Elucida

The eldest and youngest daughters of the Blue Fae family had inherited their mother’s gifts. Elucida got the gifts of water manipulation and weak divination, not nearly as strong as her sister. From a young age, she was shocked that a young, tiny fae born on Water and Nature’s boundary could manipulate magic at all. She was the weakest, the runt. She fed off mashed termites and frequently hurt herself by accident. Her future seemed grim, and if Trunea knew anything about it, well, she said nothing at all.

All until that day, in the pines, and the reeds, near the river. She had been playing, looking for shells. They were nothing like shells of actual value- merely bleached bivalves filled with mud- but what is not precious to a child?

The rocks near the water’s edge had been slippery, but she paid them no mind. Neither did she pay mind to the distant shouts of her brother and sister, growing increasingly frantic as to where she had gone. She heard only the dim gurgle-call of the rushing rapids, a thick band of cool deep water scarcely deserving of the name Rivulet. Clearly it was so much more than a dull stream. All this Elucida heard, and more.

Ferns tickled her ankles as she leaned over further and further. A single shell gleamed silver beneath the current. In the back of her mind, she heard bracken snapping underfoot as her siblings raced closer and closer, but she was unconcerned. She yearned only for the treasure the glistening waves promised her. She reached, feeling the smooth rock beneath her toes give way, and tumbled down and down and down.

She vanished under the waves with nary a ripple. Her siblings drew to a halt beside the riverbank, in shock. The sunlight and the peaceful sounds of birds filtered through the forest as they stood frozen and silent, each wondering how to explain this to their mother and aunt. The lapping of the water showed no trace of what went on. But gradually, the force of its current began to ebb away. The siblings had barely noticed in their horror, but the river had run still. The gentle sound of its waters had died out.

With fear, the two approached the bank, and saw the stream liquid, but practically frozen, clear down to the bottom. And at the bottom, their sister, shell clutched in her hands. As they watched in morbid fascination, she walked up the walls of the riverbed and emerged cleanly from the water, which rolled smoothly off of her as it would a feather. As she did so, the river began to flow again. Elucida shook her head, spattering them each with cold droplets.

“Look what I got!” She said, holding up her shell triumphantly. She was surprised when they both brought her into a crushing hug, nearly knocking it out of her hands. “What’s wrong?” She asked sincerely. “It was only a little water!”