Gift of Water

((Special notes: This is open to TWO. This is the first in a series of several linked threads. You do not have to commit to all 3 threads to join one. Please note that Stella is a personal NPC and MAY NOT be used without consulting me. Be patient, I'm not a super fast responder, but I will respond. Any questions should be sent to Chelley or catch me in the Discord chat. I will only be signing on to this account to post. Thanks!))



Romis sat cross-legged on the floor in a darkened room, lit only by a few thick candles in the far corners. He waited, somewhat impatient, while the old woman before him crooned softly to herself. Her boney, ring-clad fingers smoothed over her large crystal ball over and over again. She was dressed in a variety of bright colors and wore numerous gold bracelets on both wrists and large hoops in her ears. Ordinarily, Romis did not give much credit to so-called fortune tellers, but he had grown desperate. He was just about to get up and leave, when she seemed to “wake-up” from her trance.

“Your journey is long, young dragon.”


Romis jumped a little at those words. He had not told her his true race. Though he had a small version of dragon’s wings, he passed them off as a unique cloak. Aside from his gold-colored eyes, the wings were the only indication of being a nonhuman.

“How did you…”

The woman’s chuckle cut him off, “Rhoda knows all, young one. No more interruptions! Listen well! Madame Rhoda is not in the habit of repeating herself.”

She cleared her throat and began once more.

“Your journey is long. The knowledge you seek is known to one. Three gifts you must bring: Water, Earth, and Air. Far to the north you must travel. I see a long, narrow canyon….a bejeweled cave…”

“Where? I need more than that!” he cried out as her crackly voice faded into silence.

“I can see no more.”

Irritated, Romis got to his feet and dropped a few coins on the table. He left, leaving the heavy curtains that served as a door swirling in his wake.

[i]Utter nonsense, what kind of gifts are those? Air, water and earth… ridiculous![i]

“So how’d it go?”

The soft, feminine voice brought his attention to the young woman that had scurried to catch up to him. Her leather boots made barely any noise as she nearly skipped to keep up with her tall friend.

“Waste of good coin. All she gave me was some mumbo jumbo about taking gifts to some mystery person in the far north.”

“Well that sounds like a fun adventure. Where do we start?”

“We don’t, Stella. It’s just a bunch of nonsense,” he practically growled.

“That’s a silly reason,” she chided, now munching on an apple she pulled from her satchel. When that prompted no response she continued. “Look, I know what you think of fortune tellers. And I know you think it’s silly, but Madame Rhoda has never been wrong and I do mean never. Besides, you’ve tried everything else that either of us can think of.”

Stella darted in front of him and stopped, forcing him to halt and look down at her. Her green eyes softened as she met his golden gaze and her shoulder-length hair shimmered from lavender to dark blue, “This might be your only chance, Romis. Why not give it a try? After all, you’ve tried everything else.”

He sighed. She had a point. They had been searching for three years now for an answer to why he couldn’t transform. Every lead they’d tried had turned out to either be nonexistent or didn’t work. He looked deep into her green eyes and gave in.

“All right, we’ll give it a shot. Where do you think we should start? Gift of water, air, or earth?”

Stella moved back to walk at his side. “Hmmm, let’s start with water. Maybe this person is a collector and wants pretty things. So maybe a really pretty fish or a special gem like a pearl or something.”

Romis thought about that for a moment. “Perhaps, but I’m still not sure where to even start. Oh, and she said they were living gifts.”

“That’s part of the fun, Romis. If we’re starting with water, let’s start by going to the coast. We can discuss exactly where on the coast over a meal.”

The dragon smiled at his friend and followed her to Underwood’s main tavern. He still didn’t know exactly how this was going to work out, but at least Stella would be happy in the process.

One breath. That was all he had.

Jake expanded his narrow chest to the maximum as he inhaled, drawing air until his lungs pushed uncomfortably against his ribcage. He bent his knees, and launched himself off the edge of the cliff.

Warm salty air whizzed by on his descent, the choppy ocean waves rising swiftly to meet him. In the moment before impact he glimpsed other pearl divers on the beach, heard their voices calling good fortune out to him. And then he burst through the surface, almost like punching a portal through to another dimension.

The half elf allowed his momentum to carry him down to the stony ocean floor, where small clams and oysters hid in and around the crags and crevasses. He kicked along the bottom, searching for likely candidates, but none caught his eye. He could feel the salt water flowing into the empty socket where his left eye hand once been; he had left the sifan patch behind on the beach.

Jake's breath felt good in his lungs, and his legs felt strong, so he grabbed a stone the size of his head off the bottom and swam out over the deep.

The weight of the rock cradled in his arms drove him downward, past the drop off, into the dark waters which only the bravest divers visited. There different species of giant clams and oysters lived, those that grew up to a foot or more in width. Jake needed the biggest, most beautiful pearl Serenti had to offer, and he figured he was unlikely to find it in the oft-scoured shallows.

The pressure mounted and the water cooled all around him. He could taste the salt in the back of his throat, and feel his dirty blond hair standing on end as he sank. He could barely see his feet beneath him as they struck bottom, so thick was the shadowy gloom. He dropped the rock and propelled himself around with his hands as the air in his lungs grew thin. As his brain began to call out for oxygen, he spotted one - a large, sleekly ribbed clam at least a foot in diameter. Jake seized it, cradled it in his arms, and then pushed off the bottom and swam for all he was worth.

His head broke the surface in a spray of droplets, amid the sound of his own gasping and cheers from the other divers. He held the clam triumphantly overhead as he kicked back to shore, enjoying the air and the sunlight and the adulation. He was glad he had taken a vacation in Serenti. He'd needed some time away from Scara Brae, time away from trying to court the princess Isabelle. Of course, he still spent most of his days thinking about her, and of late diving for pearls in her interest. He wanted to give her something beautiful, something unique, something natural... and she loved the sea. A gift from its depths would surely buoy him up in her eyes.

He staggered out of the water and climbed the stony beach up to where he'd left his belongings. A group of local youths gathered around, offering knives and sticks to help open the clam, and discover what might lay inside.