YES! I managed to get this done in time to post today, I was worried that I wouldn't. Enjoy!
I don't own Hetalia!
Chapter 4 : Royal Family
Arthur floated with pride as the citizens of Klondike greet their new king, rejoicing in the wonderful news that Spades now had a complete royal pod. Al's new tail was even longer than his, strong and muscular with blue scales, like all Spadians. His golden hair drifted in the water, exposing the gills on his neck and he no longer wore glasses as the transformation corrected his eye sight. Al looked at Arthur with a smile, holding out his hand to him, showing the webbed skin between his fingers and Arthur put his hand in Al's who pulled him over to him and his face got closer to Arthur's and Arthur was sure he was going to kiss him.
But, as Arthur got closer, Al changed. While similar, his features were not the ones Arthur knew and his hair changed from blonde to dark red-brown and his eyes changed too, becoming a light brownish-green and he looked like he was looking at Arthur with his head on one side.
"Hello, I'm Prince Jason, Alfred's cousin," Prince Jason said, looking at the strange man in the bed of the guest chamber. "Wow! I can see why Alfie likes you. You're cute for a guy." The guy's eyes seemed to focus as he fully woke up and realised that there was a stranger staring at him and shot away from him.
"Skreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeech," Jason shot backwards, following on his backside with his hands on his ears, trying to block out the ear-piercing sound that erupted from the freaked-out man.
It had taken Arthur a moment to fully waken and remember everything that happened the day before and then he realised there was a strange land-dweller looking at him and saying something Arthur could not understand. He reacted on instinct and gave out a similar screech to the one he gave when King Francis groped his tail, but without the dumbing down affect of the water, it was far more potent than Arthur intended and the land-dweller could not get away from him fast enough and ended up as a heap on the floor with his hands over his ears.
"Ow, ow, ow!" Jason moaned. "What was that?! Oh, my ears!" The door opened and Alfred shot through the door. He had been coming toward Artie's chamber when he heard the screech. He had no idea what could make such a noise but it was coming from Artie's room so he ran to his rescue, only to find a wide-eyed Artie sat up, ram-rod straight in the bed, breath coming in terrified pants and Jason prone on the floor, covering his ears like his brain was about to dribble out of them.
"What happened?" he demanded. Jason got up off the floor, still rubbing his ears.
"I wanted to meet our new guest," Jason replied. "When he woke up, he freaked out."
"Do you blame him?" Alfred scolded. "I'd freak out too if I woke to find a stranger staring at me."
"I told him who I was."
"He doesn't speak or understand our language," Alfred replied. "So it was probably gibberish to him and what was that screeching noise?" Jason pointed to Arthur.
"That was him," he said. "When he woke up and saw me. I never heard such a noise before, I'm sure my ears are bleeding."
"You can hear me well enough so I doubt it," Alfred replied and turned to Arthur. He did not wonder too much about the sound, Arthur made strange sounds anyway. "Are you okay, Artie?" Arthur just cocked his head in confusion and Alfred sighed. He patted Arthur's arms and shoulders as if checking for injuries and repeated himself. Arthur realised that Alfred was asking about his welfare and he nodded his head to tell him he was fine. Alfred looked relieved and then pointed to his cousin.
"This is Jason," he said. "Ja...son."
"J...ack...un," Jason raised his eyebrows at the butchering of his name and Alfred saw it.
"I don't think he can pronounce certain sounds," he explained. Jason shrugged.
"Oh well," he said. "If he can't, then he can't. By the way, Dad wants to meet him so we're all having lunch together." Alfred groaned. His uncle would try to grill Artie about himself and with Artie not being able to communicate with them properly, that was going to be a joy.
