Son of the Sea
by
Michka
RueRoyale@Yahoo.Com

13 November 2000

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FINS

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DISCLAIMER: Aquaman, Aqualad, Tempest and Porm are the sole property of DC Comics, no infringement upon their rights is intended. No profit will be made from this work.

Dedicated to John the Aquafanatic Schwirian, whose idea of publishing an Aquaman Fanzine sparked this story, Jimmy Buffett, whose music inspired me, all of the writers of Aquaman, The Teen Titans, The Titans, most especially Phil Jimenez, who wrote the Tempest mini-series, and finally my BETA-reader and love, Maverick.

Author's note: The timeline in this story matches NONE of the official DC timelines, and the characterization is my own based upon a conglomeration of different writers, so don't be surprised if the whole thing sounds JUST WRONG to you! *laughs* Call it another Earth, an Alternate Universe or my own little world, but come on in and enjoy!


~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"Ah-tur! Ah-tur!"

The excited child's tiny legs carried him swiftly toward the ocean, but he didn't stop, as surface children would, when he encountered the water's edge, nor did he lose his balance, but continued running until he reached water deep enough for him to swim. He pushed at the ocean floor with his last step and pulled his legs together, propelling himself with full body motion, as he had always seen dolphins and other creatures of the sea move through the water.

The man he was swimming toward held his arms out. "Your arms, little minnow, use your arms!"

The child brought his arms from his sides and pointed them straight ahead of him, immediately his speed increased. He reached the man, and actually knocked him backward with the impact. The man wrapped his arms around the boy, bringing him down under the water as well.

"That was good, baby shark! Very good!"

"Shahk!" The boy shouted. He wiggled out of the man's arms and put one hand straight up on his head in an approximation of a shark's fin, then he opened his mouth as wide as he could, showing two perfect rows of small, even, and decidedly un-scary teeth. "Shahk!"

Arthur knew this game, it was the child's favorite. His role was to swim away in a frightened manner, which he obligingly did, just fast enough that the ferocious little shark, who continued to shout 'Shahk! Shahk!" in a rather un-shark-like manner, couldn't quite catch him. Then with a burst of speed, he gained a yard or so of ground, turned and made a shark fin on his own head. "Bigger Shark! Bigger Shark!" He yelled, charging the boy.

"AAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEE!" The little shark screamed with laughter, trying to swim away, but he was nowhere near fast enough and Arthur scooped him up and proceeded to eat his belly.

"MMMMMMmmm, this is GOOD baby shark! Yum, yum, yum!"

The child wiggled and pushed to get free.

"Kick, minnow, kick." Arthur flipped the boy over and caught him, setting him on his feet. Then, standing behind him, he took one of the child's legs and pushed it outward. "See? Kick. Like this."

"Why, Swimmer, where did you find this?"

The child screamed in fear when he saw the dolphin right behind him.

"Hush, minnow!" Arthur said. He held the shaking boy close to his chest. "Hello Mother," he addressed the dolphin, "I found this little sardine hiding behind a coral reef, seven neap tides ago. Look at his eyes."

"They are small, like all two tails," Porm said.

"Yes, but they are purple. I think he was abandoned on Mercy reef, the same as me."

"The two tails are still abandoning children? What a shame." Porm tried to nose the child, but he screamed again. "Swimmer, why does he fear me?"

"He fears all, Mother. It took me several tides to convince him to come out of the coral."

"The sea can be a terrifying place for little two tails who don't understand," Porm said knowingly, as she nosed Arthur.

"Yes, Mother."

"He is bigger than you were when you came to me."

Arthur held the boy at arm's length and inspected him from all angles. "Yes, I think he's probably three, but possibly a very small five year old. It is hard to tell."

"What are you going to do with him?"

"Well, if he was banished to the reef, then no Atlantean would take him in, and he can't survive on the surface. So," Arthur shrugged, "I guess I'll keep him."

The child, very cautiously, reached out a small hand to touch Porm's face, then snatched it back, as if she might bite it off.

"So, Swimmer, you are a father now."

Arthur laughed, "No, no, no, Mother! I'm not his father!"

"Then who will be?" Porm asked.

"I guess he won't have one. I didn't have one, and I turned out all right."

"You had a mother, Swimmer." Porm bumped Arthur, but not hard enough to disturb the child.

"Well, I definitely cannot be his mother!" Arthur said.

