As promised, Anaya reappeared just before the first ray of sunlight. She giggled in anticipation and contradictorily but at the same time told him to keep quiet. Silently, they swam side by side towards the palace. At an obscure place, she pulled him to a stop.
"This entrance is guarded by a guard I know well. I'll distract him and you swim in. Once inside, keep immediately to the left. There you will find an alcove where you can hide until I rejoin you," she explained to him. Phobos was more than queasy about the whole thing, but he trusted her.
"Good, then stay here for a moment until I give you a sign," she asked and swam away.
The palace guard greeted her kindly and immediately fell into an animated conversation with the young mermaid. Anaya chatted around him with hand and fin, so that the other could have become dizzy. Suddenly she seemed to draw his attention to something. Phobos recognised in it their agreed sign. He summoned up his courage and slipped past the sea people turning away from him into the interior of the palace, where he immediately kept to the left as they had discussed. He immediately recognised several niches in which the former rulers were probably honoured in the form of statues. Not wanting to take any chances, he immediately disappeared into the first one and kept quiet. He heard Anaya's high-pitched voice talking to the guard and only realised how tense he was when the voices faded away. He was terrified when the mermaid stuck her head behind the royal statue and smiled at him. She joined him to plan their next course of action.
"We have the easiest part behind us. The way to Ares' chambers might be more difficult. I hope they are all still asleep. If not, we'll have to think of something quickly," she mused aloud.
"I'll swim ahead and scout the way. When the water is clear, I'll come back and pick you up here," she decided and started swimming.
Even if Phobos had objected, he was not given time to do so. It took time for Anaya to reappear in front of him.
"All is well. As I hoped, everyone is still fast asleep. We can just swim through," she opened her realisation to him.
Phobos came out of hiding and stayed right behind Anaya, who led him through the corridors of the palace as if she had been born here.
The palace was breathtaking, yet not overloaded with ostentatious frills. It had a noble interior and seemed purpose-built. The young ray could not get enough of it. His eyes wandered from one spot to another, trying to take in as much as possible. In his admiration, he didn't notice how Anaya suddenly stopped, startled, and he swam straight into her.
"Oh good morning, Anaya. Out so early?" he heard a voice but saw no one to whom it belonged.
"G...go...good morning, Sebastian," Anaya returned the greeting.
"I'm sure Ares will be glad you're here when he wakes up," the crab said, laughing his usual knowing laugh. Phobos had now been able to spot him too, as Anaya had moved a little to the side and so he had caught a glimpse of the little red crustacean. Panic had flared in both of them, but the royal advisor didn't seem to notice anything at all.
"Yes, certainly. But I'd better hurry or he'll wake up before then," she grinned at him.
"Of course I won't keep you any longer. Have a nice day, Anaya, Mr. Ray," he said goodbye and also waved absently at Phobos as he swam past him. At least until he noticed the mistake.
"Ouch cheek," Anaya heard Sebastian say to himself and could only imagine his jaw dropping once again.
"Anaya! You can't. He has no business here. Come back here right now," Sebastian shouted after the two of them, trying to catch up.
"If he keeps shouting around here like that, others will notice us too," the mermaid sighed and paused.
"Sebastian, please. Ares wants so much to see him," she appealed to the little crab's big heart.
As so often, he tried to stand firm but then couldn't help but give in.
"Fine, but don't get caught. If the king finds out, there will be thunder. I have nothing to do with this, for the record," he said and was about to swim in the opposite direction.
"You're the best, Sebastian!" she praised him, expertly stroking his ego to get him to do exactly what she would like him to do.
"Of course, I'm the best," he nodded eagerly in reply to her praise, not realising, as he often did, that he was playing right into her hands without really meaning to.
"You are the best person to keep watch while we visit Ares," she continued, and Sebastian agreed without thinking. When he realised what he had just said, his jaw dropped to the floor for the second time in that short space of time. After all, he was a crab with principles and one of those principles was that he did not break his word once given. The fact that his inattention in this respect had already got him into quite tricky situations once or twice had not been a lesson to him so far and he was annoyed about it, but he resigned himself to his fate. So he swam to a spot where he had a good view of the corridors and was careful not to catch the three.
"We're here," Anaya said with relief when they arrived outside Ares' shell door.
"Let's go in then, come on," she urged Phobos to open the door.
Anaya complied and let the ray go first. Phobos floated into the room, where he settled at the end of Ares' huge bed. Anaya followed shortly after.
"He's still asleep," Phobos said with a smile.
"The last few days have been very tiring for him," the mermaid replied as she joined them.
"Hadn't we better let him sleep then?" asked Phobos uncertainly.
"No, he can sleep later. You're here now. I'm sure he'd be angry with us if we just let him sleep through this opportunity," Anaya clarified, gently shaking Ares awake.
The prince let out a low grumble before pushing her hands away with his own to have his peace.
"Ares, wake up, you have a visitor," she giggled at his displeasure.
Another unintelligible growl came from him before he surrendered and opened his eyes.
"Anaya? What are you doing here already? Like... Phobos!" he asked her before his gaze fell on the ray.
"Hello, Ares," the latter greeted him, pleased by the other's apparently equally pleased reaction. He also seemed to be feeling a lot better than when he had carried him on his back. The crown prince made a much more agile impression despite the fact that he was tied to his bed. Phobos' worst fears fortunately did not seem to come true. He thanked Anaya for allowing him to see the prince with his own eyes.
