’Pi’ve,’ Gaudol said from the dais beside the throne. The words reverberated throughout the large room. Pi’ve was suddenly conscious of his wet clothes which he had not changed out of. It had stopped dripping a while ago, but it still had a shine to it which these mermen would know.

  ’Excuse me,’ Pi’ve said, sure that they did not hear him as far away as they were. He went out of the chamber, behind one of the large doors and pulled out new clothes from his inventory and changed fast. The new clothes were more suited for an occasion like this either way. Even if they were robes too, they were dark blue, and had a newer look. Silver threads ran down his back and arms. He then went inside of the large chamber again, and walked steadily towards the throne.

  ’Welcome, Pi’ve, to the throne-room of Tharthillion,’ the king said, rising from his seat. He had a gold crown on, with jewels on each of the points jutting up from the base. He wore a large robe, with some kind of thick fur on the inside, and like the other mermen, he wore no shoes. ’I do not usually come here, but for special occasions I do. Your mentor has just been exposed of hiding having a wizard apprentice, so I am currently reprimanding him sorely.’

  Gaudol was smiling beside the king. The king was apparently joking about reprimanding him, and Pi’ve knew that it was not hiding an apprentice from the king that was being discussed, but rather some kind of reward for Gaudol.

  Magnol was standing at the side of the others with his hands behind his back passively. His role in this meeting had suddenly become idle, and he looked ready to leave Pi’ve, Gaudol and the king for themselves, but he could not dismiss himself too early.

  The king reached out his hand, coming forth to greet Pi’ve. ’Raputielmon, at your service,’ the king said. ’But call me King Raol, please.’

  ’I think rather it is I who is at your service, King Raol,’ Pi’ve said, and King Raol opened his mouth in glee and pointed at Pi’ve for the others. This had amused him. ’Thank you for the warm welcome.’

  ’Not at all! Pleased to have you here,’ King Raol said, and turned to Gaudol. ’Well?’

  ’It seems that my decision has been made easier,’ Gaudol said, lifting his eyebrows and nodding once. He then turned to Pi’ve and grinned slightly.

  ’Yes, I thought so,’ the king shot in. ’Go on then!’

  ’So, I will pick the trident’s head.’ Gaudol said, and the king guffawed theatrically. He motioned to one of the guards, and the guard nodded and left through a door behind the large throne. After a few seconds, the guard came back with a large piece of gold. It was formed as three points of thick gold veins, which all ended in sharp points. On the bottom of the three-speared ornament there were several runes which Pi’ve could not interpret at this distance.

  ’Pure gold, yet light as hollow sea grass. This is one of the artefacts which has been marked by the wizard Horner many years ago,’ King Raol said. Magnol perked his head up at this. ’The Jin language I believe it is called,’ the king explained.

  ’Horner has been in Tharthillion?’ Magnol asked.

  ’No, no. It was back then we did not live in this city. We had not yet learned to manipulated the growth of the . Back then we either lived under water in hollow caves, or on land with the humans,’ King Raol said.

  ’?’’ Pi’ve said.

  ’Indeed. That is not their proper name, but after we harnessed how to grow them, we could make pockets of air underwater, under domes of . Glass they are not, but they harden as if they were. As the pressure of the ocean and their weight and size expand, they harden, but air stays inside,’ King Raol explained, and picked the golden item up from the cushion on which it lay. He looked at it before turning and handing it to Gaudol. On one side of the trident, on each of the tips of the pointy thingy were small indents, which to Pi’ve looked like places to hold gemstones.

  ’Thank you,’ Gaudol said. He was inspecting it closely, before handing it slowly to Pi’ve.

  ’And you, Pi’ve. What do you want? Name anything!’ King Raol exclaimed.

  ’Oh. No, I should not—’

  ’There is no code of conduct down here, Pi’ve,’ Magnol said, flashing a grin at him. The others laughed at that, which Pi’ve took to understand that they knew some of the things which had happened in Thergiam. Maybe that was why Magnol was here…

  Pi’ve thought for a while, and then he inspected his staff.

