Shadows and The Sea - The Darkling

The Apparat & Fedyor Swears

Third POV

It had been a couple of weeks and Alina and Percy were settling into their new home in the Little Palace at different rates. Alina was still in denial that she was the all-mighty Sun Summoner that everyone believed her and expected her to be. She was just a Shu orphan that wanted to be back in the First Army with her two best friends. The palace was more than she was used to and the feeling that she would mess up always lingered in the back of her mind. Her powers were coming along but it was still a challenge to summon even a ray of light that lasted for longer than three seconds. Not to mention Baghra's constant whacking was not helping. Alina was tempted to have Percy snap the stick in half.

Percy, on the other hand, was getting used to living in the Little Palace rather well. She had lived in her father's palace in Atlantis so the feeling was familiar. She often sought company in Fedyor and Genya when they had time and Percy was not in training. Botkin had been more than impressed with the demigod's skills and praised her reflexes that she was allowed to train on her own. The fabrikators have been busy making more and more training dummies since then.

Baghra, however, was really grinding on Percy's last nerve. The older woman had a nasty habit of constantly talking down on her and her abilities. Yes, Percy had not shown her full range but that was because she wanted to ease into the amnesia fading at a realistic pace. She couldn't very well be a master of her powers in one day.

The daughter of Poseidon had also been contemplating how to approach Kirigan with the topic of them being designed for each other. Not that she was complaining because the man was extremely easy on the eyes, but she knew very little about him. Mystery surrounded the general like a blanket and it would not fade so easily.

Today, Percy woke up in her soft canopy bed at a rather reasonable time. The fates had blessed her with an uneventful night. Thank the gods, Percy thought.

Sitting up slowly and shifting out from under the covers, Percy slowly made her way into the bathroom to get ready for the day. After a short bath, she slipped on a casual outfit and her blue kefta. She was feeling the blue today, what could she say?

She checked herself in the mirror and after giving herself a nod of approval, she attached Riptide to her hip, slung her bags over her shoulders and walked out of the double doors.

As much as she was dreading it, it was the day that she told herself she would venture into unknown territory to uncover the information she needed. She walked down the pristine white hall of the Little Palace until she arrived at the mahogany doorway of the library.

She shuttered at the thought of trying to read Ravkan before sucking it up and walking through the threshold. The room was covered in mahogany wood that contrasted the halls of the Little Palace rather beautifully and Percy would be lying if she said the library wasn't charming in its own way. Kind of like the library from Beauty and the Beast.

She scanned the shelves and its contents as if she had any clue as to what she was looking at. Percy let her fingers train over the spines of the books thoughtlessly until she found a familiar looking book. It was one Alina had shown her earlier that week but Percy couldn't be bothered to try and read it because she was late for her session with the bitchy cave woman.

She pulled the book from its place and opened it to a random page. It showed a picture of a tidal wave with the image of a woman. To Percy's surprise, she could read the title of this page.

Santka Ursula of the Waves.

The story was also readable to Percy and as she read the story of the woman, she came to a surprising realization. Dad blessed someone from here?!, she thought. Percy made a mental note to ask her father about that later that night.