Yucatan Peninsula, post Wakanda-Talokan War

She really had no clue why she was bothering. The last thing Phoenix wanted was to seek Namor out on purpose. But, thanks to a migratory bird who couldn't keep his beak shut about recent events involving Namor's people and Wakanda, she was compelled to learn why. Phoenix had something of a connection to Wakanda, more specifically to Princess Shuri and her now-late brother, King T'Challa. The two had harbored and helped Bucky Barnes after Zemo had orchestrated the downfall of the Avengers. T'Challa had opened his home to Bucky after learning the truth behind his father King T'Chaka's death. Phoenix was grateful to the siblings for all they had done. They had a small hand in bringing her and Bucky together and she had a small friendship with them both. She and Bucky didn't go to T'Challa's funeral. Bucky's current standing with Wakanda was in doubt because the Flag Smashers necessitated Zemo's help. But they honored him in their own way.

Now Phoenix learned that Namor, a Talokan native she had met the last time she was in Yucatan, had attacked her friend Shuri. Her gratitude to her demanded answers for this. Though the war had been resolved, things were still strained and Phoenix could not let it slide. Reaching the cave entrance where she had met Namor, the chimera lowered her head to the water. Throwing all caution to the wind, she let out a loud bell-like call. She didn't care who heard her. If Namor was close, he would come. When she saw nothing, she let out another. And another. And another. She wouldn't leave without seeing him. Little did she realize, she had caught someone's attention.

Namora and Attuma had been in the nearby forest hunting for a tribute to him. They heard the succession of otherworldly calls and motioned for their small hunting party to follow quietly. They reached where the calls were coming from and paused in awe. Standing, back to them, was an otherworldly creature at the entrance to the route to K'uk'ulkan's cave. "What a prize she would be to our god," Attuma whispered. "Indeed," Namora agreed. She had the warriors gather around. "That is our new target. K'uk'ulkan will reward us if we succeed in bagging such a worthy tribute. As we can see, this animal has the tail of a scorpion. Attuma, it will be up to you to snare that tail so it can't be used against us. You will go for the head," she pointed at a warrior, "and I'll go for a submission blow. The rest of you will cover us and keep her contained," she instructed. The rest of them nodded in understanding and they all started to fan out.

Phoenix was glaring at the water, wondering why Namor wasn't showing himself, and questioning if the last time had been a dream. A stick cracked behind her and her head shot back to see she was surrounded by people. Their blue skin made it very apparent they weren't human. That sort of color was unnatural for anything other than a corpse. Her instincts kicked in and Phoenix reared. One of the warriors managed to lasso her horns and started to pull. Phoenix charged them, intending to flee. "Attuma! Maach' le nej!" shouted the apparent leader, a woman. The largest of the warriors managed to rope Phoenix's tail before she got far and she was forced to stop in order to prevent it from getting ripped off. Her tail was her primary weapon and she couldn't afford to lose it. Still, the chimera wasn't about to stand still. Flashbacks to various times when she was actively hunted as a trophy or for the simple fact she was an abomination stirred her up into a frenzy. She suddenly felt something sharp slice at her neck near her shoulder where her gold scales began. Blood started to stain her silver fur and Phoenix was gone. Any trace of sapience vanished and all that remained was a wild animal choosing violence.

Namora knew things were going to get crazy as the animal went on the warpath. She was kicking and rearing, throwing her head around despite one of the warriors' tight grip on the rope. Even Attuma was having difficulty controlling her. Horses were easy to control. You just needed to control their heads. This beast needed both her head and her tail restrained. She was powerful if Attuma was struggling and he was the strongest warrior in Talokan with only K'uk'ulkan surpassing him. But desperation had a way of breaking the limits of what someone could do when it came to survival. It was a good thing this land was deserted. The beast was kicking up enough noise to wake the dead. Eventually, the blood loss was starting to take its toll on the animal because she eventually tired out. Namora nodded at her fellow warriors and pulled a special dagger from a sheathe. She noticed the wildness had left the animal's rather beautiful violet eyes and saw resignation in them. She was prepared to die.

Phoenix watched as the strange woman approached with the dagger. Her mind flashed to Bucky. He would never know what happened to her. He would think she abandoned him when she never came home. That realization and being the target of hunters yet again broke Phoenix to the point the light left her eyes. Her nostrils flared in anticipation. She vaguely saw the dagger rising into the air. She felt her tail being pulled enough to keep her from raising it. Her head was held forward as it was pulled in the opposite direction to her tail. Her eyes started to flood a bit. A century and a half of evading capture and death and this was where it ended. On some Weaver-forsaken beach on a Weaver-forsaken planet. How cruel was He that He would end her Time here? But no, this was on Phoenix. She came looking for Namor and found Death instead. What she didn't expect was a sudden voice barking at the group. "Namora, parar! Ba'ax ma' a k'ajóol jump'éel diosa ka wilik jump'éel?" came the voice of the last person she expected to save her life.