Upon being informed that Sir Artie would be lunching with the king and the two princes, Toris went in search of appropriate apparel while Arthur was eating breakfast which was confusing to the now human mer. There was some kind of square things, brown around the sides and in the centre but white toward the edges, sat on a flat white thing with blobs of yellow stuff in a bowl beside it. There was a larger white flat thing with strange items on it like a funny shaped white thing with a yellow blob in the centre, wrinkled brown strips and long, round brown things with brown knobbly things beside them. Beside all these things were long silver items, some with flat ends, some ending in prongs and, also on the tray that a maid had brought was a round thing with a handle on one side and a protrusion on the other that seem to be hollow with vapour drifting out of it and beside it was a little empty container with a little handle, made of stone stood on a flattish round thing with a little silver stick with a round part on the end. Similar containers, one containing some white sand-like stuff and another holding a white liquid stood beside them.
"Do you need help, Sir Artie?" the maid who brought his breakfast asked as Arthur stared at the food in puzzlement. The maid had heard that the new guest was some kind of foreigner and new to the ways of the kingdom so she took pity on him. Arthur only understood 'Artie' and cocked his head at the female land-dweller, questioningly. She smiled at him before picking up the teapot and pouring tea into the teacup beside it. She then added milk and two teaspoons of sugar before stirring it and then she handed the teacup to Arthur. Arthur held the cup, not sure what to do with it and looked up at the maid who mimed picking up the cup and drinking from it. Arthur brought the cup to his mouth, feeling the heat coming from it and tentatively took a sip.
What was this glorious liquid? Arthur's eyes widened with amazement as the taste of the tea swept over his tongue, bursting with hints of something sweet and another taste, maybe the white stuff, that he could not identity but loved just the same but the strongest taste must be the brownish liquid that the land-dweller had poured into the container that Arthur was drinking from. Arthur thought it tasted like some kind of plant, not seaweed but, whatever it was, Arthur loved it and he went for another sip as the maid buttered his toast for him.
The maid introduced Arthur to the other food on his tray, the eggs, bacon, sausage and mushrooms. They were warm and tasted different to anything that Arthur had ever eaten but not unpleasantly so and he had just finished when Toris returned with some clothes for Arthur to wear.
There were several outfits and Toris tried to get Arthur to pick the green to match his eyes but Arthur shook his head vigorously. He was the Queen of Spades and he would not display another kingdom's colours and his eyes fell on a blue outfit, a suit of royal blue with a waistcoat of a lighter shade and a white shirt with a collar bow and he pointed to that, indicating to Toris that he wanted to wear that colour. After much argument from Toris how the green would suit Arthur better, an argument Arthur did not understand a word of, Toris conceded and dressed Arthur in blue which Toris had to admit that Arthur did not look bad in.
There was a knock on the door and Alfred came in when Toris called 'enter'. He had decided to show Arthur around the palace before lunch with King Alex but he stopped short when he saw Arthur in his new finery. Toris had done well to find clothes that fitted Arthur without adjustment and the suit moulded itself to Arthur's slender figure, his hair while combed, was still somewhat untamed and fluffed around his head like a halo and his emerald eyes lit up at the sight of Alfred. He took Alfred's breath away.
"You look...," Alfred said, softly. "...very nice." He cringed inwardly at the trite comment, could he not come up with a better compliment than that?!
Arthur did not know what Alfred had said to him but the look Alfred was giving him told Arthur all he needed to know and he blushed, rubbing the back of his head with his right hand and got slightly distracted by his dry, soft hair. His hair had never felt like that before and he wondered if it was something to do with the stuff that the brown-haired land-dweller had rubbed into his hair the day before and he continued to feel the soft strands, then he realised that Alfred was still in the room and speaking to Toris.
"I thought I would take Artie on a tour of the palace before we meet Uncle Alex for lunch," he was saying. "That is if he's ready?"
"He just needs shoes, Your Highness," Toris replied, picking up the shiny black footwear, putting it on the floor and kneeling by Arthur's feet and appeared to be waiting for something. Arthur looked down at the black things in confusion, wondering what they were and then looked at Alfred before looking at his feet to see that he was wearing similar things and realised that they were foot coverings. How many coverings did land-dwellers wear? Still, Arthur raised his right foot, wobbling and putting his hands on Toris's shoulders to keep his balance, and Toris picked up a shoe, putting it on Arthur's foot and tying the laces before repeating the process with his left foot. The shoes were a little big and felt strange but Arthur supposed that they would protect his feet, remembering how little rocks and other things dug into his skin as he walked to the castle the day before.
