Iris, Prince Don, and the Phoenix Feather Lantern, Part 2

Iris plummeted off the cliff, goggled at green rushing closer, yelled at herself, and yanked the cord to release her chute. With a jerk she was suspended, and breathed again. The bright purple of Prince Don's parachute spread below her, and hesitantly she pulled at one of the toggles on her own to steer towards him.

They managed to find a small clearing to land in, and the prince managed to land in it. Iris missed by only a tree or two, the branches helped break her fall, and her jump partner had her untangled in no time, so since she was back on the ground alive, she considered her first jump and landing a success. "And that'll probably be my last one, too," she added.

"What? You didn't like it?"

"Like it? I was scared stiff the whole way down! Didn't even see the jungle, except that it was getter closer all the time. Thought I was gonna poo my pants for sure!"

"But you didn't. You kept a cool head and stayed in control despite your fear, so well done," the prince complimented her.

"Thanks," she said, with a nod of her head. "Now let's see if we're anywhere near anything that looks familiar from what the phoenix told us." Finally they looked around at the jungle, and saw it from within.

It was dark, dense, an overhanging presence. Where the phoenix's garden had been lush, but ordered, here was no order at all, but only growth and life and death, richly fecund, vines covering trees, trees blocking sky, leaves an intertwined canopy of life sustaining life.

It was noisy. Insects, frogs, birds, other creatures- it was impossible to see through the dense growth, to match animal to sound, but there were squeaks, squeals, croaks, screeches, caws, buzzes, howls, roars- "Was that a roar?" Prince Don asked nervously.

"Sounded like one to me. Let's figure out where we're going and hope it's in the opposite direction!" Iris responded.

They had a good look at the map for the first time since going over it with the fiery bird. "It's so cool how she used her talon to draw these lines!" Iris exclaimed. "She burned them right in!"

"Yeah, but what's this?" the prince asked, pointing to a line of fine script along one edge of the map. sloopsloopspoolspools was written in the same char as the phoenix had used to mark the map.

"Must be a clue," Iris said, studying the letters. "Look, it's a palindrome!"

"Huh?"

"The letters are the same frontwards and backwards."

"So what's it say? Um, sloop sloop spool spools?"

"Sloops loop spools pools?"

He snorted. "Maybe. What's that supposed to mean?"

"That's what we have to figure out! It's a riddle. Good! Phoenix was wonderfully helpful, but I did expect to have to work harder to win her over," Iris reflected.

"Yeah, she was way more sociable than I expected, too. Okay, let's focus. We have to get moving. Bugs have found us." He swatted a mosquito, flicked away a fire ant, and studied the map.

They didn't get far that day, but felt reasonably sure they were headed in the right direction at least. They took turns leading the way, keeping a lookout for snakes and spider webs (both of which were plentiful), slashing through thick vegetation with a machete, listening for roars or padding feet. There were lots of padding feet. Rustles in trees, break-outs of screeches and scramblings, and once smashing and cracking, pounding feet and intermittent squealing, and a boar crashed past in front of them and was gone. They glanced at each other, jumped back as a tiger sailed by, gone even faster than the hog. They picked up their pace for a awhile after that, lopping off anything in their way, eager to get through the jungle as fast as they could.

Three days later they splashed wearily across yet another stream, and Iris stopped. "Something's different," she said.

"Looks like more of the same jungle to me," her tired companion responded.

"No, it's brighter. Up ahead. There must be a clearing."

It wasn't exactly clear, but there were gaps in the canopy, and pools shining amid jungle green, sparkling where struck by sun. "Remember, don't touch any of them except the ones we want. The Pool of Transformation and the Pool of Return."

"Okay, but how do we find them?"

" 'Heed the signs,' the phoenix said."

"What signs?"

"That's what we have to figure out."

