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When people hear the word "Poseidon," the first thing they think of is the god of the sea, the trident, and the late father of King Triton when you are from the undersea kingdom of Atlantica——although he was a god with a immortal body like many of his brothers and sisters. Dead is just a metaphor for generational change——and the founding father of the country. Well, that's about it.
By chance, Uma, who has only recently learned that she is the biological granddaughter of Poseidon, has never known of even such common knowledge.
Her mother, who had often drunkenly told her about her half-brother Triton, was completely a clam about Poseidon, who had been an unloving father to her. Uma, who was not particularly close to her parents just like the so-called villain kids, was already estranged from her mother by the time she was barely 10 years old, therefore she had never heard of her having a grandfather, no matter how far back in her childhood memory she dug.
In addition, she had never heard that the god was famous enough to be the subject of a mythology homework.
"So, Flourish started swimming with a dinglehopper hooked to his dorsal fin," Arabella said.
Auradon prep, the main library. This beautiful space, with its colosseo-shaped atrium that allows the bookshelves lining to walls from the top of the second floor to be the floor below, has the disadvantage of allowing a lot of idle chatter to pass through the building. A study space had rows of long desks set up for students doing research. In one corner, Uma was silently and obligatorily reading texts that dry as sand, then the voice of the Princess came into her ear and broke her concentration.
Uma pressed her fingers to her forehead and took a deep breath, then glared at the owner of the voice. Over a number of tables, there was Arabella, a niece of Queen Ariel was chatting with her friends. Unlike her mother, Uma has no opinion of the chatty women, but when her cousin continues to innocently interrupt her efforts to keep her focus on the homework like that, the urge to take her voice away slowly creeps into her head. Of course Uma would never do such a thing, plus Auradon wouldn't let her keep someone's voice so there is no way she could do it. But you know, it's called freedom of thoughts.
Seriously, what on earth is the librarian doing? Uma wondered. Where is that guy who comes at the noisy students, points at the posters that saying something about avoiding idle chatter in the library and keep the library comfortable for the benefit of other users? Uma's eyes darted back and forth between the checkout counter and the library room, but she didn't see him in either place.
Uma hated the librarian who had banned Harry from the library, but she couldn't help but impressed of that guy's determination to make students follow the rules at all costs. Harry never was cut out to be someone who follow rules, and he even threatened the librarian several times before when the guy didn't let him in the library with his treasured hook. But all the guy said was "Any kind of weapons are not allowed here". All while having a sharp point of Harry's hook hovered over his neck.
Uma wishes the guy was here. Because he would force Arabella out just by his signature unimpressed look.
Uma would have preferred to get up from her seat and give a warning herself, but Uma did not want to do so.
She was the daughter of Ursula the Sea Witch. And Arabella was……Uma still did not even know which one of the daughter of King Triton the princess was born to.
Even though they are technically related, they have avoided each other thoroughly, as their very existence is like a scorpion fish that can kill you in an instant if you accidentally touch it. She has no intention of changing her stance, and she is fine with remaining estranged from her mother's side of the family for the rest of her life.
And she doesn't want to be anywhere near that table.
It's a whole different atmosphere around there. Arabella at the center of the group. The Mad Hatter's daughter, with her distinctive small top hat, is somehow bringing a teapot with steam rising from it into this humidity-prohibited room, and across from her, the daughter of Queen Anna of Arendelle is having a lot of fun. The chattering never stops. They're all so innocently ignorant of what annoyance they are to Uma. It makes Uma want to stay away from them even more.
Uma looked again at the reception desk for the librarian, but the counter seemed to be empty.
Ugh.
If she had known the librarian was not there, she would have brought Harry. The man was skilled at seducing men and women of all ages and genders, and he would have gone over there and immediately silenced the group of girls with just a few words.
It might be a little inconsiderate of her to try to use Harry, who is her now officially boyfriend, as a honey trap, but Uma was used to it. It's not like she didn't grow up watching him being flocked by a bunch of his "fans". She's immune to the irritation from it. Harry knows that, and he sometimes tests her tolerance on purpose……he's usually rootless as a stray cat, but wants to know she cares once in a strange moment.
So at some point of her life, Uma began to think only of taking advantage of Harry's intentions to make her jealous. She encourages him to mess around, and she's got a way or two to take profits off of it.
In Auradon, this is commonly referred to as "badger game" and it is considered a crime. But who cares? It's not her fault that her boyfriend do have a nice set of face and body.
Let's return to the most recent issue.
The noise of the Arabella's little group is slowly chipping away at Uma's patience. She's having probably one of the most trying time here, reluctantly tackling the tedious task of writing a three-page report on the anecdotes of her own grandfather Poseidon. She is getting too far irritated by those who are probably doing the same task over there, and she blame them for her not making any progress at all.
Uma took a deep breath, put the pencil down and rolled her stiff shoulders.
"Oh no, I spilled my tea"
"It's okay. I'll be dry in no time after I run!"
"Madeline, you're acting weird again"
Still fed up with the incessant chatter, Uma looked down at the illustrations in the book at hand. A hairy, stout man standing on the earth with a three-pronged spear in his hand. Even if she were to say that this was her grandfather, it would not seem to fit.
Even her great-uncle, Hades, seems to Uma to be nothing more than an eccentric man who has been hiding out in an underground cave, as does Triton, who expressed vague gratitude for the recovery of the trident that had washed ashore on the isle when they met at the council the other day. Uma didn't feel any connection between the two when they actually met and exchanged words. She only became more aware of the fact that they were strangers.
Maybe that's how it is after all. A kinship is just a formality, a group of individuals who are nothing alike.
