Part 7

Part 7 - New Atlantis, Bermuda Triangle

Skagen spent the trip back to the palace contemplating how he would pull off a miracle to create a miracle to beget a miracle. If you stacked these miracles on top of each other they looked impossible. But this was wrong thinking. The way to accomplish this was to tackle what was in front of him. The flick that would set all in motion was to convince Valeena of the girl’s validity. He could probably convince the Court without the Queen’s support, but he would be swimming against the tide. Valeena was the root of their community. What she believed, many others followed. Her view reached down the matrix of society. Ultimately, changes of her reality touched dolphins whose most pressing concern was where their next meal came from. 

Valeena opened the lock which opened the door that would enable him to propose that their rarest commodity should be expended on a broken human. Such an action was unthinkable; so had it seemed to him. Yet Caroline had moved him. She had taken his jaded view of reality and split it open. Could she have known his deepest desire? Seen into his soul and played him? Perhaps. If being played like a sea harp led to the reforging of a ring two thousand cycles broken, then he was prepared to feel the rapture of her fingers on his back. 

Valeena had tasked him to debunk the girl, regardless of her validity. The Queen’s concern for Finn was well founded. Skagen could see where this was leading. The young Prince, looking for a way out of the shadow of his matriarch. Independent, rebellious even. In the girl’s dreamworld he would naturally be susceptible. Even Skagen had to admit that she was magnificent in her domain. Her persona, the Princess Unicorn, sung to every dolphin heart. He could use that, but could he use it with Valeena? Would she allow herself to be persuaded that this human could steal her son’s heart, and potentially her place as the pinnacle of dolphin adoration? This was a rhetorical question. Of course she wouldn’t.

But the issue remained. How should he deal with Valeena? He could try to cajole, to persuade, to bribe even; standard political tactics. But Valeena’s position acted as a defense against the worst of the Court’s politics. She was ‘above’, sewn into the fabric of society as a covenant of tranquility in the maelstrom of the court. And where her son was concerned, that was dangerous territory. As her heir, Finn was a part of her personality that she did not accept was predatory. Any action to protect him was, in her mind, completely justifiable. This growing situation between Caroline and Finn had to be dealt with. It was a precursor to winning the argument about healing Caroline. 

The slipstream birthed him in the palace’s neighborhood. He swam two laps around the castle. Humans would no doubt consider it devoid of architecture and fancification. But to dolphins it was a talisman. A replica, as far as could be known, of Arthur’s castle on Atlantis. Yet here designed for submersion, as opposed to the original which was built for  defilement in the wrong medium. 

Skagen realized he could not pre-involve Finn. Any attempt at collusion would show. Finn was not able to mask himself from Valeena. She would sense that the two of them had arranged the conversation. Caroline of course could not be there, that also complicated matters. If only they could persuade Valeena to meet Caroline in her dreamworld. But the Queen would never consent to that.

Damn Finn! Why was he making Skagen’s work so hard? To succumb to the temptations of the flesh was bad enough, but to fall for a human. It would be politic to keep that information secret for as long as possible. Valeena would certainly demand it. 

He received the summons on his personal band and acknowledged immediately. With no plan, other than a general idea that Valeena’s love for Finn could be turned on her like a mirror, he swam through the castle’s western portal and made for the Queen’s audience chamber. 

He had not reached the guarded door to the reception hall when he heard Valeena’s actual voice bounce down the corridor.

‘Skagen…Skaaagen. Get in here!’

That, he thought, does not sound promising. 

Skagen entered the Queen’s audience chamber. His stuttering gait pushed him to the left, so he had to apply a comical correction to arrive centered on the rampaging radiance that occupied the dais at the front of the hall. 

Skagen figured that the trick here was to defuse Valeena’s rage and help her see the logic of the situation. Humans had people who were experts at defusing bombs. He wondered how they approached it. Should one dive straight in, or was the cautious approach best? In the distance he could sense the thug thug of a boat engine. One of the new breed of titanic cargo ships. Only they had engines big enough to be detected this deep in the ocean. Perhaps Valeena would have him tossed into one of those churning propellers; minced into pink chum, to be picked at by screeching seagulls. This was the danger of his choice, but he accepted it with determination. If he was to complete Arthur’s work, he had to harness the strength that existed yet inside him.

He bowed. ‘Your majesty. I present myself to you with news of the human girl.’

‘Girl?’ she snipped. ‘I don’t care about news of her. What of my son! He has remained in Florida. Were my instructions not explicit? Was she not to be rendered an anachronism? Poisoned in his eyes so that he would return to the Court, where I could guide his folly.’

Skagen bowed low again, debasing himself awkwardly as old cartilage rubbed against ashen bones. Now came the moment. To thrust the blade in, or use the scalpel? He decided.

‘Aye majesty,’ he said. ‘But you have made an error.’

Silence rippled and stretched to a point where Skagen feared the silence itself would explode and annihilate him. He had to hold. To break now would mean defeat. Time, he contemplated, was all that mattered in the universe. The ebb and flow of the tide, the cycles of the seas. It all meant the same thing. 