Namor glared down at his warriors as he made his presence known. He gripped his spear and when he had their attention, he pointed it at Namora. She immediately dropped the dagger and the warriors, sans herself, Attuma, and the one keeping Phoenix's head strung, dropped to their knees. "Goddess?" Namora asked, confused. "Yes, Namora. A goddess. It's a good thing I managed to intervene in time. Having the blood of a goddess on one's hands brings down a curse on the one who has it," Namor explained. Namora looked back at Phoenix, who got a little fight back. Namor watched as she threw her head to the side, trying to get the one warrior to let go. It was what happened next that surprised everyone. Phoenix glared at Attuma, who still held onto the rope that kept her tail controlled. She bucked her hips, trying to get loose, but a sickening crack split the air. Attuma was sent falling onto his rear as her tail completely separated from the rest of her body. It hit the ground with a thud and started twitching erratically.

The loss of her tail did it. Phoenix lost her temper and with her hindquarters free, she charged the warrior in front of her. Her sudden show of aggression caused everyone to stagger to get away. A spear planting itself in the ground between her and the warrior made Phoenix stagger back and suddenly, Namor appeared in front of her. He grabbed her by the horns and twisted her head down. Off-balance, the chimera found herself being thrown to the ground. "Sa'asik in," she heard Namor whisper as he did. Her second wind spent, Phoenix stayed down, yielding to him.

Namor straightened up and looked at his warriors. They were speechless and confused about what to do now. "Namora, Attuma, take your hunting party home and get some rest. It would be best for me to tend to the goddess alone. You've done enough harm," he said. The two slowly nodded and gave the order for the other warriors to follow them back to the sea. Once they were alone, Namor looked down at Phoenix. She was still on her side, blood staining her fur. Her head was lying awkwardly on the ground, due to her horn configuration. Namor knelt down, confident she had nothing left and wouldn't strike at him. "Are you okay?" he asked. "Stupid question. What do you think?" she snapped back. "I swear to you that this wasn't my doing. I never asked them to do this. I didn't know you had returned," the Sub-Mariner said. Phoenix just snorted, catching her breath and flinching as the gash on her neck burned. Namor looked at her separated tail and whistled a bit.

The thing was no longer twitching and he was appreciative of its sheer size now. He turned his attention back to the gash. "You're bleeding out," he said, simply. "It's not lethal. I'm not going to die from something like this," the animal said, simply. She couldn't keep the pain from her voice though. Namor made up his mind. He wasn't about to leave a wounded goddess alone on his beach. "I'll return in a moment," he said before taking his spear from where it was embedded in the ground. He dove into the water and headed for his cave. He dove in and swam for the cave. Reaching the entrance, Namor hauled himself out, placed his spear against the wall, and headed for a cabinet. Inside were healing ointments and herbs. He then found a waterproof satchel and placed the ointments and herbs in it. He was about to head back when he paused. His poncho and a small cushion caught his eye and he weighed his options. Grabbing them and stuffing them into the satchel, Namor grabbed his spear again and dove back into the water.

When he came back to the surface and headed back to where he had left Phoenix, he was half-expecting her to have gone. But she was right where he left her. Her eyes shifted to watch him approach. She eyed the spear and her face just screwed up in anguish. "Please don't. Just end it. I can't do this anymore," she said, her voice cracking. Namor came to a pause at her side and knelt down. "What do you mean?" he asked, setting the satchel down. Phoenix broke down, her ears pinned back. "I've been hunted my entire life, trapped, injured, nearly killed! I'm either an abomination or a trophy! I can't do it anymore! I've got nothing left. Just put an end to me!" she sobbed. Namor took a deep breath. Her youth was apparent in how broken she sounded. And she clearly had carried this burden for her whole life.

"I'm not going to end you," he said. Phoenix looked up at him, teary-eyed. "For one thing, you're aware I know about your lover. How would he feel if you died here and he never knew what happened to you? For another, I have no intention of killing and leaving a dead goddess on my beach if I can help it," the Sub-Mariner said. Aggression, fury, and heartbreak caused her to snap her jaws at him but he merely used his wings to put distance between them. Phoenix rolled onto her belly, blood flowing faster from the gash on her neck. "I'm not a goddess! I'm a chimera, an abomination of science! There is only the World Weaver!" she raged. Blood loss and the speed of her roll caused black spots to form in her vision and Phoenix collapsed onto her side again, her head bouncing a bit. "I'm not a goddess. I'm not. I'm just…a monster. Bucky never should've been with me. Not after what I did to him. To us. I can't…," she trailed off as her voice failed.

