Part 2: The Marching Fishes

ACT 1. ESCENE 1: THE RAIN

Resume: The Sea King try to control his kigdom and protect his family, 

The first thing that the Sea King noticed when he wake up it was that the rain hasn’t stopped. The second, his lovely wife awaking next to him.

“Good morning, your majesty” She said with the sweetest voice

“Good morning, beautiful siren, how do you slept?”

“Terrible, I barely slept” Said the Queen as moved herself slowly “Everything hurt, and I’m hungry and tired all the time”

The king laughed while Mimi kept complaining.

“Don’t laugh  Joe, I’m serious, When is he going to born?”

“One more month my darling, you're doing it great”

The King hugged his Queen, endering a kiss on her cheek, while caressed the big belly of the desert flower.  

“I’m doing terrible, and the rain Joe, it is been raining forever”

“It’s summer” Joe said with the same patience he had shown the last three years.  His lovely queen could be a warrior, but she would never get used to the extreme humidity of the Islands.

“I want to get out, we are trapped on our own castle as animals”

A hurry knocking of the door interrupted the conversation. The King open the door to found a maid completely soaked holding the young prince covered by a huge towel.

Joe take a depth breadth.

“He escaped at the rain”

“He escaped at the rain, again, your majesty. I’m so sorry to bother you but the prince is…”

“A bless” the king completed as took at his energetic son on his arms. The maid ran away the fast as he can. “I hope someone had apologized” said the king at his son.

The young prince has a little more than two years, orange hair, big green eyes and, Joe was sure,  a couple of gills hidden somewhere.

“Rain!” scream the little prince, now completely naked and running to try to open the window and scaped at the rainy garden.

“Oh aren’t you going to greeting your mother, sweetheart?” said the Queen standing up from the bed.

“Mommy”

“He managed to tyred all the maids” said the King as the prince kissed her mother belly.

“Now imagine on a month when they will be two” answered the Queen with a smile.

“Or in a couple of years, when they will be three… or five”  

The monarchs laughted at their own bless. Mimi’s smile was still the prettiest of the entirely world, the expensive fabrics and the coral jewelry were never enough to frame her beauty. But when Joe look at her eyes he found something dark on them, a silent question than kept coming up about the promise of the future, if their mutual love will be enough to conquer at their enemies.  

“Come on son, what you said if you and I go to pass the day on the royal baths as your father do some politics”

As every morning the King passed all the time he could hidden on his room with his wife and kid, but everyday it was a little  harder.

He dressed and get out, the war hasn’t stopped either.

And when did the war even began. Joe walked for the palace until the throne room. Once time ago his knights were follow him. Davis joking about something and Ken flushing at his words and Cody calling them on their behaviors, with his silents and his wooden sword. And now they are gone. They now are sneaking around the corners of his city, playing a war that Joe doesn’t want to start.

“Your Majesty” called a counselor “the rebels continue on the peripheral Islands, the attacks are mostly not extremely violent, but they kept moving forward”

Cody was the political lider of the rebelion, and Joe kwno well than he never is going to hurt his own people.

“We lost other cargaments of provides” The counselors continue “we had losing all our tributes to the capital”

Ken Ichijouyi was the strategist of course, he knows than blocking the supplies for the continent only will weak the alliance of Joe with the Capital, but the people of the Islands will take it like a popular victory.

“We had reportes of fire on public places, most of them are edifications of the time before the death of the Cold King”

But Davis worrying more. He was a blast on the war zones, his speeches turn on the crowds and flaming the confidence of his allies.

Even then the revolution stay calm, it didn’t entered at the capital and during three years the people had adjusted at the occasional vandalism, at the political climate of changing and disorientation. Joe did the best in the name of the peace, he had offer and offer accords, her lovely wife had won at the hight class of the Islands, the babies has won the heart of the common people. But there were doubts in them. Until when the good King is going to wait to call The Light to fix this mess? And how much this is going to cost at liberty of the Islands?

The leader of the royal guard had gone a long with the rebels, Joe know so little about him that he feels like a moron for hadn't seen his betrayal coming. A skilled warrior who had teaching Joe’s kids since before Joe kwno them. The King wasn’t proud of the jealousy that take over him every time he thought about that smoughty face, blue eyes and white teeth.

“Did we send more ships at the peripheral?“ The counselor asked.

And Joe wait.

The little Prince cut the tension of the room. A conserting maid entered running behind him.

“I’m so sorry your majesty” The woman apologized as the kid try to escaped through the garden “he is fast”

The Sea King walked until his son and spoke with calm.

