[B] Tales from the Dead River [RBF, Oath]

[Scaramouche Fandango]

[imgleft]https://matope.pixel-blueberry.com/imag ... ncert3.png[/imgleft] Night fishing. It was always a challenge, but this time of year was particularly... rewarding. There was something about the lengthening, cooling nights and the restless changes in the fish that set a kin's heart ablaze. Though some populations were dwindling and settling down, others were giving forth their all in a last gasp of energy before they slipped away, spent and sated and ready to die.

It wasn't those she was after tonight. She watched quietly as their fins cut the surface of the water, but made no move towards them. They needed to live, while they still had this energy. They needed to fight the currents, to reproduce- and then they could continue, up past this wide pool, past the rapids, and into the dead river- a place so called because while connected to the main waterway during the rainy parts of the year, it was quickly cut off when things were drier. It became a narrow pond, stagnant and yearning for the connection back to the mother channel- and it was choked with the hopeless dreams of salmon. Soon the water there would stink of bloated fishflesh, the creatures exhausted by their efforts to spawn. It was easy fishing there, and good- the fish that went to the dead river were done, their roles in the story of the swamp over. Their fry would drift downstream. Some would be snapped up by hungry fish and frogs and even kin; some would fail to thrive. But others would make it to the sea, where they would grow and the cycle would begin anew, until it was their time to take the trip up the dead river.

It was a beautiful thing, the ebb and flow of nature's tides. We swell, we shrink, we swell again.

She watched the fish, waiting. Someone was coming, someone swollen. The Totoma felt her presence. Did she feel hers? Did she know why she was here? Perhaps she did, or perhaps she didn't.

Real Big Fish was patient. She could wait, and the stranger could speak for herself.

@Anhelisk

[Anhelisk]

[imgright]https://matope.pixel-blueberry.com/imag ... uncert.png[/imgright]

The days were getting shorter, now, and the nights were getting longer. It made more sense to doze during the day, staying as warm as possible in the lull of the day before starting her foraging activities in the evening. It was a rhythm that worked for her, helping her stay active and stave off the worst of the chill while conserving her energy for when the prey was at its best. If she was particularly successful, she could tuck herself away for the darkest, coldest part of the night, stealing a nap in and waking before morning to get another stab at a meal.

Except lately, she'd slept longer than she normally would, and her appetite was ferocious. She'd been picking through the reeds around a pond for tuberous roots and insects for hours now, and it was clear that there wasn't much to be found. The pond, however, fed a small stream, and in that direction lay the promise of abundant, flowing water.

Cold water. The doe's nose wrinkled up in derision as she contemplated her choices. Either stay here and tiredly dig up more roots... or risk a dip in the drink and possibly come out with a greater prize than she'd find here.

"...tired of roots, anyways," she mumbled to nobody in particular, as she started her walk towards the nearby river.

[Scaramouche Fandango]

Ears pricked, a quiet voice. Loud enough to hear, though perhaps not loud enough to want to be heard. Still, it didn't stop her from hearing it. "Come eat something else, then. There's fish in here," she called, her voice loud, but warm, like a bonfire in the night. "Come get one. Rest your bones for a bit and watch the water, and you'll find your reward." Fish rose to see the stranger and had to chuckle a little. "Heh. I meant rest your bones in the figurative, take-a-breather sense, but I think for you it might be a bit more literal. Come fish with me, before you wither away into skin and bones."

It was her preferred way to interact with... well, anyone. Feed a kin a fish, feed her for a day. Teach a kin to fish, feed her for life. But fish with a kin, and you learn more about her than you could ever need to know.

"Come, sit with me. But watch the water first, stranger. Tell me what you see." The Totoma gave her a knowing look. "And then I'll tell you what I see." It wasn't hard to guess what Fish was. Totoma typically didn't have glowing eyes, and she was much bulkier than most- almost bearish in her proportions, tall and broad, a wall of muscle and dripping wet fur. Would the stranger see it? That would remain to be seen.

@Anhelisk

[Anhelisk]

Oath startled with a swear at the unexpected sound of a voice and twinkle of eyes, practically careening sideways into a bush.

"You-- Motherfather, you scared me." The doe's vision wasn't the best this late after dark, especially without the light of the moon to help her. All she could really make out was her unexpected companion was large, that their eyes glowed... and that they were capable of talking.

