There are lots of things a Princess shouldn't do. She should never go out without a tiara and her best pair of shoes, she should never get muddy, and she should never get drunk with some of the lower born human. Yet, that is currently exactly what she was doing. 

"Princess, I think you've had enough." Finley, the bartender of the current bar Talay-a was in. Finley had been a long time friend of hers. However, word had gotten around that he was housing resistance members. Resistance members that were plotting her demise. It was a blow to the gut, and she investigated it herself. It panned out, and while the head of her Guard wanted her to stay out of it, she insisted on it. She had to get drunk first though. 
"Finley, why don't you like me?"  Talay-a asked him as she swayed a little unsteadily in her seat. 
"I like you plenty Princess, that's why I'm cutting you off."   Finley laughed and Talay-a sighed, grabbing a file from the bag at her feet. 
"Then why do you want to kill me?" Talay-a asked him, with a raised eyebrow. He glanced at the file before coming around the bar and grabbing her arm, dragging her into the back office. As soon as they were free of prying eyes she yanked herself away, keeping the bile down as her head spun and her gut churned. It caught her slightly off guard because she hadn't thought she had gotten that drunk.

"You don't know what is going on Princess, at all so I suggest you keep yourself out of it." Finley recommended and she glared at him. She's had a lot of people try and kill her over the duration of her life, but none stung quite like this. She chose her friends wisely and until now, she hadn't been wrong so this was simply the worst kind of blow. 

"I should keep myself out of a plot for my assassination? That's a new one, I mean really Finley." Talay-a had to sit down when the spinning got worse, and it was in that moment that she realized she had been drugged. She grabbed her blades out and and as quickly as she could, she stabbed the bastard in the neck. The blades were spelled to make to either make the death painless or as painful as possible. She chose the one to make it painful, as one last fuck you. The last thing she remembered seeing is members of her personal guard bursting into the office. 

When she woke up, it seemed her entire family was in the room. Her mother, all her siblings, her father, and both her paternal grandparents, as well as her maternal grandfather were all in the room. Even her stepmother showed up and while Talay-a got along with her stepmother, her mother did not and the two avoided each other like wildfire. 

"Well I'll be the first to say it...how stupid are you?" Toyesh, her elder brother, said and Talay-a glared at him. 

"Enough Toyesh. Your sister had her reasons and we won't question them. Are you okay Talay-a? You gave us quite a scare." Talay-a's father asked her and she sat up, stretching out her muscles. She glanced at the clock on her wall, which displayed the day. 

"Two days? How?" Talay-a tried to get up but was held down by her brother. 

"You were drugged with magic Tay, you're not going anywhere for awhile, not until you've completely recovered." Toyesh informed her and she flopped back into bed. Magic usually affected humans and hybrids a lot worse then Atlantians, which is probably why she was asleep for two days instead of a couple hours. 

"I feel fine, a little claustrophobic since my entire family decided to crowd into my room." Talay-a insinuated, glancing at everyone in the room. Her sister's and her stepmother got the message first, her grandparents following suit shortly. That left her with only her brother shortly. 

"Would you like to explain why you decided to go kill a random human bartender? Or is that another one of your secrets?" Toyesh was none to happy that Talay-a had been slipping further and further from his grasp. As she had gotten older, she had her own ideals, crafted her own image and as both her brother and the biggest profiter of her work, he didn't like it. 

"He was part of an assassination plot to kill me. I had planned to imprison him and have him stand on trial but then end result is still the same, I suppose." Talay-a said as she sat up once more, this time actually getting out of bed. Her brother didn't protest this time, as she moved into her closet and started to get dress. 

"Isn't the Ambassador from Malira coming today?" Talay-a asked as she put on one of her finer outfits and an actual tiara, pinning it in place quickly since she actually had stuff today. She shoved her shoes on and went back out and out of her bedroom, her brother following her. 

"He and his family are already here, Tay. They're in mother's parlor at the moment." Toyesh informed her and she spun on her heel, heading in the opposite direction from where she's going. Toyesh continued to follow her but she ignored him until she arrived at the parlor. 
"Princess Talay-a! What a pleasant surprise, your father informed us you wouldn't be joining us for awhile?" The ambassador was a slimy man who had been pressing for a union between his daughter and Talay-a for awhile now, to bind the two houses together except his daughter was a conniving bitch and Talay-a couldn't stand her, nor her father. 
"We all know I am constantly surpassing my father's expectations." Talay-a smiled politely as the ambassador made snapping noises at one of his attendants. The attendant brought a flat box to her, filled with all kinds of gems of all shapes and sizes.

"Your father mentioned a commission of a new tiara for you, so I decided to make a contribution. Pick one of these gems and we'll have it forged into the tiara for you." The ambassador explained and Talay-a smiled her fake, vapid, smile before running her fingers over the top of the gems. Eventually she stopped over an aquamarine colored one, the sacred color and gem of their patron goddess, Andromeda. Her fingers closed around it and suddenly she was drowning. 

It was an uncomfortable feeling, and something she wasn't used too. After a few seconds it went away and she was standing in a cavern with someone who looked remarkably like Andromeda. 

[color=0054a6]Your time has come, Talay-a Gunosh. It's time for you to take up the fight as the Archon of Water.[/color]

And then she was back in the parlor with everyone staring at her. 

"Excuse me, I'm not feeling as well as I thought." Talay-a made her excuses while secretly pocketing the gem and all but fleeing from the room.