Neptune

Was Neptune crying because sea levels were rising, or were sea levels rising because Neptune was crying?

Jupiter and Pluto had no way of knowing the true answer to the question, but they were worried about their brother. Recently, his blues were deeper than the Marianas Trench, and had resulted in the planet's atmosphere becoming icier than usual. Salacia was no help. The brothers sometimes forgot she and Neptune were married, as Salacia was almost never around, preferring to spend her time swimming through the constellations with Delphinus. These days, even voyages through the sea of stars were not enough to lift the fog from Neptune's life. He used to bathe himself in the light of Cancer, Aquarius, and Pisces, but now, Neptune seemed to prefer the depths of space. Jupiter and Pluto felt that there were oceans between them and their brother. Yet, if they had learned anything from Odysseus, it was that even in Neptune's fury and pain, oceans could be crossed.

When Jupiter and Pluto arrived on the great blue planet, they were unsurprised to find Neptune bathing in his water-ammonia ocean, common practice when he was upset. Pluto wasn't sure, but he thought Finding Nemo, a guilty pleasure of Neptune's, might be playing in the next room. As they approached his icy sea, they were forced to carefully navigate the wind and waves surrounding their brother.

"Neptune," demanded Jupiter, "what causes this storm inside you?"

"You look like you want the ground to open and swallow you whole, dude. If that's really what you want, I can arrange it," said Pluto, only half joking.

Neptune continued to wail and splash around in his pool.

"My gardens, my precious gardens are being destroyed faster than I can grow them. They're replacing my natural islands with piles of trash, and spilling oil into my gulfs. Why are they unable to respect the things I have given them?" Neptune sobbed. "I am trying so desperately to change the tides of destruction they have created."

If Pluto had a beating heart, it would have broken for his brother. Neptune was the most sensitive of the three of them, always seeking solace at the seaside when the stresses of rule and human turmoil became a crushing pressure. Yet with the humans' current carelessness, even Neptune could not find peace amongst the blue depths he had created.

It had been a hard several decades for Neptune. The great Barrier Reef, the gardens to which he referred, had taken him years to curate. While Neptune generally did not care for human praise, his planet had never shown brighter than the night the reefs were declared a World Heritage Site. But now, like so much of the oceans, they were threatened by pollution from humans, who seemed more destructive than Jupiter when it came to Neptune's realms. As though the Great Pacific Garbage Patch was not insult enough, they felt the need to dump oil on it, then heat the whole place until even the ice could not survive. Neptune had sent more earthquakes and waves in warning of his feelings, but nothing seemed to work.

"Brothers, I feel like I'm drowning in this sorrow. What should I do?"

"Continue to rise," said Jupiter, abnormally calm. "If your oceans expand and steal their best places, you win in the turning of the tides."

Pleased with the idea of growing his waters, Neptune began to nod off peacefully against the waves, or was that a spell from Pluto?

Author's Note: In "Neptune," I have worked to characterize Neptune as slightly different from his brothers. I have always considered him the middle child, and chose to explore how he might be sensitive in ways that Jupiter and Pluto are not. While this story refers to Poseidon's (Neptune's) role in The Odyssey, it is not intended to reflect any specific myth.

Bibliography: The following articles inspired aspects of "Neptune."

• Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill - This article details the BP oil spill of 2010, a point of deep sorrow for Neptune.
• Delphinus - The constellation whose name is Latin for "dolphin"
• The Great Barrier Reef - Neptune's gardens are actually a series of coral reefs off the coast of Australia. Human interference has caused the reef to lose half of its corals in the past 30 years. The reef is also the setting of one of Neptune's favorite films, Finding Nemo.
• The Great Pacific Garbage Patch - This trash island was discovered in the 1980s and is predicted to be at least the size of Texas.
• Jupiter/Zeus - A brother of Neptune and Pluto, Jupiter will continue to be a feature play in Three Brothers.
• Neptune (planet) - This article provided facts about Neptune, such as the presence of ice and the water-ammonia ocean.
• Neptune/Poseidon - Neptune is the main character of this story, but remains present in the tales of his brothers.
• The Odyssey - In Homer's epic, Poseidon becomes angry at Odysseus for the murder of his son, the Cyclops. In his anger, Poseidon delays Odysseus' journey ten years.
• Pluto/Hades - A brother of Jupiter and Neptune, Pluto will have his own feature in Three Brothers in the coming weeks.
• Salacia - In Roman Mythology, Salacia is the little-known wife of Neptune.

Image Information: The Great Dark Spot on the surface of Neptune