The Fisherman's Daughter

The Fisherman’s Daughter          

Once upon a time, there was a village by the name of Cair Ardal that rested between the green forests of Avalair and the Lirtika Sea.  It was a small and quaint village.  If one was lucky enough, a person could count about two hundred people living in Cair Ardal.  If you walked through this village you might stray upon a path that led to the great sea itself.  At the end of that path sits a small fisherman’s hut, flanked by a thin but colorful flower garden.  And if you spoke to any of the villagers about this small hut, you would only receive a shake of the head.  For you see, they would tell you, that hut was the home of the only fisherman, Lugus, in Cair Ardal.  Lugus had but one daughter and he had to raise her all alone because her mother had died in the plague some ten years back.  The villagers often bought his meager catches to help Lugus out because they felt sorry for him.  The only bright spot that they would remember was his daughter, Klyuna, for she was the most beautiful person the village had ever known.

         Klyuna didn’t know any better, she really didn’t.  She had a father who loved her and a house to live in.  She had her tiny garden to tinker with and nets to mend for her father each day.  He always made enough money to keep them fed, even if it was thin soups and gritty bread.  But it was the only life she ever knew and it didn’t bother her.  The villagers thought it was a shame for such a beautiful girl to be fated such a cruel life, but no one ever thought to help her out.  They simply clucked their tongues and shook their heads when they saw her.

And she was very beautiful.  She had long, dark, red hair that cascaded down her thin shoulders.  It had a wave to it, as though it had been shaped by the incoming sea.  Her eyes shone a brilliant deep green, almost the color of the emeralds that were sold in the city beyond the forest.  She was tall and fit from years of living near the sea and working hard for her father.  She had a spray of freckles across her nose and cheeks from spending so much time in the sun.  But her smile was the best part of her.  The villagers say that her smile could make even the God of War melt. 

         Her favorite place to mend her father’s nets was beyond the shore on a small outcropping of rocks.  Here, she was far enough away from the villagers so that she couldn’t hear them speak about how she spent her days.  It was here that she could hear the thunder of the crashing waves on the rocks and the world would become silent and still.  Klyuna would sit there for hours mending old worn nets that her father needed.  It was also here where she received her first message.

         The shell was beautiful.  It had a pink hue to it that seemed to glow in the sunlight.  At first Klyuna thought nothing of it.  It was merely a shell that washed in with the tide.  She picked it up and placed it over her ear to listen to the ocean sing its soothing song.  When she did, it wasn’t the ocean that she heard but a scratching.  When she looked into the shell, she found a note written on transparent kelp leaves:

         Quiet lady by the sea,
                              What do my eyes see?
         An uncompromised beauty
                   And wish to meet thee.
         
Klyuna looked around her.  Surely no one could have sent this to her, she thought.  Why, it was simply too dangerous near the outcropping.  The only way that she was able to get to the rocks in the first place was to wake very early during low tide and walk on the sandbar to the outcropping.  Otherwise, a person would be crushed to death by the waves as they pounded the rocks around her.  And yet, here was a shell with a message that seemed to come to her from beyond those very waves.  She smiled to herself and tucked the shell into the folds of her skirts.

         Several days passed before the next shell made its way to her tiny island.  This time the shell was slightly larger and was a soft gray color striped in a powdery blue.  She began to look inside but then chided herself.  Come on, Klyuna, she thought.  There isn’t anything there.  She laughed to herself and began to lower the shell to the ground.  The motion caused something to fall out of the shell.  When she picked the item up, she saw that there was writing on this one too.  The message was printed on a soft, but solid material tinted pink.  The message was simple yet it drove her mad with curiosity:

         Why must you sit all alone,
                   Upon this rocky shore?
         Green eyes shining, hair wind blown,
                   What I can’t ignore.
Klyuna knew that this was much more than coincidence, but there was no one she could go to.  She couldn’t go to her father; he was far too busy and would get upset.  She couldn’t go to anyone in the village.  They already thought that she was mad.  This would only make them think it more.  Klyuna tucked the shell into the folds of her skirt and continued to mend her father’s nets.  What she didn’t see beyond the pounding surf was a pair of green eyes watching her.