She killed his meditation in a polar tone.

‘I,’ she said, ‘do not make errors.’

‘Majesty,’ he replied, ‘you are my Queen. I had, at times, advised your father before he passed on the burden of rulership. Our views on the world do not align. Yet we both see the dangers of our existence. Please, allow me to guide you now through my mind. I must explain to you the reason for your error. Yes, this will involve you losing control of your son. I will not pretend otherwise.’

He held up a fin to preclude her interruption. 

‘Either you allow me this or permit me nothing and send me to prison as a traitor.’

This had the desired effect. She made a short, snapped-back movement and tried to speak. ‘I…I…’

‘Peace majesty,’ he said. ‘Do not let your anger damage your judgement. You are too good a ruler for that. Emotion is ripping inside you, I see it. Breathe. See it as the noxious vapor it is. Let it be taken in then blown out. Replace it with thought, clear as a Pacific morning. Imagine yourself jumping into curling waves, as you used to when you were young. Feel the thrill, the excitement, not this carving anger. Release that.’

He watched her eyes. Eyes drew up what was in the soul, showing it to the world. In Valeena’s eyes he saw the struggle. Like the passive Baltic meeting the saline Atlantic there existed in her eyes a conflict. Two great forces, each exerting their independence on the other. But each really just the same thing. He hoped that reason was the winner, else he was lost.

Her eyes cleared.

She said, ‘I hear you, Lord Skagen. But think not that I am desired to roll over like a newborn pup and have you politic me to your way of thinking. I am designed to rule. From birth I have been trained to it, as you well know. Your life hangs in the balance. I hold it in my fin and would feign crush it if you are insincere.’

So, there it was. He had his opening, but to step through it was to cast his fate on the royal prerogative. Thus was the sum of his life now to be weighed; scales balanced, all that came before �" the climb he had made in the Court to his current position �" teetering on the apex of a mount. Valeena had the power to exonerate or condemn him. 

He rose to the best stature he could muster. ‘Majesty, you sent me on a mission to wrench your son from the clutches of this human. But your view of her was warped. Bent, yes as mine was. I know you will find it hard to credit, but I have been persuaded to her side.’

‘But�"‘

‘Yes,’ he said, anticipating her question. ‘I know, your son. Consider, there are two issues here. These two problems are connected it is true, but one outweighs the other by a factor I do not yet understand. Let us first deal with the greater issue, since that will color and shape the second.’

He swam in a circle, an accepted maneuver for taking a pause to collect one’s thoughts. Coming back to face her, he laid the foundation.

‘Should dolphinkind leave humankind to its obvious conclusion, which is self-destruction? Frankly I have not much changed my view of humankind as a whole. But, having met Caroline, I realize we have a unique opportunity. Not since our ancestors gave up their earthly existence have we approached the possibility of forging a link with humankind. Generations have passed, and their filthy existence has become more and more dangerous. We decided to leave them to it, to let them implode. We would inherit a broken world, but at least we would control it. Yet now, there is a conduit. Caroline can act as an interpreter. She can exist in our world and theirs; she shares our desire for reconciliation. She, more than many, understands how humankind rejects that which is not fully ‘human’.    

Was he losing her? No, she watched him keenly. This gave him hope.

‘Caroline can lead us to a unified future. It was Arthur’s dream that human and unicorn make this world a place for them sharing. Humans broke that faith, but now comes one who wants to help re-establish it.’

Valeena shouted, ‘Help? What help is a crippled girl?’

Now the dangerous part.

He said, ‘She understands us, and that is critical. But you are right my Queen, she cannot help us as she is. Humans will not listen to her. She is demeaned in their society.’ Now it came to it. ‘Thus I petition that she be made whole.’

Valeena recoiled, as if he had uttered a curse against Poseidon. 

‘You are mad,’ she said. ‘The Court would never agree to this. I do not agree with this. The magic required would deplete our reserves beneath any sane level. We would be defenseless against any human incursion. You are insane.’

‘Majesty, listen. I do not propose this lightly. Consider the alternative.’

‘Yes,’ she said, ‘the alternative. We let humankind destroy itself and take over what is left.’

‘Indeed, but what if there is nothing left? What if they poison the planet so badly that we cannot exist? What if the oceans are barren? There are so many “what if’s” that the calculations become meaningless. In the end, the question is: are dolphinkind’s chances better with a human connection or not? And I deem that they are. An ambassador, an emissary, a prophet if you will, from us to the humans. Is that not a risk worth taking? Otherwise we have no say in the planet’s course. We hide, yes hide I say. Isn’t it true? We submerged entities, do we not conceal our intelligence from humans so they won’t persecute us any worse than they already do?

