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On a calm night blessed by the moonlight, where predator and prey alike rested their energies and recovered their bodies for another day of survival, where the looming darkness was barely broke by the moonshine in the eerie still waters of the sea, their shores smothered in light
On a calm night such as that, the glorious city of Newtopia shone bright like a beacon over the sea. Their lights and fireworks pushed back the call of the night, while their fire and their lightning brought the power of the sun to their streets. Not quiet streets and for sure not silent streets.
Over the roads and around every district people danced in fervor either with the cheerful music being blasted over the poles or the beats of their own jolly amphibian hearts, surely looking like lunatics for anyone who might have passed through unwarded of the celebration taking place.
Meanwhile over the houses lanterns turned on and were set free to float into the sky’s, Parents taking their kids in their arms to watch the commotion from the windows, couples cheering with friends and family, even the quiet ones, not alone in their solitude at the fireplace.
Cheering was heard from the top of the walls where only a few unlucky or non sociable folks of the nightguard rested in light vigil, right to the upper sides of the nobles districts and the castle itself, where the celebrations were even bigger.
Balloons floated in the streets and the kids ran without fear chasing their colors, enchanted by the music and completely in love with the movements and the happiness floating in the air.
Barracks and games were mounted up along the ways of where usually would be the market district, fishing competitions in the great Marcy Bridge, and food stands to let the whole population eat for three days and nights non stop and still have some leftovers for the next day.
Food competitions, race of boats, carriages and carts shops. Every single event the city had become known for was working at their best and none but the best, for a special night such as that could have none less.
Under the immense joy and celebrations, one family overall had a feeling besides their joy, companionship and pride.
The Leviathans, in their castle in the center of the city, where the ones metaphorically and literally at the center of the event, it was, of course, a celebration made for one of theirs after all.
So while the city was in cheers and adulation already partying and enjoying the festivities the three parents of the royal family urged themselves to hold back on their worries and anxieties, they made preparations, received and entertained guests, tried their all but couldn’t help to let a worried glance or an anxious sweet escape their posture, none would notice though, for there was one who won against all of them when the subject was nerves. The one said party was made for.
“Do you think she is going to like my dress? What if I am making her wait too much? Has she danced with anyone yet? Does my crown make me look greedy? Did I check the ghost barricades to make sure the souls of the dead don’t come rip our lives out of our bodies? Is that grease in my hair????”
“Master Marcy Please calm down, you're going to mess up your hair!”
“Sorry, i’m sorry”
Sighing fondly for what must have been the uptheenth time that way, Lady Olivia couldn’t help but chuckle. There was a time no one would have dared utter a word in her direction without absolutely needing to, a time where her cold demeanor and anger were associated with disdain and icy repulse against all around her.
To talk to her was voluntarily subjecting oneself to her sassy and tired demeanor, the face of someone who did way more than anyone else, who knew it, and who didn’t hold back or shy from pouring out some of her exhaustion into remind anyone how atrocious she thought wasting her time in any level was.
To tell her then that she would be a good mother…
Given her own expêriences with family, that would probably be the fastest way to get yourself a night in jail, maybe her first public execution if you were annoying enough.
People wouldn't call you crazy then, if you said that this same lady was in on a dirtied stained dress, her hair not in the slightest pristine or well kept, that she had already come and gone from the ballroom at least three times in this state, and that with a brush in her hands, she fixed for the fourth time the hair of an alien creature, an alien child, that she had grown so found off that neither side was shy of committing the occasional slip and addressing each other as mother and child.
No, the people would not call you crazy, they would immediately send you off to a mental hospital with no diagnosis needed.
For old Olivia, being late by a minute, not looking proper every second of the day, and even caring for someone other than the king, was utter waste of time and abominatorious behavior for someone of the high class.
she smiled to herself, she didn’t know before, it wasn’t as clear, how alone and sad she had been, before her little tadpole had quite literally fallen into her life. and of course there was the occasional hiccup here and there, but as its life, never perfect to a tee, and to even that, she was grateful.
“Listen to her kid, you keep making her re-do your hair and we will maybe finally find how much it takes for her to get mad at you!”
Olivia rolled her eyes, preposterous of course, she had chastised Master Marcy a ton of times when the girl had neglected her own well being but she didn’t believe for a second that she could truly get mad at the girl… And she wasn’t that angry in the first place!
“Like even someone as grand as myself, GENERAL YUNAN! SCOURGE OF THE SAND WARS! DEFEATER OF RAGNAR THE WRENCHED, THE YOUNGEST NEWT EVER TO BE MADE GENERAL IN THE GREAT NEWTOPIAN ARMY! AND SECOND CARETAKER OF MASTER MARCY! don’t dare step on Liviia’s toes”
A rare moment of thought. “As much.” she completed and immediately followed up while walking forward to the princess in all but name, using her tail to put down a small fire that had spontaneously grown from her dress-cape.
“To end up on the other side of her righteous, and kinda exciting, fury? not a good place to be at all!”
“Wait, what was that last part?”