He watched her from a distance.  She wasn’t like the other dry walkers.  She was quiet and still.  And beautiful, so very beautiful.  She worked steadily and never stopped until she was finished.  At first she simply fascinated him.  What was a dry walker doing to far from the shore without a float?  He watched more because he was curious about her, not because he thought she was attractive. 

But the longer he watched her the more he liked her, until one day he realized that he loved her.  That wouldn’t do.  His father would cause the sea to boil and the floors to split if he knew his son was in love with a dry walker.  King Shea would rather lose his kingdom than to see one of his sons marry a dry walker.  Especially, if his son was to take the throne when King Shea’s time had come.  Arawn sunk beneath the waves and turned toward home.  She received his messages, that was true, but how does a sea swimmer introduce himself to a dry walker?  He thought about the puzzle all the way home. 

         Behind him trailed a dark shape, flitting from shadow to shadow.  As soon as it was close to Llyr, the dark shape left Arawn and headed for the palace of coral.  King Shea would be waiting.

         Klyuna received several more messages in shells, each shell more beautiful than the previous one.  Each message made her more curious about the sender.  She imagined him handsome, wonderful and a prince.  She even imagined that she would meet him one day and marry him.  One morning, about two moons later, when the sea was calm because of a storm offshore, Klyuna received the most beautiful yet.  It had long spires jutting out from the ridge that started at the tip of the shell and trailed spiraling down until it met the bottom edge.  The shell was perfectly white, with not a blemish to mire the smooth beauty that she held in her hands.  In it was a simple message:

         Sweep your eyes to the rising sun
                   The adventure has now just begun.

Should she look up, obeying the message sent in the shell?  Slowly, she lifted her chin until her eyes saw the rising sun, its light tinting the sky lavender and pink.  Her eyes swept the shore but there was no one there.  She looked across the shallow sea until her eyes met another pair, just as green as her own.  Klyuna didn’t know what to do.  Should she run back to the safe shore of her father’s land or dare she meet the gaze of the mysterious eyes that looked at her beyond the safety of her rocky bed? 

Klyuna had heard the scary stories that the people Cair Ardal told in the dark on moonless nights.  They were stories about sea swimmers and the darkness that they carried in their souls.  The favorite story that was told centered on how Cair Ardal got its name.  According to the villagers, many, many years ago there was a quiet but strained peace between the land and the sea.  But someone violated a rule that the sea king put in place.  The people of the village could fish, but had to stay near to the shore and only catch those fish deemed harmful to the sea people but enjoyed by the people of the village. 

A young fisherman flaunted the king’s rule by journeying far from the shore.  Two days later when he returned he brought back two things: a large catch of strange fish and the caged form of a sea person.  He brought the sea person ashore and paraded her around to the nearby villages.  By the time he returned, the sea person had sickened.  She died before he could return her to the sea.  The sea king was enraged, for the young, brash fisherman had caught the queen of the sea.  The king unleashed his wrath on the village for its violation of his rule and cursed it.  Since then the village was known as Ardal which meant fury or wrath.

Klyuna sat still as those terrible stories ran through her head.  So concerned about the horrors she remembered, she had not noticed that the sea person had begun to move closer.  By the time she snapped out of her daze, the sea person was an arm’s length away from her.

At first, neither young person knew what to do.  Each merely stared at the other.  After what seemed hours, the boy finally broke the silence.

“Hello, fair one.” He said.  Klyuna loved the sound of his voice – rich, strong and comforting.  “I have longed to speak to you.  And now that I am, I do not know what to say!”

Klyuna smiled. “Do these belong to you?” She asked, pouring her shell collection out upon the rocks beneath her.

“Yes they do.  Do you like them?  They are yours to keep.” He said, glancing from the shells to Klyuna’s face and back.  “I have watched you for a long time, sitting here working all day long with no one to speak to.  I have been tempted to speak to you often but have been afraid to.”

