Open What The River Brings

[Trynne]

12th Spring 520AV

It was early morning and the rain had stopped for a few days. Trynne sighed softly as she made her way through the streets of Sunberth, aware of how it had been oddly dry for the past few days compared to the heavy rain earlier on in the season. She sighed again, glancing towards the skies and noting the lack of clouds. It wasn’t what felt normal to see the sky so empty, although it wasn’t particularly unnerving.

Frowning she glanced down, glad that she’d worn a skirt and sandals for the day. Her empty backpack was slung over her shoulders and the pouch on her belt held only a few mizas as she made her way to the river. With the lack of rain, she’d heard rumours that the river was receding and she was curious to see for herself. The river receding was something that she hadn’t seen before. She tended to avoid the river unless necessary, and even then she didn’t pay much attention to it other than to try to take a ferry across the river.

Shaking her head she made her way closer and closer to the river before she started looking both up and down the river. It had receded a lot more than she had imagined, and the muddy banks were visible. They looked wet still, and fairly messy and sighing she crouched down to take her sandals off, putting them into her bag before knotting her skirt so that it wouldn’t drag along the mud.

Next, she made her way onto the mud, grimacing at the texture of the mud as it shifted and squelched. Her feet sunk into the mud and she felt it moving between her toes. Shaking her head she made her way further into the mud, starting to bend down and check the mud, wanting to see if the water had revealed anything that could be worth something, or even just something that intrigued her somehow.

Occasionally she noticed a lump in the mud and reached out to move the mud and see what was there, only to find that it was just a slightly more solid patch of mud that split apart as she tried to pick it up.

It didn’t take long before both of her hands were caked in mud, and as she went to wipe her brow, a streak of mud was left across her brow and she couldn’t help but grimace more at her stupidity as she felt the mud slowly beginning to dry and stiffen on her forehead making her skin feel tighter than she was comfortable with.

Frowning more she went to try to grab another lump, this time managing to get something solid. At the feeling of finally having got something, Trynne felt a wide grin spread across her face as she straightened up, holding the solid lump with both hands as she used a thumb to wipe the mud away, the grin still on her face up until the moment that she realised that the dull, dark grey colour that showed itself was that of a simple rock.

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[Coryn]

Coryn did not count herself to be a spiritual individual. Her beliefs, for so long now, had not only been far from a priority for her, but also more focussed on the art of staying alive rather than seeking divinity or faith. Her loyalties had previously lay wherever her masters’ beliefs lay. A brief stint in Ravok had seen the slave worship Rhysol alongside her charming owner, whereas other, even meaner, masters had drawn her attention to other Gods and Goddesses.

This, of course, quite ironic given the mark of Nikali that had been gifted upon her flesh some five years ago. The connection between Coryn and her Goddess remained, as a slow burning ember rather than a flash of holy passion.

Nevertheless, there was something about water, of all matters, that Coryn felt connected with a part of her identity usually neglected by the simple act of living. Perhaps it was harking back to her earlier life, that of the sea and sky? Or, perhaps more accurately and distressingly, it was a reminder of her first night as a fallen child of Lhavit?

Regardless of the reason, when Coryn heard a few of the other whores chattering about the receding river (’Like old man Peter’s hair, you know!’), she felt a sudden compulsion to see it for herself. Sunberth had no redeeming qualities in Coryn’s mind, but the river was perhaps the closest thing to something being remotely alright-ish about the city. Sure, sometimes it stunk to the high skies, and often there were grim things floating and bobbing along its current. But still, whenever she had a rare few bells to herself, Coryn would walk with the river.

When she arrived, the Svefra saw for herself that indeed, the river had shrunk away from its usual banks to reveal a passage of thick, brown mud. Her initial reaction was one of mild repulsion; given the things that she had been rotting in the river, Coryn wanted to pay as little attendtion as possible to what might have been submerged under it. But then two teens scuttled past her, heads downcast and brows furrowed in intense concentration.

“C’mon, we might find summit worth summit!”

Coryn half-followed them, curious as to what their thick Sunberthian accent was referring to. The closer she got, she finally understood why there were already a few people plodding and stooping through the mud, their hands and feet dripping in the stuff.

They are hunting for treasures.

She didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry. Never had Coryn felt that Sunberth had been so perfectly represented by its citizens before; amongst all the shit, perhaps there is potential. Feeling uncharacteristically smug at her aloofness, the Svefra came a little closer, though avoiding the worse of the muck. "Found anything?” She asked the woman who was closest to her, a bemused smirk on her lips.

[Trynne]

Trynne couldn’t keep the frown from her face as she looked at the rock, deciding that rather than discarding it, she would keep the rock. Even if she found nothing for the rest of the day she at least had something to show for her day. Sighing she dropped the rock into her pocket before bending down again to check through the mud.

Her hand raked through the mud, hoping to find a patch that felt solid, or even just somehow different from the rest of the mud. Surely that could be a sign of something interesting nearby, and something interesting was what she was interested in.

It wasn’t long before she heard a voice and instantly she stood up and straightened herself, glancing to the face of a young-looking blonde woman with pretty blue eyes, and she thought for a few moments before shaking her head and reaching into her pocket.

