Out of the corner of her eye, Morgana spotted her aunt leaning against the entrance of the dungeons, watching them without a hint of emotion. Morgana froze. A feeling of uncertainty rushed into her head. They were supposed to be on their way to the Study Room.
Ursula noticed Morgana's face change, and grew quiet as well when Atlantia began to move towards them. Eli and Nok immediately stood up and moved directly on either side of Ursula and Morgana. Ursula handed the helmet to Eli, which still had Sweetly Booter Fish engraved on the front.
Flushing hot with embarrassment, Eli put the helmet on his head and waited nervously for Atlantia to address them.
" Follow me. " said Atlantia. She then silently turned around and lead the way to the Study Room.
As soon as they had arrived, Atlantia instructed Ursula and Morgana to begin reviewing all their past notes. She swam out of the room.
Ursula turned to Morgana and snickered,
" Dear auntie is probably boiling them up right now. "
" Yeah! Anyway, I've been wondering a lot about our mother's history. I'm pretty sure mother would burst our eyes right out of our sockets if we asked her, though. " Morgana began. " So I thought that perhaps we could ask Atlantia. We don't talk much to her, even though we are always around her. "
Ursula, being very bored and impatient, said dryly,
" Cut to the chase, what are you talking about? "
" We should talk to our aunt some more, but she is always so quiet and reserved, how could we get stuff out of her? " Morgana wondered out loud, thinking hard.
Ursula was already grinning.
" We do what is most logical and easy, what she taught us to do; we tie her up to a chair and interrogate her till she talks. "
As Morgana suppressed a smile, her aunt swum in.
*A few minutes earlier*
Atlantia looked at Eli and Nok right in the eyes and said,
" You two cannot be caught off guard again. You two were instructed to not get distracted and to stay behind Ursula and Morgana, not in front. If I come across another episode, there will really be consequences, for all of you.
Stay out here and keep watch. "
And with that Atlantia retreated back into the room.
* Present*
" We're done. We did the lesson for today. " said Morgana.
" What do we do now? "
Though she did not express it, Atlantia couldn't help but feel slightly surprised that her nieces had finished so fast.
" Very well. You may now leave and do as you please, and make sure you stay with your guards without making any trouble.
As Ursula and Morgana were heading out of the door, a thought popped in Morgana's head.
" What are you doing today? "
" I will be training the army again. "
" Oh...ok. I was hoping we could spend some time together somewhere. We will be doing nothing the rest of today. And you train the army everyday, so they must need a break. "
" Today is their break. " Ursula remarked.
Atlantia thought about it for a moment. She couldn't remember the last time she had spent time with her family.
After a moment of silence, Atlantia said,
" Alright. Let me go inform the army and Orluiowa. Go to your rooms and I will knock when I am done so we can discuss plans. "
Morgana paced around the room, trying to decide on what to do with their aunt. After a moment, she cried,
" I know just what we can do! We could take a stroll in our garden and talk about how she and mother were like when they were young. I'm very curious about how mother was like. "
" yeah." Ursula mused.
"Imagine mother waddling around in our old kiddie pool with our aunt. "
There was a knock on the door. Morgana was quick to open the door.
" We should take a swim around our garden! "
Morgana exclaimed excitedly.
" We have a garden? " Eli muttered.
" Very well. Let's go. " Atlantia turned around and once again lead the way to the entrance of the garden, which was behind the Empire.
* Minutes earlier*
Atlantia bowed before the empress.
" What brings you here, Atlantia? ". Orluiowa asked.
" I come here to see if her majesty would grant a request I have. The army has been training nonstop for 3 weeks straight now. I believe it is best for them to stop and rest and enjoy all the Dark Empire has to offer. " Atlantia replied, raising her head and folding her hands behind her back.
" Alright. You are their military leader, you know what is best for them. When it is time for their return, which will be your decision, they will train twice as hard to make up for the lost time. " The Empress sat straight, her chin high as she looked down at Atlantia.
" Thank you, your majesty. I also wanted to let you know that I will be teaching Ursula and Morgana some history on our garden, so if you happen to be venturing down there, you will see us loitering about and tending to the polyps. " And with that, Atlantia bowed once more and turned to let the Octopid Army know.
* Present*
As they swam, Morgana thought it was the perfect time to ask her aunt some questions.
" When you and mother were younger... "
Morgana felt Atlantia stiffen beside her, but decided to continue.
" When you and mother were younger, what did you both do for fun? What were you like? "
Atlantia then felt something she hadn't felt in a long time. Uncertainty. Uncertainty of how she was supposed to answer or act, nobody had ever asked her such a question. No one ever dared. But it was a harmless question, though it's answer was slightly disturbing.
After a moment of brief silence, at last Atlantia answered,
" Well... when we were younger, we were very much like you two. We looked most like Ursula, and for fun we named and helped place the souls in our garden that our mother had captured. "
" So this garden has been around for a long time, then. What about your mother, what was she like? And your father? " Ursula was growing more and more curious by the second.
" We got twice as much lessons because our father helped as well. Mother was a very strict, very fierce empress. Father was the kindest of the two of them, he would untie us as soon as mother left and give us some food. He had some problems ever since he heard a siren's voice. He would have constant mood swings, he would be kind one minute, and the next he would be violent. I remember one time when Orluiowa and I were about 4, Orluiowa was playing with one of the souls, which we call polyps, she had fixed it a small cape and tiara, and father had laughed and told her it was as adorable as she was. "
" Mother came outside and was enraged that father would display such weakness. She slapped Orluiowa and told father that this was unacceptable. He became violent, and in his fit, he ripped out the soul and forced me to digest it. I puked it out, and mother sent us to our room. " Atlantia replied.
