Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ On the Riverbanks ❯ On the Riverbanks ( Chapter 1 )

 

On the Riverbanks

 

 

A/N: I know, I know…I promise, I almost have Chapter 12 of “Intertwined” finished (finally!!!), and I'm likely working on it this minute. But this story refused to be forgotten. I'm a slave to the Muse anyway, and it told me to write this down before I really did forget. It will remain a one-shot for now while I focus on finishing out Intertwined, but I will chapter this into a longer story once I get closer to finishing the other. For now, I hope you like this one.

 

Now…on to that evil Chapter 12… ^_~

 

 

 

 

Chapter 1

Michigan, 1992

 

The autumn sunlight had passed its strongest point of the day over his chosen river.

He was currently floating on his back with his arms out at his sides, anchoring himself to the rocks at his feet as he allowed the water's current to flow over him.  His eyes closed against the too-bright sun, Kiyoshi's mind wandered past the feel of the water pulling over his bare torso and through his shaggy silver hair.

 He was still not used to this land past the strange portal that brought him here nearly a full century ago.  He sorely missed the untouched wilds of his home where a clean spring or free-flowing river was never hard to find. It was at peaceful times like these in such a river that the water sprite almost felt as though he'd been transported back to the untouched waterways of his own world.  This world was running low on such. 

 He had figured by now that his home was the fabled realm parallel to this one in that he'd heard of humans before, and likewise.  He was certain his realm even contained a few humans, just as this one now contained him.  Why he'd been transported here he wasn't entirely sure, but he figured it had to hold some purpose.  He couldn't guess what it could be since he'd been there longer than most humans lived, and still he hadn't found a note-worthy cause of the Fates' interference.  Even after searching all he could of their knowledge and folklore concerning the Fae or any like him, he was still at a loss.

 And as familiar as they seemed to be with his kind, their “fairy tales” were way off in some instances.  Plus, he had found several references to what he knew was his world; some called it Underground, some Underworld or Spirit world…even that they were on the same plane, merely different time periods.  He found the last one to be highly unlikely, though it was very possible that the connection between his world and this one had been on a far closer level in the past than it was now.  Hence the reason he couldn't get home after being here for so long.  On a side note, he had found in his research that the folklore stories only seemed to get worse in accuracy as time went on.

 Using his arms to keep himself afloat, Kiyoshi took in a deep breath of cold air and released it on a long sigh.  It had been a while since he'd seen any other Fae creatures here; maybe about seven years now since that last one in Sicily.  They weren't as thick on this portion of the planet as they were where he'd arrived in that filthy, dilapidated castle in a land they called Norway. 

 Kiyoshi frowned at the thought with his eyes still closed.  He hadn't even been in a castle when he came over the veil between worlds…not even near to one.  He'd actually been in his family's cluster of springs on the other side of the Oceanids territory.  He'd been out in the wide open.  He often wondered how his mother had taken to his disappearance all those years ago.  As a rare male among a race dominated largely by females, his absence would have been noted rather quickly by everyone.

 Kiyoshi was an oddity among his race, so his birth back home had indeed been a famous one.  Most frequently, sprites of his kind were female.  The only other male Nymph he currently knew of was an Elder of the Dryads.  A wood Nymph, sure, but a Nymph all the same. 

 He, himself was only half-Nymph anyway.  Were he female, he would have been considered a Naiad.  But due to his parentage he wasn't even tied to any one locale...his other half was Elven, making him an unusual case of a “free nymph”.  Though he still needed water's energy to maintain his own, any water's flow would do.  Preferably fresh, but salty was okay if necessary.

 While his mother was a Water Nymph, his father had been an exiled Fae Elf Noble of the mountains.  Kiyoshi's gender was widely suspected to have been determined by the events surrounding his conception, though he had his doubts. 

 According to the stories, his father had used trickery to entrap his mother and then impregnated her while using a pixie's lust potion.  The pregnant Nymph's freedom came in the form of the Elf's death when her clan caught up with him some six months later, miles away from any water source.  Nymphs needed their respective element in order to remain healthy. This was the reason he generally stayed near to the Great Lakes region on this continent.  The huge, freshwater lakes and its myriad system of rivers and streams tended to remind him of home. Unfortunately, he had trouble finding freshwater so close to the larger cities that was actually clean. Rural areas were the best for that. Sometimes he'd stray to the mountains where he could find the cleanest waters, but not terribly often. Travel was a pain.

 

With a jolt, Kiyoshi's thoughts returned to the sound of the rushing water, and his icy-blue eyes opened to the early evening sun.  As an immortal of the Fae, he had excellent hearing…however at the moment it seemed to be deceiving him.  It was entirely possible since his ears were underwater…he could swear he heard giggling.

 Sitting up from the fairly shallow rock-cropping he'd found in the middle of the small river, Kiyoshi ignored the water draining into his face from his hair to scan the eastern banks for the source of the...whatever that noise was.

 While his head was turned in one direction, he heard the twinkling sound again in another.  He whipped his head around to view the intruder; the droplets from his hair catching the sun's light as his inhumanly bright blue eyes landed on her. 

 

Just beyond the tree-line stood a young girl of about seven human years, and she was currently stifling the intruding sound with her tiny hand over her giggles.  She dropped her hand from her mouth when she saw him looking toward her, “Are you stuck?” she asked after a moment, tilting her head to punctuate her question.

 Kiyoshi cocked a wry smile at the little girl's question, the irony of her innocent words not lost on him.  Still, he shook his head in answer.