“No… Just this…” she said softly, pulling the rock from her pocket before realising that she might have been too far from the woman for her to see. “It’s a rock… I figured I’d keep it since I don’t think I’ll find anything.”

As she spoke Trynne felt a slight smile spread across her face as she looked to the rock and slipped it back into her pocket and wiping her brow again, smearing mud even further. She realised soon after and let her hand drop as she scowled slightly.

“Shyke almighty…” she mumbled to herself, shaking her head slightly turning her attention back to the mud as she raked her hand through it, trying to see if anything felt unusual or solid within the mud, in hopes of it being something that was either worth something or just something that she thought was somehow interesting or pretty.

It wasn’t long before she began glancing between the woman. “Are you interested in seeing wha’ there is? Or you avoiding ge’ing muddy?” Trynne couldn’t help but chuckle slightly at the thought of how covered in mud she was, even though she’d only been in the mud for a matter of chimes. She had no doubt that by the end of the day she would be caked in mud to the point where she’d barely feel human and would have to spend a good bell to get herself clean again.

“Not gonna lie the mud really doesn’t feel that good so I wouldn’ blame yer for staying out of it. Could miss out on an unusual experience and some funny shyke though?” she chimed slightly before her hand hit something solid and a grin spread across her face as she tried to pull whatever it was free from the mud, one hand digging around the solid mass to try and loosen the grip of the mud on it.

Word Count468

[Coryn]

Coryn’s smile broadened as the other woman showed off the wares from her efforts so far. “It’s a very nice rock, though.” Coryn commented, not completely ironically. Though she typically struggled to find any joy in herself, there was something about her new companion’s genuine interest in the muddy river bank that earned a smile from the Ethaefal.

She started pacing up and down the short space of river she stood at, every so often stepping too closely and feeling her foot being slowly absorbed by the gross mud below. When this happened, she would jump back and wipe her sandaled foot on the remaining grass, anxious to remove as much dirt from the sole of her sandal as possible. Brega ran a tight ship at the Whorehouse, and who knew what the madam would say if Coryn bought in filth from the outside?

“I think there’s something there?” She called out hesitantly, squinting her eyes and gesturing to a space that was approximately equidistant between the two women. “It looks like a…” She trailed off, because Coryn lacked the words to describe the strange knobbly shape that jutted out from a clump of particularly thick mud. It certainly wasn’t a great prize, but neither was it another plain rock.

Curiosity shortly got the better of her a tick or so later, and Coryn slid off her sandals and held them in the air with one hand, keeping herself as balanced as she could by sticking out the other. Wobbling slightly as she tried (and failed) to select the more solid parts of the ground to stand on, Coryn trudged messily over to the mystery object. “It’s a….”

She pulled it up, and the thing came away easier than she expected from the mud, which squelched noisily in response. At first she couldn’t make out what she was holding, caked in filth as much as it was. But then she flicked some of the mud off, and Coryn began to distinguish the shape a bit clearer. Whatever it was, it was broken; the end at one side was fractured and jagged, whereas the other was smooth and curved upwards slightly. After giving it another vigorous flick, which spattered herself with tiny flecks of mud, Coryn caught a glimpse of whiteness underneath a thick layer of brown.

She swore sharply and dropped the object as quick as she could as the realisation finally hit her “It’s a bone!”

[Trynne]

At the sight of the blonde's smile, Trynne felt herself smiling slightly wider. Something about her smile was contagious, and that was something that Trynne couldn't help but appreciate. It wasn't so often that she saw people smiling, not the happy sort of smile at least. Most of the smiles she'd seen had been ones that were a sign of bad intentions.

Trynne worked on pulling the solid mass she'd found from the mud, her head turning to watch the other woman every so often and listening to her speak, seeing her taking off her own shoes, holding them above her head and Trynne grinned, understanding that she didn't want to get them messy.

Trynne chuckled slightly, giving up on the object she was trying to pull from the mud, straightening up and moving slightly closer to the woman. She grinned slightly as she saw the woman wobbling as she walked on the mud, it's less than solid surface squelching and shifting beneath her and Trynne moved even closer, still a few steps from the woman before seeing the woman manage to free her prize from the mud, the noise causing her to grimace slightly.

Trynne watched closely as the woman inspected her prize, before suddenly dropping it, proclaiming it to be a bone. She furrowed her brow slightly, looking closer at it and spotting the white patch before shrugging.

"I guess we shouldn't be too surprised. It's Sunberth after all," she said before finding herself laughing. "Don't worry, I'm sure you'll find something?" she suggested, watching the woman closely before deciding to speak more. "I'm Trynne, by the way. Nice to meet you. It's nice to see someone who smiles properly." she said slightly awkwardly, first offering a hand for a handshake before remembering how coated in mud she was and drawing her hand away, instead she nodded slightly at the woman, an attempt at a belated greeting before she started feeling around in the mud.

She kept her attention moving between the woman and the mud, going back to what she'd found earlier and crouching down next to it, trying to dig it out of the mud, one hand wrapped around it and the other trying to clear enough mud for the object to come free. She couldn't fully focus though, her eyes glancing rapidly between the two things that had caught her attention.

"What brought you to the river? Heard about it getting smaller? Or just for a walk?" she asked, pausing and glancing towards the woman for a few extended moments.