They wandered around the pools, careful to not touch with even a toe, searching for any indication of what wondrous water each might contain. The jungle seemed the same around all of them, healthy, varied, bursting. But not quite as near to some pools as others. Vines dangled in and lilies or lotuses floated on some, green grew up to and into the water, while some pools had borders of stone or sand, no plants touched their surfaces, and leaves that had fallen on them were shriveled and brown.

They could see the bottom of some pools, smooth sand or green growth beneath crystal clearness, while others were murky with mud or algae. Now and then they would pause by a pool, considering it, then decide there was no way to tell it was the right one, and move on.

Finally, after spending some minutes staring intently into a clear pool with lotus flowers decorating its surface, Iris nodded. "This is the Pool of Return," she declared.

"How can you tell?"

"I can feel it. And I can see the flow of the spring that feeds it, right at its center, coming from deep within the earth, then flowing out again, there, see?"

The prince peered where she pointed, studied her face, glanced back at the pool. He certainly couldn't see the spring beneath it flowing from deep in the earth. "You're sure?"

"Yes."

"Then let's fill our bottle!" He slipped his pack off, found the bottle they had brought to keep the Water in, and knelt by the pool to collect some of the precious liquid. "Now for Transformation."

When they finally stood next to the Pool of Transformation, they were both sure of what it was. A tree with roots in the pool bore different branches lower down than higher up. And while they were watching, a leaf fell onto the pool, and turned into a flower. The pair grinned at each other, and the prince filled another bottle.

The first part of their quest was complete! With the precious liquids in their possession, the jungle seemed brighter, less dense, almost to part before them. They camped one more night in its darkness alive with animal sounds, and late the next day came to a river, big enough for boats, and were able to hail one for a ride.

Watching the jungle slide by while they sat still was singular pleasure, and the weary questers indulged in it all day. They studied and updated their map, enjoyed ales handed to them by the boat-hands (who told them to drink up, they had a whole tun of it on board), giggled trying to figure out what sloopsloopspoolspools meant, and talked to the sailors about merfolk.

When night fell the first mate insisted on vacating his cabin for the prince, and the second mate would have done the same for his questing partner, but Iris claimed she was fine where she was, spread her bedroll on top of the prince's for extra thickness, and slept on deck under stars.

A few hours after sunrise they came out of jungle into farmland, with fields spreading back from the widening river. Soon after, gulls flew overhead, and the tang of salt cut the air. Sights and sounds of humanity steadily increased, and by noon the boat was docked at the busy port of Lehsa, on the opposite side of the island from the capital, precisely where they wanted to be.

"Let's go eat," said the prince (who was hoping that sunglasses, a hat, and his travel-worn raggedness would serve for disguise; in the city, he preferred to go unrecognized), "and I for one want another ale." They found a small restaurant over-looking the harbour, took a seat by a window under a fan, and enjoyed the civility of light jazz on the air and ice in their water. While they ate they watched people ride horses along the beach, scouting out the shoreline where city met sea, and comparing it with what the phoenix had told them. Freshly fueled, they set out past the marina down the beach towards an old fort perched atop a low bluff rising just beyond a stream.

"Sqquawwwk! About time!" shouted a raucous voice as they approached the stream, causing a horse passing by to start and almost upset its rider. They looked up. A tern was gliding above them. "Yer boat got in an hour ago! Whaddaya think this is- a holiday jaunt? C'mon." The bird flew ahead. They glanced at each other, giggled, and hurried after it.

The tern was pacing on a large rock waiting for them. It had a tic in its left eye, which made it seem even more impatient. "How ya doin'? Prince Don, Iris, I'm Ben Tom. The phoenix told me what yer up to. There's not a whole lot I can do, ya know, but just guide yas a liddle bit. Ya know what ya gotta do. Ya got the Water of Transformation, right?"

