Ioz, Tula, and Niddler are waiting nervously on the Wraith in the middle of the ocean as the episode opens. Ren's diving for a Treasure and has been gone a very long time; Ioz doesn't like the situation, Tula feels there could be trouble, and Niddler doesn't think anybody can hold their breath for that long. Ioz starts to go after Ren just as Tula senses something and Ren surfaces, gasping for air. Ioz helps him aboard, denying Ren's "allegation" that he was worried about the boy, and they all marvel over the 5th Treasure of Rule ("Isn't it a beauty?" "It by far outshines the others!" "Not to mention it's the biggest" (smallest, actually, but oh well)). Niddler wants to hold it but Ioz won't let him on the grounds that last time he held a Treasure, he almost dropped it into a leviathan's mouth. Niddler retorts that the leviathan had scared him and snatches the Treasure from Ioz's fingers just as Tula feels a wave of danger. She points out a very large pool of Dark Water floating their way, and Ren calls for Ioz to take the wheel. As Ioz steers away from the Dark Water, Niddler slips and drops the Treasure. It goes bouncing toward the side of the ship, toward one of the decorative "holes," and Ren and Tula both dive for it but crash into each other before they can reach it. Niddler's cowering in fear as the Treasure teeters precariously on the edge...
Commercial break.
The Treasure's still spinning on the edge of the ship, and Ren manages to climb to his feet and dive for the Treasure again just as it goes over. He catches it and Tula and Niddler go for his feet, grabbing him and pulling him up before he can go overboard. Ioz and Niddler start bickering (as usual), but suddenly there's this weird shadow that obscures everything. When it passes they're all in awe; there's a hot-air balloon floating overhead (I don't think they have hot-air balloons on Mer, because none of them have a clue what it is) toward the Dark Water. It hovers over the stuff, and the pilot sends down a leviathan-skin container with the intent of scooping some inside. However, the Dark Water wants to scoop the pilot inside it and grabs onto the low-hovering balloon, starting to pull it down. Ren immediately sends a reluctant Niddler to save the pilot. Niddler does, cursing his wings, and saves the pilot, pulling him away from the Dark Water just as the balloon goes down completely.
When they return to the Wraith, Tula demands to know what the pilot was doing. The pilot replies that SHE was getting a sample of Dark Water for HER experiments, introducing herself as Cray. They're all very surprised, obviously. She asks who the captain of the ship is, and Ren steps forward.
She nearly has a heart attack. "Primus?!" she gasps.
Ren's taken aback. "No," he replies. "Ren. Primus was my father."
She steps forward, mesmerized. "By the moons of Mer, your eyes, your face, y-you're the very picture of him!" she breathes.
"You knew him?" Ren asks as it suddenly hits him.
A sad smile crosses her face. "Only too well," she replies.
Ioz interrupts and asks which direction to go in, and Cray directs them to go west to her citadel so she can offer them shelter and hot meals (at which Niddler jumps up in excitement) in reward.
At the citadel, the four are standing in one of the HUGE bedrooms, waiting for Cray to return, and are in awe. (Ioz flops on the bed, commenting it's fit for a king.) Niddler walks out of the walk-in closet wearing a robe and big, fuzzy slippers that he's particularly proud of, asking the others' opinion. Ren tells him he shouldn't be wearing those, and he replies that Cray asked them to make themselves at home. Ioz makes a remark about a feather massage, and Tula voices her doubts about the reason behind Cray's hospitality. Speak of the devil; Cray walks in and remarks to Ren that his friend sounds suspicious (what I don't understand is why she didn't ask Tula herself about it--it's probably that stupid Primus complex). Tula comments that they're not used to such nice treatment, and she replies that the son of Primus deserves the very best. That reminds Ren and he asks Cray how she knew Primus, and after a little bit of hesitation she admits that Primus was her suitor. Gasps ensue. ;o)
"Don't look so surprised by it," Cray chides them, going into happy-dreamy-voice mode. "I was a beauty in my time. Oh, you should have seen us at the palace balls! He had to dance with all the ladies, of course, but I was his favorite. We had so much in common--music, travel, sailing...you couldn't have found a more perfect match. I was sure he was learning to love me--" At this, her voice becomes harsh and bitter. "Until I found out I had a rival. It was your mother, Ren, and I did not take it well. I left Octopon soon after. There was no reason to stay."