“Must’ve been the wind”
Yunan coughed, and put a hand on Marcy’s shoulder, for comfort.
“And of course, you can’t not be cute no matter what you wear so I doubt you have to worry about anything in that department.”
“Are you sure?” Getting a fistful of her dress, the girl asked, still unsure. Olivia grunting behind her as she replaced yet another cape.
“Oh well, normally i don’t tell that to no one, but since my amazing words of advice aren’t making an effect, i think i will have to tell you about all my horrible, and i mean horrible awful not good dates.”
The instantaneous reaction that got from Marcy was like day and night, from nervous and anxious the girl’s grin opened up and her eyes focused her attention completely on her maternal, maybe a bit paternal? figure. That also got the human to be still enough for Lady Olivia to get her hair ready, discreetly she thanked Yunan with her eyes.
“You had bad dates Yunan?”
“Oh lots, lots of them, some when I was younger, due mostly through the sheer inability of my partners to be any kind of interesting or capable enough individual to keep up with someone as great as I am!”
Stuffed chest, Yunan proudly jumped on top of a chair, but uncharacteristically, she deflated and sat crisscrossed on it.
“But when an Adult? Oh there were some other horrible ones too, the time where i forgot to change my armor and appeared in a restaurant covered in blood, that time i was thrown in a river and got to the dance hall slippery as a eel, oh oh and don’t let us forget the one time i was so dumbstruck looking at her eyes that i ended up biting my own tail thinking it was a big Steak! HA! Can you believe it? The great general Yunan biting her own tail?!? I’m lucky she wasn’t a blabber mouth or my reputation would have gone up in flames by now!”
The girl giggled, a small and precious thing. Still worried, passing her hands through her cape, she pondered.
“What if I do something like that, what if I end up ruining her night?”
A boisterous laugh got out of Yunan’s lips.
“Well kid, that's the best part. When you have a partner that you really like and cherish, then the date ain’t exactly the big part of things, what she wants is to spend time with you! to be with you, even if she has to call an ambulance to the people that passed out when they saw blood, or learn how to improvise dancing in a slippery floor and pretend it was all part of the plan *snort* even when she pretends to believe you when you say you bite your tail for a joke…”
Olivia dodged her gaze, all but assuming she was guilty as charged.
“...But if she likes you, really likes you, then it won’t be some craziness from you that will drive her away, heck! No way she won’t have any craziness on her own! Really if she is a good one, then she will take one look at how stunning you are, and will know right then and there that she has something precious that she should never let go off.”
“Mo-Yunan…”
“And of course she will also know that if she ever thinks of not treating you well she is going to get the good and old stabbed dee doh treatment!”
“Urgh” Lady Olivia growled and slapped her face, while Marcy laughed, feeling way better already. cleaning a tear, she turned to look at both at the same time.
“uh, can you both come here for a second?”
They moved to her side.
“what for-Huff!”
They lost air as the surprisingly strong child hugged them with all her might.
“Thank you guys, for everything.”
“There is no need for Master Marcy.”
“But don’t stop them! always recognize the greatness of General Yunan!”
The girl laughed once more, her newt parents lying further into the embrace, the heat and the cold not affecting them at all as their hearts beat like one.
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK
Turning around, the small family saw the huge figure waiting by the door, a smile, a true smile, not the ones he put out for the public to see, adorned his face with glee and cheerfulness.
“Sorry to interrupt, but the chef is making another fuss about taking the bugs out of some dishes, and the trainees have just started an iron hand competition.”
“Oh heavens not again.” Lady Olivia’s eyes widened as dinner plates. Turning around she gave the final checks on Marcy’s dress before giving her a quick kiss to the forehead, and saying “I'm sorry master marcy but our time seems to have been cut short”
“Don’t worry lady livia, you and General Yunan go right ahead, i will be right behind you”
“Thank you dear, now Yunan…”
“She already jumped through the window.”
“GENENRAL YUNAN AWAY!!!!!” was heard faintly going down from a Yunan shaped hole in the glass of Marcy’s room’s window.
Pinching the bridge of her nose, Olivia bid her final goodbye as she turned tail and ran ahead to solve another incompetence in between their ranks. a normal day at this point.
Which then, left only the biggest newt who ever lived and his adopted Daughter.
“Whoa they are quick on their feet, makes me wonder if i should raise their paychecks… Nah what for! i can buy them anything im king!”
Marcy laughed, a loud laugh, if there was someone that could aways get her to smile, that was Andrias.
Satisfied at lifting the general humour of his charge, the King went inside calmly.
“And to answer your questions…”
He sat himself in a bench that was comically small when compared to his size.
“I think she will love your dress, she just got here late and in a hurry as aways so i think she is going to appreciate the extra time to catch her breath. there WAS some grease in your hair but Olivia took care of that, i haven’t checked on the ghosts so that may make the night a bit funnier, and how am i supposed to know how you look with your crown if you aren’t wearing it?”
Beat red, Marcy answered “h-how long have you been at the door?”
