Fruits of the Sea (Aluria)

[Liandra]

Timestamp: Winter 25, 511 AV Time: Noon Location: Asli Island Who: Aluria Liandra waved goodbye to Kylayia from the shore of some small island she'd found. She wanted to explore it, and Kylayia needed to go find himself some food and rest anyways. As he dove away, Kylayia was stricken with the normal worry. But she also wondered when her friend would find a female. Oddly enough, she never wondered that about herself. She turned from the tide toward the island. She had that same curious itch, that same itch that always surfaced when something new presented itself. She stretched her limbs and made her way inland. She saw several short shrubs and tall grasses, typical for the area. She doubted she'd find anything interesting here, but her curious streak forced her to investigate none the less. She inspected the edge of the brushland when she heard some chittering nearby. She quickly ducked down behind some brush, listening for whatever creature had made the noise. It hadn't sounded particularly dangerous, but one could never fully trust Laviku's domain. He was a gracious god, but only to those who survived the battering of his countless tests. She peered up over the brush and saw a small, fruitless tree. And several furry creatures looking back at her. They were quite small and didn't look overly dangerous. But there were several of them, so they could be quite the threat in mass. She looked at them carefully, studying them. They had short brown fur, small limbs ending in smaller hands and feet. And they had long tails, some of which were being used to hold them from branches. How amazing. Liandra thought how nice it would be to have a tail that could be used as a limb. She shook it off, clearly that would be an impossible feat. Then she saw that one of the monkeys was holding some sort of foreign fruit. It was large, yellow and orange and red in color. And also, was in the monkey's pulled back hand. The monkey lurched its arm forward and the fruit flew threw the air at Liandra like some sort of weapon. Which she realized that it was. The fruit crashed into the ground at her feet and exploded in a mess of juice and flesh. Much of the liquid landed on her face and mouth, when she tasted it. It was sweet and sour, and delicious! She looked back up at the monkeys, who were all chittering, though it appeared to be more like laughter. She wiped several of the large chunks off of her skin, and popped one into her mouth. The flesh seemed to melt on her tongue, and she knew she had to have more. She stood up and walked further inland, passing by the tree full of critters and up a wall of dirt that seemed out of place. And from there, she saw an amazing surprise. There were rows and rows and rows of trees, and all appeared to be heavily laden with various fruits. Including the one that had been thrown at her. She saw a man picking some fruit from one of the trees and approached him. When he noticed her, and her condition, he broke into a grin. "Looks like the monkeys are up to no good again. You look like you could use a story, have a seat on that rock there, and listen up missy. You'll want to hear this." Liandra didn't know this man, but his words were captivating, his presence comforting. She smiled and sat down, waiting for his tale to begin. She noticed several of the... monkeys? had sat around her as well. Maybe they knew of this man's stories.

[Aluria]

Aluria had been wandering around the mainland for some time, wandering away from her pod. It wasn't like they needed her there, anyway. She harrumphed, a sound she would make when she was frustrated. Childlike? Well, Aluria didn't think so. It was on this fine day (blue skies, no clouds) that she would make a fine discovery. Her version of paradise. She didn't know this, however, and continued on her small 'journey' that she so wanted to make. She needed time away from home. Hopefully, it would be a meaningful one. And to a certain degree, it will. To a certain degree.

As she briskly walked along the shore of an unknown beach, she spotted an island not far off. I could probably swim there, she thought. Wasting no time, she bent down and took off her sandals. Although she was wearing her usual white dress, which was quite soiled, she could still swim like any other Svefra out there. She took a deep breath, and then proceeded to dive.

Splash!

Obviously, she wasn't as graceful when diving, but her form was okay. She was slim, and that helped, but she still made a significant splash. She began to swim forward. Lying horizontally, legs straight, and using her arms to propel her forward, she made it to the island in less than 10 minutes. Which is nothing to be proud of, but it works for her. She wasn't very big on swimming, anyway. At least she could swim.

