CANDY
Chapter Fifteen
Everyone who hadn't been at cliffside cleaned up after themselves (and their livestock – yes, I did manage to give Haliford a big kiss on the neck and an apple I'd scrounged up for him), thanked us profusely and either stuck around to celebrate or went home. Everyone who had been at cliffside galloped through the cane and would, upon arrival at the palace either go directly home or come into the TARDIS to check on loved ones and accompany them home. There must have been a race on – two gentlemen arrived within moments of one another in a record 16 and a half hours. All that while, those in the TARDIS were partying. I had been at cliffside myself but had felt my skills (and they are not unworthy) hadn't been needed there. I'd been hovering back and forth, looking out for Norell, to no avail. He may have been in one of the hoverboats but I doubted it; I feared for his safety, and for the princess' reaction when I got back to the TARDIS and told her; at least it was a short trip for me, in one of Grigs' three requisitioned hoverpacks. She, too, was celebrating our bloodless victory, and the prince, although his mother had not allowed him to go a-shooting, was beaming with pride. Vandon demanded a song, so before I could share any confidences with the princess I had to come up with a victory ditty on the spot:
"They came in boats that flew; they came for me and you. We shot the boats and ended their floats, and now they're feeling blue!"
Okay, it wasn't my best song but I was distracted and a bit revved myself.
Felsy stood shyly against a wall until Nyssa drew her out, and the prince went to her often, between bouts of pure jubilation.
I saw Elessa making her way to the open TARDIS door and tried to intercept her. She got all the way outside – that is, into the grand hallway, in front of the throne room - but then stopped and let herself be intercepted.
"Your TARDIS," she said. "I think I was making her nervous."
I was so astonished that I almost let Elessa go without saying what I'd come out to say.
"My job here is done, anyway," said Elessa.
"No," I insisted. "You said 'wait,' not 'no.' Keep your word."
"My word…."
"Tell her."
Elessa whispered, "How can I? What could she think of me, after I kept my silence so long? I can bear not seeing her except at fittings and parades. I can bear not having a hand in raising my child. I can bear being nothing to her. I could never bear her hatred."
I took her by the shoulders and she didn't pull away. "She will not hate you. I don't think she has hatred in her. You know what? I might know her better than you, in a way. I've just spent a week, not even sure how many days, with your daughter, saw her when she was dying, saw her when she didn't know I was noticing what a conscientious and loving mother she is, watched her deal with the disappearance of the son who is the world to her. You saw a lot, though, when we sent the message together. And tonight. You've seen her tonight. How can you think she has hatred in her?"
We were blocking the TARDIS door, and as the party was winding down (it was evening again) we moved into the throne room. She sat down on the floor so I did too. Neither of us spoke; we just sat there. I almost expected us to indulge in a little psychic communication but I didn't try to initiate any and it just never happened. Instead, she sat and thought and I sat and watched her think until my own mind wandered and we both sat there thinking our individual thoughts, until she got to her feet, as quickly as her age allowed, and reached down to help me up. "All right," is all she said.
Tegan accosted me as soon as I entered the TARDIS. "Doctor," she fretted, "What would have happened if the hoverboats had not been the inflatable kind?" I was unable to answer her. "What if the borders had been attacked?"
"It's no use second-guessing…."
"Doctor, I think you took a terrible chance. I think you were reckless."
I was too tired to argue. "You're probably right. We were lucky."
We pressed in past exiting livestock and their tenders. Squawks, moos, baas, oinks and whinnies resounded in our ears long after the celebrants had gone; they had cleaned up again, so everything in the TARDIS was sparkling, especially the royal family, and by this I mean also Felsy, as the princess had informally announced that she intended to take the little girl in as a ward. Elessa was still there and I could see right away that she had not yet told the princess anything. I couldn't blame her; the princess looked so happy, especially for someone who'd been awake for a couple of days. Why burst her bubble with shocking revelations? I had unsatisfactory news myself; I couldn't swear to her that Norell was alive.
Vandon was asleep in Nyssa's room, Nyssa herself looking beat but carrying the sleeping Felsy, perhaps unaware of her new situation, out to where they could both rest. Soon I was alone in the console room with Tegan, the princess and the tailor. Elessa gave me a look of absolute horror, which I took to mean she knew she could no longer delay telling the princess who she was, but I was wrong; the tailor closed her eyes and sank to a sitting position on the floor, looking much as she had when we cooperatively sent the call for help. The princess also recognized the look and joined her on the floor, leaning against her. I sat down on the other side and pressed my temple to hers as well. Thus we all learned, without speaking, that Norell was wounded, in a coma, in an Olbarban hospital. He had not been wounded in the battle, such as it was; the advance party had guessed his involvement in our escape, beaten him and left him for dead. The Olbarbans who had come too late to stop the hoverboats but in time to apprehend the soldiers as they hit the marshes had found Norell's seemingly lifeless body, half sunk into the marsh and half tangled in short marsh vegetation. They had taken him, along with the two who'd twisted ankles and the one with the broken arm, back to Olbarba, in canoes, then on horseback, which meant they'd only just arrived. That's all Elessa's connection knew.