They barely nodded and the bird plunged on. "Right. Well we talked about it, ya know, me and the phoenix, and we reckon ya oughta transform into cormorants. Or not whole cormorants, but just change yer faces for cormorant faces, ya know, nebs an' all, 'cuz then ya can hold yer breath under water long enough ta get ta the merfolk, but ya want the merfolk to know yer really human, and not cormorants or somethin' else pretendin' ta be cormorants. I told the phoenix that, I says oh mighty phoenix- 'cause I knows her name but ya don't never call her by her name, ya know- so I says oh mighty phoenix, I think we gotta nix the idea a' them transformin' completely, 'cuz then the merfolk'll think they're tryin' to fool 'em, an' ya don't want that! So the phoenix agreed and I'm gonna help ya transform and I'll guard yer stuff while yer goin' ta look fer the merfolk. Okay?"

Prince and student had been completely bemused by the sight and sound of the tern pacing back and forth on the rock, rambling on about the phoenix and merfolk, his whole head twitching now and then from the eye tic, that they were caught off guard when he finally stopped talking and peered at them questioningly, looking at each of them out of a different eye.

Iris shook herself back to proper awareness first. "Yes! Of course. Please! What do we do?"

That was all the sea bird need to launch into a detailed but indirect accounting of what he believed they would encounter on their way to the home of the merfolk, and how to find it from this particularly deep cove, where both merfolk and cormorants could dive deep, close to shore. Not that there were any of either around at the moment.

"Oh, but what I do got here for yas, is this!" With that the tern stepped aside and swept his wings proudly at a lopsided collection of drift wood, large pieces of beach glass, and a seashell or two.

"Um, thank you," said the prince uncertainly.

"Yeah, okay, I don' make a lotta lanterns," the tern said resignedly. "But it'll work! I guarantee it!" he rallied. "It's not just kelp holdin' it together, ya know."

"It's for the phoenix feather?" Iris finally clued in.

"Opa! Give the gal a french fry! A'course its fer the phoenix feather! It was kinda tricky, I gotta tell ya, comin' up with a lantern that could go under water an' keep the ashes undisturbed once the feather burnt out. Had to use a nice bitta magic twined in all aroun' the wood- anyway, enougha that, time fer ya ta go! Ya gotta Transform yet! You do that and I'll light the lantern. Ya got the feather?"

"Oh, can I light it? Please?" Iris asked impulsively. "I want to say her name!" Ben Tom ruffled his feathers, then shrugged them smooth with a resigned nod and a big twitch. Prince Don and Iris settled their packs against the tern's rock and got ready to go while he told them how to Transform into their desired shape (focus was key) and a few random facts as they occurred to him.

Finally they stood holding battered metal cups of the Water of Transformation, one phoenix feather (the other was stashed safely in a bag around the prince's waist, along with the Water of Return), and the rustic looking lantern.

Eyes shining, Iris inserted the already faintly glowing feather into the lantern, and breathed "Atheri Orisuo" directly at its base. All three inhaled in wonder as the feather burst into brilliant, steady flame, bright in the afternoon sun. Iris closed the rickety lantern, set it carefully on the rock.

"Okay, ready?" asked the prince, handing her her cup.

Iris accepted the battered vessel and raised it, saying, "Bottom's up!" Prince Don returned the salute. Simultaneously they tipped their cups back and downed the clear liquid they held.

Lowering hers, Iris saw the transformed prince- normal but for the feathered face and long beak of a cormorant jutting forward in place of his regular features- and burst out laughing. Her eyes widened as her own beak swung open in front of them, crossed as she tried to look at it, and she fell over backwards looking both ways down the beach at once. Sitting where she fell she tentatively put her hands up to her newly acquired neb. "Wow! That was fast!"

"And you look every bit as ridiculous as I do," said the prince, offering her his hand. She tried to take it, missed on the first try, concentrated, connected, and stood. "Wow! This eyes-the-side-of-the-head thing is weird."

"Yeah," the prince agreed. "They're pretty eyes, though," he added. Iris looked at his eyes more closely- they were circles of aquamarine, pools of sea... "Squawk! Ya have ta git goin'! Time fer gazin' inta each others eyes later. If that spell wears off as fast as it hit, ya won't have any warning a'tall afore yer suckin' water!" Ben T0m burst out.

