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Gillian Tidestrider is a hero.
He is the chosen one, and as such he must play the part perfectly. What is a hero, if not someone that does everything they can to protect good and vanquish evil regardless of any ailment that might befall them?
When Gillion was still a guppie, he was fascinated by the very concept of knowing more. He, admittedly, cared very little about weaponry and fighting. His elder sister had often spoken about the dangers of combat and her distaste for violence. And, even if he didn't quite understand why she felt the way she did, he trusted her judgment. Older tritons always encouraged younger ones to pick up a weapon, those who were physically capable were the most respected, but if Edyn didn't like it Gillion would not listen to them. She was always careful of her words when Gillion asked questions, aware that their parents, who would not be pleased with her if they heard a lick of what she was teaching their youngest, were always listening. But after years of her whispers, there was a consistent tune. Having young guppies train to be soldiers was wrong and the selection was not something to be taken lightly. Gillion had to prove he could be a scholar before then, or if push came to shove he had to become a worker, anything but a warrior. While others his age talked of swords and magic, he read about various corals and sealife. Any book he could attain was looked through and journals were filled with drawings of jellyfish and seaweed.
"Are you sure you don't want to even try holding my trident, Gillion? Or perhaps one of your papa's blades?" Gillion's father had often asked whenever he caught him working in his journal. "Your papa and I would feel much better if at the very least you knew how to defend yourself before the selection. If you are to be picked to be a warrior, starting from scratch would benefit no one."
Gillion would simply shake his head rapidly in response. He was a shy lad, only speaking when he must or when he was excited. His dads and Edyn were typically the only ones who could get a word out of him.
His father would sigh, and his papa would pat his father's shoulder in a consoling manner. Gillion knew they only wanted what was best for him. They loved him and his sister from their toes to the coral on their head, but more than anything in the whole ocean Gillion wanted to make his sister happy. This conversation however would never truly be over, until sometime years later.
Gillion didn't intentionally eavesdrop on his parent's conversation, he had passed by them while looking for his journal and had overheard them speaking about a triton named Finn Tidestrider, his grandfather. Gillion had never personally met the man, neither of his parents were particularly close to him and he did not seem keen on leaving his research to visit, but Gillion did know of his work. The name popped up frequently in the books he read and the essays he looked over to reference for his drawings. For good or bad, Finn was the most well-known scholar in the Undersea.
"He's planning on leaving? Just like that? Too cowardly to even say goodbye?" Gillion heard his father hiss, clear anger in his voice. He quickly swam behind some seaweed getting low to the seafloor hoping he wouldn't be seen.
"Rallio you know how your father is. It's useless to expect anything else from that man. His studies come first, before the good of the Undersea and certainly before his family." His papa responded in his usual neutral tone.
"I am unfortunately aware, he didn't even come to see us when Gillion was given. For the gods’ sake, the senile barnacle hasn't seen Edyn since she began swimming on her own. I just hope our Gillion doesn't end up like that fool. He could be so much more if he wasn't so invested in those awful books. With your blood in his veins who knows how strong his magic could be."
"Not to mention your prowess with a trident. For all we know, our Gillion could be the one the elders are looking for. His time of birth does fit after all."
"Our quiet little Gillion, the hero of the Undersea, what a sight that would be."
"Indeed," His papa paused and looked over to where Gillion was hidden. "Though him hiding behind green despite his bright orange pattern is also quite the sight."
Gillion pouted, not fair. It wasn't his fault his coral was so different, orange markings often popped up in his family's lineage. Typically, the patterns were minimal, his papa only having small pebble-like markings under his eyes and Edyn only had a thin dull orange stripe from the tip of her nose to her hairline. Gillion's upper body was littered with various patches of bright orange. His shoulders and coral had bands of the color wrapping all around, and his face had thick stripes of it similar to that of the paint the soldiers of the Undersea would wear. Everything about it made camouflage practically impossible in the greens and blues of his home.
"Get out from behind there Gillion." His father called and he immediately listened, sheepishly rushing over. He hovered nervously, face tinting a dark blue at being caught. "What were you doing?"
