Meanwhile, back at the palace, Queen Catarina and Prince Renauld were in conference in the queen's chambers.
"You should be happy now, congratulations," Prince Renauld began, "you finally got Anastasia to walk down the aisle."
"Yes, I'm absolutely tickled pink about her wedding," Queen Catarina mused, "but Anastasia still isn't speaking to me. And now heaven knows where she and Alexandra are. They disappeared under the cover of darkness with their partners very late last night."
"Why isn't she speaking to you, Cat? Did you tell her something that made her upset?"
"You know this already, Renauld. When Anastasia gets upset with someone, she simply stops talking to them. This is what she does. It's vintage Anastasia."
"Have you tried to text her?"
"Text her?"
"Yes, send her a text message on your new smart phone."
"Come on, Renauld, you know I don't know how to work that."
"It's quite simple, Cat. Just press that button to open the messages tab and start typing. There are even some pre-written messages on this one. Even your grandson knows how to do this."
"I don't know about this, Renauld."
"Cat -- Cat, this marriage edict was ill advised. You put pressure on them to wed, when they should have gotten married only when they were ready. You did the same thing to Sebastian and Francisca too."
"Renauld, do you realize I've never even spoken to my new son-in-law? I don't know who he is, or where he's from, or anything about him. There's a database of every resident in this town and his name doesn't even show up on it. It's almost as if -- as if -- he showed up out of nowhere. Something is very fishy about this."
"What do you mean?"
"I give the girls an edict to marry and all of a sudden both of them have boyfriends? Something is not right about this."
As Queen Catarina left, Prince Renauld smiled a knowing smile. He knew the whole story but dare not tell his wife.
Early-morning rains on the island gave way to bright sunshine and warm temperatures.
Anastasia arose from her bridal bed to sample the varied delicacies on the resort's buffet menu.
"The French toast is delicious," mused Alexandra, "almost as good as mom's butler Aldo makes it. Have you tried the eggs Machiavellian yet?"
Anastasia laughed. "No, I just got here. Lucian's still sound asleep."
"Did you guys -- you know, did you do it?"
"Do what?"
"You know -- the woohoo thing."
"Oh yeah, that. Well, we've got the rest of our lives --"
Alexandra changed the subject. "Dad called this morning."
"Really?"
"He asked how I was doing, what you were doing, that kind of thing."
"I'll call him later."
"He said Mom was looking for us."
"Really? I'm sure she is. She'll be looking a couple more days. I'm not telling her."
Inspired after breakfast, Anastasia took out her trusty sketch pad -- she'd never been without one since she'd gotten her very first one from Prince Renauld when she was a child -- and began to do a little drawing. She wondered what features of Sparkling Sands she could take back home when she remodeled the Redwood Heights Lodge. "It definitely needs a pool area, and some decorations in the lobby," she thought as she sketched out a pool with a fountain.
The honeymooning couple was proclaiming their love everywhere they went, taking pictures in front of every major landmark in Isla Paradiso.
They played in the ocean...
...showing off their new KILLER tans...
...and basically spent their days soaking up the sun's rays.
While Anastasia was relaxing, Alexandra had hopped on her scooter and took off.
She was spending her days aboard the houseboat she'd rented, applying various upgrades.
And when she wasn't on the houseboat she was exploring caves deep under the sea.
On one of her late night dives Alexandra spotted something that wasn't quite a fish and wasn't quite human. It had a human head and torso, but it appeared in the darkness to have a fish tail. Could it be -- one of the fabled mer-sims? Alexandra would have to investigate further.
Her curiosity getting the better of her, Alexandra swam after the creature, trying as best as she could not to make herself conspicuous.
Finally she caught up to the creature and, indeed, on further inspection, it was indeed a Mer-sim. A male mer-sim. Alexandra examined him closely, well, as closely as she could.
"Who are you?" he asked her warily.
"I'm Alex. You?"
"Salty Seaworth."
"Are you really --"
"Yes --"
"I eat kelp mostly."
"What's kelp?"
"It's a plant native to the ocean deeps."
"Hmm. I see --"
"Now leave me alone."
"Fine, I was just --"
Salty swam away, leaving Alexandra muttering and shaking her head. Her first encounter with one of the fabled mer-sims hadn't gone the way she thought it would.
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