Now Arthur was ready, Alfred smiled and stepped forward, reaching out his hand to the mer who took it and blushed slightly as Alfred pulled Arthur toward him and began to guide Arthur out of the door.
"We'll be back just after lunch, Toris," Alfred turned back to say. "I might want to take Artie out riding. Well, assuming he can ride." Toris nodded.
"I'll have riding clothes ready, Your Highness," he replied. Alfred smiled at Toris before he and Arthur went out of the door and it closed behind them.
Chaos was running rampant under the water and had been ever since they discovered that the Queen of Spades was missing. A servant was sent to summon the Queen for Evening Meal but returned with the news that the Queen was not in his chambers so more servants and guards went to search the coral palace and the city, continuing through the night but then the news came back that the Queen was nowhere to be found. Matthew had even gone to the beach where Arthur had taken the new king but there was no sign.
"I should have realised," Yao muttered, swimming back and forth. "I saw the Queen's obsession with finding the king, I should have realised he would go and try again, aru."
"If that's what Arthur has done," Matthew replied. "Although, I'd say it's pretty likely but how does he think he can find the king when he can't go on land? What does he think he can achieve?"
"And where is he?" Yao replied. "Could he have been taken while trying to find the king? By another kingdom? Clubs has always been ready to take advantage of an opportunity to gain power over another kingdom, aru."
"I think we would know by now," Matthew replied. "Besides, since the new royals have taken power, things have calmed down a little, probably due to the influence of the Queen and Jack. No, I don't think we'll be getting any kind of demand any time soon."
"What if he was seen by a land-dweller?" Yao said, the realisation suddenly hitting him. "What if he was seen and captured and taken on land? We will have lost both our queen and king, aru." Matthew did not like the idea of that but though it more likely. The Queen captured and displayed as a curiosity, possibly mistreated. Matthew knew that there were cruel land-dwellers up there, more than a few.
"The disappearance of the Queen should be kept within our own kingdom for the time being," he said. "For as long as possible while we go to see the Jokers. If anyone knows what happened to the Queen, they will."
Arthur's eyes looked everywhere, there was just so much to see and so much to try and understand but, by far and away, his favourite place was outside the palace, a place Al called The Gardens. Clouds of green were held up by towering pillars of brown and they made rustling sounds as the breeze blew through the green clouds. Beneath their feet was more of the short seaweed looking stuff, giving off its pleasant fresh smell but then there was the other things in the gardens, the bright, colourful things that Alfred called flowers and made Arthur think of a coral reef, bursting with different hues but these things consisted of round, flat soft circles that bunched together, each with a different shape and colour. And the scents! The most heavenly aromas caressed Arthur's nose and one smell especially drew him to flowers that grew on stalks with pointed things on them and the flowers were coloured reds and pinks and yellows, although Arthur was saddened to see that there were no blue ones. He bent over one of the flowers to smell its miraculous scent and held the stalk with his fingers, only to pull back in pain when some of the pointed things pricked his fingers.
"Careful," Alfred said, taking out an handkerchief to mop the blood away that was forming on Arthur's fingers and wrapped it round them. "Mind the thorns, Artie." Arthur looked up into Alfred's eyes and became trapped there. Alfred was equally entranced as they stood there, not moving as Alfred and Arthur became lost in sapphire and emerald depths, not even noticing that they seemed to be getting closer and closer to each other as their eyes slid down to each others lips. Arthur thought Alfred's lips were very soft looking and he wondered how they would feel while, to Alfred, Arthur's lips seemed a little chapped as he drew closer to him, wondering how they feel against his own...
Then he came to his senses. What was he doing? This man had been swept in by the tide, just the day before and here Alfred was, making advances toward him and Alfred cursed himself for his lack of subtlety. He drew back as casually as he could managed, leaving Arthur looking slightly dazed and a little …. guilty?