‘Caroline is our only hope. She can speak to us through her dreamworld, and she wields magic. Only a small amount yes, but it manifests. She can be taught to understand how the unicorns once affected humankind. Without her we leave our chances of survival to luck. Your majesty does not want to be remembered as the monarch that let the future of dolphinkind ride on the random turn of humankind’s destructive whim. We need her, Valeena.’

Skagen had not used the Queen’s given name since before her father’s death. What he was proposing was heresy. He could be disemboweled and fed alive to tiger sharks. He pictured his intestines floating away, and in the murky distance pearl teeth chomping closer and closer. Ever so tenderly pulling on his crimson lifeline, tugging closer until a beige snout was rummaging inside his innards. His dorsal fin quivered He had staked his life on this girl the moment he had succumbed to her insanity. But was it her insanity, or his? Had he, deep down, always wanted to cast off the chains of courtly consternation? Did he desire a true vision, a path of righteousness that would lead him to salvation? A redemption for his life of deception, trickery and bare-faced pomposity? 

Valeena looked at him with an expression that Skagen translated as barely contained contempt. The one sent to pry her son away from the grasp of a conniving human, had become ensnared in the very tendrils he was supposed to have avoided. How lame. How sad. How happy the sharks would be.

No! He must focus on Caroline. Who else could mend the rift driven between dolphins and humans? Caroline was the bridge. Finn was crossing, and perhaps already over it. Valeena had to be made to focus on the function of the bridge, not its form. She might abhor the bridge, but she must understand that it was the only possible way for either race to face each other. Left alone, the rift would expand until it was so great that the world would tumble into it. 

Here, now attack was the best defense. 

‘My Queen,’ he said, ‘may I speak freely?’

Her countenance assumed a posture of cautious awareness. Good. At least she would hear his words.

‘Your son is lost to you,’ he said. ‘It was already too late by the time I arrived. Not only does he believe in her cause with his entire being, but…’

Here it was.

‘But?’ Valeena said. 

Skagen looked at her. She must know, must have figured it out already. He was only going to give form to the feeling, make it live. To think the thing was unforgivable. But to say it. It could not be reversed. It would be heard and, if not understood, at least digested.

‘He loves her,’ Skagen said.

The fury of her assault surprised him. To be attacked physically by one’s monarch was something he supposed he should consider a privilege. Valeena struck him with force that her martial arts instructors would have appreciated. Skagen wondered if this scene was being recorded. Somewhere a member of the royal guard was choking on his fish oil. Yes, these moments were seeded by the universe to provide entertainment for its minions. 

‘No! No! No!’ she screamed, each word timed (as taught) to focus a blow on her opponent. 

His aged body sundered. The irony amused him. To pound a caught fish in the hope of causing it further pain was futile. Yet the fish must suffer in silence, receive the blows to its self-esteem with no parade of objection. It must remain limp and pliable in the hands of its assailant. 

She thundered into him. ‘You f*****g b*****d! You…fuuuck! He is mine, mine! That retard will not have him! I will kill her and you!’

He curled up. He would not have fought back, even had he been a martial champion. She must have her rage, must express it. This was not just about Finn, this was years of pent-up frustration at being the caged animal, the gilded fan, the queen of nothing. 

Blow upon blow. He became lovingly unconscious, floating in the bath of his subconscious. Dreams of his childhood. Laughing with his brothers. They now dead, poisoned. He alone remained, keeping the family alive. What a jest. Skagen, house of the damned. Withering into senility trailing a string of wasted unions and begotten b******s. Swimming around in his own darkness, he felt warm and encased. Here, at least, the world was exempt from torturing him. 

Gradually, like an eel emerging from its lair, his consciousness returned to the real world. He was floating still, but unlike his deep self here he felt pain. He tried to move, but stinging lanced his body. Better to keep still and let the ocean encase him. 

Sounds filtered through the dull damage. Crying. He opened the only eye which volunteered for the job. Using his fluke as little as possible, he rotated to face the opposite side of the room. Valeena was crouched in the corner.

‘Gone. Gone. Gone.’ she sobbed. It seemed she might forget the word if she didn’t keep saying it. As if the ability to describe her feelings would be lost. ‘Gone. He is gone.’

Skagen managed a feeble croak. ‘My Queen…’ 

She showed no sign of hearing him. ‘Gone,’ she wailed again. 

Skagen used the fin that had freedom of movement to skull to her side.

‘My Queen, I am so sorry. But your son remains. He is Finn. Nothing in that has gone.’

She turned to look at him. Skagen cringed. Orbs of tears bobbed from her eyes, like miniature air bubbles seeping from an underwater vent. The silver balloons floated upwards, pooling on the chamber’s roof. They formed a mirror in which Skagen could see his own terrible reflection. 

Tears of a Dolphin Queen. Could he but bottle these and he’d have the beginnings of a potion that could entrance all the Court and do the job nicely. He considered this deviation. It would save him a lot of trouble. There was a banquet approaching, ostensively to celebrate Finn’s triumphant return. He could ensure the potion’s distribution through the flowing libations. He would give a rousing speech on the benefits of a human-dolphin alliance, and how Caroline was the conduit for this re-birth. Oh and incidentally, your King-in-waiting has fallen for the girl and probably wants to marry her. All those in favor? Huzzah!