(During this, there are scenes corresponding with everything she says; at the ball she's at the head of the line of ladies, and through the entire thing she has this very cheerful, happy smile on her face. That is, until she's walking down a path in Octopon with a package in her hand for Primus and sees him and another woman sitting on a picnic blanket and toasting each other. She throws the package at them and it crashes through their glasses, and then she throws herself at Primus, attacking him. He manages to push her away, and she stands up and runs off, Primus standing and looking after her, shocked, and Ren's mother standing and clinging to his shoulder.)
She concludes by saying she's lived in the citadel ever since. Ren asks if she's lonely, and she says she enjoys the solitude and visitors can be so untrustworthy. Then she quickly changes the subject, grabbing Ren's arm and leading him to the dining room with Ioz and Niddler behind. Tula pauses for a second, a speculative look on her face, and follows them.
The scene switches to her HUGE dining room; Ren and Tula are on one side of the table, Ioz and Niddler are across from them, and Cray is at the head of the table. She's explaining why she needs Dark Water for experiments to help her research of it, but laments that she's too old to get the samples themselves. Ren is surprised that she tries to find good from Dark Water, and Tula comments that it's completely evil. Cray snaps at Tula (note: she doesn't say one harsh word to Ren...) that "Sometimes it takes a little evil to make things right." Ioz comments he'd never touch the stuff, and while he's slurping up some soup, Cray offers them 10,000 kruegers to get some (which is a hefty sum of money), and Ioz and Niddler start choking. Ren's surprised but refuses, and Cray becomes more insistent, offering 20,000 and then 30,000. Ren insists that he won't put his crew in that kind of danger, and she gets angry and storms out. Tula says she senses trouble with Cray and Ren reassures her. In Cray's study, meanwhile, the woman's sitting at a table (under a large portrait of a young woman--her many years before) and looking at a locket with Primus's picture in it. Before her is a stack of white envelopes with red heart-shaped seals on the flaps--undelivered love letters to the king that she'd written over the years, probably. "Well, I have met your boy," she addresses the picture, "the son who could've been ours." She hugs the locket to her chest. "Oh, Primus, I would have done anything for you--given you anything! Instead, I wasted my youth loving you. Bah!" She shoves the letters off the desk angrily. "Now, I have your son, and with his help, I will regain the past. I swear it!" She throws the locket against the wall; it falls, the picture cracked.
That night Cray walks through the halls silently, looking in on the room Ren, Ioz, and Niddler are sharing (Ioz is in a chair, Ren's in bed under the sheets, and Niddler's at his feet snoring). Then she goes on to Tula's room and steps inside, placing a small bowl of herbs on the table beside Tula's bed and waving the candle in her hand over it. The herbs emit a gas just as Tula wakes up and sees Cray. As she demands to know what Cray's doing, she inhales the gas and falls back on her bed, in a deep sleep. Cray blows out the candle.
The next morning, the rest of the crew is in Tula's room trying to wake her up. Cray comes in and says Tula's sleeping the "sleep of a thousand dreams" and she won't give them the antidote unless Ren gets her some Dark Water. Ren asks why she's doing this, and she says that he'll pay for what his father owes her. He counters that Tula's totally innocent, and she says that it isn't the first time an innocent suffers, handing him a leviathan-skin canister and telling him to hurry. On the ship, later, Ioz tensely points out a pool of Dark Water straight ahead, and Ren instructs Niddler to take the 5th Treasure and let it touch the Dark Water so he can scoop some up. They get some with a minimum of struggle and turn to go back, but as they do, the Maelstrom comes out of the mist behind them and they're pulled into its "hangar."
Commercial break.
I'm a little bit fuzzy on exactly what happens in this scene, but Bloth, Konk, and a bunch of pirates come down to "greet" the crew. Some try to board the Wraith but Ioz keeps them off. Ren takes the canister and pours a little bit of Dark Water into the water flowing through the underbelly of the Wraith. Bloth starts freaking out and orders for the intakes to close and the hatch to open to get it out; in the meantime the Wraith gets out as well. Niddler asks if there's enough left for Cray; Ren hopes so. It turns out there's more than enough, and Cray credits Ren with getting the Dark Water. He grabs the antidote from Cray, ignoring her comment to tell Tula "good morning" from her, and they stride up the stairs with dignity. Downstairs in the lab, Cray's rejoicing that she finally has the final ingredient for her potion: a drop of darkness. Putting that one drop in the potion turns it black; she cries out in joy and downs the whole thing, but the smile fades from her face and she doubles over, undergoing an amazing transformation. After it's done, she feels that her face is soft, and her voice is high, lilting, and not grating. She goes to the mirror and cries out in joy that she's regained her youth--and perhaps, she adds, turning and facing the stairs, the dreams of her youth.
