The Prisoner Princess

Love and Greed

Nereida knew that Vidarr was not the same boy who had gone to war all those years ago. Something in him had hardened, the kind that grew so tough that eventually pieces cracked and broke off.

Humanity had been something new, she remembered. Something different and strange. They felt things, had an abundance of feelings she didn't understand. Or rather, two: love and greed. Love was a fickle thing among the Naiades. There was loyalty, yes. It was the one thing that held their world together. Fish were loyal to the sea, birds to the land and sky, but Vidarr told her once long ago that they were not the same. He thought he could make her see, make her feel the way he did. It did not work.

And that was where she learned of human greed. For when Vidarr couldn't have her, he asked for something. The feat in itself was something she never could've imagined happening. But this want for the ring had driven him to become who he was now.

Love and Greed.

It is a blessing not to be human, for even the best of them succumbed to one or the other. Vidarr had succumbed to both.

She missed the water. She missed Loch and Sabina. She almost hoped they would be worried, but quickly shook that thought away. She'd been gone before, for far longer. Even if what Vidarr had said was true, that they were looking for her, she had no idea what they were going to do once they got here. And...

Thoughts trailed from her head. It was getting harder and harder to think straight. Her mind in a daze from the lack of water she'd been derived from. She didn't know for how long it'd been now. She didn't know. That was one of the thoughts that scared her the most.

Her skin was painfully dry and gray, trying to pull itself across her bones. Her throat was parched and her voice hardly worked anymore when she gave Vidarr the same answer day after day. Her hair was brittle and her strength and powers were almost gone.

Funny, she looked almost human now.

Vidarr came in like he always did, but she could not bring herself to even open her eyes.

"Princess," he said and it hurt because though it was his voice, this man was no longer him. "The ring."

She didn't answer, hardly moved. But she swore to him once that she would die before ever handing over the ring. She made sure he knew this fully well.

Yet he said the same thing he always did. "Very well, I can wait." She heard him get up and move toward the door, but he paused, "It won't be much longer now."