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P** art One: "The Otter Maiden"**

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As the earliest hours of morning of another summer day came to pass throughout goddess Gaia's realm of Felldew, it was known to all of the waking peoples that there were many locations of utmost awesomeness, grace as well as respect that could be seen standing proud in the slowly yet surely brightening morning light.

For example, in the northernmost realms of Norlinth where humans dwelled and Tundran where ursine bears battled, many mountain ranges tipped with the whitest snow and shrouded in cool, silver mists jutted regally upwards from the earth towards the baby blue sky as if to pull both the land as well as sky together to make them one.

In the southernmost realms of Summerdine, where there was naught but desert as well as dunes where the cat anima thrived, the golden light of the sun was reflected back by the shimmering, endless seas of sand lands.

Far off to the east, across the Waiting Sea, the spire of a rock that was Dragon's Roost, home of the dragon clans, stood proud like a sword raised out from the depths of the shining waves.

Then, to the west in the Open Plains where many various anima lived, everything shined a brilliant golden shade underneath the dawn's strengthening illumination.

Still, where the north was pretty in a humble fashion, where the south was glimmering although empty, where the east was a place of untold mystery and the west was an open sight where the eye could see all around for miles upon end without interruption, there was one certain realm that had always been more beautiful than any other in the eyes of the civilizations of Felldew. And that certain realm in question was the realm known as River Country today where, located between Norlinth to the west and the Great Plains to the east, the dozens of crisscrossing, tangling, freely flowing rivers had forever provided life, beauty as well as even adventure if wanted.

What had forever made the River Country of Felldew the most unique if not stunning in the eyes of everyone, mind, hadn't just been due to the activity of the flowing rivers alone. Oh no, for the longest time, the popularity of the country had also been bolstered by the folk that still called it and northern Onyx Bay their home nowadays; the otter clans. For no creature today, not even a human, had an understanding for anything that had to do with water like an otter did. And ever since they'd awakened under the gaze of Gaia as well as been taught by humanity how to live, the jolly otters had made their species proud by learning something new about the ways of water.

Without a doubt, where the ursine of Tundran were renowned fighters, where the squirrels of the Southern Valleys were unmatched archers, where the cheetahs of Summerdine Isle were unparalleled sprinters, the otters of the River Country were fabled masters of water. Not only that, having always been happy as well as loyal creatures at heart, the river/sea dogs were a race that appreciated the smallest of things along with the big. Truly, whether it was sleeping, partying, helping friends, fighting or other things, the river dogs of River Country and sea dogs of Onyx Bay had always been good examples of what being anima meant; lively, loyal, understanding and just.

They were, in the respected human opinion, both fantastic companions to those they liked as well as excellent fighters against those they didn't like.

Yet, with the dawn having hardly broken over all of the entirety of the world of Felldew moments ago, with the hour still very early into the starting summer day, the River Country was not a realm of bustling life at the moment. Rather, having had a busy day of enduring bad weather yesterday, the many otters of the area were still fast asleep in their homes. True, soon enough, they would awaken and their country would be livened up with their water related activity in turn. For the moment though, with the occasional early bird chirping from the riversides, with the rivers themselves soothingly gurgling by on their way towards Onyx Bay that would lead out into the Waiting Sea, everything was restfully still.

Most everything, most everyone, were presently lost in their dreams. Mind,most everything and everyone were asleep as the first lights of the morning sun peeked above the eastern horizon. However, there were some peoples who were not so lost in their dreams but were already waking up for the approaching day.

Having been awake a full hour herself before dawn's arrival, seated gracefully on the edge of an anchored, well-built, square raft of great size which supported a homely hut on its wide deck behind her, there was one particular otter maid that took great joy in watching the beginning of the newest summer day. And unlike the last three days where there'd been nothing but rainstorms, it appeared that this day - at long last - was going to be one of glorious beauty!

The awake otter maid in question who watched the rising of the sun in the east with her emerald green eyes, with an excited smile on her smooth face, with her elegant tail as well as feet dangling lazily in the passing river's water, was a most gorgeous creature to behold. Her slim, soft, dark brown colored fur as well as creamy brown underside mixed perfectly together. She was dressed in the traditional seaweed green tunic thanks to her river faring heritage, with her long, ebony hair tied back into a long, braided ponytail that trailed down her splendorous spine to the base of her tail. A seashell comb colored sandy white with a hint of pink was placed upon the crown of her described hair, standing out against the blackness of it.

Many times the otter maid currently soaking her paws had been told by her fellow otters in the past that she had the strength of her father as well as the beauty of her mother. They were right to think so. For she was "Nyrina", as expert a river dog as any alive. She was also of the "Urchinhide" clan which was, in other words, a formal way to say her family which included her lean yet strong father, "Hudder", her gracious mother, "Mistdrop", and her childish little brother, "Clampter", all of who were asleep back inside of the raft's hut at the moment. All of who had, with Nyrina's help five years ago, built the currently anchored raft they now lived upon and was named "Dynamic".

For the last three days, thanks to the fearsome summer storms that had blown south from Onyx Bay inland, not much sailing through the River Country had been done by the usually adventurous Urchinhide clan. Truth be told, not much of anything had probably been done in the area by any good person for the last three days where the rains had not stopped, the sun had been blotted out, the ground had turned into mush and the many rivers had begun to flood.

