Tuesday Tales: Waterfalls

Tuesdays are the days I have set aside to work on flash fiction to get my mind working on writing. As I'm working on revising my WIP, The Crystal Bearer, these short-short stories are set in its world, Teorre.

I looked through Tumblr and found Flash Fiction 365. I might use a few of these. #128 is waterfalls, and I think I can come up with something for it.

Waterfalls

Taryn climbed down the rocks of the wall beneath the castle and perched patiently until Lissi could catch up to her. The sisters had the first day of the green season off for the first time, and they could not wait to leave the castle to swim under the waterfalls. In the snow season, the water froze where it fell, making natural slides into the icy lake below for the braver baysprites to plunge into, but Taryn and Lissi remained fearful of their companions’ wintry escapades and instead waited for the weather to break and the water to move once again.

The sun shone down on the clear water of Royalos’ Rockpool Lake. The roar of the falls grew louder and louder until the sisters could see them mirroring each other in the cove. Mist rose into the air as the water above fell to churn the water below, and Taryn squealed with delight. Lissi looked around until she found the hidden path to the first waterfall.  Taryn followed her, and they sat along the ledge to reach their feet out to the plummeting river above them. The water splashed on their toes, still cold from the snow season, but the green season never got much warmer.

Lissi was the first to jump. She balled her red locks into a bun at the top of her head and stood. She looked down at the water with wide eyes, then shared a smile with Taryn. The sisters counted, and at three, Lissi leapt off of the ledge, arms spread wide, through the waterfall and downward into the lake. Taryn waited for her sister to call up to her with a whistle before she stood and prepared herself to follow. Her legs shook with the anticipation of the fall, but she would do it. She counted, one…two…three, and jumped, arms overheard and hands coming to a point, to dive through the waterfall. Taryn arced downward and closed her eyes at the sensation of gravity pulling her down into the lake. It looked much darker from above than it ever did. As the water caught her, Taryn closed her eyes and curved upward to make a graceful arc below. She resurfaced and met Lissi’s wide smile. They squealed and laughed at each other, teeth chattering with cold. But it was already decided silently between them.

They were going to climb out and jump again.





*This post occurred before I changed the WIP title.*