"I didn't mean to Father, but you were talking about grandfather and I got curious 'cuz he's mentioned in all the books I've been reading! And he's really cool! And did y'know that he discovered..." Gillion was ready to go on and on about Finn's findings but trailed off when he saw the looks on his parent's faces. They were both frowning, father's eyebrows were even furrowed in what Gillion recognized as a very displeased look. It was like Gillion fed them months old cod.
"Your grandfather is a disgrace to the Undersea. The only thing he is good for is the knowledge he has brought upon us and the studies he's provided the elders. He is not cool, nor is he something you should be excited to hear about."
The fins on Gillion's head pinned down and he shrunk into himself slightly, his father's visceral was not unexpected nor new, but it had never been directed at Gillion before.
"Rallio, calm yourself. I understand your feelings, and do not disagree with you but do not take it out on Gillion. He is only a guppie, it is natural to be naive."
His father grits his teeth as he clenched his claws into his palm and took a few sharp breaths. After some silence, his previously tense shoulders slumped.
"You are right. Gillion, I apologize for snapping at you. As I am sure you overheard, we are not pleased with Finn currently and I pushed that onto you. That was wrong of me." He took another breath. "However, it is important you understand that that man is not someone you should look up to. It is important to us that you are happy, of course, but we also believe you would be happiest living life as different as you possibly can from him."
"Why do ya think I wouldn't be happy as a scholar? Is Finn sad?" Gillion questioned without thinking.
"Guppie," His papa rose from the rock he had been sitting on, swimmingly over to make eye contact with Gillion and cupping his face. "Finn is a much different man than you are. The thing that he desires most in this world is knowledge. He is selfish in the way that he would put anything aside to seek it. You care about family, you care about the Undersea, you wish to learn because you care. It is how we raised you and your sister. You would not be happy with the life of a scholar. It is why your father and I have tried to push you into learning to fight. Your heart is much better suited to serving the Undersea than being isolated by research and expedition."
"I don't wanna be sad. I wanna make you and Father proud. I want us all to be happy..." But Gillion wants Edyn to be happy too. Gillion loves his father and his papa but would it be fair to Edyn if they're happy when she's not?
"How about this, I have an idea. We'll go seek out Finn, he's been due a visit for a long time. If he chooses to help teach you instead of leaving for the Oversea, proving us wrong, we will let you follow in his footsteps. If we are proven right, if he denies teaching you, you will begin lessons on learning the basics of fighting like we have wanted you to." Gillion's papa offers, his face still held gently in his hands, finger stroking his cheek.
Gillion meets his papa's eyes. They're pretty. A striking color similar to that of electricity he's seen eels and some magic users make. They're kind and they're ones Gillion trusts.
He nods. His papa smiles knowingly. His father also grins, much more smug. As if they both somehow already know the outcome of this deal they've made.
His parents are soon proven right. He meets Finn for no more than a minute before he is shooed out of the room by the man who introduced them clutching the notes on elusive crawfish Finn gave him. Perhaps, he really would be happier with a sword than a book.
"Edyn?" Gillion calls out to his sister from outside her cove the same night. He hears some shuffling before being met with the face of his elder sister.
"Gill, what are you doing still up? You should be in your own cove asleep."
He shuffled, scratching at the coral on his head nervously (a habit he's had for as long as he can remember).
"I wanna talk to you, but I didn't want Father or Papa to hear so..."
"So you came in the middle of the night when you knew they'd be asleep, huh?" She continued with a teasing grin and snicker.
"Maybe..." Gillion replied dragging out the 'a'. "But you can't get annoyed at me, 'cuz you do the same all the time and I never ever get annoyed."
"Okay, okay, I get it Gill. Come on in, we can sit and chitchat while I brush out your hair. It looks like you were trampled by a school of large fish."
