Chapter 15: Amelia Finds Prince Arthur's Palace

     Word of Amelia's loneliness gets around.  N'Shal's undine friend Cachina offers to show Amelia where the royal palace is.  Finding a way to meet Emily again would be in Amelia's hands.
     By this time, Aquatic Watch has grown, and Eeba is the mermaid commander.  N'Shal tells Amelia a few things about Captain Sunshine.  Years earlier, Hazel had helped Sunshine to get a "human identity" so she could take courses in anthropology and biology.  At the time the story takes place, Hazel and Sunshine are working to create a naiad system of writing—not an alphabet but a syllabary.
     Before Amelia and N'Shal reach Cachina's home, N'Shal gives Amelia some lessons in how naiads are able to move about without being seen—or not being noticed, or not being regarded, or not being remembered.
     In the royal palace garden, Amelia notices several examples of statuary that had been inspired by ancient Greek and Roman myths.  Amelia's take on the statuary was not what the artists had intended.
     As Amelia sits on a rock, looking disapprovingly at a statue depicting the birth of Venus, an artist from Copenhagen notices her and, in the darkness, mistakes her for a statue.  Following N'Shal's earlier advice, Amelia remains perfectly still. The artist, believing that he could improve on the "statue," spends an hour or so making a sketches and walks away.  
     Once the Danish artist has left, Amelia relieves her stiff muscles and swims to the palace.  Amelia sees many things—some of which she misinterprets—and she sees a few people, but she doesn't see Emily.  Sadly, she swims home to her family in Marbella.

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