Chapter 19 A Distinct Lack of Tranquility
A Distinct Lack of Tranquility
When visitors entered the menagerie, the very first pavilion that greeted them held the tranquility pond.
It was the only pavilion that held no beast. Not even fishes swam in the pond.
It was also the smallest of the pavilions and hardly more than a domed stone chamber.
At regular intervals along the walls, flickering candles softened the darkness.
At the center, the pond was long, rectangular and knife slim.
The menagerie had been built around the tranquility pond.
It had been there for a long time; some said since before Rathe Castle was even built.
Perhaps even before Enzo the Fool had ever stepped foot on the Isle of Malys.
No one knew what the tranquility pond did.
It was rarely touched. The water had a curiously observant quality to it, an aliveness that, while not malevolent, was uncanny.
One could swim in its waters without ever coming to harm.
Arris and Yvlle had done so a few times, always daring one another to plunge into the pond. The thing was …
Arris did not remember having done so.
No one did. He could only assume that he had swum in its waters because his clothes were drenched and because Yvlle said she had seen him go under the surface. Perhaps when he swam through its darkness, it had entrusted him with its secrets, knowing that he would never remember how to share them.
All one could take away from touching the pond was a sense of unearthly calm. It lasted only a few moments, but in those moments, that sense of calm could be dangerous. Whoever stepped out of the pool was vulnerable to suggestion. And with the wrong intentions, that could be very bad indeed.
When Arris entered the pavilion, he wondered if Demelza knew of the pond’s history. Or lack thereof. He wondered what she would say to him.
But it was not Demelza who greeted him in the pavilion.
“Hello, sweet prince.”
“We heard of your woes.”
It took a moment for Arris’s eyes to adjust to the tranquility pond’s dimness, but once they did, he recognized Thalassa and Pearl, the siren twins.
Their long, magenta hair was pulled back, ornamented with the spines of fish and gilded kelp.
The surrounding candlelight flashed gold on their pink scales.
They wore slippery black gowns, which blended into the dark.
Arris noticed that they kept flexing and unflexing their hands.
“Woes?” he echoed, smiling. “I have neither more nor less than usual.”
“That’s not what we heard…” said Thalassa.
“We heard you slipped and injured yourself quite badly,” said Pearl. “Take your rest with us, sweet prince. We can take away any pain.”
Thalassa tilted her head. “Your shirt is undone.”
“Let us help you with the rest of it,” added Pearl.
“Oh, that’s … that’s all right,” said Arris, taking a step back. He looked at the archway. It was about ten paces away. Maybe if he—
Thalassa gripped his chin, turning it sharply to her. The twins were far closer now. Pearl licked her sharp canines.
“Marriage sounded sweet, but you seem far sweeter,” said Pearl, her jaw hinging open.
From the archway, a great shriek echoed and the surface of the tranquility pond trembled. Light spangled the air. Arris felt his tongue loosening, an impulse to speak grasping hold of him.
Thalassa shook her head, clapping her hands over ears. “What in Wrate’s name—”
“Who else wishes to harm Prince Arris?” demanded a thundering voice.
Pearl’s jaw slackened. Her eyes glazed over. “I remember Oona speaking of it in her sleep … that she wondered if the prince would realize it was a compliment to use her grandfather’s dagger on him…”
Oona? thought Arris with a pang. But they’d had such a wonderful conversation the other day. Still, he had to know:
“Is the grandfather’s knife considered a precious family heirloom at least?”
“Sylva spoke longingly of the taste of his blood,” said Thalassa, ignoring the question. It seemed that the one who heard Demelza’s song only answered directly to her. “She wondered if it would sparkle when she drank it.”
“Tell the prince your intentions.”
Pearl was the first to speak.
“I really did think of marrying you,” she said, her voice flat.
“But in the end, desire and appetite won out … you’re delicious, Prince Arris.
Your yearning floats atop your blood like the thickest of creams. Your beauty is so sweetly unripened …
so unlike the lean souls of sailors whose very imagination has gone tough with disuse. ”
Arris blinked. “Thank you? I think?”
“Power would have been nice,” said Thalassa, shrugging. “We would never be without a feast.”
The effect of Demelza’s song was beginning to wear off. Thalassa shook herself. The glazed look in Pearl’s eyes vanished. Both twins’ eyes turned lambent and bulbous.
“You take the legs, Sister,” said Thalassa.
“With pleasure,” said Pearl.
