Despite his royal title, King Hartram—Lord of the Pacific Ocean—didn't look much like a monarch. Certainly, his dress was regal and expensive—and he did have a crown on his head. But King Hart was a merman who could pull off the casual look, even if he were dressed in gold. Similarly, his patterns of speech were equally informal.
At least, they were such when he was speaking with members of his own court and household.
On this particular day, King Hart had gathered his household staff to make an announcement... though, it took him a few minutes to remember this, as he was distracted by one of the footman's anecdotes about the Duke of the Eastern Reef.
When Hart finally got around to speaking, the atmosphere was an amiable one, as most people had taken the opportunity to catch up on gossip and bask in the feeling of work-disruption.
"Right," Hart told the listening staff, once he'd managed to catch their attention. "I just wanted to let you all know that the Atlantic Royals will be paying us a visit next month—"
Rebecca Lisset, one of the servant girls, couldn't stop herself from making a noise of distress.
"Have something you'd like to share with the class, Lisset?" he asked.
It was well-known among the staff that Lisset had—well, had a past, if you wanted to put it politely. And even if her previous deeds weren't all pleasant, it was at always interesting, whenever they came up. Now, nearly all eyes were on the increasingly uncomfortable young mermaid.
"Does the Atlantic have a prince?" she eventually asked, nervousness evident in her eyes.
He had to think about it."I believe so, yes."
"Short? Dark hair? Thinks he's Neptune's gift to the ocean?"
"Have you met him?" asked Hart.
The poor woman was miserable. "Named Roderick?"
The King of the Pacific was surprised. "Lisset, where under the sea did you meet the Atlantic Prince?"
The serving girl was in a state of near-incoherence. "Not under the sea. You introduced me to everyone I know, under the sea. Roderick... I met him while I was human."
He leveled a glance at his servant. He was well-aware that Rebecca Lisset had not always been the polite and accepting mermaid he saw before him. Before joining his household, she hadn't even been the same species. So, he was prepared for her words when he asked: "How bad?"
Lisset's expression was not comforting."Very bad," she answered.
"Well?"
"I met him while I was a passenger on a whaling ship," she began.
"That's bad."
"...we captured him in a net."
"Worse."
"The others wanted to kill him outright."
"You protested, at least?"
Rebecca shook her head. "I said we should keep him alive... so we could sell him."
He shuddered."What happened?"
"He escaped that night. Hopefully, he wouldn't recognize me; he hasn't seen me more than thrice and that's as a different species. You should know, though, that if he sees me... things could get bad."
"What would you do, if he found out?"
She shrugged. "Apologize? But it's not like that'll mean much, considering..."
King Hart nodded. "Very well, Lisset, you'll be transferred to the kitchens, til this whole thing blows over. I'd advise a disguise."
Rebecca nodded. "I appreciate this."
He dismissed her with a wave of his hand.
She turned to go but ,after a moment, he realized he still had something to say.
"Lisset?"
She stopped and looked back at him.
"Thank you, for coming clean about the whole thing. It can't have been easy."
His servant nodded in agreement before she left.
Over the weeks before the Atlantics came to visit, the news that Rebecca had once kidnapped the prince of the opposing ocean spread through the gossip-mill. By the time the actual visit came around, however, it had nearly been forgotten. Or, rather, it was an internalized fact: Lisset mustn't be seen by the visitors; they had had a bad experience with her in the past.
As for Rebecca, she'd adopted a head-scarf and an unusual pattern of face-paint which gave the impression that the bones under her face were shaped a bit differently than they actually were.
Among the Pacific Royals, only the children had not been told. Queen Isadonna also thought it best to conceal Lisset's presence.
It had been several years since the Atlantic and the Pacific Royals had seen each other, so this meeting was an altogether momentous occasion.
Hart remembered Roderick as a rather amusing young boy, with three older sisters who loved to dote on him.