Klyuna looked into his eyes and knew what she had tried to hide in her heart.  She had fallen in love with this man, the one who sent her messages in seashells.  As she opened her mouth to speak to him, the sea suddenly began to churn.  Waves crashed against the rocks with a fury she had never seen.  A few strides from her rocky seat, the sea burst upwards and before her appeared a large sea man who carried a scepter in his hand made of what she feared most – shark’s teeth.  She cowered beneath the gaze of this mighty man.  He looked powerful, with dark blue piercing eyes and long black hair.  The bottom half of his body resembled the terrifying sharks that she knew too well.  She felt trapped.  There was no where for her to go.

The sea king raised his scepter and pointed it directly at her.  She closed her eyes and prayed.  Through closed eyes she saw a shadow cover her and heard a voice ring out.

“Turn aside your scepter, Father.  I love her.”

Startled by this revelation, Klyuna opened her eyes to see the younger man blocking the path between the sea king and herself. 

“Turn aside, Arawn.  There is nothing here but foolishness.  You know the laws; what is forbidden.  Do not force my hand any further than you have already,” the sea king shouted.

Above the shouting and churning sea the most beautiful sound floated towards the trio.  At first it was merely a whisper, but gradually the sound grew louder and louder until even the sea fell silent.  Slowly a creature arose out of the water between the sea king and the couple.  Her gray eyes and shock of red hair were wild as the wind whipped around her.  Though she was half woman and half fish like the two men, she was different than both sea people.  Sprouting out of her back were wings of silken skin.  The bottom half of her body stood exotic amid the land walker and the sea people.  It was striped orange-brown and white, like nothing Klyuna had seen before.  Here wings matched her lower body perfectly, though they seemed to be fringed with long dagger-like spines that looked ominous to Klyuna.  She looked like a formidable foe.  Klyuna did not know whether she should be afraid or relieved.

“Surely, mighty King Shea, you have better things to do than harass two young people that are in love?” the sea fairy asked.  “Don’t you have an entire sea to manage?”

King Shea’s eyes burned towards the new arrival.  “Do not forget yourself, Volita.  This is no concern of yours.”

“But my king,” she said sweetly, “Anytime love is involved I must be there.”  She smiled a smile that was neither sweet nor concerned, it was venomous.

She turned towards Arawn and Klyuna.  She looked at the two of them with a scrutiny that made Klyuna shiver.  She felt as if the fairy could see straight through her.  Arawn, poised stoic and brave, remained by Klyuna’s side, as if to declare his intentions at all cost.  Satisfied, Volita turned to the sea king.

“You know the rules of the game.  The universe is directed by those higher than we.  If it is ordained, you cannot turn it aside.  Leave them be.  No harm will come from this love,” Volita declared.

King Shea stared hard at Klyuna and smiled a smile that made Klyuna shiver.  “Turn aside.  Pah!  If this creature is his choice, she must prove her worthiness.  If she passes, Arawn can have her.  If she does not, then she must die.” 

Volita nodded her approval.  “Name your challenge.”

King Shea rose out of the sea as high as her could; his scepter held towards Klyuna.  “Three tests to prove her worth
Clean the sands of Caelen’s Cove
Harness the urchins of Caeven’s Forest
And retrieve the pearl from Deirdre’s Oyster
Accomplish these to prove her worth”
         
And with a kick of his mighty tail, King Shea returned to the depths, dragging his son down with him.  You could hear the deep rumble of his laughter mix with the crashing of the waves on Klyuna’s rocky island.  Volita, satisfied, slowly sank beneath the waves.  If you listened carefully, you could hear her song above the laughter of the sea king.  Klyuna was left all alone on her rocky shore without a clue as to how she should proceed with her orders.

The tide receded and Klyuna left for her father’s shore.  What was she to tell him?  So lost in her dilemma Klyuna was, that she did not notice her father until she had tripped over his bent form near the water.  The look on her face frightened Lugus.

“Daughter, what troubles you so that your face looks as if death has visited you?” Lugus asked.

“She cast her mournful gaze toward her father.  “Oh Father!  I am afraid for King Shea of the sea has challenged me and I cannot succeed.  And there is nothing you or anyone else can do to help me.” 

Great tears swept down her pale cheeks and she sobbed into her hands.  Lugus gathered her into his arms and stroked her hair.  He knew all too well what happened to those who crossed King Shea.  His great-great grandfather found that out himself after causing the queen of the sea’s death.  Lugus asked her to repeat everything that had happened that day while she was out on her rocky island.  After she repeated the challenge, he stroked his chin and closed his eyes. 

