Chapter 45: Tell Me!

Zale was not handling things well. He had to keep up appearances until the deep-sea merfolk left with a mermaid who worked in the palace to pay off her parents' debt. The debt was considered cleared now that she had been sold off to Chief Indra.

Once that was over and done with no one cared what Zale was up to anymore so he immediately set to work, feverishly trying to speed up his plans. The problem was that he had always known this was a long game so speeding things up was more difficult than anticipated.

"You are overworking yourself," Beck pointed out. "You need to get some rest."

"I won't rest until I see Tali again," he replied stubbornly.

"Then you will waste away. Your brain needs to be in peak condition for any of this to work and you know it."

Zale sighed. He did know that. He was the mastermind behind their whole revolt and if he wasn't in peak condition they would never succeed. That knowledge didn't make him feel any better.

Until he sent her away, there had never been a day where he didn't see his sister since she was born. She was his only joy in a bleak world of ridicule, pretending, and planning.

Was Talori handling things okay? Was that water fairy taking proper care of her? Did she miss him even a fragment as much as he missed her?

More than anything, Zale wanted to see her safely home. But that couldn't happen until the rest of the royals were deposed and he was on the throne. Everyone thought she was dead because of how thoroughly he set up that fake shark attack.

If Talori came back before he was on the throne, the merking—and worse, the merqueen—would punish her harshly. On top of that, they would realize that he wasn't as stupid as he had appeared all this time. She never could have done something like that on her own.

Everything he had worked for would be ruined if she came back early. She had to stay where it was safe, as much as he hated being apart from her.

This would be much easier if they had a way to communicate while they were apart. Unfortunately, he had no idea how she was doing right now. Or if she had even safely made it to her destination at all.

Zale wished he could think of some sort of code to send along with Gar in the hopes of getting answers but that may be beyond his abilities. The liaison was loyal to the merking so if anything was even slightly suspicious he would certainly tell his master.

How could he make a message seem unsuspicious while still getting his point across? There was no guarantee that the witches would be able to figure it out.

"Beck, I need to come up with some sort of code to communicate with the witches. I won't be able to get anything done until I know for certain that Tali is alright," he said grimly.

His companion sighed. "I was concerned that would be the case. I have one idea but am unsure how well it would work."

"Tell me!"

"If you acted as though you wanted a magic item in memoriam of the lost princess because of her interest in the surface, they might believe it. You would have to come up with the proper wording in the hopes that someone would figure it out but…"

Zale pondered this. It could work but Beck was right. He would need to come up with the proper wording and that would be the most difficult part.

The witches didn't meet with Gar terribly often. It happened once every few months. The visit was coming up but he would need to have something figured out before then. And then have to wait another few months to get any sort of answer if they managed to figure out what he was getting at.

"This is going to be difficult," he mused.

"I am sure you of all merfolk can figure it out," Beck said, which was about as encouraging as he got. "In the meantime I suggest you continue trying to convince other merfolk of the issue the ocean is facing that the merking ignores."

Now it was Zale's turn to sigh. It was difficult to convince anyone of anything with his reputation. Everyone thought he was a joke.

His survival plan was backfiring on him now that he genuinely needed to enlist others' aid. There wasn't a single noble in this kingdom that would take him seriously.

But perhaps they didn't have to. If he could only plant the idea in one of their heads and make them think they had come up with it themselves…That might work. Nobles were self-important and loved thinking they knew more than everyone else.

Zale was going to have to get creative. He had half a plan forming already on how to make that happen. Unfortunately, he wouldn't be able to make it work until the merking began hosting social events again. There hadn't been any since the deep-sea merfolk left. He could at least start gathering the materials he needed in the meantime.

He was going to have to show that there was a problem with surface objects ending up in the sea. The best way to do that would be to wear them as accessories. Idiot Prince Zale was ever so concerned with fashion.

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Fashion, poetry, and overindulging in sleep and food. That was what he was known for.

If he kept wearing different accessories made up of surface objects, sooner or later someone would realize that there were too many of them in the ocean. All he had to do was plant that idea in a few of the nobles' heads and he would be able to put the next phase of his plan into motion.

Zale desperately wished Talori was here to help him with this part. She would have known exactly which surface objects to use and would have had fun making the accessories herself.

He shook those thoughts free. He couldn't get distracted. There was much work to be done.

"Beck, we need to send mermen out to gather as many surface objects as possible."

The other merman nodded. "Understood. I will see to it immediately."

Beck swam off and Zale was left alone with his thoughts, wondering what exactly he should say to Gar to get him to pass on a message to the witches. He had to make sure it was perfect or he wouldn't get the information he wanted.

He would only be able to do this once. It would be suspicious if he kept trying to initiate contact. He couldn't let anyone suspect that Talori might be alive or that he was planning something with the witches. The last thing he needed was to be executed for treason before he managed to commit it properly.

===

It took Zale a while but he managed to craft bracelets, necklaces, and hair ornaments out of these small trinkets his mermen kept finding in the coral reef and come up with a code to send on with Gar. Acting pitiful and claiming he wanted a magic item to remember his sister by wasn't difficult.

His reputation for being picky came in handy here because he was able to insist that Gar pass on his request word for word without coming across as suspicious. Gar simply rolled his eyes and accepted it.

Perfect. He would take the message to the surface and Zale would be able to kickstart the other part of his plan.

A banquet was being held to celebrate a concubine's birthday. It was the best opportunity he had to begin making the nobles think something was wrong. He would need to drive that point home as much as possible whenever he made public appearances on an indefinite basis.

In the days leading up to the banquet he spent a lot of time trying to come up with sufficiently terrible poetry as usual. After doing this for so many decades he was running out of ideas.

"I have nothing," Zale groaned. "Somebody else compose this stupid poem."

"I don't know anything about poetry," Aeces said apologetically.

"Me either," Cyreus added.

They all turned to Nerio, who seemed alarmed. "Don't look at me! I've never composed a poem in my life!"

"What about you, Beck? Think you can help our fearless leader out?"

A tiny divot appeared between Beck's brows as he thought it over. "I'm no poet either. But if Zale is unable to come up with anything, I am going to have to do my best."

Multiple mermen began trying to hold back snickers at the thought of someone so stoic coming up with bad poetry. That was so outside of his usual duties that no one could imagine him coming up with anything.

"Aww, look at Mr. Dependable over here!" Nerio laughed. "Whatever would we do without him?"

"Fail at all of our plans," Zale said seriously.

That made everyone stop laughing. He meant it too. He didn't know what he would do without Beck, who had been the most constant presence in his life ever since they met centuries ago.

Beck's expression didn't so much as twitch as he replied, "Thank you for the praise."

Everyone else shrugged it off. They knew how these two worked by now.. They were practically two halves of the same merman.

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