Upstairs Ren gently gives Tula the potion and she slowly comes to, whispering that she's really tired and dizzy. Ren goes to get her some water. (*grin* I love this scene--it's hilarious!) While he's walking through the halls, he hears his name called and turns to see a young woman walking toward him asking, "What do you think?" He's blank and she leads him to a balcony so he can see her better; once there, the blonde, tan-skinned, blue-dressed woman steps forward and twirls once, asking (a little more seductively) how she looks. Ren, trying to be tactful since he still has no idea who she is, replies that she's very pretty, and does he know her? She giggles and replies that now he can see why she needed the Dark Water, and he nearly gags as he realizes that the woman is Cray. She explains with a smile that she made a potion with the Dark Water.
"Oh, don't look so serious!" she exclaims, making him back up toward a wall and grabbing his arms, pinning him there. "This is destiny, don't you see? How else could it be that I've been given a second chance to marry the Prince of Octopon?"
Ren's jaw drops. "Marry? Wh-what are you talking about?" he stammers.
Cray becomes very coy, sidling up to him. "Your strength, my powers," she says delicately. "Your nobility, my beauty--" She's edging closer and closer. "It's a timeless match..." Just as she moves in for the kiss, he ducks out of the way and backs up toward the balcony rail.
"Whoa," he gasps, trying to keep her away, but she turns and goes after him again. "Now--now, hold on. I--I--I've gotta get back to my friends--our Quest--"
She brightens, leaning toward him and making him lean back (and partway over the rail) and look over his shoulder, judging how far the drop is and whether or not he should risk jumping. ;o) "Yes, the Quest!" she cries. "You don't need Ioz or that bird or that fool girl! Not with my powers! We can do it together! Just you and me, Primus." She smiles dreamily.
Ren's had enough. He grabs her arms and turns so her back's to the rail. "It's Ren," he replies a little sharply, backing away.
She giggles, a little embarrassed. (A little??) "Oh, yes, Ren, of course," she replies. "I know who you are!" He retreats, not giving her the chance to say anything else.
Back in Tula's room Ioz is helping her to her feet as she feels better. Ren quickly walks in, saying that they have a new problem: Cray. Tula wryly asks what she's up to now, but gets her answer as Cray enters, leaning against a wall by the door and ordering Ren to leave them out of this. (I wonder what Tula's thinking right now?) Ren tries to appease her. "You're not seeing things clearly," he says. "This love between us doesn't exist--we're strangers! Try to understand--you can't bring back the past!"
Cray gives him an angered look. "Understand this, my prince--I will not be scorned twice!" She pulls a small pellet from nowhere and throws it down; it explodes, giving off smoke and blinding them. Cray goes toward Ren, grabbing the Treasures and retreating, slamming the door and locking them in just as the smoke dissipates and Ren exclaims, "Hey! She's got the Treasures!" They try to find another way out, and Niddler sees Konk and Mantus on dagrons land outside the citadel. Cray comes to the door and demands to know their business. Mantus replies that they're claiming the boy and his cargo. Cray replies that Ren's her prisoner and the Treasures are hers, making Mantus cackle and ask how she can stop them. She pulls out two more pellets, throwing them into the water; when they land they bounce back, one slamming into Konk and the other into Mantus, throwing them into the water. Konk says that she may stop them, but not Captain Bloth. At Captain, Cray perks up, becoming thoughtful and saying that maybe they can compromise after all.
Back on the Maelstrom, Konk and Mantus report their compromise, and Bloth starts coughing.
"She wants me to what?" he exclaims, slamming his hand down on the table. Mantus replies sheepishly that she wants him to perform a marriage ceremony. Konk adds that she'll give the Treasures to the captain who marries her and Ren. Bloth thinks over it for a second and immediately agrees, sarcastically lamenting the groom's fate, as it'll be "the shortest marriage on record."
Back at Cray's citadel, Ioz is working on breaking the lock; Niddler complains that it's been 2 hours, and just then Ioz gets the door open. Ren cautiously opens it, warning the others to be quiet; just as he starts tiptoeing out, he suddenly stops--Bloth's at the door!
