Base and noble metals

He enjoyed his little jaunts out to the new waters beyond Torchline and exploring new currents, but the weight of duty never kept him away for long. A stolen afternoon. A day or two at most. Then he aquaported back to the City to resume his work as King. A great deal of that work involved hearing problems and finding solutions; or at least, finding people who had the proper experience to find the solution for him.

There was power in the position, but not nearly as much freedom as it had seemed from the outside.

And it was just as much work as he had suspected when he had offered himself up to Safrin's blessing for it.

Nevertheless, in the past year the court and City had begun to function more smoothly with a single guiding fin to cut through the currents and he could take more time now to appreciate the beauty of his home as well as the far waters of Caido once the day's work was done.

The gardens around the palace, for instance, with their ancient and curious statues planted with care amidst the blooming seagrasses. Today he swam slowly among a collection of mythical surface beasts with feathered wings of stone and unlikely amounts of limbs. Gryphons or chimaera, perhaps, though without heads it was difficult to be certain.

Andromeda

Andy, ever the lurker she was, leaned against a stone bench. Her tail draped down and waved brilliantly in the gentle churn of the water. Her attention only shifted from the dancing sea grasses as Hadama made his way through the gardens. Hadama, Andy called out across the water, her voice dripping sweetness like honey to entice the King. Perhaps he would be up for a conversation, if he had time for her.

She was here now because she was bored, and the idea of some kind of entertainment coming even from their king made her tail flick and her shoulders straighten. A curved smile broadened over her delicate, feminine features and a near-purr propelled her internal speaking voice, laying each syllable down into the King’s mind with purpose. What brings you to this part of the city today?

He was not averse to company, as it so happened. If he had wanted solitude he would have left the City entirely, and though he was content to wander the gardens alone he was equally open to doing so with a companion.

Turning on his tail in a slow, graceful curve he swam towards the brilliant betta mer and inclined his head in greeting. Andromeda. A merman of many thoughts but few words, he regarded one of the more beautiful nobles of the court with quiet curiosity in emerald eyes, though his expression remained serenely stoic. His mental voice, like his physical one, was deep and gentle, like distant summer thunder. The gardens. An hour to relax away from the Palace. He nodded back towards the statue he'd been studying. They are... curious.

Looking to her once more he tilted his head curiously. Yourself?

Andy was nearly always ready for company. To sit and talk and even gossip for hours was something she was willing to do a generous ninety-nine percent of her time. Endless hours of relaxation. Andromeda said, her head tipping to the side and rolling enough to flash the king her brilliant grin, ever trying to sweetly entice those around her to conversation.

Curious because they're from the surface, or curious because they've been decapitated? The betta-tailed mer asked, lifting her body from its relaxed position over the bench to swim toward the ray. She coiled around him in a half circle before reaching out to touch the closest statue, her delicate hands running over the marble before she tapped it with her index finger.

A jewel of the court, the graceful Andromeda had a knack for brightening every gathering she joined. Hadama had not missed that tendency of hers, and appreciated it as a talent he did not possess himself. He was not averse to her using it on him, either, though his reactions were subdued compared to how he had seen others respond to her coaxing enticements.

Yes, he responded to her questions simply, but not without amusement glinting in emerald eyes. He watched calmly as she coiled around him, admiring the delicate flounce of her tail. A betta's fins were particularly lovely as they spread wide and let the light shine through, and for a moment he considered how to capture such a quality in crystal or seaglass-- Ah, but there was little time for his mother's forge these days. Focusing back on Andy and the statue. Have you heard any stories about them? Gossip, rumor, or simply the household folklore of the nobles; any would be of interest to the mermanta.

Stories? Oh, yes. Too many to count, or even recall all of them. Everyone has their own, it seems. She smiled her great, glinting smile again and pulled herself behind the statue. She positioned herself so that her body was hidden behind the stone mass, but her head popped up where the statue's should be. I imagine even you could make something up.

She cocked her head to the side some as her crimson hair tangled around her and the statue alike. But if its my story you want to hear...this is a rendition of a lost lover, a sailor boy taken too early by ghost whales because of his love for the sea. Andy lowered herself and curled around the statue again, her fins waving and spreading.

Hadama twisted in the water to watch as Andy hid herself behind the stone but then provided the statue with a new, lovely head. The juxtaposition was a little odd but strangely pleasing between the finely sculpted body of the man and the equally fine features of the lady who now claimed the statue's shape.

Romantic and tragic in the classical way of things, her story was as likely as any other and the King tilted his head in acknowledgment of the tale. "How did he lose his head?" he inquired curiously, for surely there was more to the tale than the statue's creation.

There was also its destruction... and whether it had happened before or after it had ended up at the bottom of the sea.

Curving around the front of the statue, Andy didn’t stop. She swam towards Hadama and circled him once fully, listening to his question. She made a small, curious humming noise and tapped her chin. She lifted an eyebrow as she rested, just briefly, before the King. Did it ever have one? Andy’s grin turned coy as she turned herself just so that she could look at the mermanta over her shoulder.

Swimming back to the statue, Andy pressed a soft hand to its marble chest, letting her fingers linger over the sea moss that grew along where the man’s pectoral muscles would twitch beneath her caress. Couldn’t be sure.

He floated, still and serene as one of the statues as the lovely Mermaid made her loop around him, as certain as he was of the spring tide that she would come around the other side of him again. Her answer - or rather, question - brought an appreciative gleam to emerald eyes, and Hadama inclined his head in acknowledgment of her point.

He considered the elegant, graceful noble as she returned to flirting with the statue, admiring the flow of her showy tail through the water and the way the eternal twilight gleamed from her scales and hair. Some works of art could never truly be captured in stone or metal...

I have not heard that one before. Thank you. The Tidebreaker noted where her hand lingered, and if there was amusement in his eyes it was carefully tucked behind an expression of stoic poise. Do you have a favorite statue? The one she was currently claiming, perhaps? Or perhaps the sculpted youth was merely a passing fancy for an idle courtier with Andromeda's beauty and wit.

Hadama was exactly what Andy needed today. Her lounging in the underwater garden was brightened by his presence, especially as he continued to let her move along with her nonsensical banter. Her fingers trailed down the stone statue's chest and belly. The woman didn't answer for quite a long time, but her green eyes scanned the statues all around them.

Turning, this time slowly, wondering which part of her his eyes would focus on, Andromeda let out a long and dramatic sigh. Her head turned to the side and she stretched her neck some, eyes rolling with all of the emphasis of her dramatics. I don't think its been carved yet.

Obviously, it would be a statue of herself.

It was pleasant to simply relax and banter with a fellow Mer without the politics of the court weighting every word and gesture, and Hadama was glad for the respite. He had asked his question in genuine curiosity for which of the headless statues of heroes, monsters, myths and fancies may have caught the jewel of the court's attention, and he was content to wait in the gentle waters of the garden while she considered her options.

As was so often the case, her answer was unexpected and outside of the box and the King finally cracked a small, slow smile and gave her a half-bow of appreciation for her wit. Indeed. When it is, please show me. Either because she commissioned it herself, inspired a sculptor with her muse, or did something to earn immortal recognition such that the honor was bestowed on her.

The conversation had rejuvenated him, and the Tidebreaker stretched his manta wings to their fullest before swimming towards Andromeda, extending his webbed hand to touch his fingertips to hers. Thank you.

He slipped gracefully past her and moved back towards the palace with his usual slow, inexorable pace, but somehow the large mermanta looked a little lighter in the water after their meeting.

~fin~