Wide Wild Deep: chapter 1, The Lonely Shore
-o-
I return to you
like a restless tide to a lonely shore
where the waters beat against the rocks
and seabirds cry out in the wind.
-o-
"This is your half-brother, Prince Orm," Vulko said, and Arthur stared at the boy, who stood behind the stern Atlantean with an almost unnatural stillness. He had wanted to meet Orm almost as much as he wanted to see his mother, ever since Vulko had revealed to him that he had a younger brother.
Curious, Arthur examined the boy – he was smaller than Arthur, slender but strong-looking, with short white hair. He was wearing the same kind of suit like Vulko did, but it was deep blue, glittering brilliantly in the bright sunlight. He looked the part of a proper prince, down to the haughty expression on his handsome face. Orm met Arthur's eyes with cold determination, as if he was fulfilling some unpleasant and tiresome task.
"Hey," Arthur said, forcing himself to sound unruffled and nonchalant, like he met unknown half-brothers all the time. In truth, inside he felt rather queasy, anxiousness and eagerness making his stomach lurch. Arthur had dreamed of that very moment, of finally meeting someone who was like him – well, almost like him – who could share that part of Arthur that yearned for the ocean, for the wide, wild deep.
Orm raised his pointed chin, but did not say anything, nor did he make any move to step forward.
Vulko sighed. "Your mother wanted you two to meet."
Arthur latched on to that, as he always did to any mention of his absent mother. "Why didn't she come too?"
"She has more important things to do," Orm sneered and glanced at Vulko resentfully, "but apparently I do not."
Arthur couldn't help but scowl, his heart sinking. Whatever wishes and hopes he had carried about kindred spirits, brothers who could become friends, were being quickly and mercilessly dashed. It was such a disappointment that Orm seemed to be a total jerk, but that was the story of Arthur's life – no one wanted to be friends with the strange fish-boy, not, it seemed, even other fish-boys.
"You know why your mother couldn't come – and even Orm's presence here took quite a lot of planning to arrange. It must stay secret." Vulko's voice was harsh, and his searing eyes settled heavily on first Arthur, then Orm, impressing upon them the absolute need for secrecy. Arthur noticed that his little brother, despite his lofty mien, wasn't impervious to their teacher's commanding gaze. "I'll leave you to get to know each other in peace," Vulko continued, thin lips turning slightly upwards. "I'm sure you'll both behave as befits your station as the princes of Atlantis."
"Sure," Arthur groused surly. Orm gave a little jerky nod, eyes falling downwards as Vulko walked away, leaving them standing on the beach, facing each other.
Then the only sound was the lapping of the waves, as the water climbed onto the shore. Arthur didn't know what to say. The whole situation felt suddenly awkward and utterly ridiculous. What could he say to a brother he had never met before and who seemed to detest Arthur's mere presence? Ask if he wanted to go for a swim?
"You look…different than I imagined," Orm said at last, his blue eyes lingering on Arthur's messy hair. Arthur fought the sudden urge to try to tug his rebellious hair into order.
"You look like mom," Arthur blurted out, having noticed the similarities between his brother and the woman, whose features Arthur had memorized down to the last detail as he had wishfully studied the picture that depicted a happy family of three.
"Yes, so I have been told." Orm sounded pleased. "I also look like my father."
Arthur didn't want to hear anything about the man that had forced his mother to leave him and his dad, so he hurried to steer the subject into safer waters. "Is this your first time on land?"
Orm frowned. "Hardly." But he looked deeply uncomfortable, standing there in the wet sand, eyes darting around and taking in the surrounding landscape, as if Arthur's question had reminded him that he really was – ha! – a fish out of water.
"I can show you around," Arthur offered, trying to sound as if he didn't care if Orm turned him down.
"Around?" Orm looked like he had bitten into a sour lemon, the way his lips twisted and his nose wrinkled up. "With you?"
Arthur grinned wildly. "Or we could ask Vulko to chaperone us. I totally understand if it's too frightening to walk to the top of that cliff." He pointed in the distance, where the rocky cliffs rose from the sea, tall and proud.