Namor had just watched as Phoenix ranted, arms crossed. When it was clear she was out of energy, he closed the distance a bit. "Allow me to tend to your injury. Do I have permission? I know you have something about physical contact," he said. Eyes closing, the chimera slowly nodded. "Permission to make use of your tail?" he then. "Do whatever you want with it. It's now a dead body part. Just be careful with the telson. The venom is a potent mix of cardiotoxins and necrotoxins. It will kill you if you nick yourself with the stinger," she responded dully. "I shall be careful. I might have a use for the parts," Namor said. He closed the distance and took the cushion out of his satchel. "Lift your head if you can. You look uncomfortable," he said. Phoenix opened her eyes to see what he had and blinked a bit. She quietly did as she was told, flinching in pain. Namor worked the cushion under her head and got it in the gap between her head and the horn on that side. He then took his poncho out and laid it over her. Her confusion was palpable but the Sub-Mariner ignored it as he retrieved the tail nearby.

The tail had a decent amount of weight but it was also pretty light for something of its size. Made sense since it was relatively hollow like any scorpion tail. All that ran through it was the body tissues that allowed it to flex and relax. Namor pulled a dagger and cut the bottommost segment off the rest. He cut it in half longways and cleared it of the internal workings. Just like that, he had made a functional bowl. He flew to the cave and gathered seawater. The salt content would help clean the wound. Flying back, Namor ensured Phoenix was watching him so he could safely land on the side of her back, out of reach of her hooves. "This is going to hurt. The wound doesn't look too deep but I won't know until I clear the blood," he warned her. Without much time to prepare, Namor threw the water on the wound.

The sheer agony felt like a stabbing. Phoenix threw her head upwards, blindly trying to snap at Namor while the cushion fell to the ground when it dislodged. She started cursing up a storm, including colorful language in both Common and Dragonic. Unicornic, by contrast, didn't have many words of that nature. Her head eventually settled on the ground, allowing the man to readjust the cushion under her head. The wound was throbbing like the Deadlands, or Hell as the humans of this world called the place. She felt Namor carefully wipe the wound dry and a low whistle issued from him. "You must have healing powers. This looks worse than it actually is. I'll still use some healing ointment I brought up to help it along," he noted. Phoenix was exhaling loudly from the pain but her one ear flicked back to let him know she heard. Soon, a soothing coolness started to radiate from where she felt the ointment make contact with the wound. She felt something being laid over it and she saw it was a seaweed frond. It appeared to be the type of seaweed that had antibacterial and antimicrobial properties. That would certainly help her healing magic some.

"Stings…," she mumbled. Namor just chuckled a bit as he sat down to wait. "I wish to apologize for before. I put my hands on you, breaking my word from our last meeting. I can only hope for forgiveness and for you to know I didn't know my warriors were planning to take you as a tribute to me," he said after a moment. "It's okay. It didn't cross my mind, truth be told. I mean…they look different than you. Plus if you had ordered it, you would've let me die. As for putting your hands on me, that's also understandable. I threatened your people. You had to step in to stop me. Looking back, it was to protect them…but also to protect me," Phoenix responded in a small, quiet voice. Her eyes were tearing up again with frustration but she shut them and refused to yield to her chaotic emotions. She was at her most vulnerable and the one man she felt the most threatened by was sitting behind her.

Namor looked at her back scales. He had seen they were warped and discolored down the center the last time they had met. He had wondered why. The warping and discoloration didn't seem like they were a natural trait, particularly since the gold hexagonal scales covering her shoulders and thighs were uniform in appearance. "I'm curious about your back," he said. "It's the price I paid for utter foolishness. I tried to become fully human not long ago. As you can see, it didn't work. It required…some serious intervention. I almost lost him over it, too," she responded, dejectedly. The Sub-Mariner knew she spoke of her mortal lover. He was curious about what sort of intervention was required to stop this goddess from giving up her divinity. All the same, he knew she wouldn't tell him.