When they greeted the visiting monarchs in the main hall, Hart saw that Roderick was now a young man of considerable presence. His elder sisters were now self-possessed ladies of the court who, Hart was sure, were enjoying the machinations of court politics almost as much as his wife had at their age. The middle daughter was accompanied by a beau: her fiance, if Hart remembered correctly. Though, he wasn't certain he did remember correctly, so he refrained from comment.
The King Eoin and Queen Aria were looking as self-confident and effortlessly graceful as they always did; Hart and Isadonna hated them for that.
As far as Isadonna was concerned, the introductions couldn't be over with fast enough. She wasn't wild about their fellow despots and would be glad when the visit was over...
Since that was a month from happening, however, she at least wished that they were past the awkward small talk that occurred before a suitable topic of conversation had been arranged. The two families had little in common, and so usually wound up talking about whatever entertainment or food was in front of them.
After a few brief, awkward minutes which Hart's own children, still young enough to be ill-adept at hiding their boredom, had fidgeted through (Hart wasn't allowed to fidget), the Atlantics went off to refresh themselves before dinner.
Unfortunately, soon it was time for dinner, and they had to see them again.
It was a rather intimate affair: the two royal families sat at a smallish round-table set aside from the long aristocratic banquet-style feast where the rest of the nobles ate. The two kings sat across from each other, as did the Queens, with the children dispersed between them. After hearing Lisset's words of a few weeks ago, Hart had arranged things so that Prince Roderick was on his right, the better to pester him with questions; perhaps he could even persuade him to tell his version of his encounter with Rebecca.
After about an hour, the Pacific children were excused to go to bed, leaving the adults to talk without even the stimulus a young child can lend to a strained conversation.
Before the meal, Isadonna and Hart had decided that if during the course of the evening they got well and truly bored, the two of them would try to get Roderick to spill the dirt on Rebecca. Because, honestly, what else was there to do? It would be something interesting, at least, to hear a tale of their reformed friend from her days as a human.
After a quarter-hour of painfully shallow dialogue, an adequate springboard was provided in the form of a remark from Eoin, the Atlantic King: "We've been having trouble with the humans fishing our herds."
The Queen of the Pacific picked up on that, nodding sadly. "Humans... they have no respect for the sea. I thank God every day that they don't know of us. Otherwise, how would one sleep at night?"
Her husband took it from there. "We allow them to sail upon our seas, and how do they repay us? With violence and death!"
Roderick, they noted with satisfaction, was starting to look a bit strained.
"Surely, though," the prince put out. "Not all of them are evil?"
Hart laughed, for a few moments, like a man who'd heard a good joke. Then, he clapped Roderick on the shoulder and sighed from sadness. "My boy," he asked, "Have you ever seen one that wasn't?"
Roderick considered his options for a moment. His parents had the air of 'here he goes again' about them, when Roderick straightened his shoulders and replied, "Actually, I have. I met her a few years ago."
His parents sighed. His sisters hid their expressions behind fans. The fiance looked interested, though; it was the first time he'd heard this story.
"Roderick—" started his mother.
"No, mother. He asked the question, after all."
"Which you don't have to answer in explicit detail," Aria pointed out.
He shook off her warnings. "Would you like to hear about it?"
The king inclined his head. "If it is worth hearing, then by all means tell it."
The prince sighed. "It was three years ago, more or less, during the annual shark-hunt. I'd... become separated from the main body of the hunters, and had just come to terms with the fact that I was well and truly lost, when I became entangled in a school of fish swimming from something or other.
"Thinking it was a shark, I prepared to defend myself. Unfortunately, once I'd managed to turn around, it was too late to move away from what I was rapidly realizing was not a shark but a net.
"When next I could catch my breath, I was tangled in said net and being drawn above the surface of the water, and coming face-to-face with the first humans I'd ever seen."
Isadonna and Hart exchanged a glance with a message to it. It said: 'at least it's not boring anymore. Still, let's hope he isn't working himself into some sort of murderous rage.'
Roderick continued with his story, which had quite a few of the surrounding courtiers interested, at this point.
"There were perhaps fifty of them, mostly males. Now, they were expecting to deal with harmless fish only to find themselves with a merman. For some minutes, all they could do was stand and gawk. Which was unfortunate because I was stuck hanging upside down while they got over their shock.
