Dylan Williams POV
Annabeth told us that the undersea had a language and a culture. I loved languages and cultures!
She promised to bring Percy by sometime but never did and I decided it was high time I took matters into my own hands.
I needed more info! I needed to know about the undersea culture, it's laws, it's warriors, it's language, and so much more! I needed to know it now .
First thing first, I got the Stoll brothers in on my plan.
They grinned, mischief in their eyes, and promised to have my package delivered just after lunch.
I waited impatiently, my notebooks organized, a blank map on my desk, a pile of pens and pencils in pencil holders, and two chairs all set up.
I had this.
"Um, guys, I really have to get to my afternoon activities-"
"Just humor us, Perce, we're friends after all."
Percy mumbled something, then was shoved into the cabin.
He blinked, expression awkward as he stared at me.
"Um, hi?"
I pounced, dragging him into the chair, "Okay, I have so many questions. Let's get to work."
He looked confused, but I didn't have a lot of time before the other's got back.
"First things first," I pulled out my notebook of questions. "How does the sea work? Are there kingdoms? What about the rulers system? Does Poseidon delegate things? Does he have Lords? Ladies? Something else?"
I paused for breath, "I heard that the merfolk have more than two sexes, do they have more than those as genders as well? What about their warriors system?"
I scrambled to grab one of my pencils as I continued, "And the language, what's it called? Is it similar to any other languages? Is it like Greek? Are there different traditions? How do they do their hair? Do merpeople have hair?"
He stared at me, "Um…"
"Well?"
"Could you repeat… all of that?"
My eye twitched, "Well-" What did I start with?
I looked back at the start of my list.
"How does the sea work?"
"Er, well, there's water… and the seafloor…"
"Not scientifically! Like, do you have rulers down there? Trade? Shops? Cities?"
He licked his lips, "Well… Yeah, Metua is king-"
"Who's Metua?"
"Metua isn't… Metua is a term, it means Father, so like, Poseidon, my Metua, is king."
I scribbled that down, "What about other language things? Annabeth mentioned suffixes but she didn't really elaborate on it much and I want to know so much more about it-"
He shifted a bit, "Um, well, there's… a language-"
"Wait no, we were talking about the sea first, wait should you answer this first? No, no, go back, Poseidon is king, is He the only king?"
I had so many questions! But they had to be answered in order.
I added a note of my language question.
"He- He's the emperor sorta? Like, the King of all the sea. He doesn't rule one territory really, though He technically is the only ruler of most of the Mediterranean."
I scribbled that down. "Territories? And you said only ruler like there are others?"
"Well, all the area's of the sea have rulers, like kingdoms. The other pantheons exist after all."
I stopped, blinking slowly, "What?"
"Uh yeah, different pantheons deities rule other parts of the sea?"
I flipped to a new page and scribbled down more questions for that, I needed to come back to them.
"Right, right, of course, naturally, they, of course they do… So there are other kingdoms, how does it work then? Don't the other kingdoms sea deities also rule all the oceans?"
"Um, I'm not sure how the other pantheons view it all… But uh, Metua rules all the sea, He took rulership from Okeanus-ari, who stepped aside peacefully."
He seemed to think for a moment. "The other kingdom rulers rule over their territory, and the borders can change sometimes, based on conflicts and the like. There are alliances of course, and not all of them get along with Metua."
"Right," so like human kingdoms, how interesting.
"But uh, in the end Metua is in charge of minimizing conflict and ensuring the safety of the ocean as a whole."
"Fascinating…" I made note of everything he said. "So then, is it true that merfolk have more than two sexes?"
"Don't humans?"
I blinked, "Uh… no?" Wait. "Well, technically yes? It's called intersex I think…"
He shrugged.
"But that's different, it's not like… well, it's not recognized as a third sex, it's just… something else?"
"That seems weird," Percy told me honestly. "In the ocean there are mermen, mermaids, and mernixs, and sometimes others. And that's just what they're born as."
I scribbled that down, "What's the difference?"
He furrowed his brow, "What?"
"Like, males and females have different parts, what's the difference with mermen, mermaids, and mernixs?"
He shuffled, "I don't… I don't know? They just are?"
I scowled, so he wasn't informed on the biology of a merperson apparently. I'd have to find another source for my questions there.
"Okay then, you said what they're born as, does that mean they can have different genders?"
"Uh, depends on the person? Sometimes the sex can change too, but a lot have different genders I guess. I haven't really thought about it much?"
I made note of that too, he'd need to be more informed. I paused.
"Wait, sexes can change? But that's… biology?"
He tilted his head, "Well yeah, biology can change. Like, the clownfish changes sex if their partner dies. Same thing can happen with some merfolk."
My eye twitched, "How!?"
He just blinked, "What do you mean?"
"Like, medically, how does that work?"
"It just… does?"
