He stopped loving her today - a photo on Flickriver

a bit of fiction if you so desire...

Jarnel pointed out into the lake, "Wow, what's that?"

His query was met by an incredulous stare from his companion, "Don't you have Lore Masters where yer from, or did you just not attend classes?"

"I may have missed one or two days...."
Jarnel watched as Bruuk set his axe down and leaned it on a stone, that could only mean one thing, a story was coming because all tales told by Bruuk required his voice and two hands. He returned his gaze out into the lake and took in the odd scene. Protruding from its still waters were three towers, all leaning slightly to the right as though being blown by the wind. The young bowman could see no evidence of an island, nor treetops, just what looked like the top of a castle.

Bruuk, now free of his burden, cleared his hairy throat mightily, "What you see here is all that remains of Borton's Castle. You see, young Borton had lost his entire family to a fire in his family's hut while he was hunting and as you can imagine, he was quite devastated. The King's own Shaman was in the village at the time and witnessed the lad's distress and so took him in as his own. Time passed and there was laughter and love, but Shaman Cirtiz could still see the melancholy remnants of the pain that the lad had creep to the surface at times, that is until the now armorer's apprentice met Garna, the lovely maiden who traded goods from the village to the North. Their first meeting was as that of a confluence of two rivers, they intertwined immediately and were never separated."

Jarnel smiled inwardly as he saw that Bruuk's gestures began growing larger and larger, his speech quickening as his excitement grew.

"It wasn't long," continued Jarnel's stout companion, "before they announced that they would wed when the meadow flowers on the hill above the lake came to bloom. All rejoiced as Borton was well liked and they all wanted joy for the troubled youth.

"The seasons passed quickly and the day had come, many tears and many backslappings occurred throughout the day, but as the evening began to win its battle with day, the Shaman brought his son and new daughter down to the lake. Despite the brightness of the cheery day a fog had loomed over the lake doggedly defying the sun and the wind. Shaman Cirtiz stopped and pointed, Out there is your new home, it is impervious to disaster, no fire, no water, nothing can destroy it as I have conjured it into being through the power of your love. As long as there is love in the house, it will stand. And with that proclamation the Shaman waved his hand and the fog cleared. Sitting atop of a cloud as pink as any sunset and as puffy as a ball of cotton was a small castle in the middle of the lake, replete with three towers capped with pointed roofs, all sporting gay flags beating happily even without a wind, it was beautiful.

"So they weren't a good match after all?" asked Jarnel.

Bruuk stopped in mid gesticulation at the sudden interruption of his tale and Jarnel could tell by his furrowed and bushy brows as well as the scowl causing his whiskers to turn downward that he'd been mistaken.

"Listen and heed pup, for there are lessons to be learned here!" Bruuk's gaze went skyward as he mentally swooped back into the story. "As I was sayin', the pair was happy, they could be seen swimming together, walking in the meadows, riding the woods seemingly incessantly and as you might imagine it wasn't long before they announced the coming of a child."

Once again Jarnel's eyes darted out to the wrecked castle, this time he wisely kept his tongue.

"A party was thrown, the Shaman was summoned, and all were overjoyed until that faithful day."

"Oh no," lamented Jarnel, "the young woman died and the castle crashed!"

With a steely gaze and a heavy sigh steeped with infinite patience Bruuk continued. "Not exactly Jarnel, she did indeed pass on and she took her daughter with her, but the castle remained. In fact, it floated for seasons uncounted but few ever laid eyes on Borton again until, finally, on a day that the now ancient Shaman happened into the village he witnessed the cloud falter, then falter some more and then slowly, slowly the castle lowered into the lake. He knew then that his son's soul had joined his wife and daughter and had taken his love for them with him."

If you have Kleenex's handy, here's a tune to go with.... :)

youtu.be/es1uCh48TNY?si=gD3aUsI6TRhceliw

Taken on: June 5, 2024

Tags:

fiction

abandoned places

Washington State

Rich Border

Rich

Border

Landscape « less

Sets appears in: • Tall Tales

Camera: Sony ILCE-7RM3, f/14.0, 1/13 sec, 34mm, ISO 80 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Sony ILCE-7RM3
Lens:	FE 24-70mm F4 ZA OSS
Aperture:	f/14.0
Exposure Time:	0.077 sec (1/13)
Focal Length:	34mm
ISO:	80
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Aperture-priority AE
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Saturation:	High
Sharpness:	Hard
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5.0 (Windows)
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