The next day, of course, means open court. Rilian rolls over in bed and wonders why he does this to himself, why he makes the day after rest day so busy.

But he also realises he's complaining about being a King again, and arguing with Aslan's plan never comes to a good end. So he rolls himself out of bed and into his clothing, and then heads for the infirmary. He'd given orders to serve his meals there.

But he makes a stop before he gets there. He knows he can't completely take away the shadows in Ileana's eyes, but he means to restore all he can of what she's lost. So he takes aside one of the servants—one who helps with wardrobes and clothing—and asks her to go to town and buy a pair of shoes exactly like the ones Ileana lost, fervently hoping that the servant knows what they were like, because Rilian himself doesn't remember.

She doesn't, but she's smiling widely at his project, and she says she has a friend who knows what they were like—she'd taken special notice—and she'll go to the market that day and buy a replacement. Rilian thanks her, rolls his head to loosen his neck, and thinks, one thing done.

He heads to the infirmary with swift steps, though those slow when he realises Peri's voice is once again coming from inside. Moving as quietly as he can, he looks into the room.

The first thing he sees, with growing amusement, is that someone apparently dragged Drinian back, for the old man is once again lying in one of the beds. However, he's sitting up this morning, and watching the two girls with a raised eyebrow. Rilian can see the corner of the Captain's mouth twitching, though, and so Rilian looks at his friend and her maid.

Ileana looks animated, hands moving with graceful gestures as she talks about…Rilian's storytelling abilities, the King realises. Peri is nodding, occasionally interjecting with comments on how that's common in Narnian storytelling, or how that's new. The King comes forward quietly, gathering a plate and some food from a table near the door, and sits down on the bed near Drinian's.

"How long have they been conversing?"

"A good half hour without letting up for breath." Drinian rolls his shoulders and cracks his spine. "Is that quail eggs?"

"Yes, but I took the last three."

"Far be it from me to accuse my King of lying, but I do think you're exaggerating. I want breakfast." Drinian tosses back the pristine blanket and heaves himself to his feet. Rilian watches him carefully, aware the conversation on the other side ceases as Drinian moves.

"Stop looking at me like that, I'm not frail," Drinian snaps, and Rilian looks away, to the first thing he can, and of course it is Ileana who catches his attention.

"Good turn of the tide," she says to him.

"Good morn to you as well. And to you, Peri."

"Good morn, Your Majesty."

"What are your plans for today?" Rilian asks Ileana.

"She's allowed to go out!" Peri answers. "I thought of taking her to the garden—she loves the purple flowers the best, there isn't hardly any purple coral, so I was going to show her that corner filled with violets. I thought about the beach, too, since she likes the white shells and the ships, but it might be too far away."

"I haven't made many plans for today," Ileana answers, but there's a smile lingering in the upturned corners of her mouth. She looks at Peri. "It seems I shall not need to spend much of my energy today in making my own plans."

"I have court in the morning, but should be glad to join you in the flower garden when I am finished," Rilian answers absently, thinking only that Peri knows what Ileana likes much better than he does. His attention is caught when Ileana's face lights up, and Peri positively beams. "As soon as court is finished. I don't know when that will be."

"Then we will look forward to waiting for you," Ileana says softly, folding her hands.

"After you've had breakfast," Rilian advises, and Ileana makes a face.

"I seem to enjoy food much less."

"Then try some of the rolls, you like them," Peri urges.

"Is that normal?" Rilian asks, tone suddenly sharp. Peri glances from Ileana to him in confusion, but Ileana's gaze stays steady.

"Not for a Mermaid on land, no, but perhaps for one who had nothing to eat and then overstuffed herself, and is now resting and doing very little. But I will eat."

"Then I will see you later." Rilian gets off the bed and gives them a short bow. Drinian clears his throat when Rilian passes him.

"You didn't ask me what my plans are," he says, but his voice is low. Rilian stops. "If I might have a few minutes of your time, my King?"

"Now, or will after court do?"

"Now, if it pleases you."

Rilian leads the way, but he walks slowly and carefully, down the length of the infirmary and into the closest empty room to it, two doors and a hallway down. "Well?"

"Please sit, Your Majesty, so I can sit as well. I'm guessing this won't be a short conversation, and I'd like to save my energy for the things that need doing."

Rilian sits in the closest chair, a wooden thing with spines in the back that are not comfortable to lean against. Drinian goes for the velvet, cushioned monstrosity, and sighs as he sinks into it.

