X. Housemates

"Oh, good morning!" An overly-cheerful voice greeted Orm as he stirred awake. He groaned and rubbed his eyes - it was much too bright here. He missed the darkness of the ocean depths. It was going to take a long time for his water-trained eyes to adjust.

When they finally did, he saw more parchment scattered about on the floor, almost covering the whole floor, like a trail leading to where his hostess sat surrounded by a pile.

She gave him a smile and wave, sipping something steaming from the mug in her hand. "Or, Kaliméra as we say back home."

"Good morning," Orm responded, his voice still hoarse from sleep.

He swung his legs off the couch, but drew his feet back before he stepped on the floor - where could he step, with all these papers spread about?

"Sorry, I've made it a bit of a maze here, haven't I?" She came over, scooping up pages as she went.

"I hope you're not too hungry this morning, as options are limited - although it appears like you had a good feast sometime last night." She smiled. "I'll have to go to the market today. I mostly cook traditional Greek food, reminds me of home. Hope that's okay with you."

He had no idea what she was talking about. "Yes, that's fine."

"I was thinking salad and dolmathes tonight, how does that sound?"

"I am not familiar with those foods, but am willing to try them."

"Great, I'm glad! They're some of my favourites! And I love to cook!"

Lovely.

"So this is really yours, huh?"

"I'm sorry?" He saw that she was now gesturing to his trident, which was standing up in the corner behind her desk. She had jumped from subject to subject very quickly.

"You said that this trident is your personal weapon?"

"Yes. A trident is the traditional weapon of Atlantan royalty-" He paused, realizing she had her head down and was frantically scribbling something down.

Was she even listening to him?

"Sorry, keep going! I'm just writing this all down!" Her long hair was falling in her face, making Orm wonder how she could see anything. Didn't it bother her, how her hair was messily in the way? That was why he liked to keep his own hair pulled back.

"I wiped it off, hope you don't mind," she said. "It has a nice shine to it, don't you think? It's really very beautiful!"

"Yes, it is."

"Maybe you can give me a demonstration on how to use it sometime! Though, probably best we go outside for that, too many things to knock over in here!" She laughed; Orm did not.

"Would you like anything to drink? Tea, coffee? I'm having coffee." She held up her giant mug.

"Um, no thank you. Just a glass of water will be fine."

"Sure." She retrieved a glass from one of the cupboards and held it out to him. "Help yourself. I hope you won't be too bored here, as I just work mostly... But now you can help me - if you don't mind, of course! And you will receive credit in my research, don't you worry!"

Why would I worry about that? Orm suppressed yet another heavy sigh. He clearly had a lot to learn, and he was not pleased about it. "This is your research?"

"It's messy, I know." She seemed a little embarrassed - her olive cheeks were clearly flushed now. Orm felt a little bad now for pointing it out. "It's not the most organized system, but it works for me. I like to lay it all out - I don't want to miss anything when I compile it all."

"Compile it all?"

"Into a book. I'm writing a series of papers and putting them into a book - all my research, my life's work!" She was grinning now. "I've never been this close to finishing it before. I have no idea what I'll do once I'm finished and it's all over..." This suddenly dawned on her - what did you do when you finished your life's work?

Orm did eventually try some coffee, seeing as his hostess liked it so much and kept boasting about it. He didn't see the appeal - one sip told him enough.

Tatiana did some 'organizing' of her notes and then declared she was heading to the market. "Would you like to come with me?"

"I think it would be best if I stayed here, keep a low profile."

"Alright, I understand." Did she seem disappointed? "I won't be too long. Any foods you'd like me to look for?"

He might have to start doing some research of his own - on surface world foods. "Whatever you pick out I'm sure will be fine for me."

"Sounds good! Don't steal my research while I'm gone." She winked, and Orm didn't know how to respond to that. Luckily she left before he had to formulate a response.

Orm exhaled a breath he hadn't realized he had been holding and relished in the sudden peace and quiet - he had been longing for a peaceful moment like this since waking up. Best not let it go to waste.

He strode over and scooped up his trident. He gripped it tightly, taking in the familiar sensation of having a weapon in his hand, even though he hadn't used this particular trident in some time. He twirled it around thoughtfully.

He needed to form a plan of action. Sure, he had managed to escape, but he felt more trapped here than he had. He may have escaped his prison cell, but now he was stuck here, in an unfamiliar place being closely monitored.

And he might have chosen the most annoying surface dweller to stay with, but she seemed gullible enough.

Surface dwellers in general seemed gullible enough. Perhaps he could charm his way into making them trust him, as Arthur had.

As Arthur had, both here on the surface and in Atlantis.

Great, that was the last thing he wanted. He was not about to become like his brother.

I love Greek food! I started craving it while writing this, haha! ;)

As promised in my other Orm story, here's another chapter for this Orm story! :) Thank you for your patience - I've been on a roll with updating many of my stories and trying to finish some of the older ones!

I thought it was about time we check back in with Orm and Tatiana! ;) Thank you so much for reading and, as always, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! :)