Chapter 41: Water Magic

Princess Aria has been practicing her water magic with her aunt Princess Ava for the past three days. Her inspiration to practice diligently comes from the promise of visiting her Popsie Reed and Marmee Rose when she did well.
When she told her King Father and Queen Mother about going back to her human family, they were a bit skeptical because of the impending danger that still haunts the entire fairy realm. The Dark fairy has never been spotted after he fled to the Dark Mountains.
Though the King and Queen were very welcoming of her idea, they concluded that they would only allow her to go there upon making sure that she is well adept with her magic.
Of course, she would also need to bring an entourage to keep her well protected. This would be spear-headed by her aunt herself and Caspian as well. Some of the rangers were assigned to join too.
So, the Princess works very hard to learn as much as she could for both her Earth and Water magic skills. She is sort of thrilled that she possesses two elements of magic. She feels confident that having a solid grip on her abilities is a good image for her as the Princess of their realm.
Although no one ever made her feel she needed to prove anything, her long years of absence as the Princess of this realm is like a disadvantage for her. So in consequence, she works doubly hard to be the kind of Princess that her realm would be proud of.  
Princess Ava on the other hand found more reasons to stay in the Green Haven. Her main purpose is to train her niece with her water magic. The second motivation for the ranger princess is to oversee Aramir's complete recovery. Finally, her last goal is to spend more time with her brother.
However, Princess Ava's prolonged visit at the Earth realm is double edged. On one side, she is hoping that their King Father and Queen Mother would have some time on their own at the Water Haven. At the other, she aims to convince her brother to let go of his prolonged estrangement with their father.
Somehow, she wants her Queen Mother and King Father to be happy together again but her brother might feel like he is being forced to accept their father's mistake without consequences. But then, she believes that turning a page from their complicated history, would help their mother be at peace after all the burdens she has to carry from their past.
Princess Ava would also attempt to concoct a plan in their search for the half human brother they happened to have no idea of. They have no knowledge of his name or his whereabouts. Surely his human mother must have hidden to him also about his true identity.
So, the planned visit of Princess Aria would also be a means to try exploring the human realm in search for the lost water prince. Princess Aria suggested that her human parents might be able to help them too.
Presently, the lakeside turns out like an arena for competitions. Most of the Earth fairies are there to watch the two Water Princesses in their training. Even the King and Queen are there to witness how much their daughter has learned as well as assess if she is ready to go out back to the human realm.
The earth fairies are casually seated on the grassy grounds. A makeshift bench is positioned for the King and Queen. Caspian and the rest of the rangers sit on the ground as well. Only, Aramir is given a small mound to sit on. He was finally able to go outdoors.
At the moment, each Princess stands on opposite sides of the lake. Princess Ava wears her all black, ranger outfit while Princess Aria is dressed with jade green, ranger suit. The usual brown attire is only for the rangers. Their Princess is designated with a color of her own.
"Now, my niece, like we have previously practiced, we shall use minimal hand movements so your opponent would not recognize the kind of magic you would use. Therefore, your adversary could not properly deflect it."
Princess Ava shouts her reminders to her niece before they begin once more. Her niece nods in assent.
The water from the lake starts to ripple and in a split second, spears of frozen water shoot out from the lake heading towards Princess Aria's direction. The Earth Princess forms an enormous earth boulder, speedily shielding her from the deadly icy spears.
In retaliation, with unobserved movement, Princess Aria sends the boulder with all the icy spears stuck, flying towards Princess Ava. Her aunt cuts it in half with her sword which she was able to draw quickly.
Princess Ava sheathes her sword then throws her daggers straight towards Princess Aria.
Though the Princess does not possess any weapon of her own, she uses vines she conjures to deflect the sharp daggers, like a whip and both daggers are hurled back towards her aunt.
Princess Ava catches her daggers in each hand like a boomerang returning to its owner.
The Queen and King could not help but show a wide grin towards their daughter's direction. The King even claps in amazement.
King Merlion is aware of how his younger sister would not be easy on her daughter. He knows that Princess Ava is really training Arianna very well.
The other earth fairies cheer with excitement on how their Princess defended herself. They are also aware of the reputation of the Water Princess. Princess Ava is not an easy opponent.
Caspian smiles to himself in admiration for his Earth Princess. He has been very proud of how quickly Princess Aria has been honing her magical skills day after day.
"My niece you have made me proud! You are learning everything I trained you to do so rapidly and with tremendous efficiency."
Princess Ava praises her niece without any reservations. She knows how much Princess Aria devotes to learning these skills.
"Thank you my aunt. I have such a great teacher."
Princess Aria beams at her aunt.
The two Water Princesses stand proud on opposite ends.
"Now, as customary for a ranger, which you truly are, with the skills you have exhibited, you are to choose your weapon. Your weapon will be your partner for life."
Princess Ava unsheathes her sword and gives it a slight swing then pierced the ground with it. She left it stuck there. Afterwards, she takes her daggers from her side and throws them simultaneously with both her hands and each ends up on even distances from both sides of her sword stuck on the ground.
Princess Aria stares at the deadly weapons imagining that the ground is an impaled enemy. She claps in admiration along with all the audience by the lake.
Princess Ava gives a theatrical curtsy to everyone.
When the clapping subsides, Princess Aria gazes at her Queen Mother's direction.
"I would choose two kinds of weapons as well like my aunt. I choose daggers like her and my mother. But for my second one I prefer the bow and arrow."
Princess Aria states this as proudly as she can.
King Merlion conjures the bow and arrow while Queen Alina takes out her own daggers to offer to their daughter.
Princess Aria walks slowly to where her King Father and Queen Mother were seated.
The King and Queen stands to congratulate their Princess. Both give the weapons to their daughter. The Princess bows to them after accepting these and faces the crowd of Earth fairies.
The Earth fairies clap in appreciation of the achievements of their Princess.
After Princess Aria arranges her weapons on herself, she embraces her King and Queen at the same time.
"Can I go to my Popsie Reed and Marmee Rose now?"
The Princess whispers to both her Fairy parents.
"Yes, my child but first we have to pay our respects to the Fire Lord's son."
King Merlion says this with seriousness and sadness.
Queen Alina embraces both her husband and child once more.
Princess Aria can empathize with the loss that her Fairy family feels right now. She may not have personally met Prince Hagan but the loss of a son for the Fire Lord is something truly painful, not just for humans but for fairies as well.