“Apparently, she had been splashing about in the water after growing bored of waiting for her sisters to arrive and so had resorted to that scene of unhinged arm flailing that I had come across; her attempt at creating rainbows by sending droplets high into the air to act as prisms for the Sun’s light. That is, until my untimely rescue attempt.”
Silas laughed, “Here I was, this strapping country lad, all ready to explore the world and vanquish every obstacle encountered - laid low by an inability to swim and an inappropriate choice of swimwear only having to be rescued by the damsel in supposed distress. I was so embarrassed and, as I slowly drip dried on the shore, I begged her to not tell anyone about my failed bout of gallantry, the world hardly needed more examples of thinking before you leap I reasoned bravely.”
“We sat and talked for a time about inconsequential things, exchanging names and talking of some of the places we had been and things we had seen there. Her parents were river traders and ran cargo to and from the distant mountain mines, through the various riverside towns, to the large seaport to the south. Her whole life thus far had revolved around the river and her and her sisters were all expert swimmers and navigators. I, on the other hand, was from a small forestry village, one of many small country outposts that provided timber for the towns and the shipyards to the south. The life of becoming just another logger had never much appealed to me and so I had apprenticed with a travelling carpenter hoping to learn a trade.”
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Silas looked across the table to me, “I was, in those days, still a Journeyman, travelling about, gaining experience and working on my masterpiece in hope of becoming a fully fledged carpenter. Things were less formal back then with fewer regulations, more hard knocks and knowing the right people. Life was tough enough but also could be rewarding if you had the drive and put in a little effort. Anyway - when Syrene learned that I was a carpenter in training she was immediately interested, and asked if I had ever thought about becoming a shipwright after I received my mastery.”
“To be honest, her question surprised me at the time, I had not given much thought to life beyond the village apart from escaping a future of trunk dodging, endless chopping and hauling from dawn to dusk and the constant smell of the charcoal burners fires. But something about her question stuck in my mind and like an ember sat quietly, patiently.”
“After we had been talking for a time, her sisters, one older, one younger, but all very similar in appearance arrived and dragged her, and her waving farewells, away downstream like so many pieces of flotsam bobbing in the current, their laughter and occasional shrieks fading as they disappeared from sight.”
“That night as I lay by my campfire I looked up at the river of stars in the dark sky overhead and wondered if I would ever see her again - was there a path of Fate somewhere woven where a daughter of the river can meet a son of the forest in more than a passing way?”
