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 Posted: Tue Jul 14, 2009 11:59 am
**Phineas, Eighteenth, son of Valeria**
He knew he was dreaming, because he was back in that odd water place that looked like a sunken roman city and had the statue of Poseidon. Like the time before, it seemed deserted, without even the sort of catfish guide, but experience had so far dictated that people could appear here at any time.
He decided to do a bit of exploring, and left the main roads to search the buildings. He couldn’t find any sort of apparent purpose for any of them – they were all open to the air (or water, as the case was) and pretty much devoid of any identifying furniture. It was, by all accounts, a bit boring, even.
Two pairs of light, running footsteps clattered down the street. Fish whirled about in place and then made his way towards the outside, just in time to see a pair of girls vanish around the corner. A frown crossed his face and he kicked off from the ground – swimming was faster than walking. He followed, but kept out of site from them.
“Cissa, that’s not fair,” said one of the girls. Fish peered around a column at them. They looked to be fairly close in age, maybe a year or two difference. The taller one was a brunette. Her hair fell about her shoulders in curly ringlets. The smaller was blonde. Both girls had green streaks in their hair, which reminded Fish of himself. They were turned away from him.
The older girl, Cissa, apparently, stomped her foot. “It’s plenty fair!” she said. “It’s plenty fair and you know it, Nata.”
She then spun on the spot, and vanished in a puff of bubbles. The blonde girl slumped visibly in frustration and began to kick around the perimeter of the small plaza where they’d been standing. When she turned, Fish finally caught a good view of her face. She had the same scales down her cheeks, the same gills, and the same dark blue eyes. A few bubbles escaped his mouth as he gasped in surprise. The girl looked up.
“Is someone there?” she called. “Cissa?”
Cautiously, Fish poked his head out from behind the column. The girl frowned.
“Varius?” she asked, and then shook her head. “But Varius died in the sinking. What’s your name? Who’s your mother?”
“Fish,” said Fish, stepping out from behind the pillar. “I haven’t got a mother.”
The girl’s frown deepened. “I haven’t got a brother named Fish,” she said. “Only heirs of Atlantis can come to the realms.”
“Huh?” asked Fish. The girl sighed like this was something she had explained a zillion and two times.
“The Realms of Poseidon. The Dreamlands. Only heirs of Atlantis can enter them,” she said. “Only King Terminus’s children can enter the Realms. I’m Fortunata, fourteenth. Valeria’s daughter.”
Fish shook his head. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I – my name is Fish. It’s short for Phineas. I was adopted out of a cabbage – my father’s name is Prosper.”
The girl in front of him squeaked. “I had a younger brother named Phineas!” she exclaimed, and clapped her hands to his cheeks. For a moment Fish thought she might kiss him, which he resolved would be gross since she was claiming to be his sister. “Oh, it is you! What foreign shore did you arrive on, brother, that you’re older than I am?”
“Gaia,” stammered Fish, still confused. “Tidewater. Gaia.”
This was such a weird dream. Girls were so weird.
“You are Phineas,” Fortunata said seriously. “Eighteenth. Valeria’s son. Terminus’s son. An heir of Atlantis. These realms are the first of our many birthrights.”
She spoke strangely, decided Fish. Like a creepy kid in a movie. But she wasn’t creepy.
“Morning calls,” said the girl, looking suddenly distracted by something very far away. She closed her eyes tightly, did a neat little spin, and vanished in a puff of bubbles. Fish watched them as they floated away to the surface – he had never thought about what might be above the ocean. He wondered how she and the other girl – Cissa? had done the vanishing bit, and decided to try. He closed his eyes tightly and spun in place, thinking of home.
When he opened his eyes, he was lying in his own bed. The first rays of early morning sunshine were beginning to reach through his window.
He was uncertain if it had all been a dream or not.
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Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2009 2:48 pm
**Atlantean Interlude**
Fortunata, fourteenth, Valeria’s daughter meant business. Although a sweet, polite child and a formerly subservient one, the sinking had changed something about her. Previously, her low ranking in the birth order and her gender would have resigned her to a trinket given away in marriage to some foreign prince, but the death of several siblings ahead of her in the line had improved her lot significantly. Fortunata was beginning to adjust to the idea that she might one day be a stateswoman.