She got out of the the water... and was hit in the face. The world suddenly became yellow, and the scent of fresh fruit filled it. It was like she was blind, but in heaven. She took a big chunk that had landed on her, and bit into it. It was mushy and lush, the kind of fruit that she really enjoyed. She looked up at the thing that had given her a present in such a rude way. She saw about seven monkeys rolling around in laughter, their high-pitched voices become extremely annoying. She took another chunk off her face and lobbed it towards the monkey. It hit one square in the face, and naturally, she giggled along with the monkeys, who seemed to be laughing harder. She noticed that she disliked her "girly" way of throwing something, so she tried again. She took off yet another chunk of fruit, and this time, not aiming at the monkeys, she carefully aimed at the trunk of a tree. Arms wide, feet apart, throw! Perfect! She smiled knowingly to herself, knowing that she had at least a good sense of accuracy. She continued to ignore the monkeys, walking straight past them. The monkeys ran in front of her, and began to seemingly lead her in a certain direction. She walked inland, passing colourful critters, and fresh fruit growing on the trees of the island. Her mind was boggled, and she loved it. The mysteriousness of the island, the fact that it wasn't inhabited. It was like she was the first one to discover it. She liked the feeling.

The monkeys stopped abruptly, and she almost tripped over one of them. Irritated, she wanted to know why they stopped. She saw two figures sitting on rocks, one that looked extremely fascinated, and the other was making strange and wild movements. Curious, she approached the pair.

[Liandra]

Liandra saw the young girl arrive in a similar fashion as herself, covered in sticky fruit. She chuckled slightly and turned her attention back to the man. He smiled at the new arrival, "You will want to hear this as well." "There once was a seafaring girl, much like yourself young lady." With this he looked at Aluria, "They often called her Catfish. This was due to the fact that she always curious about anything and everything and never really thought things through before leaping in. This story is about one of those particular situations. She'd been hearing rumors of this cave, full to the ceiling with silver treasures, with it's entrance hidden underwater, in an area much like this. Without asking any other questions, she only asked for the location. Nothing else. So she was told the location, and set sail for it. It was just off an island, much like this one, in an area quite similar as well. She reached the spot the man had told her about, and dove beneath the waves. She glanced around and saw no immediate danger. But she didn't look closely enough and swam toward into the cave. She made her way inside, her vision quickly giving way as the darkness took hold. She reached a hand out so as to follow the cave wall. But the wall wasn't hard and rocky as she'd expected. It was soft, warm, sticky. As soon as she'd realized her mistake, the entrance to the cave was closed shut, and no one ever heard from Catfish again. The island is real, the cave is real, the treasure is real. I would very much like to have just one of these silver treasures, but I'm not as young as I used to be, and I can't leave my grove. If you'd like, I can tell you where it is, in return for one of those treasures. You will also be allowed to ask one question each as to the facts of the story, or the task I've asked of you. Do you accept?' Liandra, much like the girl in the story, leapt without thinking. "Of course I will!" She hadn't even learned the lesson the man was trying to teach. Her curiosity had won over again, as it had so many times before. She now had a challenge ahead of her. What question should she ask? Thinking back to the story, she tried to think about what was unknown. What was this glorious silver treasure? That didn't really matter, a treasure to one is a treasure to all. Why hadn't the girl asked anything other than the location? Because she was an idiot that followed her curio... "Oh..." She had nearly made the same mistake. She calmed herself and tried to think about this more objectively. This was clearly dangerous, someone had died trying to get it. So what would be best...? Best would be not dying, and getting the treasure. And if she could figure out why the woman had died, then the treasure should be easy enough to grasp. So why did the woman die? After several moments of pondering she'd figured it out. She had died because she hadn't paid enough mind to the surroundings before entering the cave. That had to be the secret. "What did the woman not notice before entering the cave?" The man smiled, clearly pleased by the question. "Plants that are not plants." "What about you young lady?" He was staring at Aluria now, awaiting her answer.

[Aluria]

"What about you young lady?"

