Inside Concubine Shaye's room, Shali was sitting before her mother.

"What?! He survived??" Concubine Shaye dropped to the floor in relief. It felt like a noose around her neck had been released.

"Yes, mother." Shaye was shaking from relief and joy at knowing Syryn was alive. Nothing else mattered. After her brother's death, every family member and friend was a precious life she would no longer take for granted.

Concubine Shaye hadn't told her daughter about the plans that she had had for Syryn but Shali suspected it anyway because it was very obvious that her mother had wanted Syryn at the clamshell area. She was puzzled as to why the concubine had reacted positively to the failure of her plans at harming the human.

"Mother, were you trying to kill him?" She raised her head and asked in a tentative voice.

"Kill the human?" Concubine Shaye whispered sharply. "No! I am not a fool, Shali. Your father, the King, would have my head for it if I tried to kill the alleged saviour of Silisia."

"Then why.." She curled her fingers into her palms, eyes cast on the floor.

"Are you sympathising with the human who got your brother killed?" Her mother harshly asked.

It wasnt usual for Shali to speak against her mother but this time, she did. She gathered her courage and defended Syryn.

"Syryn didn't kill Lai'Grifan. Mother please, forgive Syryn for surviving what brother did not."

The princess had grasped at what was making her mother angry. Concubine Shaye was furious that her son had died when it should have been the human. She was not resigned to the fact that Grifan's life was exchanged for Syryn's. She was going to make sure that the murderers were getting executed, but, it wasn't enough. Everyone involved in the incident had to suffer.

"Child, I will forgive your foolish words this time. Do not presume to speak to mother as if you know better than I do."

Shali held her tongue.

"It seems that a bigger fish has set its sights on the human. Letting me do her dirty work! Hmph! I would have suffered the blame for it if the human had been killed," the concubine began to rant to her daughter.

"Bigger fish?" Shali raised her head to look at her mother. "You mean it wasn't your plan to kill Syryn?"

Concubine Shaye came to sit beside her daughter. She swept back the hair from Shali's face tenderly and shook her head.

"My daughter, I would never endanger you, not even in my quest for vengeance. No, the person who planned for the human to die at the jaws of infinity worms didn't care about putting your life at risk. I fear to think about what would have happened to you had Drevin and Enkansh not accompanied you."

"But Syryn also saved my life," Shali argued. "He pushed me away when the snakes attacked."

The concubine was silent for a moment.

"Mother..."

"It is his duty towards your brother. Do not be grateful to the human, Shali."

The princess knew she wasn't getting through to her grief-stricken and stubborn mother. She put away her words and acted obedient so that the concubine would not suspect Shali of betrayal when the time came for the little girl to help Syryn.

______

Syryn was news again in the palace. Survivor of a snake and infinity worm attack. He was spoken of in hushed tones.

The mage on the other hand was wracked with itchy arms that only stopped annoying him when he applied the algal mucus over it. A few days went by while he recuperated in his room alone. The truth was that the mage was in hiding.

There were dark spots on the skin of his arm where it itched. The tiny black coloured spots were evenly spread out on his arms. Syryn didn't believe that the mer healers could help. He was already being talked about as though he was a freak. If they saw what was happening with his arms, he couldn't imagine the uproar it might create again.

On the fourth day since his self imposed isolation, the mage wore his discarded shirt and went to the mer healer. The spots were spreading to his legs.

"You again," the mermaid smiled wryly at Syryn. "What mysterious illness have you come to me with?"

They were inside a private chamber so Syryn began to take his shirt off wordlessly. He thrust an arm at the waiting healer who took a glance and shut her eyes in frustration.

"What in the name of Lusha is happening to you, human?"

The healer could see that Syryn's spots were small crescent-shaped growths under sitting just under his skin. They reminded her of parasitic larvae that sometimes hatched in fish meat.

"Itchy?" She asked.

"Not anymore."

The healer then took a long fishbone like the kind that Drevin had used to pierce his ear. She prodded at his skin with the fishbone and found that the growths were soft under the skin.

"When did you start noticing them?" She asked him, eyes still on his skin.

"A few days ago."

The healer glanced up reproachfully.

"You should have come to me then."

"What could you have done?" He replied. "My human diseases are beyond the understanding of mer healers."

She understood that Syryn hadn't said it with malicious intent.

"Even so."

The healer wanted to cut Syryn's skin open and expose the black things. But being surrounded by water, it was unsafe to do so. Preparations had to be made to carry out the exploration of any skin disease that could spread through the medium of water.

"I will have to consult with my teachers-"

"No," Syryn told her. "Please just keep this to yourself. I don't want them to know."

"You could end up dead from this if it proves to be a fatal illness."

"You're the best healer for human illness aren't you? If you can't help me then can they?" Syryn asked her.

"No."

Syryn nodded. "If this sickness was transmittable between our species, some mer would have already fallen ill by now."

"You can't say that for sure," she replied. "Some illnesses quirk faster than others."

"You're right," Syryn agreed. "What do I do then?"

"We'll wait a few days. Stay inside your room and avoid contact with everyone. We'll see what happens then."

"And you won't tell the mermen about this?"

The healer shook her head. "Honestly, I have never heard of fatal diseases that could jump the species barrier between our kinds. There are a few human illnesses that have succeeded in infecting the mers but the effects are mostly benign. I can't speak for humans catching diseases from mers though," she said contemplatively. "So this could be a product of something transmitted to you by your mer lover."

"I don't have a mer lover," he replied blandly. "The rumours about me and the prince are false. He treats me very well but friendship is all we share." And hugs. Did Drevin infect him? Syryn wondered.

"Has the prince suffered any affliction these past two weeks?" He asked the healer.

"No, his highness Drevin is in the pink of health. He has always been a very healthy mer. Nevertheless, I'll call him in for an examination. Are you sure you two aren't like that?"

The healer's eyes were shining with interest.

"I don't even know what a merman penis looks like. And I don't think I want to know."

"I can-"

"No," Syryn smiled tightly. "I appreciate it though."

Mermen were physically bigger than humans. He really didn't want to see how big they were down there. Thinking about how he was nearly caught by Grifan, the mage got goosebumps.

"Never again," he told himself. Suddenly he could appreciate the presence of a guard behind him.