Three Weeks Ago (Asgardian Calendar)
Manannan was at his wit's end. After months of searching the Ocean of Ceobhran, backtracking through the underground seas, heading back to Litauī to search the mortal waters, he still hadn't found Dylan. How was it so hard to find one sea god?
With Dylan spending so much time as a damned seal, he didn't interact with non-selkies that often. Instead, Manannan had to check every seal colony—an impossible task unless he was willing to devote years to it. Frustrated with his continued lack of progress, Manannan left word with the denizens of the seas to let him know when Dylan was sighted. He'd hear back, eventually.
Instead, Manannan decided to visit his daughter. Perhaps Aine, Queen of the Summer Realm, would know who Shannon's mother was. He wasn't sure why the answer seemed to be so important to him.
Perhaps it was the mystery.
Surely Shannon would want to know. Manannan was driven to help her. Although he was relieved that she was safely in Asgard, the way the search for her had ended still frustrated him. Shells. Not just frustrated. It ate at him. He wanted to know what had happened. Why Mist had acted the way she had. It gnawed at him that she'd just shut him out and left.
He'd thought... well, no sense dwelling on that now. Clearly, he'd been wrong.
Manannan hadn't heard any news, but Shannon's child must be almost ten months old by now. Aine would know. He was certain his daughter would have the latest gossip from Asgard.
Approaching the rocky shore that was the nearest land access point to the Court of the Summer Realm from Tír na nÓg's oceans, Manannan slowed his speed. He didn't want to disrupt the delicate intertidal plants and animals so important to the health of the ocean in this area with a huge surge of water.
Seals lounged on the shore and played in the shallow water. Manannan snorted. Of course, the selkies were in the last place he'd looked. As he rose out of the water, one of the selkies shifted into a tall elf, long reddish-blond hair reaching down his back and round brown eyes looking at Manannan with a question in his expression.
"I hear you've been looking for me?" the elf asked.
"Yes, you've been hard to find, Dylan. Walk with me, please?" Manannan requested politely, gesturing further up the shore away from the lounging selkies with their curious dark eyes following.
Dylan joined him, frowning and shooting Manannan puzzled side looks as they walked farther and farther inland.
Once they were far enough from even immortal ears, Manannan finally spoke. "Where is your daughter?"
Dylan stopped walking, eyebrows shooting up in surprise. "My daughter? She's still a child. I left her with a mortal family to raise. I'll go collect her when she's almost reached adulthood. Wait... how do you know I have a daughter?"
Manannan snorted. "This is your first child, isn't it?"
Dylan stammered. "No... I have others, but she's the first that isn't a selkie. I didn't know how to take care of one that couldn't live in the water with me."
"Fates save me from such idiocy," Manannan cursed as he rolled his eyes. "Clearly, you've forgotten that time works differently on Litaui compared to here. Shannon is not only an adult, but had to transition to her immortality without knowing she was Tuatha de Danann. By leaving her with mortals, you deprived her of our foods that would have enabled her transition as a child."
"What? No! That can't be right?" Dylan shook his head. "She's only seven!"
Manannan growled. "No, you water-logged fool! She's over thirty-five in mortal years! Mortals reach adulthood by their late teens. Who is her mother?"
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ORIGIN (#3, Gods Among Us)
FantascienzaWhen Loki's consort and soulmate marries his rival to save their son from a curse, a prophecy leads to consequences even the God of Chaos couldn't predict. *** The Unseelie Goddess of War's revenge against Asgard's Dark Prince puts him in a no-win s...