Akata watched the beautiful creature beside him squirming in pain. Seeing her suffer was uncomfortable . His iris was still adjusting with the light setting in the outside world. 
But he reached out to her. 
“ Water… Water… ” Merindale was shivering and begging to be saved. 
Akata looked around for any water source. He ran up and down the mountain, but not a drop was found. In desperation Akata strained his shoulder to look beyond. And there was the ocean, far away in the horizon. 
Akata scooped Merindale up in his arms and ran. The pebbles and thorns under his feet did not bother him at all. He ran as if his own life depended on it, hoping that the ocean would come over to him, because Merindale seemed like she wasn't able to breathe. She was hyperventilating. Perhaps because she was heavily dehydrated after coming in contact with the Eternal Flames. 
Akata was still a few miles away from the ocean but it seemed like the waters could hear his plea.A gigantic wave splashed over them, as Merindale gasped, getting her breath back temporarily. The water kept them company as Akata watchef bemused. It did not leave them, until both Akata and Merindale jumped in the ocean. 
Merindale opened her eyes finally but she held onto Akata with all her might. 
Akata watched her breathing like a baby, her vibrant hair floating in the water, all around her enchanting face. 
Merindale watched Akata with equal interest. She lifted her hand and touched his face. 
“ You can breathe underwater as well. You are like me. No wonder you seemed so strangely familiar. Do we know each other? ”
She asked, still trying to take in all the details of his handsome face. He was like a perfected sculpture. There were no flaws in him. He seemed like he belonged to another world. 
Akata finally let Merindale go. She completely recovered under the influence of the water. 
“ I… I don't know, ” he stammered. He looked lost. 
“ What's your name? What were you doing there? What's that place even called? ” Merindale plucked a big leaf from between a ridge and helped Akata wrap it like a cloth. 
“ That looks better, ” She smiled as Akata blushed. 
“ I don't remember anything… I am sorry, ” Akata scratched the back of his head but he could not recall anything about his past. 
“ Hhhmmm, that's interesting. It seemed like you were trapped in there.It looked like a very hostile terrain. ” she swam nearer and touched his shoulder. “ Don't worry. We have the best physician and healers in your kingdom. I am sure they will be able to cure you in no time. Let's go talk to my father. ”
Merindale intertwined her fingers with his and pulled him up. 
“ Your kingdom? Are you a princess? ” he asked. 
Merindale giggled. “ Yes, I am. ”
*****
Xie and Ruby ran outside when it was announced that Merindale was at the gate. 
They had always been a little over protective and apprehensive when it came to their only child. 
Even though there weren't any negative reports from the school, ever since they rebuilt it, the stories from its past still haunted the older generation somehow. 
With the untimely arrival of their daughter, both had a sudden panic attack.
“ Father… mother… ” Merindale beamed as she saw them at the gate, waiting for her. She bowed at them. Xie and Ruby heaved a sigh of relief when they saw her bubbling and so full of life. Merindale held both their hands and squeezed them gently. 
“ I need your help. Please call the Royal healers immediately. I brought a friend home.He has been through a lot.I promised him that we had the best of healers and that he will be cured under them. Please help me keep my promise. “ Merindale pleaded as Xie and Ruby exchanged a look. 
“ Alright. Where is this friend? Bring him along. We will see. ” 
Merindale jumped high with excitement. 
“ Hey. Come over. This way. ”
Merindale ran over to Akata's carriage and helped him out. 
Akata nervously bowed at Xie and Ruby, mimicking Merindale’s actions. 
It seemed like everything was erased from his memory, including ways of the civilized world. 
Xie and Ruby immediately felt the same strange connection that they had felt when they had first encountered Mia, back in the days. 
Yet, neither of them spoke about it. 
“ Welcome to the wolf kingdom. What is your name, lad? ”
Akata was lost for words. He looked at Merindale, helplessly. 
“ Ummm, father, can we first go inside and talk. It's a long story. I need to give you all the details. He is having trouble remembering. He doesn't recall his own name. ”
Xie raised a brow. 
“ How exactly did you become friends? Doesn't he go to the same school? ” Xie asked. The tone of his voice, becoming harsher. 
“ Father. ” Merindale could see Akata, reconsidering his decision to follow after her.
“ You are embarrassing me. I rescued him. Okay? Now I need you to treat him. Are you going to help me or not?Do I need to go ask for Aunt Jade's help, instead? ”
Xie must have been the sovereign ruler but it was clear who ran the house. 
“ Alright. Come on in. Guards, send words for the Royal Physician. We have an injured guest. Set the tables as well. They must be starving. ”
Ruby bowed and took her leave. 
“ You are the best father, ” Merindale climbed into Xie, hugging him tight. 
They said daughters never grew up for their fathers. How correct the observation had been. 
*****
“ All Hail to the mighty wolf king, ” the healer bowed as he came in. 
Xie, Merindale, Akata and Ruby had just finished eating. 
Both Xie and Ruby found themselves bonding with Akata naturally. 
