2 Deja Blue (28 page)

“The winner of this
Challenge
is…the Water Court.” Gasps of upset were loudly heard.
Jeremy was perhaps the loudest. H
e stood up, fists clenched, and nearly stomp
ed
his foot, (thank goodness he didn’t)
while he
protested, “No. Way. No
fr
eakin
’ way. That is
sooooo
unfair! Ruby made it out of the cavern first. She went
back
to help your Water Court competitor!”
Anya tried to comfort Jeremy and jumped up to hug some calm into him.
Freya
was already standing
,
but
look
ed
uncomfortable
.
Celestine began quietly weeping as she leaned into
Bexin’s
chest, burying her head in his shoulder
.
He
tried to soothe her and gently ran his hand through her hair.
Grobel
, ever the stony sculpture
that
he was, even seemed to be a little ruffled and grunted in dissatisfaction.
My heart sank. I knew I had lost, but to hear it said and see Celestine and
Bexin
so broken-hearted sent pangs through my chest. Tears welled up in my eyes as my shoulder
s
slumped forward. Feeling defeated, exhausted, and now sick to my stomach at the thought of what will happen to Celestine and
Bexin
, I wondered how I would move on from this.  At these words from the King,
Brennan jumped up, walk
ed
towards the King and started to protest. But the King held his hand up to halt any further words escaping Brennan’s mouth.  Brennan closed his mouth tightly, obeying the King’s silent order, gave a slight nod and took a step backwards.
Simon took a step forward and stood next to Brennan.
I watched the scene unfold before me with weariness and sadness. 

The King spoke again, “Rules are rules. It was said that whoever reached the platform first would be declared the winner
of this
Challenge
.
Regardless of the circumstances, Freya reached the platform first. My ruling stands. However
,” the King paused a moment,
and Brennan stood stone-still, tension and anger coming off of him in waves. The King slowly
look
ed
around
at each of us before he continued, “
Although Freya is the winner of this
Challenge
, due to the unforeseen and
unfortunate circumstance of the earthquake, and due to Lady Ruby Blue’s heroic effort of returning to aid Freya, I am calling a draw to the
Grá
mo
Chroí
Dúshlán
. Neither the Earthen Court
nor
the Water Court
shall be named
the Champion.” There were huge gasps from everyone
standing on the platform.
Celestine spoke up immediately, “But what of
Bexin
and
I
? How is our betrothal to be determined?”

The King nodded, “I understand your concerns. We have no other choice but to run the
Grá
mo
Chroí
Dúshlán
again.” Celestine, Freya,
Bexin
and
myself
all shook our heads in frustration, mumbling words of disagreement. I guess none of us were feeling too good about this. I know I sure wasn’t. No way
did I want
to go through that again!
Before too much upset occurred, the King spoke up again, waving his hands at
us,
trying to get us to settle down, “Silence, silence! Of course, running the
Grá
mo
Chroí
Dúshlán
must involve new competitors. It is the only way to ensure complete and total fairness.”
He looked at Brennan and Simon as if to emphasize the point that he wanted to be fair to the Earthen Court and not cause any unrest. 
(More grumbling.)
The King turned his attention to Jeremy, who, up until this point, he had pretty much ignored.
“What say you, Consort Jeremy
,
of Lady Ruby Blue?
  Will you be the next competitor?
” Jeremy gasped loudly and actually
eeked
like a little girl
who had just seen a spider.
Panic spread across his face as he began to stumble backwards and stutter nonsense.
“I-
it-
he-
noooooo
.
She?
  Swim?” (Gulp) He grabbed his throat with his hands
,
like he was choking
,
and looked pleadingly over to Anya and Brennan. Before Jeremy could utter another sound, Brennan spoke up. “Certainly, Majesty, we can arrange a
new
Challenge
r. However, Jeremy, will
not
be competing for the Earthen Court.”

Jeremy let out a huge sigh
of relief and sa
nk down onto his knees, his nerves obviously shot
.
He was even more pale than usual
,
and
he
looked as if he was about to pass out.
I
breath
ed
a
sigh of relief. It looks like I was off the hook.
(No fish joke intended.)
Thank God.

But then
,
I looked over to Celestine and
Bexin
, and guilt set in again, making my chest hurt. It felt like an anvil was dropped on it.
Crap. It didn’t matter that I got out of the next competition…I still felt like a slug. And Celestine and
Bexin
had to go through this torture all over again.
And
,
who knows who the next Earthen Court competitor would be…would they be as good of a swimmer as I was? Anya and Brennan said I was faster than them, and that it’s pretty rare for the Earthen Court to win. The
thought of crushing Celestine and
Bexin’s
dream
being together was just awful.

Before the King could say anything more,
Freya stepped forward to speak, “If I m
ay, S
ire?” she bowed deeply and serenely to her King.
The King nodded and replied, “You may speak.”