They swam in side by side, the older holding gently onto the younger's wrist. Her cove was small but bigger than Gillion's. It was covered in various sea plants and even had a small patch of coral that Edyn had been nursing after finding it damaged years ago. She had a small shelf carved into rock with various things Gillion has brought back to her, like the shiniest sea glass he's ever seen and a strange golden disk Edyn says is from the Oversea that Gillion found buried in sand. In the farthest part of the cove from the entrance rests the top half of a large clamshell, inside covered in seaweed, surrounded by anemone used for resting. The bottom half of the clam is in Gillion's own cove and is not nearly as well kept as hers, seaweed pouring over the edge and little pieces of the shell had been picked off over time. They swam over to sit on top of the seaweed, Gillion going directly in front of Edyn. She reached out and began combing her sharp claws through his hair.
"Can you braid it too?" He asks. "I like having long hair like you! But it's so hard to make it all pretty like you always got it. My webs make it so hard to hold the strands right."
"Sure thing Gill. Now, what did you want to talk about?"
Gillion took his time responding uncertain of what to say. He leaned back against Edyn’s knees and pushed his fingers against the edges of his sharp nails.
“Father and Papa want me to start training to be a warrior and I…” He dug his nail in, not quite enough to break the skin but enough to start to sting. “I think I want to.”
Edyn’s hands, which had still been brushing through Gillion’s hair, paused. Gillion could hear her breath catch, could almost hear her heart skip a beat. The nail went deeper. The silence between the two, that’s usually relaxing, felt colder than the deepest part of the Undersea. Blue blood bubbled on his thumb.
Without breaking the silence, his sister reaches out pulling his fingers apart and lacing their fingers together instead. Gillion hissed now registering the pain he inflicted on himself and tightened his grip on Edyn’s hand. She rubbed his knuckles in response. The cold in the air seemed to melt away, but the cave remained silent. Edyn pulled Gillion closer in a hug leaning her head on his and rocked back and forth.
They continued to sit together until inevitably, the silence was broken.
“Gillion, is this truly what you want?” She whispered.
Gillion had never heard Edyn sound so small. Even in the presence of the elders during her own selection, Edyn had stood strong. Her voice was loud and powerful as she accepted her role, chosen by the elders, as a worker. It was jarring to hear the strongest triton he knew sounding so weak.
“I want us all to be happy.”
“Will this make you happy?”
“Yes.” He says, even if he wasn’t sure.
“Then who am I to discourage you Gill? Just promise me one thing please.”
Gillion nods.
“If it gets too much if you don’t want to do it anymore… back out. The elders will discourage you, our parents will discourage you, but please. The Undersea is not worth your happiness.”
“I promise.” He says, even if it was a lie.
When it comes time for the selection of guppies born in the same cycle as Gillion, he is one of the few to be chosen as a warrior. The elders were impressed with the skills his parents instilled in him, so impressed that eventually Gillion was given what the others being trained called special treatment. The lesson that he usually participated in with others his age, slowly became ones he took alone. Gillion was given what the elders called behavioral lessons, he was taught how to talk properly, how to stand, how to walk. He was taught what was good and what was bad. The evils of the Oversea and the selfishness of humans. He was taught that he should never lie to the elders and the importance of listening to their every word. Gillion was taught about destiny and was instructed to repeat the prophecy every day after lessons.
Gillion was taught that there would be consequences if he made mistakes.
Gillion knew he made many mistakes.
Gillion Tidestrider was taught to be a hero.
He is the chosen one, and as such he must play the part perfectly. What is a hero, if not someone who in the face of his friends getting hurt will do anything to protect them regardless of any ailment that might befall them?
When Gillion accepted Chip’s hand and invitation onto the Big Chipper, he was fascinated by the very concept of knowing more. He, admittedly, cared a lot about learning the ways of the Oversea and befriending Chip and Jay. His co-captains have over time told him a lot about the way of the world outside of the ocean, and though not everything that has been said to him is something he understands he makes sure to take every lesson to heart. He wielded his sword against any and all evils that came their way and knew that the crew of the Albatross respected him for his strengths. It was important to him to prove that he could be the warrior that the elders said he had to be, the chosen one of the prophecy he was destined to be.
However, on quiet nights when Gillion Tidestrider is alone during his turn to watch over the ship while the others rest, Gillion will open up an old journal and draw jellyfish and seaweed.