The library was amazing. Large dark wood shelves filled to the brim with shelves on one half. On the other side was a sitting area with windows covering the entire twelve foot wall looking out to a beautiful view of the ocean. While gorgeous it reminded her of all she lost.That's my home out there, I should be swimming there right now, not stuck on a boat! Astra thought desperately. Why do I even miss it so much? I was always treated as an utter nonentity.

Astra's thoughts swirled chaotically. The sense of loss of her tail turned to rage. She thought of things she should never have crossed her mind, then felt shamed for thinking them. Astra curled up on a chair and hugged her new legs. Many emotions came through her then left as quickly as they came. One emotion as quiet as it was remained, a small empty chasm in her heart. It was the loneliness of being the Nameless Princess.  

Astra must have been in that state of emotional turmoil for hours. When Astra finally had the strength to get up from her chair the sky was dark, and unfortunately the sky was cloudy. So Astra didn't even have the comfort of gazing into the night sky. Her stomach was empty too but she was afraid to go into the dining hall.... Astra had heard some horror stories about surface dweller meals.

Astra wandered the halls of the gigantic ship. By human standards it was beautiful, but Astra felt like there was something missing. There were no coral reefs or pearl decorated shell seating. Everything was foreign to Astra and she didn't like the change. Astra wandered around unconsciously until she ran into someone.

"Sorry," Astra said looking up to the tall blonde man in front of her.

"No problem, your name is Astra , right?" he said flashing a very bright smile.

Astra nodded. Looking at him was like staring into the sun. He was very, very... bright. "Yeah, how did you know?"

"I like to make it a point to no the names of all the pretty ladies on my ship," he said.

"Your ship?" Astra asked choosing to ignore the rest of his sentence.

"You don't know? Surprising! I thought everyone knew who this gorgeous face belonged to," he said. "I'm King Zeo the first of Regnum."

Astra straightened her back and fixed her hair, despite being a princess herself, the only royalty Astra had ever met was related to her.

"Have you eaten yet?" The king asked. Astra shook her head no in response. "In that case would you accompany me to the dining hall?" Astra nodded, still to stunned to have any verbal reply. Zeo took Astra's hand and whisked her away to the dining hall.