Freya nodded and spoke to the group, “
As you know, the King has ruled that I am the winner of this
Challenge
, but that the
Grá
mo
Chroí
Dúshlán
must be run again. However, I do
not think there is such a need.
” The King and Queen
started
to interrupt Freya, obviously
disagreeing with her statement. B
ut
,
Freya held up
her hand, motioning them to hold their comment
s
while sh
e continued to speak, “When Lady
Ruby Blue came back into the caverns to help
rescue
me, she
,
indeed, saved my life. For that, I am indebted to her.  I must repay the life debt and grant her any wish she desires,” Freya smiled knowingly at me, while Celestine and
Bexin
both had hopeful expressions. Freya continued, “As you
all
a
re aware, it is the way of the
M
erpeople
.” The King and Queen nodded, not looking very thrilled at this new development. Freya walked up
to me, grabbed both of my hands
and looked into my eyes as she spoke, “Ruby Blue. I am indebted to you for saving my life. As
such, you are granted one wish.” H
er eyes burned into mine, as if willing me to understand her deeper meaning
,
as she continued to speak, “Whatever it is you may
wish for, I shall have to grant.
So say I and the ways of the Water Court.”

I looked at her, my heart
feeling like it was going to explode out of my chest as the warmth and happiness of
her
words broke through into cry
s
ta
l clear understanding. I gulped
and blew out a big breath as I calmed myself before I spoke. Now, all
ten
pairs of eyes were
glued to me and what I was going to say.
The silence was deafening.
I took another steadying breath and spoke loudly and clearly
, so
there would be no misunderstanding, “
To repay the life debt you owe me, I wish that the
Mermaid
Celes
tine and the
Troll
Bexin
be allowed to marry each other, liv
e
where
ever they
want
, and be free to retu
rn to Fey whenever they want.”
I probably could
have worded that more elegantly or royally
,
but I couldn’t worry about the pomp and circumstance. I was getting my wish, and Celestine and
Bexin
were getting the happy ending to their
f
airy
tale!

When I thought about how Freya just took off in the cavern after I freed her, I was kind of pissed at first
…but then I realized
that if she had stayed to help me, she wouldn’t have owed me the life-debt. She wouldn’t have been able to grant me the wish.
Freya tightened her grip on my
hands, smiled g
enerously
at me, gave
a slight bow and said, “So say you, I grant that it shall be done.” With that, I felt a tingle of energy swirl
ing
up around my ankles, twisting up and around Freya and
I
, encircling us
in magical whirlwind.  O
ur hair began blowing wildly as we stood, hands locked together in our little mini-tornado of magic. Then
,
the whirlwind of energy moved over to Celestine and
Bexin
, washing down over them, leaving them smiling, happy
,
and in love.
I looked at the couple and a tear slid down my cheek.
Freya let go of my left hand
and reached up to brush the tear off my cheek. I turned to look at her, smiling, as more tears welled up in my eyes. She returned the smile, her purple eyes twink
l
ing with happiness, and she reached up to stroke my hair, “Your wish has been granted Ruby Blue.
” T
hen, she leaned in to whisper in my ear and stroked my hair again, “
For your nobility.
I thank you for th
e happiness my sister will know.
W
e
pay tribute to
you
for all time.
” She kissed my cheek
,
then pulled away and went to join her sister.

I sighed again and wiped the tears of happiness from my face. Jeremy, Any
a
and Brennan crowded around me to give me a group hug, nearly suffocating me in the process. “Okay,
o
kay already!” I said, laughing at their show of affection
. Just then,
the King interrupted our happy celebration.

With a flick of his shoulder-length dark hair, he said
briskly
, “It seems as if all matters have been resolved. Shall we return to the beach?” And he held out his arm to direct us to the boat.

Jeremy leaned in and whispered in my ear, “Yeah, let’s blow this floating pop stand!”

I giggled as I climbed
into the boat with my friends.
I settled into the seat
,
sandwiched between Jeremy and Brennan.
Once my bu
tt hit those soft leather seats
and the blankets on board were draped over our laps, a heavy wave of exhaustion washed over me. Suddenly, the events of the night had finally taken their toll. My head began to bob as my heavy-lidded eyes fought to stay open.  Every bone
and muscle
in my body ached with tiredness as we sped through
the
starry, black night. But
,
I was content. I was
thrilled that
I was able to give
a
happy ending to Celestine and
Bexin
.
Brennan reached over, gently squeezed my leg, and quietly said, “Happy Birthday, Kansas.” I
sleepily
l
ooked up to meet his searing gaze, blinking in response. Brennan’s lips curved up into a small
smile a
s
he said, “18 on the 18
th
.” He held out his wrist
,
which sported a big, black wristwatch
,
to show me the time. “Look,
it’s
well
after midnight.”