On Mount Alyppia

Revelations

Vivalius the nymph returned to the Prince's map rooms again the following week, and Assuntina waited outside the doors for a chance to speak to him. She could hear voices from inside the chamber, her father and the nymph and a few lords and nobles. Still, she couldn't make out a single word. She sat with a book of philosophy under the guise of studying, but didn't have the patience to try and comprehend half of what she read, her ears sharp.
It seemed hours later that the nymph finally walked out, with the same loose, easy gait, but a sort of tension about him that hadn't been there before. He nodded at Assuntina without looking at her as he passed. She called out to him before he could turn into a bird,
"Can you become anything but birds?"
"Anything that breathes air," Vivalius said, his answer cordial but detatched.
Assuntina's eyebrows shot up. "Anything?"
"Some things are more difficult, but yes." He most definitely seemed tense, the cheek and liveliness he had shown that day in the throne room gone.
"Are you-- Angry?" she asked cautiously.
He gave her a tight smile. "No, child. Merely... frustrated."
"Why?"
He shrugged. "Your father has no aim to listen to me. He is only trying to get any secrets he may be able to pry out of my. He probably thinks me a spy."
Assuntina sighed. That sounded like him. "How do you know he's not listening to you? Have you been spying on him?"
"I easily could have, but no. I have been alive since before this castle was built. I know when a man is pretending, and I know when a man is lying. The threat I warn of is no joke. I thought perhaps I could convince him, but if I cannot..."
"You'll flee the island with your daughter and leave the rest of us to die?" she suggested.
Vivalius gave her a wry smile. "I could take you too, if you really wished to," he said. "Your father would be too dead to pay me much heed."
"Arista's your daughter, isn't she?" Assuntina blurted.
Vivalius paused and turned to look at her, running a hand through his hair. "Well," he said, chuckling dryly. "You're quite the smart one."
"Is she?"
VIvalius sighed. "Yes," he said. "Arista is my daughter." He spoke the words as if they were foreign in his mouth.
"Did you know about her?" she asked.
He shook his head. "No," he said. "I've only known about her since I found her and healed her eye."
"Oh," Assuntina said. "She doesn't know, then? That you're her father?"
"No. She doesn't."
"Why doesn't she?"
"I didn't tell her," he said simply.
Assuntina waited for him to continue, but he never did. "May I tell her?" she asked instead.
Vivalius looked at her for a long moment. "If you wish to," he said finally. He glanced away, towards the open window. "I must go. My Griffins will be hungry. Tell Arista--" he hesitated. "Tell her Jack misses her," he said finally. He gave her a smile and a nod, and then shrank into a seagull and swooped away.
Assuntina stared at the window he had just disappeared from. He was Arista's father. She couldn't wait to tell her.

Hello, people who have made it this far!
I am incredibly sorry about the lateness, unfortunate length, and poor quality of this last installment. And the fact that I didn't update last week. I have been suffering from afflictions including a bad cold, acne, and chronic laziness. Be glad you got anything at all.
I hope you have enjoyed this chapter, featuring the plot twist you all saw coming, because what even is subtle foreshadowing. Tell me your thoughts! Vote and comment! Go nuts!
Till next time
~Amanda