Ocean's Breath Plateau snakebite

yuelong's ranks had become choked with fellahin. hua was empress no longer; her loveliness had become removed and obscure. he felt still the sting of the silent cur's disrespect.
perhaps the island was no longer home to him.
ramesses crossed over the sand-bridge and came to the mainland; he looked coldly at the island now, and then headed toward the edges of the plateau, seeking @Aditya or those who might follow the holy man.

he didn't know it, but yesterday, aditya had turned seven years old. seven years—twenty-eight seasons—on this earth. but there was no celebration, no marker of the passing of time. it was just another day, and when it had gone by, another day took its place. 

but this day was a bit different than the one before, for the monotony was soon broken by a golden figure on the horizon. adi trotted toward it with some wariness, but his unease faded as he realized who it was. he dipped his head, giving a slight chuff and wondering if it was holy relics or worship that urged his return.

pharaoh, aditya greeted, smiling. it is good to see you again. what brings you here?

he would not wait for long. the sleek figure of the older man appeared suddenly, warmly; he called to ramesses by proper name. by what he had given. 
"prophet." a greeting in kind, though ramesses would have preferred to say hem-netjer-tepi: first servant of God. 
"yuelong grows thick with mouths." he was too vain to be lost in such a crush. "this is your palace. allow me free worship of my Gods and i will join you "

he was already taken aback by the "prophet." he'd never seen himself as such, and the fact that such a pious man gave him that name struck two emotions within him—one abashed, for he felt he didn't deserve it, and one pleased. the latter won out; it was a much-needed stroke of ego, and prepared him for what came next.

aditya's jaw sagged slightly. of course, he said without hesitation. you are free to worship any gods you like. 

oh, my. he hadn't felt this kind of purpose since. . . how long had it been, now? your loyalty should be to this land and the wolves on it, adi continued, assuming a more regal posture, though his eyes remained kind. protect them, defend them, care for them. we will keep each other fed, happy and healthy here. do you promise to do so?

morningside, it came to him suddenly, with a bittersweet aftertaste. he had come into his own at morningside, and though he'd lost himself along the way several times, he was coming back to that sense of self.

Cameo! Just making sure she stays active.

When she wasn't glued to her father's side, Brook spent her time learning the plateau's nooks and crannies. Whenever she saw somebody else, she fled back to the safety of Aditya. Today was one of those times, although when she spotted her father up ahead, he was speaking to somebody new, a stranger. She stopped in her tracks, then backpedaled several paces before lurching in another direction. She would find Father again when he was alone. At least she had escaped any questioning voices of strangers.

given freely, what he wanted. this talk of protecting, of loyalty; it came second to pharaoh's own ambitions. he saw a further path to glory here than within yuelong.
and yet his consideration of aditya and the might the man wielded was a genuine thought. the egyptian was languishing within the island place, with none as his subjects and the empress disappeared from her perch and from him. he wished a place where he might expand, prepare for his return to slay hatshepsuun and regain seti's throne.
what a fool you were, father.
aditya, many years older, and yet glowing with a wisdom ramesses wanted for himself.
before he answered, a small young woman had appeared beyond the man's shoulder, gone as soon as she had come. they were not alone here.
"i will do these things."
ramesses had little reason not to perform what was required of him, though he noted that aditya did not ask for loyalty to himself.

a scent on the wind; he lifted his chin, catching the barest glimpse of his flighty daughter before she spirited herself away again. smiling, he stared in that direction for a little while before his attention was tugged away by pharaoh's promise. 

good, aditya replied. that is all i ask. consider this your new home, then.

that business settled, he began to walk along the border, nodding at the young man to follow him. have you traveled far from yuelong? he asked, ears swiveling as to not miss the response. if you are tired, i can show you where we've made our sleeping places. within the trees, sheltered from the sea wind.

resurrection forest, he'd began to call it, though he had not shared the name with anyone else. it was where he had been nursed back to health by the woman izel, after he'd washed up on the beach, bloodied, broken, with bruised ego.

"not so far, prophet," ramesses purred, stepping easily into the gait of the older man. "yuelong itself is unreachable, however, except at certain times of day. i traveled across the sea." this plateau was greatly accessible by comparison, a fact that he would have to explore himself.
his new home was an endless sea of hills that curved and dipped. he followed along the boundary-line with the holy man, watching as the terrain shifted and revealed stands of the trees that had remained so foreign to him: tall with long thin needles reaching from each branch. the scent of them was not unpleasant. "the land changes the longer you look. a cunning place," he chuffed in way of praise.

pharaoh's last remark went over his head, for when he had described yuelong's location, aditya felt as if suddenly paralyzed. he walked along still, but it was with a numbness that had settled over him from nose to tailtip, from his spine down into the tips of his toes.

across the sea, and not always accessible. he knew the place of which the man spoke.

the island, adi replied, less a question than a statement. he came to a stop, the two of them just beneath the shadows of the trees, not quite penetrated into the forest. yuelong has settled upon the island. not—undersea?

he had never heard the name before pharaoh, he was sure of it. he would have remembered—he remembered each and every word that had ever fallen out of sweet coelacanth's mouth.

she was ruler of undersea. . .and now it seemed as if undersea no longer inhabited that place. maybe.

the prophet, halting. pharaoh, stilling alongside him. "the island is led by empress hua and the captain of her guard, aiolos." undersea? he had not heard the name before, nor whispers of this even. but it seemed that this change had somehow perturbed aditya. the man had lived more years than ramesses. maybe he had seen the rise and decline of a dynasty, or several.
with nothing more to add, the proud man remained silent, dappled in the shadows cast by long branches. 
undersea. he attempted to bring to the eye of his mind what that might appear as.