Maya yawned as she sat up as she woke in her new room. She tiredly looked around. Pink everywhere. Not her color, but she could change it. She flicked her blanket to the side with her tail. "Geez." She mumbled as she rolled out of her bed. "Seriously? I can't even roll off my bed and faceplant on the floor?" She grumbled, and then her stomach did as well. "Time for food." The red-head swam over to the door. "Food, food, food, food, food..." She muttered as she opened the door.

"Good morning your highness." Two guards that stood outside her room said as she shut the door behind her.

"Um.... Hi?" She swam past the two. She stopped for a second "Uh, where's the dining room or kitchen...?"

"Kitchen is down the hall, down a flight of stairs, take a right, then a left, and then you'll pass two doors, and take another left, then the second door on your right is the kitchen." One of the guards explained.

"Umm..." Maya began "Thank you?" looked to her left, there was a flight of stairs that way. There was no way she was going to remember all that. She swam quietly down the hall. "Down the stairs.... Right then left..." She stopped "Shoot...." She held her hands up "Which way is right." She did the whole thing where you hold up your hands and the left one makes an L. "That way." She swam to the left "Wait a second..." she turned around and swam the other way laughing at herself as she did "I hate having such a bad memory..." she stopped again "Oh crap.... Which way was I supposed to go after I went right?"

"Princess is there something wrong?" A guard asked as she swam up to her

"Um, yeah, I..." She sighed in defeat. "Where's the kitchen?"

"I'll take you." The guard laughed as she gestured for Maya to follow

"So..." Maya began after a few minutes of silence "What's your name?"

"Circe. My brother Anubis and I have been in the royal guard for years."

"Oh, neat."

"And technically we're your cousins I suppose. Your stepmother is our aunt after all."

"Cool, it's nice to know that I have more than just my Mom, I haven't met my stepmom yet though..."

"Queen Iris is excited to meet you, I'm sure." Circe stopped at a large red door "Here's the kitchen, your stepmother is usually awake by now, and is probably in there making breakfast." Maya gave Circe a questioning look "She refuses to let anyone make food for her, not after what happened to Anubis and I's father."

"What-"

"I do not wish to speak about it." Circe calmly breathed "Anyway, have a good day your highness."

Circe swam away, leaving Maya floating in front of the big red door. Questioning what had happened. The redhead sighed and pushed open the door. "Hello?" She called as she swam in

"Yes?" A quiet voice asked from behind the fridge door, followed by a woman with dark red hair poking her head out from behind the door "Oh! Maya! I finally get to meet you!" She said cheerfully
"Who-"

"I'm Iris." She smiled brightly, "You really do have your father's eyes, he was such a sweet guy, always said nice things about my cherry pies." Maya watched as her stepmother swam across the room back to the fridge. "Maybe you'd like to try it sometime?" Maya was about to respond but was interuppted, by her stomach. A loud growl came from her stomach. Iris laughed "You hungry?" Maya nodded "I was just about to make some Bogobe, I'll make you some as well, how's that sound?"

"Bogobe?"

"It's a dish from near where my grandad grew up." The bronze skinned queen happily explained as she closed the fridge "Before he moved from the South Atlantic to the North."

"What is it?" Maya asked "Bogobe I mean."

"Well, while Grandad lived in the sea, he and Great Gran would go visit Botswana quit often, it was a long trip every time, but they loved to visit that place. Anyway, while in Botswana, they'd get their favorite dish, Bogobe. It's a kind of sour porridge, that you can use for any meal, but I like it with eggs and sausage for breakfast." Iris smiled "After going for the tenth time, Grandad found a way to adapt the recipe, so it was easy to make underwater, they no longer had to go to Botswana to eat it."

"But I thought you said they loved going there."

"They did, but..." Iris sighed, "They had to flee the South Atlantic."

"Why?" Maya questioned

"Well aren't you full of questions," Iris laughed "A small kingdom, on the other side of the tip of Africa, in the Indian Ocean, attacked the castle. War broke out. Great Gran didn't want Grandad to have to go to war."
"That's terrible."

"Well, not entirely." Iris smiled softly "If they hadn't had to flee, I would have never grown up here, and never met your mother."

Maya nodded "Yeah."

"Food's ready."

"Cool, let's try this stuff."

Turns out, Maya doesn't like Bogobe... But she ate it anyway because she was hungry. That's a lie, she ate it because she didn't want to be rude. "Iris?" A voice questioned as someone poked their head into the room

"Aph, I met your daughter." Iris smiled as Aphrodite swam in

"That's wonderful."

"And I made you some Bogobe." Iris grinned. Aphrodite, lost her smile. "I'm kidding, freshly baked crossonts are on the bottom shelf in the pantry."

"Thanks Love." Aphrodite beamed as she kissed Iris' cheek. "Jam in the fridge?"

"You used the last of it yesterday on your toast."

"I have a question." Maya began "How is the bread not soggy and gross? We're underwater."

"Magic." Iris smiled as she took her plate to the sink

"No really how?"

Aphrodite laughed "Like she said, magic."

"Wait, really?"

"Mhm," The blue eyed queen held up a dark colored pearl that was tied with string to make a necklace around her neck "This is The Eye of The Sea. It's very powerful, and can do practically anything."

"And you use it to make bread not get soggy."

"Yes." She laughed "You'll get it once you become queen. But there are rules you'll have to follow when you do."

The lights went out. "If you do." A voice darkly said from across the room. "C, now!" Maya's hands lit up with bright white light. "Crap! I forgot she could do that!"

"Circe! Anubis! What is the meaning of this!?" Iris yelled angrily

"This is used to identify a specific person or thing close at hand or being indicated or experienced, it's also used to introduce someone or something as well as it refers to the nearer of two things close to the speaker, and can also be reffering to a specific thing or situatuon that was just mentioned or has just happened." Circe answered

"C, shut up!"

"Sorry 'Bis."

"Why in the world did you just attack my stepdaughter!?" Iris exclaimed

"Uuuuuuuuuh." Anubis began

"Beeeecaaause...." Circe continued

"We... Um.."

"Spit it out already." Iris ordered

"If she hadn't come back Anubis would be first in line." Circe grumbled

"So we figured if she weren't here anymore, I'd be first in line for the throne." Anubis mumbled

"So you tried to kill me?" Maya questioned

"It seemed like a good idea last night." Circe muttered

"Well it was a terrible idea. You're both in big trouble." Aphrodite angrily growled