"While they observed me, I looked over them. They did not look much better or much worse than the average being.
"And when I say they 'looked' a certain way, you must understand that I don't mean their appearance."
"Roderick is a soul-reader," explained Queen Aria. "has been ever since he was ten. He can tell things like intentions and see the inner-self, all with his eyes."
Roderick nodded and went on. "Their intentions were mostly along the lines of acquisition of money-although there were a few in there merely trying to provide for their families. As I said, they were an ordinary bunch by any measure.
"After they'd satisfied themselves that they weren't dreaming, the first impulse seemed to be to kill me. I was something they'd never seen before and people paid for novelty, didn't they? In fact, they were just discussing the best way to do it when a human I had not noticed before raised her voice in protest.
"This one was a female, young, and a passenger by the looks of things. She had one of the more beatific souls I've seen in my life, and I could tell her intentions towards me were good; so it took me a moment to realize that she wasn't advocating for my release but merely my survival until I could be sold for a greater profit to all concerned."
Here Roderick paused to see how the courtiers were taking his story before going on.
"It took me another minute to realize that, in fact, it was perhaps better for all concerned that she should maintain her loyalty to her own kind. After all, I was planning to be gone from there at first opportunity, and she'd be left to deal with the consequences. I couldn't begrudge her her efforts to remain in the whalers' good graces.
"I could also tell that she was terrified. She needed these people to do...something. I couldn't tell what it was, but it was important to her. Yet, she was prepared to die to protect me, if push came to shove, which she was very much afraid it would.
"In the end, though, she managed to convince them that keeping me prisoner was the best plan available, and I was shoved into a tub of water with my hands tied to my tail-fin, and a guard to watch over me.
"After that, nothing much happened until nightfall. I'd managed to untie myself by then, but I maintained the same posture, thinking to fool them and escape while they slept.
"Unfortunately, this guard seemed to be a vigilant one. He didn't look tired. It was half-way to morning, and I was starting to become seriously worried, when the human girl showed up again.
"She flirted with the guard, and showed him a bottle of spirits she'd gotten from the stores, and they proceeded to play a drinking game.
"Now, I don't know much about humans, but I don't think a grown man would fall over unconscious after two or three shots. That, however, is what happened. The girl, who had not drunk as much due to her winning streak in the game, was, I could tell, merely feigning unconsciousness, intending to help me if I needed it, but hoping I'd be able to get away on my own-so that she wouldn't need to get more involved.
"Well, I didn't need her help anymore, she'd done more than enough. So, I lifted myself out of the water, and a moment later I was back in the ocean."
Here, he paused. "Yes, I have met a decent human; but, if I hadn't been a soul-reader, I wouldn't have known it. And that is my theory: there are good humans out there, but they disguise themselves among their kin. Therefore, I make it a point to treat each human I meet as though they might be one of those hidden heroes."
The Pacific Royals, frankly, were in a state of confusion.
"So, then," said the queen. "If you could see her again, you'd want to thank her?"
The prince wasn't sure why they were even asking. "Of course-" He was silenced when the Pacific King held up a hand.
King Hart was considering something. It was awhile before he spoke to Roderick again, but when he did, he said, "Now, that's truly a remarkable story, Prince Roderick. If I may, I'd like to share one of my own experiences with humans."
Roderick was wary. "If you wish it, certainly."
Hart nodded. "It was also close to three years ago. The Queen and I were out for a swim through the out-lands. It was early, so not many were yet out. The odd part came when we saw one of our subjects, but she didn't acknowledge us. It was a young mermaid; she had the look of a nomad about her. Certainly, there are loners, but even they seemed to recognize us, most of the time. 'Was she trying to insult us by feigning ignorance?' we wondered.
Here, Hartram paused, and thought briefly. "Now, I'm not a soul-reader, or anything impressive really," he said, "but I do have a good memory for dialogue, so this next part is the clearest to me.
"After we approached her, she tried to avoid us by going into a cave; but, we followed her and saw some rude living arrangements. She soon noticed we were there and after that the fun began.
