Though I Try How Can I

If you’re new to The Môrdreigiau Chronicles, welcome! You might find the Glossary helpful for some of these words. Colons indicate the sea dragon’s thought communications.

Previously, Queen Heledd and her friends are entranced by a goslings shining tower, Caer Morgana came under a stormy attack, but that seems to have resolved itself thanks to Llallogan the prophet’s labyrinthine dreams. Despairing that all is lost, Geraint turned for comfort in Elpis’ arms. And immediately denied her upon waking.

Read Part 1 / All Parts of “They Were Shining“

:You’ll be all right on your own?: Llallogan asked when Elpis finished filling him on the catastrophic storm he’d slept through.

Elpis nodded. She watched her brother leave, hurrying from the cave after Geraint. She ventured out, dragging her steps.

She didn’t follow Llallogan instead wandering deeper into the palace’s gardens. Unlike her brother, she still lived at home with her parents and she wasn’t quite ready to face them yet.

With the palace building at her back and the mountain to her right, she descended towards the lowest levels of the garden.

A white bridge arched out of the flowering coral, passing over a gully that ran across to another flowering bed. There was no need for a bridge as water flowed above, below and all around, yet someone had taken bleached coral and polished it until it gleamed and set it in a shallow arc across the two beds.

Elpis stepped on the bridge and stilled. A gentle cascade of ringing notes sounded. Had Elpis journeyed Above Sea, she’d know the sound as a brook, trickling over stone and moss.

:Who goes there?: The soft feminine voice seemed to rise from the bridge itself.

:Elpis ferch Fychan.: She looked around. :Who are you? Where are you?:

:I’m not a troll under the bridge.:

Elpis leaned far over the bridge’s short railing but saw nobody. :A troll?:

:What is your wish?:

:Wh—what?:

:What is your wish, child. I am a wishing bridge.:

Elpis retreated a step. :Should I not be walking on you?:

:It’s what I’m made for. That and wishes.:

:You will grant me my wish?: Elpis’ mind raced. Her brother had never mentioned this miracle in the gardens before.

:I will.: The soft voice sounded endlessly patient.

Elpis crouched, resting her palm upon the bridge’s path. :I’m sorry. You must get these questions a lot.:

:Once upon a time, when tigers smoked and dragons flew.:

:Just one wish?: Elpis gnawed her lip. She knew what she should choose … and then there was what she wanted…

A shadow passed overhead. Elpis looked up, seeing the serpentine outline of a draig môr swim overhead, followed by others. :Geraint!: she called.

:Elpis.: He sounded heavy, grieving. :I’m sorry, so sorry.:

Again, the cascade of trickling bells sounded. :Your wish is granted.:

Elpis sat heavily upon the bridge. :What? No! I wasn’t talking to you!: Tears welled. She could have saved her queen. She! Geraint would have admired her, nay, loved her for it.

:Quite the waste of a wish. The boy is already yours.:

Sometimes, a prompt is so tricky to write for, you look for anything, anything within the prompt to hang the story off of. This (and the previous) were such prompts. The Circus Dragon titled her painting prompt, so I zoomed in, took a look, and there it was. Also, a small hat tip to a certain Monty Python movie. Ahem. This is a response to the Smogust Story Hoard writing challenge by Bradley Ramsey and The Circus Dragon for the month of August. And yes, as it often happens with these month long challenges (often being precisely once before), it’s a serial.

Read Part 1 / All Parts of “They Were Shining“