Disclaimer: I do not own the DCEU or its characters. I'm just having some fun with them.
Arthur exchanged a dubious look with Vulko who only gave him a determined look of his own that said, "Do it! Or else."
Hoping for any chance of salvation, he turned to his mother who only gave him an amused smile.
Arthur sighed. The advisor and the Queen had been teaching him what it meant to be King, and today's lesson was diplomacy. Again.
Arthur hated it with a passion. He'd much rather punch his way to get what he wanted.
He turned to face the King of Xebel. King Nereus brought three guards and two advisors with him. Mera was not in sight.
A pity, Arthur thought. He would be far more agreeable to whatever they had to say if he were dealing with Mera. That and he'd be less likely to punch someone.
Vulko cleared his throat, reminding Arthur of a recent lesson on deference. A King may kneel at his mother's feet, but never at a fellow King's. He may only bow his head.
Arthur cast his eyes down and lowered his head slightly.
Nereus did the same with a "King Arthur."
Technically, Arthur wasn't king yet. His mother was the interim ruler while Arthur learned the ropes and as Atlantis prepared for his coronation.
"Queen Atlanna," Nereus said to Atlanna who returned his bow with more grace than Arthur deemed himself capable of.
"Shall we begin?" said Vulko, motioning for the diplomats and visiting King to be seated at the council table.
"How goes the preparations for your coronation, King Arthur?"
Arthur shrugged which he later realized wasn't so very kingly. "They won't let me help with anything. Said I had to learn diplomacy before I do the heavy lifting."
Nereus exchanged knowing looks with Atlanna and then said, "Well then, I think today's issue will be a fine lesson."
He waved at his advisors, one of whom placed a device on the center of the round table. It lit up, showing a hologram of a contract.
"Certainly you remember this, Lord Vulko?" asked Nereus.
Arthur looked at the hologram and quickly read through it. It detailed the specifics of an arranged marriage between Orm and Mera.
"Yes. It was made a year after the Queen departed." By departure, Vulko really meant 'failed execution.' "King Orvax decided that Lady Mera, having been educated here in Atlantis, would make the kingdom a fine Queen. The marriage would also renew an age-old alliance."
Everybody knew this but Vulko really only said it for Arthur's sake.
Arthur raised his brow. It couldn't be simply that. He knew enough about diplomacy that both parties stood to gain something from the marriage.
Ignoring the rest of the discussion, he skimmed through the stipulations of the contract.
Hydrokinesis was mentioned more than three times. From his lessons, Arthur knew that the ability to control water was a closely guarded secret of Xebel, taught only to members of its royalty.
Apparently, Lady Mera must teach it to the second child she bore Orm, not the first. This way, it would stop the Crown Prince of Atlantis from wielding too much power but would satisfy Orvax' desire to have a hydrokinetic warrior in his ranks.
In return, Atlantis would provide Xebel with reduced trading tax, expanded trading lines, and weapons.
"...agreed that Princess Mera would marry the future King of Atlantis, Prince Orm," an advisor was saying. "Seeing as Prince Orm has been deposed, it renders a breach in contract, the agreement nulled and voided. Their engagement must be broken and Xebel is amenable to certain reparations."
Arthur did not know what form of reparations Xebel wanted but he understood the part about the engagement perfectly.
Without thinking, he nodded and said, "Yeah, I'm down with that!" The Xebellians looked at him blankly, possibly not getting his weird form of vocabulary. "Or 'aye' or whatever it is that you say." He cleared his throat and turned to Vulko. "Do I even get a vote in this?"
Nereus and Atlanna looked amused again, before the latter nodded her head curtly at the former
"Atlantis' future King has voiced his agreement and I heed his counsel. I approve. What form of reparations do you have in mind, King Nereus?"
The Xebellian advisor tapped a series of keys on a gadget in his hand and the contract between Orm and Mera disappeared. In its place was another similar contract.
"In place of the dissolved engagement, I propose a new one take its place," stated Nereus. "Our Kingdoms fought together in a recent battle, cementing trust and brotherhood. Indeed, your son and my daughter worked together to restore order to Prince Orm's actions. I propose reparations in the form of an engagement between the future King Arthur and Princess Mera, cementing and symbolizing our kingdoms' alliance."
Arthur didn't have time to read the contract, but he knew what his answer would be ever since he met Mera. The woman was a formidable warrior, independent as hell, loyal to no man but to justice and her nation.
"Hell no. I refuse."
...
"You WHAT?"
Arthur half-expected Mera's hair to stand on end in her fury, but seeing as they were in the air bubble of the ocean floor, that was hardly possible.
He took a step back from the angry princess. "I'm getting the hint that you're not at all pleased with what I did."