Before Arris could move out of the way, there was a blur of blue to his right, followed by a loud splash. Thalassa and Pearl had tumbled backward, pushed into the pond of tranquility by a breathless Demelza.
“Hello!” she said brightly.
Arris was not sure what he was more shocked by: the startling revelation of Thalassa and Pearl or the sight of Demelza in a dress.
Her hair was still matted with mud like the wattling of a roof.
Her hands were a touch grubby, and despite wearing a silk dress, she was barefoot, with a heeled pair of shoes dangling from a belt of pearls around her waist.
“This morning during breakfast I heard them discussing all the ways they planned to eat you, but no one else seemed particularly concerned and I realized it was because they were speaking in an odd patois of formal Famishing and the marsh vernacular of the common mer-bog,” said Demelza, excitedly.
“It’s all rather genius, to be honest. I believe Thalassa and Pearl made up this language to speak only to one another, which is—well, anyway, I was able to catch enough sentences here and there to figure out how to reveal their true nature to you. ”
Arris thought back to how the twins thought he had been … weakened.
“You set up a trap!” said Arris.
“For them,” said Demelza.
“Yes, but I was the bait!” said Arris. “I’m not sure that I appreciate being used as such.”
“You looked appreciative enough to me,” said Demelza.
“And you look extraordinarily pleased with yourself.”
“I am,” said Demelza. “I’m discovering that I enjoy feeling … ‘useful’ isn’t quite the right word … vital, perhaps? Instrumental without being a literal instrument?”
She looked triumphant, and although she was caked in mud and smelled like a pond, there was something commanding about her. Something that made Arris stand up a bit straighter.
“In any case, I like it,” said Demelza.
“I can tell,” said Arris.
Arris looked from Demelza’s beaming face to the surface of the tranquility pond. No one had ever drowned in it, and it would be shocking if the first to do so were a pair of sirens, but they had been gone for a little while now.
“I know they tried to kill me, but I’d honestly feel terrible if they drowned,” said Arris. “Should we try to fish them out?”
A bubbling sound interrupted their conversation. The surface of the tranquility pond wrinkled. Out popped Thalassa and Pearl, wearing matching smiles of utter peace.
“Oh, hello,” said Thalassa.
“You are not dead,” observed Pearl.
“I am sorry to disappoint,” said Arris.
“We would only be disappointed if it happened by another’s hand,” said Thalassa.
“In your own mind, I am certain that is a kindness,” said Arris.
“I’m afraid I must ask you both to leave Rathe Castle.
Your belongings will be packed up and delivered to your home, but it’s best if you leave immediately.
On your way out, if you could inform the guards to come and collect Lady Oona as well that would be deeply appreciated. ”
“With pleasure,” said Thalassa.
“Goodbye, sweet prince,” said Pearl. “I will forever mourn that I will never know exactly how sweet you might have been.”
A pair of previously unseen vines grasped hold of Thalassa and Pearl. Their time at the tournament had come to an end. Thalassa blew Arris a kiss as she and her sister were yanked—rather politely, it must be said—out of the pavillion.
Arris and Demelza were alone. They glanced at one another.
Demelza slumped to the floor. Arris copied her.
He wasn’t sure who began to laugh first. All he knew was that the sound of Demelza’s laugh was as startlingly bright as her singing was shockingly bad.
When all the laughs had tumbled out of them, Demelza unlooped her shoes and began to put them on.
She glanced through the pavilion’s arch.
“I wonder when I’ll catch the next contestant,” she said.
“You seem awfully enthusiastic about more attempts on my life,” said Arris.
“Not enthusiastic,” said Demelza. She paused. “Well, not exactly.”
“I’m flattered,” said Arris.
“I only mean that I can see a future for myself,” she said, her voice quiet. “I’m not sure I’ve ever felt that before.”
Demelza’s presence—despite the bizarre circumstances—was oddly comforting to Arris.
It wasn’t like being with Ursula, where he felt that she amiably permitted his company but otherwise held him in as much regard as she would a tail on a cat.
Demelza sought him out. She spoke openly.
Excitedly. And in return, it made him want to speak.
He wondered if it was the aftereffects of her truth magic hanging in the air that almost compelled the need not merely to understand her but also to be understood by her.
Arris reasoned that such a response was because she had been enlisted to guard his interests.
Of course he would wish to know her better.
“What are you feeling right now?” he tried to ask, but instead he said:
“I need to know what you’re feeling.”