The Queen of the Drowned Court – Part 2: Shoreline

The night in the drowned court was long and green and slow. The great hall was a cavern of living coral, lit by drifting globes of pale light that bobbed like slow lanterns. She made him kneel at the foot of her throne, a chair carved from a single enormous shell, while the court's silent servants came and went. She gave him tasks, and watched them done. To carry a cup of sea-glass to the high table without spilling a drop. To stand, motionless, for an hour, while she conducted court business in a low murmur. To kneel, silent, with his hands on his knees, while she told him in her slow musical voice exactly what she expected of those who served her.

She corrected him, as she had promised, with a touch of cool fingers beneath his chin, a glance, a quiet word. Straighter. Slower. Again. She was severe and exact and utterly without cruelty, and when he faltered, there was never anger, only patience, and the soft inexorable pressure of her certainty.

"Does the carpenter wish to continue?" she asked, as each tide turned.

"I do, Majesty."

"Say it plainly."

"I do. Thank you."

"The Queen of the Drowned Court does not require thanks." But the globes of light seemed to glow a little warmer.

At the deepest hour, she dismissed her court with a single lifted hand. The silent figures slid away into the dark. She came down from her throne in her long green gown and sat on the lowest step, beside him, and for a while neither of them spoke. The pale lights drifted. Somewhere far off, water sang through the coral like a low cello.

"Shoreline," said Thalassa, softly.

It was the word, and she spoke it for them both. The crown came off her brow. It lay in her lap, a ring of pearl and shell, suddenly small. She drew her heavy gown across his shoulders like a blanket and pulled him against her side.

"How are you?"

"Weightless," said Corin, with a laugh that wavered. "And very much at home. Is that strange?"

"It is the right answer." She rested her cheek on his hair. "You were a splendid servant."

"May I stay a while?"

"You may stay as long as you please." She smiled, the first true smile he had seen from her. "And, as a guest, you may go when you wish, and come back when you like. The tide will always remember your name."

Across the vast quiet cavern, the globes of light drifted lower, and the water began, very gently, to sing him to sleep.

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