"Has the young groom gotten cold feet?" Bloth asks sweetly.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Why, I've come to preside at your wedding! And as luck would have it, we have a best man--" he gestures to Ioz-- "a maid of honor--" he gesture to Tula-- "and a ring-bird." He chuckles, plucks off one of Niddler's hairs, and grabs Ren's shirt. "Now let's move," he growls, then smiles again. "I'd hate to keep the bride waiting."
The scene switches to the wedding hall, where many of Bloth's pirates and the heroes are waiting. Bloth's talking to Ren about the wedding being short and sweet without too much of a honeymoon. He looks up and smiles as Cray starts walking in, wearing a beautiful white wedding dress and veil and carrying a bouquet. One of Bloth's pirates starts playing the organ (it actually sounds not too bad) and she sedately walks down the aisle, smiling, and takes her place next to the prince. What she doesn't notice--and what the heroes do--is that her blonde hair is slowly turning black as they watch. Bloth asks Cray if she's ready, and she smiles and lifts the veil, saying, "Oh, yes." But her voice doesn't sound nearly as soft as it used to--it's hoarse. To top that, everybody gasps in horror at the sight of her face--there's a black liquid oozing from her cheeks! Ren gasps, "Cray--your face!" She gives him a horrified look, runs to a mirror at the side of the room, and screams, running from the room toward her lab. Bloth orders for his pirates to guard the prisoners (several dozen swords come up around the pirates) and he bounds out the door after the woman.
"There has to be an answer--" Cray mutters, mixing liquids and holding up test tubes just as Bloth practically breaks the door to the lab down, demanding the Treasures. She doesn't answer, crying that she has to find a way and to stop her debilitation, but Bloth loses his temper and swipes his arm across her table, knocking all the potions to the floor. She screams and leaps over the table after them, collapsing and crying that she's lost all hope. Bloth's not very amused, and Konk comes in saying the guests are waiting. Bloth informs him the wedding's off and he wants the pirates to search the citadel for the Treasures. Konk asks about Ren and Bloth says he'll deal with him personally. Cray hears this as Bloth and Konk leave, quickly grabbing another potion and pouring it over the mess on her floor before she collapses completely.
These big pink bubbles rise from the ooze, floating swiftly from her lab throughout the citadel. One floats into the wedding hall, and a pudgy pirate by the door sees it, croons, "Ooh! Pretty bubble!" and stupidly pops it. There's a huge explosion and he's thrown some distance away. Bloth turns, startled, and the citadel starts shaking as the bubbles make contact with other parts of the citadel--beds, pillars, etc.--and explode on impact. Everybody scatters from the wedding hall, including the heroes, but Ren orders the others to get to the Wraith while he goes to find Cray. He goes straight to her lab and finds her on the floor--her skin's a sickly lavender, her hair completely black.
"Go!" she moans as he slowly props her up, her face melting and oozing. "You must go!"
"Can you get on your feet?" he implores, not wanting to see her suffer.
"Oh, Ren," she whimpers, "it's too late."
"Cray, I'm so sorry," he replies. "Whatever my father did to hurt you, I--"
"It wasn't his fault; I just couldn't let go of the past," she finally admits, grabbing her bouquet and shoving it at him. He takes it. "Take this--as a remembrance," she whispers.
"Cray!" he cries, but it's too late; she dissolves into a puddle of Dark Water at his feet. He has to jump up and run as a huge boulder lands in the center of the puddle.
Outside, all the pirates are heading for their ships, and Ioz is slowly piloting the ship away from the citadel. They're all looking for Ren and see him appear in an upstairs window, a bouquet in his mouth. He jumps headfirst, does a flip, and uses the sail to cushion his fall, landing on his feet by his friends just as the citadel explodes completely. Bloth and his pirates are watching and quickly swim away toward the Maelstrom, Bloth grumbling about cursing the day.
A safe distance away, Tula asks about Cray and Ren replies that she's gone. Ioz remarks with disgust that the Treasures must be, too, and Ren, reading into Cray's action, opens the bouquet and remarks on her "remembrance." Ioz and Niddler turn away to pilot the Wraith away.
"That poor woman," Tula remarks sadly. "She let disappointment control her whole life!"
"Yes, Tula," Ren replies quietly, putting an arm around her shoulders and staring out to sea where the citadel once stood. "I guess we have to decide which dreams to follow, and which to leave behind." The Wraith moves off in the distance, and the last image we see is Cray's flowers floating on the water--her remembrance.