The transformed humans jumped, turned to face the tern, and clashed bills, unaccustomed to such large protuberances on their faces. They sorted themselves out.

"Right! We've got everything, right?" Iris picked up the lantern, Prince Don patted his pouch containing feather and Water. They turned again, carefully, to say good-bye to Ben Tom, who shooed them away. They waded a few steps into the sea, took breaths deeper than they'd ever taken in their lives, and dove.

Out and down, they swam, as far as fast as they could. Not nearly as fast as if they had transformed completely, Iris thought more than once. Underwater, they followed the bed of the river they had boated on top of out of the jungle. It ran into a trench under the sea, their main path to the merfolk home.

Iris had to hold the phoenix feather lantern while she swam, but it seemed to aid rather than impede her. It not only lit the way, but drew both of them onward. It also kept predators at bay- twice or thrice ominous shapes loomed near, hovered, and departed. Smaller creatures were clearly captivated by the flame licking its way through water, and only when they blocked view of it even saw the cormorant-faced humans trailing after.

Those transformed humans were also transfixed by the magical fire, but tried to take note of the undersea marvels they swam past, as well- billowing fronds of sea plants, fish of brilliant colours and odd shapes, shellfish and starfish and dolphins and more that they didn't even have names for. But they had to keep moving as fast as they could, and slowed down only to confer on direction.

The feather lantern seemed to grow ever more bright as the gloom around them deepened. Their first hint they were nearing their destination was a slight brightening of the water beyond the flame. They had barely noticed it when four long, slender shapes shot out of darkness and swirled around them, forcing the pair to stop.

Four merpeople surrounded them. "What is this?" said the one in front, a mermaid with dark purple skin and an iridescent sapphire tail that waved lazily as she answered her own question. "Two oddly Transformed humans with a lantern containing a phoenix feather, seeking us."

"Yes," the prince agreed, "We come in need."

The mermaid gazed at the burning feather, flicked her tail. "Follow me. You may explain your need to our queen."

The group swam towards the brightening. The trench below them fell away so abruptly Iris felt a surge of vertigo, thought she was about to fall, before remembering she was suspended in water.

The merfolk city floated before them. Not as one mass of construction, but a drifting, shifting collection of framed spaces and gathering places, woven from kelp and other seaweeds, decorated with shells and gems and colourful creatures of the sea swimming through. The light was soft, reflected sunlight from a huge quartz cliff the ravine had given way to. Their escort took them directly to an elaborately woven structure floating nearby.

Many merfolk were gathered in the space, which reminded Iris of nothing so much as a huge, ornate, filigreed Christmas tree ornament, vibrantly green, inset with carved mother-of-pearl embellishments. There was no floor, no need to sit for these splendidly tailed folk. Who gazed with much wonder at their strange guests as said guests admired their hosts.

The merfolk were larger than humans- their tails alone were as long- with skin, scales and hair all hues of blue, purple, green, shimmering with constant movement. They hovered near the center of the lacy structure, but parted to clear a way to the small, royal blue mermaid they'd been gathered around. She wore pearls in her hair, and a hammered gold torc around her neck.

The mermaid leading the border-guard waved a graceful merfolk bow before the queen, presented the questers to her, explaining what she knew so far, and unnecessarily drew the queen's attention to the phoenix feather lantern. The queen regarded the steadily-burning flame with composed wonder, only eventually turning her attention to the curious creatures which had brought it under the sea. "What is your need, humans, which has brought you in search of our home, burning a feather of the phoenix?" she asked, a musical lilt to her voice.

Prince Don answered, "Thank you for receiving us, Queen Lil of Aesil Under the Sea. My mother, Queen Erma of the Island of Eiriso, is under a deathly spell, the only cure for which is merfolk scales soaked in Water of Return under the solstice sun. We have met with the magnificent phoenix, collected Water of Return from a hidden jungle pool, and now humbly appeal to your people for a few scales to complete the cure."

