“In conclusion little Alice is just as lazy as {The Mother}!” <Dealmaker>

“Unci buwi!” <Alice>

A being seemingly made completely out of a bland metal, essentially only changing this to have black leathery prehensile hands & feet,  poked the little amphibian's chubby tummy. In response the creature cradled its own tummy while attempting to pout. The metal creature didn’t refute but instead poked out their black forked tongue while their aqua blue eyes (having many ripples that contracted & pulsed out at random) that were outlined in black winced in mocking at the little creature as it proceeded to poke its forehead instead.

This minor movement did get telegraphed by a creaking as they were adorned with many other useful metals that looked rather boring due to the common colour. Still the little salamander couldn’t react in time - finding herself being pushed backwards in the water against the hard scales that made her mothers face.

“As your teacher it’s my job to be a bully ohohoho~!” <Dealmaker>

“Hmpf!” <Alice>

At the declaration the hatchling pup charged towards the humanoid lizard with all the power her chubby little limbs could muster; even utilising the stubby little tail. All this effort only amounted to her slamming her face into the metallic serpent then bouncing in the opposite direction yet again though with a trail of golden blood. Having seemingly knocked herself out at the attack.

Gaia did carefully hold her baby in her ‘paw’ yet neither seemed particularly worried as they both already scanned over the girl with their divine sense to ensure there were no issues.

“Are you sure you wish to go out of your way to do this for u-” <Gaia>

Her wise yet gentle voice carried an innate authority that only a primordial god like she could manage yet the two there didn’t seem too particularly impressed. Then again the cute squeaky pup was currently blacked out - if she wasn’t she would likely be looking up to her mom with sparkling little pink eyes. On the other hand the being known as Tyrant Dealmaker was about as casual as one could be without an ounce of respect towards the primordial god even if they were certainly friendly with her.

“There is no such problem for me; if anything I’m rather happy to have the option of teaching somewhere safe instead of trying to help the mortals above the surface. Those dragons are only getting more arrogant while the beasts are seeing everything other than themselves as a potential enemy making the surface volatile as it can be. Honestly I’m not sure how much I can do with my medicine at this point…” <Dealmaker>

“*Sigh*” <Gaia>

Tyrant's sultry voice began to slowly begin to sound more tired as they went on resulting in the giant amphibian letting out a long sigh. Both were well aware of the chaotic situation above the sea however it was questionable how much the two of them alone could do. Although it was true both of them alone could likely deal with the nations at fault - the nations weren’t their true enemy when it came to bringing peace - instead it was those behind them.

“What is Azure Dragon doing…?” <Gaia>

“Nothing good that’s for sure; I have some trails on where Indigo and her daughter could be yet nobody in those circles trusts me enough to share the truth.” <Dealmaker>

“Unci noh twustworthi!” <Alice>

Soon the Tyrant found themselves turning towards the little hatchling who tilted her head after having already awoken despite having knocked themselves out with quite the bump. This wasn’t surprising to the serpent though as a confident smirk appeared on their face instead of the slight shock of Gaia.

While Gaia was still caught checking her daughter's health the ‘teacher’ went ahead to flick the little tike with as much force as the impact from before. It seemed to ‘break’ some invisible barrier nevertheless it didn’t knock out Alice this time as she moaned more about the androgynous god seed being a “buwi”. A sentiment they obviously didn’t care for as they ignored Gaia’s protests in favour of continued flicking and after a few more times till even just the ‘barrier’ around her flesh could fully resist the ‘devastating attack’.

Noticing this scene playout made Gaia gasp in surprise while Dealmaker themselves only had a sultry smirk upon their face as if everything was as they expected.

“It would appear we have a lot to learn about this little one; especially when it comes to what she has been doing over all these years…” <Dealmaker>

***

From then on several years went by with Tyrant Dealmaker teaching the little dragoness everything they knew. This included alchemy, formations, knife throwing, surgery, economics, philosophy and far far more than even that. Although they certainly weren't the oldest being in existence they were probably the most well travelled.

With that being the case it wasn’t surprising that their experiences also were just as vast as the land they have covered in their life. Having travelled all the way from the depths of the sea, up through the heavens where they were born and then down into the treacherous of {Tartarus} where all those the ruling primordial gods disdained. Throughout that they had seen both the worst as well as best that life had to offer while trying to help out.

Even if their Primordial God seed had nothing to do with directly helping people their dominion over covenants did have many uses. Through it they were able to help the weak mortals by acting as an intermediary for the weaklings then preventing the strong from abusing their power when they were gone; going back on the promises made. They even managed to help those ill with their knowledge of medicine.

All in all the favourite thing for little Alice were Tyrant's many stories of the wonderland above the sea which she could only hear about.

To the little Alice her “unci” or “aunti” (being genderless made neither true) was her hero with no equal who fought against injustice even after the one truly responsible failed. Compared to Atlas who got caught in petty schemes - the crafty & slippery Dealmaker was a far greater icon to look up to even if they never took the fight directly to their enemies.

They showed the future goddess that not every solution was one that required direct influence and that knowledge was just as dangerous as any blade. Something she would definitely keep in mind when planning how to rule over the weak misguided mortals on the surface as well as the continued guidance of those below the waves. Still as time went on Dealmaker often spent a lot of time away in order to continue their actions by slowly uplifting the world one settlement at a time.

In all honesty Dealmaker could have potentially risen to completely take over the realms from behind the scenes with their power; that was how far they had travelled. Yet the god in the making felt they had everything they could ever need. Why try to gain more when so many have far less than they have ever had?

Resisting their own greed seemed easy to the serpent making Alice only look up towards Tyrant even more than her own father.

Even then the one she was closest to was Gaia who she always sat upon to watch the goddess at work in helping not only the world but those within it. As the primordial goddess of life, Mother and ruler of the mortal realms she was quite busy when she wasn’t in deep sleep. From creating, promoting life to restoring it.

Of course, being a dragon of massive size meant she took equally long naps that usually lasted for millennia, however with her daughter finally being bored such a nap was impossible. As such the primordial divine ancient dragon was hard at work while caring for her daughter which thankfully wasn’t very hard. Alice was a very understanding and quiet girl that even Gaia forgot the little thing was sitting upon her head.

That didn’t mean Alice wasn’t showered with love & affection because that was most definitely untrue as both her parents positively spoiled her rotten with constant gifts. In fact all the people who worshipped both of her divine parents showered her with their own offerings thanks to the passive blessing her mere presence afforded. With her outside her egg it appeared that their prosperity only grew greater.

Some doubted whether it was really her influence due to such a powerful divinity being rare even among the strongest of gods yet either way she was a beacon of luck. No one under the sea could hate her - especially not with how cute she was. Still the growth of her body hardly matched the growth of her mind as she remained miniature even after a decade passed by even if this wasn’t that big a surprise with the slow growing dragons.

Even then seeing that the little prodigal child wasn’t as strong as feared brought great relief to those cautious about the titanic duo. If a powerful child was born it could greatly turn the heavens if that child decided they weren’t satisfied like Alice was; with that in mind it wasn’t surprising that the primordial gods no longer wanted to take the chance.

Thus without the family's knowledge the rusty gears of the world turned in order to prompt changes which every primordial would grow to regret in the future.