"I'm not afraid," Orm said stiffly, adding, "mongrel."
"Great!" Arthur exclaimed brightly. "Come on then – princeling!" He turned around and started to race towards the edge of the beach, from where the path to the top of the cliffs started. Arthur felt enormous satisfaction when his brother appeared beside him, panting slightly.
They started to climb the track, the gradual rise soon giving way to a steep, narrow slope. Arthur, sure-footed on the familiar path, kept an eye on his brother, who was following right behind him. The sapphire sky arched over them, seabirds swooping and sweeping from blue to blue.
Suddenly Orm's foot slipped on a loose rock, and arms flailing wildly, the boy tried desperately to regain his balance. Arthur seized hold of his brother's arm, pulling Orm to him. Heart beating madly, he gripped tightly at his little brother's wrist, trying to keep them both on secure footing. Orm's fingers came to circle Arthur's wrist, his grasp almost painful.
Orm's startled eyes met his, and Arthur said, "It's alright – I've got you."
In that brief, all too fleeting moment, as they stood nearly chest to chest, clinging to each other's wrists, all the years they had been apart seemed to fall away, and they truly were brothers. Then Orm let go, breaking the spell. Arthur exhaled, heart finally settling into its normal rhythm.
The rest of the climb was uneventful; Arthur led the way, keeping a slightly slower pace than before, careful of loose rocks. As always, the view on top was well worth the effort. Side by side, they watched as the deep blue expanse spread out into the horizon, infinite.
"What's it like, in Atlantis?" Arthur asked quietly. He felt an enormous, inexplicable yearning rushing over him like a tsunami.
"It's…it's Atlantis," Orm said, like that explained it completely – and maybe it did. Perhaps it was one of those things that could not be told, but had to be seen. Like the sun's glitter upon the waves, or the fierce, thrilling roll of the autumn storm.
"One day, I'll come there," Arthur swore. One day, he would see the underwater kingdom, the home of his mother and brother, with his own eyes.
"First, you have to learn how to swim." Orm grinned, his impish smile a perfect twin of Arthur's own.
"I know how to swim," Arthur snorted, not even a little bit offended. Orm's snotty insults were starting to grow on him.
"I doubt it!" Orm shouted and with one smooth move jumped off the cliff. Whooping with joy, Arthur followed, diving towards the ocean with an exhilarating rush of speed.
They raced underwater, tried to lose the other in the labyrinth of seaweed and shipwrecks. Arthur chased Orm down to the seabed and up again to the surface, marvelling at his brother's graceful and powerful movements. They weaved through swarms of fishes, rose from the waves to leap with the dolphins, laughing.
The sun was dipping below the edge of the ocean, dyeing the waves crimson, when Vulko called a halt to their games. Orm had to return to Atlantis, and Arthur had to go back to his own home. It was a stark reminder that their worlds were still separate and different, although for one afternoon there had been no boundaries or barriers between them.
In the moment of parting, Arthur smiled at Orm, throat strangely tight. His brother's answering smile, small yet sure, did not make Arthur's heart ache less, but somehow more.
"I'll come back," Orm promised quietly, just before he and Vulko vanished beneath the waves.
Arthur waited. He came back to the beach every day, peering into the distance, trying to discern human-like forms among the shapes of water. But after weeks of lonesome watch, no one had risen from the ocean to meet Arthur on the empty beach. The similarity of his wait to that of his father didn't escape Arthur.
Then finally, Vulko appeared. Grim-faced and alone, the Atlantean's presence dampened Arthur's joy immediately, even before he learnt of the terrible news. Vulko's words drowned the world Arthur had known, buried it into a cold, deep trench that knew no light.
Arthur's mother was dead, murdered by her own people. Orm would not be coming to see Arthur, and Arthur could not go to Atlantis. The land and the sea would stay separate, and Arthur would have neither; only the lonely shore would be Arthur's, and the solitary exploration of the vast deep.