"And what do you offer in return?" asked the merqueen pointedly.

In answer the prince drew the second brilliant feather from his bag. A ripple of excitement ran through the gathered folk, each craning to see the treasure more clearly. Queen Lil inclined her head. "It is a worthy offering."

"My queen, it is not enough." The merqueen raised an elegant blue eyebrow as a large aqua and teal merman swam forward. "Your pardon, my queen, but why should we help the human queen? Her reign has brought much stress to the sea, with increasing over-fishing and reckless contamination of the water. As I am here at court to present to you evidence of how dumping is killing the reef in the Ninth. Humans ignore our laws. We should ignore all that for a trinket?"

"It is rather more than a trinket. Never-the-less, the Earl of the Ninth has a point," the queen admitted to the prince. "There are larger issues to address. Perhaps your mother's rule is not one we wish to continue."

The prince raised his beak in surprise, but replied smoothly, "Your majesty, while our fleets ply the ocean waves, we have always admitted your dominion under the sea's surface, and harvest her resources with care. In recent years we have made great strides in further reducing the amount and types of effluent that we discharge...

Iris listened to the prince rattle off the rote answer, but was trying to pick up on something twitching at the edge of her mind... Something triggered by the merqueen's mention of the Earl of the Ninth's title, which sounded vaguely familiar... But then the phoenix's palindrome popped into her mind, and "Sloop's loop!" she blurted out loud. Heads turned.

"I beg your pardon?" said the merqueen in perplexity.

"I got it! Well actually 'spools pools' was the hard part to figure out, because it's a rather loose interpretation. Of a clue from the phoenix," Iris non-explained. She continued more fully, "Your highness, any dumping going on is illegal. As Prince Don says, the Queendom of Eiriso does have strict eco-laws, on par with the best in the world. But regulation and enforcement could be improved. I believe the current dumping is being done primarily by ships from a neighbouring country, under guise of tourism or other regular boating. There may even be an on-going attempt to use this issue to up the ante on larger matters and force them to a head."

Queen Lil cocked her head, considering. "That is a lot to base on a hint from the phoenix, be she ever so magnificent a bird," she eventually commented.

"There are other signs I have seen," Iris said simply.

"If I may, your majesty," the prince cut in, "there is much our governments should discuss in these matters. For now I propose that on our side, we will indeed move to implement stricter enforcement of our current codes of conduct on the seas, and in particular investigate the allegations made by your honourable Earl of the Ninth. Dumping of noxious items into the seas, wherever or by whomever, must not be allowed.

"If I may humbly request a few merfolk scales towards my mother's cure, as a sign of good faith in future negotiations, then we will quickly be on our way. Of course, leaving the phoenix feather with you."

Once again the merqueen took her time to answer the prince's request, considering options, measuring her people's response- the Earl of the Ninth lashed his tail in disagreement, but turned it into a refined bow at a glance from the queen. Finally she offered her hand to the prince in agreement.

Queen Lil accepted the feather from Prince Don graciously, held it up reverently, for all to see, and carefully placed it within a large, intricately carved conch shell. The fronds of the feather drifted lightly in the water, until the merqueen leaned close, and breathed to it the phoenix's name. It burst into flame, and a contented sigh of bubbles rose around it.

Queen Lil used a mother-of-pearl comb to scrape scales from her own tail into a scallop's shell, whispered words of safe-keeping to the scallop, and presented the closed creature to the prince.

Prince Don and Iris made their farewells and swam away as quickly as was polite. As soon as they left the merfolk's domain they kicked for the surface, their phoenix feather lantern still burning, but not as brightly as before. They had barely begun their ascent when their long bills suddenly began to shrink, then were gone, leaving both humans drained of air too far from the surface. They managed a few more kicks, but their bodies were spent by the magic. Iris fought against the lethargy, but just... couldn't... Prince Don reached weakly towards her...

