After surviving a bank robbery, with much thanks to Aquaman, Camille decides to complete her training to join the police force; to help people like he did and to redeem herself from a gruesome death that she was too petrified to stop. After being as...
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Kasalus had his tiny hand wrapped around Camille's index finger. His grip was strong for someone so young, but Camille had been assured that it was normal for Atlantean babies to quickly develop muscle control. He was even starting to hold his smiles for a little longer than usual, and had developed his own little personality; beyond the usual sleeping, crying, and eating. At random hours of the day, Camille would find him surrounded by jellyfish of all different shapes and colours. They would bob over his head, flickering with light.
Arthur had, on quite a few occasions, directed these creatures out of the palace...but the next day they would be back again. It was obvious now that Kasalus had inherited his father's ability to communicate with sea life; before he'd learned either English or Atlantean, he spoke the language of the ocean. It was difficult to describe the amount of pride that beamed on his father's face whenever Kasalus invited yet another animal into their home.
Every second that they spent together as a family was perfect. Too perfect. It was loving, and warm, and exactly the environment that Camille had hoped Kasalus would grow up in. However, they couldn't stay this way every single day. They had a city to take care of, and that meant extended periods of time away from home, and a consistently full schedule.
On this particular day Arthur had needed to assist in the building of farms outside of the city, but these areas still posed slight danger and so Camille opted to stay in Atlantis with her son. She had been making surprise visits to workers all afternoon; hunters, traders, animal trainers, and professors. It was primarily to witness the conditions in which they laboured for herself, and she wasn't impressed.
Atlantis was much different to the surface world in many ways, and the expectations within work parameters was no exception. They didn't measure working hours like humans did. They went to work, stayed there all day, then only returned home for dinner or sleep when their work was complete. This meant that the typical Atlantean could work from 14 to 16 hours each day, every day. The concept of having time off, or splitting up shifts, was completely foreign to them. Contributing to the city was all that mattered.
It was absurd to Camille that any person would have to work for that long, every single day, but it only got worse from there. The last stop was an underwater mine. Unlike other professions, mining was reserved solely for the lower class...well, the select few that were permitted jobs.
When she arrived the workers had barely noticed over the sound of their own hammering. Kasalus seemed awfully frightened by the noise. He jumped, eyes searching the infinite space behind his mothers head, as if he were trying to find the source of such a sound. Then, his face started to scrunch and his lips trembled.
"Oh no...it's very loud isn't it sweetheart?" Camille cooed, lightly rocking him in an attempt to calm his nerves. She knew that the infant still couldn't understand her at one month old, but he could definitely recognise her voice. Whenever she spoke he'd stare at her with wide silver eyes, and very rarely, his lips would twitch into something that resembled a smile. "It's alright. You'll be alright."
