#one with water au

Dear Aki,

This may come off as weird, but these classes require you to write a letter to yourself to remind yourself why you wanted to become a knight for his Majesty. Apparently becoming a knight is a lot more than simply learning how to hold a sword properly. Anyway, where should I start?

Maybe I should start from the beginning? As you remembered, the humans abandoned us simply to please someone who never existed. I still don’t know if my mother gave me up willingly or not, not like it matters to us anymore, not since I saw the face of his Majesty.

Normally, a human would tremble at the mere image of the mighty creature known as the Orca, but when I saw him, I didn’t see him as this terrifying being. Instead I saw him as someone who wanted a companion, at least that’s what his Majesty has always told me.

Where the humans had failed, he provided; he gave me clothing, fed me the food of his world, gave me a bed to sleep on and taught me how to swim and hunt in his waters. He saw me as more than just a living thing; he saw me as his daughter, his pearl, his prized possession.

Ever since I had been renowned as the kingdom’s pearl, many attacks had become frequent to the Crimson Waters. Of course, the guards and his Majesty disguised it as a game of ‘Hide and Seek’ for me to keep me from getting scared, and I would buy it. I would always hide in my giant clam bed and wait for his Majesty to find me, and when he did, he always looked relieved to see me. At first, I thought it was because I hid in a good hiding spot, but it wasn’t until I was nine that I finally understood why he was relieved.

I was hiding in my usual spot when I heard the whirl of the water outside of my clam. At first, I thought it was his Majesty, but when I heard their voice, I knew it wasn’t the calming voice of his Majesty.

Her voice was filled with a lust for treasure, and her desire to find the Kingdom’s pearl was evident when she entered my room and knocked everything off the shelves and broke many of my favorite coral pieces.

I quickly shuffled further into my clam, hoping, praying, she doesn’t find me. That was my first mistake, because of my shuffling I had made some noise and caught her attention.

As the light started to peer into my clam, I shuffled back further so the light wouldn’t catch me, but that wasn’t going to make her go away; not when she knows something was inside. Even my attempts to keep the clam shut was in vain when I realized she was no mere intruder, she was an Octomaid! With the assist of her eight extra appendages she was able to counter my own strength and force the clam more open.

Suddenly the Octomaid’s hands and tentacles detached themselves from my clam, causing it to shut back up again. At first, I didn’t know why, but it wasn’t until I heard his Majesty’s voice that I started to understand why; she was averting her attention from me to focus on his Majesty! Once again, I remained silent in the clam, waiting for his Majesty to win against the intruder, what happened after that… I could never forget.

While I was sitting in the clam, all I heard was his Majesty and the Octomaid’s heavy breathing, their weapons clashing together and their collisions into multiple surfaces, including my clam bed. It took almost every fiber of my being to not squeak in horror as my clam rocked by their impact. It wasn’t until I heard the sound of metal hit the floor and the grunts of his Majesty that I opened my clam a tiny bit to see the Octomaid’s knife was in front of my clam, and when I looked up I saw the Octomaid had his Majesty in her grasps with her tentacles, his right eye cut from her knife and his sword out of his hand.

He was struggling, and somehow the Octomaid knew about the desperation he had and was somehow feeding off it. I even remember her saying that she would ‘take him’ before she killed him and claimed her prize. I didn’t understand what she meant by ‘take him’ back then, but now I knew. Just thinking about it makes my stomach turn that she would do such a thing to his Majesty.

When she started breaking his armor and tear off his clothes was when I leapt into action. I grabbed the knife that was in front of me and ‘launched’ myself towards the Octomaid and stabbed her in the eye, even going so far as to twist it. I’ll never forget her screams of agony as I carved the knife deeper into her socket. Eventually I was pulled away from her face by her tentacles and collided with the wall. The knife that was in my hand managed to take out her eyeball and nicked me on the left side of my lip when I was launched across the room.

She was absolutely crossed with me, screaming and cussing my name for tearing her eye out, calling me a ‘brat’ and such. Once she recovered, she launched herself towards me and grabbed my throat, trying to suffocate me. Unknown to her, I wanted her attention on me; while she was distracted, his Majesty had recovered his sword and snuck behind her.

The next thing I knew, her grip on my neck had loosened and her remaining eye stared blankly at me as her life drifted away. Her blood floating into the waters of my room as her body, now split in two, floated up to the ceiling. My attention was soon diverted from her floating corpse to his Majesty; his armor half broken, and his clothes tattered from her destruction. He scooped me up into his arms and looked me over for any damage, despite having injuries worse than mine he prioritized my safety above his own.

It was this mentality that made me realize that despite being the most feared ruler of the seas, he cared about others more than himself. If he wasn’t careful, he could very well perish at the hands of the enemy. This realization made me want to stand by his Majesty’s side to protect him. Protect him from anyone who dare cause harm to him, protect him from all the foul women of this ocean who dare think of him as merely a tool for reproducing, but most importantly, to repay him for all that he’s done for me. Yes, he is the king of this kingdom and that as a knight I must protect him, but as a daughter, I must remember that he is my father first and foremost. Future Aki, please remember that, protect him not only as your king, but as your father.

                                                                                                                                               Sincerely, Aki