Theodore's plan involved something basic, something simple, something anyone could do if they're good at acting, and it's a plan that's getting looks between Catherine and Cole.
In his plan, they'll return to the castle, Cole, in his disguise, reveals that he killed the king, proving to the court that Catherine was right. Theodore and Lila masquerade themselves as guards for the fictional kingdom that Cole came from that had orders from that kingdom's king for Cole's retrieval pending trial and punishment for unrelated crimes.
In return for allowing Cole's departure from Scotland, the court's given lavish coins, everything that Cole found in his underwater trek, enough to appease the court for the death of the king.
With the baron becoming ineligible for marrying, Catherine won't have to worry about producing the world's disturbing hybrid children, and she'll have plenty of time to herself before the next set of suitors comes her way.
There, that's the plan, the simplest plan in all the world.
As Theodore pointed out, Cole may've accidentally killed Catherine's father, but he hadn't done anything to her, so the punishment must fit the crime. It's a grievous misuse of justice if Theodore simply sacks Cole for harassing Catherine, a different story had he tried to actively covert her into one of the hybrids for breeding.
As to what'll happen to Cole, since Theodore opted not to kill him because he'd only killed one person since his arrival and seemed willing to talk to them, Theodore's banishing him to a different world far from this version of Earth.
It won't be anything like his home world, Theodore wouldn't guarantee the world he sends Cole to is a bowl of cherries, but he can guarantee it'll be a world that Cole has a decent chance for himself that wouldn't cause issues in the future, provided Cole stays within that world.
Going over the plan in detail left Catherine with a look on her face, but Theodore said it was the only plan that he can think of that would've given everyone what they wanted, within reason.
Stressing on "within reason."
Cole's exasperated look on his scaly face's enough to get his point across, but Theodore insisted that it's the plan that they're going with, whether they like it or not.
"But, what will I do?" Cole asks Theodore what's expected of him when he enters the new world that Theodore found for him, far removed from his home world, far removed the earth he landed.
Shrugging his wide shoulders, Theodore tells him that it's the best he can do, because Cole's alive in that scenario, and if he didn't take the deal, he'd risk execution by Catherine and her family court.
"What kind of justice is this?" Catherine called into question what Theodore's plan meant in terms of avenging her father's death and Theodore answers that the justice comes in that it's not guaranteed what world Cole's ending up, whatever world he ends up, he's staying, so it's a matter of a wing and a prayer what he gets.
The adrenaline rush of ending up in a terrifying new environment alone's enough to repay the agony of losing her father, and with the amassed fortune turned over by Cole, it's more than enough to satiate the court.
"He admits his guilt, we take him in, you become queen, everyone's happy," Theodore summed the plan for her as she crossed her bare arms.
Lila asks what'll happen if the court doesn't approve of the arrangement or even double cross them, as it's known to happen in their time.
Thinking it over, Theodore tells Lila that they have their psychic papers, they can force the court into agreeing with their plan.
"Now, Cole, I do believe you have enough to cover the loss, do you not?" Theodore turned his head towards Cole as he tilted his odd-shaped head.
Slowly, Cole nodded as he said that he's found lost coins and jewels in his swim throughout the ocean and loch, but he doesn't know the worth, he's just been tossing at everyone's feet in hope it's enough for them not to ask any questions.
"She told me they liked the ruby ones the best," Cole thoughtfully said, causing an immediate reaction with Catherine looking at him in the eye.
Raising his hands in defense, Cole elaborated that it wasn't Catherine who told him that the ruby ones worked best with the people in her family's court.
Her brow raised, Lila inquired, "Wait, wait, hold the phone, you're changing your story, there, Cole, you're telling us that someone gave you insight what to bribe the court, now, why would that be?"
Suddenly, the fish monster's telling them that someone told him exactly what to give the court to win them over.
Cogs turning in his head, Theodore spoke up, asking Cole if he intended to rule Scotland.
Shaking his head, Cole swore he didn't intend ruling on land, he wanted to rule the waters, something familiar. Leave the land to the humans, if it'd make it easier for them to accept.
"Okay, now here's a riddle, who told you what the court liked?" Lila gestures as she wanted to know who gave insight on what Catherine's family court liked, which Cole said the woman called herself Mary.
Mary.
Queen of Scotland, Mary?!
"So much for that easy plan," Lila looked over to Theodore who held a bedeviled look as it caught up to him that his easy plan wasn't so, and now they're in a conspiracy, one that Theodore went through the laundry list of questions, demanding answers on why Cole hadn't informed him sooner that there was a third party in this mess.
Defending himself, Cole insisted that he didn't mean to withhold the information from Theodore, he just didn't get a chance.
A exasperated look on his face, Theodore ran a hand through his wild hair, while Lila's flabbergasted, asking Theodore if it's possible Mary might've tricked Cole, too.
