Submerged in Water

"You are going to freak." Rune told me as he strolled over.

It was early morning again, the sun hadn't raised yet and I was once again in my once-piece navy blue swimsuit. I forgone the dress this time since it only weighed me down yesterday. I was laying on a piece of rock near the river waiting for him to arrive since I had came early. The water was calm this morning, so the swim upstream was easy.

Rune had a heavy backpack on. "Sorry I'm late by the way, I decided to walk it instead of well..."

I raised my eyebrows at him.

"Fly." He admitted.

I guess I shouldn't be surprised. "So what am I going to freak about?"

"This." He said, while swinging his backpack over his shoulder. He pulled out a large book that looked new but was still leather-bound. He flipped through some pages until he stopped. "Who does this look like?"

He showed me a picture of a woman who had blue-purple eyes and with one long thick black braid going down her back. She was wearing a white gown that was embroidered with deep blue. She had a golden crown on her head with a blue gem stone in the centre of it. The whole image looked regal, like I was looking at a princess or someone of royalty. I wasn't surprised when I saw the caption below say "Queen Inna."

"It looks like me." I said.

"I know. This was Queen Inna when she was nineteen years old, the picture was taken at her coronation ceremony."

"Who is Queen Inna?" I asked.

"Queen of the Kamille. She was the one who apparently started the whole idea to drown the world. She was very influential, if anyone else would have led the revolution of the Kamille, it wouldn't have gone as far as it did. She had a way with people, she was so kind and gentle. Everyone loved her. Even when she suggested flooding the world, she made the idea seem like it was normal, like it was natural." He shook his head. "Of course that was far from the truth and that's how a rebel group started."

"So this Queen, who looks like me, is responsible for the plan to flood the earth?"

He nodded at me gravely. "That's not all."

"Do go on."

"She was the only Queen not to marry, she told her people that she would never marry anyone but instead marry the people, a part of her plan to win them over, obviously, but that didn't stop her from having suitors and people trying to woo her."

He flipped through the book some more until he stopped and showed me a candid photo of Queen Inna being dis-robed against a wall. It was some paparazzi-type shot that proved to the world Queen Inna wasn't as innocent as people thought.

"To make a long story short, she slept with a lot of people and some of them weren't even Kamille." He shook his head. "A few months before the genocide, she announced to her people that she was pregnant. That only led the people to have more pride and loyalty to their country. She said the baby was sent from God. People believed her at the time." He shrugged. "After that, it doesn't say much else, except that the baby never got born because she was killed along with the rest of her people."

"That's so sad..."

"We haven't even gotten to the best part yet, Emele." He told me. "Listen... I probably shouldn't tell you this, I don't want to scare you but it's important."

I nodded. "It's okay, I can handle it. I've handled everything so far."

"My parents are high up in the council for the Oro, the reason I was sent out here was because my parents were afraid that I might get hurt. There has been spottings... people have seen..." He took a deep breath. "People think they've seen her. Queen Inna. It isn't just a handful any more, she's shown herself to a couple of hundred. She's even killed some people. The sad thing is, she keeps telling people things, at first people thought they were psychotic ramblings, but once I found out what she was saying, it cleared up for me."

"So she's alive?" I asked, incredulous.

"Somehow." He shrugged.

"What does she want? What is she saying? Does she want revenge on her people?"

He shook his head. "She never cared about her people. She wants something else."

"What?"

"She keeps saying she wants to see her and that 'she knows we're hiding her.' "

"Who?"

"That's what I couldn't understand until after school, when my Mom phoned me and told me the story of how she met her."

"Your Mom met Queen Inna?"

He nodded. "Inna came and asked my Mom to help her look for her child. Apparently, the child got stolen somehow, or at least, that's what Inna says and she wants the child back."

"So the child is alive!?"

He nodded. "Yes..."

And then it clicked. I yanked the book out of his hands and flipped through the book until I saw the picture of her again at the coronation ceremony. I traced her image with my hand, the cheekbones, her hair and her eyes. It couldn't be. I couldn't be.

"I'm her daughter." I whispered.

"Well, I wouldn't go that far but I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility." Rune explained.

He lifted my chin off the picture and looked into my eyes. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, it's just..." I looked back down at Queen Inna and shuddered. I had never shuddered before but I knew what the reaction entailed. It meant I was thoroughly creeped out.

"Overwhelming?"

"I was going to say crazy, but that works too."

"Well... I figured you deserved to know, since Queen Inna has been going around for the past year trying to find her lost child. I don't know if you want to meet her or what but I think it's best if you stay away from her. After all, she was the one that..."

"Manipulated her people into becoming mass homicidal nut-cases?"

"...yeah."

I sighed. My life really wouldn't ever be easy. "What is going to happen, Rune?" I didn't expect my voice to sound so weak.

"I won't let anything bad happen." He promised me. "Chances are if she's been looking for you the past year, she isn't going to find you quickly. You've done a good job at staying off the radar so it won't do any good to run away even further now."

"Yeah, but it's not just me any more. It's You, Talon, Layla and Robyn. You are all around me. What if more people come and then the secret slips?"

"We'll deal with it when it happens." He gave me a hopeful smile and rubbed the side of my arm for comfort. "You are handling everything so well."

I smiled back. "I am a princess. I heard we're pretty good with drama."

"I guess that means I can still call you water princess."

I giggled. "Hmmm... Princess Emele. Has a nice ring to it, don't you think?"