"I'm under orders to rest at nights, soon as it's suppertime, but till it gets here—Majesty, we've got a loose Ambassador who isn't Calormen and would still like a fortune, I reckon, whatever is going on that sings or speaks and makes men and animals act and forget, and Ileana, who is acting like she's running short on time. I know she set twenty-nine days—or thirty, I guess, for I met her the second—before she went back to the sea, but surely that's changed now."

Rilian stares at him; he forgot, somehow, that he'd never told Drinian more about Ileana, about the death sentence hanging over her.* "She isn't going back to the sea in thirty days," he says slowly.

"But she said she's running short of time—"

"In eight days, she's dying."

Drinian freezes.

Rilian can't look at his counsellor anymore, can't see the growing fear that matches the icy pit in Rilian's stomach. "I had an Owl look into it. Some Merfolk die in 30 days when they come on land; some don't."

"Die from what?"

"From being away from the sea, or at least that's it seems."

"Then take her back!"

"She won't go."

"Then—" Drinian cuts off. He sits for a few moments, thinking, and then falls back against the cushioned back of his chair.

"Then what?" Rilian echoes. "Hold her in the sea by force? Chain her there?"

"What made the others live?"

"It doesn't say."

"And Ileana—"

"Ileana swore an oath."

Drinian swears, then shoves himself up from the chair to pace. "You could probably make her tell," he offers quietly. "You, and no one else."

"If it comes down to saving her life, I might." Rilian feels the same restlessness forcing Drinian to pace, and gets up to walk the other side of the room. "I'd like to come up with a solution before then. While, meanwhile, being a king, wooing her as well as I am able, giving her most of my time, catching villains…"

"And asking Aslan for help." Drinian lets out another sigh. "He's the only one who could possibly handle all this. But in the meantime, let's share the load. That Captain of the Guard, Etmun, he seems pretty capable. Have him run the hunt for the Ambassador. I'll look into the enchantress. You look into saving Ileana."

Rilian notices that Drinian gives him the least dangerous of the three tasks, but as it is where his heart lies, he does not object.

He does, however, ask the Captain to have two guards shadow Drinian, when he asks Etmun to handle trailing the Ambassador. There's a scent trail, he's told, that got lost in the village, but they're sending Animals to sniff every ship and wagon that goes out. They'll find him eventually.

Then Rilian goes to court.

There's only one case, and it's a clear-cut crime of thievery from one merchant by another, so when Rilian makes his way to the gardens it hasn't been that long since he's seen his Mermaid lady.

It just feels very long.

But he stops thinking about that when he begins to notice the quiet.

There aren't any servants' voices, no hum of conversation, no sounds of animal claws, fur, or feathers. There isn't any sound at all.

A voice strong and rotten. Memory spills the line into Rilian's mind, and he runs and runs. If Ileana is taken again, she may not survive.

He slams open the door to the gardens and sprints towards the corner with the violets.

He doesn't get there. He sees two figures, long hair falling down the back of one as she bends over something. Three Great Cats stand beside them. "Ileana!" he calls, and moments later he's by her side, his hand on her arm.

"We can't help them," Ileana cries, grabbing Rilian's hand with her own. "Help them!"

Rilian looks, and there are five Dryads laying on garden grass. He kneels, the Jaguars moving back, and touches the nearest one. It's a Willow Dryad, long brown hair falling to her feet, taller than most men, and shakes her shoulder. She doesn't move. He looks up, and every apple tree stands stark and bare before him. Their leaves, brown or yellow, litter the ground; every blossom lays black and rotting on the earth.

He looks back to the Dryads. He knows this work, knows the hatred that destroys. He will deal with that later. Waking them comes first.

"Go get a pail of water," he says to Peri. "You three, guard the entrances."

"Yes, Your Majesty." Peri's tone is afraid, though not of him, and Rilian cannot spare the time to comfort her at the moment. Raising two fingers to his mouth, he whistles, short and sharp.

Three Birds land on his shoulders and right arm a moment later; seconds after that, two Squirrels come bouncing across the lawn. "Go fetch the Lord Drinian," is his sharp command to the Birds on his shoulders. "You, go get Captain Etmun," to the Squirrels. "Get Talking Beasts with sharp sense, and have them come right away. You," to the bird on his arm, "Firesky, go get a troop of guards and bring them here. Through the main entrance! Keep them away from the trees, we don't want to lose any clues." Their claws dig into his shoulders and arm as they launch themselves; the Squirrels are right behind them, racing for the Cair.