“You can’t go outside, you are going to get cold, is raining, stop this”

The child trap his own tongue between his lips and made a trumpet. The crass act took Joe by surprise, he walked a step forward, paralized by the angry and the unknown.

“I’m so sorry, your Majesty” The maid said as dragged the child out of the room.

How little Joe know his own child.

“Sir, do you want us to send more ships at the peripheral?”

“Use our ships and knights to resguard the ways, by land and water, we need for the people to feel safe” The King said at last.

The day pasted and the rain continued. And continued the war and the royal business. Joe walked again into his room, where his wife was resting. Before he could entered he saw at the maid of before, walking by the hall with concern, looking for someone. He looked at her eyes and she draw an apologie on her face. Joe turned over his steps and walked at the closest door. The inside garden was beautiful, with a lake and flowers and sun. But now was raining, the king entered at the rain between the horror of the maid, walked through the puddles and the heavy drops of the tropical rain until he saw his son, all small and crying, soggy and ashamed of himself. And Joe himself wished to disappear his anger, to want no more to take his son and wrap him with dry clothes and full him with hugs.

Why the children don’t listen? Why they think that they desires will matter on the big picture? Why he failed on teaching compassion and patient and humility?

Joe took his son on his arms and comforted him with kisses and cares, knowing well that he hasn’t the strength to scold him.

At the next day the storm stopped. And Joe catches his wife and son getting ready for a trip on the town.

“Aren’t you coming, darling?” Said Mimi endering the words.

“You go with the kid, I’m feeling a little down, better rested the day” the King answered.

“We both know that you are the one who needs to see more than this walls”

“Mimi, please… just...” He didn’t finished, he didn’t know what else to said.

She stepped closed at his husband, kissing him on the mouth, with her hands holding his face, Joe rested his hands on her back, both proud of belong to each other.

“You know, that if you asked I will finish all your monsters” The queen said at his ear. Joe could feel the old knife tied on the Queen´s leg, hidden over her pregnancy dress.

“We are not getting to that” the King responded as he always did “I know those kids, I’m going to make them entered into reason, they are no monsters”

The Queen kissed her husband again, proud of his compassion. She took her son and both entered at the royal carriage.

_____________________________________

The quarters of the rebellion weren’t a castle. They hadn’t maids and servants, and the rebels that join the rebellions weren’t well trained soldiers, were common people with unconformities about the Sea King regimen that Iory didn’t share.

“The cargament of today will feed us for another week” said Ichijouji since his corner on the small room while he drop and catch a small knife.

“Yea, other robbery, that will show them what  we are made for” Iory said sarcastically reviewing the plans of the controlled Islands again.

“Well, it will feed our people” Ichijouji repeated.

Iory didn’t dare to respond at his brother. Even when the storm had ending  the leaks of the ceiling kept dropping water while the two of them hold their thoughts.

“It doesn’t feel like a winning” Iory said at last.

“Sometimes it not even feel like a war”

“Oh it doesn’t had enough death for your taste!?”

“We know it would be battles and you had no right to scold me every time I win one!”

 “You could rob the cargaments without killing the dealers!”

“It send a message!” Ichijouji respond with anger

“What kind of message? What the King is going to think?” Iory scream as his brother cursed out loud “we need to show at the people that we are better than him”

“No!” Ichijouji interrupted him, feeling the knife on his hand specially heavy “We need to overthrow him and unless you stopped playing nice we are never going to make it”

“ENOUGH!” Davis scream as he entered at the room “What we need to do is stop screaming at each others as our people is listening”  The young man get himself between his two brothers

But there was no apologized for any part.

Davis closed the doors as he turned to the them. He was the one who deals with the people, they love him and somehow it didn’t like at his brothers.

“It was nothing” Ichijouji said as he take the hand of Davis and move his eyelashes for him.

“You are not scaping of this by your charm” Davis said as he did his best to don’t kiss his lover.

“This is useless” Iory scream as he threw all the papers at the floor “This has to end”

“We agree” Ichijouji said “We need to make a real attack at the capital”

The papers over the floor get wed.

“The people is tired” Davis said “we already control some Islands, we can proclame an independent and started over”

Iory saw the papers over the floor getting wed. Peace treaties that Joe had written himself.  He felt soaked, trapped under the storm that he beg to created.

“Our master is never going to allow us to surrender” Ichijouji said with a calmed voice. Snapping Iory back to the reality.

“It is not his decision to make” Iory said.

The frontal door opened suddenly, a ray of light enlightened the darkened room where the three boys stayed. A handsome  man entered with a big smile than no one had had at war times.

“Master Ryo!” Exclaimed the three young men at unisone.