I sighed and made a note to look into that more later. Moving on.
"Okay, what about guards and stuff? How do the warriors train? What kind of weapons do they use?"
He looked slightly alarmed at my questions, I wasn't sure why though.
"Um, I don't think… That stuff is kind of… varies by kingdom…"
"What about Poseidon's?" I leaned forward eagerly.
"Uh… I really don't think this is a good subject," he said awkwardly.
I frowned, "Why not?"
"Because… well… that kinda sounds like a spy thing to ask."
I blinked, "I just want to know about it! I'm not a spy!"
"Okay, sure, but… I'm not… this is uncomfortable… can we please move to a different question?"
I scowled, I'm all but itching to know, but I looked back at my notebook, "What's the language called then? Unless that's too uncomfortable."
He bit his lip, "Uh, it's the Halmaheran language."
I perked up, "Like the language group? For some of the Polynesian islands, right?"
"Um, I guess? I didn't know there was a language group called that."
"And an island," I muttered as I made a note of it. "What kind of alphabet does Halmaheran use?"
"The Halmaheran alphabet?"
I stared at him, he stared back.
"What does it look like?"
"Er… Halmaheran?"
I sighed, "Can you draw out the alphabet?"
"Of course I can, I'm not four."
I shoved a piece of paper at him, "Draw."
He side-eyed me, but picked up the pencil nonetheless.
After a minute of scribbling he handed me a page with a series of symbols (or well, letters I suppose).
I studied it, "So it's a direct translation to the English alphabet then, with twenty-six letters. And did you put it in the same order as the English alphabet?"
He blinked, "Um, no? It's… it's not a direct letter translation at all."
"But there's twenty-six letters?"
"Yeah but they're not all the same. The Halmaheran language doesn't have B's or C's or D's or G's or J's or Q's or X's or Z's."
I blinked, looking back at the page. "Can you put the English equivalent of all of these then?"
He looked at the page in misery but accepted it back and started making new marks on it. This took him longer, and he seemed to hesitate on a few, but handed it back to me.
Oh, so the extra letters were sounds, Ai, Pa, Po, Ta, Ti, Va, Vu, and Ye. How interesting.
I made a copy of it, frowning as I tried to get the same letter shapes as him. I'll have to work on that.
"Do you have a dictionary? Halmaheran to English or vice versa?"
He stared at me for a long moment, "No."
I sighed, "A shame, we'll have to build one from scratch."
He looked alarmed.
"We'll come back to that, are there undersea traditions?"
"I mean, yeah? Doesn't every culture have traditions?"
I beamed, "Of course. What are the undersea traditions?"
He tilted his head, "What do you mean?"
"Well, how do marriages work?"
Percy stared blankly, "Am I supposed to know that?"
I pursed my lips, he was young I supposed, and had probably never been to a marriage too… I guess most kids didn't think about that…
"What about courting? Like dating and stuff, does that have a specific way of working?"
He considered for a moment, "Well, I know Triton mentioned it some. It varies depending on rank and location though. For where I am, and for my rank, it involves a variety of stuff… First step is a bracelet, supposed to be made from the scales of a sea creature, the kind of creature shows skill and devotion."
I wrote that down, "Fascinating. So bracelets are big? What about rings?"
"The undersea doesn't really… use rings? Like, yeah they exist, but arm bands and bracelets and sometimes hairpieces are bigger. Oh, and tail ornaments, but that's mainly for armor."
I grinned, "So like, what kind of scaled bracelet would show the highest devotion and skill?"
"Probably one made of deep sea serpent scales."
I gapped, "Aren't those… really big… and dangerous?"
"Yep," He grinned.
"Wow, does anyone do that? Oh, and how long do they keep the bracelet?"
He hummed, seeming to think. "Tethys-ran definitely gave one to Okeanus-ari-"
"Wait, so it's not the guy giving it to the girl? Oh wait, three sexes, plus possible other genders, so I guess that wouldn't fully work…"
"Um yeah, it's just whoever is initiating the courting that gives the gift. I think Metua gave one to Mevu'ta-"
"What's Mevu'ta mean?"
He blinked, "Oh, it means step-mom. Mevu would just be mom."
I scribbled that down next to Metua.
"Okay, so then how long do they keep them?"
"Well, if they stay together they'd wear them… basically forever? Like, obviously take it off for battle stuff-"
"So it's like engagement rings?"
"Er, no… to get married you give an arm band, a thin one, it goes with whatever arm band you'd normally wear and is customized based on the ones getting married. The one to ask for marriage gives out the band or bands, then the recipient makes an acceptance one, or has one made."
"Bands?"
"Well, if three or more are getting together-"
"So polyamory is accepted?"
"Poly-what?" He asked in confusion.
"A relationship with more than two people involved, there are different forms of it I believe but…"
"Oh, yeah, it's normal."