Something streaked- some things streaked down churning white into the water around them. They felt tugs on their hair, their clothes being pulled up around them, pulling them up, through indigo teal turquoise to brightness to air, gasping sucking laughing lifted up released dropping back- floating... looking up at a flock of terns gazing down at them, hovering in formation.

"Oh, wow," Iris said, "that was you! Thank you!"

"Waanh! A'course it was us! Yer welcome!" Squawked Ben Tom, closest to them. "Yer still a long ways from shore, though, and we can't help yas wi'that, so I called on a pal o' mine. Watch out!"

The pair barely had time to wonder what to watch for when a dolphin burst from the water spinning in a spray of white, and disappeared back into it as another burst from the waves behind it. There was frothing all around them, dolphin eyes sliding past, dolphin noses prodding, dolphins chattering, and somehow they found themselves clinging to dorsal fins being pulled through water gasping and sputtering until they got the hang of it and could relax and enjoy the ride. Blue sky above, a pod of friendly cetaceans jumping around them, jostling near to steal the passengers and take their turn taking them to shore. Iris had a fright when she realized she wasn't holding the lantern any more, but spotted it carefully balanced on a dolphin's beaked nose, probably more secure than she was herself.

Tom flew above for a while, filling them in on developments since they left- most significantly that there had been time for developments, as, since merfolk are of the fay, the questers had gone further for longer than it seemed to them. "Yer barely back in time. Solstice is tomorrow."

"Oh, no! We can't get back in time!"

"Yes ya can! The dolphin's are takin' yas part ways 'round, not back to tha beach. Ya should be fine!" He flew off for a while, was back when the chittering dolphins finally deposited them on shore, then wheeled away with a screech at the approach of an old rusty green utility vehicle bumping along the beach road. "Hey, here comes a ute!" Iris called out at the sight. "Let's flag it down." They did, and since there was room for only one passenger inside, Iris bowed with a flourish, a wink, and a "Your majesty," and jumped over the low side to ride in the back.

The driver doffed his hat at mention of the prince's identity, but Prince Don waved niceties aside, and got in. Iris heard him reassuring the driver that since he was serving the queendom, he would not be fined for breaking the law against having passengers in the open back of his vehicle.

The driver, Al, he introduced himself as, went out of his way to speed them to Calaseh, and they pulled up to the castle gate just after sunset. Guards buzzed them in. Lise bustled out to welcome them back and exclaim over their success, and they all went directly up to the queen's chambers. The queen looked almost as she had when they left - she was still still as a statue with an unseeing gaze, but her skin was even greyer than before, and seemed embossed with a delicate scale pattern.

Prince Don drew a deep breath at sight of his mother, then knelt by her bed, dipping his brow to her stone-like hand. Iris drew the jar of seawater holding the scallop, and the flask containing Water of Return, from her bag, and the queen spasmed, knocking the prince in the head. He sat back rubbing it, and scowled at Lise when she responded "Excellent! There's a strong reaction; you bring potent medicine!"

Lise went to don the ceremonial, alb-like gown she wore for important rituals, and had the scales soaking in Water atop the castle's highest watchtower by midnight. On releasing the scallop into the sea afterwards, she thanked it for its helped, and asked it to pass on her deep respect and thanks to the merqueen. After watching the scallop pulse out to deeper water, she lifted her head to the wide, swelling sea, and finally drew a deep, relaxing breath.

Not too relaxed, though, the cure wasn't sure, not as sure as she'd presented it to be. Clear skies would certainly make the medicine stronger. She sighed, glanced out across dark water, smiled up at starry sky, and hurried back to the castle.

Summer Solstice was sunny, but somber, especially in the ell of the castle in which the queen lay. All day long, from midnight to midnight, the prince kept watch beside his mother's bed, telling her the tale of his and Iris' adventures, musing aloud about relations with the merfolk, closing his eyes to nap only briefly, starting awake at any sound. The king occasionally looked in, frowned, withdrew. Iris slept soundly in Lise's room next the queen's.

