Elia

Elia had her feet in the water. It was refreshing to feel the cold water pass between her toes. She rubbed at her feet feeling the new calices formed from days of walking. Hagar had said a week, But it was her tenth day of travel now. She had to make several stops to rest her healing ribs.

Elia: “Hagar,” she murmured as she kicked her feet about, splashing water around her.

She had only known him for a few hours. He had respected her. He’d liked her. She never felt those things she’d felt before. Ever since she struck her mother, her life had become an explosion of emotion. She was blazing her path on a new frontier.

She looked back at the smoldering coal in the log behind her. She smiled again and kicked more water.

Behind her was open grass, an easy path to follow. But with little protection, she had a mark of red skin on her shoulders and neck. Not even her crown protected her from being sunburnt.

She had gotten so content with her old life. Obeying her mother’s every command. Heeling to her mother’s every raised fist. The rushing water was so refreshing.

Elia: “HAGAR!”, she yelled in frustration. Her kicks deepened and splashed water up onto her face. The droplets sizzled and evaporated from the heat of her crown.

He had given her an impossible task. Drown in this river. Ridiculous. She looked at the rapids. They passed swiftly by. A dense forest of yellow and brown turning leaves were barely viewable from the other side of the water. She had found the widest part of the Flume River. It was several miles wide at this bend.

Facing south, she stood up. This was her dozen or so attempt to dive into the water since she made it to the river.

She began to pace up and down the bank. Making sure not to stray far from her ember and pack.

Elia: “Do it you little bitch! You ave too”. She walked over to her pack and grabbed the sledgehammer.

Now she paced with the weighted end on the smooth pebble beach. She held the end of the wooden handle. Swinging it in an arc whenever she moved.

Elia: “That piece of shit didn’t even know you you idiot. He probably just used ya to burn the wood down. Drown in the river my ass”.

In her frustration she found herself rocketing small stones across the river by swinging the sledge from over her shoulder to the ground.

She admitted it was a satisfying feeling. Sometimes the rocks would just blow up into dust.

She found a good fist-sized rock. She squared up to it and lifted the sledge to her shoulder. The hammer sting her burnt skin as it landed. With a twist of her hips and shoulders, the sledge arced down and struck the stone. It skipped a half dozen times.

The rock now dozens of feet into the river was suspended in air above the water. Elia stared with her mouth open.

She stared, now seeing a hand gripping the rock. A hand had stuck up from the water and caught the rock.

The hand raised. She could see an arm, then a shoulder, and now a head. A person now stood on the water. It held the rock in hand and began approaching Elia.

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Elia: “Shit!” she yelped stumbling backward. She scrambled and darted for her pack just up the riverbank.

The wet stones underneath her gave way and she fell to the ground.

Elia: “Shit!”, she repeated.

She felt a wet hand grab her smock and lift her.

Elia: “Get off me!”. She thrashed about grabbing her sledgehammer.

The hand let go and she stumbled to her feet.

A man in a dark green cloak stood before her. He was just taller than her. His face was barely visible from his hood. He reached out his hand holding the stone.

Riverman: “You were disturbing the trout. Please refrain from any similar games”.

He dropped the stone. Elia clutched her hammer and didn’t pick up the rock.

Elia: “I, uh. I’m ere to meet a teacher. Bout my new crown. You know Hagar?”. She clutched the sledgehammer so hard her knuckles turned white.

Riverman: “Ah… Come with me”. He turned and started walking into the river.

He was waist-deep when Elia shouted to him.

Elia: “Scuze me. I ain’t drowning in no river”.

He turned to her.

Riverman: “Yes, of course not. Pardon. I do not leave the Flume often. We will, uh. Walk then”.

The two walked the stony beach. The mysterious man just walked, saying nothing.

He smelled mostly of mud, with a hint of fresh river fish. It was mostly a fresh smell. Elia actually found it pleasantly natural.

Elia: “You are Touched?”, she said breaking the noise of the rushing river.

Riverman: “Yes”. He said nothing else.

Elia rolled her eyes. She had tried several other questions for the last hour. This was the usual answer.

Elia: “Flume your god then?”.

Riverman: “Yes”.

Elia: “He be a good god?”.

Riverman: “She”.

Elia: “You can tell?” she asked with a surprised tone.

Riverman: “Yes”.

Elia walked to his side for the first time and tried to talk to him directly.

Elia: “How?”.

Riverman: “Flumes water. Lunria is feminine. Lunria’s domain is water”. He made no movement to look at Elia as she spoke.

Elia: “My gods a he. I couldn’t tell you how I know”.

Riverman: “Nothing to worry about, it’s common for new gods”.

Elia: “How do ya know?”.

Riverman: “I wish no offense, but you are new to being Touched?”.

Elia: “That’s what Hagar said. Said to find you…”. She gestured to him for his name.

Riverman: “Riverman,” he said finally looking at Elia.

The two began to slowly open up to speaking with each other. Elia was fascinated with how much he knew of gods. The Riverman was fascinated with how much Elia didn’t know about gods.

The two found a small wooden dock several miles south of where they met. The Riverman said the local Fort Flume used the boat to cross the river. It was a small boat. The two crossed the river by pulling a rope that ran across the entire river. It was a tiring activity.

Elia: “Can you not control the water?” she asked yanking the riverboat. She paid attention to the rope but always kept her eyes on her smoldering ember.

Riverman: “I cannot. I bare no crown of my god”.

Elia: “So you can’t make this damned thing go any faster?”.

The Riverman slumped his shoulders. He thought she was going to ask an actual important question.

It took around an hour to pull across the wide river. Elia could see the fort in the distance.

Elia: “That where we’re headed?”.

Riverman: “No”.

She really had to stop asking yes or no questions.

The keep reflected off the river in the distance. The closer they got to the other side of the river, the more dead leaves drifted downstream.

Elia looked out about the water. It held a strong current but had a calmness to it. It shimmered in spots where the setting sun breached through the grey clouds above.

She noticed many small fish had begun to swarm around the boat. The Riverman pulled out a sealed bag of fine ground grain. He tossed grain to the left and right of the boat. The fish breached the surface in a controlled frenzy.

They had green and brown skin with black speckles. Their bodies held a colorful stripe from head to tail.

The boat briefly was struck with a ray of sunshine breached from the clouds cover. The light exploded into a rainbow of color as it reflected off the scales of the river fish.

Elia: “Your Flume River is beautiful,” she said dipping her hands in the water. The fish sucked at her fingers and tickled her.

Riverman: “An omen,” he solemnly replied as he threw the last of his feed.

Elia: “An omen?”.

Riverman: “The light reflecting the scales. A union of beauty. The scales are of my river. The light is of the sun, the great flame. The gods speak to us always. We must learn to read their omens”.

Elia sat there, occasionally helping to pull the rope. She closed her eyes and recalled the brilliant rainbow of light. It hung in her view. She recalled it so vividly.