He knew very well where Caelen’s Cove was.  It was off the shore near Caelen’s Cay.  It was the place that the sea queen was resting when she had been caught.  It was a dangerous place guarded by thrasher fish by day and knife fish by night.  Caeven’s Forest was a kelp forest off the shore near the drop-off.  It was said that the forest was so thick that a diver could get lost and turned around so badly that he would think down was up and die because no matter how hard he swam he would never get to the surface.  Deirdre’s Oyster was a supposed to be a myth.  It was a large oyster that was said to have consumed a woman named Deirdre because it wanted to put an end to her sorrow.  It was rumored that if anyone went near it, the oyster would consume the person so that Deirdre would have a companion to keep her company.  Every place was equally dangerous and each test was impossible for a dry walker.  Unfortunately, Klyuna had no choice.  She had to perform for King Shea.

Early the next morning, Lugus set off in his little boat with Klyuna.  He steered his boat to Caelen’s Cay where he would have to leave his only daughter.  After he dropped her off, he wept all the way home, fearing that he would never see his daughter again.

Klyuna sat on the beach and looked across the calm waters.  How was she supposed to cleanse the entire cove?  It was enormous.  The crescent-shaped shore looked larger than anything she had ever seen and that didn’t even include what lay beneath the high tide.  She felt hopelessness wash over her.  She has failed and King Shea knew she would.  She sifted the sand through her hands.  Its softness caressed her skin so thoroughly that she felt herself begin to fall asleep.  She leaned up against the rocky wall behind her to steady her gaze.  As her eyes closed she saw movement all around her.  Tiny blue crabs were coming up from their hollow burrows and moving together as if they all had a common purpose.  As Klyuna’s body rested softly upon the sand and her head lay on the sandy beach, she saw the crabs doing something extraordinary.  Under the direction of a larger gray crab, they all were lifting sand to their mouths, sifting it and then spitting it out.  As her eyes drifted shut, Klyuna saw the grains of sand shine with a luster that seemed otherworldly.

Klyuna awoke with a start.  In front of her was the massive shadow of King Shea.  His scowl made her wish for a hiding place, but none could be found on the cove.  “So, dry walker, I see that the sands shine brighter than the moon above.  I cannot believe that you did this, but I do not have the proof to support my belief.  So you have passed the easiest test,” He smiled down at her.  “But your testing is far from over.”  And with a splash that sent a surge of water over Klyuna, he left her.  Lugus came hours later and took her away to their home, relieved that she was still alive.

The next morning after breakfast, Lugus sailed his little boat to the farthest he dared go onto the sea.  Because there was no island or rocky outcropping this far out, Klyuna had to swim the entire time she performed her task.  As her father set off back towards to shore, Klyuna dove beneath the waves.  The forest was indeed thick and was infested with sea urchins.  There were sea urchins everywhere covering every part of the large kelp stalks that made up Caeven’s Forest.  How was she going to harness every one of those spiny creatures?  She would never be able to dive far enough down to clear the urchins on the bottom half of the stalks.  She began anyway and soon tired from swimming without anything to rest on. 

Hours into her work, a furry sea otter face came into view.  Its gray eyes and brownish red fur were comforting.  As Klyuna exhaustibly held onto a stalk of kelp, five furry creatures began working in front of her.  The sea otters worked feverishly, clawing and biting sea urchins, ripping them from their perches on the kelp stalks.  They dove down deep into the ocean, coming up for air occasionally and dragging urchins along with them.  The urchins became small delicious snacks for the otters as they worked long into the night clearing the urchins from Caeven’s Forest.  The otters wrapped Klyuna in the tall sturdy tops of the kelp to anchor her at the surface so she could sleep, uninterrupted, and safely above the surface of the ocean.