"Pity," Porm said. She swam around Arthur to get a good look at the child's face. "He isn't nearly as ugly as most two tails."

The child touched her nose.

"This is Porm," Arthur said to him. "Say Porm."

"Pom," the boy said.

"Close enough," Arthur sighed.

"He must use words to speak?" Porm asked, holding very still so that the child would not be frightened.

"His mind-speak seems very limited. It's too bad because he isn't very good with words, either. I think in time he might master Atlantean, but I don't think he'll ever be able to learn a surface language, because he doesn't seem able to pronounce all of the sounds."

"That is just his youth, Swimmer. When all of your pod brothers and sisters were speaking full sentences, you were still squeaking and pointing, and screaming when no one understood you. Two tail calves are slower with these things. Be patient."

The child reached out and tried to grab a strand of seaweed, which was caught in the current, Porm snagged it on her nose and gave it to him. The boy stuffed it all in his mouth at once.

"He is hungry," Porm said. "What are you feeding him?"

"Oh, he eats whatever he can find, so long as it isn't alive: sugar kelp, sea lettuce, red moss, turtle grass, manatee grass. His favorite seems to be orange kelp, though."

The boy let Porm get closer, she nosed his ribs, he laughed.

"Ridges," Porm observed, "he needs to eat more. He should have more blubber on him."

"Believe me, he eats night and day." Arthur told her. He tossed the child upwards, then caught him. "He is kind of scrawny, though."

"He needs more than plants. He has probably never nursed, Swimmer."

"Sorry Mother, I'm not equipped for that." Arthur grinned, "Are you volunteering?"

"I've raised one two tail, that is enough. You might want to ask your sister Kita, she has a calf now, and she would have milk."

"I'll think about it," Arthur said. His JLA pager went off. "I have to go. Goodbye, Mother."

Arthur swam to the east coast of North America and left the child under a small shelf of the ocean floor . "Stay here, minnow. Stay here until I come back."

The child nodded his understanding and Arthur left to answer the call of duty.

~A~

Soon, though, Arthur thought he should introduce this little friend to the pod. The child was losing weight. Previously he had spent most of his time eating and hiding, now that he was swimming and playing, he was burning up far more calories than he could consume. Arthur presented his problem to his sister.

"No, Swimmer."

"Kita, I NEED you to do me this favor."

"I already have a boy calf, and he is a little tsunami. I couldn't handle a two tail boy too."

"You would have to raise him, Kita, just feed him once in a while."

"If this is going to be anything like that time with the 'miniature' octopus that you just HAD to have, you can forget it!"

"This is completely different! We were just kids then, how did I know it was going to eat that much?"

"Yeah, but then who had to take care of it, huh? Not you, Swimmer, not Mother, ME!"

"That's ancient history, and this isn't a pet, this is a two tail child!"

"Swimmer-"

"Kita, hold it. Just look at him, okay? That's all I am asking, just meet him before you decide. Will you do that?"

Kita surfaced and blew a giant sigh out her blowhole.

Arthur smiled excitedly, "wait here, and I'll bring him to you."

Arthur returned with the boy and had him swim to Kita, which the child did, slowly and cautiously. Kita's calf, Tapp, was very excited to see the newcomer and immediately hooked the boy's hand in his flipper and pulled him closer to his mother.

"See that?" Arthur asked, gloating. "Tapp likes him, and he's only a nursling."

"Hmm, " Kita looked into the child's face. She flipped him over like a salmon. The boy cried out, and Tapp nosed him comfortingly. "He doesn't have any fins."

"Two tails don't get fins until adulthood."

"Yes, but he doesn't even have nubs. At least you had nubs on your legs."

"Maybe if you feed him, he'll get nubs."

"Maybe if you fed Tapp he'd get two tails, Swimmer."

"Will you do it, Sister?"

Kita hesitated a moment, then floated closer to the child, and rolled up so that he could feed. Tapp immediately began nursing and the child imitated him.

"Thank you, Kita, thank you."

"You OWE me, Swimmer."

Within three tidal months the child's presence was a regular part of the pod's week, and the pod calves thought of him as one of their own, meaning he was fair game for nosing, teasing, flipping and all the other parts of dolphin childhood. Kita called him Bumper, as bumping her with his head was his main mode of communication for several months, while his mind-speak improved.

