Elia

Riverman: “What did you do today to aid your god?” The Riverman said walking slowly on the calm water.

Elia: “How do ya mean?” Elia replied while pushing the two oars backward. She was alone in a small canoe. The boat moved down the river while she stared up at the riverman.

They traveled near the western edge of the river, the trees cast a shadow onto the river from the setting sun. The sky cast a brilliant orange-red, giving the water the same color as a blazing fire.

Riverman: “How do you serve your god? What do you do to help their cause?”. He continued to walk calmly on the water. When Elia paddled, he would bob up several inches.

Elia: “I guess… Nothing right now I spose”. She frowned now as she rowed. “What can I do?”.

Riverman: “Every day, I come out to the open water, and I feed the trout”. He pulled out his pouch of grain. “It’s a form of worship. In return the Flume gives me a boon”.

Elia: “When kinda boon?”. Her head perked up.

Riverman: “The Flume lets me swim with exceptional speed. It even applies to other bodies of water”. He handed the bag of grain to Elia. “Watch”.

The Riverman slid to be neck deep in the water, he now bobbed like a normal swimmer. With simple overhand strokes, he began to outpace the rowboat. He shot forward which created a V-shaped ripple larger than the one the boat made. Now far ahead, he started to swim back. As he approached the boat again he dove deep into the water, then jumped out several feet in the air. He landed with a splash that drenched Elia.

He heard her clapping as he rose back up from the water.

Riverman: “We need to find what daily ritual will get you your god’s boon”.

Elia: “You gotta be kidding me!. That there is enough fish to feed the kingdom!”.

The two were at another brook along the western edge of the Flume River. The brook was small enough where The Riverman had been able to block fish from traveling from either end while still maintaining a steady water flow.

The Riverman explained the fish were more active in the evening. They jumped up at any spec that landed in the water.

Riverman: “The trout will die if not in flowing water. So it took a lot of experimentation to find the right way to house them here”.

The brook had been converted into a fish nursery. Thousands of trout swam in large groups all around the water.

Riverman: “When they are breeding. I take the eggs and milt into separate pots. They spawn separate from the river, which allows more to survive”.

Elia: “You breed the trout? Why, seems like they be doin fine in the Flume on their own”.

Riverman: “They do. But Fort Flume fished for most of the year. I have to supplement their catches to maintain the population”. He stuck his hand in the brook. Many fish came and sucked on his fingers. The fish were about the size of a leaf.

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Elia: “So you maintain the balance of the river? Makes sense”. She started to throw grain in the brook. They swarmed the food even more aggressively than the ones in the river. Some flopped above the river for seconds as all they had underneath them was more fish.

Riverman: “I’m actually going to do something more than that”. He pointed at the hatchery. “This is one of six brooks I’ve been breeding trout in. I have been breeding thousands upon thousands of trout. They will all be set free soon”.

Elia: “Why?”. He had lost her at this point. She was actually getting hungry now being around all the fish. She wondered if her crown’s power could manipulate them if they were cooked in her flame.

Riverman: “Actually because of something Hagar taught me”.

Elia perked up.

Riverman: “Slow gradual improvements and maintenance are important. But Hagar proved that large gestures were just as important. I have been breeding these fish as an offering to the Flume”.

Elia remembered the brilliant glow of the burning Willowood. It made more sense to her now.

Elia: “Can I watch”?

Elia stood at the edge of the river her things were carefully put away far from the water as per The Riverman’s instruction.

He was in the water. His cloak was neatly folded on the rock next to her. It confirmed her suspicion that, indeed, the cloak was the only article of clothing the semi-aquatic man wore. It didn’t creep her out, he was more scale than skin.

He raced in the water. His grey-bearded face stuck out of the water at the end of a wave. Elia could see the reflection of trout trailing behind him in the wave from the setting sun.

He darted up the river. She stood by the last breeding brook in the line of six. One by one, he swam over each brook, scooping up every single fish. His body was water, so he encompassed the entire wave.

One, two, three, and four, then five. Finally, Elia could see him. He towered above the water. The wave now sparkled with fish.

The last brook.

He crashed over the makeshift damn into the breeding pool. All the thousands of fish became swept into his wave. In another second he crashed over the brooks southern damn and made it back into the river proper.

Elia understood the concept of what he was doing. But watching it in front of her, was unreal. She was a Touched. But she now understood how low she was. The Riverman was a true master of his power. He… he made her awestruck.

The wave moved towards the deepest part of the river in the center. From there Elia could only just make out the wave. It seemed to twirl in the air in a circular motion. Then suddenly the pillar of water crashed into the river. She could only see a spec on the river now where he stood.

Immediately water began to crash at her feet. The water was filled to the brim with small trout. They darted everywhere. Elia crouched down and had to help ones that were stranded on the rocks.

When she looked back up, she felt weak in her legs and slumped to the rocks.

Suspended above the water was a titanic coiling serpent. It loomed over The Riverman. It looked to be big enough to swallow him whole. It looked similar to a trout, except its body coiled in ribbons like an eel. Around its head was a halo of white crashing water. Suspended to the left and right of it, were two white river stones in the shape of rounded fins. The red sun gave the god a glow all about its body. Elia could see through the god’s liquid body. It more brilliant than the light of the fish the day she met the Riverman.

Elia: “THAT’S THE FLUME GOD!”. She was about to pass out. Her god could fit inside her palm. This god looked like it could flood the entire kingdom and be back home in time for lunch.

She saw the titan’s head move downward to The Riverman. It touched him. Then like that, in a puff of sparkling mist, it was gone.

Riverman: “Wake up”. He slapped her lightly. “Wake up you buffoon”. He slapped her again.

Elia: “Uh. What. What happened!”. She shot up from the rocks where she fell unconscious.

She sat up and started to rub her head.

Elia: “What happened?”.

Riverman: “I just learned something new”.

Elia: “You what, what happened out there”. She continued to rub her head. The Riverman grabbed her arm and aided her up.

Riverman: “I learned a single person can be touched twice”.

Elia finally looked at The Riverman. He looked normal, his body was wet and covered in colorful trout scales. But something was different. Swirling around his shoulders, chest, and upper back, was a rushing white ring of water. It sprayed a constant mist around his body.

Elia looked at his new crown, then at his grinning face. She then slumped back to the rocks.