the water is clear }} reef Posted on July 10, 2022 at 02:00:22 PM by charybdis
i'm going
down waterfalls
down waterfalls
into the unknown
It was unwise of her to be so far from home, this deep into the season. But Charybdis was here none-the-less. Just a short swim from the Ridge, and she’d made landfall in the Meadow. Memories of her conversation with Rafe whispered to her, but she kept them at bay. It had been her intent to cut south, along the shoreline of the Commons, to pay a visit to the river that ran through the Lagoon, but instead the half-blind mare ambled north, through the thickening trees and towards the great silhouette of the Peak. It was not the Valkyries she was drawn to, no.
It was the water that lay between them and her.
It was not all that hard for Charybdis to find, as disorienting as woodland could be. The white woman’s hearing was sharp, and water, in all of its forms, drew her. She was quick to phone in on a trickling brook. Followed it until it became a river, and this in turn, led her further upstream to the Falls themselves. In the eye of Charybdis, they were such a beautiful thing. If her life were simpler, and she had no oaths to hold to - if she were blessed with protection instead of fighting to ensure others had it…
If she were not bound to the Ridge as she had been from the moment she’d set foot upon these Isles, Charybdis could easily have spent days here, studying the cascades and listening to the water sing its song.
But there was little use dwelling on what might have been.
Far better to appreciate the time she had. It was quiet here, and the way the rocks and trees drank up the sounds of the rushing water and seemed to amplify it all at once was something to be marveled at. So different from the sea, with the sharp scent of foliage and earth instead of brine. Sheltered from the sun and the wind. And yet, the water was just as restless, and if Charybdis closed her eyes, she could almost hear the heartbeat of the ocean.
How long she stood there in tranquil repose, she could not say, but in time she became aware of another nearby. Opening her eyes and casting about to locate the figure she’d sensed, Charybdis caught sight of the roan mare, and stepped toward her, pitching her voice just loud enough for the stranger to hear her over the hissing of the waterfall. "Is it to slake your thirst dat you come to de water?" A strange question, perhaps, given that it was the main reason most would seek out water for, but Charybdis was in a wondering sort of mood, and though she would have to move on soon, the bay patched mare would linger in the tranquility the falls offered just a little while longer. "Or maybe for peace."