The Heroes of Aeseganora: Part 1 - The Oca-Tree

The Seamount of Wizardsquids - Part II

Inkling and his mother Beverley both held each other and sobbed for what felt like forever and a day, despite the fact that it had only been for 15 minutes.

"Oh, mother!" Inkling sobbed.

"Inkling, my baby!" Beverley sobbed, as she felt her son's tentacles wrapped around her loosen and become more relaxed.

Once their emotions had simmered down, they wiped each other's tears, and Beverley apologised for being out of Inkling's life for so long.

"So," Inkling begun to ask, his voice cracking. "Why didn't you keep me? Didn't you want me? You kept Ainsley, but you gave me away, why?"

"We had no choice," Beverley said. "You two were of different worlds."

"But I thought you said you belong to the world you were born in!" Inkling cried.

"No. Not always," Beverley replied. "Sometimes, you belong elsewhere. You and your sibling were born in this castle, and you were both thriving at first, until... you fell ill. No matter how hard your father and I tried, nothing seemed to make you better, so I decided it would be best if you were taken to my world to search for more doctors."

She shut her eyes for a moment.

"You started to recover as soon as you left the cave in the Mariana Trench," she continued. "You were meant to be in my world. When you recovered, I went back to the castle for Ainsley, but as soon as they came through the cave, they became unwell in the same way. You were born together, but you were meant to live apart."

"But you could've come with me!" Inkling shouted, tears falling again. "You could've stayed at the seamount with me, and father with Ainsley in Aeseganora!"

"I wanted to stay with you, believe me, I truly did," Beverley shook her head. "But that's not how the story goes, in this case. I chose to remain at the castle with Ainsley while your father went away and founded the Heroes of Aeseganora - and in order for me to stay at the castle, your father casted a spell that would allow me to survive here. And before you ask me why he couldn't he cast that spell on you, it was too late - we'd already asked a whale shark to find a good home for you, which he promised."

"I was never adopted!" Inkling yelled, wiping his eyes angrily. "I lived at the seamount until I was 18, and then I was a university professor in marine biology before I left to found the Octonauts. You never once wanted to check on me?!"

"Of course I wanted to!" Beverley said. "I thought about you every day since the day I left you. But what good would it have done for you to meet me? To learn that you're from another world? That your father is already dead, your sibling moved away and your mother a lonely old octopus with nothing to offer? What good would that do anyone at all?"

"Well, at least I'd have known that I had a family!" Inkling retorted, feeling utterly torn and upset.

Beverley looked at him with reassuring eyes.

"I would like to be your family now," she said. "Only if you'll let me, though."

One part of Inkling wanted to squeeze his Gate and get out of the castle and away from this woman, and the other wanted to go over to this sad, lonely old octopus, the mother he had never known, and hug her.

"I don't know what to think about any of this," he finally said, remaining still.

"Likewise," Beverley said, giving a laugh that was barely anything more than a breath. "This is... I mean, I always hoped that you would grow up, but to actually see you at the age you are now..."

Inkling said nothing, and there was another long silence before he eventually reached out and hugged his mother.

"I'm so sorry about what I said," he whispered. "I was just so angry."