Day of the River
Haku's river was like a white snake, curling through the city with a comfortable laziness. It was deep in some places, slow-flowing and calm, except where the veiny surface of Stacy jutted up beneath the soil and forced stones and cobbles to bring rapids to life. There was at least one otherwise undamaged road that was no permanently ruined by the swift-curling water that cut through its middle.
There was a place where the water pooled in a relatively shallow basin. He'd dug it deeper as water is wont to do, until it was more than a pond, but not quite a lake, deep and very clear, all the way to the bottom, and the water's flow helpfully filled it to the brim. If this had not been so clean and lifeless a place, rushes would have sprung up immediately on the banks.
For himself, Haku was finally in view, for the first time in nearly a month, standing on water that was smooth as glass, for all the world as if the liquid surface was solid.
And he was looking, watching a figure at the side of the water...
There was a place where the water pooled in a relatively shallow basin. He'd dug it deeper as water is wont to do, until it was more than a pond, but not quite a lake, deep and very clear, all the way to the bottom, and the water's flow helpfully filled it to the brim. If this had not been so clean and lifeless a place, rushes would have sprung up immediately on the banks.
For himself, Haku was finally in view, for the first time in nearly a month, standing on water that was smooth as glass, for all the world as if the liquid surface was solid.
And he was looking, watching a figure at the side of the water...