To see any dolphin cry was a rarity. Letting the outer world see your inner emotions was considered a breach of the highest etiquette. For the Queen to cry was unthinkable. Yet here she was, ruler absolute, making a display that a common wretch would baulk at. The effect sliced into Skagen’s heart. Old age was making him sentimental. The legends he’d craved as a calf come back to wreak their horrible revenge on him. Had he but followed his father’s demands and joined the military. Too late he realized the benefits of a life martial. The combat of politics had been the closest match. He reached out a fin and touched her head. This was a crime punishable by having his fin removed in a excruciating fashion. Yet he felt that she would understand. In the here and now, what she needed was to be comforted. 

Valeena flicked her fluke and caught him in the worst place. He emitted a whining shriek. She punched the side of his head. This pain did a good job of masking the throb of his aching nether regions. His vision blurred. Becoming a royal punch-bag had not been on his bucket list, but he supposed that one must always leave room for life’s unexpected gifts. 

‘B*****d!’ Valeena raged. She roundhoused him with a kick expertly delivered to his side. 

How had Valeena become so good at fin-to-fin combat?

She threw him. The expression and angle of the force was wonderful. He hit the chamber’s wall with a silent thud and slid down with the slow-motion that fighting underwater produced. How was it for humans? Flying through the air to crash substantially into material objects. 

She advanced. He saw murder in her eyes.

Wait! What? 

A thought was trying to get his attention. But when he looked at it, the damn thing slid sideways and refused to announce itself to his consciousness. No! No! No! He grasped for it. The slippery devil jigged and jogged. He almost had it, by the tail at least. Something about the Queen’s fighting style. Not dolphin, quite. Something radical, alien almost. Who was her instructor? Skagen cursed his memory. He should have paid more attention to the royal training program. Finn harped on about it often enough, complaining about the strict training regime.

She was upon him. He watched her fin move through the water. He was detached now, viewing the fin approach from above. The way of her posture, upright - moving her body in such a way that the fin was just the point of expression of energy. It was almost…human?

There! He hauled the thought out of the shadows. It resigned itself to its fate. 

Skagen retuned to himself. He held up a fin, not an attempt at a block but (he hoped) a signal for parle. 

Valeena punched him in the beak.

Skagen felt something break. Pain, unsubtle and vindictive, stabbed his head. Valeena disappeared in light so sharp it could pare him asunder. Then, blissful darkness. His mind submerged, taking its thought prisoner with it. Sweet sensory sublimation. 

                                        ******************

Skagen’s world began the process of putting itself back together. It began with sound. He heard something that might have been his name, but it was muffled as if the speaker were gagged. Perhaps he was in prison? Had the Queen dispatched his limp corpse to rot in some long-forgotten cell? 

A light tapping. Someone percussing on his head? 

‘Skagen, are you awake?’

He mumbled something. He supposed he was saying, ‘Yes, of course damn it!’ but the words and his beak failed to make firm contact. He tried to open an eye. That was alright. There was a subtle light, enough to see a shadow bobbing close to him. Now movement. He raised a fin, that worked as well. He touched something hard. He pushed; it did not yield. He pushed harder. A rippling reflection of pain roared up at him. He shrank back from it.

‘Don’t move. You’re in a recovery pod. Do you understand?’

Ah, that explained it. He was encased in plastic (of which there was an endless supply thanks to humanities predilection to throw away anything once used). He relaxed. The recovery pod would mend him, all he had to do was lay in its embrace doing nothing but…

He mumbled, ‘Valeena. Must speak to Queen.’ If only the Court could hear him now. How flushed they would be at his fall from grace. 

‘Peace, Skagen. I am here.’

He forced both eyes open. The shadow whispered in and out, crossing itself with another form. He concentrated, the effort producing a black pain in the middle of his forehead. The shadow resolved itself into the Queen.

‘M…My Queen. I…’

‘Stop,’ she said. ‘You have said more than enough. Now it is time for me to speak. Will you listen?’

He nodded. The black pain nodded along, out of rhythm. 

She bowed her head. ‘I am sorry Skagen. What I did to you, it was unforgivable. Had you attacked me physically I should not have responded so. You have taken the worst of my rage.’ She looked up at him. ‘Frankly you should be dead.’

He smiled, or did its best approximation. ‘Hard to kill,’ he said.

‘Indeed,’ she said. ‘Although the pod tells me that my efforts were not insubstantial.’

He winced. 

‘Never mind,’ she said. ‘You live, and that is my salvation. I exposed myself to you, showed you what’s inside. You ripped the lid off my rage and have suffered the price, almost the ultimate price. Now I confess to you, dear Skagen. Will you hear it? Listen to my soul unburden itself?’

He nodded, although he wasn’t in much of a position to deny her request. 