"'Hello,' she said, 'I'm Rebecca'.
"We introduced ourselves as 'Hart' and 'Isadonna', but she still didn't seem to recognize us. She seemed pleasant enough, for a kid living alone in a cave. We couldn't get much out of her, except that she was staying there for the night, and planned to leave in the morning. We offered to let her stay with us, but she didn't seem too keen on the idea. Well, there's only so long you can talk with someone who doesn't like you before the conversation starts to wear thin, so we were soon out of there.
"We were just about to head back to the palace, when Isadonna thought of something else she wanted to ask the girl; so we decided to go back. When we got there, we were shocked to find, not a mermaid, but a human floating in the cave. Humans tend to float, you see, and so she was up against the top of the cave ceiling, unconscious and close to death. I saw immediately that it was the mermaid we'd seen earlier, even if she was now in human form. So, I did the first thing I could think of, and turned her back into a mermaid with my scepter.
"That seemed to help her a great deal, as she started breathing again afterwards. After a few moments, she woke up, seeming more than a little surprised to find us there.
"'You came back, then?' she asked us; seemed annoyed at the fact, more than anything else. Well, when we asked her how she'd come to be nearly dead and human, she just shook her head.
"'the real question' she said, 'is 'how did I end up a mermaid in the first place?'. My true form is that of a human.'
"'Oh, I see,' I thought I had it figured out. 'So you accidentally reverted to your true form? It's a good thing we came around, then. How did you become a mermaid?'
"'I was cursed.' she said.
"'Cursed?' we were curious.
"'I was not the most admirable of characters, and I chose a very unfortunate time to rant about the superiority of the human race. An enchantress overheard my words and grew angry. She told me that I was ignorant and thoughtless and that, for my shortcomings, I must spend a month as a daughter of the sea.'
"'So you've been out here for a month? all by yourself? Did you lose track of the time?'
"'No, I counted the days, and today is the thirty-first since I was changed.'
"After that, we couldn't help but be silent for a few moments.
"'So, then', asked the queen, 'you were trying to kill yourself?'
"'Yes,' she said.
"'Why?' we wanted to know.
"'I am one who has lost her humanity and been tainted by the inferior races. There isn't much for me to go back to anymore. Even if no one questioned my absence, I would know of my own impurity, and it would haunt me for the rest of my life.'
"'You don't want to go back to the human world?' It seemed to me that a person like her would breach at the chance to go back.
"'There is nothing there for me' she shook her head, 'not anymore.'
"Well, even if she was a biased racist, it was hard not to feel sorry for the kid; so we made her an offer: 'Would you like to stay in our kingdom, then?' we asked.
"'What?'
"'I am King Hart, and this is Queen Isadonna. We rule over this ocean. You could come work in the palace.'
"'What if I want to stay here?' She didn't trust us an inch.
"'That is your choice. But, remember, you won't turn back human. So suicide will be a lot harder.' I pointed out. And I thought the Queen was going to murder me for suggesting that killing herself was still an option.
"The kid seemed to appreciate it, though.'Hmm. Well, as long as you're willing to give me the freedom of choice, I see no reason to refuse.' she said.
"And so, Rebecca Lisset came to live with us, in the palace; she's still here to this day."
The King of the Pacific turned to the Prince of the Atlantic."What do you think of that, Ricky?"
The Prince did think it over. "Certainly, there are humans out there who are ignorant and misguided, but that does not mean all of them are that way."
"I agree, but, you know, neither Isadonna nor myself is a soul-reader. How do we know for sure that the girl wasn't lying to us?"
"Why would she lie?"
"Well, what if the truth was unbelievable? Wouldn't some people rather be thought an honest criminal than a lying one?"
Roderick was lost at this point."Sorry?"
"If Lisset had shown up and claimed that her transformation was all a misunderstanding, and that she really did believe that mermen and humans were equal, do you think we would have trusted her?"
"It would have seemed as though she were hiding something."
