Yucatan Peninsula

Phoenix was on her own. Bucky was back in the States and she was doing some solo traveling. Her journey brought her to the sea. Nearby was a step pyramid, an ancient temple. The reason why she was on her own was this feeling that something was calling her to the sea, leading her to Yucatan where the call was strongest. The chimera was wandering the jungle by the shore when she came upon a small underwater cave entrance. Curiosity led her to the water's edge and she lowered her nose to smell the water. It was salty, as expected, and went deep. Her ears were pulled forward as she tried to penetrate the darkness the deeper the water went. She almost missed movement in the depths but it was so fleeting, she wrote it off as her imagination. Still, Phoenix was compelled to let out a bell-like call. She straightened her head up and turned on her hooves to head for the shore. The area she was in was more or less uninhabited. She found the burned-out remains of a human monastery earlier and, along with the ziggurat on the shore, was one of the few human structures around. She felt safe enough to be out in the open in her true form. She went to stand where the waves reached the shore and let the water run over her. She then shifted into human form to enjoy the sea air.

Namor was working in his cave of solitude when he sensed something at the entrance high above. The call was too great to ignore so he set down his conch of paint and headed into the water. He ascended but stopped short when he spotted something huge at the surface. He quickly ducked into deeper shadows to avoid being spotted. The shadows of the surface made it difficult to discern but Namor could tell from the size that it was most likely a horse. He could hear it smelling the water before a haunting bell-like call issued down into the water. Whatever it was, it eventually moved off. Namor waited a bit before ascending to the surface. When the creature had turned away, something about it struck him as odd and he needed to investigate. Silently exiting the water, Namor took flight and slowly rose above the treeline. He didn't see the animal but he spotted a woman on the shore. Her hair made him do a double-take. It was striped in colors of red, green, two shades of blue, two shades of brown, black, and white. She wore a raiment of silver that flowed in the wind, downplaying her frame and shape. Then he spotted the shadow, shocking him. Her shadow wasn't human.

Phoenix was meditating to the sound of the wind and the waves when she felt a magical surge from within. The protection spell Seiryu had cast on her went active and it bodily turned her around and roared. Phoenix could see nothing behind her but something in the air caught her eye and she looked up. She saw a man flying in the air and pure terror overtook her senses. She sprang back into her true form and let out another call. Her terror kept her from bolting but her ears pinned back and her tail rose to full mast. The spell, in Seiryu's image, burned bright and engulfed her body as a shield.

Namor was initially thrown off by the sudden appearance of blue flames and the woman's change into some sort of creature that matched what the shadow told him. But once the surprise wore off, he started to observe the creature and the flames surrounding her. The form the flames took was most interesting. "K'uk'ulkan? No…this looks similar but not the same," he thought. He then took in the animal before him. As he had thought, she was a horse but at the same time, not. Her back, shoulders, and thighs were covered in scales. The plate scales on her back matched the colors of her avatar's hair while the others were hexagonal and gold in color. Her tail was a very familiar scorpion tail, proportionate to her size. Her head was crowned with a trio of silver horns. Two curled like those of a sheep while the third was a straight horn terminating from the vertex. The rest of her body was covered in silver fur and her mane was cropped. Up close, he saw her eyes were a curious shade of violet. And she was very young. Not as young as a normal horse but still young.

What stunned Namor more was how all those features came together in the most natural way possible. Was she a goddess of some unknown origin? This creature was far too out there for him to ignore and he wondered if she was intelligent as her human avatar implied. In fact, he wasn't sure which was the true avatar, the woman or the animal. He decided to treat her with the reverence owed, despite the fact she was a surface-dweller. Saying nothing, Namor landed, keeping their eyes locked. For a goddess, she was showing a surprising amount of fear as she beheld him. The Talokanil saw Namor himself as a god. Perhaps this creature was a lesser deity. He continued to hold his silence but he knelt down to start drawing in the sand, waiting for the spectral serpentine flames to die. He internally marveled at the realistic roar it had given when it first appeared and the near-constant hissing sound. All the same, Namor hoped it wouldn't be long. While he could breathe air, he couldn't be out of the water for too long, lest he ran the risk of drying out.

