Maid of the Wave

Christopher was born first, but that wasn’t what made him heir to the throne. At first, because King Vertillo had no way of knowing he’d have Cornelius, Christopher was taught how to be a good king. He never really had a chance to be a child. Every day he would go into a classroom with a tutor, and he would be taught how to harden himself, and make himself indifferent to everything. King Vertillo would drill him constantly on what he’d learned. Before Christopher knew how to read he was being drilled on how to respond to different political situations. He was forced to choose between the lives of animals, and King Vertillo would make up example situations for Christopher to deal with.

Then, Cornelius was born. All at once, King Vertillo eased up on his son and Christopher felt a since of escape, finally. While Cornelius was a newborn, Christopher managed to learn things on his own- things he wanted to know. He taught himself to read, and write in his free time. Then he taught himself how to count things. It was a short-lived peace, and in the time that Christopher found himself left to his own devices, he didn’t even learn how to play.

King Vertillo had to make sure his sons were never distracted from the ultimate goal. One day, one of them would have to rule, and they would have to prove they could manage it. If they had any sort of brotherly affection, his whole plan would fall through. From day one, Cornelius and Christopher were pit against each other in everything. Every little thing was turned into some competition for the throne of Methone. Whoever could eat the fastest might be named heir to the throne, whoever dressed the best, whoever was ready in the morning first. Every ridiculous thing King Vertillo could think of he used to drive the brothers against each other. They would throw their very hearts into each competition, and they did so to please their father.

Unfortunately, there was no pleasing the perfectionist heart of King Vertillo. Nothing was enough.

Secretly, when they weren’t under the watchful gaze of their father, their brotherhood flourished. If there was anything important Christopher had learned from reading the large tomes in his youth, it was the simple phrase: ‘You are whom you choose to be.’ Though he was only a child, he’d become quite the young genius, and his ability to make life informed decisions led him to the most important one of all. That decision was whose side he was on. He remembered what it was like when he was on his own, so when they were alone, Christopher would teach Cornelius how to read, write, and count.

This secret bond carried on for over years, and it kept the brothers from being determined to out do one another. They would always be considerate enough to give the other a chance to win. King Vertillo watched the small seed of affection that was growing and blossoming inside of them and to him there seemed to be only one solution. They would receive harsher punishment if they failed. The minute he’d had this idea, it was effectively immediately. At first, it was spending the night in prison, but this proved to be ineffective. Time passed, and finally King Vertillo decided it was best to address the issue head on.

It started during a political test. The brothers were brought to the strategy table, and forced to come up with strategies to defeat each other in war. Cornelius, in a delightful twist, had for the first time in his life managed to beat Christopher. His delight over victory was shortlived when he remembered the punishment Christopher would face for loss. Only, the punishment had changed. Christopher was put in chains, but he was chained to the wall of the dining room. He was forced to starve and watch his family eat. For several days this continued on, meant to be lifted during the next political test. What King Vertillo hadn’t counted on, was that Cornelius would sneak food to Christopher every night.
It was through these nightly snacks that the brothers affections grew from a friendly bond to full out love. Every night they would hold each other for the longest time before Cornelius would leave for his room. Whenever Cornelius had a problem, Christopher knew what it was without being told, and vice versa.

King Vertillo had his suspicions when Christopher wasn’t becoming as weak as he thought he should be, but in the end chalked it up to Christopher being a strong boy.
During the next political test, however, he decided he should put an end to his suspicions all together. Instead of a strategy table, the boys were both armed.
He told them, they had to duel. The first one to drop his weapon would be forced to wait for his injury to heal itself.
The brothers were in shock, because they’d never been told to do anything of the sort before. Their weapons were shaking while they faced each other. The long lances made out of coral were sharp, and they’d been more than eager to have their make believe soldiers stab at each other, but in the harsh world of reality they were much more hesitant.