Arthur saw Alfred draw back from him, leaving him a little bereft and then the gravity of what he was about to do hit him. He had been about to kiss the soon-to-be King of Spades and Arthur had yet to make his destiny known to him, to say nothing of how Al would feel about being kissed by someone he had only know for a day at most. Too soon, way to soon!
"Time for lunch," Alfred said, just to cover the awkward moment and began to guide Arthur back into the castle. Arthur, who had not understood a word, just allowed himself to be guided.
Arthur did not know what to make of the older dark-haired land-dweller wearing the shiny band around his head that all the other land-dwellers seemed to pay a lot of respect to, then he realised that it was similar to the respect that Spadians paid toward the royal pod and came to the conclusion that the dark haired land-dweller was possibly some kind of land-dweller royalty himself. He decided to err on the side of caution and greet the possible royal as he would one of the Card royals while visiting the royal's kingdom. He place his right hand over the place where his mark was and bowed his head. This hid the royal mark and acknowledged the other royal's power and Arthur paid this land-dweller the same courtesy.
King Alex raised an eyebrow at the unfamiliar but clearly respectful gesture that the unknown blonde man had paid to him and turned to Alfred.
"Did you managed to tell him who I am?" he asked his nephew but Alfred shook his head.
"No, Uncle Alex," he replied. "We can't communicate that much. I guess he's just picking up on how everyone else treats you and assumes you're someone of importance."
"An intelligent man," Alex commented. "Well, let's eat. No use waiting for Jason, he always turns up ten minutes after we start. He'll have to solve that little fault when he's King. Can't be late to important meetings with other kingdoms, can he?" Alfred just grinned and turned to Arthur.
"Artie," he said and indicated to his uncle. "This is King Alexander of Altheia."
"Ki' Al'ack'ada a Al'e'a," Arthur tried and winced at the butchered pronunciation that sounded bad even to him. Alfred looked at his uncle who looked amused rather than offended.
"Seems too much for him," he replied. "If he can manage 'King Alex', that will be fine." Alfred turned back to Arthur again.
"King Alex," he pronounced. "King Alex."
"Ki' Al'ack."
"King Alex."
"Kin' Aleck."
"I think that's the best we're going to get," Alex commented before turning to Arthur. "I'm pleased to meet you, Sir Artie." Arthur might not have understood the king's words exactly but understood that he had been given some kind of greeting and saluted him again. They were interrupted by the door to the King's Parlour opening and Jason rushed in.
"Sorry I'm late, Dad," he gasped, clearly winded after running. Alex smirked.
"You're actually on time for a change," he quipped. "To what do we owe that honour?" Jason looked sheepish.
"Well, I kind of wanted to get to know Artie here," Jason replied. "Alfred's escape from the sea notwithstanding, Artie's the most interesting thing to happen for a while." Alex laughed and turned to Arthur.
"You managed to get my son to get here on time, Sir Artie," he said. "Your presence is already a good influence." Alfred laughed along with his uncle while Arthur just cocked his head in confusion.
When just eating with family and friends, lunch was always served in the King's Parlour and they sat down to a table set for four and waited for the servants to serve the food. They placed small bowls of food on the table in front of the diners and poured wine into the glasses. Arthur looked down at his bowl, not recognising much there, at least by looking at it but there was definitely something on his plate that came from the sea. On a bed of green leafy stuff sat pink, curled up things, covered with something pink and gloopy. He watched the others pick up a particular fork to eat and looked down at the cutlery in front of him and found it. He used it to pick up one to the curly pink things, sniffed it and warily put it into his mouth, tasting it and his eyes widened with surprise. It was Shrimp!
Despite being fish related themselves, mer ate fish and shellfish. Were, in fact, predators of those species and they made up the majority of a mer's diet, certain seaweeds and plankton making up the rest so Arthur had eaten shrimp before but this was different, apart from the fact that their shells had been removed. Land-dwellers must do something to shrimp that mers either don't or can't do to it. Whatever it was made it delicious and Arthur eagerly ate the remaining shrimp, trying the sauce that had been put on it. Delicious!