"I will help Peri fetch water." Ileana turns to leave, but Rilian catches her hand.

"Don't."

"Then what else should I do?"

"Stay here. Stay here, please," he adds, as she begins to frown. Taking her head in his hands, he rests his forehead against hers. "You are their target. I would be foolish beyond measure to send you on errands on your own."

"I did not come on land to stay safe. Narnians are hurting, and somehow I am at the centre of it. At least let me help them!" Rilian can feel the breath from her mouth as she says that last sentence, and it hurts. The helplessness, the love that reaches to heal a hurt and cannot—every good King knows that.

And every good Queen.

"Be still," but he's asking, not commanding. "Think. Think about what evil wants. If you are foolish, you will help it, not the ones before you."

"It wants me; or at least the Ambassador did." Ileana's tone is dull. "But this—plates, ships, tree—"

She breaks off. Beneath his fingers, Rilian can feel her start to tremble. "Ileana?"

"Rilian." It's a whisper. "Those are all the things I sang about, in my land-song."

"Your song by the stream…" How, how, who

"Please tell me it's not my fault." He looks up at her at that, her blue eyes full of the tears she will not let fall. "I know it's not, that it's not wrong to love things, to celebrate—that evil makes its own choices—but—tell me it's not my fault."

Rilian wraps her in a hug, drawing her head to his shoulder. "It's not your fault."

Her tears are wet and small; he can feel the small pearls falling down his shirt. "We have to stop whatever is doing this."

"May Aslan show us how," Rilian responds, a bit grimly. He has no idea how to stop this.

"You need to stay safe too." He can feel her hands curling in his shirt, feel it tighten on his shoulders as she clutches at him. "It has to know I love you more than anything else."

Even in the midst of a dead orchard, Dryads still sleeping at his feet, Rilian thrills at those words. He doesn't know what to say in return, to ease her fears—to reassure her that he'll stay safe, to say he has three guards,** but none of those will actually calm her fears. "Aslan still holds my life," he says instead, feeling it as truth as it passes over his tongue. "There is no reason to fear."

"Right." She pushes herself back and wipes her eyes; three pearls drop from her fingers, and Rilian reaches out to catch them. Holding them out to her, he offers what she's made.

Peri reaches them with a bucket of water; Rilian throws it over the nearest Dryad. Gasping, the Willow sits up, looking around wildly. When she sees the King she scrambles to her feet and curtsies, graceful as a willow branch in the wind even in her shock.

"I'll get more water," Peri offers without being asked, and is off.

"Ask others to bring more as you return!" Ileana calls after her.

"Your Majesty—"

"Peace," Rilian cuts in gently. Ileana steps forward and puts her arm around the Dryad; Rilian lays a gentle hand on her arm. "We will ask, in a moment, what you remember. Till then, please try to remember what happened, from the night before through this morning. If you cannot call it to mind, that is not unexpected. But please try; try, and when others get here, we will ask."

They did ask, of course. They asked all the Dryads when they woke, after Drinian and Captain Etmun arrived. The Kiwi and a Lion found the strange scent, relatively fresh, and followed it through the garden and out, a troop of soldiers and Captain Etmun with them. The Dryads Rilian surrendered to the care of some older Trees, while some of the gardeners came to look at the apple trees.

"Dead, Your Majesty," a Mole said, shaking his head. "Dead to their core."

"Cut them down, before the Dryads come back." Rilian hears the grimness in his tone, but he cannot lift it. To make a Dryad drain the life from a living tree—this cruelty turns his stomach.

"We should put something in their place," Ileana suggests softly, still standing by his side.

"After this evil thing is caught."

"Or before," she says, catching his wrist. Her lips are pressed together, and there is no wavering in her stare. "It is a risk, to give it something else to harm. But fear should not stop love."

There's a quick smile, one Rilian can barely feel lift his lips. How can she put his former struggle so succinctly? But somehow she has, because she is herself and wise.

"When we can, we will," Rilian promises her. "But till then, let's enjoy what is left." The purple violets, with borders of white lilies, still stand unharmed in the other part of the garden. He leads her there. Peri finds them, later, and hesitates, but Ileana motions her to sit, and she does. They talk about people and stories and the things of land, Ileana leaning against Rilian and happy, from her tone.

Rilian feels his shoulders relax, just a little, because this is one way to balance it, to give her his time, and still have the evening to go to the library. He may not be able to give her this much, in the days to come, but today—today the balance was easy to reach.