  [ ()] - A staff made of durable and hard cherry wood. Noted more for its beauty in carpentry, the quality of the wood is apt for staffs. Combined with a gemstone of pure Titanite, this staff is able to cast the most common spell types.

  He pointed to his gemstone, and said ’I want a new gemstone, of high quality. I have little knowledge in the area, but if there’s some gemstone found in this ocean which is more suitable for a wizard with the affinity for water magic, then that is what I want,’ Pi’ve said, yet he was uncomfortable requesting it. Gaudol’s eyes creased.

  ’I do not know what entail… are pearls gemstones?’ the king said, and Gaudol raised his hand.

  ’I will aid in finding Pi’ve’s request.’

  ’Good. Very well, I accept your request, Pi’ve.’

  After being dismissed by the king of mermen, Pi’ve, Gaudol and Magnol left the halls, and went down the long stairs. Magnol told Pi’ve a funny story about himself, of how he came to stumble upon the place of Tharthillion.

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  ’I was actually mistaken for one of the land-mermen, because of my name. I got invited to come down here, even when I had told them that I was not a merman at all they took me in as their own, and now they call me the second wizard of Tharthillion,’ he said. ’Gaudol has taught me much, but there are things he knows that I could never do, and I do not like water overly much.’

  ’Well, you know things I do not too, Magnol, we cannot look past that,’ Gaudol said.

  ’Maybe we complement each other,’’ Magnol said, laughing. He then turned to Pi’ve. ’Listen to this man. He is wise, and he knows the ocean like nobody else. I bet he even has hunted down the—,’

  ’Magnol! I think I can take it from here.’

  Pi’ve looked quickly at Gaudol, and then to Magnol. What did he mean? Had Gaudol hunted down the crab already? Had he killed the beast that he had swore he would kill to avenge his father? Pi’ve suddenly felt an unease creep up his spine. He wanted answers right now.

  ’Apologies. Alright then. Good luck, Pi’ve. I am sure I will see you some day.’

  Pi’ve nodded as Magnol turned to walk down the corridor joining the mountain to the Dome Jello which made up Tharthillion. Gaudol obviously had felt the shift in Pi’ve’s mood, and he took out the gift he had received by the king and held it up in front of his face.

  ’There are engravings in this item, but I do not know what it says. Do you?’ Gaudol said, and handed over the trident spear head. ’And, Pi’ve…I did hunt down the crab. But I did not kill it. I merely located it, so you could seek out your revenge when you are ready.’

  ’Really?’ Pi’ve said, and looked at Gaudol for a second. Pi’ve gave it some thought, and he knew that if there was one of those massive crab-monsters out there, there were surely more. Gaudol have killed it and found another, but Pi’ve trusted Gaudol. There was really no need to doubt his own mentor. He had to rid himself of his own insecurities. ’Thank you, Gaudol.’ He then picked the trident from Gaudol’s hands and looked at it. For the smallest fraction of a second he could see the engravings of the Jin-language, and he stored them in his mind.

  ’What does it say?’

  ’It says , and , yet that is just the surface-level meaning…’ Pi’ve said, for that was not all they conveyed. ’They symbolise character— a way of being— but for the item itself. The symbols you see are commands for the object in which the Jin-runes are engraved. I think I understand now,’ Pi’ve said, and as hard it was to tell Gaudol what he knew, he understood.

  The Jin language, in its written form, was not for the outside world to consider; they were rules for the object it was engraved on. The Jin runes told the item they were written onto to follow its command, and do as the rune said. Pi’ve did not know exactly what meant, but the item did. It understood precisely, and at all times it did all it could to . The most obvious and literal was the other rune for , which Pi’ve took to understand that its points were to always be sharp, and in case of needing to stab something, or penetrate, the item would itself try as hard as it could to pierce. Pi’ve understood barely, yet it did remind him of water, and this was an item owned, given to and made for people of water, and whatever meant, it would surely be in the aiding of the water people.

  Pi’ve felt the weight of the trident. It was as light as a hammer. In pure gold— not hollow either— it should weigh many pounds, yet it did not. Pi’ve thought that maybe the rune made it easier to move in the directions it was pushed. Almost as if it helped move itself.

