatures and our treasures from intruders by creating those demons. He don't want what happened years back to repeat itself. I'm sure you are aware of it." He explained slowly.

Nobody could say something as they were all battling with their emotions. The princess indeed did something very wrong though it was a mistake. King Olive looked at him pitifully, he don't even know what to say or how to save his daughter.

"On behalf of my family and I, I want to say sorry. I am very sorry for everything including my daughter's sin." king Olive apologized.

"Your daughter is now my bestowed mate, I will go look for her and make sure I bring her back." Prince Amir said slowly.

"Please don't hurt her." king Olive said as tears dropped from his eyes.

"She will still be punished for her crimes, but I won't spare her either." Prince Amir said in a low voice.

"You won't let me marry her easily so I will make sure she returned with a child, but in case she didn't return. Just know she's dead. I will kill her at the slightest mistake or if she even tried to reject me." Prince Amir threatened.

Everyone looked at him shocked especially king Olive, he don't want to lose any of his daughters. Celine might be useless and stupid but she's still his daughter.

"Please son, temper justice with mercy." king Olive pleaded.

"I will leave now, I need to prepare for my journey. We will see when she returns." Prince Amir said and bow his head with due respect.

"Please don't kill her." king Olive said as more tears runs out of his eyes.

Prince Amir could feel the pain in his voice. Looking at him, he felt more pain. He wasn't sure if he would hurt her that bad but he won't leave her either. Bowing his head again, he exit the royal chamber. His guards swim behind him. He shouldn't waste time. He must find her immediately.

king Olive cried bitterly as he watched the prince leaving his chamber. He wished he could do something to save his daughter but he can't do anything. He can't even send anyone there to inform her about it.

But at least he has Dior. She's his proud daughter and the future queen of the kingdom. He shouldn't bother much about Celine, he just prayed Dior returns soon.