“Welcome back to the palace, Diva Lorelie.” A male Merinmian said as Adam and Lorelie arrived at the royal palace.
After playing around in the sea with everyone for a while, Lorelie decided that it was time she went and spoke to the king, and so after telling the other three that they would return later, Lorelie led Adam back under the ocean and away from her own island.
After swimming for a few minutes, Lorelie stopped and started to sing.
Adam wasn’t sure how she was able to sing or speak, for that matter, while under the water, because earlier she had spoken to him many times when they were swimming.
As she sang a beautiful hymn, aquatic creatures that were nearby stopped what they were doing and started to gather a short distance away to listen. Soon, a giant whale-like creature appeared and joined the other aquatic creatures in listening to Lorelie’s song that went on for several minutes.
As she finished singing, Lorelie swam towards the whale-like creature and asked. “Might you carry us to the palace?”
Whale made a noise of confirmation while nodding its head slightly, causing Lorelie to smile, after which she turned and held her hand out to Adam while saying, “Let's go”.
Adam took hold of her hand and allowed Lorelie to lead him onto the back of the whale-like creature, where they sat down while holding onto the large fin on its back.
As soon as they were settled, the whale-like creature started swimming in the direction of the floating capital city they had gone to the night before.
Lorelie began to talk and point out some of the places they passed under the ocean while riding on the whale-like creature. Adam was able to respond with him breather in his mouth, so he just nodded occasionally to show that he was listening.
Soon, Adam was able to make out the underside of the floating capital city, and as they swam over it, he found that it was in fact a second city that had the same basic layout as the one on the surface, except the buildings were all made of coral and other materials that were native to the underwater world.
Merinmians of all ages, in their true forms, swam through the city streets before visiting different shops, while a few non-Merinmians wore breathers like Adam’s.
As the whale-like creature reached the centre of the city, it suddenly dove and started swimming towards the depths of the ocean, causing Adam to worry slightly.
Lorelie must have noticed his concern because she suddenly said, “You don’t have to worry about the water pressure as long as you're next to me; we Merinmians have the ability to alter the water pressure with our immediate vicinity. Don’t wander off, or you might end up being crushed to death.”
Adam nodded emphatically as he heard what she said to him, making her giggle before she said, “Nothing will happen to you under the ocean as long as you're with me.”
After swimming for several minutes down into the dark depths of the ocean, Adam began to notice light ahead of him, which he found strange because they were now too far below the surface for the sun to be able to reach them.
As the whale-like creature brought them closer to the light, Adam found that strange shimmering underwater plants were lighting up their surroundings, which turned out to be another underwater city much like the one he had seen before; however, this time there was a massive coral structure in the centre of the city.
The whale-like creature stopped a short distance from the massive coral-like structure, at which point Lorelie thanked the creature before taking Adam’s hand and swimming off towards the structure.
At the base of the massive coral-like structure was an opening that Lorelie led them through before stopping as they came before a Merinmian who looked as if he had been waiting for them.
“Welcome back to the palace, Diva Lorelie.”
“Thank you, I believe the king is expecting me?” Lorelie replied.
“He is indeed, if you will follow me.”
“Of course.” Lorelie replied before turning to Adam and saying, “Stay within the royal palace and the water pressure wont affect you even if I’m not with you.”
Adam nodded in understanding, and Lorelie was about to swim away when the male Merinmian suddenly said, “Adam Spencer is free to accompany you, Diva Lorelie; the king wishes to meet with him.”
Adam and Lorelie showed surprised looks at this, and as they began to follow the male Merinmian, Adam wondered how it was that they knew his name.
As they swam through the royal palace, Adam looked around and admired the structure of the palace, along with the different decorations that were on display, before they finally arrived in a room that was somehow half-filled with water, even though they were at the bottom of the ocean.
An impressive-looking male Merinmian sat upon a throne, while to the male's left, a beautiful female Merinmian sat upon another slightly less impressive-looking throne. Both thrones were half within the ocean water so that the lower half of those who sat upon them was submerged in the ocean, while the upper half was above the surface.
“Welcome home, Lorelie.” The female said happily as soon as Lorelie and Adam surfaced above the water, which allowed Adam to remove his water breather.
“Thank you, Queen Marilla“, Lorelie replied before looking towards the impressive male and saying, “This subject greets King Osharus.”
“Welcome home indeed, Lorelie. You have been away for far too long this time.” King Osharus said with a smile before looking at Adam and saying.
“Welcome to Oceana Seven, Adam Spencer. We welcome you.”
“Thank you, your majesty,” Adam replied with a slight bow.
“My, aren't you polite.” Queen Marilla said with a chuckle.
”Do not tease the poor boy, dear.” The King admonished playfully before saying. “Thank you for saving Lorelie in her time of need.”
“I just happened to be in the right place at the right time.” Adam replied before asking.” If I may ask, could you tell me how you know my name?”
“From the Bounty Hunter Guild.” King Osharus replied, causing Adam to frown before he explained. “After the incident that took place yesterday in the floating capital, I summoned the Bounty Hunter Guild leader based here on Oceana Seven to explain why you were attacked.
It turns out that Director Drot, the guild director in charge of all guilds in this part of the universe, ordered a bounty to be placed on you after the events on Terrana Five.
The local guild leader refused the order however, because of how you helped Lorelie here; unfortunately, Director Drot used his authority to post the bounty anyway.
Two non-Merinmian bounty hunters accepted the job, and you know the rest.”
”I see, that definitely explains things.” Adam replied before asking. “What is your stance on this as the Merinmian king and ruler of the Oasis Galaxy?”
“I have already logged an official complaint on the matter with the Bounty Hunters Guild, and the guild leader has assured me that while he can’t remove the bounty, the guild here on Oceana Seven will not actively advertise it.
The majority of Merinmian bounty hunters will not accept the job after how you saved Lorelie here; however, there is no way to stop non-Merinmians from accepting.
Also, I will note that I have informed the Oasis Galaxies Senator to support Senator Pevaphio’s suggestion regarding the Terran trade embargo, and the motion has already been passed within the Universal Senate and put into force.”
“That’s good to know,” Adam replied before asking with a smirk. “Did Senator Pevaphio already attempt to get the Terrans' share of God’s Oasis?”
“How did you know about that?” King Osharus asked as both he and Queen Marilla showed looks of surprise.
Lorelie giggled before saying in amusement, “Who do you think suggested it to her?”
“Oh, really? How interesting.” Queen Marilla replied as she and King Osharus gave Adam approving looks.
“By the way, Lorelie, Murphy wanted me to ask you if you're planning to go watch a Water Sphere match while you're back? If you didn’t know, he recently got transferred to the Oceana Abes, the team you support, I believe. They're playing tomorrow against the Oasis Fangs.” King Osharus asked.
“I was planning to take Adam here to watch the game tomorrow since he seems interested in it,” Lorelie replied while giving Adam a slightly nervous glance.
Queen Marilla noticed the slightly nervous glance, causing a look of surprise to appear in her eyes before she smiled slightly in understanding.
“I’m sure he will be delighted to hear that.” King Osharus said, causing Queen Marilla to sigh at how oblivious her husband was in matters of the heart.
“Mmm,” Lorelie replied simply with a nod before quickly changing the subject and asking. “If possible, I would like to discuss arranging several performances for the Oasis Galaxy.”
“Of course, what did you have in mind?” King Osharus replied before they started to discuss the details.