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There was more light in the water around the palace by the time I swam tiredly out of a second-floor window, and I judged that it must be day above. I hoped Angel was still sleeping and not worried about me...although I might never go back to her again.
Being outdoors was a nice break from the long, twisty hallways I had been trying to find my way through. Things could be worse, I thought as I sat on the ledge below the window. Things could be much worse. For one thing, I could be queen.
I had saved him, I was sure of that. Or rather, the element of myself that I hated most, my tendency to panic whenever I couldn't do anything, had. As the king's gills had stopped moving, I couldn't hold back the panic that had been building since I entered the tower. I could practicly feel the rush of ice water (at least that's what it felt like) bouncing off the walls and rushing around us. The king felt it too, and it made him come back from whatever dark oblivion he was heading towards. In the moment before the room filled with frightened guards who had felt it too, I saw his gills start to flap again. Then, while guards filled every window (that room has no stairs leading to it, not that it needs them), all demanding to know what was going on, I felt, beneath their thoughts, the king's.
"Why do you fear so much, my child?"
"Don't leave me!" I thought, not caring if everyone else heard me. "I can't run this place! That governer will kill me the moment he gets a chance!"
"I see..." More life came into his eyes. "I see..."
And from then on, he seemed to get better, and by now, I was quite sure he would live. Sure enough that I took his sugestion that I get a rest and some food, and went off to see the palace. Of course, I had gotten lost at once, and now I was just glad to be outside. I was also getting sleepy...
I jolted awake at a thought of "Greetings, milady!" from below, and in doing so, fell of the ledge. After an awful second of not knowing where I was, I did a backflip and landed neatly on my hands. I could never do a handstand on land, but here I was, in front of an amused-looking Yama, doing so with the greatest ease.
My first questions to him were about the sea-people in the cave. Had there been enough vaccine? Was it working? The answer to both was yes, and I started to tell him about the king. Before I could get around to telling him about my relationship with the king, the sea-woman who had brought me here shot out of the window I had come from, calling with her thoughts "Princess! Princess!"
Yama looked very confused as I turned right side up and swam up to her. He looked even more so as she told me that a meal had been prepared and that we should both come eat. There wasn't time for more then a hurried "I'll tell you later" as we swam through the halls after my guide.
Then we swam into a bigger room then I had seen in the palace before. It was at least twenty feet high, and just as wide. Streamers of seaweed dripped from the roof and what looked like a gallery above, but the lower part of the room was shining clean. In the middle of the room stood a huge marble table, and around it floated a lot of sea-people, most eating wreaths of seaweed that were piled on the table, all thinking very loudly. I overheard thoughts like "It's so nice to be here again", "Who thought we'd be back?", "It's the Gambino child who saved us", "She's righting her father's wrongs", "She should, did you hear that she's crown princess?", and last of all, "Shhh! There she is!"
Our guide handed us seaweed wreaths and went off to eat some herself. I wasn't hungry though, so instead of eating, I told Yama about how I was a princess here. Trying to think as quietly as possible so that others wouldn't overhear us, I told him about how this made me more coflicted then before. Should I stay here and try to be a good princess? Or go back to land and try to forget this place? Neither was very apealing. I could never be a full sea-woman, but they were my people. Perhaps as royalty I could fix even more of the evil my human father had caused. But...I knew that as long as there were still ones like the governer, I would never be accepted.
I nibbled at the seaweed wreath before me. It was surprisingly yummy, like a mix between eggplant, mushrooms, tomatoes, and lettuce. Well, at least I could get used to the food down here... But as far as I could see, the choice was between being seen as wierd-but-royal here, or just-plain-weird on land. I wasn't sure which was better...I didn't like the idea of being a princess at all, and I liked the idea of being heir to the throne (allthough I didn't know if the sea-people used thrones at all) even less. The one thing I knew was that a part-time life, living on land and going to the sea whenever I could, would never work and would make me an outcast in both places. So I had to chose.
I had just come to that conclusion when my guide returned. She said that the king wanted to see me, and her cheery mood asured me that all was well. So I took my leave of Yama, warning him not to get lost here, and went with her.
The king was still laying down on his seaweed bed, but he looked much better. His eyes were clear again, and he sent me the friendly thought that serves for a smile among the sea-people.
"So, my child," he thought as I floated near him, "are you still afraid?"
"Not as much," I answered, "but I'm very confused."
"Tell me why, child."
So I did. It was very hard to explain life on land to him, but at least he understoond my Aekean need to be with others around me. Living in Gaia's factory city dosn't equip you very well for living on your own for a long time, as I had learned on my trip to Barton Cliffs. Neither does life in the group-mind of the sea-people, so that was easy to explain. It must have taken more then an hour to explain everything including my dislike of the governer, my friends on land, Lady Luck, my fear of meeting Gambino and how sure I was that I would have to sooner or later, and my worries that I would bring trouble down here if I stayed. "What should I do?" I asked him in the end.