That was really interesting. Clarisse, Silena, and Beckendorf would love that.
"Okay, so are there any steps in-between?"
He chewed his lip, "I think there's a certain amount of time where you're supposed to do group dates, with at least one other mer there for each mer involved in the relationship."
He paused for a moment, "Oh, and there's a requirement for family dinner if family is like, around, if not then you have to have a meeting with an adult mentor of theirs, like a teacher or another adult they're close with."
I made more notes; undersea culture is fascinating, and I needed to learn everything.
"Anything else?"
He shrugged, "I think before you open the courting at all you're supposed to do a few individual dates but I'm not entirely positive."
"Oh, so like, outings? With just the ones you want to court?"
"Yeah."
Very interesting.
"Okay, what about funerals?"
He shifted, "Um, funerals?
"Yeah, how do you take care of your dead underwater?"
"Er… merfolk turn into coral when they die."
I blinked, "Wow, really? What kind of coral?"
"It varies?"
I scribbled that down. So, it's like with satyrs, fascinating.
"What do you do with the coral?"
He shrugged, "There tend to be family gardens, and the coral of family members is saved there."
"Wow, that sounds cool."
Okay, next on the list… cooking!
"How do you prepare food?"
"Um… you gather the food, then… make it?"
"How does cooking work though?"
"Er… we don't really cook underwater? Or if it's really fancy they might use some magic to heat it up but…"
"Okay, fine, what about clothes? You mentioned that arm bands and bracelets and hair pieces are big, oh, and tail ornaments. What else?"
He considered for a moment, "Well, we don't really wear necklaces underwater? Or if we do they're usually a set shape or heavy enough they don't float up or anything. And like, some wear wraps and stuff underwater but that's not common at all. In general they only really cover up if they're like… in armor."
"Wait," I stopped. "The girls… they walk around topless?"
He blinked at me, looking completely lost, "Well, some? I mean, some wear wraps or something on their chest, but a lot don't bother. There's not much of a point? A lot of them have scales over their chest anyways."
I stared, how did that work? Ugh, now I had more questions! I added them to the list.
I sighed, "What about books and stuff? I mean, obviously you can't have paper underwater-"
"We have tuiu, you know, kelp paper."
I blinked, "Oh. Okay. How is that made?"
"Out of kelp."
… right.
"So, uh, what about ink then?"
"Ink makers make it out of octopus ink."
I nodded, "Is that the only way you communicate, through the… too-eh-oh?"
"Too-ee-oo. And no, we also use Airomo and Papote."
"And that is?"
"Airomo are braided kelp strands. The pattern of the braid conveys different messages. Papote are message shells, enchanted to carry vocal messages. Plus, there are Iris messages."
"Huh, cool." I made note of that. "So, then you do have preserved written copies of stories and your history?"
He frowned at me, "Yeah? Plus, the Papuwa keep a verbal record of our history too."
"Oh, like storytellers?"
Percy shrugged, "I guess? They have iale, er… apprentices. Their job is to keep a record of the sea's history so that it's not lost."
I nodded, noting that down too.
"Right, then what about games and stuff?"
He tilted his head, "Games?"
"Like soccer, baseball, lacrosse, that sort of thing. What do you have underwater?"
He hummed, "I haven't really seen any of the games but I've heard about a few. There's pufferball, where you can't let the pufferball go too low or high and can't let it get caught on your paddle. It sounds fun."
"Do they use a pufferfish for it?" I asked curiously.
"No, it's like, a ball, shaped with little spikes on it? And it's easy to get caught on the coral paddle so they have to be careful."
"Cool, anything else?"
"Hmm… fin-sphere? I think there's two balls, and you can only hit them with your tails. You have to get the balls in the tubes, both really fast and together, otherwise the ball is put back into play and you have to start it again."
"Sounds hard," I muttered.
He shrugged, "There's also like, Hippocampi racing. I really want to see that. I think there are other things, but I haven't gotten a chance to see it. Oh, and the Imoteora Teua."
"What's that?"
"The uh, mage reef I think is the closest translation? It's like, competitions for magic users? Different ones for different specialties. Plus, there are like, yearly challenges? If you can complete them, you might get an apprenticeship which can help you a lot."
"That sounds really cool! How does the magic-"
"Hey, Dylan, have you seen-"
I turned sheepishly to the door, where Annabeth was standing, a very unimpressed look on her face.
"Dylan, what did we say about bothering Percy?"
"But I have questions!"
She sighed, "I'm sorry, Percy. Dylan has a very big interest in other cultures and tends to be very aggressive about getting his answers."
Percy shifted, "Um, it's fine?"
"See!" I said fiercely. "It's fine, can I continue?"
"No," Annabeth said. "Come on, Percy, I found a new book on the fall of the Titan's that should be interesting."
I sulked as she stole my only source of information.
Ugh, now how was I supposed to get answers?