Finally, when the late summer evening drew to a close and the sun was dipping into the hills, they headed down to the beach to meet the Mer Queen and the Selkie King. Chewie stayed behind to guard the Water of Life and Death, although none of them really thought there was anyone left to come after it, now that Kesh was gone.
Gwrtheyrn and Boudicca both looked tired but hopeful as they stood on the beach, backlit by the setting sun.
“How are your people doing?” Beka asked after they’d exchanged formal greetings. “Is everyone fully recovered?”
“Completely,” the King said. “Thanks to you, Baba Yaga. Our gratitude knows no measure.”
Queen Boudicca clasped her hands together, an abbreviated version of what would have been a more frantic motion in someone less regal. “And our lands under the ocean, Baba Yaga?” she asked hesitantly. “Were you able to cleanse them?” Gwrtheyrn closed his eyes for a moment in what might have been a silent prayer.
“Yes,” Beka said simply. “Your water is free of poison or taint. You and your people can return home tonight.”
Boudicca and Gwrtheyrn looked at each other, the Queen’s eyes brimming with unshed tears, and the King suddenly returned to the vibrant, powerful being Marcus imagined he’d been before all of this started.
They both bowed deeply to Beka, and thanked her with voices that shook, their joy overflowing to cover the sands like sparkling diamonds. Behind them, their guards stayed in formation, standing straight and alert, but their fierce faces were transformed by grins into something much less threatening and much more celebratory.
“We can never thank you enough,” Gwrtheyrn said, his voice gravelly with emotion. “If there is ever aught you need from the people under the sea, you have but to ask and it will be given to you.”
A voice from behind Marcus said, “I hope that goes for me too,” and his father walked down from the dunes.
Marcus forgot to breathe, and Beka grabbed his hand, squeezing tight as if to remind him that he was not alone.
“Da,” he said. “You can’t mean it. You’re not going to let them turn you into a seal, are you?”
“A Selkie,” Gwrtheyrn corrected, and added, “Indeed, our offer to you still stands, fisherman. You are welcome to join us if you wish.”
Marcus opened his mouth to protest, but his father shook his head. “I’m dying, son, and you know it. If I stay, my ending is certain, and not a pleasant one. I would rather spend whatever time I have left living in the waters I have always loved.” He gave a genuine laugh; the first Marcus ever remembered hearing. “And whether or not the change to Selkie can cure me, I can be sure that it will be the adventure of a lifetime. How can you argue with that?”
He couldn’t, really. But Marcus was surprised to discover how much he was going to miss the old man.
“I never could win an argument with you, Da,” Marcus said, feeling emotion rising up in his throat and threatening to choke him. He walked over and gave his father a hug, the first they’d exchanged since he was a small child, trying to put everything he was feeling into the act. “I guess I’m not likely to start doing it now.”
His da hugged him back, his bones feeling as fragile and hollow as a bird’s. “Nay, that you’re not.” The older man stood back and gazed at him, although even now it was clear that half his attention was fixed on the sea beyond.
“I’m sorry I was so hard on you, son. I wasn’t a very good man, or a very good father, and there is no making up for that now,” Marcus Senior said, brushing away Marcus’s feeble attempts at denial. “But I want you to know that I’ve left you the boat; signed it over to your name this afternoon, and all that I’ve got with it, the little that there is.” He glanced from Marcus to Beka, now standing by herself on the sand in front of the King and Queen.
“You make a good life for yourself, boy. That’s all I ever wanted for you anyway. Whether you choose to stay on the water or not, find whatever makes you happy and grasp it with both hands. I love you.” He patted Marcus surprisingly gently on the cheek and walked toward the water people.
Gwrtheyrn shook out a leather pouch, and a vibrant emerald pendant the color of the ocean slid into his palm. “This will keep you safe until we are home and my wizards can make the transformation permanent,” he said, handing it to Marcus’s father. “Put it around your neck right before you go under, and you’ll be able to swim and breathe like one of us until we can change your form.”
The King and Queen nodded one more time at Beka and vanished under the waves with their guards. Marcus Senior hesitated for a moment, then smiled at Marcus and Beka.