| Malin, Astra and Willian are all in the audience, enjoying the performance.
Astra and Willian are especially happy in the knowledge that Astra is now
an expectant mother. Malin's enjoyment is enhanced by thoughts of how,
with any luck at all, well before Astra's babies are born he will be ruler
of Aqualaria. His warped mind toys with the notion of making the by that
time heavily pregnant ex-Queen responsible for cleaning the palace privies.
Or maybe he could do to her what Drederigo's mage had done to Anina?
Malin reminds himself that he still has much to do before his visions
can become a reality. It had been a disappointment to find that the Queen
had delegated command of the army. Her normal self-confidence must have
been severely shaken for her to do that. Perhaps he could persuade her
to take up the reins of command again? That might have the added benefit,
from his viewpoint, of sowing seeds of dissension between the Queen and
her "sister". Another possibility would be to try to get Astra 8 under
his control as well. That might be tricky, though. First he would have
to find a pretext for seeing her and then would need to persuade her to
drink the necessary potion.
After the concert, Malin approaches the Queen and tells her the sad
news that he has done all that he can for Anina. There is no way magically
to restore her from the timid thing she is now to the fearless and assertive
warrior she had once been. To his surprise and disappointment, the Queen
does not look downcast at the news. She says: "Thank you for all your efforts,
Malin. I know you have done as much as anyone could. And at least she has
her memory and intelligence back, which is the most important thing. But
I have not lost hope that her fighting spirit might one day be restored.
I don't think I'm betraying any confidences when I reveal that my 'sister'
has taken charge of Anina. She says that if anyone can restore Anina's
fighting spirit it is she. With the possible exception of myself, I think
that she is indeed by far the best person for the job and, regrettably,
with all my other responsibilities I couldn't possibly spare the time to
look after Anina's rehabilitation myself."
Malin reflects that this may prove to be good news for him after all.
Astra 8 will surely want to come to see him to discuss Anina's condition,
since he knows more about it than anyone.
Meanwhile Astra 8, no great music-lover, is working with Anina. They
have just had a practice swordfight. Anina's reflexes are as fast as ever,
and timidity is not the same thing as cowardice, so that she is as effective
a swordswoman as ever she was - but only in a practice bout. She lacks
the urge to fight for real, and also she no longer has the assertiveness
to be the inspiring leader that she once was - or to be any sort of leader,
for that matter. Now, rather than getting other people to follow her -
through the born leader's combination of firmness, encouragement and example
- she would rather submit to the orders of others. That way no-one would
be cross with her or shout at her.
Though Astra 8 has only just begun the task she volunteered for, she
is already wondering if she had been over-confident in taking it on. Is
the spirit of the "old" Anina still in there somewhere, waiting to be released?
If so, how can she free that spirit? It must be buried very deeply. Worse
still, suppose the spirit is no longer there? Then she will just be wasting
her time.
-
 She sighs
inwardly. Perhaps talking to Malin would help?
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