The moment Leena stepped through the door of the new room, she was mobbed by her anxious cousins.

"What's going on?" Silas cried. "They moved us here right after you left. What are they going to do to us?"

"Calm down. They're not gonna do anything to us."

"How do you know? This place looks like the set from Aliens. How do we know there isn't something hiding in the air ducts or whatever that's gonna –"

"Knock it off. You're scaring Violet." Leena looked around. The room was smaller than the one she had just left, with similar furnishings. There was enough red light to see the irregular texture of the walls and the two low platforms built into them at the far end of the room. Leena walked over to one and tapped on the panel above it, then jumped when it sprang open a few inches. Behind the panel was an alcove about the size of a wall locker, containing a dark cylindrical mass. Leena poked at it; it felt like a big cushion. She closed the panel.

"That Algrim guy asked me a bunch of questions about our family, about Maedh and your mom and Grandmother. He was really interested in everybody who's part elf. He seems to think we're related to somebody he knew."

"Are they going to let us go?" Silas asked. "We've got to get home. We've gotta find Kelly –"

Leena didn't let the others see her reaction.

"We can't help Kelly. We can't even help ourselves. I don't know what's going to happen to us."

The trio sat huddled in the darkness of their new quarters while Leena wondered silently what they were going to do and Silas wondered aloud if they were in space by now. He thought their captors had been on Earth recently; he recalled seeing a news broadcast – "from, like, France or something" – only a few days ago. Leena recalled being too caught up in preparations for the job to pay attention to the TV. Violet clutched the lighter and said nothing.

After a while the door opened again and a guard entered wordlessly, leaving behind three bowls of runny mush and a jug of what turned out to be water. They ate cautiously, not saying much; Leena guessed that they were being monitored somehow.

Algrim returned sooner than they expected. This time, instead of escorting Leena away for questioning, he came a few steps into the room and stopped.

"I must speak with you." He watched the huddled trio in the corner, waiting for a response.

Leena had gotten to her feet the moment she heard the door open. She returned Algrim's gaze uneasily. At some point during their previous interview, she and her cousins had gone from prisoners to guests, and she wasn't sure how.

"I'll go with you," she offered.

"What I have to say is for you all," Algrim said gravely. "I have come to the understanding that you are the last surviving relations of Malekith."

Leena said nothing. Behind her, Silas and Violet exchanged glances.

"Who?" Silas asked.

Algrim blinked and looked questioningly at Leena. Apparently he had expected her to pass on what he had told her. She stared back at him.

"What's he talking about, Leena?" Violet whispered anxiously.

"It was one of Maedh's lines, about how the Convergence was coming and Malekith would come back and then we'd get our due," Leena muttered. Algrim frowned at them.

"Do you know nothing of your heritage?" The question was directed at Silas and Violet. Silas shrugged.

"Our mothers were half-elves." Violet's voice was small but clear.

"What else?"

"Elves live longer than regular humans. And there are different kinds. Our grandmother was a Dark Elf."

Algrim nodded.

"She left us long ago, before the fall of Harudheen. Before she departed, her brother gave her this." He opened his hand, revealing Leena's necklace. Leena jumped forward to snatch it back, but he closed his hand again and held in out of her reach.

"Oh, come on!" Leena cried. "What is that thing supposed to be, anyway?"

"It is a beacon, given to our operatives on their missions," Algrim said. "When they have completed their mission, it can be activated so that they may be found, wherever they are. There are no others known to be missing."

"So our grandmother was some kind of 'operative'?" Leena demanded.

"No, she was a princess, and as such she could not be simply abandoned, despite her eccentricities."

So that's what Maedh meant about the necklace bringing help.

"I still don't get it," Silas said. "Who the heck is Malekith? And weren't you guys in, like, Paris or something a few days ago?"

"Malekith, the son of Kitharn, was our king, and the brother of your grandmother, Alflyse." Algrim seemed content to ignore the second question.

"So… that makes us royalty?" Silas guessed. "Hey Leena! We're royalty!"

"Yeah, yeah." Leena motioned at him to shut up. "Was that what you need to talk to us about?"

Algrim straightened up and adopted a look of stiffly formal courtesy. "There is something you must know. You, Khaleen, know already that Malekith is… dead. He has no living kin but you. Therefore, you are his heirs, and have a right to his title.

"There is more." He paused, seeming to mull over his next words. "We lost many men in battle with Asgard and during the Convergence, and there were few enough before that. Those who are left… without a king to lead them, they are losing hope. I believe that you might change that." He looked straight at Leena.

"Wait – me?"

"Yes. You are the next in line. If you were presented to them under the right circumstances, they would accept you."

"Woah woah woah." Leena looked around, bewildered. "You want me to take over from Malekith and what? Lead these guys? I thought you were the leader."

"I am captain of this Ark and of the men aboard it," he replied. "But I too was only a servant of the king. I may command the men's actions; I cannot command their hearts."

Leena could feel Silas and Violet staring at her. She felt like she ought to be laughing; this was ludicrous. But there was no sign of humor in Algrim's face. He was watching her expectantly, almost hopefully.

"Can I talk to you outside?" she asked. He nodded.

Once in the corridor, Algrim closed the door and turned to face Leena. She chewed her lip, trying to make sense of what she had just heard.

"So, you think I'm next in line for the throne or whatever?"

"You are the only surviving child of the eldest daughter of the Princess. Maedh was the firstborn, was she not?" He hesitated.

"Yeah, yeah." She was still thinking. "And you want me too… Oh, man. Dude, I can't even take care of my own family."

"I do not ask you to do anything, merely to be." He seemed to fumble for an explanation. "A king is a fixed point around which his people revolve. He gives them order and purpose. We no longer have that order and purpose. I ask you to restore it. I can continue to manage the dealings of the Ark."

"So you want me to be like the Queen of England." Algrim answered with a confused stare. Leena tried to clarify. "She doesn't make laws or anything, but everybody still cheers and sings God Save the Queen and stuff. She's a figurehead. You want me to be a figurehead."

"Yes." There was a desperate edge in Algrim's voice."The Dark Elves are dying. Your people are dying. I cannot fill the void that Malekith left. I cannot give the men courage. You must, or we are lost."

Leena took a half step back, staring. From the moment she had first seen him, Algrim had given off a sense of effortless ability and confidence. Now, though, he stood before her with his hands outstretched, looking as if he might fall to his knees at any moment. To see him begging terrified Leena; she felt she ought to turn away or throw a blanket over him, anything to give him back some dignity.

"Khaleen." He was waiting for a response. What else could she do?

"Ok."