Reindellin

Chapter 1

            In the distance, between two great trees, a young girl perched on a crag with dangling feet in a pool of water below. This girl looked to be almost a woman, but still had girlish ways about her. A beaver hovel separated the pool from the man-made river that fed into the recently formed lake, Reindellin, which was closer to Eldoria's forest edge. The mass of timber and brush was accredited to the pride of the beast, who had been rooting with purpose in the bushes opposite of her. The girl had been infatuated with the beaver, wondering if she could ever be so proud of what she might build in her lifetime.

The water was crisp around her ankles, something she didn't expect when she too quickly plunged up to her calves a few minutes earlier. The bulk of the shock had finally subsided and left her calves tingling and relaxed. It was still warm enough to explore Eldoria lightly clothed, but the chill of the water made her realize just how close to harvest they were finally nearing. The girl sighed in annoyance, as if she needed yet another reminder of what day it was. She quietly averted her gaze from the beaver to her toes as she softly swayed them back and forth.

            "Aren't you a happy thing!" she giggled at a fish nibbling her smallest toe. "I think we shall be friends, you and I. What do you think?"

            The fish swam pretty circles around her with grace, its yellow fins streaming around her feet. She again looked up from her small visitor and frowned at the beaver’s home. Assuming the beaver’s presence had separated the fish from the river, away from its kin, she felt a semblance of sympathy. She wondered if the beaver was aware of his sin against the fish and decided she would never be so self-absorbed as to not notice a being’s pain at her hand.

            "Perhaps you do not know what I am. I wonder, do you know there's a whole person attached to these toes? Well, I suppose you will be friends with my feet alone." She sighed in introspect continuing her friendly game of cat and mouse. She then removed a foot from the water and placed it on the rock she was sitting on, hugging her knee with her chin resting on her arm. The reaction of the cold water had clothed her foot and ankle in a sock of scarlet with streaks of white.

            After a few moments of silence, the young lady then broke, "Another question, happy fish; what if in some gallant battle I should lose my toes? Would you still hold my feet so dear?" She waited for a response, but the fish remained oblivious to her inquiry.

            "Oh, happy fish! What if I grow terribly old and my feet tire? Will you remember them even then?" The fish playfully kissed her ankle causing the girl to squirm with delight. "Happy fish, happy fish, I pray others are like you...especially today." She sat in silence observing the little fish with an increasing sense of admiration as it picked at the pools pebbled bed below.

            A dark cloud ascended over the poor fish, frightening it to the point of darting away in pursuit of safety from the shadow. The girl made an audible sound of discontentment at her friends’ premature dismissal. She demanded justice for the interruption, so she flipped her head around to see what was to blame. There against the sun dawned the silhouette of a broad-shouldered man. Once her eyes were accustomed to the light, she discovered this man was no stranger, but her father. She gasped, her furrowed brow vanished, and she threw her hands and face to the grass before his tattered boots. Time slipped away on her expedition; she'd been acquainting herself with the fish for ages. Surely, her father had come looking for her!

            "Kenessa, I have been searching for you all morning!" his gruff voice bellowed.

            "I'm sorry father, I wished to see the water." Kenessa's voice was much softer than his. After a moment of allowing stern parental pause, he consoled her.