Currents

Chapter Two

Calypso stepped lightly, seeing the ripples on the floor as her feet touched. Ripples to remind her of the thing she loved most – water. Seas and lakes and oceans were the things she daydreamed about, the things that were ever present in her happiest memories and thoughts. The floor itself was smooth and warm, and apart from the ripples, a brilliant and empty white. The ripples, which were dark, were the only interruption to the endless white of the building. The ceilings were high, with brilliant pillars every fourteen paces to hold it up, and to please her aesthetic desires. Fourteen had once held some significance to Calypso, but the reasoning was lost in the thousands of years of memory she contained. She walked slowly but deliberately over to her bookshelf, which spanned the entire fourteen pace gap between two pillars and from the floor to the 19 pace ceiling, lightly letting her pale fingers dance across the spines of one of the lower shelves. The texts themselves spanned thousands of worlds and times, and were almost incomprehensible to most – but Calypso wasn't like most. In fact, she was only like four others, to her knowledge.

"Calypso!" A high-pitched voice called from the hallway leading into the room, and the familiar pitter-patter of small feet across the smooth floor, along with the rapid and tiny ripples, came into her senses.

"Hm? What is it, Bali?" Calypso said in her usual tone, which was airy and sweet.

Bali was another of her creations – a small being of humanly shape, with the palest skin she'd ever seen, and big round eyes. For the past decades, Calypso had seen him mostly wearing loose trousers and a linen vest that he left open. Bali ran to Calypso as fast as his small legs could carry.

"Calypso, my lady, we have a visitor!" The excitement in Bali's voice was evidently apparent, and the statement itself made Calypso's attention jump from her books to him.

"Who, Bali? We haven't had a visitor in centuries." She said, pushing her curly red hair behind her ear.

"Lord Dacidion, my lady." A small smile found its way onto her lips. It had been literal ages since she'd seen her old friend.

"Please show him in, Bali." She said, quickly snapping her fingers and watching a set of couches appear on a flattering rug before her, with a small table between the couches. She sat on the couch facing the doorway, unable to contain her smile as Dacidion followed Bali into the room.

Dacidion was as tall as he'd ever been, but the first thing Calypso noticed was how his hair had changed; his beard was longer, but better kept, and his hair was short. She'd always known it to be down to his shoulders and it gave him a sense of wildness. Now it was short and cropped. She liked it, but she suspected his personality had matured with his haircut. She stood to embrace him, her smile still uncontainable.

"Dacidion, my old friend. It's been far too long. Please, have a seat," She said as her hand extended towards the opposite couch. Bali moved forward again, standing between them.

"My lord Dacidion, do you desire anything before I leave you to it with my lady Calypso?" Dacidion shot a smile and a cocked eyebrow at Calypso before turning back to Bali, speaking for the first time.

"No, thank you... Balim wasn't it?" His voice was as gruff as it once had been. Some things just didn't change, she supposed.

"Yes my lord, it is Bali. But very well then, I'll leave you two to it." Bali did a low bow, walking away at a brisk pace.

"How are you, Calypso?" Dacidion asked, looking relaxed for the first time.

Calypso had to think on the question of the moment. She hadn't done much in the past few decades, and it was far duller than she'd care to admit.