Besides, when she think about it, it would be very terrifying to have all of her relatives look like her——or, to follow the order correctly, to have Uma look like one of her relatives. She's well aware that she is a not a easiest person to be talking with, and that she has a temper, also very determined at both right and wrong times. One such person, or demigoddess, is enough.
Perhaps it is this thought that makes Uma not to be so enthusiastic about the task of getting to know her grandfather. If there is any resemblance, she can't help but be horrified.
She really should have gone with Aphrodite......Audrey raised her hand without a second thought to the title "goddess of love and beauty", so Uma had no gods left but Poseidon, but she didn't realize how reluctant she would be to learn about the god until right now.
Uma was even half-surprised at her own hidden feelings. She had only read a few pages of the book, and she was already fed up with the list of mistresses of her grandfather, who was as womanizer as any of the other famous gods. It seems like she's born to the worst family possible.
Start with her human father who had his mother pregnant and then moved to the other side of the island, never to come see his own daughter, to her mother tried to kill Uma by throwing her into the sea and telling her not to come back until she learned to swim. Now she's learning about her grandfather who was an asshole to neglect her mom and could not even stop his own children's fight.
Is there nothing but scum in her family?
Uma was frustrated even as she read on, and even as she looked around for a break, she was annoyed by the irritatingly silly conversations. Everything hurts and it sucks.
"Hey, is that just me or is that plant shaking?"
The Princess of Arendelle tilts her head, her strawberry blonde pigtails swaying just like her mother's as she pointed at a Pachira.
"Oh no, earthquakes? This is why land is so scary," said Arabella's high-pitched voice.
"I don't feel it"
"Maybe it's the chair. Some of them are old"
The princess stood up and looked around, then came over to the table in the corner where Uma was sitting.
"Hey, can I have the chair across from yours? Oh, if that's okay with you, of course"
"Sure"
Despite being aware of her frown, Uma couldn't help it. Simply because, the smell of chocolate.
Great. The princess of Arendelle smells like a chocolate factory. Just so she can rub it into Uma's face.
Being angry costs energy. That's true. And when you are hungry and you smell something delicious, it makes you even angrier because you haven't ate a damn lunch.
In other words, Uma remembered her hunger at the most unpleasant time of the day. She knows there is no way such a bizarre harassment could have happened, and it was probably just a coincidence, but it was still very annoying.
"Uh, well, thank you."
After saying this, the princess whatever, ——because Uma doesn't know a thing about her than she smells chocolate——quickly replaced chairs and go back to her friends. Arabella welcomes her and whispers in a voice so loud that one wonders if she thinks they can't hear her.
"Kristen, don't scare me like that"
"Why?"
"It's Uma! The daughter of Ursula the sea witch! ……Her mom's the one who tried to trap my aunt and take over my grandfather's kingdom"
Uma felt Arabella stole a glance at her. The hostile, if not explicitly malicious, gaze was easily recognizable since Arabella wasn't putting much efforts to hide it.
'Well, I'm not saying she's evil as her mom is......but it's kind of hard to get to know about her. She's just, not approachable"
——Well, maybe because you're not welcoming to me since the first day of school. As saying this just inside her mind, Uma rolled her eyes.
Then the mermaid princess said.
"I've been patiently waiting for her to reach out first though. If she nicely apologized for what her mom did to my family, everything'll be cool"
Uma bristled this time. Oh for fuck's sake. It's not like her mom wasn't mistreated by her own family first!
"Hey,"
It's time for the little mermaid to shut her mouth over what she had no idea, Uma thought so as she was about to start off by banging on the desk a little more forcefully to scare them off,——her vision suddenly lost its focus.
Wobbling. It was a phenomenon that could only be described as such. Auradon prep was built from a solid stone castle that had been renovated into a modern building. The entire library, the largest facility on the second floor, was shaking violently. The tremors, which came without even the faintest of precursor, were met with bewilderment by people from all over the place. Fortunately, there were no bookshelves about to fall over, probably thanks to the aseismic reinforcing works, but the avalanche of books falling from the shelves would have been a sight to behold. Although Uma did not have the time to enjoy the chaos as books slid roughly across the floor and was about to sweep her feet off.
"My teapot!"
Madeline shrilled. And her voice made Uma snap out of her own bewilderment. The sound of blood rushing through the water like a receding wave brings back a clear image of the scene, and……she realized that the quake has completely subsided.
"What was that ......?"
Arabella barely managed to quavered, too scared of what has happened for few minutes. She was half crouched on the floor, slid beneath the desk as soon as this mysterious earthquake happened but it rattled away from her as the vibration escalated.
It was truly strange when you think about it. Because the end was too abrupt, and now the library was so quiet that you can even hear a pencil falling down from a desk, yet there sounds like nobody outside noticed the event.
Uma was about to leave, still puzzled, after gathering her belongings on the desk, then her eyes met Arabella's blue ones.
Confusion and fear.
Such a gaze is unfair. As if she had done it……Uma tossed the scattered pens and pencils into her shoulder bag, grabbed a half-opened book. Then, it jumped out at her.
——When offended or ignored, Poseidon supposedly struck the ground with his trident and caused chaotic springs, earthquakes, drownings and shipwrecks.
Uma hurriedly closes the book, shove it into her bag, ran out. She ran down the stairs, turned the corner of the corridor, and finally slowed her pace when she was far enough away.
"Fuck, is that earthquake……"
Uma reached into her bag for the book, then pulled her hand out without grabbing it. Because would she believe what it says? That she just did speciality of Poseidon? She's a bit confused herself.
"Is that the family traits of mine? You gotta be kidding me"
"Kidding you for what?"
Uma felt the familiar weight of an arm on her shoulder. Harry was already leaning into her side, looking at her face as she turned her head to see his curious face.
"My genes"
Uma doesn't know what to say otherwise, and it looks like he neither.