The warm Atlantic water slithers against your undulating body, softly billowing through your (h/l) (h/c) as you swim through King Triton's golden palace during your routine patrol. Your scaly (t/c) tail forcefully propels you forward in graceful strokes that oblige you to grip the sword at your hip to keep it from wagging. Around you your fellow guardsmen give wary glances at the gold-plated armlets that signify your authoritative stature. It's unheard of—of a mermaid being a Captain in Triton's army, let alone a soldier. Even your envious male counterparts can't dismiss or deny your valor or combat skill, and you're aware of it. Such aspects are why you're one of the King's most trusted guardsmen.
You nod to passing courtiers before swimming beneath a towering coral archway to enter the throne room. From within the golden-columned cove sounds the melodic laughter you know all too well. Rounding the corner, you faintly smile at the expected yet warming sight.
Queen Athena, in all her unparalleled beauty, sits upon the armrest of Triton's throne, her deep crimson waves of hair flowing around her slender frame in perpetual grace, even as Triton teasingly kisses her cheek, his beard and mustache tickling her. She laughs at the sensation, yet never asks for her beloved to stop.
As you come into sight, she and Triton settle down with a chuckling sigh. "Ah! Captain (y/n)," Triton's resounding voice greets. You bow your head, hand on chest. "Is all well in Atlantica?"
"Yes, Your Highness. I'm glad to say that it is," you reply.
"Very good," he smiles, then visibly stiffening with a hesitant noise. "Hmm. So, no other...disturbances?"
What he's implying is perfectly clear to you, and you cock your head. "Surprisingly no, sire. He's been unusually quiet today," you muse.
Athena exchanges a comforting look with the King, whose auburn-orange beard barely hides his lingering discomfort. "This is good news, my love!" she urges softly.
He nods stiffly. "I suppose. It's just so unlike him to not be causing an uproar of some sorts," he mutters. "His compliance unnerves me more so than his antics."
"Trust me, sire, I am not complaining," you say.
The two laugh in good tastes, Triton more strained than his wife. "I am sorry, (y/n)," he smiles in apology, and you relax at the familiarity. "I wish I could assign another solider to at least escort you, but I'm afraid neither him nor I trust anyone else to handle such a person effectively."
You inhale deep, your chest expanding against the gilded breastplate, and make a quick tilt of the head. "As do I, Your Highness," you sigh. "It can't be helped. At least it appears this day is to be easy for me."
BOOM!
Triton and Athena jolt violently at the thunderous, electric explosion that shakes the very walls, sending rubble cascading upon the three of you. You, however, are completely unfazed. Heaving another sigh, you brush the debris off your shoulder and hold up your palm when the Queen tries to speak—most likely to bid you to let it go.
"It's fine," you say. "Your Highness."
Triton nods at your bow before you twirl to leave. Unnerved courtiers and guards watch you with eyes no longer filled with envy as you swim towards a chamber deep within the palace. Despite the summer sun glittering the crystal-blue water around you, all the light and color seemingly fades into a heavy, dreary gloom. No sea life wanders into this territory, nor do many plants grow here, as though the very ground is corrupted by some unseen foulness.
It would, at the very least, explain the unnatural purple hued light seeping out from behind the thick curtain of seaweed. The light grows in strength till it's nearly blinding, and then another, softer, crack goes off that's accompanied by dense smoke.
