ATLOP: Trial by Fire

Prince of the Sea

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This chapter is longer than the others, hope you enjoy!

4/2/2022

OO OO OO OO

Fish were horrible gossips, everyone in the sea knew that. Triton found their habit of gossiping to be very useful, there was plenty of information to gather from it.

But this news...

There were whispers of a child skilled in manipulating water in the rivers of New York, no parent to be seen.

A child with legs and a mortal smell, yet dripping in salt water and seaweed all the same.

The child's presence was fainter than any DemiGod of the sea's would be, yet he was powerful.

Perhaps the child of a minor river God was learning their powers?

As the Prince of the Sea, and Heir of Poseidon, it was one of his responsibilities to ensure that such children were checked on, and if needed handle their care.

Thus he went to see them.

OO OO OO OO

This child was no minor Sea DemiGod.

The water swirled around at his command, he whispered to the river and it whispered back, the eyes of the local Gods on him.

His control was better than half of the students of Analia Verainav'a, Atlantis' elite academy.

The boy froze the water as easily as he raised a coil to remove pollution, as if Tevemoa wasn't a rare skill for any not of icy realms of the North (and there was no ice in his presence, if anything he reminded Triton of his birth waters, warm and rich in the Mediterranean).

The amount of skill he portrayed...

Oh Triton could have assumed the child was of Sedna, or another Northern God, but his presence alone would dissuade Triton.

And that was without seeing his eyes.

Sea green pools that reflected the river around him.

The hallmark of Poseidon's children.

OO OO OO OO

Triton watched his half-brother for a time.

He was unsure what to do about him. He was alone, but clearly cared for in some capacity. The jacket was nice, and his clothes worn, but cared for. And yet there were no teachers instructing him, not even one disguised as Poseidon would normally do.

The boy was also not following any training sequence Triton knew of, and he knew many. So there was no chance of him having been instructed another time, and working through the training alone.

He had been confused at the start of watching the boy, for he was raising water out of the river and then putting it back. But now he understood, the child was cleaning the river.

Triton wasn't sure why, the pollution was great and every bit helped of course, but most children did not care to clean the waters. Had he lost something?

So Triton continued to watch, studying the boy and trying to understand his actions.

He was clearly noticed, but the boy seemed used to the eyes of the local River Gods, and did not react much. He continued to raise the water, spin arcs around him with bright eyes as he shaped stars and cats and fish and spun them all around him. The light shone on him as they splashed down, a wave rising as he swirled large swathes of water around him, out away from him.