The other three diners watched as Arthur popped shrimp after shrimp into his mouth and chew with obvious enjoyment and it left Jason snorting with laughter.
"He eats like you, Alfie," he chortled. "He was practically inhaling that shrimp." Arthur looked up to see everyone looking at him, the one called Ja'ack'un laughing. He had clearly done something to make people think he was strange and he put down the little pronged stick he had been eating the shrimp with and looked down at his lap. It was not what he usually used to eat anything. The normal way for a mer was to just eat it raw...with their hands...but Arthur used the little pronged thing because the land-dwellers were, to appear normal but clearly he had done something wrong.
Alfred watched as Arthur drooped while the shrimp cocktails were cleared away and the next course was brought in but Arthur showed no interest in the food and he was ill at ease. Alfred wondered at Arthur's turnabout in his mood, going from enjoying the food to acting like it was not in front of him. The only thing that Alfred could think of was Arthur realised that his eating habits had drawn attention and now he was embarrassed.
"Artie," he said and Arthur looked up at him, his face painted with a cute blush as Alfred put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "You haven't done anything wrong. Please eat, I know you want to." Knowing Arthur could not understand him, Alfred pick up the knife and folk and put them into Arthur's hands and helped him cut into the cooked lamb on his plate. Arthur looked up at Alfred as he pulled the hand holding the folk and guided it to Arthur's mouth.
Arthur opened his mouth to take in the morsel of food that Alfred was bring to his mouth, the taste similar to what he had eaten at breakfast but not quite the same but it was lost him when he found himself looking in Alfred's eyes again. He just could not look in Alfred's eyes without getting lost in them and Alfred was just as lost in Arthur's eyes too.
They forgot their audience. Alex and Jason watched as Alfred helped Arthur cut his lamb and fed it to him, knowing that Alfred was clueless to how much of his inner feelings he put on display in those unguarded moments, showing that he was falling and falling hard.
"Harrumph," Alex cleared his throat to bring the two love-birds back to reality. They both looked at him with Arthur looking puzzled at the king while Alfred blushed. "I was thinking, Alfred. When we finish lunch, we could go to the library and check out the maps and Arthur might be able to show us where he comes from."
"Sounds like a plan," Alfred replied and turned back to Arthur. "Artie?" But Artie was not listening. While Alfred and Alex spoke, Arthur had looked around the room and he saw big square things on the wall that he had seen in other parts of the castle. The squares were daubed with colours that were arranged to make up an image of something like an object or a person. There were no such things underwater, the closest thing being images made of small pieces of coral of different colours but these images were smooth to the touch and Arthur had been fascinated by them as no two were the same. Now he had new ones to look at and one in particular caught his eye.
On this particular square was the image of four people, an adult male and female and two very young males. The adult male looked like the king with his hands on the shoulders on the two children with a look of pride on his face, the female bore a resemblance to the two boys, with Alfred's eyes and had a loving smile on her face but it was the boys that held Arthur's attention the most. One of the boys had the bluest eyes and a cowlick that stuck up above his head. Despite the age of the boy in the image, it was obvious that the boy was Alfred.
And then there was the other boy. Blonde hair with a single springy curl stick down between his violet eyes and Arthur's breath caught in his throat. He stood up from the table and walked over to the painting that hung on the wall to his left, his eyes never leaving the violet eyed boy in the image.
Alfred watched Arthur get up and walk over to the painting of Alfred's parents and himself and Matthew, painted just before the accident that had robbed him of his mother. Alfred and Matthew had been almost three when the painting was done and Alfred only had vague memories of it, although he had been told it almost never got done because he would not stop fidgeting. He was glad it been done though. It was evidence that his parents and brother had existed.
Arthur reached up to touch the painting with a reverence born of the knowledge of what he was seeing. He was looking at an image of Alfred's family, although he was confused as to why Ja'ack'un was not in the painting. But there was no doubt as to who the violet eyed boy was, he could not be anyone else!