"Pleased? Arthur, I was groomed to be the Queen of Atlantis! You stopped me from fulfilling my duty to my nation! That wasn't your call to make!"
"Technically, isn't it my call seeing as I'm King?"
"Not yet. Your mother rules. The decision lies with our parents but you rejected me! In front of my people! Now word will spread, and Xebel will have cause to dislike you for spurning me, not at all helping your cause towards earning their respect."
"Five people excluding your dad hardly counts as the whole of your people." She was overreacting. Surely, Nereus and his advisors wouldn't gossip.
"I can't believe you—you didn't even bother to ask me. That makes you no different from them, thinking you can make decisions for me."
"I didn't ask because I thought you wanted freedom! I thought you'd have preferred to choose who you wanted to marry! Not do whatever your dad tells you to do—"
That was the wrong thing to say apparently because Mera's nostrils flared and she took a scary step towards him, and despite her being shorter than him, she towered over him.
"Where I come from, duty goes above all else. And what my father tells me to do, what my duty is is to protect my people, to bring honor to Xebel—"
"Yeah? Well, where I come from arranged marriages aren't so common anymore. The guy and the girl usually have more autonomy in their lives. I'm sorry I presumed you'd have wanted that."
"It's not about what I want. You don't get it. Arthur, you're going to be King. A ruler. We don't get to do what we want. We sacrifice ourselves for our nation. I thought you learned that after what we went through to get the sacred trident."
"I know that, believe me. The fact that I'm doing this stuff instead of drinking my ass off on land proves the fact. I just thought you'd like the chance to forge your own path, choose someone you love, do something because you wanted to, not because you had to." He put a hand on Mera's arm. "I'm sorry it seemed like I stole away your chance to refuse for yourself. It's just that, my mom ran away from her duty and caused a lot of problems. I didn't want to put you in a position that might force you to do the same, regret marrying me. I care about you too much to do that."
Mera sighed, features softening somewhat. "You assume I'm gonna regret marrying you."
Arthur pulled his hand away and started to pace. "What the hell do I know? We go on dates, we kiss, sometimes a little further than kissing. But that doesn't really make a basis for marriage. Our kind live for hundreds of years and you'll be stuck with my idiot ass for those years." He faced her. "Are you sure you want to marry me?"
Mera took a thoughtful pause, it was long enough to make Arthur squirm a tiny bit. She walked over to where he stood, his form smaller and more uncertain than usual. Not at all the confident and hot-headed prince he usually was.
"Not right now, no," Mera admitted. "But maybe in a few years, when you and I are... closer, I might be very amenable to marriage to you."
Arthur nodded. "Same here. Not because I dislike you because I don't. I mean, I like our time together but it's a little too early for marriage for me."
Mera smiled. "You do know that agreements like this stipulate at least a year's engagement period."
"Oh. Okay then. I guess I have a year to court you."
Mera chuckled. "So, just to clarify, you would now like to be engaged?"
Arthur smiled sheepishly. "I should tell them I changed my mind, huh?"
"There's no need," came a voice.
The couple turned around to see Queen Atlanna.
"I refused King Nereus' proposal. He wasn't pleased, demanded a lot more reparations, but in the end, there will be no engagement."
"Because I said so?"
"Because Atlantis has entered a new age. It is high time our children chose their spouses for themselves. Arranged marriages are so... What is it that your father says? So... Uncool."
Arthur smiled. His mother knew more than anyone what it was like to be betrothed to someone she disliked. She wouldn't want that on anyone.
Atlanna walked over to Mera, tipping her chin up. "My child, I taught you once that the land and sea are one. I think it is time for a new lesson: it is alright to cast duty aside once in a while, to take time to focus on what you want. As long as you don't leave your kingdom in ruins, that is."
Mera chuckled. "I will strive to remember that, my queen."
"And you two need not hurry. You have a hundred years yet to decide if you want to marry each other. Am I clear?"
"Yes, mom."
"Yes, my queen."
Atlanna placed a foot out of the air bubble, looked back and said, "Anyway, if it doesn't work out, there are still a lot of fish in the sea." Then she was gone.
Arthur looked down at Mera, his hand finding hers. "I'm not really into the Fishermen or Brine. You?"
Mera laughed. "I don't know. I think I'll go up to the surface and find myself a prince. Like that mermaid in your story. She does look an awful lot like me."
Arthur made a low rumbling sound, encircling her waist with his free arm and pulling her against him. "I'm sorry I didn't ask you if you wanted to be in an arranged marriage with me."
"I'm sorry it seemed like I only wanted you so I could be queen."
Arthur sighed and planted a kiss on Mera's temple. He placed another one right over her ear and then down on her neck.
"I love this part of fighting," Arthur murmured.
"Me too."