Distant Seas

[Lucianus Adair]

Being on Hapes for longer than he had ever cared to remain on the world in times long past was something of… an adjustment. And that was being kind. That was not to say that he had no experience conducting himself in court; rather, the opposite. He had been in such a position before, on many differing occasions. The circumstances this time, however, were completely dissimilar from anything else in his prior experience.

Marsuo’ur’stalis - or Lucianus Adair, the Lord Shade, as he was known in court - for the breadth and depth of his experience and knowledge, had no experience with children. As such, the appointed tutor of the young Queen-to-be in matters outside of the Hapes Consortium (she had a separate cadre of instructors in those matters) had been experiencing something of a steep learning curve. Lady Terranova had been of assistance in this area and despite this, the child sometimes had an utterly different manner when it came to him... or perhaps that was just his imagination. Fortunately, young Beatrix was an eager learner; there was a sharp intellect behind her little face and keen eyes that belied her few years, and the anomalous man had been given the opportunity to have a hand in shaping it.

“Beatrix.” The deep bass of his voice spoke her name into existence in the moment, but she did not respond with the raising of her eyes. She was consumed in another one of her drawings. Making art, in this fashion, was not an ability he possessed, and his appreciation of it was very much a learned skill, rather than a natural one.

Her recent interest in the life that existed below the surface of the waters had driven much of their discourse as of late (as well as being a force in the direction of recent travels of the court), and while it was his duty to give her a prime education, encouraging the passion she put into her interests was a directive parallel to that priority.

“Have you been made aware of the existence of a creature known as the ‘Opee sea killer’?”

At that, her eyes flicked upward, fixing on his face. That commanded her attention.

[Beatrix Alastor]

Seated at a small, spindly glass topped table that looked like it had been crafted from nothing more than gold and fancy, the little chume worked on her pictures with her childs medium of colors. It was not that the little queen had been ignoring her tutor, far from it. She was just trying very hard to blend two colors together to achieve the precise color of the belly of some porpoise that kept swimming by the aquarium glass before her, bobbing it's head excitiedly. It too wished to perform for Chume Beatrix, it seemed. After smiling at the creature, Beatrix looked up to her tutor.

Beatrix would not have ignored Lucianus, for a number of good reasons. The biggest being: Her mother said so. When her mother was not around, Lira was in charge. If Lira was not around, Lucianus did not leave Beatrix's side until one of them returned. Even despite the presence of her Chume'nor, which probably made them upset. They were pretty serious about keeping out anybody not supposed to be there.

Reason number two: She actually liked to listen to him. Beatrix had a number of teachers on many subjects. Lucianus was probably the only one who cared what she wanted to learn about. So her time with him was never boring.

Reason number three: While she was sure that he would never raise his voice to her, let alone hurt her, Beatrix had just enough respect for her teacher not to press his patience.

"No..", she said after a minute. She set her colors down. Not tossing them negligently upon the table to pick up later, as another child of her age might have done. Instead, Beatrix took the time to methodically place them back into their proper places in opened kit upon the table beside her drawing in progress.

"Do I have one?", she asked of the gigantic aquariums that were part of the Reef Fortress.

[Lucianus Adair]

He had come to learn that with Beatrix, he was spoiled as far as children went. She did not fit the forms deduced by the majority of his observations of youths over his life thus far, her manner being much closer to what he expected of one full grown in stature and mentality (for it was not wholly true that all beings mature of body were as such in mind), and for the most part in their sessions, she maintained the comportment he had come to expect of her.

"No, I am afraid not, young Beatrix." He gestured, signifying the length of the nearest aquarium. "This creature, for one, would not fit in the confines of these vessels. It is approximately twenty metres in length."

He laced his fingers and laid the joined hands on the surface of the table.

"Secondly, I believe it would make a fine series of meals of the rest of your collection of sea life..." At this, a ghosting of amusement passed through his eyes. "...thirdly, it is not endemic to the Consortium. The Opee Sea Killer hails from Naboo."

His eyebrows lifted slightly.

"However, there is a dwarf subspecies... only ten metres in length. It is a rare creature."

[Beatrix Alastor]

Something too big for her tank sounded like exactly what the little chume wanted to see! While this particular viewing tank was not hailed as the most visually stunning in the Reef Fortress, it was the one Beatrix liked best. The first time Lucianus had brought her here there had been sharks swimming by. She had been the one who had been hooked that day and as a result had been visiting here almost everyday to see if they came swimming back in from the sea, but so far all she had seen was a lot of dolphins.

"Naboo...", she said, trying to remember if it was one of the places that her teacher had already told her something about. He liked to test her that way, to see if she recalled her lessons. Which of course she did, as it was expected of her.

"Where the Gungans are.." The likelihood that she would be taken for an outing to Naboo anytime soon was.. scarce. "So it just.. eats all the other fish?", she asked, turning her little face up to her tutor.

[Lucianus Adair]

A slow smile overtook his lips, pleased as always that she recalled her lessons, and at her query as to the appetite of the Opee sea killer

“Almost all the other fish, Beatrix.” He said, continuing. “There are in fact two other creatures that surpass the Opee in size, that occupy the same oceans.”

It was so easy to string her along within the veins of her interests. She was very eager, a very good student, and it made the tutor quite devoted to her learning, made him want to see just how far young Beatrix could go. There was a great deal of potential in the girl.

"Only one of these two, however, could be considered a fish; yet they both predate on the Opee... to varying degrees of success."

[Beatrix Alastor]

Getting up from her chair, finished with her picture for now, Beatrix went to look at the aquarium to see what else might be swimming around. Certainly no Opee, but maybe something with some teeth. She walked right up to the tank, turning her head as far as she could in both directions, but all she could see were fish. Until she saw otherwise, fish were boring.

Turning back to her teacher with a toothy smile of her own, though speaking sweetly, like the good little girl she was. "Just because there are things that are bigger, doesn't mean that it's not the best though. Does an Opee have great big teeth like a shark?"

[Lucianus Adair]

He looked at the young girl intently, a silky train of thought voicing pleasure in his mind at her understanding of the concept that bigger does not necessarily mean better or stronger. A mild note of amusement crossed his intense yet patient face at the irony. He was one of the larger beings, and his form towered over the very young Beatrix while she peered into the nearest tank, searching, until she properly turned his way with a question. For all the time she possibly spent craning her head upwards, there had not been once that she had complained of straining.

"The Opee at its largest is over three times the length of the largest known aquatic shark, Beatrix. What do you think?"

He glanced up only with the eyes to the tank. So many fish, and such a lack of predators.