Klyuna awoke to a dazzling sunrise.  She had slept the entire night, wrapped in kelp.  She dove into the water afraid that the task had not been completed because of her rest.  She looked beneath the waves at a healthy, glowing kelp forest.  In the midst of that forest was King Shea, inspecting each stalk closely, hoping to find evidence of an urchin somewhere.  He looked up to see her watching him.  With a whip of his mighty tail he sent her surging to the surface.  He disappeared, angry, to his palace beneath the sea.  Lugus was waiting for her at the surface, relieved to see her alive after the second test.  He did not question how she had survived the first two tests, nor did they talk to each other about the previous day.  He assumed she had help from someone powerful and he left it at that.

On the third day, Lugus took his daughter to the Sandbars of Leowellyn where Deirdre’s Oyster was fabled to rest.  Lugus kissed Klyuna before he departed, convinced that he would not see his daughter the following day.  Klyuna walked to the farthest edge of the sandbars and dove into the clear blue water.  She swam down, looking for the massive oyster and her final test.  She swam for an hour, coming up frequently for air, until at least she spotted her quarry.  The massive oyster was beautiful in its own terrible way.  The shell was striped in every shade on blue imaginable.  When it opened its great shell, the animal on the inside was a soft pink.  Klyuna approached the oyster with great care.  She did not want to be consumed like the stories claimed, to be a friend to the poor girl trapped their by her sorrow.  She hovered around it, contemplating how she was going to get the pearl that rested on the center of that pink animal inside the shell.

Suddenly, sound surrounded her.  A crying, feminine voice echoed off the corals that encased the oysters shell.  The great shell opened wide and Klyuna felt herself being drawn in to the shell’s great maw.  Klyuna clawed at the corals and tried to grip the feeble algae that grew alongside the corals.  But nothing that she did stopped her progress.  She cried out, pleading for mercy. 

Suddenly everything stopped.  The voice called to her.  “Fair maid, why have you come here only to cry for mercy?  Why do you torment me with the thought of companionship to only snatch it away?”

Klyuna replied, “I have come at the command of King Shea.  Either I must retrieve the great pearl of your oyster or I shall die.  Please help me, for the test is to show whether I am worthy of his son’s love.”

At the mention of love, Deirdre’s heart melted, for she too once loved greatly to only have that love stolen from her.  Deirdre did not want to prevent another from losing the love of their life but knew that the oyster would not give up its treasure so easily.  Deirdre told Klyuna that the only way that the oyster would give up the pearl was that Klyuna must clean the shell of the oyster so that it once again may gleam the colors of the sea.  Klyuna must also find the perfect grain of sand that would replace the pearl she would take so that the oyster could create a new pearl. 

As Klyuna looked closer at the oyster, she noticed that the blue hue of the shell was mired by layers of dirt and algae that had accumulated over several centuries of life.  Klyuna surfaced with dread.  The task seemed impossible, so thick was the layers of grime.  Determined in her heart to finish the task, Klyuna dove back down and gathered sand in her hands.  She swam over to the oyster and began rubbing the sand onto the shell to clean it.  She made progress, but it was slowed by the frequency in which she had to travel to the surface for air.  During one of her trips to the surface, she noticed that the sun was already directly overhead and half her day was done.  Klyuna despaired for she only had a small area of the shell cleaned.  She was running out of time.


When she arrived back at the oyster, she noticed a flurry of activity.  All around her were spine fish, rubbing themselves against the oyster’s shell.  Before long, the shell began to gleam.  As the sun set, the shell was completely clean and Klyuna swore she felt a sigh flow through the current around the oyster.  Now all she needed was the perfect grain of sand.  A gray eyed lionfish approached her and Klyuna knew how she had accomplished all the things that King Shea gave her.  She held out her hand and the lionfish dropped a perfectly formed grain of sand into it.  She swam over to the oyster and held out her hand.  The oyster opened its shell and released the pearl.  It pushed out it muscular body to receive the grain of sand.  Klyuna placed it gently on the oyster’s body and swam back.  The oyster closed it shell and Klyuna took the pearl to the surface.  She wearily climbed into the sandbars and lay down to sleep.  She dreamt of her green-eyed prince. 