"Artie," Alfred said and Arthur turned toward him. Alfred smiled and pointed to the painting. "That's me." He pointed to the blue eyed boy in the painting and to himself, then he pointed to the violet eyed boy. "And that's ….."
"Ma'ew!" Arthur blurted and Alfred stared at him in shock. Alex and Jason came over at Arthur's exclamation.
"What did he say?!" Alex asked, although the question was rhetorical. They all had heard was Arthur said and Arthur pointed to the boy on the painting and repeated, "Ma'ew! Ma'ew!"
"Is he trying to say Matthew?" Jason asked, breathlessly. "How does he even know Matthew?"
This was the proof Arthur need to know that what he had suspected was true. Matthew's brother, Al had never drowned when he was four, that somehow he had been saved and Arthur was now stood with him, stood beside the next King of Spades. He had to get Al back to Spades as soon as possible, to show Matthew that his brother was still alive.
Alfred put his hands on both Arthur's shoulders and turned Arthur to face him. He did not dare to hope that somehow his brother was still living but if what Arthur was say were true...
"Artie," he said, hopefully. "Is Matthew alive?" Arthur just looked at him, not understanding a word Alfred was saying. Alfred racked his brains for a way to mime to Arthur what he was asking, then he pointed to the painted image of Matthew and put his fist over his heart and began moving it away from his chest and then bringing it back to simulate a heartbeat. Arthur got what Alfred was asking and he nodded. Alfred's actual heartbeat sped up at the simple bobbing up and down of Arthur's head that told him that Matthew was alive. His brother was alive!
"Where is he?" Arthur just looked confused again. Alfred pointed back to the painting and then moved his hands as if to say 'where?' Arthur nodded in understanding and dragged Alfred over to the window where the sea peeked between two out-cropping of land and pointed to that.
"Eek ick ack chirp! (He's in the sea!)" Arthur said, forgetting that Alfred could not understand him in his excitement. He had realised that, just as it had been assumed that his brother was dead, his family thought Matthew had died and Arthur was so happy to deliver the news that Alfred's long lost brother was alive and well.
Alfred looked confused as Arthur pointed toward the ocean and spoke in his strange language. What was he saying? Was Arthur trying to say? That Matthew was living where Arthur came from?
"Is he in your homeland, Arthur?" he asked. "On the other side of the ocean?" Arthur did not understand and continued to point at the sea saying, "Ma'ew!"
"Maybe we should go to the library now," Jason suggested. "If Artie can show us where he comes from, we might find out where Matthew is. I can't believe he's still alive." Neither could anyone else and everyone was eager to find Matthew and bring him home.
"Come on, Artie," Alfred said, pulling Arthur away from the window and toward the door. "Show me where Matthew is!"
King Alex had the castle librarian pulled out the biggest world map they had and it was laid out on the large table that dominated the empty space in the centre of the room. Alex, Jason, Alfred and Arthur stood around the table with Arthur confused about what they were doing. He had no idea what the floppy flat thing with all the wiggly markings on it was or what it was for, nor why everyone was looking at him.
"Artie," Alfred called and Arthur turned to him. Alfred pointed to the map. "Where are you from?" Arthur looked at him in puzzlement. He had no idea what Alfred want from him or what the strange thing on the table was. Alfred gave a huff of exasperation and he pointed to everyone but Arthur in the room and pointed to a place on the map on a coast line marked 'Altheia' then he pointed to Arthur and gestured to the map. Arthur remained confused and he looked down at the map, trying to work out what it all meant so he could understand what Alfred wanted. He became fascinated with the map, looking over all the wiggly lines and markings but one marking made sense to Arthur. On a lot of the map were wavy lines and Arthur realised that these wavy lines were like waves and then everything else made sense. This was some kind of representation of the land and ocean. He looked back at Alfred who pointed to Arthur again and then gestured to the map.
He's asking where I come from Arthur realised and pointed to the wavy lines off the coast of Altheia. The others looked at him in confusion as to why he was pointing to the sea.
"No, Artie," Alfred said. "That's the ocean. Where are you from?" Arthur continued to point at the wavy lines.