"Right. Whereas, she was upfront in telling us the reason for her banishment. She let her actions speak for her. We quickly saw that she could keep her head, and didn't make trouble with the other servants; not what you'd expect from one cursed for running her mouth."
"It is interesting, certainly."
"Even if Lisset had been one of those 'hidden heroes' you mentioned, we wouldn't have believed her had she claimed to be one of them."
"If she tried to kill herself because mermen are 'impure', I doubt she was one of the selfless."
"Yes, it seems so, doesn't it? But here's the strange thing: when I told the staff that your family was coming to visit, Lisset looked like she was going to be sick. She told me that she'd met you before, and that you wouldn't be happy if the two of you met again."
"Was she one of those on the whaling ship, then? There were several females among them..."
"Yes, in fact, she confessed and told me the whole thing: how you were captured by them, how the others were going to kill you. I can only imagine how hard that must have been for her. You see, Lisset has come a long way in our eyes since she first got here. She went from an angry human to one of us, and here she was bringing up something that would probably set her right back to square one."
"Yes, from your words, it would seem as though she has changed. I'm glad to hear it, actually. It's good to know that one of my captors has seen the error of their ways."
"Isn't it? Oh, and she told me one more thing."
"Yes?"
"You would probably be especially angry with her, since she was the one who suggested that they sell you."
"What?"
"Yes. That's got my head spinning as well..."
"She... she was the passenger? That's not..."
"So, now you see the dilemma. That passenger girl, as you described her, wouldn't have minded being turned into a mermaid. She'd have probably laughed and spent the whole month touring the landmarks and swimming with whales. The Lisset we know tried to kill herself because of her transformation and I want to know why."
Hart thought for a moment, reasoning through his train of thought. "Now, Lisset doesn't speak in her own favor, if she can help it. She thinks heroes are arrogant block-heads, and there're precious few ways to get an un-spun story out of her..."
"Now, wait," said Roderick. "You mean, she's truly here? In this room, actually?"
"No, not in this room. She's one of the serving-girls: she's hiding in the kitchen."
"What does she think of me?"
"Quite embarrassed at the thought of seeing you again. She said she'd like to apologize, but it was probably better to avoid seeing you."
"I'd like to thank her, for what she did for me; what she was willing to do."
"Well, I appreciate your sentiment, but that wouldn't do a whole lot of good right now. What's done is done. She saved you; she didn't ask for anything in return; she's undoubtedly put the whole thing behind her. If you really want to do something for her, then keeping her heroism quiet would actually be a better gift. She doesn't seem to mind being thought the villain, but she does seem to hate looking soft."
Hart looked satisfied with his own reasoning. None of the Atlantic Royals did, but they were not Hart, so the king didn't care. "So, here's what I'm going to do" he announced. "I'm going to call her up from the kitchen, so that she can apologize and explain her story to you. She owes you that much, or so she thinks. And, so help me, if anyone here lets on that they know she was trying to help the prince, that person won't get an invitation to the next court ball. Am I understood?" he asked his courtiers.
They all made noises of assent, thinking this was a fine game.
And so, the waiter Caruso was sent off to get Lisset, and instructed to say nothing, on pain of having to clean the palace gutters.
When she arrived, Rebecca stuck her head into the doorway and looked about before swimming nervously into the room. She was sans disguise, as per Caruso's instructions, and it made her nervous.
"Hello, Lisset."
"Your Majesty."
"Roderick, this is Rebecca Lisset. I believe you two have met before."
Roderick's face was cold. He wasn't sure he liked what Hart was doing. Rebecca mistook the expression as meant for her, and shot her king a look which asked, 'why are you doing this to me?'
Roderick noticed her distress, and decided it was better to speak than keep his grudge against Hartram."You look like that girl who was on the whaling ship," started Roderick, "but I am fairly certain you were a human when last we met."
Rebecca seemed to debate with herself about whether to speak or not. After a few seconds, she decided there was no way out of it, and fell into a manner which was rather more seedy than her normal persona. The court members picked up on it, but were uncertain of what to think.
"Yes. Well, I am sorry about that whole business, Your Highness..."
