Chewie head-butted her leg, almost knocking her down. After most of a lifetime together (hers, anyway), he knew the way she thought.
“Stop worrying,” he said. “I was very persuasive.” He smiled his sharp-toothed doggy smile, and Marcus took half a step back involuntarily. Beka snorted. Chewie didn’t realize that his smile didn’t quite come across the way he meant it to. Of course, when he was in dragon form, it was much worse.
“The Queen said yes?”
“The Queen said yes.” Chewie nodded his massive head toward the ornate box Beka held tucked carefully under one arm. “She said to tell you that under the circumstances, she would allow it, since the Selkies and Mer are her people, too, for all that they are forced to live out their lives on this side of the doorway between the worlds.”
Beka snorted. That sounded like a direct quote from the Queen, who always had a certain amount of pity for any paranormal creatures not able to reside within the ethereally beautiful borders of her kingdom. Still, all Beka cared about was that she had permission to use the Water of Life and Death to save the people Kesh had poisoned.
The King of the Selkies had been politely listening from a few paces away, but now took a forceful step forward. “The Queen has granted your request?” he said with relief, his stiff back unbending just enough to show how tense he had been. “That is most welcome news.” He looked at Beka and Marcus, taking in their somewhat battered appearance. “And may I also assume that you have found and vanquished the villain responsible for all of this?”
Beka widened her eyes at Chewie, and he gave a tiny shake of his black muzzle. Great. He clearly hadn’t told the King the identity of the person who had poisoned his realm. She sighed. First things first.
“Yes,” she said, leaving it at that. Marcus stared at her but didn’t say anything.
“Oh, I’m sorry, Your Majesties,” Beka said. “I would like you to meet my friend Marcus. He has been invaluable in helping to find the source of the illness, as well as helping me to capture the er . . . villain.”
The King bowed his head, and the Queen of the Mer gave him a sweet but absentminded smile, most of her attention focused on the small child huddled in her arms.
“I’d like to start giving the Water to the sickest people first,” Beka said, nodding to the Queen of the Mer.
Chewie dropped a small velvet bag in the sand at Beka’s feet. “The Queen of the Otherworld sends these, with her compliments,” he said, as Beka pulled out two silver spoons, one tiny and the other barely there at all. “She bid me to tell you that they are the exact amount needed for the treatment of the little ones and for the adults among the water people. You were instructed to give this amount; no more and no less.”
Trust the Queen to control the situation, even when she couldn’t be there in person. Still, no one knew the properties of the Water of Life and Death better, since the Queen was the one who created it through some magical process only she knew.
Boudicca held out her grandchild, her arms trembling noticeably as Beka tilted the minute amount of Water the smaller spoon contained into the limp Mer’s open mouth. The aroma of flowers and sunshine drifted over the beach, and those still waiting for their own dose suddenly stood slightly taller.
A moment, suspended in time. The moon blinked out behind the clouds and returned. The Merchild giggled. “Yummy,” she said to her grandmother. “More.”
Boudicca clutched the little one tightly as they all watched the color return to tiny, chubby cheeks. “Thank you, Baba Yaga,” she whispered. “All my gratitude and blessings upon you.” She wept unabashedly and stepped aside for a haggard man bearing a Selkie elder, a shrunken woman so tiny and thin she seemed to weigh nothing at all.
One by one, Beka dispensed the Water to all those who needed it. One by one, they began to recover as soon as they swallowed the precious liquid. Only a single tiny infant Mer failed to improve, his cloudy green eyes fluttering for a moment and then closing forever. His parents enfolded him in grieving arms and swam slowly back into the sea. For him, the answers had come too late.
Beka wanted to weep, but there would be time for that later. For now, there was still work to be done.
Finally, only the royals and their guards remained, standing with Beka, Marcus, and Chewie on the deserted beach.