Aleria understood why Red did not trust any of them, after all she was smaller than them wich made her easy prey in this environment. She never liked the taste of bulbori much, so Red was safe from her.

She had never like royalty much or at all for that matter, no reason really she just had always seen them as snobby know it alls. But when she saw Mermydon address her she released that he must be one as well she knew it somehow the pieces all fell in place. She backed up from him as he spoke, her mane whipped in the gentle wind that was blowing.

The breeze over the water was a stark contrast to Aleria's movement beneath the surface. She was backing away from both of them, not just Kanakwella!
Rather than turn his head and break the illusion of regal authority his fin spines raised only an inch, moving the water nearer Aleria so she understood that her actions were affecting his confidence. He didn't understand what the reason for her fear or worry might be that was costing them even a little trust they had earned with each other? he risked moving only his eyes to look in Aleria's direction, if Kanakwella were too look up at his face at this very moment, his countenance will have fallen and she may realize that things aren't as they should be.Even less comforting, this tiny drama was playing out before a little school of overlanders and would be disastrous for any, or all three, kelparie if any of them associated with those aloof, human things that captured and trapped Sylestians as though they were property to be possessed and traded.
Though he moved neither his eyes or head, he addressed the overanders hoping it would remind them that kelparie are what they are, apex predators aware of everything within their environment. Not a bunch of shy, skittish water cousins of qitari who keep to themselves and prey on the weak like scavengers.

"Are you and your friends enjoying our little show, Heroine?"

~ heroine's ~ vision ~ helping red ~
"grrr sure but i can't really look right now!"

~ kanakwella's ~ vision ~ at camp ~
"none-e of those *she bows to him* i-i-i i'm s-s-sorry i didn't know
you were also royalty" as she bowed she sliped "i'm sorry yet again
i'm very clumsy, what year is it anyway?, everything looks different"

Her statements and manners got the better of him, she was still rather young and lanky, with all the bouncy, spry temperament of a playful filly. His countenance dropped back to his normal stance. "Apparently you aren't the only one." He said mentioning it as much to Aleria as to Kanakwella. He swung his head around to Aleria and his countenance drooped almost pleading as he addressed her. "Please stay, I have been too long without the company of my own and your presence is a comfort to me." His words were genuine and his spines quivered the water to carry the weight in the truth of his words.Looking back to Kanakwella he replied with candor, though now with much less bravado. "I do not know the proper title to address you by milady, so forgive my lording the moment. I am Mermydon, once the prince and heir to the Shaledon Realm which lay in ruin and waste in the caldera made by that mighty waterfall behind us. My home was destroyed by the interloper Vorpar that was summoned here by persons yet unknown to me. To the best of my knowledge I am the kingdom's only survivor. I'm not altogether sure what you mean by 'what time' but your dialect sounds like it comes from one of the far northern kingdoms, at least similar anyway. But many of those realms have been barricaded off from us by a dam for over a century now."

~ kanakwella's ~ vision ~ at camp ~
"a c-c-century?!?! where's my home are you liying!? am i
really a century old?" saying this she looks back at the zolnixi
"she doesn't just sing with me in my dreams she's my
cusion!" then she looks at the prince and everything around her
"alot has changed from a century ago"

There it was. Pandora's Box as it were, had been oppened for the young mare and she was clearly flustered at finding out when she was. Hoping the worst was over he set about to try and get a bearing on who she was in history. He had never been a good student when he was a colt, but his deposed kingdom had a rich history from back before his people migrated south. He hoped she would calm down soon, before the other carnivores thought them weak and decide to put THEM on the menu tonight.

"I'm sorry for your loss." He attempted to console her before continuing. "I really don't know how much of history has passed for you but I hope what I know of my own history can help you with some of yours. My kingdom was not always in this lake. Over 500 years ago, Shaledon too hailed from the northern reaches. I had hoped the name would ring familiar to you but I guess not. King Draconag, had decided to move our homeland south after a great war we had with the Kelparie kingdom of Hallenjax over mackerel rights in the lee marshes. Both kingdoms were nearly equally matched and there was little hope for victory on either side. Both kings attempted to form a truce through the arrangement of the Shaledon prince and the Hallenjax princess, sorry that I didn't remember such mushy things when I was smaller. Unfortunately the princess disappeared en route to the wedding and Hallenjax blamed the Shalenites of treachery! The war went on with renewed hatred and ultimately Shaledon prevailed. But our homeland paid the higher toll in lost people and resources. So we moved down stream of the cascades to start anew. I remember that tale because it's foretold that one day the princess would return to honor the arrangement and bring about peace between the..." He cut himself short mid-sentence wondering if this might be her.

He froze not wanting to say another word.

Grim Rose looked around and stopped eating.

~ kanakwella's ~ vision ~ at camp ~
"wait Hallenjax that name and Shaledon both ring
a bell but...i ran away on a day of war in my kingdom
could i-i be the lost princess of Hallenjax?! i don't
remember much because the day of the war i hit my
head next thing i know im here" she's trying not to
panic because the vaporas are near "do you know
where Hallenjax is? maybe all of us kelp could go
and maybe take with the zolnixi and her friends
i feel like i've seen her before"

Destiny and fate are truly the cruelest mistresses. And Mermydon's countenance was now glaring at their newest servant, Heroine. The thoughts in his head grew dark towards the zolnixi, regardless of the fact that she too was at their whim as well. Why in all the periods and ages would the princess of a bygone age and kingdom that he has never visited, suddenly arrive before his hooves after his home was annihilated! He, for one, didn't appreciate the humor though he imagined that Heroine would be rolling around in a meadow laughing histerically right now just as soon as she could keep out of Mermydon's reach.

He could see the agitation on Kanakwella's features. She was genuinely afraid and unsure of herself and she kept looking about frantically at every chop in the waves. She was definitely unaccustomed to living around a waterfall, and he understood her worry and took pity upon her. "Hush now, the sylvorpa are gone. Look up your majesty and see. The sun is burning away the morning mist and soon it will be too bright for them to leave the safety of the deep. You are safe here in the shallows. Calm yourself." It was the best they could do for the moment. Stuck with an adolescent mare out of time, who doesn't know where she is, and did not know anything about a prophecy of her return. That was his one kindness in all that Heroine had helped to heap upon him. Getting hitched up with a 600 year old filly-friend was the last thing he needed on his itinerary. Even worse, etiquette and his upbringing demanded that he look out for her. For the moment Hallenjax, if it still existed, was thousands of leagues away upstream of a 300 foot waterfall that would be only the beginning of such a journey.

Then there was Aleria, he doesn't know what he has done to drive a wedge between the two of them, but he hoped to find out soon. As to the others, he couldn't help but feel like they were seeing too much of kelparie life, and that it was making his kind look weaker and weaker every moment.