❛ 𝐐𝐔𝐄𝐄𝐍 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐐𝐔𝐄𝐑 .

it’s easy and peaceful, floating on top of the water. here he is pressed between the two worlds that made him  …  he’s asked for her company, too. they have a little chat that they need to get out of the way before arthur dives back down into the depths of the sea to the city kilometers beneath the surface. she has been both an ally and an enemy to him ( funny how people can just flip flop from one or the other, depending on their mood and motive )  …  but the new king hopes to establish the ally part a little more firmly. that’s the reason he wanted to talk.

❛❛   it’s not just the atlanteans that i want to look after, mera. it’s your people too. humans. i know just about zero water - dwellers think i’m fit to be king of the seven seas, but  …  i think i can do a lot of good. i’m going to try. and i really hope you’ll help me. we  —  haven’t had it easy, which was shit while it was happening, but i think we’ve started to understand each other better. i was hoping so, anyway. how, uh  …  how do you feel?   ❜❜

𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗲𝗿  𝗳𝗼𝗿 @wistcrias

                 𝐡𝐨𝐰  𝐝𝐨  𝐲𝐨𝐮  𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 ?

it was hard to put name to an emotion mera had never felt before. admiration swam between her ribs, the at - home taste of salt water on her tongue : he needed no crown to be a king, and no powers to be a hero. he simply was. though she would never deign to say such things aloud. xebel knows what would go to his head after that. no, modesty was a good look on him. as were many other things, but she digressed. 

❛  𝐈  𝐜𝐚𝐧’𝐭  𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩  𝐛𝐮𝐭  𝐚𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐞  𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡  𝐲𝐨𝐮.  𝐈  𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥  𝐧𝐨𝐭  𝐥𝐢𝐞  𝐭𝐨  𝐲𝐨𝐮,  𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐡𝐮𝐫,  𝐦𝐲  𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐧  𝐨𝐟  𝐲𝐨𝐮  𝐡𝐚𝐬  𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐥𝐲  𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐝  𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦  𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞  𝐰𝐞  𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐝.  𝐈  𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐝  𝐭𝐨  𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤  𝐲𝐨𝐮  𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞  𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭  𝐚  𝐛𝐮𝐦𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠,  𝐟𝐨𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡  𝐨𝐚𝐟  𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡  𝐧𝐨  𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐫,  𝐧𝐨  𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭...  𝐧𝐨𝐰  𝐈  𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰  𝐲𝐨𝐮’𝐫𝐞  𝐚  𝐛𝐮𝐦𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠,  𝐟𝐨𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡  𝐨𝐚𝐟  𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡...  𝐚  𝐥𝐨𝐭  𝐨𝐟  𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐫,  𝐚𝐧𝐝...  𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧  𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞  𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭.  ❜ 

𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐄  𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐓  𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐍  𝐒𝐇𝐄  𝐊𝐍𝐎𝐖𝐒  𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓  𝐓𝐎  𝐃𝐎  𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇.

                 ❛ 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐥𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭? ❜ the sonic - blast had missed mera entirely; had it not... she worries she might not have survived. as it were, every glass pane and car window in the vicinity had shattered completely. not a shard had survived its annihilation. 

❛ 𝐢𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐦𝐬 𝐧𝐨 𝐜𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐣𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐝. 𝐰𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐥𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐲. ❜ except, as she searches the area for sight of the attacker, a xebellian curse slips from between her lips. archaic and sharp, it somehow still fits between her lips. 

𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐂𝐀𝐍 𝐍𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑 𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐕𝐄 𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐏𝐀𝐒𝐓 𝐁𝐄𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐃. 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐑𝐎𝐎𝐓𝐒 𝐖𝐈𝐋𝐋 𝐀𝐋𝐖𝐀𝐘𝐒 𝐁𝐈𝐍𝐃 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐓𝐎 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐆𝐑𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐃.

❛ 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐦𝐞. 𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐮𝐬 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐩. 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐠𝐮𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐚 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬. 𝐈’𝐦 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐢𝐧 𝐚𝐭𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭. ❜

   ❝…You mean the wine, right? You don’t–do you… eat roses?❞

   ❝…Who am I kidding, they probably are delicious. I’ll have to try it sometime.❞ A silly little simper played through red lips, her mood bounding between glee and–more glee. Giddiness in five foot and eleven inches of cosmic-bound woman, ever prevalent in her chipper mood in the company of royalty. More specifically, a recent friend that was quickly becoming one of her best. But then, she surmised that of few friends she had, they were all rather close to her. There was an urge to count how many of them existed on her own hand, but it was fought. A shred of this inner reflection peaked through, however, unable to keep it quiet in her mind.

   ❝Thanks for inviting me, by the way. I know you’re… going through a rough time right now, Mera. But it’s ah…❞ A brief pause shimmied inwards while the Captain simpered wider, pearly teeth on threat of being discovered when her lip curled upward. ❝…it’s nice, being asked to actually spend time with someone. Which probably sounds weird, but–yeah.❞ The shrug that arrived almost felt instinctual, the roll of them feeling homely. It jarred her a bit, shoving it away as she sat down on a modest patch of grass, laying down on her back, basking in the sun that seemed to stick to her. She closed her eyes, but tilted her head in the direction of her royal ocean-badass-ness.