‘Humankind has always fascinated me. I know, there are so many aspects to them. But it’s not their art or science I adore. It’s their unrefined viciousness. The pleasure they take from killing. We dolphins have fled to the deep to avoid this. Lucky we are that our vision seems tender and kind to them. Ask the whales what they think, as their young are sliced open in the name or research. Or the sharks, dismembered for tasty treats or false medicine. But their attention to creatures of the sea is nothing compared to their fancy for killing each other. Oh the ways they have developed. Even back to times before the unicorns they needed nothing more than bare hands to maim. This is what draws me, not the weapons of mass destruction. Pushing a button and murdering millions of others, where’s the fun in that? But close combat; one on one, eye to eye. I have drowned myself in this concept. Transferred knowledge that the unicorns brought down with them into a very dolphin form of fighting.’

She swam away from him into the shadows. 

‘I have never used it on another living thing, not until you brought it out of me. In a way I should thank you. You attacked my weak spot. I suppose I knew it was there. Perhaps I avoided looking at it, as one does a wound one does not want to acknowledge. I had no idea Finn was such a direct route to my deepest torment. But I digress. What I have created is useless against humans. So why did I make it, to train an army to kill dolphins? That’s pointless; I rule absolute. I have examined my motives and find them only personable. This thing, it is an art. It is an expression of me in the real world. I give form to my feelings, push them out of my body into the sea. It is a temporary tattoo of myself.’

He opened his beak to speak. She darted forward and her beak bumped the pod’s case.

‘Say nothing. Let me finish please?’

He nodded.

‘All this has led me to one conclusion. Humankind is our greatest weapon. If we are ever threatened, we cannot hope to survive. But with the shield of humankind we are made safer beneath the ocean’s barrier. Yet this protection is not without risk. If humankind decides to implode we will be caught in the backwash. We may all perish, yes even as deep as we can go. Either by weapon, pollution, or science, humankind’s end spells possible doom for us. Their greatest skill is their greatest weakness. I have denied myself the clear vision that we must reconnect with them. That is until your intervention. Or perhaps I should say Finn’s intervention, since it is he that has scraped the scab off my wound.’ She placed her fin on the pod. ‘Do you see the paradox Skagen?’

He shook his head.

‘This Caroline, she is a key without teeth. She is helpless. A dolphin pup could kill her in the water. On land she relies on mechanics and her parents to survive. A human child could bash her head in and she would be defenseless. What larks! She is a counterweight. How is this possible? How can the universe be so perverse? To send us a link at this crucial time, yet make it as fragile as frond of sea grass. Questions, they invade my mind. Answers I have none, except for Finn. Is he to be the metal that will encase Caroline, make her strong?’

Valeena’s eyes leveled with his. She said, ‘Am I to pay Finn to humankind in exchange for our protection? Do I entertain the possibility of giving up my son to secure a partnership with a race that could exterminate both themselves and us?’ She sighed. ‘Yes, I suppose I must. That is rulership, placing oneself behind the welfare of those in your trust. And you Skagen, you are the vendor of this transaction and so the focus of my distaste. Again I apologize. It is myself I should beat, not you. One does not smash the magnifying glass for focusing the sun’s rays into a burning spot on one’s skin. And of course there is the possibility that Finn will turn from this path. Perhaps she is not all-wonderful. Perhaps he will return to my side.’

He held his gaze.

‘Yes, you’re right of course. He has already decided. He loves her, or at least loves the dream of her. But it’s the same thing I suppose. Inside our dreams we are the smaller part of ourselves; a condensed version with every myriad of our personalities reduced to stronger components than could ever exist outside. But will he find the real Caroline as enticing as the dream? Will she disappoint him? Turn him away from her? And would such a turning lead her to bring about our demise by exposing us? That is the question that drives me now.’ 

He raised his fin to match Valeena’s.

‘Ah Skagen. You bring us to the edge of extinction, but it is I who must jump off. Will you chirp my demise as I plummet away?’ She withdrew her fin. ‘It matters not. I have decided, and you as the harbinger have already paid your price for that decision.’

He pulled his fin back.

She said, ‘Now, to matters. The medics say it will be ten tides before you are fit to leave. I will work on the Court in that time, begin to seed their minds with the idea of Caroline. But you must not be idle. I cannot sell her like this if she is to be Finn’s consort, regardless of her tactical dream weaving. She must be cured, and we both know that will require magic such as never seen since the fall of Atlantis. To pull enough force to work The Restoration will need the resources of all dolphins combined. The masses will follow the Court’s instruction, I will make sure of that. But the Court must be persuaded, not forced. They will not give their all if it is not willingly.’ 

He nodded. Valeena turned and swam out. Ten tides, five human days to create a plan for Caroline’s transformation. So? He focused on the heat of the medical pod, listened to its warmth probe his wounds. Healing that was the key. An idea flickered into existence, and this one he did not allow to flirt with his consciousness. He flashed his intellect at it. Yes, it would do nicely. Ten tides was plenty of time to work out the details, something he could sell to the Court. It would appeal to their sense of the theatrical. There were obstacles, mostly on the human side, but they would be up to Finn to resolve. The Princeling had the fortitude where Caroline was concerned and would perform his role. 