The government and royal family of Atlantis had set up temporary headquarters in a little-used palace belonging to the Ares administrative council. Politicians, displaced citizens, and royal aides came and went at all hours of the day. The heirs were largely too old to find a new castle exciting – Narcissa had already left Fortunata behind when it came to childish games of adventuring. Nerio rarely left his chambers. Septimus and Darius were being groomed to begin working in the court the next autumn, and when not busy with that, Darius and Marius were always together, exchanging furtive whispers or taking Narcissa off on secret missions. Laelia tried to make time for her youngest surviving sister, as did Faustus, but they were both already occupied with fully serving in the government, and Faustus especially was preparing for the day when he would replace Terminus as king.
As she walked through the wide marble hallways, Fortunata sighed heavily. She wished for Livius’s company – he had been closest to her in age, and they had spent long hours exploring the palace grounds back in Atlantis, but Livius was dead in the sinking. She wished that Nerina or Aemilia might braid her hair or take her to see all the fancy dresses that the ladies wore to court, but they were also dead, and all the ladies, too. She wished for Phineas, her baby brother, and that she might take him to the gardens to look at mosaics and play with fish as they swam lazily around the reflecting pool, but the gardens were beneath the ocean now.
But Phineas was not. Phineas was far away and somewhere else but he was alive. Certainly Father would like to know this – Father had been quite fond of Phineas, who was even more in his image than even Faustus, and Faustus was nearly identical to the king. It was the eyes, of course. Terminus had eyes like deep water, eyes that of the children only Fortunata, Marius, and Phineas had inherited, but Marius had his mother’s brown hair and her round face, as well. Faustus and his full siblings had eyes like the sky. Father would want to know.
With an added spring to her step, Fortunata made her way through the myriad chambers and passages of the palace towards the king’s suite of offices. She knew she was close, because she heard her brother’s voice.
“My father does not have time for your incompetence,” Faustus said. “I will not waste his precious time with your excuses for your continued failures. I suggest you continue working until you find a solution, and you do not try to bother his majesty until you have solved it.”
She flattened herself against the wall and watched a pair of royal aides shuffle past before continuing into the chamber.
“Faustus?” she asked. Her brother was hunched over a desk, studying newspapers from several different kingdoms. A television screen in the far wall had a newscast on silent. He looked up and smiled, seeming relieved that it was only her.
“Hi, Nata,” he said, slumping into a chair. Fortunata went over and perched on the arm.
“Is Father busy?” she asked.
“He’s reading some reports, but I’m sure he has time to see you,” replied Faustus. There was an intercom on the desk. He leaned forward and spoke into it. “Father? Fortunata to see you.”
“Send her in,” said the king.
“Thank you, Faustus,” said Fortunata, leaning over to give her brother a kiss on the cheek before hopping off the arm of the chair and proceeding into the king’s office.
King Terminus did not believe in throne rooms. He found them full of pomp and circumstance but incredibly impractical for actually running a country. You could not have a television in a throne room. You could not have a computer or a table for maps and newspapers or a coffee pot. They’d had a throne room back in Atlantis that he’d rarely used, and in moving into the new offices simply refused to set one up. He found offices to be more usable when it came to managing the affairs of an entire displaced nation, and it certainly was easier to defend and made it far less complicated for his children to visit him.
He was disappointed that the youngest ones had perished in the sinking. King Terminus had always found such hope and joy in the enthusiasm that young children expressed for everything. Yes, Faustus had proven time again to be a loyal and intelligent choice of successor, but what Terminus wouldn’t give to have the youngest princes and princesses back – Livius, Fidelis, Felicia, and Domitilla all lost beneath the waves and ash, and Phineas vanished as if he had never existed. Of the surviving heirs, only Fortunata seemed to retain any vestiges of childhood, and he feared that even she might soon cast those off.
Still, it was always a breath of fresh air when she came to visit.
“Papa,” said Fortunata, climbing onto his lap, “I dreampt about the realms last night.”
This in itself was not news. All of the heirs had been dreaming of the realms for some time now. For a child of the Atlantean king to not dream of the realms by the age of nine or so was to raise suspicions that they were not the king’s child at all. (It had been a relief, then, when Nerio dreamt the realms and his brothers reported seeing him there - Nerio did not look like the king at all, and in fact looked barely Atlantean.)
“Guess who I saw there,” she said shyly.
“Faustus?” asked the king, and she shook her head. “Laelia. Marius. Darius. Septimus. Nerio? Narcissa?”
She shook her head to each, though qualified the last with, “Yes, but that’s not the important part.”
The king was baffled. There were no other living heirs.
