Zeph caught his eye across the table, lifting her flute of sparkling wine to him. In grim acknowledgment, he quaffed the remnants of his own whiskey without diluting it with coffee. Odd bedfellows, he and Zeph, both in love with the royal twins and destined to deal with a future of this kind of thing. He’d have to discuss with her. Perhaps he and Zeph could partner together, run interference for one another, all to reduce potential injuries to incautious competitors, naturally.
Astar cleared his throat. “If I may…” he said, loudly enough to carry over the general hubbub, silencing the group and gaining everyone’s attention. “Thank you,” he continued with a half smile, then turned to the king and queen. “We’re grateful for your offer of assistance and naturally accept the company of your envoy to guide us. Stella, you are willing to be liaison to Falada?”
“I’m happy to,” Stella replied with equal decorum. “And allow me to echo my brother’s sentiments. We are so grateful for the trust you and Falada place in us, and we will do our utmost to find King Isyn and restore contact between you.”
The king and queen heard Stella’s “but” as clearly as Jak did, both waiting intently for her to continue.
“But can you explain,” Astar said, picking up smoothly, “what makes this journey such a challenge, why we need a guide, and how an entire island chain can fall out of contact?”
Speaking of partnerships, Astar and Stella worked as well together as any fighting team, only wielding diplomacy instead of blades. Observing them closely, Jak recalled how Stella had alluded to a communication system that required them to be close. Knowing what to look for, he picked out the subtle flexing of their throats as they spoke silently. Subvocalizing to each other. Clever.
“I can address the last two questions first,” Queen Nix replied. “Though I’m afraid I have an incomplete answer. I grew up in the Isles of Remus, and even I don’t completely understand the phenomenon, but the islands sometimes… shift from one plane of existence to another. I know it sounds impossible, but there’s no other way to explain it. Sometimes the Isles are in this world, and we can travel back and forth freely. Other times… not.”
Across from him, Stella was in profile to him as she watched the queen with keen attention. “It sounds entirely possible to us,” she assured the queen, and their group all nodded, some grimacing.
“Your Highness,” Lena spoke up, “can you clarify—I take it that this phenomenon is not new, that it occurred long before the eclipse?”
Queen Nix nodded. “As far back as our history goes, which is a very long time.”
Lena looked thoughtful. “My mother indicated as much, but there’s not a lot of information on the magic of the Isles, not even in our library.”
“Even the famed library at Nahanau has its limitations,” Queen Nix replied with gentle understanding. “And our Isles are far more ancient than yours.”
Rather than looking daunted, Lena brightened with interest, very much her mother’s daughter.
“Thank you for explaining, Your Highness,” Astar said, inclining his head to her. “I take it Falada can penetrate this shifting reality to guide us to the Isles?”
“If anyone can, Falada can,” Queen Nix replied.
Jak didn’t love that she promised nothing there, but he supposed that was as good as they’d get. Better than sailing blind.
“If you can even make it there,” King Cavan said to Astar with a thoughtful frown. “That speaks to your first question. Though the Strait of K’van is narrow this far north, and the distance to the nearest of the Isles not great, the seas are quite treacherous this time of year. The wise traveler would set sail from the Grace River estuary and approach the Isles from the south.”
“But it would be a shame for them to backtrack when they’ve already journeyed so far north,” Queen Nix put in. “I’ve made that purportedly ‘easier’ journey overland from the estuary, and I don’t recommend it. It is long and arduous in other ways.” Her lips pinched with old pain, and Jak watched Stella’s silvery gaze following their invisible companion, tracking it as if she saw it behave in agitation.
“I won’t ask my sailors to undertake such a perilous voyage from the coast here,” King Cavan said decisively, placing a hand on his queen’s shoulder when she would’ve protested. “Isyn would say the same and you know it, Nix.”
“Perhaps, but as a mother, I—”
“If I may, Your Highnesses,” Astar broke in. “I apologize for the interruption, but there’s no need for concern on this aspect, at least.” He nodded at Jak. “We only need to borrow a vessel. Jak can sail it for us.”
Everyone looked at him, the four royals of Castle Marcellum regarding him with so much surprise a lesser man would take insult. Instead, he toasted Astar with his heavily whiskey-laced coffee. “My prince’s confidence warms my heart.” Or maybe that’s the whiskey. He discreetly suppressed the quip, but Stella clearly heard it, eyes dancing with laughter.
“You can sail a ship, all by yourself?” Wilhelm inquired archly.
“Provided it’s of a size appropriate to the seven us and no larger,” Jak answered without rancor. “I’m assuming Falada doesn’t take up much space. And I don’t have to work all the rigging on my own, as my companions all have opposable thumbs most of the time, and they take direction well.”
Zeph muffled a snicker with a cough that fooled no one. Stella’s gaze still held amusement, but she narrowed her eyes in warning.
“You can’t mean…” Marjolein began, then paused with lifted brows. “I’m sorry, Jim, is it? I can’t imagine that you plan to ask Crown Prince Astar, Princess Stella, Princess Salena Nakoa KauPo, and Prince Rhyian to perform manual labor.”
“Not really a prince,” Rhy said to her, as if confiding a secret, and she frowned.
“You’re the son of King Rayfe and Queen Andromeda of Annfwn,” she reminded him.
“Nevertheless,” he countered with false cheer, “the Tala do things differently, and there’s no actual rank like ‘prince’ in Annfwn. The good news there is that means I can join Zeph and Gen in sullying my hands with manual labor.”
“Even if it means following Jak’s orders?” Gen emphasized his name with a hard look at Marjolein.
“There’s an old saying that the captain of the ship outranks everyone on it,” Jak informed them cheerfully. “You’ll follow my orders and you’ll like it.”
Marjolein actually choked on her shock, her mother sliding her a reproving look. “Honestly, Marjie,” Queen Nix scolded, “I don’t know when you became such a snob. I once spent my days as a goose girl and—”
“We know,” Marjolein and Wilhelm chorused, exchanging weary looks.
The queen of Erie had been a goose girl? How interesting. Certainly a story there.
“I, for one, have never heard Jak’s supposedly old saying,” Lena put in, giving him the hairy eyeball.
“It’s Dasnarian,” he supplied helpfully.
“Or you made it up on the spot,” she countered.