Arianna's Arc

Chapter 2 of 7

Arianna danced again the next dusk, ready to prove herself. But something was wrong. The stream had shrunk. Where the water once curled around her ankles, now only a thin trickle slid over the stones. The waterfall at the mouth had dropped to a weak drip. She stopped mid-step and pressed her hand to the shallow flow. It was cool, but faint. The spirit's warmth was gone. "Come back," she whispered. "I'm not done." The stream gave no glow, no voice. She understood then. The sea was pulling out with the tide, draining her stream dry. If the water ran too low, the spirit could not reach her at all. A splash came from a puddle near the cave mouth. A small creature climbed out of the shrinking stream. He had rainbow scales, blue spiked hair, and a body that looked carved from coral. Bubbles rose from his mouth as he spoke. "Tide's dropping," he said. "Your water's leaving with it." Arianna stared. She had never seen him before. "Who are you?" "I read currents." He tapped the low water. "This one's almost gone. Two hours, maybe less." He did not soften it. He watched a pink caterpillar totter past the stones on tiny black heels, then turned back to her. "You want the spirit to hear you. She won't. Not through a puddle." "Then tell me how to keep the water," Arianna said. He pointed to the low place where the stream drained out of the cave. "Block it. The flow that's left will pool. Deep enough to hold her." He said it like a fact, nothing more. Arianna moved fast. She hauled loose stones from the cavern floor and stacked them across the drain. Water backed up behind the wall. Her arms shook. Each rock she wedged tighter. The pool rose past her ankles, then her shins. The fish fairy watched, saying nothing, letting her work. "Enough," he said at last. "That's your water. Use it now." Arianna stepped into the pool and began the dance. Her hands shaped the wave and the moon. Her hair swept the surface. The water held steady around her, trapped by the stones. She poured everything into each step, because this was her only chance before the tide took the rest. The pool brightened. Pale blue light rose through the trapped water and wrapped her legs. The warmth returned. The old voice came again, stronger now. "You held the water," the spirit said. "That is not charm. That is want." Arianna kept dancing, breathless. "I told you I meant it." "Then meet me at the deep pool below the mountain," the spirit said. "Where the sea does not leave. Come at the next full moon, alone, and I will test what you truly are." The light faded. The pool held, but the tide had spoken through it. Arianna knew where she had to go next.