“Who did you see, Nata?” he asked.
“Phineas!” said the girl. The king frowned. Phineas was far too young to be dreaming of the realms, even if he was alive. “Phineas!” repeated the girl. “Except he was not so little as he was when we knew him. He said he is on a world called Gaia Tidewater Gaia, adopted by a man named Prosper.”
“You are certain you saw him?” asked the King.
“Yes,” said the girl very seriously. “Ask Cissa. I was in the realms last night.”
The king nodded. He smiled down at his youngest daughter and brushed a flyaway lock of greenish-blonde hair back behind her ear. “Thank you for telling me this, Nata,” he said. “Now, I am very busy so if you wouldn’t mind…”
Fortunata nodded, understanding that this was her father’s most polite way of asking her to leave. “Yes, Papa,” she said, and gave him a hug before hurrying to leave.
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Posted: Mon Jul 27, 2009 7:42 pm
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Posted: Mon Aug 17, 2009 1:55 pm
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Posted: Tue Aug 18, 2009 10:27 am
**Taavi's New Digs**
Prosper’s dusty blue hatchback bounced down the road towards Tidewater. Every day the geriatric little old car rattled just a bit more and Fish often said that soon it was just going to fall apart, but that hadn’t happened yet and so Prosper was going to drive the battered old Peugeot a little bit longer. (Yes, he realized that was an American ex-patriot living on Gaia and driving a French car. This didn’t bother him at all.) Every so often, he glanced over his shoulder at the little boy buckled into the back seat.
“You okay?” he asked.
“S’ kinda bumpy,” said Taavi, and felt sick. Most of the drive he’d just looked out the window. They were already far beyond anywhere he’d ever gone with mummy, so every meter of roadside flashing past was something new and exciting. Unfortunately, it was all going by so fast and his eyes were having trouble keeping up and combined with the rough ride it just made him feel nauseous.
Prosper chuckled sympathetically and steered the car onto a side road, which was even bumpier than the main one they’d just been on (if that was possible). Taavi pulled his eyes away from the window and focused on the back of the man’s head, but that didn’t help calm his stomach any.
“Feel kinda sick,” he muttered. He really, really did not want to barf in the car. That would make a terrible impression on his… his new family. That’s what they said this was. Mummy wasn’t able to take care of him anymore and so he was going to go live with Mr. Prosper and his two children.
“We’re almost there,” said Prosper, rolling down one of the windows. “Does that help?”
“A little,” said Taavi, who did not have the heart to tell him that all it did was make him feel a little bit cold. He did his best not to shiver until they finally got to the house. It did not look like any other house Taavi could remember ever going to. It looked very small and well loved. It had shingles, not on the roof but all over the walls. The roof itself was tin. It did not have a garage, but the roof extended out over part of the driveway and Prosper parked the car beneath that.
He got out and then got Taavi out of his carseat.
“Feeling any better?” he asked, picking him up.
“Still kinda sick,” said Taavi.
“Give it a little bit,” said Prosper, and Taavi did not object to being carried around the house and through the front door.
When they first walked in they wound up in the living room. Taavi looked around. It did not look at all like where he and Mummy used to live. There were two older children already there, camped out on the sofa. The girl was reading. The boy had some sort of hand-held video game.
“Ophelia? Fish?” asked Prosper. The children looked up.
“Yeah?” asked the girl – Ophelia? Taavi thought she looked familiar. The look on her face suggested that maybe she thought the same thing.
“This is Taavi,” said Prosper, setting the boy down. “His mother isn’t able to take care of him anymore, so he’ll be staying with us.”
“Like, you’re adopting him?” asked the boy – Fish? Weird name, thought Taavi. He’d never met anyone named Fish before.
“Not yet,” said Prosper. Taavi was not really sure what they were talking about at this point. “Maybe eventually if he does well here.”
“Where’s he going to sleep?” asked the boy.
“Your room,” said Prosper. Fish opened his mouth to protest, but the look on Prosper’s face said it was not open for debate. And that was that.
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Posted: Sat Sep 19, 2009 3:15 pm
**Leggo my Legos**
Fish took a roll of masking tape and ran a line down the floor of the room. “This is my side,” he said, pointing to the part with his bed, his desk, his dresser, and his things in it. Taavi nodded obediently.
“This is your side,” he said, pointing to the portion of the room where Taavi sat on the floor, watching his older brother attentively. It was much smaller, owing partially to Fish’s intentions, and partially because he divided the room at the door, and that was about two thirds of the way down the wall. Taavi’s side had Taavi’s bed, access to the closet, and not much else.
