Chapter Text
When the woman stood beside her at the water’s edge, Sally knew she could see it too. The Red Sea was a beautiful thing, filled with life so unique to the waters that would rightly kill so many creatures who walked the land, herself included. They had walked the cliffs that lined their country’s waters and had swam with the fish that infested its reefs, but they could see so much more, and sally knew this woman could see just as much, if not more.
At that moment they were staring at the gargantuan body that rested atop the waters of the sea of salt. She was a body of crashing waters, rising and falling with the tides that built her shape, gluttoned on the life that filled her. Only a few years ago sally would blush from their hair to their collar whenever the creature would turn itself towards them and wave flirtatiously with a sly smile and full cheeks. They now knew that this woman was a naiad. The naiad of the Red Sea, an immortal being who would not be seen by any mortal other than them and maybe a few others, but the woman above them was no mortal. Sally started with suspicions but the words that left her mouth confirmed them.
“La donna rossa, she goes by these days. Its good that while she professes the brilliance of the seas, she remembers her place, that compared to others she is just that, a lady.”
Sally turned their head to look at the woman who spoke to them. Whatever measure of beauty the naiad held to them, the speaker had set a new bar with her unearthly looks, her pupils were wide, wide enough to hold the depths of an ocean, and atop her brow she had a crown of pincers not dissimilar from the crabs that scattered the sea floor, her hair flowed around her as if it wished to float behind her and her jaw seemed sharp enough to best a sea urchin. Sally smirked to themselves and spoke up to the beauty before them.
“Who would these ‘others’ be, M’lady?”
The woman snorted to herself before replying “i see why my husband favours you mortal, but i shall humour you this one time, of course i speak of are my lord husband, king Poseidon, myself, seated at his side since the silver age of the Gods, and all our children, both those we have together and those we chose to have with… others.” Here the woman, Amphitrite, the queen of the seas, looked down at the bump that had begun to form in sally’s belly with a raised eyebrow. Sally’s cheeks flushed bright red. “The only question i come to you with is why do you, knowing the danger your child will be in on the surface, deny my husband’s offer? If you think this is standard for his mortal lovers you should be corrected, the only other he has offered a place is myself. If it is fear of retribution then you need not worry, i knew of your existence from the first time he returned to our home and regaled me with tales of the beautiful young person who had more of the ocean in their heart than the guards of Atlantis itself. I was even the one to suggest you were taken in so you should have no worry there. But my husband should have informed you of all this. So tell me Sally Jackson, why do you choose to live up here when it could be so much better down below?
Sally took a moment to collect themselves, reining in their blush, before she considered her response “i could give you any number of reasons m’lady but the truth is that i am selfish. I want my child by my side, i want to raise them, i want us to be able to live our lives for the next 16 years and i want to be able to join them when my time is up.”
Amphitrite was quiet for a long second. Sally had just about concluded that would be the answer that saw their death and stared on, holding themselves a little higher as if to tell the world “i believe i am correct here and i will not back down out of fear” when the Goddess spoke “selfish? I think not. You are simply a parent, likely a misinformed one at that. If any of my children’s lives were as fleeting as your own may be i would not be able to leave their side for a second, from my stead fast triton to my chaotic Kymopolia, i would keep them in my arms as you are trying to do. But to believe the seas would keep you and your child apart? Never. The seas call to you and they will call to the child also, of the sea as you both are, wherever you go you will always return to us. We are all children of Pontus and he will call us to be with him in his depths one day. We are of the sea and we will always return to it, you could never be separated from your child if you took our offer, not forever.”
Sally’s eyes shone as they took in the information. To never truly leave their child’s side? Even beyond death? It was a dream to them, when there was the expectation of asphodel in their future when their child was guaranteed Elysium? They only had one thought on their mind, one assuaged by amphitrite almost as soon as they opened their mouth, “no, my lawful brother would not take either of you if you accepted our offer, the rich one resides over Mortals His compatriot has collected and the mortal children of the sea are not true Mortals.”
They were both silent for what felt like an eternity as Sally processed the information. They stayed next to each other long enough for the goddess to take a seat next to the infinitely younger being and study them, running Her hands through the sands they shared. She watched until She saw that Sally had made their choice and then waited ten minuets longer, deciding to savour the moment of peace, before speaking.
“So, Sally Jackson, what will you choose now that you have a truth?”
Instead of answering, Sally picked herself up and brushed off the sand that had stuck to their dark skin, before offering the queen of the seas a hand. They watched Amphitrite examine the offered limb before their wrist was grasped and they hauled the goddess to Her feet and began to walk.
In the early hours of the morning the beaches of Dahlak saw a mortal joined by a goddess, and as the sun set on those very same beaches Dahlak watched a goddess lead something new into the waters, until it covered their heads and it could not watch any longer.