 The girl then frowned as she moved closer to the water, “Why is your hair white?  Aren't you cold?  Can I touch your ears?”  While her approach toward the water made him slightly nervous, he couldn't keep from chuckling at that last one; what was it with humans and their fascination with elven ears? 

 As he hesitated on his reply, she seemed to consider stepping up to the edge of the mossy banks to get a better look at him.  In concern that the girl would fall into the brook from her curiosity, he slid back into the chilly water, quickly gliding closer to the little human.  He resurfaced a mere few feet from the bank to give her the closer look she obviously wanted, “I was born with white hair, little one,” he finally answered, his voice as smooth as the water he swam.

 She nodded seriously at his reply, and then she seemed to consider her next question to fire off.  Kiyoshi studied the child while she tapped her chin theatrically. 

 She was dressed in simple clothing of black jeans and a sweater.  She was probably about average height for a human girl her age, and she had short curls of a rich dark-brown atop her head.  Her eyes, oddly enough, were a bit similar to his own.  They were just a few shades darker and more closely matched the waters of the creek.  His observation trailed off to her gasp when she seemed to come to a conclusion about her newest question, and her voice brightened, “Are you a elf?”

 Kiyoshi grimaced at the loose term before he could stop himself, “Well, I'm…” he started to explain.  What does one tell a little girl of the variations in his specie?  Surely she could tell he wasn't a “Keebler” Elf…would she even know what a Nymph was?  Mentally shrugging, he figured she'd probably never think of it again once she left anyway, “Yes,” he confirmed, “I am an Elf.”

 It was the easy answer.

 She smiled, revealing that she had a slight dimple in her left cheek, “You're pretty,” she said shyly, winning herself a grin from the Nymph. 

 Of course he'd been told that before…he was an immortal comprised of highly aesthetic beings, and it was merely a part of his nature.  He always tried to remain hidden for the most part, because every time he had to actually reveal himself he drew far too much attention.  Especially with the ears.  Sure they were easy enough to hide with a bandana, but it didn't do much good when people stole articles of clothing because they thought you were a celebrity. A major reason he didn't enjoy traveling…

 Backing up a step and breaking him from his wanderings again, she sat primly on the grass a few feet from the rocks, relaxing him greatly while he treaded in the swiftly moving rock-bed creek.  The banks were slippery, after all.

 “My name is Jillian,” her little voice announced before her face twisted in consideration, “Well…Mika Jillian, but Papa calls me Jill.  I'm not s'posed to talk to strangers, but I always wanted to meet a elf,” she held a hand beside her mouth as though sharing a secret, “Don't tell anyone you know my name, okay?” she whispered loudly, easily heard over the river.

 Kiyoshi chuckled again, “Okay,” he agreed.  It was refreshing when he ran into beings of such sincerity.  Not that it happened often, but when it did they helped him to feel better about where he was.  This little girl, Jillian, was like fresh water among contaminated rain, as most children were.  Every now and again he would be tempted to maintain a friendship with one as he had in his earliest days here, but he knew that they would only grow past him and slowly fade from his grasp.  He'd had to watch his first human acquaintance die slowly from disease about forty years ago.  Though he still watched over the man's family, he still missed his old friend.  Such loss was something he couldn't…or wouldn't, subject himself to again.  Maybe it was selfish to hide away from that sort of hurt, but he would be the one leaving eventually, right?

He came back to present thoughts when he heard what could only be the girl's father calling frantically for her from upstream.  Looking back to Jillian, he resigned himself to the need for retreat from the situation, lest he be discovered by the man.  He really disliked the part where he had to steal away from those that only wanted companionship, but her father would find her soon and he couldn't be there when he did.  After all, he was a pointy-eared man with an earring, swimming in the middle of nowhere...better to simply be absent.

 “Jillian,” he said gently, drawing her expressive cerulean eyes to his.  He smiled for her when he gained her rapt attention, “I think your father is worried, little one.  Why don't you pick a few flowers for him and await him under that tree there,” he indicated a spot roughly twenty feet from her current location, and then turned back to her, “Can you do that for me?”

 She nodded frantically, scrambling to do as the pretty elf suggested and ran from the banks to find wildflowers.  When she found the perfect patch of daisies, she returned riverside with a fistful for the man only to find that he had disappeared while she was gone.  Deflated slightly that her elf companion had to leave, she carefully placed some of the white flowers on the exact spot where she'd sat while speaking with him, and then placed herself under the designated tree to wait for her father. 

 Though she was still disappointed, Jillian grinned widely.  She had met her very own Elf.

 

 He maintained his watchful place under the overhanging leaves as Mika Jillian's papa picked her up and hugged her in relief, chastising her gently for running off and scaring him.  The sight saddened him a bit; had he still been home, he may have had that kind of relationship by now.  Oh, he was still very early into his existence as an immortal, but it was still possible…he was five hundred years old.

 Kiyoshi watched from his spot as she animatedly pointed into the water where he'd been, her father dutifully nodding to her story as she recounted her seemingly imagined meeting.  Once they continued on and faded from his senses, he relinquished his hiding spot to swim back the forty or so feet to the vacated bank.  Exiting the water, he barely took a step when he saw what she had left him.

There, in the disturbed grass by the rocky banks, lay three daisies laid just so; her offering of kindness to carry him over to the next meeting with a being of such heart.

 

 

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*Oceanids are water nymphs of the salty water, generally oceans, I believe.

Naiads are the water nymphs of fresh water.