"Hmm." said Roderick, non-committally. "Still," he said. "How did you end up like this?"
Rebecca coughed. "Well, that's actually rather inspirational, if you think about it."
Hart spoke next: "How did it happen, Lisset? Prince Roderick's just told us his part, and, frankly, it didn't involve you as a mermaid."
Rebecca smiled bitterly. "Well, I suppose you could say that the prince happened to witness part of my story, he just didn't see the exposition or climax or conclusion..." She noticed Hart's unashamedly curious expression and sighed. " I suppose you want to hear it, then?"
Hart spread his arms. "I can't think of anything I'd rather listen to."
"Hmm..." Rebecca glanced at Roderick and raised an eyebrow. The prince nodded, to show it was alright with him.
"Well," she said. "The first thing to know about me: I was an orphan. My parents died when I was five and my cousin took me in."
From here, it became a two-way dialogue between Rebecca and the king. Everyone else was listening intently, but unwilling to interrupt the entertaining performance.
"What did your parents do?" asked the king, his eyes soft at the mention of death.
Rebecca sighed. "They were fishers."
"Oh."
"Yes. So, I was staying with my cousin. He owned a store and I'd help him take care of it. He was planning to marry me off, once I got old enough. He had his own family; he didn't want to be stuck with me forever. That wasn't what I wanted either. But I didn't want marriage; at least, not right away.
"I was a dancer; had been ever since I'd seen a ballet troupe performing at mid-summer's festival. There was a local studio, and I paid for my lessons by helping the teacher and owner, Mrs. Trent, out with cleaning and maintenance.
"So, that was my life: I was a shop-keeper's ward, but I was mostly a dancer; and I was good at it. I was way out beyond the top of my class, practicing more than any of them, obsessing over my form and flexibility. Mrs. Trent encouraged me; she told me I had a shot at being one of the greats. There were no guarantees, of course, because it's not like I was phenomenal: I was merely excellent. If I played my cards right, there was a good chance I could find a place in a half-way decent ballet troupe. I'd never be a prima, but I could last longer than most, because the background dancers don't have to be as young. "
"You were a dancer?" Hart was in shock. "But, we have dancers here, and you never tried to join them..."
She shook her head. "It's not the same. Ballet is a human dance: it's all legs and balance, and grace in the face of gravity. Ballet was what I was good at. And, I know it's not the purest of motives, but what drew me most to ballet was the fact that I was so much better at it than everyone I knew."
Hart shot her a disapproving look.
Rebecca raised her hands. "I know, I know, but it's how I felt about it. I'd have no advantage if I took up dance now; I'd even be behind. So, I didn't bother."
"All right, then. What next?"
"Well, I wanted to dance, but I was near on fifteen; my cousin was tying to set me up with this merchant he knew. It was a good match, but I didn't really like the guy. I was trying to find an excuse to get out of it; any excuse, really. Mrs. Trent was the one who saved me. She got me an audition with the Belltole troupe: very prestigious if I say so myself. It was the best I'd be able to hope for: a once in a lifetime opportunity. Now, all I had to do was get my cousin to agree to let me try out."
"He wouldn't let you go?"
"The audition was in Erwon. Getting there meant taking passage on a ship, probably a fishing vessel, for a good week. And it wasn't as though any of my family or my teacher could drop their affairs and come with me. Would you want one of the princesses to make such a journey alone?"
"I can see his reservation."
"Yes, well, I finally got him to agree, by saying that I'd accept that merchant's proposal if things didn't work out. It was a bit of a risk but, hey, I was already fifteen. If I wasn't accepted into a troupe now, it wasn't likely to ever happen. Besides, Mrs. Trent was confident that, as long as no one too spectacular showed up, I'd get in. So, I booked passage on a whaler, and set off to try and make something of my life."
"Then you ran into Roderick."
She looked uncomfortable. "Yes."
"Got anything to say for yourself?"
"Well, I am sorry. I didn't know. How could I have known? - but I'm not trying to make excuses. I tried to sell a sentient being for my own profit. All I can say is, 'I'm sorry, but I did pay for it.'"