Fish hopped up onto his bed and gave the younger boy a long, serious look. “Don’t come onto my side,” he said. “Because you break my stuff and you make everything stink.”
Taavi frowned a little bit. He didn’t think he stank. And he hadn’t meant to break Fish’s model boat. He’d just wanted to look at it. How was he supposed to know legos would do that? And Fish had fixed it, anyway, so he didn’t see what the big deal was. This didn’t change the fact that Fish had been awfully angry about it when it happened.
“Get it?” asked Fish sharply.
“Yes,” said Taavi.
“Tell me you get it,” said Fish.
“I get it, Fish,” said Taavi.
“Good,” said Fish, and stared fixedly at the younger boy, daring him to move. Taavi stared back. It was unnerving. Taavi smiled. Fish looked away. His father had gone and adopted a demon child for a little brother. What gave Prosper the right to go out and adopt more kids than they had bedrooms for, anyway? Maybe this was a little unfair, because Ophelia had never complained (that he remembered) when he was born, but, then again, she hadn’t had to share a bedroom with him. And he didn’t smell like peppermint.
Fish was really starting to get sick of peppermint.
Then again, Taavi’s mother had abandoned him or something like that and Prosper was clearly too nice to refuse the boy. That counted for something. How long had it taken anyone to realize Taavi was all alone?
Taavi seemed to be wavering. Fish had left him with no toys on his side of the room.
“What?” asked Fish.
“Can I play with your legos?” asked Taavi.
Fish sighed. “Okay,” he said, and slid the bin across the tape line. Taavi opened it up and began to stack blocks together. After a moment, Fish added, “Can you pass some of it back this way? I want to play, too.”
Taavi smiled and gave the box a nudge. Fish reached in and fished out a head and body for a little lego person.
Okay. Maybe this wasn’t so bad.
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Posted: Tue Sep 29, 2009 2:49 pm
**I have a lead**
“We have a lead,” said Under-Chancellor Thadeus, and slammed a thick packet of papers on Representative Chryssa’s desk.
“A lead on what?” asked Chryssa, jumping a little bit. She scrambled to click a window on her screen closed – when she was stressed or bored she played Venetian Blackjack against the computer.
“On Prince Phineas,” said Thadeus, with one of those wild sorts of smiles that tended to grace the faces of madmen. Chryssa regarded him curiously.
“I thought it was decided the boy was dead,” she said slowly. Thadeus shook his head.
“A few nights ago,” he explained, “Princess Fortunata dreampt the realms.”
“That’s nothing new,” said Chryssa, although any mention of the realms tended to get her a bit tense. Most people in government employ, and in fact most Atlanteans in general, were of royal blood if you went far enough back into their bloodlines, but only the children of a kind inherited any of the powers associated with the royal family. The selectivity of the ability was what indicated a higher power at work, but the Realms – which the king and his children and his siblings reported visiting but no one had ever seen any evidence of – were by far the most bizarre aspect of the Atlantean birthright, and the most fascinating as well.
“You’re missing the point,” said Thadeus, sounding quite annoyed with her. “According to Fortunata, while she was in the realms she encountered a boy claiming to be Phineas, though he was older than the prince ought to be.”
“And you believe her?” asked Chryssa, rolling her eyes.
“We have tried and dismissed the notion that the king has a b*****d son also named Phineas,” replied Thadeus, also rolling his eyes. Chryssa leaned forward in her chair.
“Alright,” she said. “So what’s the lead other than that he’s alive and grown up some?” she asked.
“The boy told Fortunata that he has been adopted by a man named Prosper and is living in a place called Gaia Tidewater Gaia.”
“Strange name for a world,” remarked Chryssa.
“But very distinctive,” replied Thadeus. “And it’s a place to start looking. How many Prospers can there possibly be in a place named Gaia Tidewater Gaia?”
Chryssa looked crossly at him. “Just because it isn’t one of our names doesn’t mean it isn’t a common name wherever the boy is,” she stated flatly.
“Why must you be so contrary?” sighed Thadeus.
“I simply think we ought to allow the king to persist in believing his son his dead. He has so many other heirs – what loss is the youngest boy?”
“We were given a job to do, Chryssa,” said Thadeus. “And besides, I think I may know where to begin looking.”
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Posted: Tue Oct 27, 2009 7:38 am
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