Normally the Summer Palace in the Magnolia Nation had been the place where Gray had been must happy. It was a beautiful fairytale seacoast estate on a hill jutting down into the ocean, where the sun shone most bright and you could look out over the sea or the town or pretty much the whole nation. The walls of the palace echoed with laughter from the joyful memories of his childhood and there were pictures of him and his parents merrily spending the summer together in almost every room. Being here made him feel like a boy again, and at times he could almost feel the presence of his mother and father.

But this time he was not so happy to be here. Instead of walking on the shore or getting ready to go out sailing like her normally did, he was just sitting forlornly atop a wall, staring at the horizon with a hopeless expression.

"It just pains me to see him withering away like this." Ur said as she and Lahar watched the prince from a distance.

"I know." Lahar said. "I thought being back here again would help. But he's still pining away for some maiden who does not exist."

"So you say." Ur said.

"Oh come now Ur, you don't really believe some girl just swims around, rescuing people, and then flitting off into oblivion?"

"I believe that there's no way Gray could have survived that shipwreck on his own. Someone had to have saved him. Personally, I think it was an angel."

"Oh so he's in love with an angel then?" He said sarcastically. "That's an interesting choice for a queen."

"You know what your problem is? You can't believe in anything that science and logic can't explain."

"That's because things unexplained by logic and science, do not exist."

"Oh? Can science explain how whales sing?"

"Yes. Of course. Whales have are complex structure that join onto special sacs that line its throat."

"But can science explain what they're singing about?"

"Singing about? Ur it's a whale. Whales don't have feelings like people do."

"How do you know? You've never been a whale, you don't know how they feel or think."

"Ur this is a ridiculous conversation. What do whales have to do with Gray?"

"I'm trying to tell you that there are things in this world that logic and science and all your book smarts, can't explain. Like a young man's heart for instance. No matter how many books you read or how many tests you run, you can't figure out what goes on in the heart of another man. You can't figure out how love works through means of science. It's just something you have to learn through faith and feeling."

"I hear what you're trying to say. But I just can't believe in things like a mystery woman from the sea. Now I think it was just a hallucination or something. And I'm certain that once he spends the summer with the Princess of Lazan City, he'll forget all about this non-existent maiden."

"You can't make Gray fall in love Lahar. You can't make him do anything he doesn't want to do. I've been trying to do that for years."

"He just needs to meet and get to know a real girl. To know what real love is instead of a fantasy. You have to admit, this obsession he has with a dream girl is not healthy."

"You're right. But we must be patient with him, give him time."

"I've given him plenty of time."

"True love cannot be rushed. Don't worry, it'll happen when it's the right time. You'll see. He'll probably meet the love of his life when you least expect it."

...

It was awfully funny that Ur had said that, because it was on this morning that Juvia washed ashore by the palace with her friends. The poor girl was soaked, bedraggled, and laid about as if she were dead. She had been unconscious for a very long time, so long that Panther Lily began to fear that they had not gotten her to air quick enough.

But when the bright sunlight shone down upon her, she started to stir. Juvia sat up woozily, her mind slowly recovering thoughts and memories of what had happened before she blacked out. Then she looked down and became aware that her fish's tail was gone, and that she had as pretty a pair of white legs and tiny feet as any little maiden could have. Juvia was astonished beyond belief. At first she thought that she was dreaming, that something like this couldn't have happened for real. She had legs, she was a human girl. Such a notion seemed impossible.

However she soon realized that this was no dream. She really had become human. She stared at her new legs with absolute fascination, feeling the skin and wiggling her new toes. In that moment, words could not begin to describe the joy she felt. She had been cruelly bullied, had a heartbreaking fight with her brother, then had her beloved garden ruined, lost her voice, and then suffered a horrifying near-drowning experience after being painfully transformed. Yet after several of the most unpleasant moments of her life, her dream had finally come true.

But for Panther Lily, this was the most horrible thing to have ever happen.

"I cannot believe what you've just done." Lily cried out in a panic. "Of all the things you could have done, of all the trouble you could have caused me, you had to go and do this!"

Juvia wasn't paying attention. She was too busy trying to stand up on her new legs. It was very difficult. She wiggled and wobbled, and dropped right back into the water.

