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hwangoI admit, I had doubts. I tried to project confidence in front of everyone, but behind that mask it was hard not to dwell on all the ways this could go wrong. The mystical dreams might have been ordinary dreams. The ancient scroll could be a fake. Grandfather Kraken might decide not to help. For that matter, Grandfather Kraken might be deep in an ageless sleep, not to awaken again until everyone and everything I'd ever known was gone. Hopefully not that last one. Or last two, for that matter.
But the island was in real trouble, and me asking Grandfather Kraken for help seemed like our last hope. All of the priests had already gone up to try to "placate the volcano spirit," and morale in the city had taken a serious hit when part of the mountain blew up and suddenly we were out of priests.
I'd been having dreams about Grandfather Kraken since well before the volcano first starting rumbling and spitting ash, but I didn't tell anyone at first. I'd gotten out of the habit of telling people about my dreams, no matter how important they might seem at the time. When I was quite young, my stories about my dreams had been charming, but the older I got the more "charming" turned into "weird," until even "weird" finally gave way to "possibly insane." The only thing more off-putting than insanity would be if I really was having mystical dreams. People find that sort of thing upsetting.
But I reasoned that mystical dreams could hardly be more upsetting than the city being flooded with molten rock, so I finally spoke up to people in positions of authority after the "placate the volcano spirit" plan fell through.
It was shortly after I spoke to the remaining city leaders that someone found an ancient scroll that described how to contact Grandfather Kraken to seek aid in times of dire need. This seemed like suspicious timing, and the scroll appeared to be in surprisingly good condition for something allegedly ancient. But hey, maybe it wasn't a hastily-crafted forgery, maybe it has just been well cared-for and hasn't been read very often. Fingers crossed, right?
However, it cannot be overlooked that the scroll said that step one was that I should swim out into the ocean until "alle lande is hiddene from myne gaze," which seems like the kind of thing you'd put into your forgery if you wanted it to sound old and also wanted the problematic visionary to swim out into the ocean and quietly disappear without anyone having to get their hands dirty with actual murder. I figured the odds were about even, so I wasn't crazy about the idea.
I also wasn't crazy about sharks, jellyfish, or carnivorous kelp. Particularly sharks, since we had history. So, rather than swim, I decided to take my boat. Hey, I worked hard building that thing, and I wasn't about to go looking for Grandfather Kraken without it just because some highly-suspect scroll said to leave it behind.
I knew it wouldn't take long to get just a few miles from shore, but I didn't know how long I'd be out there once I got there, so I packed the essentials - oars just in case the wind didn't cooperate, a sandwich, water, knives, a book to read, and the purportedly ancient scroll. If I did find Grandfather Kraken, I was curious to see what he had to say about the scroll's authenticity.
The weather was favorable, and I was making good time. Land was still barely in sight when a large and rather ostentatious bird landed on the edge of the boat. It was not the sort of bird you'd usually see this far from shore, nor the sort of bird likely to land this close to a human, so I had little doubt we were officially in supernatural territory. As such, I would have been surprised not to get reply when I said to it, "You're a bit far from home, aren't you?"
It did answer, though I got my surprise anyway when it did so in in a deep, not-at-all-bird-like voice.
"I could say the same," the bird said. "What brings you out this way?"
"I'm looking for Grandfather Kraken," I said.
"In a boat? That's cheating, you know," said the bird disapprovingly.
Well, dang.
"I had a misunderstanding with a shark once, and since then I'm not keen on swimming." Also not as good at it as I used to be, now that one leg is shorter than the other, but that was none of the bird's business.
"Well, swimming until you lose sight of land is supposed to be a leap of faith," admonished the bird.
"Faith? Is that all? I have loads of faith. I also have a boat, so I brought both," I said.
"And a book," said the bird.
"Yes? In case I had to wait a while?" I said, not sure what the problem could be with that.
"So you came to talk to Grandfather Kraken, but you were afraid you might get bored?"
"I don't know, maybe he's got a busy schedule. Are you suggesting it would have been better to keep smacking the water with an oar and shouting for him rather than wait patiently?" I asked.
"Well no, because you're not supposed to have any oars - you're supposed to swim," said the bird.
"Look, if the swimming part is so important, I can take the boat back in and then swim back out here. But then if we're going to have this conversation again we're going to do it with you flapping your wings to stay aloft the whole time, because there won't be a boat to perch on, and I'm not going to let you sit on my head."
The bird rolled its eyes, but shut up about the swimming.
"So...Grandfather Kraken?" I prompted.
"Oh, I don't know, I'm just a bird."
Now, in my defense, I'd just like to say that I fully expected the magical spirit bird or whatever it was to have better reflexes, and I didn't think I'd actually manage to hit it when I swung the oar. I was just trying to make a point.
So...I'm not sure where things stand at the moment. But at least now I can read my book in peace and quiet while I wait to find out.
But the island was in real trouble, and me asking Grandfather Kraken for help seemed like our last hope. All of the priests had already gone up to try to "placate the volcano spirit," and morale in the city had taken a serious hit when part of the mountain blew up and suddenly we were out of priests.
