The Real Lagoon

'Diana, Diana, all it reminds me of is Princess Diana. I suppose that counts as royal but mythical...?' Arthur's thought was interrupted when the girl by the name of Diana posed him a question, "Then, what's your name?"

"The name's Arthur." The young man volunteered.

"Like the fabled king?" The girl followed it up with another question.

"That's just an unfortunate coincidence." Arthur got that remark all the time when he introduced himself to new people. The king whom his namesake came from was too famous and the young man wondered if his parents gave him that name in the hopes that he would one day be as successful and respected as the legendary monarch. Their good intention aside, all it ever did was to give Arthur a standard that he could never achieve.

Arthur shrugged and chuckled self-deprecatingly. "Unlike the legendary king, I'm just a common man."

The girl studied Arthur closely for a while before replying, "You're wrong."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"I see greatness in you. Your time will come." The girl concluded. Arthur was caught off guard by the sudden compliment. He scratched his head with embarrassment. For some reason, Arthur got the feeling the words carry more weight than a throw-away compliment by a little girl.

Before the young man could thank her for the kind words, the girl continued with yet another question, "Arthur, why are you here?"

This gave Arthur some pause. For one, the tone with which the girl had said those previous things did not match her appearance at all. Arthur had not met someone younger who addressed him directly by name before. For the sake of mannerism, they would normally add a "big brother" or "uncle". That combined with the sooth-saying words that left her lips earlier convinced Arthur that the little girl could very well be the lake spirit.

Other than that, Arthur was not sure whether he should tell the truth or not. He thought about it and finally decided to be frank. "I'm here looking for a horse."

This was because the girl did not seem like she harboured any hostile intention towards him and Arthur believed the information of his petition carried no importance to any people other than himself. If the girl could provide him information regarding K, then it would be a bonus.

"A horse?" The girl eyed Arthur like she was wondering whether he was toying with her or not. When she believed that he was being serious, she sighed and raised one of her hands to wave at the deplorable state of Blue Lake, "There hasn't been a living soul that come to this place for a long time already. I'm sorry but you got the wrong place."

Arthur frowned. This was the thing he was afraid of. All those traveling and preparation for naught.

He turned to look at the girl and saw she had turned back to focus on the lake. It was as if he had left the scene so she wouldn't need to pay attention to him anymore.

Even though Arthur could only see her back, he could feel the sadness and regret enveloping the girl. 'She must love this place very much. Perhaps it holds some special significance to her.'

Arthur felt the urge to help her but he knew he had no valid option. He could say some words to comfort her but they would only be empty promises. Arthur could sense the devastation the young girl was feeling and he didn't want to add salt onto injury by giving her false hope.

As saddened as he was, there was nothing Arthur could do to save Blue Lake. He looked around the lake like he was trying to memorize this place.

Then, the young man thought about leaving directly but he stopped himself. As much as he hated to pester the girl, especially since she was in such state of despondency but Arthur really did not want to return empty-handed. No one would really fault him for asking a follow-up question, right?

Who knows, perhaps the girl knew K from before Blue Lake was in its current state. If she could provide an additional information on his target, as insignificant as it might be, it would still be better than nothing.

Therefore, Arthur coughed to get Diana's attention and he asked, "Diana, do you know a horse by the name, K? His owner says he likes to adorn himself with seaweed."

"K? Seaweed? Kelp?!" Arthur could hear the gasp in the girl's voice. It was then that Arthur knew he had struck jackpot.

He pressed, "Diana, do you know anything about K? Do you know where he is?"

The girl turned around and she looked at Arthur with similar caution as before, like she was gauging whether she could trust him with the truth or not. In the end, something within Diana told her Arthur was someone that could be trusted so she admitted, "You can find the thing you're looking for at the hidden lagoon. It's not a very well-known place but just follow the Caroline Shore until you reach the very end."

Excited at the fact that he managed to land himself on a concrete lead, Arthur thanked Diana before turning around and gliding towards the trail that he came from with good cheer. When he reached the edge of the woods that ringed Blue Lake, a voice called after him.

"Yea?" Arthur turned back to the pier and he saw Diana looking at him. She seemed like she had something on her lips but in the end, she only told him, "Be careful."

"I will. Thank you again." Arthur waved at the girl but she did not wave back. Arthur shrugged it off as one of her peculiarities. He soon disappeared into the forest and peace returned once more to Blue Lake.

Diana sat at the edge of the pier, looking into the water. This was exactly how Arthur found her. However, this time she had worry etched on her face.

After some time, Diana slipped into the water without making a splash and disappeared into its inky depths.