Strawberry's Descent

Thoth found Selen at the shoreline near the first rest stop's approach, a handful of mermaids from the original school gathered around her in the shallows. Several were staring at the coast beyond, following the rise of the land until it disappeared behind the trees. Selen pointed along the shore as she spoke, showing them where the water deepened and where they could see more of the coast without leaving it.

He had observed the construction during his visits, but had never spoken with her directly. Now he settled at the water's edge, folding his wings clear of the mermaids gathered below.

"...Query," he said. "Do you have a moment for conversation?"

Selen turned toward him. "...You speak our language. How?"

"My purpose is to learn as much as I can," Thoth said. "So I listened, and I extrapolated."

"You learned by listening to us?" Selen smiled. "I don't think I have ever heard our language spoken by anyone who isn't a mermaid before."

"I was uncertain whether Tidal Tongue would function on a construct rather than flesh. Listening seemed the more reliable approach."

"It is not perfect," Selen said. "Your accent carries something mechanical in it. But it is remarkably close, for something learned entirely by listening."

"I have listened on each visit. If you identify an error, I would welcome correction."

"I will. What did you wish to ask?"

"You carry the mark of a priestess. Were you given a choice in accepting that role?"

"No. The mark appeared when the previous priestess passed. I was a child. By the time I understood what it meant, others had already begun preparing me for it."

Thoth's dish tilted toward her. "I was built for a function, discarded when I could no longer fulfill it, and reconstructed. My current purpose came afterward. I am curious whether a purpose received in childhood feels different from one acquired later."

Selen rested a hand on a stone beneath the surface. "I cannot compare them. But I remember watching others my age decide what they wanted to learn, while everyone already knew what I would be. They could change their minds. I had lessons waiting for me."

"Did you resent it?"

"At times. I did not resent Dryva. There were things I enjoyed learning, and people I wanted to help. But I would have liked someone to ask. Even if my answer had been yes."

"Creator offered reconstruction," Thoth said. "Remaining among the wreckage would eventually have resulted in permanent cessation. Reconstruction offered a possibility of continued function. I accepted."

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"Did you know what you would do afterward?"

"No. I had not yet experienced afterward."

Selen laughed. "Neither had I. Though the people teaching me seemed very certain about mine."

"Were they correct?"

"About some things. They taught me the prayers, the ceremonies, how to care for our connection to Dryva. They did not teach me what to do when strangers offered to build a passage through the ring."

She glanced along the coast toward the rest stop. "I had to decide whether to trust them without a lesson telling me how. Being a priestess mattered to that decision, but it did not make it for me."

"You are suggesting the role does not determine every action taken within it."

"It would be a very poor teacher if it did. I still have to think. And I have found things I want to do with it that nobody could have taught me back home."

"Such as bringing them here?"

"Yes. They wanted to see the shore. I know this stretch from the building work, so I offered to show them. It was not a ceremony. Nobody needed a blessing to come."

One of the mermaids nearby was looking at Thoth's folded wings rather than the coastline. She leaned toward her companion, lowering her voice without quite lowering it enough.

"His wings are made of the same material as our bedding."

"You are correct," Thoth said.

Both mermaids looked up at him. The one who had whispered glanced between his wings and his body.

"Do you sleep on your wings?"

"I do not."

"Do you sleep?"

"I rest."

Her companion swam closer to get a better look, stopping beside Selen. "Can you see over those trees when you fly?"

"Yes."

"What is behind them?"

Thoth turned his dish toward the land. "More trees. Farther inland, there are roads and cultivated fields. The coastline is easier to follow from above than from the water."

"Does the land keep rising?" another mermaid asked.

"Not continuously. There are hills and lower areas. Some contain water."

"The sea?"

"Rivers and lakes."

Selen pointed toward a break in the trees along the shore. "There is a river mouth farther that way. We saw it while the houses were being built."

"Where does it begin?"

"I haven't followed it inland."

The mermaid looked back at Thoth. "Have you?"

"Not that river. I could investigate."

"Could you tell us afterward?"

"Yes."

The mermaids began discussing whether a river would look different from above, and how far inland they might be able to swim before it became too shallow. Selen answered a question about the river mouth, then turned back to Thoth as the others moved toward a clearer view along the shore.

"Is that part of your purpose?" she asked.

"Learning, yes. I had not considered that they might wish to know what I have observed."

"You came here to ask me what I knew."

"...That is accurate."

"And I am glad you did. I would not have thought to ask you about the rivers. Or known that you could answer me in our language."

Thoth looked toward the mermaids, now pointing at the gap in the trees. "Their questions differ from Creator's."

"What does she ask?"

"Frequently, whether something can be built."

"And can it?"

"Frequently. Whether it should be built requires further investigation."

Selen laughed, drawing a glance from one of the mermaids. "That sounds familiar."

“I have flown over rivers without following them,” Thoth said. “I had not considered that someone might wish to explore them from below.”

"You could ask them what they want to know before your next flight."

His dish turned back toward her. “There may be words I have not yet learned.”

“Then you can ask,” Selen said. “Just as we do.”

"I would welcome that."

"So would I," Selen said. "Though I cannot promise all our questions will be about purpose."

"That is acceptable. I had not anticipated questions about bedding."