They nodded to each other all the same, and the two of them started to clang their weapons together. Their father barked harsh commands and the boys found out that simply trying to knock each other’s weapons around wasn’t enough for him. Christopher swung his coral blade in a long sweep and slice open Cornelius’s tail. This had been an opening Cornelius was looking for, and unthinkingly he drove his lance into Christopher’s shoulder.
The wide and long blade chopped off a good bit of Christopher’s ear too.

Cornelius was still. His shock was evident as he watched his brother’s weapon hover to the ocean floor. Cornelius was shaking, and frightened of what he’d done. His fingers released the lance and it too sank.
All at once his father slapped him on the back and commended him for a job well done, but Cornelius didn’t feel victorious at all.
King Vertillo ordered that Christopher be brought to his room to sleep it out, and that Cornelius be given immediate medical attention for the flesh wound on his fin.

Cornelius didn’t stop feeling guilty, even as his father showered him with the attention and praise he’d longed for as a child. When he had a free night, he sneaked into the medical room and grabbed all medicinal herbs and bandages he could. He could only remember what had been applied to the slice on his tail, so that was all he brought up to Christopher’s room.
When he entered, Christopher turned in his bed to face Cornelius.
Cornelius was shocked to see the damage he’d done. The cut on Cornelius’s shoulder was as much a flesh wound as the cut Cornelius had on his tail. It was Christopher’s ear that set Cornelius to crying. Christopher in all his years had never cried, and he’d never seen Cornelius cry either. In fact, it was the first time he’d seen anyone cry in the fourteen years that he’d been alive.
Cornelius apologized over and over, but Christopher wasn’t sure what he was supposed to say. What he was even supposed to do in response to the water coming out of his brother. He was used to watching his brother breathe water in and out, but he’d never seen it come through his eyes before.

Cornelius, through sniffles and whimpers managed to bandage up his brother’s ear.

This was the moment King Vertillo had been waiting for. It was proof at last that his suspicions had been correct. In a fit of rage he screamed out that Cornelius had betrayed his trust, and had committed treason against the throne by aiding his brother. He yelled that if Christopher became King, he couldn’t depend on Cornelius to help him. Furniture was tossed, and Cornelius cowered in fear at what he’d caused. He’d never once known his father to be angry. The father he knew was cold and calculating and calm…never raging, never angry.
For most of the rant Cornelius was too scared to move. His father said that Cornelius could never be King, that Cornelius was no longer his son. When King Vertillo ultimately cut Cornelius off, it hurt less than he thought it would. He would later be surprised at the sudden relief he felt on his person, but at the moment he was too scared to feel anything else.
When King Vertillo turned his attention to Christopher, the first thing he did was rip the bandage from his ear. Cornelius’s fright finally got the better of him and in a sudden flash all that Christopher saw was Cornelius’s yellow tail disappearing from the doorway.

From that night on, Christopher treated Cornelius coldly and harshly. Any bit of brotherly affection there had been before was all at once gone. For every test Christopher was given to become the new king, Christopher put his all into it, and completely forgot Cornelius was even alive. He didn’t look at Cornelius when he entered a room. He didn’t acknowledge that Cornelius even existed.
Cornelius was made captain of the royal guard, mainly as a cruel joke from his father, who managed to say to him, “If you’re so determined to aid your brother, you might as well learn how to aid him when he’s King.”
Cornelius stopped being a part of the family, and started being the hired help. Nothing he did as captain pleased his father, and nothing he did at all ever made Christopher look at him again.

Cornelius became a ghost in his own household, and finally, he stopped trying all together. He stopped trusting people. The only two he found himself comfortable talking to were Matthew and David….

One fateful day, however, he saw a mermaid girl with a beautiful purple tail. Like him she was an outcast to her people, like him, she’d given up on being accepted, and like him she was the victim of his father’s harsh punishments.

She became a sort of obsession. When he thought he was alone he would stare from his window over his expansive view of Methone.
He would always search for her and when he found her, he’d watch her.

She was his new hobby…his new happiness…he felt a new sort of love take over the special love he’d been born with. All at once he forgot what his old special love was in wake of the new one.

Prince Cornelius’s special love was Claire, the purple tailed mermaid.