Supper is served all too quickly, it seems, and passes just as swiftly. Saying goodnight to Ileana, Rilian goes to find Guhen. The table—undisturbed since the Ambassador left, Rilian has verified—already has the Owl reading, though it is still light out.

"Good even to you, cousin."

The Owl does not reply. Rilian drops into a chair and says the same words once more, though this time they are louder. Guhen's head spins in Rilian's direction and his large eyes blink.

"Eh?"

"Good—even—to—you."

"Oh. Oh, yes, it probably is." The Owl reaches up on claw and scratches his stomach. "I'm not quite awake yet."

"Why are you here so early?"

"Well, from what you've said—the lady doesn't have many days left. I can go without a little sleep. By Aslan's mane, I'm an Owl! I can get by on a bare hour's sleep!"

Rilian closes his eyes, and he can see Ileana's face, gold hair, those blue eyes—and his heart clenches. Because they do only have a few days left. "Thank you." He opens his eyes. "What should I read?"

"The stack of books over there, my King, has not been touched. Bear in mind," he warns as Rilian reaches for the top one, "they were not very promising. But—"

"But?" the King asks, hand just touching the leather cover.

"But I am running out of things to read," the Owl says slowly. He looks back down at the book in front of his feet.

Rilian does not say anything. He picks up the book and starts at page one. It's a dull, boring essay on the possibility of Mermaids being sung from the same line that called forth the stars, and it holds nothing helpful.

Rilian reads it cover to cover, just in case. He sets it down on the table with a sigh, and Guhen—more awake these few hours later—moves it to a different stack. "To bed, Your Majesty," he says, a little sternly.

"If you can stay up, so can I."

"That is an answer a little boy would give. You have more responsibilities than I," Guhen adds more gently. "I will finish reading all of these before the week is out."

Rilian nods, but it's not a happy agreement. Shoving the chair back, he stretches.

"Your Majesty," Guhen says as he begins to leave, and Rilian turns back. "If I cannot find anything—we may have to ask someone else."

"Someone from Archenland, or Galma?" Rilian asks slowly, for he thinks he knows where Guhen is going, but would rather have it clear.

"The most helpful person would be, of course, one of the Merfolk. A different one, if the lady can tell us nothing."

Rilian bows.

He does not go to his bedchambers.

He's been mulling over another idea, in the spare moments when he has time. It seemed far-fetched. But Guhen's words give it more weight, and so the King doesn't go to his bedchambers, he goes to the sea. He goes to the little boat he rowed when he first met a Mermaid, and he goes out into the water.

He looks for them. By the bright moonlight, he looks for them. He checks near the caves, since Ileana has spoken of them sheltering there in storms that override the tides; he checks by the side of the strongest currents, for the Merfolk use those as roads; he checks everywhere he can think of.

He knows he has blue stone that can summon them, sitting back in Cair, but he doesn't use it, not yet, for two reasons.

One is easy to acknowledge. It's meant for times he's drowning, and if he uses it now, can he persuade the Merman or Mermaid to tell him anything, after summoning them for a dive he chose? They might tell him nothing anyway, but an irritated Merman is much less likely to help than one who willingly comes to the surface, curious and ready to converse.

The other reason Rilian tries not to acknowledge.

It is custom in Narnia to ask mother and father for permission to marry their daughter, before asking the daughter herself.

Rilian means to ask Ileana; he knew it, knew he'd fallen in love with her, knew she'd make a good queen, he'd known all of that, but he hadn't acknowledged it yet. He meant to wait till later, to give them time.

But Ileana might not have the time, and if she doesn't—Rilian wants to marry her. He wants to ask her parents, and he wants to marry her in the next week. It will cause an uproar that hasn't been heard since his father came home with his mother, but Rilian doesn't care.

He hopes that somehow, Ileana's parents will be near. That he can ask them.

If they aren't—and if Rilian can't find another mermaid in the next four or five days—four, Rilian decides, four is cutting it close enough—then Rilian will fall into the water, the blue stone wrapped around his fingers, and beg the first Merman or Mermaid he sees for help.

He will not lose Ileana.

He will not lose her.

He will not.

Rilian repeats this to himself, over and over, as he rows the boat back and forth till the moon sets.

He finds no one.


*ScribeOfHeroes kindly pointed out that Drinian does not, in fact, know that Ileana is dying.
**I think he should have said he loves her back, but I don't think that's the way his mind works.