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With me waking up late and making a whole lotta pancakes for myself - which put me in a slight food coma lol - I'm writing this during the football games, so no Festival just yet since that's going to be rather... heavy.
So enjoy another story about the Goddesses of Teran I guess lol~!
Which... is going to be a two parter because I really like writing about these Goddesses, and this one felt like it deserved two chapters... sorry not sorry XD
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"Aka, stop squirming! Ahem... Let's see here... ah, here we are. The story of how a River Goddess was tricked to allow a sneaky Foxkin woman escape detection from another Goddess... Sounds interesting, doesn't it~?"
Looking down at the three children sitting on my lap, I smiled at how each of them nodded, their eyes glued to the pages as they waited for me to continue, filling my heart with joy as I leaned down to kiss each of them, before I began to read the words written on each page, weaving together a wonderful story for their imaginative young minds to latch onto.
Something that would help bring them to sleep eventually, and something that would likely have a lesson somewhere inside that they could learn from...
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My name is Floviatra, Goddess of a small, yet impactful river that was hidden deep inside a mountain range... in other words, I was a lonely, yet content Goddess as I dozed in my cool, pure water, nourishing the abundance of caves beneath the mountain and allowing my waters to trickle down into the valley, where a few mortals gathered to nourish themselves.
Sometimes, when I was bored, I would watch them from the edge of my riverbank, looking down at them and observing the things they did to pass the time, finding it amusing to see how they fought over who had claim over which portion of the river, only to realize that the things lurking inside the river didn't care about their claims...
The animals and monsters that lingered within my waters were necessary and beautiful things, keeping the surrounding swathe of grasslands nourished and healthy through the cycles of nature.
Thanks to my 'home' being so far up above them, I never had to deal with anyone, be it mortals or Goddesses; some Goddesses related to the winds, the temperature, the mountains themselves... all of them would occasionally come and chat with me, with some of them helping me stave off my loneliness with some more intimate time spent together.
Now though, nothing had happened for months, and I was about to go back to sleep and drift aimlessly amongst my waters when I felt someone dip their hands into the water nearby, startling me.
No divine power could be felt, so it wasn't a Goddess who was here, which meant a mortal was visiting me?
But... why?
There was little of interest up in the mountains, and for the mortals, it was far too harsh up here to live comfortably; cold and little stability in the surrounding mountains meant this home of mine wasn't good enough for them, so they usually remained in the valley or at the base of the mountains...
Curious, I swam through the crystal clear, frigid waters and found the mortal in question, pausing for a moment as I drank in the beauty in front of me.
Long golden hair fell straight towards the water, whilst two fluffy, triangular ears just as golden as her hair twitched on the top of her head; startling turquoise orbs stared into the gentle water with an intensity that made me shiver slightly, but that only made me more curious...
Her simple blue robes were slightly dirty, and yet she looked so elegant and beautiful as she knelt beside the river, her hand submerged beneath its surface for what felt like no reason at all.
My eyes roamed her figure as I tried to get a better idea on what she was doing, and yet... all I could determine was that the golden Foxkin was a curvaceous woman, her bosom threatening to burst free from her robe, whilst her thin waist was hugged closely by a soft green sash.
"Was this not the right river..? Hmm..."
Muttering to herself, the Foxkin looked around and sighed, taking her hand from my waters and shaking it off, her plump lips pulled into a frown as she muttered to herself again, this time far too quiet for me to hear.
My curiosity - and the lack of contact with anyone over these months - made me do something I still have no idea if I regret or am happy I did, which was swim closer and rise out of the water, staring at the Foxkin and taking in her lack of surprise.
"Ah, so I was right~! Goddess Floviatra, correct?"
"Yes..? Why are you... here?"
My voice was raspy due to its rare use, which when compared to the silky smooth melody that slipped past her lips, well... I felt something... a few things, actually.
Tilting her head, she looked up at me with those sharp, beautiful turquoise and smiled, making my heart skip a beat as I took in her appearance once more, realizing that she could compare to even some of the Goddesses I had seen...
"Well, you see... Your river trickles down into the valley, right? But recently, the heat of Summer has gotten far too hot, so the water down in the valley is diminishing. Furthermore... well, there's a monster that's blocking the river a ways down the mountain, creating a second, larger pool and stopping the river from flowing into our own pool. Meaning..."
"You mortals have nothing to drink, nothing to grow your crops with?"
I raised a brow, her beauty not taking over my entire mind, so I could see the beginnings of her wish, which amused me greatly.
"Hmm... well, yes, if I cared about the people down there, I would say that, but I don't. After all, they've been trying to get rid of me for a long time now... so... yeah, I decided to take my chances up here~!"
"Take your chances..?"
The Foxkin chuckled, covering those plump lips and nodding, which caused the two big orbs attached to her chest to jump around and almost leap out of her robes.
"Yes, take my chances... after all, the reason they want me gone is because I refused to be a sacrifice to Goddess Venatra, who demanded they give me to her so that she could bless the lands below with rain~!"