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[npc-excolo.livejournal.com]

Dream.

There is a great sea. The sky is grey, the water green, and the seafoam is the flecked white of milk on the turn. The shore is stone and shingle, and the cliffs are bone-shades. Will you wake on the little fishing boat that rides the waves, wary of great beasts that lurk beneath the surface, or on the cold and stony shore? Or perhaps as some watery thing yourself, breathing in water as cold as ice and with a salt-iron taste like blood?

[OPEN TO ALL]

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[leah-pontarlier.livejournal.com]

I am back in Pontarlier and yet and yet I am not. I flow along with the water as we rush down to the the other river and then I am flowing into it, along with it, down to the next river where I can touch the boats. I think of Harman and his family. People with the River in their blood.

I follow the boats down to the sea. It feels different, tastes different. I struggle to follow the boats. There is only one now. I move closer to it realizing that I am swimming now, like I did in the River with Karina. I can feel my arms and legs but also the water. It is as if I am more water than flesh. That my shape is only that. A shape to contain me because my water is not the same as the sea for all that it too flows in me. Through me.

[tereixa-zann.livejournal.com]

And my coracle has come through the waves, down the swells of the sea, and I see a shore aside me but I am not going there yet, not yet. The lacquer and gears have stood up well to the salt, and I do not wish to run aground, I should not stop, I must not stop. But I see another woman, paler even than I am dark, and with her in the water and myself on it, we are keeping pace a moment.

"Lady!" I say, because it never hurts be polite, and I am hardly going to call her hey you. "Are you alright? Would you like to come aboard?"

[leah-pontarlier.livejournal.com]

I swim beside the boat, one hand reaching to brush its shining side. A voice calls out from above, "Lady! I raise my head to look up and see a girl on the boat, her dark hair is very short. Are you alright? Would you like to come aboard?

I have never seen her before, and she has questions! I smile happily up at her before answering," Yes, I am well. And I would very much like to come aboard your boat? or is it a ship?"

[tereixa-zann.livejournal.com]

"Yes, I am well," she says, and she doesn't sound winded from swimming, which is good. "And I would very much like to come aboard your boat? or is it a ship?"

"She's a boat," I say, laughing a little--not at her, just from gladness for company. "I couldn't build a whole ship, although maybe someday I shall. Come aboard, then," and I lean back to balance the Heterodyne, because my coracle is quite sturdy but still small. There will be room enough for the two of us to sit, though.

"My name is Zann, Tereixa Zann, but just Zann's fine," I say, holding out my hand. "I am the youngest of seven children and the youngest of three daughters, and so I am travelling to see what I can find. Who are you?"

[leah-pontarlier.livejournal.com]

The girls laughs and tells me this is a boat. She moves back away from the edge and invites me up again. I have some trouble getting into the boat but Zann, as she introduces herself helps me. I was not wearing anything while I was in the water but as soon as I am out of it a fine white nightdress filled with water covers me. She also tells me a bit about herself.

I smile as I arrange my hair so that I will not be sitting on it. "My name's Leah," I tell her and then more words slip out without me having thought of them first. "I was born of no man or woman and I sought the sea because that is what rivers do." Why did I say that?

[tereixa-zann.livejournal.com]

She draws herself up out of the sea, and the foam sheds some of its yellowed stain and draws itself up 'round her in a dress, which upon reflection is very sensible because she would have been cold otherwise. "My name's Leah," she says, which is a pretty name. "I was born of no man or woman and I sought the sea because that is what rivers do."

I nod. "I came down to the sea by a river, but it's far across, on the other side," I say, waving a hand behind us. "Where are you going now, Leah? The sea will run to shore, eventually, but I am sailing for as long as I can. It's easier than running, and I can't stop." Something occurs to me, and I frown a little.

"I suppose I will have to stop if I find something, won't I? Otherwise I won't find it exactly, I'll just sort of pass it by."

[leah-pontarlier.livejournal.com]

She nods, I came down to the sea by a river, but it's far across, on the other side,Where are you going now, Leah? The sea will run to shore, eventually, but I am sailing for as long as I can. It's easier than running, and I can't stop.

I frown as I think about that. Where am I going? Zann starts up again before I have an answer for her, I suppose I will have to stop if I find something, won't I? Otherwise I won't find it exactly, I'll just sort of pass it by.

"I suppose you will, but if you find what you're looking for then you won't mind staying still for it, right?"

[tereixa-zann.livejournal.com]

"I suppose you will," Leah says, "but if you find what you're looking for then you won't mind staying still for it, right?" and I blink and look at her.

"I wouldn't," I say slowly. "I just worry that I might miss it, you know? And then it'd be behind me, and I'd never see it again." I prop my elbow on one knee and my chin on my hand. "I'm not exactly sure what I am looking for, I only know that I am hoping to find... well, there must be something worth stopping for, mustn't there? Something important enough that gears would hold their breath and the sun would linger in the sky to look down on it?" But I think my heart might stop as well, if I saw such a thing, and I'm not sure who would start it up again. And I catch myself, you've been going on again there, Zann. And you with a guest!