"This is getting us nowhere," Alex stated and stared at Arthur. "Sir Artie, where is Matthew?" Arthur understood that they wanted to know where Matthew was, not by their words but if his brother had been presumed dead and he found out he was still alive, Arthur would want to know where he was too so Arthur once again pointed to the same wavy lines.
"What's he trying to say?" Jason was fed up with that lack of progress. Arthur kept pointing to the ocean on the map. Was he deliberately misleading them, building up their hopes that his long, lost cousin was alive, only to plunge them into heartbreaking disappointment but why would Artie do that? What would he get out of that?
"Arthur, that's water," Alfred told him. "These areas are land." Alfred pointed to the areas not marked with water lines but Arthur shook his head and pointed to the water area again.
"I don't think he knows how maps worked," Jason said in frustration. "And he can't tell where Matthew is. Maybe he could write it."
"He doesn't speak our language," Alex replied. "So I doubt he could write it. I think that's a dead end." Alex had no idea how right he was. Not only would Arthur not be able to write the Altheian language, he would not even be able to write his own. Mers had no written language as it was hard to make markings underwater so they simply never developed one. No stories or history were ever recorded but past on through oral record and kept in the memories of the Jokers to be past on to the next Joker and they then collected the historical record of what happened during their lifetime, like living diaries. Joker Gilbert was particularly good at this.
"We have to know where Mattie is," Alfred replied. He had spent almost his entire life believing his brother was dead and now they had been more or less told that Matthew was still alive but the one person who knew was unable to communicate his location.
Arthur knew that no one was understanding what he was trying to say but he could not really blame them. The land-dwellers had no conception of mers living in the ocean. They had become creatures of legend and myth on land and mers staying out of the way of land-dwellers had helped foster that notion. It was hard to explain about something that these people no longer believed in, especially when he did not speak land-dweller. But he found it upsetting that he could not give Al the information that he want to give and what Al wanted to receive.
He needed a translator, someone who could speak both mer and land-dweller but no such person existed. The few words Arthur had spoken, he had mangled, he knew he had. The only way to be able to tell Alfred what he clearly wanted to know was for him to become King but he could not communicate that either. It was all very frustrating for Alfred and for him.
By the time the remaining members of the Spadian royal pod reached Conclave, it was dark in the world above but Matthew and Yao needed the Jokers to find their missing Queen and they swam in the summoning circle and were about to send the summoning song when …..
"It took you long enough," the Red Joker's voice sounded and they looked up to see both Jokers swimming above them and they drifted down to meet the Spadians royals.
"You knew we would be coming, aru?" Yao asked.
"Ja," Gilbert replied. "You were bound to, with the Queen going missing."
"You know?" Matthew said.
"Yep!" Peter replied. "We know exactly where the queen is, right now."
"Where is Queen Arthur, aru?"
"On land," Gilbert smirked.
"WHAT!" both royals exclaimed.
"Ja," Gilbert continued. "Queen Arthur came to us and explained the situation concerning the newly found King of Spades and asked for our help. So we did the only thing we could, turned him into a land-dweller so he could go look for the king."
"What?" Matthew gasped. "You can do that?! Why didn't he come and tell us about this?"
"I did say he should," Gilbert replied. "But he thought you would stop him so he decided to just go but there is a...problem." Both Yao and Matthew stared at the Jokers.
"What problem, aru?" Yao asked.
"Well," Gilbert replied, slightly embarrassed. "I turned him into a land-dweller but unawesomely forgot to change his vocal cords. Which means he can't speak land-dweller."
"Meaning," Matthew surmised. "That Arthur is searching for the next King of Spades but unable to communicate with anyone on land."
"That's about the long and short of it," Peter replied. Matthew groaned.
"Where did he go on land?" he asked.
"Where he left the next king," Gilbert replied. "Why?" Although Gilbert knew what Matthew was going to say next.
"Because you're going to change me into a land-dweller," Matthew replied. "And then I'm going after Arthur!"
Can anyone smell a reunion coming?
Till next week (hopefully)….
Hasta la Pasta!