I'd been having dreams about Grandfather Kraken since well before the volcano first starting rumbling and spitting ash, but I didn't tell anyone at first. I'd gotten out of the habit of telling people about my dreams, no matter how important they might seem at the time. When I was quite young, my stories about my dreams had been charming, but the older I got the more "charming" turned into "weird," until even "weird" finally gave way to "possibly insane." The only thing more off-putting than insanity would be if I really was having mystical dreams. People find that sort of thing upsetting.
But I reasoned that mystical dreams could hardly be more upsetting than the city being flooded with molten rock, so I finally spoke up to people in positions of authority after the "placate the volcano spirit" plan fell through.
It was shortly after I spoke to the remaining city leaders that someone found an ancient scroll that described how to contact Grandfather Kraken to seek aid in times of dire need. This seemed like suspicious timing, and the scroll appeared to be in surprisingly good condition for something allegedly ancient. But hey, maybe it wasn't a hastily-crafted forgery, maybe it has just been well cared-for and hasn't been read very often. Fingers crossed, right?
However, it cannot be overlooked that the scroll said that step one was that I should swim out into the ocean until "alle lande is hiddene from myne gaze," which seems like the kind of thing you'd put into your forgery if you wanted it to sound old and also wanted the problematic visionary to swim out into the ocean and quietly disappear without anyone having to get their hands dirty with actual murder. I figured the odds were about even, so I wasn't crazy about the idea.
I also wasn't crazy about sharks, jellyfish, or carnivorous kelp. Particularly sharks, since we had history. So, rather than swim, I decided to take my boat. Hey, I worked hard building that thing, and I wasn't about to go looking for Grandfather Kraken without it just because some highly-suspect scroll said to leave it behind.
I knew it wouldn't take long to get just a few miles from shore, but I didn't know how long I'd be out there once I got there, so I packed the essentials - oars just in case the wind didn't cooperate, a sandwich, water, knives, a book to read, and the purportedly ancient scroll. If I did find Grandfather Kraken, I was curious to see what he had to say about the scroll's authenticity.
The weather was favorable, and I was making good time. Land was still barely in sight when a large and rather ostentatious bird landed on the edge of the boat. It was not the sort of bird you'd usually see this far from shore, nor the sort of bird likely to land this close to a human, so I had little doubt we were officially in supernatural territory. As such, I would have been surprised not to get reply when I said to it, "You're a bit far from home, aren't you?"
It did answer, though I got my surprise anyway when it did so in in a deep, not-at-all-bird-like voice.
"I could say the same," the bird said. "What brings you out this way?"
"I'm looking for Grandfather Kraken," I said.
"In a boat? That's cheating, you know," said the bird disapprovingly.
Well, dang.
"I had a misunderstanding with a shark once, and since then I'm not keen on swimming." Also not as good at it as I used to be, now that one leg is shorter than the other, but that was none of the bird's business.
"Well, swimming until you lose sight of land is supposed to be a leap of faith," admonished the bird.
"Faith? Is that all? I have loads of faith. I also have a boat, so I brought both," I said.
"And a book," said the bird.
"Yes? In case I had to wait a while?" I said, not sure what the problem could be with that.
"So you came to talk to Grandfather Kraken, but you were afraid you might get bored?"
"I don't know, maybe he's got a busy schedule. Are you suggesting it would have been better to keep smacking the water with an oar and shouting for him rather than wait patiently?" I asked.
"Well no, because you're not supposed to have any oars - you're supposed to swim," said the bird.
"Look, if the swimming part is so important, I can take the boat back in and then swim back out here. But then if we're going to have this conversation again we're going to do it with you flapping your wings to stay aloft the whole time, because there won't be a boat to perch on, and I'm not going to let you sit on my head."
The bird rolled its eyes, but shut up about the swimming.
"So...Grandfather Kraken?" I prompted.
"Oh, I don't know, I'm just a bird."
Now, in my defense, I'd just like to say that I fully expected the magical spirit bird or whatever it was to have better reflexes, and I didn't think I'd actually manage to hit it when I swung the oar. I was just trying to make a point.
So...I'm not sure where things stand at the moment. But at least now I can read my book in peace and quiet while I wait to find out.
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Date: 2022-09-20 09:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-09-21 01:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-09-21 07:49 pm (UTC)- Erulisse (one L)
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Date: 2022-09-21 11:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-09-21 09:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-09-21 11:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-09-23 12:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-09-23 03:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-09-23 06:49 pm (UTC)Although, come to think of it, that "just a bird" seemed to know an awful lot about that "ancient" scroll. Now I'm not saying that some magical bird forged an ancient scroll in order to lure out people to both perch on and antagonize for its own amusement. But I'm not not saying that, either.
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Date: 2022-09-24 06:17 pm (UTC)Your theory seems very, very plausible.
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Date: 2022-09-25 05:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-09-26 02:54 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-09-27 05:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-09-28 03:56 am (UTC)