Triton's Arc

Chapter 2 of 3

The council doors closed behind Triton, and the laughter followed him out. He hung in the quiet water, the wine still sour in his mouth. He had sworn to prove them wrong. But he could not. He did not even know what the council argued about. Taxes. Patrols. Trade with the villages. The words meant nothing to him. A man cannot win a fight he cannot see. For the first time, Triton understood how little he knew. Ren came for him with a plate of food he had not asked for. The guard pressed a cup of plain water into his hand instead of wine. "Eat. Then listen to me." Ren did not bow. He never did when they were alone. "You keep swimming into that hall blind. You don't know what they decide. So they decide you're nothing." He said it flat, without cruelty. Triton wanted to argue. He could not. Ren was right, and Ren was the only one who told him so. "Then teach me," Triton said. "I can't." Ren's jaw tightened. "A guard doesn't sit in on council. But I know who does." Ren led him to the training grounds, where the war master worked a line of recruits. Sophronios was no ordinary teacher. Half man, half horse, with the tail of a fish, he had advised Poseidon himself and knew the history of the whole sea. He had taught Triton's sister to master her storms. He turned from the recruits and looked at the prince with open doubt. "The heir comes to me," Sophronios said. "Sober, for once. Why?" Triton's pride told him to leave. He stayed. "I don't know what the council does. I want you to teach me. The taxes. The patrols. All of it. Before the next meeting." Sophronios studied him a long moment. "Pride brought you here, or shame?" "Both." The war master almost smiled. "Honest. That's new." He waved the recruits away. "Sit. We start with the grain levies, because that is what they will fight about tomorrow." They worked through the day. Sophronios drew the city's quarters in the sand. He named the lords and what each one wanted. He showed Triton where the money came from and where it drained away. Triton's head ached, but he kept asking. Ren watched from the edge, silent, proud. By the time the coral dimmed, Triton could name the three disputes the council would open with. "You are not ready to lead them," Sophronios said, rising. "But tomorrow you will not walk in blind. That is a start." Triton swam home clear-eyed for the first time in years. He knew the levies now. He knew the lords. But knowing was not the same as winning. Tomorrow he would speak in that hall, and the nobles would test whether a sober prince could do more than a drunk one. He had the knowledge. Now he had to use it in front of them all.