Phoenix watched as the flying man came to land on the sand. He hadn't said a word the entire time but her instincts were practically screaming he was an even bigger threat than a Leviathan, the most dangerous animal to roam All World's two seas. Her hooves were rooted to the sand. When he knelt to draw in the sand, she felt her fear subside a bit into a flicker of curiosity. The spell was starting to wane. He was still very much a threat but he wasn't acting as one would expect. She finally let the spell burn out. That caught the man's attention if he could be called that. He looked human but his pointed ears and the small wings on his ankles told a very different story. He wore a vast array of jewelry but his torso was otherwise bare. He had short, black hair and facial hair. He wore large jade earrings and a matching nose bar. His skin tone was halfway between Bucky and Sam. When their eyes met again, she realized with a jolt that, despite his apparent youth…he was quite old. He was the first to speak.

"Ma' teech u kaaba', jaaj wáaj? Wa xaan teech u jump'éel kúuchil le yaanal tu'ux le k'áak'náabo'," Namor said. The look of confusion that appeared on the creature's face told him what he needed to know. She couldn't understand his tongue. "You're not of this world, are you? Or perhaps you're from a place across the sea," Namor said, switching to English to see if that did the trick. The creature just snorted, still on edge, but it was a sign she did understand. Brushing his hands together, the Sub-Mariner stood up to his full height. "I wonder, are you a goddess? An avatar of some sort? Which is the real you, the woman or the animal standing before me now?" he asked. The animal took a breath. "What you see is the real me," she spoke. She was full of surprises. She was intelligent and well-spoken. "Care to answer my question? Goddess or avatar?" Namor inquired again. "I'm neither. I am what I am," she responded. He frowned, not sure what that meant. "And what are you?" came the question. The animal remained silent. The ruler of Talokan just shrugged before crossing his arms over his chest. "So what brings you to the edge of my territory, creature?" he then ventured.

Phoenix couldn't get a real read on this man, aside from her instincts treating him as a predator. It was not knowing what he was that was killing her. But at the same time, if he had wanted to hunt her, he would've done it. Instead, he was fishing for information. She decided she could play it safe by volunteering some. "I felt…a call. Now that I'm thinking about it…the source of the call is you," she responded. The man cocked an eyebrow but didn't comment on it. "What do you call yourself?" he asked. "Phoenix," she responded. She let her tail lower to half-mast as a warning that she was still on guard. "Ah, the mythical firebird found in various cultures around the world. Rather odd that is your name," the man said.

"You asked my name. It's only polite to offer your own," Phoenix said. Namor was getting more impressed. This creature was something else. The Queen of Wakanda had been a bit more demanding of his identity but to be fair to her, Namor had, for all intents and purposes, broken into the country. Phoenix knew she was on his turf and was playing it safe. She was very wise for one so young. "I have many names. I'm known as K'uk'ulkan among my people while my enemies call me Namor," he responded. The creature's ear flicked. "And what do you call yourself?" she asked. "My true name is not for you to know. Perhaps you'll find another name for me," he countered. "Fair enough. I'm not sure if you think of me as an enemy or not but I'll call you Namor," Phoenix responded. A respectful nod of his head was the only answer he gave. "So long as you're honest that this," he paused to motion at her body, "is your true form, I can assure you my distaste for the surface world doesn't extend to you. Just the humans who occupy it," he said.

That statement answered the question Phoenix had had. This man, Namor, wasn't human at all. Combined with how her instincts went off as they would if a predator was around and his inhuman attributes, it all made sense. "You say 'surface world' which I assume is the land. Does that mean…you came from there?" she asked, pointing at the sea with a tilt of her head. "Very good. Well-spoken and intelligent. Indeed, the sea is my home. You mostly likely surmised I'm not human," Namor responded. Phoenix eyed his ears and ankle wings. "I've seen many things in my century and a half of life. But nothing like you. You're…dangerous. And I say this as something that was hunted by many things," she said, letting slip her age in an attempt to gauge his own.