Being with the pod helped the child considerably. As he was barraged by the other podlings with mind-speak, he had to develop it for himself. He was never an aggressive child, but he did develop strong defenses and a fearless attitude, at least when he was within the pod. His swimming improved, but it was several years before he could keep up with the pod on his own.

"Don't bump me, baby!" Tapp said, as his two tail brother headed for his side.

"I'm not a baby!" the boy yelled indignantly.

"Yes, you are! You still have to hang on to Grandmother's fin!"

"That is enough of that, Tapp," Porm scolded him. She liked having the little two tail's soft flipper curled around her dorsal fin as she swam. She never thought she would want another little two tail in the pod, but she had grown very fond of Bumper. She looked forward to his short visits, and missed him when he'd go back to Swimmer.

The child always knew that he wasn't a dolphin, but he sometimes wished he was, so that he could swim with the pod all the time. Then he would think of Arthur, and he knew he would miss him, and miss the adventures they had together. He felt the pull of two worlds, and they could not be reconciled within him. No matter where he was, it seemed he didn't belong.

~A~

Within two years, the child grew into an intelligent, obedient, loyal soldier, and Arthur was surprised at all he accomplished. He did learn to speak Atlantean as well as any native. He completely overcame his phobia of sea creatures and learned that he could live within the dangerous food chain of the ocean without fear. He found a large underwater cave which they made their home. Better yet he became an excellent fighter and accompanied Arthur regularly on his patrol. But he wasn't allowed to follow Arthur to the surface.

"But why? I want to go with you! I can help you! Arthur, please? Please!"

"No, Minnow, and I'm not saying it again. Now I'll be gone until spring tide. I want you to do the next chapter in the school books before I get back."

"The school books are stupid! I wish you never brought them!" The boy grabbed the stack of books that Arthur had purchased in Poseidonis just four months ago and threw them against the wall.

Arthur grabbed the boy by the arm and slammed his hand against his bottom ten times, as hard as he could. "Now pick those up! And don't you dare speak to me like that again, do you hear me?"

"Yes sir." The boy the boy answered, as he'd been taught. He snuffled miserably as he rubbed his bruised backside with one hand while picking up a book with the other.

"I don't know why I didn't just leave you where I found you," Arthur said, swimming out of the cave.

At that the boy dropped the books he was trying to stack and wept openly, but there was no one to hear him.

~A~

The boy did get through the lessons and was more than halfway through the next set of school books within a year.

"How did I do?" Minnow sat across from Arthur at the only table in the cave. Arthur was reading through the child's latest test.

"Very well, tadpole!" Arthur, ruffled the boy's dark curls affectionately. "You got them all right!"

"So . . .do you think maybe that means I'm not retarded? Not a throwback?"

Arthur was shocked, "What? Where did you hear that?"

"You said it. You said I couldn't go with you into the dome because I was banished, because people with purple eyes are throwbacks with a retarded mentality."

Arthur went to the boy's side and knelt there, eye to eye with him. "No, Minnow, no. I said that they PROBABLY banished you because they THINK that purple-eyed children MIGHT be mentally deficient. I never said YOU were," Arthur picked the child up and floated with him to a large chair, where he sat put the boy on his lap.

'But if I'm not, why did they banish me?"

"Because, people can be very stupid sometimes. They judge others by the way they look, instead of seeing the person inside, for who he truly is. Even though it is wrong, the Atlanteans are very superstitious and intolerant of anyone who is different, and that is what you are. You're no less intelligent or worthy and you aren't a throwback, you're just different. Understand?"

" . . . I guess."

"Did I ever tell you that I was banished to Mercy Reef when I was a baby too?"

The child's eyes grew wide, "YOU were, Arthur??"

Arthur smiled, "That's right, I was. Do you know why?"

The boy was speechless, he shook his head.

"Because of this," Arthur tugged a lock of his hair.

"This?" Little fingers gently pulled at the light gold strands.

"That's right. They thought my hair was the wrong color, just like they think your eyes are the wrong color."

The boy thought on that for a moment. "So, why can you go into the city now?"

"Oh, lots of reasons. I have done a lot for the city. A different king is on the throne now. I've achieved some surface notoriety, things like that."

"Do you think I'll ever be able to go into the city?"

"I'm sure you will, minnow. I promise, someday, you will."

~A~

"Minnow! Minnow, leave the horses for now and come in!"

"What is it, Arthur?"

"Your new uniform. Here, try it on."

