âĄÂťÂ the tiny princess mostly certainly hadnât expected anyone other than herself to be at the enchanted lake at such an hour. she had expected to enjoy her alone time under the pavilion, maybe tie some pretty flowers in her hair and float across the surface, mourn her fit of the plague and impending death â you know, normal things. what she hadnât expected was for something ( or someone, perhaps  ? ) to start jumping in and out of the water, but she ignored it, assuming it was nothing more than some sort of animal.
     â this poor animal âŚÂ they seem to be coming nearer and nearer to where i lie âŚÂ they must not be aware of how utterly deadly this plague â â sheâs cut off by a loud scream sounding just in front of her, tearing a scream of her own out of the small girl as she scrambles to sit up, to find the source of such an utterly startling sound.
     â WHAT ARE YOU DOING ?!  â she cries, and before she can realise or do anything about it, terrified tears are streaming down her face.  â oh ! look what youâve done ! oh, youâve gone ahead and made the princess cry ! oh, deary me, this is very upsetting for the princess ! very upsetting indeed.  â she sniffles, covering her eyes with her hands.  â what were you doing making the princess cry like this ? this is so cruel of you âŚÂ yes, so very cruel. sheâs already dying of this terrible plague and you went ahead and made her cry ?  â she pulls her feet out of the water and pulls her legs up onto the stone, hugging her knees to herself as she tries to bring herself to a calming.  *â§ď˝Ąâ
did lakes echo ? when she'd screamed, facing the cliffs covering the lake, she'd heard another smaller scream. it didn't seem like the kind of formation that could echo, but maybe this was some sort of dumb magical lake for mermaids or something that repeated whatever sound it --
and then the second voice kept talking, SCREECHING.
giona spun around, dripping wet. her hands reached up to unstick her hair from her eyes, and she squinted with a crunched-up nose at some figure on the banks of the lake. she caught only bits of the yelling, but she'd learned to zone out anyone yelling at her anyway.
the young witch swam through the lake with a bit of struggle, breathing easier when she could feel the ground underneath her again. and then she began stomping towards the so-called princess.
â what -- ? why -- ? why are you talking like that ?! there's literally nobody else here, are you literally talking about yourself in the third person ? unless this lake has the ghost of a secret invisible princess that's somehow dying of a plague or whatever -- didn't the plague already die, like, a billion years ago ? â she didn't pay attention as the girl hugged her knees, only stomping closer until she was finally right in front of her, still in the water.
â hey. hey, princess. KID. i canât even hear myself think !! -- STOP CRYING or i'll give you a REASON to actually CRY, â she warned, putting her hands on her hips.Â