Namor knew what she was doing. She volunteered that she was indeed very old by normal standards but she was leagues younger than he was. He looked towards the sky. He was starting to feel the heat and wondered if he could convince the animal to follow him back to the surface entrance to his underwater cave. He raised his hand to invite her back to the cave entrance but Phoenix staggered backward, nostrils flared, ears pinned, and eyes zeroed on his hands. "Don't touch me," she said, voice shaky. It seemed an automatic response. That told the Sub-Mariner something else about her. She had trauma in her past. "I will not touch you. But may I suggest we go back to the cave? Unlike the rest of my people, I can breathe air but I'd feel better being in the water. You're a fascinating creature and I'm curious," he said. Phoenix was still eying his hands but Namor took a step backward before extending his hand for her to follow.

Phoenix weighed her odds. She had misunderstood his intent but her first year of life was never far from her thoughts. While she trusted Bucky, Sam, and other human friends she had, unfamiliar human hands still meant pain to her. Namor wasn't human but he was human in appearance and she didn't trust him. Still, she held onto the fact that if he wanted to hurt her, he would've done so already. She hesitantly took a step and then another. Each time, Namor would back up a step. It wasn't until she was following that he turned to walk forward. When they reached the cave, he wasted no time diving in. He resurfaced after a moment and turned back to face her. "I'm still curious about what you are. If not a goddess or avatar, how did something like you come to be?" he asked, crossing his arms on the rock.

Namor watched as the animal took a deep breath, eyes closed before she closed the distance a little and lowered herself to the ground. "You clearly don't like humans. That's something we have in common, though I have a few exceptions. I'm taking a huge risk here by admitting this but…," she paused before looking at him, her ever-present warning of a half-mast tail in view. "I was…created by humans," she dropped the bomb. Namor wasn't sure how to feel about that. This divine creature…was a product of man? How was this possible? His expression darkened a bit as he recalled her reactions to his hands. Humans somehow not only created her but also harmed her. He forced himself to calm down because Phoenix was making it no secret she was feeling threatened again.

"This explains much. I'm feeling the urge to put my spear through the ones who did this," he said. Phoenix just snorted before looking away. "Don't bother. I'm not native to this world and the one who left me with the trauma I have about human hands was killed long ago. Remember that I'm over a hundred and fifty years old. Thanks to the human friends I have here…I'm not afraid of their hands. Just yours. Just humans in general," she said. Namor wasn't going to lie to himself. Learning she was a manmade animal made her seem pitiable in his eyes. Something told him there was something more to the story of her creation. "What aren't you telling me?" he ventured. "I wasn't just made. I'm the only known member of my species that was born naturally. The story is long, though, and parts of it involve my mother. Well, I say 'mother' because she was my primary genetic ancestor and was the one who birthed me. I make it a rule that I won't reveal how she ended up carrying me," she responded.

Namor encouraged her to share what she wished. Phoenix eventually explained that she was a chimera, a creature built from DNA from up to three different animals spliced together and grown in test tubes. She explained that her creation was the same as any other of her kind, only two of her three parts were injected into one of her mother's eggs and she was left to grow as a regular embryo. She revealed to the Sub-Mariner that she wasn't being hyperbolic when she said she wasn't native to Earth. She came from an alien world, home to humans, animals, and monsters. Namor had no love for humans or the surface world but terrestrial and flying animals weren't held in contempt by him just because the surface world was their home as well. He didn't go out of his way to harm them on the rare occasion he crossed paths with them. Phoenix was intelligent and able to communicate like a human but her unnatural form cemented her firmly as an innocent party wronged by humans.

Her mother reminded him of his own. From what little he learned, Phoenix's mother was a victim of experimentation right after a traumatic experience. That endeared the creature to him more. Phoenix had her own trauma and was born from trauma indirectly. "Seems we truly are kindred spirits. Your mother and mine suffered at the hands of man and colonizers. And yet, I sense no desire for revenge on your part," Namor mused. "It ultimately doesn't matter. Alchemists will continue to create my kind, the Masters be damned. The one who created me is long dead and the source of my mother's trauma is destroyed," she responded with a verbal shrug. "But humans still continue to create your kind. Doesn't that light a fire for righting those wrongs?" Namor persisted.