What about me? she thought. Maybe he wanted to see if I knew what had happened. Well, first things first, get the facts straight. Now, why would a woman die in a cave? The walls were soft, warm, and sticky. And she did not notice that the plants were not plants. That meant they were alive, and not plants. Or it could have been something else... But something was bugging her about the warm walls. The cave also closed on her as well, trapping her forever. The cave was obviously alive, if it could move. And if it was, then it could only be... a large fish? It seemed absurd, but it was... kind of plausible. There were a lot of things that people didn't know about. Maybe this was one of it. Now, what about the plants that were not plants? She only had one question to ask the man, and she didn't want to waste it on some stupid question that she can figure out herself. But, seriously, plants that aren't plants? She can't recall any animals that look like plants. She was stuck, and it bugged her. She decided to ask her question now.

"What do you mean, plants that aren't plants? Are you saying that they were somehow... alive?"

She knew she could think of an answer, but she was impatient to know what it was. There was the possibility that he wouldn't even give her an answer, and she would have to find out for herself.

[Liandra]

"That, my dear girl, is two questions. So, I will only answer the first. And the answer is, I meant exactly what I said. Sorry for your luck. Now for your journey. I assume you have a giant seahorse like many of your race, and I see that your hands are fairly calloused. Give this girl here a ride. You will need to swim toward the sun for about... Three bells. The island is there. From that point, you are on your own. May Laviku guide you well." Liandra smiled and thanked the man, and turned to the girl. "Hi, I'm Liandra. Would you like to go for a ride? I bet you've never done anything like it before." Regardless of her answer, Liandra would head back to the the beach. There she whistled for Kylayia. He popped his head out of the surf and fluted back to her happily. Liandra walked into the tide, looking back to see if Aluria had followed. Her and Kylayia met in the shallows, and she rubbed his flute, him grunting cheerfully. "Darling, we might have someone riding with us today. We are going to go find a rare fruit. I know you don't like fruit, but I bet you could find same tasty shrimps or something out there. Now, our rider can't breathe underwater like us, so we have to do surface swimming. Okay?" Kylayia fluted back that he understood. Liandra began adjust the saddle straps so two could ride, waiting to see if Aluria decided to finally join her or not. This was going to be exciting!

[Aluria]

At this, Aluria was 99.9% certain that the cave was really the mouth of some large, underwater beast. Ah, the world never ceases to surprise me, thought Aluria, a bit sarcastically, even though she was only thinking to herself. She was a strange girl.

"Hi, I'm Liandra. Would you like to go for a ride? I bet you've never done anything like it before," she told her, smiling.

"My name's Aluria..." she replied quietly. "And about the ride..." She didn't know. If she really was planning on going to this cave, then her chances of sruvival would increase if she were there. Not that it would increase much, with two girls up against a large sea monster. Plus the fact that she didn't have any particular skills that would have any immediate effect, unless she could somehow whip up a quick snack that might be healthy for whatever situation the two of them could get in to. The girl, Liandra, seemed like the headstrong type, at least to Aluria. Somewhat of the opposite of her. That was good. Opposites look out for each other, don't they?

"I think I'll go," she said finally, after much thought. She then proceeded to follow Liandra as she began to talk to her companion, a large seahorse. She watched with no particular interest as she got the saddle ready, and then cautiously sat on the seahorse. Feeling it up a bit and making herself comfortable, she sat there, awkwardly waiting for what might happen.

"So, what do you think of the cave?"

[Phoenix]

Liandra

Experience

Skill	XP Earned
Observation	2
Detection	1
Land Navigation	1
Investigation	2
Interrogation	1

Lores

•	Lore Earned
•	The Shores of Asli Island
•	Telren and his fruit
•	Creature: Monkey (Species: Unknown)
•	Catfish and the Cave
•	Reacting first, thinking later
•	Not making the same mistake twice

Aluria

Experience

Skill	XP Earned
Swimming	1
Land Navigation	1
Investigation	1
Observation	1

Lores

•	Lore Earned
•	The Shores of Asli Island
•	Telren and his fruit
•	Monkey see, Monkey do
•	Catfish and the Cave

The Order of the Phoenix

I really liked the story Telren told. Even though this thread is incomplete, that would be an awesome little mini plot to go explore, for either of you! Great job

If you have any questions or concerns regarding your grade, please send me a PM and we can figure it out.