[SE] Burning water

Hadama listened to Jack. Really listened. He'd asked for the human's advice and now that the captain was giving it the Merfolk King was carefully considering each word, comparing it to what he already knew and could verify.

Torchline was not lawless, but the laws certainly seemed to be few and far between. Which hadn't stopped it from being one of the largest and most successful cities in the world as near as Dama could tell, and he sipped the last of his own drink thoughtfully. He crooked a finger at their server and murmured an order for the liquor he intended to gift before turning his emerald eyes on Jack and contemplating him anew. "It sounds," he began, choosing each word with care, "as though Torchline's humans do not need a ruler?" Or at least, that was what he took from the man's words, though he was uncertain that he was understanding the captain correctly.

JACK

"Yes an' no," Jack drawls, a fingertip running around his empty glass. "Torchline certainly don't need a ruler breathin' down her neck about the day to day," he agrees. "But for improvements, relationships with the gods like what we got with Safrin, an' for relations with other regions..." His shoulder rolls up in a shrug. "Everyone likes a mouthpiece to do that work."

Which is what the original governor had been, if Jack remembers correctly. Y'know, before he ended up melted under a load of lava. "Whether you wanna be that mouthpiece or if you want someone else to do it is your call, I guess." As for his position on the council, as he's already made clear, he's ambivalent about it either way.

Jack seemed to be describing neither a manager nor a figurehead, but something else entirely. Whatever fancy title was chosen - Governor or King, Queen or Warden - mattered little compared to what the captain believed was best for Torchline's humans. His experience across the several governments in recent years made it a persuasive point of view and Hadama nodded slowly.

"I see."

Given that he wasn't an expert on humans, Torchline had little to fear from Hadama attempting to micromanage it. His fins were already full with the Underwater City and expanding the Mer into the new waters that were now open to them. And therein, perhaps, lay the answer.

"Thank you," he rumbled, inclining his head to Jack in respect. "Your advice is helpful." Jack's value as a council member was cemented for as long as Hadama ruled, at least. Once a new human leader stepped up things might change again, but such was the way of the tide.

JACK

I see, he says, and Jack thinks that maybe he actually does. It'd be a first in Torchline's recent history, if it's true. Regardless, it seems that they've reached a mutual understanding, in that Hadama understands Torchline, at least, and Jack doesn't have to talk any more. And so, raising his empty glass to the Tidebreaker, he rises to his feet and nods at the liquor that has just arrived for Hadama to take back with him.

"The tequila's worse. I should know, I ship a lot of it in," he tells him. Quite why it being worse is something the Mer needs to know is a mystery known only to Hadama's mind and the captain snooping in on it. But there you have it. With a nod in his direction, Jack makes his way back out of the perpetual twilight of the Hanged Man and back into even more familiar waters.

~FIN