Phoenix was quiet for a moment. She then brought her eyes over to meet his. "I'm not idle as my kind suffers in the Wilds. I've created a home for them and there are other colonies across the Continent. So long as humans of my world know how to use alchemy, the creation of my kind can never fully be stopped. My kind is simultaneously stable in numbers and on the brink of extinction. As for myself, I've heard it said that the best revenge is living well. I long outlived my creator, I'm relatively stable despite past traumas, and I'm content in knowing the World Weaver looks on my kind with pity and love," she responded.

She shifted a bit before looking back towards where the ocean lay beyond the trees. Namor quietly watched her. She could facially emote pretty well for an animal. She looked like she was trying to bury something. "How old are you?" she then asked, bluntly. Namor smirked to himself. "I was born in 1571," he said simply. Phoenix's eyes widened. "You're kidding," she said. "I wish I was sometimes. But I'm being truthful," Namor responded. The chimera looked towards the treetops. "In my world, the oldest beings are the World Masters at 6,000 years. You're close to the average lifespan of a dragon, which can live up to 500 years," she mused. "You said you're over a century and a half old. So you've been around since the 1860s, at least," Namor then said. "1869. I've lived a long time but compared to you, I haven't lived long enough," Phoenix sighed a little. "I disagree. You have this air of wisdom about you. It's not how long you live but what you do with that time," Namor said.

He ran a hand through his hair. "You said your kind is stable but on the brink of extinction at the same time. Does that mean what I think it means?" he asked. "Yes. None of us can breed. We legitimately rely on humans to maintain our population," she responded. They talked a bit more, Namor learning Phoenix was the only known member of her species that could take a human form. She, in turn, asked him questions about his own past and people. Namor shared what he chose and it was plain that Talokan fascinated her. The trauma of his people's ancestors spoke to her. The idea of colonization the way he knew it wasn't something Phoenix understood. All World had a single continent and the concept of countries was nonexistent. There was only the Empire and the animal Nations. But she figured it would be considered colonization when one remembered how the Capital came to be where it was now. The ancient werewolf tribe that once occupied that part of the forest near Verboden Bereik had been driven out after a short war with the Proto-Assassins, humanshifting wolves.

These days, the descendants of that tribe no longer felt any sort of grievance because life was too short for that, only humans held grudges, and the place their ancestors relocated to turned out to be even better than their previous Den Home. So that particular tribe considered their displacement a blessing in disguise. Only the white werewolf, Gilgamesh, had an ongoing grudge match with the Capital's human population. Grandmaster Fenrir had his paws full. He was an odd one, Gilgamesh. Then again, the same was true for Beowulf, the only known werewolf with magic that Gilgamesh defeated.

"A penny for your thoughts?" Namor asked, bringing Phoenix out of her thoughts. "Nothing of consequence. There are things and concepts in this world that don't exist in my own. Colonization, countries, authority figures aside from monarchs…these things are sometimes hard to reconcile with the only life I've known," she said. "I'm curious as to why you're here at all. In this world. You claim some other homeworld but you're here instead. What or who is keeping you here?" the Sub-Mariner asked. The question of "who" made Phoenix wary. Namor had a grudge against the surface world. That made him an enemy to every human on Earth. Men, women, children…no one was safe. Bucky was the one she loved. She had to protect him. But the way Namor had presented his question made it seem she had no choice but to answer it somehow. Denying any involvement with anything in this world would just call her being here at all into further question.

Namor was fishing for a reason for her presence in a world that wasn't her own. "Originally…I was here exploring. In short terms, I'm what you could call an interdimensional traveler. I've been to many places and made a few friends along the way. This world was no different. But then…I met someone. We became friends…and we became something more," she responded, even as her instincts shouted at her not to compromise Bucky's safety. She caught the look of curiosity and utter confusion on Namor's face. "You're not human and yet…," he trailed off. "Humanshifters are complicated. We're animals through and through but our ability to take a human form puts us in an in-between place. I'm not human but I'm human enough to feel human emotion…including romantic love for someone. I'm also human enough to cry. Not every humanshifter reaches that point," Phoenix finished.