That last one cued the doe to try to relax a bit, even as she huffed and strode forwards, unwilling to let herself feel vulnerable even for a moment.

[Scaramouche Fandango]

"Hah!" she snorted. "You think that's bad, you should see my eagle trick." Was that a shadow of a bird over the water, or just a trick of the light? "Sorry I scared you, stranger. Figured anybody wandering around this late at this time of year was out here for night fishing. Is that all you're looking for- sustenance? Or something else?" Up close, the Totoma's face was kind, the golden glow of her eyes gently lighting the rest of her face. "The name's Real Big Fish. Most kin just call me Fish."

[Anhelisk]

You should see my eagle trick. As the doe's eyes acclimated to the bright glow of her partner, she was able to make out some of the outline of the- very large- Totoma before her. "You're-- oh." She moved to stand beside the burly kin. "I'm Oath," she replied. "And I wasn't... really thinking of fishing. More trying to ford the river and find something... easier to eat." She frowned at the water, trying to get a sense of which splashes were fish.

"All I really see right now is the river. Moving water... wet rocks. I'm sure there's fish in there, but..." She frowned to admit it. "I don't really know what to look for."

[Scaramouche Fandango]

"Sometimes knowing what to look for is the better part of the challenge- and sometimes, the true prize is right under our nose. Look at the ripples," Fish pointed. "If you watch closely, sometimes you'll see a dorsal fin breaking the surface. See where the water's churning the most? The biggest, fattest fish are hiding there. A challenge to catch, but some would say worth it. Others, though, others might look harder, because there's more to fish than meets the eye. Fish move in patterns, in rhythms, and picking up on those is the key to understanding nature. Those big, fat fish swam all the way up the river from the ocean. They've come here to die, but not before they have one last go of it, one last chance to leave their mark on the world. They put their all into reproduction, and after this... they die. But while they live, ferociously and furiously, there's nothing that can stop them from reaching their goal. Someone who's simply hungry might think they're the best fish to catch, but the odds of actually getting one... well, if you're fishing because you're hungry, you're probably going to stay that way. If you're fishing for the joy of it, then maybe you'll catch one- but there will be repercussions. Each of them can have thousands of children at once. They contain multitudes. They hold the future. It's not such a fine thing, to devour the future for the sake of the present."

"But if you look here," she said, gently drawing back a patch of duckweed floating close to the water's edge, "you'll see there's other prizes. Safer ones, ones that are just as fulfilling. There's things more important than trophies and fish tales, after all. Feeding yourself. Feeding your family. Caring for those dependent on you, who need you to be strong and nourished. In these little shore-huggers, there's nutrition. Good bone, good flesh. All you have to do is reach down, hold your breath, and strike- like the crane. You're Kimeti- you're of the Swamp. Come closer, Oath, and show me- show me how you feed your future." The glow in Fish's eyes was brighter and stronger. The Totoma knew just how important these next few moments would be.

[Anhelisk]

Oath tilted her head. "Why would I just... try to fish for myself, for the first time, for the amusement of a stranger who clearly knows much more about this than I do?" she asked, shaking her head for a moment. She stepped forward, muzzle going down to the shore, taking a mouthful of the duckweed, and another... and another, before moving to uproot the reeds. "The edge-huggers are small, and tough to catch. I can fill my belly with the wealth that they were sheltering in," she responded.

"And if you'd like me to eat fish, then maybe we can share. My roots for the fruits of your labours, since you're clearly the expert here."

[Scaramouche Fandango]

"Well! The cheek!" Fish beamed, her admonition toothless in its glee. She'd asked the doe to fish for her to suss out something about her character- and it was just as clear in her refusal as it would have been in her endeavour. "You're a canny one, aren't you. A survivor- you know how to take what comes along, conserve your resources. That's a good thing, a good skill to have- but a hard one to learn. Lean years can teach it, as can struggling... but sometimes, sometimes you can get a little lucky." She wrinkled her nose. "Never understood quite how to do this part with any subtlety, but I don't suppose that much matters. I'm fixing it so that they won't have to learn that the hard way. They'll be resourceful, and the Swamp will help them with that. They'll always be able to find that foothold, that last little thing to keep them going. Roots and shoots to tide them over, a dry place to sleep, a dark place to hide should they need it. And they'll be stubborn enough, or perhaps willful enough, however they want to look at it- they'll be able to summon up that last bit of energy to push them forward. There's some like me who promise abundance, but I know enough about how the Swamp cycles to know that's a promise none of us can keep. We have our ways, but we're not that powerful. Just like the strength of those salmon-" and as if by magic, one leaped from the water, arcing silver and gold before crashing down again- "we can't fight against the cycle of the Swamp. Nor should we. But manipulating it a little? That we can do. It'll be up to them to figure out what to do with that little extra boost, but. Like I said, they'll be resourceful. Like you."

