The Siren bird looked at her guest with royal arrogance. Ariana herself, on the other hand, was trying to be polite. Either she pretended or actually had good manners.
«I wanted to be a queen of the sea,» she admitted, «because I am the most magnificent creature on water. But Seal did not appreciate my qualities.»
«You had little to lose by not being queen, or you would have had to put up with a harem of nymphs and mermaids.»
«Do you really think theyre rivals? How arrogant the earthly aristocrats are! They dont even know what a disguise is.»
«I beg your pardon?»
«Its all for the Sultan of Etar. He sometimes took a tincture to breathe underwater and descended into the underwater world. Seal felt ashamed that with all his wealth he couldnt have a harem. Earth women would not live long on the bottom, so they hastily assembled a harem of mermaids. In fact, they do considerable work, but the Sultan will never know about it.»
«So Seal has never been with them?» Lilophea was relieved.
«So have I, but when the Sultan comes to visit, I have to go to the court and play the role of one of the chief wives. Nereida does the same.»
«Is showing off that important?»
«Seal and the Sultan are almost friends. And in Etar, the rulers wealth is determined by the size of his treasury and harem.»
«Are you also a subject of Seal?»
«Lets just say I am one of the few who have managed to remain independent. My magical tinctures can rot the whole sea if I pour them into the waves. And some of the Morgens and the people of the coast depend on my elixirs. My talent has given me the right to sovereignty.»
Such an answer was to be expected. The sea fairy looked very arrogant. She practiced her magical craft with great pride. She certainly thought of her little island on the back of an outlandish fish as a whole independent state.
«And whose side would you be on in case of war, say, with the ocean?»
«I would remain neutral. Theres already a war going on! I hear it,» the white fairy said. «The waves bring me all the news. I love to talk to the waves. They just whisper everything they see, and never ask for an answer. You can ask them about everything that happens in the depths or on the coast, and they will deliver everything in detail.»
«So says Katharina, a noble captive of the whale. Curiously enough, from the rustling of the waves, both fairy and prisoner can hear about everything that goes on in the world.»
«Youll have a chance to escape soon,» Ariana wizened a little over the cube-shaped vessel and drew out a handful of water droplets. In her hands they didnt clump together, but clung together into a necklace. It didnt melt, even after Ariana put it around her neck. «Think about what you will choose. Where is the way out of the nets, and where are the nets themselves, in which you are entangled: on land or in the depths?»
«You speak as if you no longer claim the title of ruler of all the seas.»
«I have long ago accepted that the throne is not for me. My whole strategy in the war for possession of the king of the sea has failed, and the foolish peacock sent to you failed to inspire fear of the terrible creatures that come from the waves.»
«After all, it was you who taught Seneschal to sing a song about how dangerous were for mortal girls relations with watermen,» reproached Lilophea.
The sea fairy did not raise an eyebrow.
«For mortals, yes, but youre not a mortal. I didnt realize it at first. I thought you were born ugly, like the other two.»
«Morena and Lirena. You mean them?»
The vial she held in her hand cracked. The blue liquid, which looked like water, spurted out, and burned her fingers badly. The white leaves of her outfit hissed in pain as if they were alive, began to shrivel, covered in ash, even bleeding. The white fairy urgently sought out a jar of some ointment to correct the oversight. She managed to heal the burn, but the leaves growing out of her skin didnt heal immediately.
«Sorry. I didnt mean to imply that you were born ugly,» the fairy apologized. «I call those who arent born the way nature intended, ugly. But thats the way it is with humans and non-humans. In your case, the anomaly is that you were born normal, human-like. No wings, no thorns. I thought youd live a little and then die like all humans. But now, I see, I was very wrong about you. Not everything is on the surface. In all your predecessors, you could tell all their abilities at once.»
«What do you mean?»
«They are descendants of the union of humans and higher beings.»
«Did my mother also come from Heaven?» Lilophea recalled the stories of the fall and war of the celestial races in the heights above.
«She is not from heaven. She is from the depths.»
«I dont believe you. Seal says you all lived in the heavens in the beginning. And then there was war.»
The sea fairy merely jerked her shoulders, and her lacey white wings flapped gracefully.
«But about the forerunners» «It was embarrassing to even bring it up. «I was dreaming about twins. They were creepy twins. Two girls who looked exactly the same, but one had a human body, and the other had morgen-like growths all over her body and tentacles under her dress. And then they came to me in real life and began to assure me that they were my own sisters.»
The white fairy dropped some sort of vial again and cursed quite like the tipsy pirates of Morissas company. She must have heard them swear when they passed her islet on their ships, mistaking it for a mirage. Fortunately, this time there was no mishap. The potion in the vial proved harmless. It merely produced a palm tree with blue leaves and blue fruit. They didnt look like coconuts or bananas. Lilophea reached for one, but the fruit burst, and a blue winged creature emerged.
«I was saving it for a special occasion,» complained the fairy. «Now I have to make a new one. Everything in my fighting arsenal must be kept in stock.»
The word «warrior» made Lilophea uneasy.
«Who are you fighting?»
«Theres no telling who will attack from the ships that pass by.»
«Theyll mistake the island for a fata morgana.»
«Not all of them. Besides, theres a threat from the sky.»
«You mean the eagles from Sultanite?»
The fairy pretended not to understand her, and Lilothea clarified:
«It is the crowned eagles.»
Ariana bit her colorless lips sadly.
«I have recently seduced a dashing pirate captain to protect my home from them,» she admitted. «He had a very fine crew of crossbowmen. They didnt miss. It worked for a while. Gryphons are enchanted, but you can hurt them if you grease the arrowheads with a solution I made. The gryphons charged and flew away in a hail of arrows, and then their leader found some means of making her feathered armor irresistible. Her flock mauled my pirates and sank their ship. And I was left alone.»
«Perhaps you could find a use for this.» Lilophea gave her the amulet taken from the skeleton.
«You think I have to be an eagle to hold them off, dont you?» Ariana made a grimace.
«Well, maybe you could make the most of it. Youre a sorceress!»
«And youre not?»
«Im a novice and youre a professional.»
Ariana liked the flattery. She accepted the amulet. Lilophea was relieved when she parted with it. Perhaps it was too evil for her to control on her own.
The Empty City
Seneschal was still hovering over the shell road, waiting for her. He should have flown back to Aquilania right away. Lilophea wanted to raise a scandal with him, but what was the point. There was no way the liar would be convinced. It was now clear why Seneschal was so reluctant for her to visit the sea fairy. Unlike him, Ariana proved too proud to degrade herself to a lie. It was one thing to send an agent to someone and another to lie face to face. Good thing the fairy accepted defeat with dignity and didnt sharpen her claws at her rival. Seneschal, on the other hand, was yet to be dealt with.