The teenager took the uniform and looked it over. "This is my old one."

"No it isn't, tadpole, it's bigger. Put it on."

He did as he was told and looked down at himself with a sigh. "But it's just the same."

"No it isn't. It has the higher collar, see," Arthur put his finger inside the boy's collar. "And the A is gone from your belt, it's a lightning bolt. That's what you said you wanted. What did you expect?"

"Well . . .I thought . . .I mean, I AM seventeen."

"Probably," Arthur agreed.

"Well . . ."

"Well what, Minnow? What is your point? Neptune's Beard, boy, spit it out!"

"They're SHORT pants!"

Arthur laughed. In fact he had a fit of laughter, he had to find the nearest chair and sit down before he floated away in the tide. Garth was not pleased.

"This isn't funny!"

Of course, this only made Arthur laugh harder.

"Damn it, Arthur!"

"Wha . .What . . .makes you think . . .YOU need . . .long pants!" Arthur managed to gasp out between his guffaws.

Garth stared at him in disbelief. "I told you, everybody ELSE has long pants!"

Arthur shook his head, then he went over to Garth, put his hands on the boy's shoulders and shook him too. "You. Are. Not. A. Surfacer. Got that?"

"I am AWARE of that, your majesty." Garth said, with as much sarcasm as he could muster. Especially since he thought his brains might fly out his ears if Arthur didn't stop.

"Then you are also AWARE that it makes absolutely no difference to me what the other surfacers look like."

"But Arthur, I look like a kid!"

Arthur let him go and smiled affectionately at him. "Tadpole, you ARE a kid." Before Garth could respond to that Arthur turned him around and grabbed his calf. "Look, Minnow, no fins, see? You don't need long pants, you have nothing to hide!"

Garth kicked sideways to get out of Arthur's grip. "I KNOW that. But what if I never get fins? What if it's genetic or something?"

"Tadpole, you spend too much time with surfacers. Here in our world, only girls don't get fins! You have a sword. You have your clams. You'll get your fins. Just relax. Don't worry about it so much."

"Arthur, you don't understand. It's embarrassing! Robin got long pants THREE YEARS AGO!"

"Baby shark, you don't even have a beard yet!"

"DON'T call me that!"

"Tadpole -"

"Don't call me that EITHER! Or minnow, or sardine or anything else! I have a NAME! My name is GARTH!"

"You'd better change your tone, real fast, young man."

"WHY?! Because you're the KING?? I'm royalty TOO, Arthur! I'm a prince! I'm the Prince of Shayeris! AND I'm the heir apparent! And the King is dead! So, disregarding a few formalities, I'm a KING, the SAME as YOU! I'm a KING, and I'm an ADULT, and I'm a TITAN! You can't push me around anymore! I could leave you! I could go back to Shayeris and claim my throne!"

Arthur smacked the boy across the face so hard it made his ears ring. While he was stunned, Arthur put Garth under his arm and swam him to his room. He threw the boy in and shouted. "You can SIT IN THERE, until you're ready to apologize to me, stop spouting nonsense and act like a half-way intelligent being or until you ROT, and I don't care which option you choose!" Without waiting for an answer, Arthur slammed the door, locked it, called two guards to watch it with strict orders that no one be allowed in or out without his permission, and left the palace.

~A~

It had been three years. Three years of pain. Three years of loneliness. Three years of fighting, testing, learning, growing and discovering things about himself that he had never imagined. Garth fingered the scars that disfigured his face. Three claw marks across his left eye. They were slowly healing, but Atlan had said that they would never go away.

"They're a blessing, boy. Look on them every day and remember what I taught you."

'They're ugly' Garth thought. He looked down at his body. He'd grown into a young man. His shoulders and chest had broadened. He was three inches taller. He was stronger and faster. 'But', he turned his head to look at his calves. 'Still no fins. Not even nubs. I'll never grow fins. I'll never be a whole man. Arthur is going to humiliate me forever over this.'

He concentrated and conjured up a new outfit. His last had been ruined in the most recent training session with Atlan. He favored black, it was easier than dealing with colors and light spectrums. He left the heavy conjuring for his tests with Atlan. He decided to conjure a suit with long pants, like Arthur's. He looked at it. He put artificial fins in the calves. He slipped the suit on. THAT was better! 'In fact,' he blinked the fins even bigger, 'Now THAT is more like it!' He walked around, strutted actually, back and forth in front of the mirror. 'YEAH! Wait 'til I get back! I can't wait for Arthur to see THESE!'