“Not long but you know how my hearing keeps getting better with age, contrary to what everyone would think, especially with those head phuuunes of yours, HA! I told you the youngsters' technology wouldn’t be able to beat me dad! who is laughing now!”
He slapped his knees.
“But don’t think I ain't seeing you try to dodge the question, young lady.”
Marcy messed with her hands.
“Haha, dodging the question whaaaa-? yeah i am, i don’t know how to put it right, neither does Lady Olivia, she suggested i use it as an armband instead.”
“Hmm so that's what she was trying to do, well about that, if you do remember that was once my crown when I myself was a youngster, and i think i still remember how to properly tie it.”
“Oh! yes! Can you help me!?”
“But of course! Everything for the girl of the day!”
They shared a laugh and promptly turned so Andrias could work on her hair, giving him the crown, Marcys mind wondered
From a hole, that wasn’t in the ground, where a human and not a hobbit or dwarf or even a newt lived, but a human, a couple and a child in what could maybe be called a torn shred of a family.
She made her way out of there, her biggest mistake and her best choice, the decision that changed everything, gave her the opportunity to meet people that cared for her and experiêncie things she could only dream of before!
It also came with the horrible mistake of dragging the people she loved the most in life with her, something that could be only good before, but that quickly turned in her head, as she realized just how much she had taken from them without even realizing.
shaking her head, she shouldn’t think of that now, she had already made this realization, and she would make things right, she would get her and her friends back to earth and she would tell them her truth.
So no pitying herself, she already knew what she had to do, she learned her lesson, and the one who had taught her…
Andrias.
The one who received her with open arms who teached her not to value herself only for what she could offer others and what she could accomplish, who made her realize she was worth love.
To Marcy the word father had meant strictness, had meant rules, had meant shouting matches at night and disapproving glances or neutral stares of complacency.
Dad now meant cold, but a comfortable cold, it meant the silly words of encouragement, wild inappropriate use of total authority and shenanigans that would normally result in their city burning to the ground in a single night.
Olivia and Yunan loved Marcy unconditionally, but Andrias was the one who helped her accept that love, made her feel validated for not spending every waking moment improving society with the gifts of her smarts, made her feel seen that even someone so big and so important could and would often commit mistakes, and that wasn’t all that much of a problem, mistakes were fine, mistakes where and she laughed inwardly everytime she thought about it, human.
Marcy often wondered what would have been of her without Andrias, without amphibia. Lonely and abandoned in a strange place without no one to talk to, to be with, no safety to protect her from her folks, only the emptiness of a life in pretend perfection, till one day she eventually snapped… hopefully.
it drove her to tears at times, how overwhelming those possibilities are, how close she had come to rock bottom, what price she had paid to avoid it.
but most of all, the relief, relief that she was finally free. And it was in most part, all thanks to this one newt, this one person, she had the pride to call dad. At least in her mind, she was still working with the out loud vocalization of the word.
“There all done.”
His voice brought her out of her reflections.
She looked up and saw her image in the mirror, the green dress with frills and stars drawn around were now complemented by the crown resting high on her head.,
“What do you think?”
Balancing her head, a comfortable weight to it, a pull or two showed it was firm, she smiled.
“it 's perfect!”
Turning around she hugged the giant creature that most knew as king, but that she called a father.
“thank you thank you thank you thank you.”
He patted her backs.
“Anytime kiddo. Say it's getting late, what do you think, we go to the ballroom and make your girl’s jaw hit the floor?”
Meek as a mouse and red as a tomato, she nodded. Andrias stood up and offered a hand.
“shall we?”
No hesitation as she took his giant hand and followed to the party.
As they arrived, the whole place froze, and Marcy’s own world did too, the descriptions and presentations of her titles and nicknames passed completely unheard through her head as all she could focus was on her. On Anne.
Dressed in a white tuxedo, holding a cup of ponche, the girl was just finishing a last minute preparation with Sprig when her eyes caught sight of Marcy entering the room, and she froze with the rest.
Both looked gorgeous, amazing, brilliant, they didn’t have enough words to describe just how fast and how still their hearts got, and how much they would do just to continue seeing each other day after day.
With a pat in the back, Andrias motioned for her to go. With a last look back to make sure he was ok, she ran away into the ballroom, holding her dress with both hands and almost falling headfirst into the ground. She was caught by Anne who’s protective instincts overrode any shame she might have been feeling.
Turning his audio protocols down to the normal levels to give them a bit of privacy, Andiras could only look from a distance and contently smile as the two girls talked, eyes never separating, never breaking contact, like the other would disappear if they did it.
Ah, to be young and in love, that did bring him back memories.For a second, his mind attempted to drag him to the basement, where a legacy still awaited to be revived, and a mistake waited to be corrected.
But not tonight, tonight was celebration, tonight was a night to cheer and to love and to pass with family and friends.
On the sky the fireworks exploded louder than before, and there Andrias saw, in the bright explosions, ‘Here we continue to write history’, he chuckled to himself, that for sure was right. This small era of his life was done, and that right now, savoring the moment was all that mattered.