Silas led Tanya to the gardens and then to the great hall where Ives wanted the enchantments laid. Tanya decided to start in the hall first.

She sat down on the stone floor and shuffled through the papers again, thinking about how to accomplish the work that Ives wanted done.

After a few minutes of going through the papers, she looked up and startled. Silas hadn't left, and he stood like a statue in the corner of the room.

“You can go, if you like,” Tanya said, “I don’t need anything.”

Silas didn’t move to leave, “I was asked to stay here in case anything does come up, miss."

“Okay, then.” If Ives wanted his staff to do that, that was up to him. Tanya went back to the papers.

Ives, or whoever had drafted the plans had quite the vision. They wanted the hall to be enchanted with spells that made weaponry and violent magic inert, making the great hall and the adjoined gardens a large neutral area. After the practical work, the plans included a request for extensive cosmetic work to be done, to enhance the beauty of the great hall. Similar enchantments were desired in the garden.

Tanya got to work. She set her hands upon the cool floor and discussed the matter with the rock while infusing it with the magic that would be the basis of the protective measures.

Her labour was not showy, and the only indication that she was doing anything at all was the intense look of concentration on her face and the barest shimmer around her.

Silas watched with interest, though when Tanya glanced over at him his expression reverted back to boredom.

The protective enchantments took her the better part of the night to complete, being complex bits of work to get the parameters the plans called for. Silas stood by in silence throughout the entire process. The gardens were less complicated to deal with, since Tanya had a particular affinity for plant life.

Then came the fun work.

Tanya reviewed the papers again before beginning the cosmetic enchantments. These were less specific, only calling for lots of purple and blue, since that was a main color in the Evory clan’s emblem, and also a vague request for a ‘water like feel’.

Tanya stood up for these and closed her eyes. She breathed in, and stretched her arms outs. Every so slowly the bare stone hall began to shift and change. Water seeped into the corners of the room, and small streams climbed up the walls to the ceiling. When the ceiling was covered, the water began to shiver and roil, and bubbles popped out. The bubbles were different sizes, and went from transparent iridescence to transparent, iridescent, shades of purple and blue. There was a wide range, from lilac, to a lavender reminiscent of Kuon’s hair, and a darker shade similar to Tanya’s dress, among others. The blues went from the palest periwinkle to the deepest navy.

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The floors shifted as well, and the marbled veins in the stone turned into rivulets of water, rushing along. Images took form on the walls, of sea fey and river folk, a prominent, and, in honor of the Evorys, a well dressed gaggle of Geese in flight. Tanya gave the pictures a murky feel. From a distance they seemed blurred, somewhat indistinct, but up close they were so clear one could make out the individual strands on a feather, or see a reflection in a woman’s pearl necklace.

The last aspects Tanya added to the hall were subtle, non visual ones.

Step into one of the streams running through the floor, and one would feel as though they really had stepped through a crisp stream of water. Tanya tested it out, and nodded in satisfaction when her slipper came away dry.

She added the faint smells of the salty oceans, the fresh fragrance that abounded after rainfall, and scents of rivers and lakes. As a tribute to herself, she included the scent of her birthplace.

Each smell was distinct and did not overlap. One breath transported Tanya to the seaside, while the next took her to a rocky lakeshore.

Tanya checked over each enchantment for neatness and stabilization. When she was done, she turned to Silas.

“What do you thi--What’s wrong?” Tanya strode over to Silas and reached for his arm. His blankness of expression was gone, replaced with a bleakness. Most worryingly, tears ran down his face. He was in pain. One of his tears dripped off his face and turned into a cream pearl. When it hit the floor there was a tiny, sharp clink.

Silas breathed in deeply, and with a swipe of his hand, his wetness on his face was gone.

“What you’ve wrought here, it reminds me of home,” pain crossed his features again, “It was bitter sweet to be reminded of that place I can no longer return to.”

“Why can’t you go home?” Tanya asked, and then tried to backtrack. What if he was like Kuon, and didn’t want to talk about it? Before she said much more than a word, Silas spoke.

“The Evorys have me bound. I can’t go back to the sea without my tail.”

“They have you bound?” Tanya grew upset, “Like—like a slave? You son't just work for them?”

Silas gave her the tiniest of nods.

Oh, that was just too much. The Evorys were despicable. Dark fey could be mean, but there were still lines that were not supposed to be crossed by anyone. Ever.

If they had a hold on Kuon, she wanted to help him get away from them even more, and Silas too. But first, a small serving of revenge.

Tanya went over to the portraits she’d made and moved the Geese to a corner and filled empty space with a family of mer. Then she went to the Geese and added tiny details. A single rotting feather, gristle in between a tooth. Subtle enough that they’d only be noticed if you stared for a long while.

She went back to the portrait of the mer, and added details to make them even more gorgeous.

Tanya stood with her hands on her hips, “There. Now I’m really done here.”

Silas walked over to the finished mer art.

“Thank you,” his voice was soft with emotion.

In a quiet tone, Tanya said, “I will free you. Do you know where they keep your tail?”

“I suspect they keep it with their other valuables, underground.”

Tanya nodded. She would keep that in mind, and take any opportunity that arose before she left to retrieve his tail for him. If she couldn’t help him now, once she and sisters were safe from the corruption, she promised she’d come back to right the wrongs here.

Tanya left Silas so she could attend to the garden. He stroked the mural of his brethren, feeling the spray of sea water that Tanya included in the tactile sensation of the painting, and breathed in the salty scent of his home.