"Don't ignore me!" Lily said. "You don't seem to fully understand what you've gotten yourself into, so you better listen to me!"

Juvia wanted to tell Lily to calm down and to stop panicking. But when she opened her mouth, not a sound came out.

"That's right." She remembered. "I gave up my voice."

A melancholy look crossed her face. It hurt to know that she wouldn't be able sing again, but if it meant being up here and seeing Gray again, then the sacrifice was worth it.

"You struck a bargain with sea witch! The most evil creature in the entire ocean! You put your soul at risk! Do you have any idea what happens to merfolk who lose their souls to the sea witch? You'll be trapped in eternal suffering so awful that you'll pray for death! And the only way you can avoid this is to get a human, who doesn't even know you, to marry you in just one month!"

Juvia thought a month was plenty of time to fall in love and marry. Back in her kingdom, couples got together in shorter periods of time. How hard could it be for her to do it in a whole month?

"My nerves are shot!" He wailed. "This is a catastrophe! What would your brother say?! No, I'll tell you what your brother would say! He says he's gonna skin himself a sea cat! That's what he'll say!"

Juvia put her hands over her necklace again and again she thought of the family she had left behind. She thought about how they would feel once they discovered she was gone, it made her feel guilty. But they would get over it, she only made things harder for them anyway and sooner or later she would have put their lives in danger. This was would be what was best for everyone.

"Alright! Here's the plan." Lily said. "You are going to stay completely out of sight while I go back to the sea witch and beg her to call off this whole thing. True she's not a rational creature but watching others beg does put her in a good mood."

But Lily didn't get the chance to do such a thing because at that exact moment, his sharp hearing picked up the sound of footsteps drawing near.

"Someone's coming!" He cried. "Juvia hide!"

She quickly crawled behind a large rock. She was naked so she tried to cover her body with her hair and some seaweed. She sat perfectly still behind that rock, and waited for whoever was approaching to just pass by. Though that changed when she saw that it was as none other than Prince Gray. He had decided to take a walk on the beach in order to clear his head.

At first she wanted to come right out and introduce herself but then she remembered that she was not only naked, but she also looked such a terrible sight. She decided to wait until she looked more proper before introductions were made. She tried to once again stand up so she walk further away to avoid being seen but she was still having trouble adjusting to her legs and she fell down again which caught the young man's attention.

"Hello?" He said spotting her figure. "Who's that?"

He started to approach her. Juvia turned away from him, embarrassed that her hair was drenched and that she looked tattered. When Gray saw that she was a woman and the condition she was in, he instantly took off his shirt and tossed it to her.

"Here, it's not much but it should cover you." He said in a friendly and gentle manner. "Are you alright Miss?"

She could only answer with a smile as she pulled his shirt over her body.

"Don't be afraid, I won't hurt you. Do you need some help?"

Again she could not answer with words.

"Can you come out? It's okay if you don't want to. I just want to make sure that you're not hurt or anything."

This time she actually managed to stay up when she stood and using the rock for support, she slowly came out of hiding. For a moment Gray found himself unable to take his eyes off of her even for a second. Despite her poor state, she was as beautiful as a pearl, with eyes so blue they were the exact same color as the deepest sea. Eyes that were so very familiar to him, eyes that he saw almost every night in his dreams.

"Do I...Do I know you from somewhere?" He asked sounding hopeful. "Have we...Have we ever met?"

Poor Juvia, how she wanted to tell him, but she couldn't. She just put her hand to her throat and opened her mouth, and again not a sound came out.

"You can't talk?"

She shook her head.

"Oh..." He sounded so disappointed. "Never mind then. You couldn't possibly be her."

"Her?" Juvia wondered. "Her who?"

She thoughtlessly took her hand off the rock and started to fall. Gray was quick to catch her.

"Whoa! Careful!" She looked up at him and their eyes met. In her eyes, he could see how lost and alone she felt right now. Not so unlike how he had been feeling recently. "I don't know who you are but it's obvious that you need help."

Gray then lifted her into his arms, taking Juvia completely by surprise.

"Don't worry, we'll get you fixed up."

With that said, he carried her all the way to the palace, the whole time, Juvia just gazed upon him adoringly and enjoyed being in his strong arms.