Pool

These three were written about a week ago (as was the next Tadyel story, those will probably peter out with this next one or the one after).

This post marks one hundred and fifty posts this year. Which is a lot.

Pool

                The Countess of the Rivers of Riverjoin, Deep-Current-That-Pulls-Strongly, lay down on the bottom of her resting pool and sighed. It was very strange to be with child. She was eighty years old, very young for a river siren. Her mother had told her that their kind lived for thousands of years; and much longer if they spent time in hibernation, as her mother had.

                Deep ran her hand over her belly and smiled. "I can tell you're awake now, Rain," she said. She was twenty-seven months into her three year pregnancy. Her unborn daughter, Rain-Cloud-That-Shades-The-River, had been conscious for the past three months inside her womb. It was a quirk of river siren biology, intended to give them time to impart some secrets even before birth.

                There was not so many secrets for Deep to impart. Her daughter's former life had included learning that made her Deep's equal in sigil magic and many other academic pursuits. Using the powers river sirens possessed beyond the sigils would have to wait until after her birth, and the peculiarities of a river siren's nature had become common knowledge (Deep had found no reason to keep it secret).

                So instead Deep spoke of the rivers, and of their duty. At times she worried a little that Rain would not be connected to the rivers like she was. But that wouldn't happen. The rivers kept the river sirens alive (although fresh water baths could substitute). Even her resting pool, deep in her castle, was connected to the nearby river system through underground flows.

                Beaming, she looked around her resting pool. Several cave fish had found their way in and kept her company, their pale forms moving through the lamp-lit waters. Some hardy, colourful plants dotted the water, living off the minerals that flowed in from the cave waters. Having a resting pool was a luxury, but one Deep could easily afford as a Countess.

                Once she had proved herself very capable as a manager of the rivers, the Duke of Riverjoin had granted her a newly created county. It covered a long stretch of river, and extended up between several mountains and into many valleys. They were uninhabited beyond a few winged ones, who lived up the mountains - which were outside Deep's territory.

                The same winged ones had refused to allow the digging of mines into the mountains, which was why the region was uninhabited. It was fertile land, but there was plenty of that elsewhere in the duchies. The long stretch of river and low population made it the perfect place to found a new county. Over the past few years Deep had managed to found several prosperous farms and fisheries throughout the valleys. With the money she made, and a generous grant from the Duke, she had even built herself a castle in the middle of her territory, right beside the river and above several underground streams.

                A kick from within her belly informed her that Rain was awake. "Good morning," Deep said happily. "I'm going to sing a song my mother used to sing to me today."

                Feeling approval from Rain (or, thinking she did at least), Deep began to sing. The water echoed with her voice, as clear as it would be in the open air.

                "Awful folly of humans has spoilt the world,

                A strange contagion that spreads through all things,

                Against it many creations were hurled,

                And one amongst them is a siren who sings;

                Whenever the darkness clouds our clear rivers,

                We shall cleanse it with our power,

                While all of humankind hides and quivers,

                We protect, it is our hour;

                Dark mistakes were turned back through duty,

                Destined protectors made to fix the wrong,

                Diseased lands cleansed, restored to purity,

                Defenders now shall last long;

                So now the lands are bright once more,

                Saved by those they made to guard,

                Stalwartly we continue our duty for,

                Stopping the darkness together is not hard."

                "Swirl called it the 'Summary of the Ballad of Creation'. The full song is much longer, and your grandmother hasn't been able to translate it properly. The rhymes don't work in our language, or the first letter doesn't work. She even tried to rewrite it, but couldn't.

                "She never did teach me the language of the world she came from. 'It's no longer my home, and is not yours at all,' she said. 'So there is no point.' I always thought it would be fun to learn, though," said Deep.

                "I was taught about the full Ballad though. It tells the details of the 'Folly', and the 'Duty', and the vile corruption that continually plagued that world. It talks about all the other beings that were made, to cleanse the land, sea and air. It sounds almost like a war sometimes.

                "Even though the Ballad seems to set out why and even how our kind came into being, Mother wasn't sure about whether it was true. The humans of the era she was born in were powerless compared to the 'cleansers', yet they had once made them? She said that many others suspected that an earlier race that also bore the mantle of 'humanity' created them instead, rather than the magic-less beings of her time. Or perhaps that the corruption the cleansers fought had burnt the magic from humans.

                "With all the other things I've learnt of that place, I'm happy we are here. I suppose we couldn't be anywhere else, really, but... That world sounds like a tormented place. Sirens would often die young, wearied well beyond their years by the corruption. Swirl says that nothing in this world is like it, not even the worst magical pollution. This is a healthy world, even after the damage the portals did."

                Deep ran her hand over her pregnant belly. "It's time for me to get to work and send you gently off to sleep with all the minutiae of running a county and the rivers, my darling daughter," she said happily.

                As she swam swiftly to the surface of her pool, she was pretty sure she felt Rain's approving love. The feeling made her very, very happy. It would be a good day.