Slowly setting a hand on the plane of her neck, Namor leaned over her. "I won't ask for details but I'm curious about something. What is it about this mortal man that would drive you to give up this form? Surely a goddess would know what that would entail," he said. Phoenix, who initially stiffened a bit, pinned her ears back. "Not a goddess. Why do you keep calling me that?" she asked, mutinously. "I know whatever history you shared with me. However, it doesn't explain everything about you in a way that satisfies me. You don't have to like it but a goddess is the only way I can see you. It's the only way I can reconcile your origin in a way that makes sense," he said, eyes zeroed in on hers. "I don't know what's so hard to believe about it," she sniped back. Smirking, Namor leaned back. "Chalk it up to a difference in culture, dear goddess," he said, specifically to irk her. A scowl was her only response. "So I can rightly assume your attempt to purge yourself of your proper form almost tore you and your lover apart. Is that correct?" he then inquired.

Phoenix knew there was no winning the fight as far as her perceived divinity went. Namor was set in his opinion that she was more than what she actually was. If there was one thing she knew of long-lived beings, it was hard to change their minds on anything they've always taken as truth. So she decided to drop it as well. He had asked her a question, indicating he was closing the subject. "It almost did, yes. He…he left me behind in the place where it happened. In hindsight, it was wise of him to do so. We needed to be separated for me to heal and for both of us to think about whether we could come back from my mistakes. As you surmised, I do have some healing powers. They're not as potent as my mother's but still enough that minor injuries heal without a trace. My back…the damage was too great. Not even something like my mother could fully heal from that. So now, my plate scales are permanently warped and discolored," she explained.

"And as a woman?" Namor prompted. Phoenix had given him enough context clues that he was able to fill in the rest. "There's a massive scar down my spine. The discoloration and warped nature of my scales show how the scar appears when I'm human. I've been told it's amazing I can still walk at all, let alone like nothing bad ever happened," she responded. The Talokani hummed, taking note of the sadness in her voice. He'd been around long enough to know the sound of someone deeply in love. "Has he forgiven you? Because if not, he doesn't deserve you," he then said. He watched her ears slowly pin back, a sign she was struggling. "He has…but I sometimes wonder if he was genuine about it. I know he was deep down but the doubt runs powerfully at times," Phoenix responded. He saw her visible eye open and decided to check the wound. He pulled the seaweed frond off and noticed the gash was even smaller than it was initially. He reapplied some ointment and placed a new frond over it.

Namor's attentiveness to her wound was somewhat jarring for Phoenix. Few beings, human or otherwise, had ever shown such care for her before. This man was taking care of her in a way that reminded her of Bucky. She wished it was him instead. There was this ringing in her head regarding Namor. Right now, it was faint because he wasn't being outwardly threatening. But it remained constant because he was something more than what she had ever known in her own lifetime. And she lived in a world of dragons and other such dangers. "You never answered one of my questions, Phoenix. What is it about your lover that you would bring yourself down to his level?" she then heard him ask. She just sighed roughly. Namor was the second person to imply that she was somehow debasing herself by being involved with Bucky when it seemed it was the opposite. "He was kind to me," she said simply.

"That's it?" Namor asked incredulously. "And we understand each other on a level most others can't. You're not the only one who thinks I could do better. But the truth is he could do better than me, especially after the stunt I pulled. I was so desperate to be what he deserved that I didn't stop to think that he really was fine with the way things were. Someone else had gotten into my head. That's why I did it," Nix said. Namor noticed she was starting to fall asleep. No surprise there. She had fought valiantly against his warriors and her wound had taken more of her energy. She'd be safe here and she could sleep. After a couple of moments, he started to softly sing a lullaby his mother had sung to him many times as a child before she died. He'd be lying if he said he didn't miss her still and it had been close to 500 years since she passed away. Namor was the only one of his people to have lived this long. He had seen generations of Talokanil come into the world, live full lives, and then fall into Cizin's embrace. Death in general didn't bother him anymore but the death of his mother was a wound that never healed. She had been his entire world.

Still, Namor ruled Talokan the way she would've wanted. His role was more of a cleric. His people came to him for guidance, healing, and protection. It was a role he relished. None were afraid to approach him because he lived as one of them. He was their god. An avatar of K'uk'ulkan. Phoenix was the Goddess of the Plains and Trees. She carried the scars of living as a mortal when her place was the heavens. The fact she fraternized with a human didn't bother Namor much. It was what it was and he suspected she accepted the fact that she would outlive her lover. "Such a beautiful song. I wonder...if my mother would've sung to me if she had been allowed…to raise me..," Phoenix said, her voice growing quieter before she fell asleep. Namor watched her entire body relax for a moment. He was starting to feel a bit dry but he had time before it became a problem. He set a hand on her neck and ran it along. Her fur was soft.

Translations

Attuma! Maach' le nej! : Attuma, grab that tail!

Namora, parar! Ba'ax ma' a k'ajóol jump'éel diosa ka wilik jump'éel? : Namora, stop! Do you not know a goddess when you see one?

Sa'asik in : Forgive me