"Y'know, I'm starting to think that the accident, isn't so much as an accident," Lila discussed this with Theodore in her mind.
Theodore agrees with her, saying, "What better way to get the throne. Have Cole kill the king, take Catherine away from the kingdom, have the new drapes up by spring!"
An old conspiracy, but an old and tested conspiracy, especially if Mary's next in line of succession, if Catherine doesn't become the new queen like it's slated.
What better way to get your cake and eat it, too, by having Cole kill the king, accidentally or not, take Catherine away from the kingdom, rule it when she's gone, and everyone knows the stories, if this was how it played out in their universe.
"Doesn't make sense why he didn't bring this up, before, we'd save more time knowing that this's a conspiracy to usurp Catherine," Lila sighed as she shared Theodore's thoughts.
He chalked it up to Catherine's temperament throwing Cole out of the loop, trying to keep his flippers intact, while trying to tell them everything they wanted to know.
"She'd have to known he wasn't human," Lila pointed out that there's no coincidence that everything happened the way it did, it'd only happen if Mary figured out what Cole was, and used it to her advantage, knowing Catherine wouldn't have anyone to defend or believe her.
"Again, nobody tells us these things up until the last minute, I swear!" Lila exhaled sharply as she's annoyed that nobody told them ahead of time that Mary, soon-to-be, Queen of Scotland's the reason they're in this mess!
When they finished talking to each other telepathically, they noticed Catherine looking at them confusingly, pointing out that they're doing the eyes thing again, wondering if they're sick with something, before Theodore waved it away, and asked her where Mary falls on her family tree.
She's Catherine's first cousin.
"And would be next in line of succession if not you," Lila summed as Catherine nodded, telling her that it worked like that, and it brought to her attention that she noticed a change in the air, shortly before Cole came into her life.
"When I was at the pier, I wasn't alone, Mary was with me, she was going on a boat to visit the monarch in France," Catherine recalled the day she went to the pier, the day that Cole said he saw her first, and as she recalled that day in detail, she remembered Mary going off for a moment, saying she wanted to get something from a merchant to bring with her on her trip.
Catherine waited for her and she returned momentary with a bracelet, plenty of time for Mary to sneak off to encounter Cole, and cause the chain reactions thereafter.
Whether Mary thought would've killed Catherine, too, it's hard to say, but it wouldn't pass Theodore and Lila that Mary saw an opportunity of a lifetime.
"Cole, did she know you weren't human?" Theodore directly asked him if Mary knew, which Cole said that he never powered off his cloaking device, but somehow, Mary figured it out.
It didn't take long for them to realize that Mary might've lied to Cole, making him think Catherine's father would've accepted him if he'd shown his true form, causing the accidental death.
"What're we standing here, she's taking my rightful place as queen!" Catherine hisses as she demanded they help her stop Mary.
Sounded simple enough, but they can't simply stroll into the court, tell the council that Mary tricked an alien into believing that Catherine would marry him unquestionably, and become his wedded undersea bride.
Proof, they need proof, and Mary's going to call their bluff if they go in expecting her to oust herself knowing that Cole's an alien.
"I doubt she gave Cole a family jewel as payment," Lila mustered that they can't prove Mary's the mastermind, if she's smart enough to capitalize on an alien, she's smart enough to ensure the alien can't turn on her, even if Cole wasn't at risk of a mob killing him.
Cole having no concept of money like the humans, she couldn't paid him anything, except maybe, something that only Cole and his people saw value in it.
"Cole, did Mary give you anything, anything at all, something that she might've told you's a gift to you, something that you held value?" Theodore asks Cole as he pondered the question thoughtfully, before answering that Mary given him the loch.
Loch Mead's connected to the ocean directly and under the family banner, with Cole not needing land, nobody would've noticed something amiss.
"I'm guessing there's no deed, is there?" Lila asked briskly.
Cole answered that Mary gave her word that the loch's his and his bloodline.
His people wouldn't known the concept of deeds.
That said, Theodore sighed as he motioned with his long arms, telling them that it's time for them to confront Mary head-on.
Which means, they'll have to go to her castle, something Catherine's capable of getting them there from where they are.
"I'll tear out her eyes!" Catherine hissed her threat as she went with the group back through the path through the woods, on their way to Mary's castle, hell bent on executing Mary.
It's a matter of optics on how they'll proceed with proving Mary's responsible for the death of the king, but there's always a chance that Mary left evidence of her misdeeds in the Stewart Castle.
If there's anything Theodore picked up on since he started adventuring, more's the merrier.
"What're you thinking, spaceman?" Lila saw that glimmer in Theodore's icy blue eyes.
Turning his head to glimpse at her while they walked, Theodore answered with a pearly grin, "I'm sure he'll be thrilled!"
TO BE CONTINUED… "Double Trouble!"