The mood in and around the Palace of Atlantica had been steadily improving since the arrival of the Lionesian messenger with the prospect of a cure for the Crown Prince and the decision on Phobos' further fate. Now, however, a new low had been reached. Zion and his scholar were frantically trying to preserve what little life was left in Yuan after all this time without proper treatment. The Prince of Liones could never forgive himself if his long-time confidant should never return to both their homes because of a mission he had sent him on. Yuan was not just any boat, no, he was probably the best and most zealous his kingdom had to offer, but above all he was a precious friend to the prince and his family. He always had little souvenirs for Nanami from the distant realms when he returned. Zion's daughter had won a special place in the other's heart and he never doubted that it was mutual. Nanami often couldn't wait for Yuan's return just a few days after he left. She loved to listen to his stories and tales that took her on his journeys through the seven seas.
But now it looked frighteningly as if Yuan would never again tell one of his stories. Zion had unceremoniously kicked the Atlantean doctor, whom Triton had immediately called back to the scene, and the ruler himself out of the sickroom without much ado. The fact that this did not correspond at all to the etiquette and the so polite and reserved behaviour of a Lione did not bother him a bit at the moment. He wanted to believe Triton and his doctor that they did not recognise Yuan's condition, but at the moment his worries outweighed the urge to unravel the mystery many times over. He would still have enough time to unravel the mystery, if only they had finally freed Yuan from this critical condition.
"Your Highness, please give me a hand," the scholar asked, bringing him out of his gloomy thoughts.
The two mermen then worked diligently to complete the treatment, after which they all had to wait and pray that Mazu would not take Lione with him to the land that never was.
Zion decided that there was nothing more he could do here and that his time would be better spent in finally bringing some light into the darkness. He left Yuan in the care of the scholar, who would inform him immediately if anything changed in his condition.
Only a little later the crier announced him and he swam before Triton.
"Prince Zion, I can only repeat myself, but we are truly and sincerely sorry that your messenger is in this condition and we did not realise it. I still cannot explain how this could have happened," Triton addressed the prince as soon as he paused in front of him.
Zion knew that Triton spoke the truth and yet anger boiled up inside him. Shouldn't the Atlantians have expected this? They knew Morgana had her tentacles in play and yet they were so naïve. She was responsible for Yuan's condition and - he was more than certain by now - also for the fact that Triton and the others had this mirage in front of their eyes. But how had she managed to deceive an entire empire? Was she really that powerful?
"We must not lull ourselves into a sense of security, as this situation proves only too well, King Triton. It frightens me deeply how clueless you of all people seem to be about the whole situation," Zion replied sternly to the King of Atlantica, "my people have taken a great risk and continue to do so as long as they are so far from Liones. I fear that Yuan will soon not be the only one I have to fear for, should we continue to act so headlong."
"I would not have thought it possible that the prince of the kingdom, which is usually so reserved and distinguished, would behave like this towards the ruler of another kingdom," Triton's Olympian son-in-law intervened.
"You certainly show your belligerent origins, Olympian!", Zion countered immediately.
Before Orpheus could address him again, however, Triton intervened again: "I think we'd better all remember our good manners and try to find a solution together, gentlemen.
Attina's husband took his father-in-law's words to heart and took a deep breath for the time being. The trip to Olympia had, as so often, had a serious impact on his state of mind even days after his return, he was aware of that. His father's latest escapade during the award ceremony of the Olympic sea games had more than made the barrel overflow for him. So it was no wonder that Orpheus was still so easily irritated that he let himself be carried away to defend his father-in-law, whom he adored so much, against the accusatory words of the Lion prince.
"I must apologise, forgive my harsh words, Prince Zion," Orpheus relented as requested, even if he didn't really feel like it at the moment.
"I must also apologise. I really was out of line with you, your majesty," Zion also joined in, but did not elaborate on Orpheus.
