Two centuries ago Wraithvine helped the folk of a river valley with a carnivorous fish problem. Imagine hir surprise to hear in a tavern on the far side of the continent that ze has helped them once again only a season behind and settled down in the valley with the prettiest child of the valley chieftain. Clearly this must be investigated at once… -- Deathshead419
Walk far enough and long enough, some legends say, and you will meet yourself coming the other way. Sometimes, somehow, that can come true... for interesting definitions of 'true'.
Fish River Valley used to be Blood River Valley before Wraithvine helped the people there solve the issue of the carnivorous fish. Hearing about that on the other side of the local land mass, two centuries and a decade or so after the fact, was not entirely alarming. It was a good story worthy of the penny players' stage.
It was the epilogue that struck like an assassin at midnight.
Wraithvine-on-the stage had a soliloquy that glossed over two centuries, and had hir heart yearning to see the valley once more and there the portrayed Eternal Wizard fell in love with and married the daughter of Fish River's Mayor.
"What?" whispered Wraithvine. Ze stared in mute confusion as the whirlwind romance of Wraithvine and a Human woman played out, with the mummer on the stage declaring eternal love despite hir swain's life being an eye-blink in comparison to an immortal's lifespan. Wraithvine had loved and lost many and, after the first handful of heartbreaks, never swore eternal love.
"Until death do us part," had a lot more impact for an immortal. So, too, did falling in love. Every 'hello' implied a final 'goodbye'... and Wraithvine despised farewells.
Ze was still mourning hir last spouse, gone at least a thousand years from life.
Hir first question was to ask if the happy ending was pure fiction or based on fact. Answered by the cheerful playwright telling Wraithvine that ze had commissioned the play hirself in Fish River City.
Ze was used to encountering mummers pretending to be hirself, but none were ever so bold. There were scammers, confidence folk, and the occasional wandering star wanting to do good. Gods knew what this mummer was, aside from "in deep trouble."
The 'Wraithvine' of Fish River City was living in a humble little mansion on a vast swathe of land that was growing an abundance of crops and cattle. So they weren't being entirely untrue to hir character. The doorman let Wraithvine in to see the "lord of the house".
Who was a Halfbred Elf and beginning to go to seed. He took one look at Wraithvine and said, "Oh. Shit. I thought you weren't real."
"You have a lot of explaining to do, young man. Not merely to me, but to your wife, your children, and Fish River City itself." Wraithvine folded hir arms, "And I'm not leaving until you do."
"Oh," said the mummer Wraithvine. "Oh fuck."
[Photo by Georg Eiermann on Unsplash]
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