"I must go to him," said Princess Regent Vanessa., adding, to me, "Can you watch the children for me? I don't know how long I'll be gone." Before I could answer, Elessa responded,
"I'll take care of them." Upon the princess' puzzled glance, she added, "I've been keeping a secret from you, Your Highness."
"You don't need to call me that, Mama."
We had overstayed our intended visit by at least a week and now that things were more or less in hand we decided to make our farewells and leave. We offered the princess a ride to Olbarba, and this gave her time to pack a bag, and to announce some changes she had made, and one she hadn't made herself: the Mission had eased the prohibition on Grigs' arming itself to allow for proper defense; this was a sad but necessary decision. Grigs' neighbors signed a defense pact so that little Grigs would not stand alone against any future attackers. The princess' own announcements were that the palace grounds would now be open to visitors; Felsy would her personal ward and raised in the royal household; and that on the prince's upcoming birthday he would be crowned and no longer need a regent, although she would, of course, be advising him as much as any doting mother would. One announcement she didn't make was that if Norell survived, she intended to marry him, convention be damned.
Nyssa suggested that we stay until we knew Norell would indeed be all right. Tegan agreed. I wasn't sure. After all, there wasn't anything we could do, whether or not he survived, except comfort the princess in the latter case. "We could stay for the coronation," said Tegan.
"And the wedding," added Nyssa.
"But they keep giving us candy," I complained. "Where will we put it all?"
My friends smiled and rubbed their tummies. I rolled my eyes. The princess came to the TARDIS door, leading Haliford, who was glad to see me and searched my hands and pockets in vain for an apple. "I'll need a way back," explained the princess. Tegan volunteered to escort my equine friend back to the garden.
"We'll be off," I said, "as soon as we get you settled, Your Highness. I am afraid we have overstayed our welcome."
"Impossible. You will always be welcome here."
"Your Highness," said Nyssa, "I have had a heart-to-heart with your court physician. He can't deny that our treatment is curing you and he will make sure you have enough Prussian blue and potassium to keep treating you until you are totally free of thallium. We don't think you need the charcoal anymore."
"Thank you, my dear. You have saved my life. My paltry thanks is insufficient but I don't know what else I can give you, except…."
"Not candy," I said, quickly. "We love Grigs' candy but we have enough now to open a shop."
The princess laughed. "I was thinking maybe a title?"
"The Doctor is a Time Lord," laughed Tegan, returning from the garden. "Can you top that? And I think Nyssa is a princess."
"Not quite," said Nyssa.
"I'm just an unemployed air hostess," Tegan continued; "I wouldn't know what to do with a title."
"All right," said the princess, amused but visibly antsy. I closed the TARDIS door for the first time in two days and set coordinates as carefully as I could; short hops are tricky. "Then my gratitude will have to do."
"Oh, I almost forgot!" cried Nyssa, rushing out of the console room. The rota began to groan, rising and falling, briefly startling the princess. As we landed in the tiny gift shop of the Olbarban hospital, destroying two aisles of merchandise, Nyssa came back with the princess' glass disc. "I've removed the coating and disposed of it. Your treasure should be perfectly safe now."
"Thank you," said the princess, turning the disc over and over in her hands. "This means a lot to me." The gift shop proprietor was yelling at us. The princess assured her she would be more than compensated for the damage. We all stepped out of the TARDIS and the proprietor shouted some more, something about not being allowed to have a horse in a hospital, so we led Haliford to the front desk, which didn't take long to find. A nurse promised to look after him for us. I kissed that horse goodbye.
A half an hour later we were peering through a glass window at Norell, all wired up. I saw tears on the princess' face, and the faces of my friends. I admit there was a lump in my throat as well; this man had saved my life, perhaps at the cost of his own.
"We don't know yet if there is brain damage," said the doctor who had just joined us. "He is breathing normally now and we have treated his external wounds, but we just don't know. He could wake up in a minute or in a week or never."
"May I touch him?" asked the princess in a near-whisper. The doctor let her into the room, where she was allowed to touch his hand.
"Talk to him," said the doctor, then leaving the little room, shutting the door behind him and joining us at the window. We couldn't hear what the princess said to Norell but were loathe to leave… which is why we were still there 10 minutes later when Norell opened his eyes. The doctor rushed back into the room. We looked at each other, then slowly made our way back to the TARDIS.
None of us could think of a thing to say, so while Nyssa and Tegan went off to freshen up, I got us out of there and into hover mode without considering what our next destination might be. We could just fly around and chill, I guessed. We all needed a bit of rest. As I was leaving the console room, about a half an hour later, my friends came back carrying gigantic sacks and emptied them at my feet: every conceivable iteration of Grigsan candy rolled down the TARDIS corridors.
"Say, did you lot ever gain those seven pounds?"
"No," declared Tegan, as Nyssa shook her head. "Look at all this! I guess we can start now!"
THE END