Thus a fragile but for the time being sufficient basis was created on which the three of them could now discuss their next moves in a purposeful way. For the time being, however, the most important topic for Triton and Orpheus remained the recovery of Ares. Therefore, after a brief exchange of glances between him and Orpheus, Triton immediately brought up this topic.
"Prince Zion, before we talk about further tactics, please let us talk briefly about the message you sent to us. You see, through a ruse of Morgana's, two copies of your letter now exist. We are not in a position to decide which of the two is the original. Would you be so kind as to read them both and tell us which of the means described is the correct one. You yourselves are well aware how time is short. If Ares does not get the remedy soon, its effect could be weakened or invalidated. Already a lot of time has passed since his injury," Triton explained the dilemma they were currently facing.
After his return, Orpheus was also convinced that they should not let this chance pass, but he was not prepared to risk the health or even the life of Ares' beloved friend. He could not imagine what it would do to his son if he lost Phobos because of this. No, he had strictly opposed letting the young ray taste the remedy. None of them knew for sure which remedy was the right one any more, not even the ray itself could be blamed without a doubt for the fact that Morgana had not considered that Phobos had swum behind her and switched the messages unnoticed yet another time. The risk was simply too great.
"Let me have a look at the writings," Zion asked, and had them both handed to him.
It shocked him that even he could not tell the difference between his own handwriting and the forgery. Only his memory about the remedies he had researched gave any clue as to which message was his.
Before handing the original message back to Triton, he once again carefully examined the broken Lionish seal on both letter spines. This too was almost perfectly forged. Again he wondered how far-reaching the sea witch's abilities might be. So far, at least, he had only experienced glimpses of her power. It was clear to him that they were up against a capable opponent.
He faltered. His memories were the only thing that had to be weighed in the balance to come to the right conclusion, but who was to say that the sea witch was not already playing her games with him? Were his memories still the same as before his journey? He would definitely believe Morgana by now. He searched his memories of the journey for something that struck him as strange, but he found no incident, no matter how small. He remembered his fear for his entrainment, which in retrospect had probably been unnecessary. But wasn't that precisely what was suspicious? Had their journey really been so quiet? Had there been no incidents whatsoever? Zion was suddenly no longer at all sure that he could separate truth from illusion. Wasn't he holding here in his hands the best proof that the witch knew how to mix both to perfection? Was it right to make a decision now that would put his nephew in danger? But he remembered the books he had read, the plants he had listed and the words he had never put to paper. He concluded that Morgana could very well influence the future perceptions of her victims, but not those things that went further back.
So if he remembered these things that had originated before the decision to travel to Atlantica, he felt that they could not have been manipulated. Of course, there was a residual risk that he was mistaken, but after weighing it up, this seemed infinitesimal, so he decided to evaluate the letter on the basis of that and give Ares a chance to find the cure.
"It was these ingredients," he said and handed the corresponding letter back to Triton. The other he tore in half on the spot as a precaution so that no further confusion could arise.
"Please accompany me. We will let the doctor know immediately. He has made both remedies as a precaution. We should lose no time," Triton urged the two mermen to follow him.
Arriving outside Ares' premises, a joyful smile crept onto the previously tense expressions of the three as they heard the laughter and voices of their loved ones behind the shell door.
The guards saluted when they noticed the arrival of their ruler and instantly opened the door for him and his three companions.
Inside, they were immediately greeted by the two mothers, while the two sea children were still engrossed in their usual mutual banter.
Ares was the first to notice his uncle's arrival.
"Hello, Uncle Zion," he greeted him from his bed.
"Greetings too, Prince Ares," the latter replied in his usual Lionish manner.
Ares had never really been able to do anything with this aloofness. If he was honest, he didn't really know how to deal with it. Of course, his lessons also included the customs and traditions of the other royal houses, but it presented him with a challenge every now and then to interact with his uncle.
"Um, yes very pleased to meet you. Thank you," he replied, searching for the right words, and gave his mother a quick questioning sideways glance to gauge if that was all right. She smiled at him encouragingly and his father's sour expression brightened noticeably at his considered choice of words.