There seemed nothing apparently wrong with the lad. 
The healer asked him to lay down and began his check up. 
Merindale watched with her mother and father from a little distance. 
Akata looked very uncomfortable when the doctor touched and pressed him here and there. He went all over Akata’s body, so the ladies had to leave the room. 
Suddenly, the healer stood up. 
His eyes wide with amazement and twinkling with excitement . 
“ Where did you find this lad, your Majesty? ” The healer asked. 
“ It was Merindale who found him. I don't know the details yet. Should I ask her? Is something wrong? ” 
The healer pulled him to the side and whispered in his ears. 
“ This boy and his abilities strangely resemble our lost prince, Akata. ”
Xie's eyes were about to pop out at the healer's statement. He grabbed him by his collar. 
“ What are you babbling about? We lost him in the Eternal Flames. Nobody is known to live once immersed in that. Do your job properly. Check where he is hurt. ” Xie shoved the healer back. 
He nodded and got back to his work. 
While he was checking, Xie could not but help ponder over the fact that the lad indeed has resemblance with both Lin and his sister. 
This was not a good omen. 
The healer finally stood up. 
“ Your Majesty, there is nothing wrong with his physical form. I could not detect or check his animal because he doesn't recall how to transform. It seems that he is suffering from amnesia due to some severe shock. Other than that, he is good to go. ”
The healer left after prescribing some herbs and medicines. 
*****
That night Xie could not sleep at all. 
Akata was given a room. His needs were taken care of. And he also had to write to Merindale’s school since she declared that she would be staying back to look after her special guest. 
Xie could not say no. 
However, the weight of the truth was making him restless. He couldn't bring himself to share it with Ruby, yet. 
“ Is it the boy? ” Ruby asked with one hand over Xie's shoulder. 
Xie nodded. 
“ The healer thinks he has a resemblance to our Akata. ” Xie finally let it out. 
“ He doesn't have a resemblance to Akata. He is Akata. ” Ruby's statement made Xie turn around but he couldn't utter a single word. 
“ Your daughter rescued him from a ‘ pool of fire’. That's what she told me. I am still trying to understand how she went in and out of the Eternal Flames and how Akata is still living despite being trapped for years in there.”
She sat down with her hands folded, her chin resting on them. 
“ Lin must not know. ” Xie exclaimed, “ Nobody should know that he is back. We must send him somewhere safe. ”
“ Is there any place safer than this palace for him? We can both keep a close eye on him when he is here. I don't trust any place else. ” Ruby said. 
They heard a commotion outside their chamber all of a sudden. 
Xie went out to check the source of it, in the middle of the night. 
He found some guards arguing between themselves. 
“ My Lord, they wanted your immediate audience. We have been trying to stop them. ” The ones stationed on watch duty in front of their chamber complained. 
“ What is it? ” Xie asked the messengers, through gritted teeth. 
They feel on their knees and reported, 
“ It's about the fox prince, Lin. He is going berserk, despite all the chains. We are finding it very difficult to restrain him without applying our full strength.We needed your permission, oh mighty wolf King. He already injured several of our comrades. ”
They finished, with their heads still hanging low. 
Xie closed his eyes and his fists.
“ Do whatever you need to do, ” and then he turned around and went back in. 
Ruby had heard everything. 
“ He knows Akata is back. ” she exclaimed. 
“ It's a good thing, the boy doesn't remember anything. ” he went towards the window as he said. 
“ What are you planning? ” Ruby asked. 
“ I will be sending him off to the deepest level in our dungeon. It is the only way we can keep Akata away from him. We must know anything about his father or his family. ”
Ruby nodded. That seemed like the best arrangement for the moment. 
*****
Lin's eyes opened with a jolt. 
“ Mia, ” he mumbled, trying to reach out in thin air but she was nowhere near. 
His thoughts were never constant. 
He kept going back and forth between the days when they were just married to the trials and hardships they had seen together. Other days he would just yell and cry, trying to save Mia. And yet on other days, he would wail for Akata. 
This time, however , it was different. 
He felt something real, after a really long time. 
It was just like that day when he had felt the birth of his son, despite him being deep under the ocean, in the mer-world. 
“ Akata, ” Lin gasped. 
He struggled with all that he had. He needed to go to his son. 
He needed to tell him that he was sorry. 
He needed to tell Akata that he never blamed him for his mother's disappearance. 
He was just being an irresponsible father. 
Lin was repeatedly using his Lightning Escape routine. Though his shackles stopped him from that, he was causing considerable harm to the chains and even to himself. 
However he didn't care. 
He needed to see Akata. He could feel his presence. 
He flung one guard after another who were there, trying to calm him down. 
Lin raged on like a mad bull, all the while, chanting the name of his son, like a sad song. 
He clawed himself and the floor, trying to resist as the guards finally dragged him to the deepest dungeons. 
He didn't care about anything anymore. 
He just wanted to see Akata once more. 
But he was unable to articulate his feelings into words as the gates of the coop closed in, on his face, shutting all lights and hopes out, probably forever.