"Now, because it's darn important you get some flesh and bone in your gullet for the flesh and bone growing in your belly- allow me to show off." Fish loved this part. Ignoring the little fish, she pressed down with her front hooves deep, deep into the mud. Buried up past her elbows, she found what she was looking for. The water levels were low enough that some of the bigger, older catfish were already burrowed. It wasn't hard to break the capsule of mud and slime and alert the sharp-toothed monster to the thing knocking on its door. Angrily, the sharp-toothed catfish spiralled to the surface, ready to fight.

But catfish, even the sharpest of them, were rarely really ready to fight Real Big Fish. Hauling it out- the massive thing was at least as long as a kin measured from chest to flank- and cracking its spine with a sharp snap of her own neck- was a fluid arc. "This takes practice, and doesn't always work. Bounty like this- that's part luck, part observation. Not every stream will have catfish, but the duckweed, the shore-huggers, the minnows- you can always count on those, if you pay attention to the cycle. Even in times of hardship, they're there." She paused, looking the doe up and down. "You know what a dead river is?"

[Anhelisk]

The doe listened quietly even as she continued to pull out the roots, watching but rather more concerned with pulling and washing her side of the bargain. She wasn't dense-- a kin with brightly-glowing eyes going on about eagle tricks and future thems was easy enough to put together, especially given this wasn't the doe's first encounter with bucks... or with clutching.

When her counterpart circled in on a prey target, she stepped back, watching with quiet interest as the totoma leaned into the lake, using her hooves to pull and muck... and then arcing a huge, eel-like fish right out of the water.  The doe nodded her head in a gesture of admiration. "Showing off was right," she murmured, less to Fish than just in general, before settling in to listen to the short lesson. At the question, she tilted her head. "A dead river. That's... that's not like dead water. That's when..." she frowned, circling back to her thoughts. "Water dies when nothing can live in it, but a river dies..." she drew her hoof against the ground, following a curve as she imagined the flow of the river.

Her breath hitched when she hit a rock underhoof. "A river dies when its flow is cut off. Parts of it becomes a lake, or a pond, and the whole thing can freeze over in winter because the water can't run its course."

[Scaramouche Fandango]

"Exactly. Further on down the bend, if you follow where these salmon are going- you hit a section of slow water. I'd give it a week, maybe nine days at the outside before that water turns into a fish trap. That's where the salmon are going. They spawn in this river, and they go there to die. Water's still fresh enough to drink, and if you get there quick when they go belly-up, there's not a thing wrong with them, other than they're dead. You could forage less, rest there. It's safe, and nobody claims it as territory." She didn't suggest further. How long the doe kept with her sacs, it'd turn out all right in the end. "The fish is yours. So's the roots. Eat up- it's good for you."

She waited a moment. This bit was always hard- she came into lives like a fish through a stream, there one moment and gone the next. Or perhaps she was the stream, and they were the fish, since she was the one who could change things. Even if it was oh-so-slight, a nudge here, a ripple there- little changes could set big things in motion.

"You'll do all right. You always have, haven't you? Good luck, kid. They're counting on you to get 'em here." She was momentarily silent. There was something defiant about the doe- tough and wiry on the inside. She'd have made a good Totoma, if fate had wound up differently. "While you're here, and I'm here- want to see the eagle trick? So far as I know, I'm the only one in the world who can pull it off." She waggled her eyebrows enticingly.

[Anhelisk]

Oath smiled gently at the suggestion-- her new conversational partner clearly was excited about this trick. "I'd love to see it, but it's quite dark, and I'd much rather have company to share a hearty meal with, especially given you've set me up for a very fattening couple moons."

"Join me?"(840 words)

[Scaramouche Fandango]

"I suppose you're right. It's always better if you can actually see the giant eagle taking off right in front of your face. But sharing a meal- that's fine in the light or the dark." Real Big Fish settled back onto her haunches. "Won't say no to that. Let's dig in."