National Solstice celebrations had been postponed while the queen was in such dire peril. The people of Eiriso held their collective breath and spent the day in quiet reflection.

A long day of waiting, a single cycle of spin, watching the flower of the sun creep across open, endless blue... finally dim, find the horizon, disappear beyond...

At midnight Lise gathered the Water from its place of exposure, and carefully spooned some between the queen's stone-like lips. A tremor ran through her body, but her stony skin clasped tight. Lise spooned more Water into her mouth. The queen lay unmoving. Those few gathered in the room let out a disappointed sigh.

A while later Queen Erma murmured, trying to talk, but her rock-hard body continued to hold her captive. The king retired to his chambers, Prince Don resettled himself in the chair next to his mother's bed, while Iris and Lise withdrew into the head maid's quarters, leaving the door to the queen's room ajar.

The two maids started awake at a shout from the prince, who had started awake at a movement of the seeming-statue of his mother. Cracking, shattering of brittle stone, and one arm raised itself from the grey. Lise and Iris were at the door for the next cracking, and by the queen's side as she freed her second arm from encasing stone.

The queen began shivering, broke into a sudden fever of uncontrollable shaking that fractured the last of the stone that confined her. Her head turned restlessly as she tried to blink away the thin mask of stone hiding the world from her eyes, and she started to talk. Random rambling, it seemed, bits of dream, perhaps- "Go to the loo before you get in the car!" "Oh, no! Silt in the pan will ruin your cel!" "Lag-lap-rap. Silts collect over time." "Over time," the queen repeated, looking through stony eyes at Iris.

She squeezed her eyes shut, scrunched them up as tight as they would go, shook and shivered, until there was a final, resounding C-R-A-C-K! far louder than the last little bit of stone should have made. She blinked her eyes open, looked again at Iris. "It's you!" she said brightly. "I see you now, over time. I see my clan, my heir, hoe her row. You row well. You hoe well. Row your hoe?" Her rambling continued reflectively, her eyes closed. Her shivering lessened, finally stopped, and the queen lay breathing quietly.

The three around the queen exchanged a look. "Well, that was weir-," Iris started to say, when the queen yawned, opened her eyes, and stretched.

"Oh! I've been wanting to stretch for so long!" she exclaimed, and indulged fully in the experience. Then she ordered food and fresh clothing, and the castle was abruptly bustling with relieved activity. Flags were raised to full mast, and Queen Erma called a small assembly to attend her in the small reception hall while she nibbled on breakfast pastries, fruit, and nuts.

"It may surprise some of you to know," the queen began without preamble, gazing around at those whose presence she had requested, "that throughout my enchantment, I retained my facilities." There were, indeed, starts of surprise at that news. The queen gave a smile that made some quiver, and continued. "I heard much of what was said in my room, though of course there were times I was asleep. Increasingly, as the days wore on, it was harder to stay awake, to focus, while I could not move, could not speak... But I could hear, and I could think, and I engaged in both.

"I know of the great feats undertaken by Prince Don and Iris Jung to obtain the counter-spell to the enchantment placed on me. And I heard the confession of he who hired the sea-witch to cast the spell, spoken to me when he thought I was as good as dead." A murmur ran around the room, became a buzz when the king sidled towards a door, was stopped and held by armed guards.

Prince Don stepped forward agog. "Mother? Father? What is this?"

"Ah, my dear prince," Queen Erma said tenderly, gently, but relentlessly, "that brings us to the next matter to be revealed. We are not your parents."

Prince Don's jaw dropped. A gasp rose from the gathered court. "I have long suspected King Ashe of working against me from within these castle walls, as well as through agents from his own land," the queen announced. "He was never happy being married into the Queendom of Eiriso, and has long desired to make it a Kingdom. I knew that if I bore a daughter to succeed me, she would be in peril of her life from her father.