    ❝I take it you miss the ocean, yeah?❞

                  ❛  𝐡𝐦𝐦?  𝐨𝐡,  𝐲𝐞𝐬,  𝐭𝐡𝐞  𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐬.  𝐨𝐟  𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞  𝐈  𝐞𝐚𝐭  𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦.  ❜ mera says this as if it is nothing, when in fact she’s come to learn it’s far from the case. ❛  𝐭𝐡𝐞  𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞  𝐨𝐟  𝐱𝐞𝐛𝐞𝐥  𝐚𝐫𝐞  𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲  𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡  𝐛𝐢𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲  𝐚𝐪𝐮𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲  𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐝.  𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡  𝐢𝐬  𝐢𝐧  𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐭  𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐥𝐲,  𝐛𝐮𝐭  𝐈  𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝  𝐰𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐫  𝐨𝐮𝐫  𝐝𝐧𝐚,  𝐚𝐬  𝐲𝐨𝐮  𝐦𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭  𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥  𝐢𝐭,  𝐢𝐬  𝐬𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐚𝐫  𝐭𝐨  𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭  𝐨𝐟...  𝐬𝐞𝐚  𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐭𝐥𝐞𝐬  𝐨𝐫  𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐬,  𝐚𝐧𝐝  𝐭𝐡𝐞  𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐨𝐧  𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐮𝐬  ––  ?  𝐲𝐞𝐬,  𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐮𝐬  𝐨𝐟  𝐟𝐢𝐬𝐡.  𝐚𝐥𝐥  𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭  𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞,  𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐲  𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐬  𝐚𝐫𝐞  𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲  𝐬𝐚𝐟𝐞  𝐟𝐨𝐫  𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧  𝐭𝐨  𝐚  𝐯𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐭𝐲  𝐨𝐟  𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐬  -  𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠  𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐬. ❜ it’s only after she’s put a topper to that speech that she realizes carol likely did not anticipate this influx of information. a simple ‘ yes, they taste very sweet ’ would have sufficed. 

but so it goes. growing up as a warrior left no room for female friendships. or any kind of friendship, really. her childhood was nonexistent and as other xebellians lived their lives, mera was honed into a weapon, sharpened into a blade that could cut down anything and anyone, but sang only for the blood of arthur curry. the irony was laughable.  𝐍𝐎𝐖  𝐈𝐓  𝐖𝐀𝐒  𝐇𝐄𝐑  𝐁𝐋𝐎𝐎𝐃  𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓  𝐒𝐀𝐍𝐆  𝐅𝐎𝐑  𝐇𝐈𝐒.

mera’s internal thoughts were disrupted, and scattered. it was better that way. not to linger in the past but to focus on the here and now. 

❛  𝐢𝐭  𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬  𝐧𝐨𝐭  𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝  𝐰𝐞𝐢𝐫𝐝.  𝐈...  𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝  𝐢𝐭.  𝐈  𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝  𝐧𝐨𝐭  𝐠𝐨  𝐚𝐬  𝐟𝐚𝐫  𝐚𝐬  𝐭𝐨  𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐦  𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬...  𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭  𝐈’𝐦  𝐬𝐮𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠  𝐢𝐬  𝐚  𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠.  𝐛𝐮𝐭  𝐢𝐭  𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬  𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞  𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡  𝐚  𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐤  𝐨𝐫  𝐭𝐰𝐨.  𝐈’𝐯𝐞  𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫  𝐡𝐚𝐝  𝐚  𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞  𝐭𝐨  𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐞  𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠  𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩𝐬...  𝐨𝐫  𝐭𝐨  𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐞  𝐦𝐲𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟.  𝐛𝐮𝐭  𝐚𝐬  𝐦𝐲  𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧  𝐢𝐬  𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐲  𝐨𝐧  𝐩𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞...  𝐲𝐨𝐮’𝐥𝐥  𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞  𝐭𝐨  𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞  𝐦𝐞  𝐢𝐟  𝐈  𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐠𝐠𝐥𝐞.  ❜ a wistful expression crossed her regal features as memories of swimming with arthur rose to the surface. they were swept away by the pressing matter of atlantis’ messy state of affairs. her eyes hardened, sharp as coral before slowly relaxing. she breathed out slowly. 

the storm of emotions battling itself out in her mind does not help matters much either. as tumultuous as relations are between the land and atlantis, so is the war between her head and her heart, 𝐡𝐞𝐫  𝐝𝐮𝐭𝐲  𝐭𝐨  𝐡𝐞𝐫  𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞  𝐚𝐧𝐝  𝐭𝐨  𝐡𝐞𝐫  𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞. still, she can do without madame xanadu - the answer has always been clear. there has never been anything else. 

𝐀𝐓𝐋𝐀𝐍𝐓𝐈𝐒  𝐀𝐋𝐖𝐀𝐘𝐒  𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐄𝐒  𝐅𝐈𝐑𝐒𝐓. 

still... still, patience is a virtue she is learning to abhor. waiting on time to heal her the magic that’s weakened her is too much like counting every grain of sand that touches the ocean floor. tula tells her to find a hobby. pottery. gardening. fermenting what the land folk excuse as wine. 

she complains often of it to carol. her hobby. tula had never said friendship did not count as one. in truth, mera could use the practice. ❛  𝐈  𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐞  𝐬𝐡𝐞  𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐬  𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭  𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞  𝐨𝐟  𝐦𝐲  𝐚𝐪𝐮𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐜  𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐬  𝐈  𝐜𝐚𝐧  𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞  𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧  𝐭𝐡𝐞  𝐠𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐧  𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐬  𝐰𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠.  𝐚𝐬  𝐨𝐟  𝐭𝐨𝐝𝐚𝐲’𝐬  𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫  𝐨𝐟  𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝  𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐬,  𝐈  𝐜𝐚𝐧  𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐦...  𝐈  𝐜𝐚𝐧  𝐧𝐨𝐭.  𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲  𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥  𝐭𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞  𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬  𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡.  𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐝  𝐨𝐫  𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞.  ❜