Author's note: I'm back! And I will update and finish this story shortly! (It's not that long compared to other of my stories...)

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It is a universal truth that dragons covet gold lecherously.

That is their nature.

To apologize was not in a mermaid's nature. They lived as they pleased, refusing to bow down to anyone except their tribe's leader.

One mermaid in particular found it very hard to apologize right about now.

"I-I'm..saw...so...rr...", stammered Mariel Thea to a very-confused Andrew Bevern.

"What was that?", inquired the Dragon Prince's handservant. Ray Harper innocently batted his eyelashes and imitated the phrase with as much precision as possible. "S...s...saw...could it be you're trying to say sorry?

Mariel's handmaiden elbowed her to properly apologize. Using Filipino Sign Language, bubble telepathy could only be used underwater by the mermaids, she gestured 'Sorry'.

Gritting her teeth, Thea muttered a sad "Please forgive me for earlier." Reluctantly, she reached out and snapped her fingers, temporarily stunning the pair as she retrieved the diamond collar. When they recovered, she marched off to somewhere else.

Mariel Thea needed to practice for the cast auditions that her partner was sure to fail.

Carol sighed. "She's just mad right now. I promise she means well and that she knows she was in the wrong...stubbornness runs in her mother's side of the family," she recounted before leaving to catch up with the Filipino typhoon known as the Oceana Mermaid Princess.

"Sire, should I teach those humans a lesson?", muttered Ray Harper, the Dorakono's Prince temperamental manservant.

Lifting his hand, he quizzically looked at her retreating figure and laughed. "No. We have other matters to attend to."

"Like what?", asked the inquisitive manservant.

"For instance, the cast audition...the professor promised extra credit to those actors that nailed their auditions," he cheekily responded.

"You and your extra credit...that will be the death of you one day."

"Why is that, Ray?"

"You try way too hard," teased Ray.

Tousling Ray's long mane, the Prince chuckled.

"Therein lies my strength."

Meanwhile, in the depths of the Pacific Ocean near the Mariana Trench, a Queen eagerly awaited making the Seven Seas her domain. Stepping into a grand bedroom, she approached a solitary figure in the guise of a compassionate, benevolent ruler.

"What is it that you require?", the solitary figure whom others referred to as the Siren Witch asked the Mermaid Queen.

"Can one not visit their eldest sister for no reason at all?", the Mermaid Queen responded.

The eldest sister sighed, still threading the light gossamer fairy fabric with fine strips of aquatic kelp.

She had always been an adequate seamstress, another quality that the present Queen lacked.

"Your visits have increased as of late. Is your purpose here pertaining to the tribe's safety?"

The current Queen clapped in mock surprise. "Why? How thoughtful you are to lend a hand!"

Her sister gestured to the lavish bedroom around her; a welcome reprieve from the world that caused her so much grief. In there, her youngest sister kept her imprisoned in the worst cell of all, her mind.

It was a secret kept only between themselves-that two queens resided in the Oceana tribe.

The eldest relinquished her claim on the throne after falling for an astute young pirate and faking her death. In fact, the same pirate that sacrificed his life to delay any of the sides-Oceana Mermaid or Dorakono Dragon tribes respectively-from acquiring the Pearl's Daughter.

With that key, one could take dominion over all the riches hidden underneath the sea.

Legend spoke of it being hidden originally by the Oceana Tribe. Unfortunately, a tsunami propelled it onto land and the Dorakano Tribe got their greedy little hands on it.

Were there other Mermaid and Dragon Tribes? Certainly.

However, in the whole of the Pacific Ocean, none has as much pull or resources as these two behemoths. With the clean oceans dwindling in number and the vastly human-populated land, both mermaids and dragons found themselves grappling for necessities in a non-magically dominated world.

Rumor had it that the Pearl's Daughter held immense power. While it was in the possession of the Dorakonos, they had surmised that it provided access to all the fortune of the ocean.

How unfortunate that the pirate's sacrifice had only delayed the coming war between these factions.

For a fool looking in, the Queen persuading her sister to help her on border security was another matter entirely. However, guarding themselves against attack was of utmost importance.

Until the Dorakono tribe was wiped out, they must appear weak and defenseless. That is where her sister, the true Mermaid Queen, came in.

Her mastery over coral was unparalleled by the greatest of mermaid clans; no one in history could grow it quite as fast as she did. Over the past few years, she willingly erected coral walls and fortified the Great Barrier Reef to defend against the Dorakono's Water Dragons.

Soon enough, the real Siren Witch would hold the Pearl's Daughter in her hands.

"Sister, I have made progress on the Coral Barrier. The Dorakonos shall have trouble entering...it is perhaps possible that we can finally rid ourselves of the worry that dragons rummage through our waters."

"Tis a pity that your daughter died all those years ago to see it...", started the Siren Witch.

"Yes." Sighing, the Mermaid Queen then perked up upon remembering of her niece.

"How is your daughter faring?"

"Oh, Mariel went to study abroad. You know, seeking independence and all that. However, I am sure she would be glad to see you..."

"I do not wish to see anyone at the moment." The Siren Witch internally smiled then, thinking on how her lovely sister had turned even more into a recluse after her husband's passing.

"Alright. However, I do believe that she would love to finally see her ailing aunt..."

"Let us speak of other pressing matters. How is the kingdom holding up? The Dragons causing any other trouble presently?"

Perfect. She was so predictable, changing the conversation than address familial relations.

She thought, Fool, you have never given up the throne if you knew your progeny was still alive.

The daughter that the current queen aka the Siren Witch reared was in actuality her niece. The aunt was the mother, and vice versa.

Before leaving for college, the freshman had exchanged a heated discourse with her 'mother' over the Dorakonos.

"We will hold a meeting with the Dorakonos."

"Are they not the ones responsible for my father's death?"

"Dear, diplomatic negotiations our only option. We must maintain the peace that we have had for twenty years..."

"That was in return for his sacrifice."

"I know you are hurting, my child." She embraced her 'daughter', saying, "But we are weak now."

"I can make us strong."

The Siren Witch dropped her jaw, admonishing her niece by shushing her. "Cordiality shall be our friend in the future."

"Cordial? I shall give them the same courtesy that they provided him with...", angrily shouted the Mermaid Princess.

Letting her niece seethe with rage, the current Mermaid Queen petted her on the head then.

At first, she thought this charge a hindrance against her plans. Having raised her as a kind mother would, she now figured that this small child might benefit her in the long run. Who knows?

She might slay the Dorakano successor one day.

The Dorakono Tribe Dragon Chief only had one child with his Bavarian Wyvern wife. One would think that a political alliance would not lead to a happy couple, but they were as jovial as the Mermaid Queen and the young pirate at the prospect of having a baby together.

He even inherited his father's genes, and was reported to be a Water Dragon.

Thus, the treasure that the Dragon Chief treasured the most, even above the Pearl's Daughter, was his son, the Dorakono Prince.

To hold the Dragon Prince's heart in her hands and crush it.

Could there be a better wish for a mother like her?

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Character note: The current Mermaid Queen is the real Siren Witch. The former Mermaid Queen is called the Siren Witch, but is the true Mermaid Queen. In this story, the actual Mermaid Queen will go by the name of Siren Witch and vice versa. The eldest sister is actually Princess Mariel Thea's mother, not her aunt. Is that clear? The audience knows this, but not Mariel.