"So when our daughter was born, she was secretly switched with a boy born only an hour later, and hustled off to be raised in a small village as daughter to a couple there. The boy was presented to the king as our son, and heir to the throne if we had no daughter. As you all know, there have been no more children of this union. But our daughter is in this room now."

Quick inhalations, shushed whispers, and the silence of bated breath... Queen Erma quirked a smile, turned and looked directly at Iris, who had been watching the proceedings from a back corner, trying not to follow the breadcrumbs in her mind.

"Iris Jung, come before me." Iris shuffled forward, curtsied to the queen, who proclaimed, "I now restore to you your true name: Princess Iris Jesle Theril, my daughter, and heir to the throne of Eiriso."

Iris' mouth fell open. Exclamations of shock and disbelief rose all around. Iris saw the prince staring at her, and answered his bewildered What the hell? look with an I don't friggin' know shrug, then realized that the queen had noted their exchange. Then realized that the queen was her mother. At least she said she was. ? Then she must be... And Iris hadn't said anything in response to the news. She stared at the queen, at her mother... Who was smiling at her with warmth and benevolence.

"You don't look quite ready for a hug," the queen commented quietly.

"But, my parents..."

"Are Don's parents," the queen answered for all to hear. "His father did not know of the switch either. I have the real paperwork, filled out as required, but never filed. And DNA tests confirm our relationship. I will make a public recognition at Solstice celebrations tonight. For now, long shine Sol!" the queen concluded, with glass raised.

"Long shine Sol!" came the resounding echo, and the courtiers and publicity people scurried away in barely suppressed eagerness to spread the news.

Later that night, under the flash and crash of a grand fireworks display celebrating Solstice, the queen's recovery, and revelation of a new heir to the throne, Princess Iris slipped away from the crowd. She found a smaller, almost-empty balcony and leaned against the parapet to watch light flash on the sea and try to sort out the day.

Her mother- the woman she had always known as her mother- had arrived at the castle by nightfall, and told Iris the story from her side. And Lee had cried mightily over her son, and being able to finally let the world know that the marvelous prince was in truth her own offspring.

The young man in question happened to be one of the few others who had found this quiet refuge, now stepped over to join the princess. "Y-"

"Don't even say it," Princess Iris cut in.

"But now you are royalty, and I am not."

"Pfft!", the princess returned, staring determinedly at bursts of light.

""I'm not a prince," Don stated, also watching the display. "Your mother is my mother, my mother is your mother and I don't have to be king. I'm okay with that. But not being a prince? I mean, it's just who I am. At least, I thought it was. Now what do I do?"

"I guess you teach me."

"Huh?"

"I don't know how to be royal!" the new princess wailed quietly.

"Just be yourself. You'll do fine."

"This isn't a job interview, or a blind date," she retorted.

"Exactly. You don't have to impress anyone to get the job. You are heir to the throne." Don couldn't keep a touch of frustrated resentment from creeping into his voice.

The unintentional usurper started to protest, sighed in acceptance instead. "And you will be my advisor," she told him. "So don't worry, I won't throw you out on the street just yet. Besides, we'll also need an ambassador to meet with the merpeople."

The former prince considered. "Can I keep my suite?" he asked.

"Well, the rent may have to come out of your wages," the princess jibed. Her newly-appointed advisor hip-checked her as the fireworks grand finale filled the sky with colour and the air with sound.

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Thanks so much for reading this far! I had no intention of making this a 2-parter- I wasn't even going to enter the challenge, because I knew it would take a lot of time- but once I got the idea of using all the words (there were just so many good ones!), the story demanded to be told.

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For those who might be wondering: Iris figured out that sloopsloopspoolspools meant 'Sloop's loop spools pools.' She interpreted that to mean boats running regular routes (single-masted sail boats looping the island- it might be indicating a particular tour operator, even) were dumping (unspooling) noxious liquids (pools) along the way. Or the 'spools pools' could mean a long line of dumps wound around an area.