"Where are you going, Leah? I'm sorry, I do ramble a bit--just speak over me, if you need to be heard and can't wait."

[leah-pontarlier.livejournal.com]

Zann blinks and then tells me about her worry of missing whatever it by not stopping and thus never getting to see or have whatever she's looking for. And that is a sad thought, so I pat her on the arm and suggest. " Maybe if you slow down you won't miss it because then you'll have more time to see things."

The she says to me, Where are you going, Leah? I'm sorry, I do ramble a bit--just speak over me, if you need to be heard and can't wait. And there it is again, where am I going? I shrug my shoulders and tell her, " Everywhere. I am meant to see the world and then come back and tell about it. So I need to go everywhere."

I can feel a comb in my pocket and reach in and bring it out. I pull my hair forwards and start running it through the tangles.

[tereixa-zann.livejournal.com]

"Maybe if you slow down you won't miss it because then you'll have more time to see things," she says, and pats my arm. Her hand isn't quite as cold as you'd think after being in-sea, which is probably good for her, and I touch her hand back and smile. I know, I know, it makes sense, but...

"It's hard to slow down," I say. "I run so quickly, you see." I twist around a little, and lift my hair away from the back of my neck to show her the keyhole. "I'm not sure what to do about it, but I can't stop, you see? Not without stopping. I suppose someone could wind me up again, but what if it didn't work?"

I twist back around to look at her, and she is combing out her hair, long and silky-fine as harp strings, and white as a smile in sunlight. "Everywhere," she says. "I am meant to see the world and then come back and tell about it. So I need to go everywhere."

"That's a fine thing to be doing," I say, and I grin. "And very kind of you too, I mean. Who're you going to tell about it all?"

[leah-pontarlier.livejournal.com]

It's hard to slow down, I run so quickly, you see. Zann says and before I can ask what she means, she's turning her back and lifting her hair away from her neck. I lean forward and see an odd shaped hole there, with a round top and narrow bottom. I've seen something like it on the boxes Karina keeps on her dresser. Zann is still talking, explaining, I'm not sure what to do about it, but I can't stop, you see? Not without stopping. I suppose someone could wind me up again, but what if it didn't work?

I don't know what to tell her, and so I am glad I have my hair to comb out so I have something to do with my hands while I try to find her an answer. She turns back round at least so I can see her face again.

She grins at my answer about going everywhere but she has a question as well. That's a fine thing to be doing,and very kind of you too, I mean. Who're you going to tell about it all? I smile back and the answer comes to me as easily as the things I said when I first came on board.

"Anyone who wants to know. Knowledge should be shared, unless the sharing would cause someone to get hurt."

The sea heaves under our little boat and I lean over the side to see what caused it, A great shining scaly loop passes through the water under us. I look up towards the shore and see a head rise and rise and rise from the water.

[tereixa-zann.livejournal.com]

"Knowledge should be shared," Leah says, "unless the sharing would cause someone to get hurt."

"I like that," I say. "You have a wonderful sense of how to treat the world, I think, you really do. I--" I cut myself off and catch the edges of the boat, and Leah leans over all unafraid, and I follow the line of her sight to see a great rolling coil of I-can't-even-imagine-what, it's less the girth of it than the length. For a minute I wonder if it's only a wave that hit us as we passed over some undersea ridge, and the cloudy light on the water that makes it look like's it's moving, and then...

Oh, and then.

"Oh my god," I say, eyes and mouth wide as the sea serpent unreels into the sky and around the beach. "Oh my god, that's fantastic! Have you every seen anything like it, have you?" and my hand's on the rudder and I'm steering us sort-of towards it, not too much, because it's just--

There are people in its coils, I think, and I wouldn't want to get caught. I wouldn't want to stop moving. But I have to look.

[leah-pontarlier.livejournal.com]

Zann sounds like she thinks it's a good idea as well, then she stops talking very suddenly and joins me at the edge of the boat. We watch as the largest snake I have ever seen rises into the air and loops vast shining coils of itself around a group of people on the land.

Oh my god, that's fantastic! Have you every seen anything like it, have you? Zann asks me. Her eyes are huge and shining and her mouth is open. The snake is very beautiful shining in the light.

"No, I have not seen this before. Have you?" I can feel the boat moving under us and the snake is getting closer. Oh. It is us that is getting closer to the snake! I keep staring at the snake, my hands gently twisting my hair into a long coil that I can toss over my shoulder or pile onto my head to keep it out of the way.

[tereixa-zann.livejournal.com]

"Never yet," I say, and then "Oh no," because it's sliding along and away through the water like beads running over silk, smooth as oil and bearings. "And maybe not again, I don't know." I can see a woman getting out of the water with the cloudy light gone all bright in her hand...

I have to see that, I must see that. "Come on (http://community.livejournal.com/estdeus_innobis/405311.html?thread=10294591#t10294591)," I say, and the coracle's running in across the waves.