Lugus came to the sandbars before sunrise, hoping to find his daughter alive.  When he saw her laying on the sandbar his heart stopped.  Surely after all this she can’t be dead, he thought.  He leapt out of his boat and ran to her.  He scooped her up into his arms and carried her back to his boat.  Slowly he maneuvered his boat home.  Once there he took her to her room and laid her on her bed.  As he did, the pearl rolled onto the floor from her skirt.  He looked at it in disbelief.  She had survived Deirdre’s fate and taken the pearl.  As the pearl came to a halt, a loud explosion was heard outside.  Lugus looked out of the window and saw King Shea beyond the dock.  The citizens of Cair Ardal heard the explosion and ran down to the shore to see what was going on.  Lugus stepped out of his small hut and stood before the sea king.

“I believe you have something for me,” King Shea bellowed across the water.

Lugus maintained his calm and shouted back, defiantly, “I do not believe that giving the pearl to you was part of the test.  As far as I’m concerned the pearl is my daughter’s.  You said that she needed to get it, but you never said that she must give it to you.”

King Shea roared in disbelief.  A dry walker spoke to him as if he and the dry walker were equals.  He lowered his scepter at the fisherman to teach all dry walkers a lesson.  Lugus didn’t move.  He was not afraid nor would he allow the giant to get away with this robbery.  As he stood there, Klyuna appeared in the doorway clutching the great pearl to her chest.  She held it out towards the king, but showed no intention of giving it to him.

Klyuna called out to the great sea king, “You never said that I had to give you this pearl.  I was given the pearl by Deirdre’s Oyster.  I intend to keep it.  Now you must keep your end of the deal.  I have passed all the tests you set before me.  You cannot go back on your word.”

King Shea laughed, “I know that you appeared to pass each test.  Though I have no true proof, I know that you did not perform each task alone because my tasks were given to you because no dry walker could have been able to do them.  I meant for you to fail.  Because you received help, I will not consider your tasks completed.  You have failed and you must now take your punishment.”

At that declaration, a massive water funnel formed above the water.  Volita sprung form the funnel and hovered completely out of water between Klyuna and her father and King Shea.  Her eyes blazed in anger.  She looked at King Shea and with all her might stilled him within the funnel with her magic.  She then made a declaration for all to hear:

“King Shea, what you have done is cruel and unforgivable.  You purposely set before this girl tasks she could not succeed in so that you could take your revenge on the people of the dry land.  You used the love between your son and this girl to cause a death that would not be excused.  Therefore, I took the form of the creatures of the sea that helped her accomplish that which you set before her.  I led the crabs in cleansing the sands of Caelen’s Cove, I fetched the otters that helped harness the urchins in Caeven’s Forest, I am the one that called the spine fish to cleanse Deirdre’s Oyster and I am the one who gave the grain of sand to Klyuna as an offering to the oyster.  If you want to be angry with anyone, it should be me for ensuring that love would prevail.  You know the code that was set before time began.  Challenge me if you want but be aware of what your outcome may be.”

As she spoke the wind picked up and the waves grew taller.  At her last statement, thunder was heard and lightning flashed overhead.  Everyone except Klyuna and Lugus cowered in fright.  With a wave of her hand, Volita drove the storm away.  She motioned to the rocky outcropping and Arawn swam to the shore.  Volita held out her hand to Klyuna and beckoned her to come forward. 

Volita smiled warmly at both Arawn and Klyuna.  “Arawn,” she said, “this girl is worth more than the pearl of great price gotten from Deirdre’s Oyster.  She is lovelier than any creature made under the sun.  Take her and live happily.  Teach her the ways of the sea.”

As Arawn took Klyuna’s hand and gazed at her, Klyuna shifted her gaze toward her father.  Such sadness grew in her that she had never felt before.

“I would give anything to stay with you, Prince Arawn, but I cannot leave my father.  He is all that I have and I am all that he has.  If I leave my father, I leave him to a life of loneliness.  I cannot do that.  I love him more than anything else in the world.  Even you.”

She turned to walk towards her father when Volita called to her.  There was no need to leave her father, the fairy explained.  Her father is welcome to come to.


And so it came to pass that the village of Cair Ardal lost its only fisherman to the sea.  Lugus spent his days teaching the good fish how to avoid the hooks and nets of dry walker fisherman, leaving the bad fish to their own devices.

As for Prince Arawn and the Princess Klyuna, they lived happily ever after in the Kingdom of Llyr.