  He tried giving it back to Gaudol, but Gaudol did not reach out to receive it.

  ’Gaudol. Take it,’ Pi’ve said, noticing what Gaudol was doing. Gaudol was in the process of convincing himself of giving it to Pi’ve. Gaudol shook his head slightly. ’Gaudol. The king gave you this piece of ancient… art! I am not worthy of it. You would know if you saw me in Thergiam,’ Pi’ve said, trying to convince Gaudol that giving this item to Pi’ve was not something he should do.

  ’It will only be a mantelpiece for me,’ Gaudol said.

  ’A very fine mantelpiece, I would say,’ Pi’ve said and took a step closer to Gaudol. Gaudol took a step back in unison.

  ’I have no use of it.’

  ’Neither do I.’

  ’You do,’ Gaudol said, but then he took the trident from Pi’ve’s hand. He looked at it, inspected the bottom of the trident where there was a hole, and before Pi’ve could react, Gaudol had placed the trident on top of his apprentice’s staff as Pi’ve exclaimed ’What are you—’

  ’I am asserting some of the mentor-privileges I have,’ Gaudol said, and he turned to walk out of the ocean-mountain and waved for Pi’ve to follow. ’I have thought about the prospect of mentoring you, and I even had the privilege of meeting one. He told me that “absolute obedience” is required by the apprentice, and while I will not be strict with you, seeing that you do have some powers I cannot sway, I will have to ask you to respect my wishes and commands.’

  Pi’ve walked beside Gaudol, and he nodded as Gaudol spoke. He felt the tridents weight on his staff as they walked, but its weight felt natural on his staff. There was suddenly a shift, both in Gaudol, but also in Pi’ve as the reality of him finally joining his mentor came over him.

  ’Of course. I will follow your words,’ Pi’ve said.

  Gaudol laughed. ’I have heard about your trip to Thergiam— in full, and I don’t think it will go very smoothly at first, but nevertheless, I appreciate that you will try.’

  After that conversation, they both walked together the same way that Pi’ve had walked just an hour ago, but on that walk some things cemented themselves inside Pi’ve. For one, Pi’ve would do everything he could to obey Gaudol, as if his words were the law of his life. His mentoring would undoubtedly make him a better wizard, and not only in his ability to cast magic, but how to as a wizard. Tharthillion was the perfect playground, because here Pi’ve was already respected, but he would not take advantage of that. Instead he would pretend that the rules of Thergiam still applied here, but here he would have some leeway to play with. Secondly was that Pi’ve knew almost nothing about anything. He was not even sure if he was asked about fishing that he could answer rightly. Everything in his world had turned upside down, and even though he had gone through some hardships the past few weeks, he had survived, and a new perspective had made him able to see himself as something other than a boy who would aimlessly wander the path of a sailor’s life, until he would be bequeathed with his father’s position as captain.

  As they entered Gaudol’s home after having passed the exhibition-garden— which did in fact turn out to be Gaudol’s own back yard— they both went straight to the library to visit the place where Pi’ve had first become a wizard after completing the tutorial.

  ’Sit,’ Gaudol said, and he grabbed another chair and sat beside Pi’ve. ’Now, before we start, have you any thoughts about what you want to learn? There are things I do not do, which I believe many wizards learn as basic magic, but there are things I can do, which no other wizard can.’

  ’I have thought about it,’ Pi’ve said. ’I have a book which I have read some of, and the magic in there sounds really good. I want to learn that. But I also want to learn what you know. I remember how you made the water vanish when I broke that globe-map of yours. I want that.’

  ’That is basic. What more?’ Gaudol said.

  ’This magic,’ Pi’ve said, and he took out his book and turned its pages to where he had read just before exposing Murgun. ’This one.’

  ’Water-to-ice. Yes, yes. Well, that will not be the first thing I teach you, as water is complex. To have any use in turning water to ice, you will need to know how to move water. Look here, it says “”. As true as that is, the water needs to be directed into the rock too.’

  ’I am ready to learn.’

  Gaudol smiled. ’Alright, then. First lesson will be in my garden, by the basin.’’