16 - My narrative is always about some dude

[heavenlymisandrist]

[ Open Spam ]

[ A century of ice in Narnia has not been kind to the water elementals of the land. Undines are, generally speaking, family, and Ceres has lost too many sisters to thick layers of ice covering ponds. River dwelling undines are luckier, as running water is rarely stopped by even the bitterest of winters. This one has been difficult on everyone, she knows, but she can't help but be a little extra bitter towards the White Witch.

None the less, Ceres remains unaffiliated. She is rather shy of others, and keeps mostly to herself. There's good reason for this, as any undine who falls in love with a land-walker becomes themselves a mortal land-walker. She keeps to the main rivers for the most part, but does occassionally venture into smaller streams. She never goes so far as the ocean, though. She doesn't like the taste of salt water, and she is at heart a rural creature.

She is far more willing to talk with Aslan's army than the queen's cruel agents, but can easiest be coaxed from the safety of the river bottom with food. The waters are sparse of life after one hundred years of winter. ]

Comments

[heavenlymisandrist]

[ "Make you", he says. She doesn't like the sound of that at all. ]

I make allegiance only to my river.

[mistconduct]

Times are changing. The Queen demands your presence at her camp.

Let's go. Into the bottle.

[Yes, he's uncorking a glass bottle and waving it under Ceres' nose]

[heavenlymisandrist]

[ Her heart turns icy with terror and rage. All she can think of is that she has to escape, maybe follow the river down to the ocean and pray that her more distant relatives will grant her sanctuary.

She shoves the bottle away with all her might and dives wildly back to the water. It's now or never. ]

[mistconduct]

[Ah, hell. How do you catch a water nymph?

Chris begins running down the side of the bank, planning to find a few tree branches he can throw in the path of the stream to dam it, block her way]

Get back here!

[heavenlymisandrist]

[ She swims as deep as she can, so she can't be picked off from the sky. Her voice echoes from the depths of the water. ]

Let me go! Leave me alone!

[mistconduct]

[He races alongside - when he sees a low-hanging branch over the river, he hauls out his axe and begins to chop it down, hoping to cut Ceres off]

You'll regret this, you melted snowball!

[heavenlymisandrist]

[ She sees his plan, and with a cry of distress swims harder downstream. If she's lucky-

-but she isn't lucky. The branch falls, but rather than cut off her escape it catches her in the back. It's heavy enough that when it rolls off of her it traps her legs against a large rock by the shore. ]

Please, I just want to go! I'll leave Narnia, just let me be.

[mistconduct]

[He sees where the branch landed, and gives a cruel laugh, stepping onto the wood. Chris waves the bottle under Ceres' nose]

Can't do that. You've been requested.

[heavenlymisandrist]

[ She sobs as a thigh wedges deeper between two rocks. She is an undine. The Queen will kill her. She killed her brothers and sisters. She will kill Ceres as well, and make her suffer in the doing.

In a fit of inspiration she tears a strip of wood from the branch and tries to stab his hand with it. She'd far rather be killed by a dwarf than by the White Queen. ]

[mistconduct]

[He wrenches back in alarm and nearly slips off the log, grasping it to keep from falling. His axe digs into the wood, keeping him on it and saving him from the river]

Hey! None of that now, stop it!

[starofdarkness]

[ She snarls at him, pulling and shoving at the huge branch with her free hand, slowly but surely working herself free. ]

I will die before I allow myself to be taken from my river.

[mistconduct]

Then you'll die!

[He yanks his axe out of the log, raising it over his head to attack the water spirit]

[heavenlymisandrist]

[ If she's going down she's going down with a bang. She screeches her rage, driving the wood wedge up and trying to get it under his swing. She knows she can't dodge it otherwise. ]

[mistconduct]

[He tumbles into the water as Ceres pushes him up, but still keeps a grip on the ax. With a snarl, Chris swings the weapon at her, clutching onto the log one-handed]

[heavenlymisandrist]

[ She stabs wildly at him, with no real skill. She screams again when she feels the first bite of his axe into her arm. ]

[mistconduct]

[He wrenches the ax free, slipping in the water with a cry as he's stabbed, but tries to play it off as a laugh. The dwarf swings the ax once more]

You had your chance!

[starofdarkness]

[ There are tears running down her face as she tries to stab him again and again. The second swing cuts into her neck, turning the water around them red with blood.

She looses consciousness fast, and soon falls still. ]

[mistconduct]

[It's over quickly, and he emerges from the pool of water with a gasp, dragging his heavy ax behind him and kneeling down on the shoreline.

It's not the best end to the story, but it's better than having her act as a free agent or worse, join Aslan's forces. He's satisfied.]