Melody of the Holoverse

Episode 41: Now Tragic

Whilst Violet and co liberated Sincasa . . .

Languid, the shark opened her eyes.

No trees. No sun. No gifts wrapped in neat little bows.

Only a barren bedroom in which she lay lazily beneath her blanket. Alone.

Another dream, huh?

Like a companion, melancholy clung to her, but by this point, the weight of such a sensation had been reduced from an overwhelming storm to a meager droplet.

She steadied her breaths, hopeful the ripples in her mind would ease, then sat herself up.

As she did so, a series of knocks whistled from the bedroom door.

"Your Majesty?" the orcat called from the other side. "Are you awake? Breakfast is ready."

"I'll be out in a second," the Queen replied.

She rose to her feet, and after relishing a delectable set of yawns and stretches did she gather her more royal appearance, swapping her messy pajamas for her signature blue outfit. Hair neat. Clean cerulean nails. A presentable tail, despite the scars.

On the finishing touch, she stared into her mirror, at the individual whose agony rivaled a hundred lifetimes. Hidden, of course, but the pain was always there.

"Time to be a big girl," the shark said quietly before commencing her day as Queen of Atlantis.

Her schedule consisted of the usual: repairs to the kingdom; leadership on construction projects; but most of all, audiences with her people. A mother who wished to have her newborn blessed; a teacher who wanted better material to teach his class; a chef who wanted more ingredients from the surface. (Gura didn't quite understand that last one. Wasn't salmon the best meal? If so, wouldn't the ingredients be right down in the familiar depths?)

Nonetheless, the Queen accommodated to the best of her ability, no matter how unorthodox the solution. The wrath of Eridios already gnawed into her spirits, and she didn't need her own home shattering. The severity of such would most certainly sink the final nail in her coffin.

But a soul, no matter how divine, could only stay strong for so long. Eventually, the cracks would start to show. Eventually, the threads would loosen, unraveling the intricate essence into an incoherent pile of strands.

Gura's frustration seethed as she read the newspaper in her hands.

"You really don't wanna make this easy, do you?" she growled.

The orcat, who had been dining alongside her, asked, "Should we go get her, my queen? At this rate, she'll have all of Eridios hunting her down."

"Bringing her back isn't gonna do us any real good," the penguin argued, also present. "Yeah, she'll be safe, but we have to think about her mission. She won't be able to do anything down here."

"Petra's right," Gura agreed. "At this point, how Violet handles her duty is completely in her hands. The best we can do is put our faith in her, just as we've been doing."

Lily frowned but nodded in agreement.

"That being said," the Queen continued, "we need to give her as many avenues as we possibly can. Violet's task is arduous, nearing on impossible; I knew that the moment I gave it to her. And her road will only get rougher the further down it she goes. One thing we can't have happen is her reaching a dead end prematurely. No matter how, we have to give her ways to move forward."