Scales and Crown

Captain Beauxjean was pacing around the room made by the lighthouse tower base with Anna, while Mr. Rigg sat in the keeper’s chair making notes in his journal.

“Anna, Kathrine is calling to raise a larger army,” said Mr. Beauxjean.

“She will need one to support her daughter’s claim against Heddi’s,” replied Anna.

Anna was silent for a moment. The air in the tower was damp from the rain outside and still smelled of woodsmoke from the night’s beacon fire.

She sighed and said, “I cannot bring Heddi into that court lest someone murder her like they did my Henry.”

“Perhaps you yourself could go, then,” said Captain Beauxjean. “You should be able to outwit Kathrine.”

“Not with Kathrine listening to that advisor of hers,” said Anna.

Far above them, the wind howled and rain beat against the tower.

“And who would keep the light?” Anna continued.

“I suppose I could. My Mary could watch over Heddi.”

“Captain Beauxjean, I would need you with me if I am to survive.”

“Might I interject?” came Mr. Rigg’s voice from behind them. Both had nearly forgotten that the old town magistrate was there.

He pushed his glasses up his nose and said, “As a very young man, I traveled to the Crimson Court and served Henry I. When he died, I was the lawyer who made it legal for his daughter, Henrietta I, your mother-in-law, to inherit. It is the very precedent you are now pushing to ensure that Miss Heddi, or rather Henrietta II, becomes the rightful Queen.”

Anna looked at him with new respect. “You are that Cornelius Rigg? That law saved the country! It would have gone to Spanish rule if not for your clever interpretation of the charter.”

“Aye, and I can help here too. Allow me to go back to the Court and represent you.”

“But I have no way to pay you.”

“I’m sure you and Henrietta II will think of something when she is King,” said Mr. Rigg.

Anna did not like the sound of that. She thought that future obligations often lead to too many unkeepable promises. Accepting his help could obligate Heddi to do any number of things that might enrage the Merfolk.

“Surely we have a little more time to think of other strategies,” replied Anna.

“They may not be able to form an army very quickly, Anna,” said Captain Beauxjean, “but their legal maneuvering has already started, and they may choose darker, quicker methods to deal with you.”

“Mr. Rigg, if we do accept your help, you would take gold rather than favors for your services if we succeed, and lighthouse keeping if we fail?”

“Gold would do very nicely!” said Mr. Rigg. “And if we fail, I doubt any of us will live long enough to bother with the payment.”

Then the wind howled around the top of the tower in the silence that followed.

“I will think on it,” said Anna, looking up.

. . .

Out in the bay, the future Henrietta II, or rather Miss Heddi, was swimming with Etesarium despite the rain and wind. Even if she was a mermaid, Etesarium was the only female royal at hand, so Anna had asked her to start mentoring Heddi in politics as well as swimming.

“How did you keep your throne?” Heddi asked, floating on her back and squinting the rain out of her eyes.

“I didn’t have to keep it. The law assigned Ventus and me to both rule because we are both from the royal family but from different mothers.”

“Isn’t one of you more King than the other?”

“We have worked it out so Ventus handles military issues and I handle all the interspecies relations.”

“Inter . . . speee . . . Internal Special relations?”

“Each kind of being is a species, and inter means between. So whales, dolphins, Merfolk, humans, and lesser fish.”

“Ventus doesn’t want to govern the whales differently than you ever?”

“All the time! We argue a lot!”

“Are you ever afraid of him?”

“Ventus?” said Etesarium, pivoting upright in the water to look at Heddi.

“Yes, when he gets big and smashy,” said Heddi.

A dark look crossed Etesarium’s face. “It’s his job to do that,” was all she said.

“Even when you disagree with him?” pressed Heddi.

“The Mer Council helps us sort it out.” Then she gave a little “oh!”

Etesarium motioned for Heddi to follow her as she dove under the waves.

Heddi followed the mermaid as best she could. Etesarium was already well ahead of her in the murky waters of the bay.

Just when Heddi thought she would need to surface, Etesarium came swimming back with two dolphins.

All four of them swam to the surface. Heddi burst up and took an enormous breath just as the smaller dolphin did the same. Etesarium lowered her neck into the water and emitted a series of clicks and trills that were answered by the larger dolphin.

Then she said to Heddi, “This is Click-click-eeeeeeprr and Click-eeere. I have told them the closest thing I can translate of your name. They think of you as Dry Swimmer.”

“Pleased to meet you, Click-click and Clicky,” said Heddi, doing the best she could with the foreign language.

The smaller dolphin nudged her gently with her nose and then repeated her name, “Click-eeere.”

Heddi tried clicking her tongue and then whistling. The little dolphin rolled, repeating her name over and over as Heddi tried to copy.

Heddi then said her own name and rolled in the water.

“HeeeeReeeee!” squeaked the dolphin.

While the two got acquainted, Etesarium and the adult dolphin sank beneath the waves for a serious chat.

Etesarium learned from the dolphin that there was a large group of humans massing in the fields over Crimson Bay. The dolphin thought that they fished a disproportionate amount, and she did not like the way the waste from their camp made the waters taste.

Etesarium resolved to tell Anna at once.

Heddi and the smaller dolphin seemed to be playing a game of copycat when Etesarium and the dolphin resurfaced. They watched the two younglings roll and dive for a moment until the little dolphin did a belly flop, with a resulting splash that got into Heddi’s face. The girl spluttered and choked on the salt water as the dolphin looked on.

Etesarium refrained from rushing to help. Heddi had to learn! Instead, she whistled to get their attention. “We need to go back to shore, Heddi. I have important news for your mother.”

The dolphins swam out to sea as the mermaid and human swam to shore.

As they were drying off on the dock, Heddi suddenly asked Etesarium, “Whose children get to be King next in your water?”

Etesarium took a moment to answer.

“I did not want that for Spiritus and Russus. Neither seemed to want it.”

Heddi looked at her, expecting more, while the mermaid slipped into a sea grass smock and then worked on transforming her gills, fins, and webs into more human-like features.

“Well, so does that mean Ventus’s kids rule?” said Heddi, admiring how beautifully human Etesarium’s face now was.

“He doesn’t have any children anymore,” she said.

Then she marched up the dock on her newly formed legs and waved for Heddi to follow.

Anna met them at the top with an umbrella and a robe for Heddi that she had made from the month’s flour sacks.

Etesarium wasted no time. “Anna, our network tells us that a large contingent of armed humans has been camping and training in fields above Crimson Bay.”

“So it seems that Kathrine has already raised an army,” said Anna gravely.

Captain Beauxjean peeked out the door behind Anna. “Army?” Then anything further he was going to say was knocked out of him by the shock of finding a striking young woman in a sea grass smock.

Anna quickly explained, “This is Etesarium. She is one of my neighbors whose family works at sea. She was just telling me that they saw a large army massing in the field above Crimson Bay.”

The poor man still stared, his brain trying to piece together how the fishing trade led to woven grass smocks and dripping wet young ladies on porches.

“I have been teaching Heddi to swim,” said Etesarium, sensing the problem.

“Ah! Yes! Well, very good. Yes, of course,” said Beauxjean, still struggling.

Then, as the original news of an army surfaced above his dwindling confusion, he said, “If you are certain of this, Miss Etes . . . Ete . . . then I will send scouts to confirm.”

Etesarium nodded that she was certain, and Captain Beauxjean turned to go set up the scouting mission, but Anna caught him.

“Captain, if she already has an army, then Mr. Rigg is our best hope. Tell him I will accept his help,” said Anna.