~A~

"Garth, get ready. It is almost time for you to return." Atlan said.

Arthur was in trouble. Atlan had told Garth that he would return at a time when Arthur most needed him. He went to his room. How should he get ready? How could he ready himself for something like this?

Atlan appeared at the door. 'Garth, there is something you must understand."

"What?"

"Time and tide flow differently here. You will return to a period only months after you left."

"What do you mean? How can I?"

"You should know by now that everything is not as it seems."

"Will I lose my age?"

"No. You may be called upon to explain your present appearance."

"Great, Atlan, that's just great!" Garth threw a stone at his mirror in frustration. "I have to leave and I still don't understand what has even happened here! I'm going to go back and nobody will have even missed me! Why did you do this to me!! WHY?!"

"It has always been your destiny, purple-eyed babe. Don't blame me." Atlan restored the mirror. "Now, you will be leaving presently, come here and look at yourself."

Garth stood and glared at the wizard.

Atlan sighed and transported Garth to a spot directly before the mirror. "Now look, look hard, and make certain that you like everything you see before I open the door for you."

Garth looked. "Well, these scars-"

"I will not even dignify that with an answer," Atlan growled.

Garth grinned. Actually he was quite used to them, and they did hold great meaning for him. He wouldn't want to part with them now, but it was fun to needle Atlan about it anyway. He looked at himself. He didn't see anything unusual. "I guess I'm ready."

"Are you sure?" Atlan turned him around. He eyed the fake fins. He hadn't said anything when Garth had first added them, he was only a boy after all, but now he thought he should make a point of how ridiculous they were.

Garth followed Atlan's gaze to his fins. He had manufactured them to impress Arthur. What would Arthur say when he found out that they were fake? Fake fins didn't make him a man, anymore than finding out his name had made him any more of a person when he was thirteen. Garth dropped the illusion of the conjured fins. He was a man. Himself, alone, and he didn't need anything to prove it. "I am ready." He told Atlan.

The wizard gave on short nod, and Garth was thrust back into the timestream.

Once the immediate crisis was over, Arthur did notice that Garth was wearing long pants, though he still had nothing to hide fin-wise, but he didn't mention it.

~A~

Arthur sat in his room and contemplated a picture that had hung on his wall for ten years. It was a probably eight-year-old Garth in his first uniform. Before he even had a name. Cute kid. Arthur sighed. And now he was a man with two names, his birth name, Garth, given to him by a queen who had allowed him to be exposed on Mercy Reef and by a mad king, and a code name: Tempest, which he had given himself. He had surface friends. His own team, the Titans. And a new uniform, made from the flag of the Idyllists. He was a Mage now, with powers which exceeded Arthur's. Arthur looked up from the small portrait to the man pacing before him. He was a good fighter, an intelligent strategist, and a brave warrior. So why did these tiny things bother him? That he still got a light sprinkling of freckles over his nose when he sat in the surface sun for very long, that his voice hadn't deepened to a full baritone, though it was obviously a low tenor, that he hadn't developed fins? Arthur suspected that Garth must have a variant biology, and that his development, though a bit abnormal for an Atlantean, was completely normal for his own particular ethnicity.

"Arthur?" Garth asked for the third time.

"What?"

Garth sighed, "What do you think?"

Arthur smiled kindly at him. "Garth, I want to make you my heir."

The purple eyes grew bigger than blowfish and Garth's mouth fell open. It wasn't just the abrupt change of subject, but the honor Arthur had bestowed upon him.

"Wh-what did you say?"

"You." Arthur pointed to Garth. "MY Heir." Arthur pointed to himself with a grin.

Garth felt a slow smile grow over his face. It wasn't just a piece of paper or a simple announcement. Being named as Arthur's heir was a recognition, an acknowledgment, a commendation. It gave him an official title. A place in the hierarchy and therefore in the kingdom. Best of all, it was a validation of his manhood, his identity and his place in Arthur's heart.

"Come on, Tadpole, we have a royal decree to announce!" Arthur swam toward the Royal Courtroom.

And, as he had so many times before, Garth happily followed.

The End

**
notes

neap tide = lower high tide than normal that occurs during the first- and last- quarter phases of the moon

spring tide = higher high tide that occurs during the full- and new-moon phases


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