Fall 1, 513
Fountain of Cascading Harmony
They stood musing, watching the never ending cascade of water appear, flow downwards and then join the rest in the pool below, to ultimately be drained away and repeat the process all over again. ”A fitting representation of life, and death,” Sulei observed, an inaudible voice inside their head. After a pause, he urged, ”Go on! Throw it in!”
The hand that held the coin did not move, however, the thin bit of gold still grasped between deep, blackish-red fingertips. ”I don’t know,” Aq replied. Seems like a waste of a miza if you ask me. I mean, how do we know that Laviku gives a damn whether we toss money into some stone fountain or not? It’s not like he needs it! He’s a god!”
”Yes, a god – and worthy of our praise, and gratitude for not having been drowned long ago! Sulei retorted. "If you won’t do it, let me. You can go and sleep off last night some more.”
The offer was tempting. They had visited Zeltiva many times in the past five decades. There wasn’t that much to see of the place that they hadn’t already encountered, during one lay over or another. If he did relinquish control to Sulei, Aq could go deeper into unconsciousness and thus be ready for another night of drinking and carousing later on. It had been Sulei’s idea – his insistence – that had brought them to the fountain in the first place, not Aq’s. He loved and worshipped Laviku as much as his brother. But he was skeptical about the merit of tossing money into manmade edifices. Probably the city guard came along once a month and scooped out all those ‘dreams.’
”Well…” he began tentatively. I guess we could…”
Enough already!” Sulei interrupted in exasperation. ”Be off with you! Sleep. And yes, I will wake you when evening falls.”
Still hesitant, Aq lingered a moment longer, and then the long, muscled arm of the Akalak shot out and the coin flew, to plop into the rippling pool of water in the base of the fountain.
”Hey! I wanted to do that!” Sulei grumbled, as Aq chuckled with glee before sliding off into the unconscious world. Sulei felt the body responding to his thoughts, as he shifted his weight from one foot to another, still gazing in reverence at the shrine. To all outwards appearances, absolutely nothing had transpired except for an exceptionally tall, muscle bound red guy, dressed as a sailor might, silently throwing a miza into its depths.