HM Fanfic. Grand Bazaaar. Because I can. xD
Riversong
There was an ever-present serenity that settled over Zephyr Town. War, hatred, violence – all concepts that were far removed from any aspect of a villager’s life. The biggest disturbance we in the town encountered was the irksome, incessant chirping of cicadas in the fall. But for the most part, the entire town was still. Even the handful of children in the town kept to themselves and played quietly, staying out of the way when possible.
It was perfect. Perfect for an artist, as struggling as that artist may be to find inspiration within the recesses of his own mind.
And yet I couldn’t help but feel that something was missing.
This is why the sudden splash, so loud and glaring that it cut right through the silence of the town, came as such a surprise to me.
I had been perched on the peak of a hill, trying to attract some kind of brilliant inspiration. The sketchpad in my hand was morbidly blank. I was a sculptor, primarily, but dabbled in other forms of art in my free time, which I always had copious amounts of. However, my muse had been irritatingly silent for the past few seasons. I could not force lines to meld together to make poetry on pages; I could not coax an image from beyond its paper blockade. In frustration, I flung the sketchpad away and leaned back on my elbows with a huff of indignation.
Splash.
And in that single instant, I had startled back into an upright position. The river nearby that fed into the waterfall was infamously docile. The few fish that swam in the shallow beds rarely jumped, and when they did, they cut back through the water with a fluid grace that made no sound. Nobody really went swimming in the town; even the children knew better than to play in the water.
My first thought was that a branch had cracked off of one of the nearby trees – we had witnessed an inordinate amount of wind in the town recently – and slid into the water, which was not so far-fetched. It had happened before, during a particularly violent storm, and had served as a dam to block the river. Because that one river flowed through the entire town, and was essentially the sole source of clean water in the town, it was necessary to remove the blockade as soon as possible.
I rose to my feet and began to walk, peering at the river as I approached it. No branches were in the water; it was flowing as steadily as ever.
So then…what…?
It was at that moment that the water cleared, and a form came into focus beneath the surface. I saw yellow, and then blue…and then made out the shape of a human body.
Somebody had fallen into the stream! Without thinking, I kicked off my shoes and threw my hat up onto the hill, and then dove in. The water was shallower than I expected it to be, and my feet hit the bottom, sending painful jabs of electricity up my shins and reverberated in my kneecaps. I angled my body and kicked a little, reaching the girl in little time. I pushed my feet against the riverbed and rose back up to the surface, with the girl in my arms. Gasping and sputtering, we both deposited ourselves on the shore.
I looked over at her. Now that the situation was oh-so-under control, courtesy of the valiant Angelo, I could actually recognize her. It was the new girl, the farmer, who lived just north of the waterfall.
She was something of an enigma in the valley. While she was perfectly kind and genial when approached, she mostly kept to herself. The most anybody ever really saw of her was when she dashed through town, gathering supplies for the farm that she was obviously struggling to maintain by herself. She participated in festivals; in fact, during the traditional Flower Festival earlier that spring, she had made it a point to give everyone in the valley flowers, including myself, though she never really said much in way of conversation. She showed up, gave me a flower, managed a smile, and then went back on her way. She won the festival that year, but that was the time when the collective group began to wonder a bit more about her. And I took my chance to survey her on my own at that moment.
She was young. Blonde hair, dripping wet and kept out of her eyes with two blue bobby pins, hung down to her shoulders. Her name was Gretel. And she was looking at me with an expression somewhere between
irritation and bemusement etched on her sunburnt face.
“What was that for?” She asked. Her tone was less than accusing, she just sounded curious. She wringed the water from her hair with her hands and then replaced her hands on her hips.
I stared at her. “You…you fell in the water! I heard the splash! I was trying to help, I thought you were in trouble.”
She smiled, but it was a private smile. It was not meant for me. She ducked her head and started to scrutinize her clothes. “Well, then. You meant well, I suppose. But I’m no damsel in distress. I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself. Especially in situations that require no rescue.”
I leaned back on the shore. “What do you mean? What were you even doing, anyway? Swimming? This water is our drinking water. Swimming is not really encouraged.”
“No, I wasn’t swimming,” she said with a slight frown. She kept examining her clothing. “Aha!” She said suddenly, ripping something out of her frock and holding it up in front of her face. It sparkled in the
sun, and she turned it in her palm. “I was diving,” she explained. She held out her hand, and showed me the small golden circle in her hand. A coin.
"I do what I can to make money and still keep some semblance of dignity. Starving farmer, and all," she said, with a smirk playing on her lips. She pocketed the coin, and then turned back to look at me once more. "You're...Angelo, right?" She frowned, trying to probe her memory.
"Yup."
She grinned. "Starving artist and a starving farmer. It's a beautiful pair, really." She straightened her own hat, and then frowned once more. "Ah! That's it." She turned, bent at the knees, scooped up my cap, and tossed it back to me. "Put it on," she demanded. I complied, twisting it back into its usual position.
"Yup. That's what was missing." She nodded her head. "Well, Angelo, thanks for saving my life. Trying to, anyway. If that's what you enjoy doing, maybe next time I'll do something really daring and stupid so you can save me." She laughed, again, keeping it directed towards herself, like her life was just some secret, private diary in motion. "Until then, have a nice day..." Her voice trailed off as she walked away, leaving me to stare after her, dripping wet...and suddenly a lot more optimistic about the subject of inspiration.