Namor was more and more convinced by the minute that Phoenix being manmade had to be a fiction. True, he knew the surface world had cracked the secret of cloning but Phoenix wasn't a clone. She was a complex creature with magic. Her world had magic but from what he gathered, humans didn't have access to that. Alchemy was their equivalent. But there was no way it could've wrought a creature like this. Phoenix hadn't lied about anything but it was her honesty that made Namor question her origin story of being manmade. No. This animal was a goddess. It was the only way to reconcile her appearance, her ability to reason and feel on a human level, and her ability to travel dimensions.

"Are you afraid of me?" Namor then asked. Phoenix looked at him surprised at the question. She thought it was obvious. "I fear humans, or in your case, those that resemble humans. You're something else, though. Your hands could tear me apart with little effort. I feel as if a finger to my skull would break it. I know I look calm but there's a storm in me that demands I either run from you or kill you because you're a threat," she said, quietly. Namor pulled himself out of the water and slowly approached. Phoenix got to her hooves out of habit, her tail rising back to half-mast. "You don't trust me and I respect that. However, I want to see your other form. You have my word as K'uk'ulkan that I will not touch you. Please," he said. Despite his words, it was how he spoke that gave Phoenix the impression she wasn't being given a choice. It was merely the illusion of one. "And should I refuse?" she asked.

Namor smirked. She was indeed very wise for one so young. This animal, this goddess…she possessed a strength and beauty that earned his respect. "Humor me. I ask for a single favor and I gave my word that I won't touch you," Namor responded. Phoenix flicked an ear, still warring with herself. Her violet eyes finally closed in defeat and she sighed. "You have a way of commanding obedience without actually commanding it. Very well. Just…keep your word and don't touch me. With few exceptions, every time a human laid hands on me, it always resulted in pain," she said. Namor stepped back a bit and watched as she shifted into her false form. Like before, her silver clothing was flowy and downplayed her body. This was a creature who had everything to hide. She opened her eyes to look at him, their color even more prominent. Her striped hair tied everything together.

Phoenix crossed her arms, uncomfortable with how Namor was taking her in. He was clinical in how he was looking her over. She got flashbacks to the various experiments and observations her creator had done when she had been an infant. There was nothing invasive that she could recall. Nomad had been more interested in what she could do over all else. Her inner workings were only a marginal part of his experiments and mostly were focused on her tail.

Namor noticed how she was holding herself like she was trying to hide her body from him. He frowned a bit. "Are you ashamed of what you are? You're trying to hide from me," he said. Phoenix just shifted her weight, keeping her arms crossed. "It's not shame. Just bad memories. You're looking at me the way he did. My creator…," she trailed off. Namor watched as her eyes went blank a little. She turned back towards the sea, the wind catching her dress. The ruler of Talokan stood beside her at a respectful distance, looking at the sea himself. "Thank you for indulging me, Phoenix. You're a fascinating creature. I've never seen anything quite like you and one credit I give to the surface world is that it is home to animals as beautiful as any found in the sea," he said.

Phoenix looked over at him. He met her eyes. "You've made your origin plain and I pity you for the pain and suffering you endured. I can see your strength and I can respect it. Now there is something you can do for me," he said. He snorted a bit when Phoenix stiffened a bit. "Since you know I come from the sea, I'm choosing to trust you with that secret. Tell no one that you've met me and know about my city," he said. The simple request was surprising to her. Namor could see her pulse slow a bit. It certainly was true that he made her anxious. He wondered how she reacted to ordinary humans. Namor was a mutant, even among his own people. Phoenix had had a strong reaction to him. "I have nothing to gain from revealing your secret. Personally, I'd rather forget this entire encounter," she responded after a moment. Namor smiled before bowing. "Ku yáalkab yéetel le iik'o', xeen yéetel le síitech, diosa ti' le llanuras yéetel le che'obo',"* he said. Phoenix didn't understand his mother tongue but the inflection of his words made it sound like he had given her a blessing.

Namor straightened up at the same time Phoenix heard someone calling her name. He watched her face light up with recognition and pleasant surprise. The Sub-Mariner quickly retreated back to the cave entrance and watched as Phoenix turned to see a man walking towards her. The man's left arm was made of vibranium, telling Namor he had some sort of connection to Wakanda. "Bucky! What are you doing here?" he heard Phoenix exclaim. From his position, Namor watched as they kissed, thinking of the many stories where a mortal man and a goddess fell in love. To bear witness to such a tale was an honor in his mind. "So this is the man who has kept you tethered to the mortal realm, dear goddess? I suppose there are worse reasons," he thought.