This got Roderick's attention. "How?"
Rebecca sighed. "Well, it wasn't a day after you left that we decided to put into port, let off some steam, moan about our troubles, and tell everyone in the bar about 'the merman who got away'.
"We told it in turns, me and the crew. The captain was good at getting to crowd involved; the cook was good at railing against the fates; it was quite entertaining. If we couldn't get rich, we would at least get some free food and drink for our adventure.
"Everything was going fine... until it wasn't. This old lady in one of the booths, she'd been listening to everything we'd said with an expression of horror on her face. We ignored her, hoping she'd go away if she didn't like what we were saying... but, no. After a few minutes, she was over by us, yelling about how we ought to be ashamed of doing that to a living being. Well, we just laughed at her, and I said-"
"What?" asked Hart.
"Um..."
"What is it, Lisset?"
"You realize I haven't always been the moral paragon of virtue that I am today?"
"Of course."
"Well, I said... that she didn't understand the scientific value of finding another species... and that the discomfort undergone by any one individual... was outweighed by the greater good of humanity."
Hart looked at her.
"I know, it was stupid, but, come on, that was three years ago!"
"Still..." said Hart.
Rebecca sighed. "Yeah, I know. She wasn't impressed either. She said something along the lines of, "These sailors' ignorance, I can understand, for they know no better. You, on the other hand, have no excuse for your actions." Then... she wasn't an angry old woman anymore... there was this light, and then she was a beautiful sorceress... who was very, very angry with me."
"Ouch." said Hart.
"Yeah, I know," said Rebecca. "Anyway, she said something about how I had to learn respect for the people of the ocean, and that my punishment would be to live as one of them for a phase of the moon."
"Seriously?"
"Yes. So, that's pretty much it. I woke up, saw that I was underwater, but I wasn't drowning. Humans die when they breathe water; my parents died that way. It was... surprising.
"So, I was more or less in a panic by that time. The audition was in two days, and I had no legs with which to dance.
"I thought about trying to find the sorceress, offering to serve a different month as a fish-person. Two months, even, just so long as it meant making the audition. But, I had no clue how to find her; she was probably still on land, anyway.
"I followed the shipping lanes to town, and hung around there for the next three days, not wanting to accept that it was really over: that someone else had joined the troupe, and all that I could do was swim back home and marry Cliff.
"That's about when I met the Pacific Royals."
Hart looked as though he suddenly understood something. "Oh, that makes a lot more sense now."
Queen Isadonna nodded.
Rebecca smiled. "They met me near the end of the month, and offered me a place among them. After that, things got a lot better."
"So," said Roderick, "if you could go back to the human world, would you want to?"
"What? No, of course not..." Rebecca trailed off, thinking she'd heard something. Indeed, it was the trumpets announcing the return of the knights. She looked expectantly at Hart.
"Yes, Lisset, you may go."
She bowed. When she straightened, however, she frowned, as something caught her eyes. "Is he all right?" she asked.
The eyes of the court turned to the fiance of the middle sister. He looked as though he'd just witnessed a murder, such was the degree of horror in his expression.
"Oh, he'll be fine," said Hart. "He just doesn't like dinner parties."
Rebecca shot him an incredulous look, before deciding that she didn't care and shot out of the room.
After Rebecca left, there remained a heavy melancholy in the air.
"Oh, come on," said Hart to the crying man. "It's not as bad as all that."
"I don't see how it could be much worse." said Roderick. "I always wondered what happened to her. I hoped for her happiness. She saved me, and for her trouble, her dreams were taken away."
Isadonna went to the window. "It is tragic," she admitted. "But good can come of tragedy as well as comedy."
Below them, in the courtyard, Rebecca was embracing one of the pages who had accompanied the knights on their expedition.
"She might have been a dancer; she might have failed. If she had become a dancer, she might have been injured and been forced to beg in the streets. She might have become famous and married a viscount. But she didn't do any of that. Instead, she saved a young merman, then spoke out at the wrong time and became one of my people. Whatever she was, or could have been then, now she is one of us."