Welcome to Gaia! ::

That night, over dinner, Sueno asked her father about the Alvhui.
“Pa, ye think there’s Alvhui in the streams about here?”

Veran looked at her quizzically; “Sure they do. Why’d ye ask?”

“Mm… just curious. I was trying to see if I could find one while I was out enjoying the day yesterday. Dinna see anything that might have been one though!”

He chuckled; “Of course not! They’re very shy critters. We try not to pester them.. Spirits are spirits and who knows what they might take offense at!”
“So they are Spirits?”

“Well…” Veran and Liopa exchanged a look. “Sorta of.”

Liopa took over explaining; “You see sweetie, they don’t breed like animals; they are born of the Blue moon’s light and the pure waters of Serenia. They’re more magical than animals so we call them spirits.”

Sueno thought over this as she finished her dinner. “So.. ye said ye dinna want to offend them?”

Veran chuckled; “No. While they are helpful lil things when they want to be, cleaning up barns, purifying waters in the wells and canal; when angered they can dry up a well, divert a stream away, or flood yer buildings. So is best to not do anything to them!”

Clean the barns? That sounded useful! Especially if she had a barn full of animals…. That was a nasty task she did not enjoy at all! “How ye get on the good side of one then?” She asked. Veran laughed; he knew how his daughters mind worked.

“Well… usually you leave out sweets or bread. Milk works too if you believe some of the stories. That’ll just get ye on their good side though. Not too sure how ye get them to clean yer barns fer ye… Never tried it myself!”

Sueno set up a bowl of milk and a sweet bun by the door to the barn. She looked at it and frowned; if she just left it on the ground, it’d get eaten by bugs or other animals! So she trotted inside to grab a small stool to put it on. As she was putting the milk and sweet bun on the stool she heard a soft chitter and felt something tug at her pant hem.

A small creature with a squat body and thick finned tail was tugging at her hem with long thin arms. It looked up at her then over at the food and gave a grin.

“Food! Please?” It hissed is a soft voice.

Sueno was rather startled it could talk; “Oh! Uh… yes. I brought these out for your people.” She said as she pulled it off the stool and handed it to the scaled creature. As it ate she gave it a good look over. Finned and covered with shimmering interlocking scales, it looked a lot like that picture of an Oralrik in her book of fauna… Just a lot cuter!

“Mmm.. Thanks.” It said after it ate and gave her a grin before trotting off. Sueno was a little stumped by this. It just… came for food? Maybe the winter made it hungry and it wasn’t willing to wait till she was gone before eating? It was gone by the time she realized she was supposed to try and convince it to clean the barns!

She walked back inside to go poke her father.
“Pa, an Alvhui just came by.”

“Hmm?”

“You know... the water spirits? It just walked up and asked for the food!”

Veran put his book down and looked at her. “What?”

“I was going to put it on a stool so bugs and other animals couldn’t get it… and it just appeared and asked for the food!”

“Mm… So.. You capture it?”

“What? No! Um… Not sure I want to capture one.. maybe just.. keep bribing it so it’ll clean the barn is all.” Sueno blushed slightly as her father laughed. “oCuld you keep doing that over the winter while I’m gone?”

“Sure… which way did it go?”

“Um… to the stream that’s real close to the barn.”

“I’ll leave it there then so the critter doesn’t have to go across land in winter then.”

“Thanks pa.” Sueno smiled. “Be nice to have a helpful water sprite about the place!”

“You just don’t want to keep cleaning up after the animals!” Veran laughed. “It’ll just get worse the more you have!”

“I know… but then I’ll have people to help me! Like.. once I get my training all set up, maybe have some breeding animals I’ll be able to sell and afford to hire helpers to clean up for me!”

“Sounds lovely. Till then though… when you’re here, you clean up after them! Good thing you’re taking Gazini with you! I was not looking forward to cleaning up after him!”

Sueno smiled as she went upstairs. Pity she wouldn’t be around to try and bribe the Alvhui since she had to leave soon to avoid the winter storms on the seas… I’ll try again when I get back!