During all of that unpleasant business, though, even when locked inside of their raft's hut on board all the while, Nyrina's proud family had kept their spirits high. How so? Well, as most otters had most likely done when stuck inside, they'd made it through each stormy day with much singing, dancing, storytelling, eating along with staying together.

Last night had been a most awesome if not hopeful one for the Urchinhide family. During then, they'd danced a familiar otter dance that'd been meant to hopefully drive off the bad weather and allow all of the rivers in River Country to actually be sail worthy once more. Well, judging by the way the morning skies of today were devoid of any kind of cloud, seeing as the weather was already warming up thanks to the shining sun, all of the efforts of driving away the storms last night had worked.

And why wouldn't Urchinhides' partying last night have worked last night? With her father's expert harmonica playing, with her mother's beautiful singing voice, with her brother's skill at playing the drums and her splendid talent for dancing, Nyrina would have thought the world mad if it hadn't listened to them telling it to "brighten up tomorrow".

Still, as she'd listened to her parents repeatedly tell her the human - the first awakened - beliefs all throughout her twenty-one years of growing up, Nyrina was aware that not everything happening this morning was occurring without some sort of small help from the goddess Gaia on the side. So, perhaps the Urchinhide family's performance last night had attracted Gaia's attention in some way? Maybe, having been entertained by Nyrina's family's antics, the goddess had decided to move the bad weather elsewhere and give the wet River Country a break?

One way or the other, with her heart filled to the brim with joy at feeling the summer heat warm up her formerly dampened spirits, feeling free being outside rather than trapped for another day inside of the Dynamic's homely hut, Nyrina was very relieved to see that the three days of rainy weather had finally given way to what was clearly going to undoubtedly be a beautiful May day.

The Urchinhide daughter was happy that she'd awoken early this morning to not find it raining anymore but peacefully still. She was grateful that the goddess had heard her family's prayers the previous night. Most of all, though, she was excited to be able to dive back into the Seidon river once more, to swim to her heart's content, to stretch her cramped muscles back into their former splendor. Of course, being on the Seidon River close to the Valley of Ruin and just after what had been some pretty bad weather, she wasn't supposed to do such things as go off on her alone without the consent of her parents.

There were supposedly dangers at hand. Dangers that full grown otters were not eager to face. Yet, what Nyrina's parents didn't know wouldn't hurt them. And what they didn't know was that she was awake so early. What they didn't know - more like what they didn't want to accept - was that she was old enough to look out for herself.

That was the main reason for why Nyrina was up so early. She could at least get in an hour of swimming to herself before her father would be up and about enjoying the good weather while prepping the Dynamic for today's travel southward. And where she wanted to swim was a special place she'd swum further upriver three days ago just before the Dynamic had been anchored as well as trapped in the resulting storms.

For there, at that area upstream she desired to go, Nyrina could have sworn she'd seen a rare specimen of fresh water clam which also produced smaller yet equally elegant pearls like their salt water cousins in Onyx Bay. As for her wanting to find freshwater pearls, it just so happened that Nyrina's mother's birthday was coming up soon. And if the Urchinhide daughter could manage to grab a few fresh water pearls up the river today without anyone knowing, then she would have the perfect material to make her angelic figure of a mother the perfect birthday gift.

One way or the other, knowing she could get in big trouble for going off on her own and not wanting to delay in her mission any longer, Nyrina concluded that she'd spent enough time taking in her brightening surroundings. With her mind determinedly made up to get some fresh water pearls for her mother today, she pulled her lower torso out of the river water up onto the raft and checked over the water gear she had at hand which was a bit of rope, some hooks, a vial, a stone dagger, a leather sling along with pebbles in her waist pouch. After having double checked her water gear for good measure, she then hoisted her iron tipped javelin up off the deck to eagerly set off on her daring journey.

For the first time in three days, the otter maiden dove off Dynamic's deck almost like something out of a dream. After the resulting if not noiseless splash, with effortless ease, almost like she was part of the water herself, she whirled around in the river water, somersaulted, speedily swam this way as well as that way, cartwheeled and then took a moment to laugh gleefully at having the freedom to swim once again.

Next, she took a gulp of fresh air at the water's surface, dived back down, then realized that thanks to the aftermath of the storms the Seidon River's current was a tad too strong and far too murky with mud for her swim upriver.

With a bit of a depressed spirit that quickly rocketed back into joyous, the Urchinhide daughter at least had the fun of swimming swiftly past the Dynamic towards dry land. A moment later, she half-jumped, half shot expertly out of the water to roll onto her feet on the western shore. With a giggle along with flexing of her rudder like tail that was - like any other otter who valued his or her tail - her pride and joy, she speedily headed north through the quiet, still forestland at a steady yet graceful trot.

All the while she traveled, Nyrina respectfully heeded her father's warnings about going off alone into unknown territory. She wasn't like her scamp of a brother would be at the moment, mind. Although disobeying her family's rule, she was still careful of everything around her. She minded her every step, heeded every noise, studied every little thing that got in her way. Yet, as she would soon find out, it was not dangers on land that the Urchinhide daughter would to come to eventually face... but dangers in the over flowing Seidon River.