Eclipsis: Water

Chapter 23

Though she didn't particularly like Junto, Ondine didn't want him to leave. Leaving meant that it was only her and her father in the room. She hadn't been alone with him since before his accident, and she feared for her safety.

No sudden movements, She told herself. No speaking unless you are spoken to.

It was a good few seconds of painful, deafening silence until Calder broke it. "Your favourite colour is still purple, I presume?"

Ondine absentmindedly touched the cloak that he was referring to, which was silky under her fingers. She nodded.

"That's good," The King had looked away, seemingly disinterested in the conversation. Or lack thereof. "I have one in a similar colour. It doesn't suit me as much as you, though, little wave."

Ondine couldn't believe that her father, the King of Lune, was attempting to engage in small talk with her. It made her upset, that the conversation was so forced, when she used to be so close to him as a child.

"I'm sure the colour still compliments you well," She replied hesitantly, unable to meet his eyes.

He let out a short laugh. She forced herself to smile.

"I feel as though I am always trying to cover these scars," Calder pressed one hand to the right side of his face, over his seaweed-green beard. "I had hoped that if I was wearing colour, it would distract me away from them when I saw my reflection. I even had myself tattooed as another attempt to cover them."

Ondine couldn't stop herself before she asked. "You have tattoos?" She was struggling to picture him with them.

He raised his right arm, pushing the sleeve of his black shirt all the way up to his elbow to show her. She watched silently as his glove came off, too, and saw that the tattoos travelled all the way from his wrist to higher than his elbow.

"They stop at my collarbone," He told her as he rolled back down his sleeve and pulled his glove back on. "But they are all along my scars, the whole right side. Evidently, they didn't work in concealing them."

Despite her fear for him, Ondine wanted to reach for him, to try and comfort him. "Scars aren't a bad thing. I have scars."

"Oh, of course, little wave. Your training."

Ondine nodded gently. "You don't have to hide your scars. They made you who you are."

The King sighed. "Yes, I suppose. You know I did them myself? The tattoos."

"You?.. You did?"

"Yes. Only Junto knows my true identity, I had to kill all the other Moons who saw what I look like. I would've had to kill the creature who tattooed me after they were finished."

Ondine shifted slightly in her chair, wary of the light that had turned on in her father's cold eyes.

"It must've been difficult, to tattoo yourself." She said in an almost-whisper.

Calder nodded slowly. "Yes... Yes, it was. There was a lot of blood, you know. Not that it was very painful, for me. I have nearly no feeling in my right side. It's very faint. I think the nerves burned up in the explosion." He laughed loudly, startling her. She didn't join in.

Where is Junto with the food? She thought apprehensively.

"Would you like any tattoos?" He continued.

Ondine blanched. Is that him offering to tattoo me? "I - um... Haven't really given it much thought. Probably not."

Her father's face had returned to its usual expression. "And have you given much thought to my proposal?"