Phoenix melted in Bucky's embrace before they broke apart. "Why are you here?" she asked, keeping her arms around his neck. "I couldn't wait for you to come home. So I decided to come to you. Besides, what's the rush when the two of us can explore this part of the world? You would benefit from the experience," he responded. Phoenix just smiled and held him close. Already the tension she had been under when she and Namor were conversing with each other was fading away. "Did you find what you were looking for?" Bucky then asked. Phoenix caught Namor's eye where he was hiding in the water of the cave. She had made a promise to keep him a secret and she intended to keep it. It was less about keeping Namor safe and more about protecting Bucky from him. "I wasn't sure what I was looking for when I heard something calling me here. But I found the Song of the Sea," she said with a smile. Bucky kissed her forehead before asking her what she meant. Phoenix said the waves here were different than the waves back in New York. Full of memory and history. They started walking along the beach, away from where Namor was still watching.

The Talokani in question continued to watch the two until they were out of sight. He could trust the goddess when she said she wouldn't reveal his existence. He slipped under the surface and headed back to his undersea cave. Namora and Attuma might be wondering where he was but more than likely, they were in the city further down in the depths. Namor was usually left to his own devices when he was in his cave. No one came looking for him unless he was urgently needed. He sat at a desk, wanting to chronicle his meeting with Phoenix, who he had dubbed the Goddess of the Plains and Trees. She was mostly equine in physique and he knew horses enough to know that they generally stuck to open areas. Meanwhile, her mother's people were forest dwellers. Her curled horns also factored into her new title, since sheep were common on the plains for grazing purposes. He never made it apparent but Phoenix's story and history had moved him in ways few things in his long life had. She was still young compared to him but she had been younger still when she was subjected to the traumas she had been. She was also a child of trauma.

Namor didn't know the exact events that led to her mother being impregnated with her but he did know it was not by choice. Because he had next to no information about that side of the story, it only cemented it even further in Namor's mind that Phoenix was a divine creature. The alchemical process could explain some things but not all. Perhaps the process had pulled her soul down into a body that wasn't meant for her. "A goddess trapped perhaps? It would explain much, in my opinion. Either way, this would make for a good story to tell the children. No one needs to know a goddess walks in the world above. She's keeping me a secret from her mortal lover. I shall return the favor and keep her a secret in kind. I can easily pass her off as an idea I had while I was working here," he thought as he continued to write.

Part of him knew he and Phoenix weren't likely to cross paths again but Namor was content with the experience he did have. She was truly beautiful and not easily forgotten. And who knew? Perhaps fate would bring the Feathered Serpent God and the Goddess of the Plains and Trees together again. Perhaps then, she wouldn't fear him so. He decided her eyes were his favorite thing about her. She had said the color was unique to her mother's bloodline and therefore was a sign of royal blood. So not only had a goddess been forced down from the heavens into a mortal body but she had been given birth to by royalty. A goddess-princess, all things considered. Namor paused in his writing, his eyes going towards the pool that led up to the surface world. The haunted look and the shadow of past trauma in those eyes were easy for someone his age to see. She probably hid it well from others. He frowned, wondering what her creator and other humans had done to her. The blatant disrespect to her as a living thing and as a divine being left a sour taste in his mouth. She deserved better.

Namor sighed a bit before he kept writing. Phoenix knew what she was doing and she was the one to choose the company she kept. She feared him and loved the human she was fraternizing with. She lived as any mortal would, perhaps waiting for the day she would be free of the mortal coil and able to retake her place in the heavens. He wondered what her lifespan potential was. She was just over 150 years old right now. Namor finished his account of the meeting and rolled up the scroll. He tied it with string and put it in a drawer. It was out of his hands. The goddess would do as she would just as he would do as he would. He went back to the wall he had been working on when he first sensed Phoenix at his cave. They never did talk about what had drawn her to his location but it didn't matter. For one of the rare times in his life, Namor was content.

*Run with the wind, go with fortune, goddess of the plains and trees.