Skagen closed his eyes and relaxed. Sleep commanded him and he obeyed her instruction.

******************

Finn floated next to Skagen’s medical pod. When he’d seen the old dolphin he’d been shocked. A nurse had said that Skagen was much improved since he’d been brought in. Much improved? What he must have looked like on arrival! Skagen’s explanation of his injuries had been vague, but Finn could figure out the skeleton of it. Skagen had told him that Valeena had accepted the proposal to make Caroline their bridge to humankind. That was no mean feat, and it seemed that it had cost Skagen dearly. 

Finn had been avoiding his mother. He’d sneaked into the palace via an entrance used by young courtiers for nefarious reasons. Of course his mother knew he was back, but he wasn’t ready yet to engage her in conversation about Caroline. He was no defenseless Lordling, but neither did he want his mother’s wrath vexing him. 

‘Ahem.’ Skagen’s interruption brought Finn back from his drifting.

Finn said, ‘Yes, sorry you were saying?’

Skagen sighed. The speaker at the pod’s head made this sound like a fart. Finn restrained a smirk.

‘I have a plan for Caroline’s inception into dolphin society. Your mother and I will persuade the Court. Your job is to persuade Caroline, or to be more exact her family.’

Finn jerked. He had a vision of himself on a beach, perched on his fluke, clicking to Caroline’s father about how his daughter had to follow Finn into the ocean. He shook his head. The daydream fled but, like some vaudeville performer, poked its fluke back around the curtain of his imagination to wiggle itself at him. Was he to be the fool in this production?

Skagen slapped the inside of the pod. His fin made a thwacking sound. Finn started.

‘Forgive me,’ Finn said. ‘The Court is your expert area. I am learning more about humans every tide, but I see not how I can influence Caroline’s family.’ He shook his head, as if the physical negation would make what he sensed was about to be a terrifying plan go away.

‘The key,’ Skagen said, ‘is Caroline’s cousin.’

Finn floundered. ‘Anya? How can she help? She’s only six human years old.’

Skagen closed his eyes. When he spoke, his voice purred like a seal pup having its belly rubbed. ‘I will take you through my plan. But no interruptions, understand? At the end you will have questions, or not if you are as smart as I believe.’

Finn couldn’t decide if this was an insult or a compliment. He decided on the latter and kept silent. 

Skagen continued, ‘Caroline must be cured. Neither the Court nor the dolphin community will accept an emissary in her condition. I wish we were more enlightened, and in the future may come to bear a more human view of the disabled. But as you know perfection is the way of our society. I digress. Caroline’s cure, it is possible, but the power required is multi-oceanal. Your mother and the Court have power, but it will not be enough. For her body to be healed, the sum of all dolphin magic must be brought to bear.’ Skagen rubbed his eyes. ‘Caroline must be in the ocean for at least three hundred waves. That is my calculation of the time required.’

Finn opened his beak. ‘Three hun�"‘

‘Nothing from you I said!’ Skagen bellowed.

Finn bowed an apology.

‘Would that it could be less,’ Skagen said, ‘but it cannot. The magic will be powerful, but so are her disabilities. The Oceans can heal her, but it cannot be - what is the human term - fast-tracked. Like any proper medical treatment,’ he waved his fins to indicate the pod’s circumference, ‘proper repair takes time. So, we need Caroline in the water for three hundred waves, and she must be far enough away from land that no-one can interfere. That means she must be borne away from shore supported by a dolphin raft. I assume you would like to command that?’

Finn nodded. 

‘Excellent. Then you must pick a trusted team to assist you. Now the problem is how to get Caroline into the ocean. When does the family plan to leave?’

Finn rubbed his beak. ‘They stay for six more tides. Caroline’s father must return to work else risk termination.’

Skagen waved his fin. ‘It would be better that this were extended by four tides, but I will take what I am given. Caroline needs to communicate her desire to replace meeting dolphins in a controlled environment with an oceanic encounter. This is where her cousin is critical. I do not believe, even having met Caroline, that she has the power to get her parents to agree to this. But combined with the force of her cousin, it is possible. Caroline and Anya are close?’

Finn nodded.

‘Good,’ Skagen said. ‘Anya must be the vocal force of our will. She is precocious and wily you say. Those are skills that we can exploit. She must cajole, scream, rant, play every trick that human youngsters perform to get their way. Once Caroline is in the ocean and away from land, the magic will be worked. She will return to shore cured. Then she will be able to help us work out a compromise with humankind. Her cure will give her celebrity status, and that can be leveraged with her government, and through them humankind as a whole. I predict that, within two lunar cycles, we will have a tacit treaty limiting human pollution of the seas, murder of whales and sharks, and a format for negotiations on a long-term solution for sharing the planet. But that is the future. Thoughts?’

