See the prologue for disclaimers and major canon divergences.

Aaand here I am with the first chapter of Harbor of Hearts (I'm continuing the chapter count of Rivals' Respite, so it's called "chapter 10"). Sorry it took so long; I would have liked to post last Sunday, but the summer school has been intense (but also a lot of fun!). I am also posting this on a Saturday instead of Sunday because I am leaving on my vacation tomorrow.

Happy reading!


Chapter 10

4 months later.

Arthur sighed as he shifted in his seat. It was uncomfortable and forced him to sit up straight instead of slouching. He'd much rather be on his dad's couch on the surface spending time with his parents, as he usually did this time of the week, but unfortunately an emergency had called him down to the depths of Atlantis. For the past five months the Atlanteans had been plagued by illnesses and diseases more severe than usual, claiming many lives including that of Vulko. No one knew the cause for these outbreaks, though a certain percentage of the population blamed the surface dwellers.

Arthur had managed to keep a fragile peace between the surface and the seas in his twenty-three months of kingship thus far and had even discovered that the younger generations of Atlanteans wished to reveal their existence to the surface. Unfortunately, the older generations did not share their wishes and clung to the prejudices and hatreds of the past. It was also unfortunate that these older generations held many of the positions of power in the kingdom, such as seats on the Council Arthur was currently facing. The King of Atlantis could not make any decisions or laws without their approval and they often shut down the proposals Arthur brought, making him want to tear his hair out. Instead, the half-Atlantean bit his tongue and tried to compromise whilst throwing out the Council's most overt suggestions that would lead to war. Arthur ignored the urge to pinch his brow as he considered how tired he was of these political games. Instead, he asked the Council where exactly the most recent plague outbreak had occurred.

"The Ninth Tride of Atlantis. There are also now reports of outbreaks in the Fishermen Kingdom," lady Karshon, the leader of the Council, responded. The Ninth Tride was particularly densely populated, so Arthur wasn't surprised. "Any new insights on the cause?" he asked.

The female Atlantean waved her hand. "Increased ocean acidity, decreased oxygen levels, toxic algae blooms, take your pick. The surface has been poisoning our atmosphere for over a century."

Arthur barely contained a sigh. Karshon belonged to the older generations of Atlanteans and had a particularly negative viewpoint on the surface. "You cannot expect the surface to care about what happens to us if they don't even know we exist," he tried to explain once again. "If we want to be a part of the conversation we have to take our seat at the table. If Atlantis were to reveal itself to the surface, we could talk to their scientists and combine our technologies to reverse the damage that's already been done. I know this is against Atlantean tradition, but the world is shrinking and times have changed. The old ways will not protect us any longer. On top of that Atlantis wants this: the younger generations do not want to hide anymore."

Karshon huffed. "Your majesty is well aware of the Council's position on this. We wanted to give your brother war powers and make him Ocean Master for a reason. If we ever decide to make ourselves known to the surface dwellers, it will be to eradicate them, not to coexist."

The meeting circled back to the plague outbreak and finished soon after. Arthur swam back to his bedroom inside the Royal Palace (it was no use going back to the surface at this hour) and tried to get some sleep. He wished Orm was here. His brother was so much better at all this king-stuff and would probably have known exactly what to say in order to convince the Council of any plan.

But most of all, Arthur simply missed having him around. They had spend some time together during their quest for Atlan's Trident and met a handful of times since, but it did not feel like enough. Arthur wished to know Orm better and to be able to spend time with him whenever either of them felt like it. Although he understood why his brother had left, trying to help consolidate Arthur's claim on the Atlantean throne, Arthur couldn't help but wonder if it had been the right decision. Even with Orm's absence people still compared them, some seeing Arthur as an unknown surface-lover and Orm as the known son of the previous king who had always been willing to protect the seas from those on land.

He was also worried about the fact that neither he nor his mother had heard from Orm for almost four months. They had gone for long periods (sometimes spanning one or two months or so) without contact before, both being as busy as they were, but none had been as long as this. No texts or calls were answered either. Arthur planned to go and look for his brother if nothing changed before the end of the of the month.