Before he was forced to search again for the right formulation of his remarks, the octopus intervened.
"Your Highness, we have identified the right medicine and I would like to administer it to you," the doctor said and came swimming towards the prince. With one of his tentacles, he exposed Ares' fin under the blanket.
Nanami, who got her first glimpse of her cousin's injuries, put her hands over her mouth in horror. Alana couldn't help but lower her eyes in concern. Ares made such a normal impression, apart from the fact that he was in his bed shell the whole time. To see the testimonies of his ordeal now so present in front of her made clear the hard time her nephew had had to endure up to here.
"I have made an ointment from the ingredients that should soften your scars. There is also a tincture that you should take once a day to restore your body's internal strength. It will help muscles that have been damaged to regenerate and reconnect the nerve cords as much as possible. You will not fully recover from this, Your Highness, but it should allow you to regain your freedom of movement to a large extent," the doctor explained, "please interrupt me if my own research into the effects of the ingredients you listed should not be correct, Prince Zion."
But Zion had no objection to the doctor's explanations. He did seem far more skilled than Yuan's inadequate treatment had led him to believe.
The doctor had just handed Ares the vial with the remedy when the door to the room opened again and two more guests swam in. With them, the otherwise spacious room of the prince became quite cramped.
Ares beamed happily at the new arrivals and completely forgot to take the small bottle.
"Ares, your medicine," his mother reminded him and then turned to the other two, "didn't we agree that you would only be here in the afternoon?"
"Is that the medicine?" Phobos skipped Attina's question and hurried to Ares' side, "I wanted to taste it before you gave it to him!"
"There's no need, Phobos," Orpheus intervened, "My brother-in-law here has identified the real message."
The ray nevertheless seemed unconvinced and continued to look back and forth between Ares, the vial and the Lionish prince. He knew that the confrontation with Morgana had taken its toll on him lately. His already pronounced protective instinct towards his friend had intensified even more and so he was as distrustful of anything new as Ares' mother had been towards him. In this respect, they were probably even very similar. If it was a matter of Ares' well-being, they would probably both move all seven seas. To make matters worse, Phobo's fine senses kicked in as he eyed Ares' uncle. Something was floating in the water.
"So you're the ray in question?" asked Zion in astonishment into the ensuing silence, and Phobos could literally grasp the mistrust that was once again boiling up towards him.
"Isn't he cool, Dad?" fluted Nanami, who seemed oblivious to the tense situation between them. The little mermaid was about to swim to her father when she was held back by her mother. Shortly afterwards, she was met with a meaningful look from Zion, who immediately made her understand that her behaviour was inappropriate at the moment.
Phobos watched the interaction of the three carefully and decided that he would probably have to make the first flipper move to get onto a common coral branch here. He was reluctant to do so, but in the end he could not think of any reason why Ares' uncle would want to harm him. Rather, he himself did not seem one hundred percent convinced of the remedy. Maybe he just didn't trust himself to have found something that could actually help Ares that much. Was he perhaps afraid that the hoped-for effect would fail to materialise? The likelihood of that seemed great, after all, Ares' injury had happened some time ago. He decided not to make the same mistake as all those who despised him for no good reason. So he finally jumped over his shadow.
"You are sure that this medicine will help him?" he asked the question that was meant to be more of a statement to the prince of Linoes and then turned to his friend, "go on then, Ares, take it, maybe I won't have to carry you everywhere soon. After all, if you keep eating those coral sugar sticks like that, you'll be too heavy for me."
Ares looked at his friend for a short moment, astonished at his remark about the effects of his favourite snack. But then the two fell into a hearty laugh that sounded so genuine that even Zion seemed to push his reservations into the current for the time being. It was clear to Phobos that the trust of a Lion was hard-earned, but he seemed to be on the right track and, after all, he had convinced Attina that he posed no threat to Ares.
"Well then, for the good," Ares finally lifted the vial and put it to his lips. A moment later, he raised his eyebrows in surprise and licked the remnants of the surprisingly tasty brew from the corners of his mouth.