Finn said, ‘I believe Anya can can play her part. But she will need to be instructed, and that can only be done actively in Caroline’s dream world. Anya must be brought inside, given to understand that her actions will be crucial. I believe she will enjoy the role to be honest. Caroline gets much of the family’s attention. Anya will revel in being the center of it, even for a short time.’

Skagen nodded.

Finn said, ‘I must return to Florida. Is there no way the plan can be enacted sooner? I’m not trying to avoid the responsibility, but it would make life much easier.’

Skagen shook his head. ‘It cannot. You do not yet fully realize how the politics of the Court work. Even your mother cannot cajole them in a shorter time. Will they all stay do you think?’

Finn shrugged. ‘We will make it work.’

‘Well,’ Skagen said, ‘you have as much to do as I have, yet of a different order of magnitude. Shortly I will be released from my confinement. Your mother has already laid the groundwork for the Court’s succession to my idea. Now my job is to build on it; create the unified agreement to Caroline’s appointment.’ He shifted in his pod. ‘Speaking of your mother, have you visited with her yet?’

Finn was unable to meet Skagen’s eyes. ‘Errr…no as it happens. I have really been quite busy with�"‘

‘Good,’ Skagen said.

Finn was taken aback. ‘Oh?’ 

‘Yes,’ Skagen replied. ‘This plan needs no more complications. Fix your gaze on the task at hand. Once Caroline is ensconced as our ambassador to humankind, and the world sees how well I am sure she will do, then there is time to discuss your future. Your mother is your Queen first, at least that’s how the world sees her. Inside I believe it is reversed, don’t forget that. In this let me guide you. Valeena would sacrifice all of this for you, she loves you that much. Let her be occupied by this plan for now. Once we are comfortably talking with the humans, then it will be time for you, Valeena and Caroline to talk.’

Finn baulked. He hadn’t really thought about that conversation. ‘Yes, agreed. Absolutely.’

‘Fine,’ Skagen said. ‘Then away with you sirrah. No time for dawdling. Communicate your plans with me, so that I can co-ordinate and understand. If all goes well, soon Caroline will be all and we will have saved both species from possible extinction. That is the nothing less than the ultimate goal here, don’t forget it.’

Finn bowed, even though he had no need to, and swam from the room, his heart beating fast.

                                                               *****************

Caroline had been placed in a recliner by the pool. The others were playing water-volleyball with a family from Boston. Her mother had hovered, but eventually relented to have some actual fun after Caroline’s repeated insistence. The compromise had been a five-minute check-in. Caroline had been staring out to sea when Finn’s voice sounded in her head.

…online, can you hear me?

Hear breath quickened. She willed it slower in case her mother mistook it for a seizure. 

Yes, she said, I can hear you. Did you cause this?

I don’t think so, he replied. I think we did it together. Isn’t that great!

She paused to consider. Was it great? To have Finn inside her mind when awake as well as when asleep. Did she want that? Waking time was for her. Yet Finn already understood her as her mother never could. He could penetrate the inner sanctum of her thoughts, pass the barrier thousands of feelings thick. Yes, balancing the pros and cons it was good to talk to him outside of her Queendom.

She sent back, It is. I’m so happy you’re on your way back. Did all go well with your mother and Lord Skagen?

A perceptible pause, long enough that on a phone someone would be saying “Hello? Hello?”

Yes, he said.

Well, that was short and sweet. So there’s a plan?

This time he responded immediately. Skagen is prepared everything at the Court. But we need to talk. I have to explain it to you and time is pressing. 

Tell me then, she sent.

Not here, he replied. It’s best done in the Queendom. I’ll be offshore in about one hour. Can you arrange to take a nap so we can meet?

Of course, she sent. It’s hot here, so I’ll be able to ask to sleep in my room; it’s got AC.

What’s that?

She laughed at him. Nothing important. Let me know when you’re about thirty minutes out. I’ll make sure I’m in my room by then. 

OK, see you soon.

Adios, she sent. 

                                                                    *****************

As promised Finn sent when he was getting close. Caroline was able to use the pre-determined nap sequence. Once asleep, she slipped into her Queendom and found Finn waiting for her in the great hall. 

He bowed then said, ‘The most marvelous thing is going to happen.’

‘Oh?’ she said. ‘Do tell.’

He shuffled closer. ‘You are to become a miracle.’

Simonale, who had been listening off to one side, strode forward. ‘A miracle you say? Are we not stood talking here and now in that very miracle?’

‘Yes, of course,’ Finn said. ‘But, and I’m sorry Caroline I’m going have to be honest here…’

Uh oh, she thought. 

Finn continued, ‘…dolphin society is fixated on physical perfection. It won’t be possible for you to be our ambassador in your condition. You are to be cured.’

This left Caroline speechless for several seconds. He parents had long ago given up spending money on possible cures. Their investment in medical science spent, they’d tried faith healing. That had been classically useless. In the end, they’d settled for making Caroline’s life as comforting and fulfilling as they could. 

