Queen Doreus sat hunchback on her glimmering cream-colored throne, her head resting on her palm. She tapped her blue-tipped index finger on the edge of her throne, looking quite bored. 

That is until her brother popped his head into the throne room. 

"You wanted to see me?" Nereus asked as he walked across the polished marble floor to the steps leading up to the throne. 

"Oh, brother, there you are!" Doreus exclaimed. "Finally. I thought you would never arrive."

Nereus shrugged. "I was busy. We were expecting a new shipment of scrolls from the outer regions."

"Nevermind that," Doreus hummed as she stood up and gently handled her scepter. "I'm glad you're here. I'm bored, there aren't any meetings today, and dinner will not be served for another few hours. I was thinking we could go out together, maybe have a sister-brother bonding experience thingy?"

"Sure," Nereus agreed. "What were you thinking? Hunting?"

"No," Doreus answered. "I want to show you something," she said, descending the steps. "Follow me!"

___

Nereus walked briskly behind his younger sister in an effort to keep up with her. 

"Trust me, Nereus," Doreus hummed. "I think you'll love this."

They had walked quite a bit away from the palace by now, and the sun was beginning to set. Dinner wouldn't be served for another hour, though, so they didn't have anything to worry about. Doreus had waved off their guards, saying that they wouldn't need protection where they were going, and the thing that she was going to show her brother would suffice. 

Soon, they came to a large lagoon. Crystal blue water lapped at Nereus's feet as small waved rippled on the surface. He tapped his chin in thought, thinking that he had been to this place before, but couldn't remember when. 

"Remember this place?" his sister asked, kneeling down and brushing the water with her palm. "When we were kids--"

"YES!" Nereus shouted. "When we were kids, we went exploring and ended up lost here. It took Mother and Father ages to find us."

"Right! And by then we were already looking for food! You managed to scrounge up some tiny minnows to eat, and I gave up hope of ever seeing civilization again." Doreus laughed. "Mother and Father were so mad at us! I wondered if they would ever lighten up."

Nereus smiled. "So what did you want to show me?" 

"This," Doreus said as she slipped the scepter under the water. It gave off a bright blue bioluminescent glow and larger ripples made their way to the shore. Suddenly, what looked to be a huge seahorse breached the water and landed back in it with a ginormous splash. 

"Woah! What was that?!" Nereus asked. 

"You know the big storm we had a week ago?" his sister asked. Nereus nodded. "Well, he must have gotten washed up in the lagoon from it. I was on a walk yesterday and I found him. He looks more like a leafy sea dragon than a seahorse, but he's as big as a Monumental. 

"You mean--"

"Yes. There's a seahorse Monumental! Well, um, leafy sea dragon Monumental. He's super sweet. Wanna ride him?"

Nereus nodded. "Yeah, kind of."

"Great!" Doreus said as the leafy sea dragon came into the shallows. "Hop on!"

___

AshyGurl101 and I were talking, and I came up with the idea that the seahorse was their pet! Go check out her one-shot about this, and her The Deep Theories book!