Ursula and Morgana were surprised. They had no idea their grandfather had been kind. From what they had heard, their grandfather had been just as strict as their grandmother.
" But what happened to your father? We know our grandmother was caught by pirates and sold for parts, but what happened to our grandfather? " Morgana asked.
Atlantia had not thought about her father in a a long time, up until right now, as they swam through the garden.
" When it was our 18th birthday, father gifted us necklaces which had a small shiny stone in the middle. Mother found out, and was horrified. She ripped the necklaces off our necks and flung them to the ground. The stones popped out, and I kept mine, but I'm not sure if Orluiowa still has hers. Mother hit us, and father was furious, he struck mother so hard, he deformed her nose and knocked out a few of her teeth. Mother and father began fighting, and at one point in all the craze, mother struck us both, and we blacked out for 2 days. When we woke up, father was gone. We never heard from him again, up to this day we both have no idea what happened to him. " Atlantia answered. She was careful to keep her face straight, and strained her eyes to stop them from blinking too much, due to the dots of tears behind her eyes.
Her aunt's face was neutral, she didn't even twitch once.
" Do you miss your father? " Ursula asked, breaking the silence.
Her aunt stayed silent. She said nothing, nor was she going to. They kept swimming, following the fading path of rocks.
Then she saw it. An old soul, with a wrinkled face and mustache-like things dangling from it's sad eyes. She reached out and caressed the polyp's soft, fleshy head.
" This one's name is Harold. He has been around since even before mother, but he was never named. Your mother and I argued about what to name him, Orluiowa wanted to name him Harry, and I wanted to name him Oldie, since he was so old. So father decided that his name would be Harold, and he sent us back to our room. " A small smile, barely visible, appeared on Atlantia's face as she recalled the silly memory.
" How are Flotsam and Jetsam? " Atlantia asked.
" They are doing just fabulous! Flotsam is quite a sweetheart, and Jetsam is always choking him. They are always disappearing at night, though, and that sort of creeps me out. " Ursula exclaimed, proud to show off her darlings.
" You mean those two eels with yellow eyes? "
Eli asked out loud.
" They're creepy! One kept on looking at me, and the other just smiled at me while I was guarding the dungeons. "
Ursula smiled smugly.
" The smiling one was definitely Jetsam. "
" How can you even tell them apart, they are exactly the same! " Eli said.
" They are not! Flotsam has a yellow eye in his left, and Jetsam in his right. "
While Ursula and Eli bickered, Morgana said to her aunt,
" For fun Ursula and I argue and explore. It's much more fun now that we have guards, because Eli is always getting Ursula mad. "
" I've noticed. " Atlantia allowed amusement to drip in her tone.
" But make sure fun does not get in the way of duty. "
" Ok. " was all Morgana decided to say, since she did not want to make false promises.
" Flotsam is an ugly thing! " Eli declared.
" He isn't! How could you know whether he is ugly or not, your algae sized brain doesn't even know how to tell them apart. " Ursula glared at Eli in annoyance.
" I'm just messing with you, don't get so worked up about it. " Eli smirked.
" What a dork. " Ursula snorted.
Eli feigned offense, then crossed his eyes and stuck his tongue out to the side.
" Nok, you heard what the lady just called me? A dork! Even though I've been her guard and allowed her to give me the precious nickname of Sweetly Booter Fish! Even though I allowed her to engrave a declaration of love on my helmet! " gasped Eli, suddenly looking tragic and devastated.
Ursula whipped around and snapped,
" You grub! I put it there to mock you! "
" Mock me? Why, no! It is an object which you took the time to decorate so beautifully, which I will love and cherish for the rest of my life. "
Eli took off the helmet and admired it lovingly, going as far as too polish it with his knuckle before Ursula snapped her fingers and turned it back to normal, and changed the words to Grubhead.
Eli gaped at the helmet. Then he grinned at Ursula.
" Oh, Hades! Don't you ever stop smiling? ". Ursula scowled.
" Just admit you are jealous of all the ladies I have been with! "
" That depends. Were they forced or desperate? "
Eli's face changed from playful haughtiness, to honest confusion.
Morgana couldn't help cackling, and Atlantia let out a chuckle. She felt the water and looked upward.
" It's gotten very late, it is best if we return to the empire. " Atlantia turned around and headed towards the exit of the garden, but not before patting Harold's head.
Ursula sat on her bed, snuggled under the covers with Flotsam and Jetsam. Ursula turned her head and lifted the cover from the window a bit to look outside. Instead of the usual dark bubbly water she always saw, Ursula was met with Eli's smiling face, which was pressed against the glass. She let go of the cover, then lifted it up again to reveal Jotsam's grinning face to Eli. Eli jerked back, and Ursula let go of the cover one last time, grinning to herself.
Morgana thought about how the day had been. She had gotten lots of unexpected information on both her mother and her aunt. But now she was left with even more questions.
What happened to her grandfather?
Did her mother keep the stone?
Why didn't Atlantia answer Ursula's question about her father?
These were all puzzles Morgana was determined to solve. But she knew that she needed her rest, for tomorrow was the day mother would visit them, and that it would most likely mean abuse. Morgana did not worry about it. She knew that she couldn't change anything. Morgana was too weak, the world too cruel, and her mother too strong.
She closed her eyes and slept.