‘Cured,’ she said. ‘What the hell does that mean?’

He cocked his head, as if translating this into another language. ‘All better. Like, walking and talking.’

She looked at Simonale. They backed away so quickly that they tripped and stumbled. She looked back at Finn. ‘You think all I want is to be your walking, talking puppet? What about what I want?’

He stepped forward. ‘Isn’t it what you want, really? Look at you now, don’t you want to be as vibrant as this in the real world? Will you stay locked up inside the cage of your mind? Grow up Caroline. You are being given an honor that no human in over two thousand years has been offered. Will you act like a petulant child and deny it, or will you accept it and become the person you are destined to be?’

She held up the mirror of her soul and considered it. What did she want? She couldn’t have the things normal children had. Her parents had to bathe her, feed her, take her to the bathroom, put her to bed, change her soiled sheets, bandage her sores. Here was the chance to escape that life, to take on a new one full of purpose. How stupid could she be? 

‘You’re right,’ she said to Finn. ‘I’m sorry. Forgive me please. I do want it, more than anything. And after that to help dolphins and humans live together. Is it really possible?’

‘Yes,’ Finn said.

After Finn had explained it, Caroline understood - or at least she understood as well as Finn understood. She agreed that Anya would be the ideal catalyst to force the beach launch. She had been ringside to many of Anya’s tantrums. Caroline was positive that Anya could be persuaded to throw a titanic fit if Caroline did not get her dearest wish of swimming with wild dolphins. 

‘When must it happen?’ she said.

Finn assumed the vacant expression she had come to recognize as the one he used when converting dolphin time into human. ‘The day after tomorrow. I have assembled my team. They are trusted friends. Strong dolphins all and not afraid of being so close to shore. And I will be there to lead them.’

She smiled at him. ‘It makes me feel a lot better that you will be there with me.’

‘Always,’ he said, and smiled back. 

Simonale let out a minuscule squeak. She looked at them and saw them roll their eyes.

‘You have a comment?’ she said.

‘No, your Highness. Just examining the rafters for cobwebs.’

She harrumphed and returned her attention to Finn. ’So, our task is to bring Anya into the Queendom and get her to agree to her part in the plan. Then I must communicate my desire to my parents and when they deny it, which my father certainly will, Anya will explode with the force of an atomic explosion.’

Finn snorted. ‘Well I don’t like the simile. Perhaps a volcanic eruption could be substituted?’

Caroline laughed. ‘As you wish. So, what do we do?’

Finn walked in a circle then came back to face her. ‘You and Anya must be asleep at the same time. Is that possible?’

‘God yes!’ Caroline said. ‘Anya’s always exhausted after a day by the pool. She’ll be asleep by seven, so I’ll ask for an early night. That gives us a solid chunk of time to work with her. How’s that?’

Finn did a dance which looked like an Irish jig. She laughed.

‘What?’ he said.

She walked to him and placed a hoof on top of his. ‘I hope that, once I’m cured, I’ll be able to swim with you and you can teach me how to dance like a dolphin.’

He seemed sad for a moment, then wistful and, finally, poker-faced. 

‘I would…like that,’ he said in a tone that potentially indicated quite the opposite. 

Caroline was so taken aback by his reticence that she could not respond. What was this? It had been an innocent enough request. She liked his little dance. Wouldn’t he want them to be able to swim together. After all he could not come on land, but with scuba equipment she could stay underwater for, well she wasn’t sure how long for. But it would be some time at least. Didn’t he want that?

‘Well,’ she said. ‘I suppose I’ll return and setup for Anya’s arrival. I assume you’re taking care of bringing her here?’ Caroline had never invited anyone into her Queendom, now it seemed she was giving out tickets.

Finn said, ‘Yes of course. It will be no problem. The minds of the young are unguarded. I will present myself in her dream as I am now, then bring her to you with a promise that we are going to meet a Princess of the Unicorns. You mentioned that she is, how do you say it, “in to” unicorns?’

‘Oh yes,’ Caroline said. ‘She is quite fascinated by them. It’s all TV-fueled of course.’

Finn looked as if he expected her to say something else. She declined to give him the benefit of further discourse.

‘I’ll take me leave then,’ he said. ‘Until later, farewell.’

‘Farewell,’ she said. 

He bowed, backed up then turned and trotted out without looking back.

Caroline turned to Simonale. ‘Well?’

The creature extended their arm and swept it around. Her subjects had silently assembled. ‘One wonders,’ they said, ‘what will happen to the rest of us once you are become a miracle.’

‘What do you mean?’ she said.

They shrugged, and their shoulders slumped. ‘Only that we who have served you, worshiped you even, these past years are being lined up for scrappage as far as I can tell.’

She laughed. ‘Dear Simonale, nothing could be further from the truth. I will still be your Princess, and we will all meet here whenever I am sleeping.’

Simoanle heaved a theatrical sigh. ‘We’ll see, your Highness. We’ll see.’