Arthur shook his head, unsuccessfully trying to rid himself of his worries and thoughts about a past he could not change, and let himself drifts away towards sleep.


Little did Arthur know he would be woken up less than three hours later by multiple alarms going off at once. First, an intruder alert had gone off in one of Atlantis' underground vaults. Arthur had only just dispatched a group of soldiers led by Mera towards the scene when a number of other alarms had gone off due to an unknown ship approaching the city, going over the wall, and shooting at civilians with a kind of supersonic energy weapon that disrupted the nerve system. Arthur had tried to contain both threats as much as possible, but could not be everywhere at once and both ship and intruders had managed to get away despite some damages and casualties on their part.

During the fight it had been revealed that both the unknown vessel and the intruders were under the command of David Kane. The pirate had apparently survived and was still out to avenge his father. But David seemed stronger this time. Before, the mercenary had been wearing a full suit of adapted Atlantean armor when he had been stopped by Arthur and Orm. Now, he wore nothing but a bodysuit, his helmet that could shoot lasers, and a green trident, but still managed to evade Arthur in single combat and get away from the entirety of the Atlantean army unscathed.

After ensuring all the wounded were helped and all damage was being assessed and restored, Arthur made his way over to a small private meeting room inside the palace where his mother, who had come down to Atlantis as soon as she heard what had happened, as well as Mera and king Nereus, who were visiting from Xebel for trade negotiations, were waiting. Arthur ignored his lack of sleep as they discussed David Kane and his sudden acquisition of power. He then asked what was stolen from the vault, knowing that, if it had been stored so deep underground, it couldn't have been good.

"They managed to escape with a large stockpile of orichalcum," his mother answered. Seeing her son's confused look, she explained: "It is a power source that was used in ancient times. It omits tremendous amounts of greenhouse gasses that are highly destructive to the planet. In fact, we almost destroyed the oceans ourselves before we realized what we were doing. Orichalcum can't be disposed of safely, so the remaining stockpile has been buried in twelve storage vaults deep underground for centuries."

"Well, we should warn the other vaults. If David Kane is stealing the stuff-"

King Nereus shook his head. "It's all gone. It seems like he's been launching secret raids for about five months now. This is just the one time he got caught."

Arthur frowned, feeling like he was missing something. Then it clicked. "Wait a minute, didn't the spiking of global temperatures that is causing disasters on the surface and disease among the sea dwellers start five months ago? Kane must be using the orichalcum to heat the planet."

Mera raised her eyebrows. "Why in the seven seas would he do that?"

"I don't know, but I intend to find out. If he is indeed using the orichalcum to heat the planet, we don't have much time. He is slowly pushing past the tipping point of a global climate meltdown."

King Nereus nodded in agreement. "We need to find him. The only problem is that he's completely vanished off the radar."

Arthur sighed and turned towards the large floor-to-ceiling window of the room. His eyes fleeted unseeing past the many colorful fluorescent rooftops of Atlantis, trying to figure out how to go about locating David Kane. He didn't know David well enough to guess where he had gone. He only knew Black Manta was a pirate and a mercenary, son of another pirate and mercenary. Atlantean intelligence couldn't offer much more information either. Only Orm had had more in-depth dealings with Kane. Orm. Of course! Arthur spun around to face the others. "What about Orm? He has had dealings with Black Manta in the past and may be able to find him in time."

Atlanna hesitated. "He might indeed. But we do not know where he is right now. It has been a while since you were in contact."

"I gave him a phone seven months ago which I should be able to GPS track if needed. Don't worry, I'll find him."

The rest the group nodded, also realizing Orm was their best shot.

After the meeting ended Arthur walked back to his chambers to prepare for his trip. He understood the danger and the lives at stake, but still couldn't help but feel a sliver of excitement at finally spending more time with his brother again.


And that was it for this chapter, folks. I hope you've enjoyed it! Next chapter will be posted on Sunday the 11th of August or Sunday the 18th of August. I haven't started on it yet plus I'll be gone on a laptop-free holiday until the 7th, so it's hard to estimate when it will be finished. But rest assured, once I return, I will try to post weekly from that point onwards!