"Thank you," was the only word Ares continued to say to him for the time being. There was so much sincerity in it that Phobos gulped before responding.
"You're welcome," he replied simply, but just as sincerely.
"My mother doesn't want us to have any further contact, but I beg you to stay. You have brought me home. You are not evil. I want us to be friends. I promise you, you will be allowed to stay here. If you want to, of course. I won't force you," Ares declared and the words just gushed out of him.
Phobos couldn't help himself and laughed in relief.
"Are you laughing at me?" asked Ares with a raised eyebrow.
"No, sorry. It's just, I've been hoping to hear those words all along. I'm so relieved. I guess it's the tension coming off me. Please don't take it personally. But, tell me how are you going to enforce this if your mother doesn't want me here?", Phobos placated the other and enquired about the way forward.
"You have the Crown Prince of Atlantica before you. My word is law," Ares said confidently with his chest puffed out.
"Your grandfather's word is law," Anaya snorted between them and they all fell into a collective laugh.
"What kind of insolent subjects do I have?" wondered Ares, playfully indignant, "Watch out I don't throw you to Pappou's sharks."
"Glad to see you haven't lost your ego. But get off your high seahorse," Anaya finished.
"I don't need a boring sea horse, I have a ray for a friend!" retorted Ares, winking at Phobos.
"I certainly hope I have something to say about that too. I'm not staying here to be demoted from dreaded ray to rocking seahorse by some half-grown prince," Phobos clarified seriously, but didn't keep up the seriousness for long and lapsed into laughter when he saw Ares' gobsmacked expression.
"He's a great fit for us, Ares. Treat him properly! I don't want him to disappear again," Anaya admonished additionally.
"Agreed," Ares agreed nodding and then cleared his throat weightily, "Phobos, do you swear that you are always available for fun, frolic and frolic? To guard secrets like the tip of your tail," here Ares interrupted himself briefly with an apologetic, pained exchange of glances between his own maltreated fin and Anaya, but then continued, addressing Phobos, "to conscientiously help shape pranks and misdeeds and reliably carry out your part. That you swim by my side through thick and thin, and my enemies, yours?"
Phobos looked at Ares from wide eyes, briefly considered how official and effective this oath now really was, and finally nodded.
"Then raise your right flipper and say I swear," the crown prince ordered in a ritualistic tone. Phobos followed the request and raised his right flipper.
"I swear," the ray repeated. Anaya fell into exultation and clapped her hands.
"Very well. I hereby appoint you my royal friend," Ares, satisfied with the answer, solemnly announced.
"Did you have to swear that too?" asked Phobos of the young mermaid.
"Yes, but with me there was a special phrase because I am a girl," she laughed at the ray.
"Welcome to the team," she called out, spreading her arms.
Ares watched happily as the two circled each other joyfully in his room.
"So what are we going to do now?" he asked when the two had calmed down again.
"How about shell memory or merman skat?" suggested Anaya.
"Laaa boring," Ares replied drawled.
"Then suggest something better," sighed the little mermaid.
"I don't know either, it's so stupid to have to stay here in bed," the crown prince vented about his current situation.
"What if Phobos carried you again?" it suddenly popped into Anaya's head and the two sea children's eyes wandered questioningly to the third in the group.
"Um..." he tried to buy himself some time to think it over, but this was not at all well received by the other two.
"Didn't you just swear to swim with us through thick and thin?" they asked him critically.
"I..., well... Yes, all right," Phobos finally admitted defeat, which made the other two burst into a loud cheer.
So he swam next to Ares' bed so that he only had to roll to the side to cling to him. Together with his luggage, he then set off again in the direction of the entrance. Anaya swam ahead through the opening and stopped so abruptly that Phobos only managed to bring Ares and himself gently to a halt with the greatest of effort.
"What is it?" he hissed softly.
"Sebastian," Anaya replied, annoyed that the court composer's presence right outside Ares' room was throwing a wrench in their plans.
"Plan B," she whispered, gesturing for the ray to retreat again before the crab caught anything of the fact that Ares had left his bed.
Sebastian padded up and down outside Ares' chambers.
"Good morning, Sebastian," Attina's voice suddenly snapped him out of his thoughts and made him flinch in fright.
"Good morning," he squeaked in his tone that always betrayed that he felt caught.
"Sebastian?" asked Attina sternly.
"Your Highness," the crab continued to squeak.
"What's going on?" she probed further, knowing only too well that the crab would not withstand the pressure for long.
"Your Highness, I said it wouldn't be all right. But you know how children can be. I...", Sebastian tried to make excuses.
"Move aside," Attina thundered between them and dashed into Ares' room without further warning.
"Where is he?" echoed Attina's angry voice outside into the hallway. Sebastian pulled his head further into his tank and swam after the princess.
"Your Highness, they've probably gone again. Maybe he won't come here now," he talked to himself as he swam through the large opening.
"What are you talking about? Who is supposed to have gone again? Where is Ares?!" she shouted at him in a rage.
"Ares is..." only now did Sebastian's eyes fall on the deserted bed.
"Ares is... gone?" he squeaked in horror and for a third time that morning his jaw was unable to defy gravity. He swallowed hard and made eye contact with his raging mother.
"But, Anaya...and the ray...they were just...", he stammered to himself, but quickly broke off when he noticed how Attina's gaze darkened more and more with each of his words.
Once again he had wonderfully placed himself in the anemone nettles.