The Test of Strength
Many years passed before Talua saw another God. She remembered Death's visit with crystal clarity, the way she stared at her. She also remembered the way the Raven King didn't even regard her, and passed her by. Neither could have prepared her for the God who visited her next.
The valley was calm that day, the first snowfall of winter covered the trees like a blanket, and a thin layer of ice made for a beautiful sight on the lake. Talua was brushing the snow off the roof of her shrine when a stranger came, dressed all in black.
Talua saw her boots crunching in the snow with a weight that didn't match her stature, which caused her eyes to dart up to her face. Sharp features, grey-black hair and red irises greeted her. She knew right away who this was. There was nothing in all of creation that didn't recognise its mother.
"Lady Vordea." Talua bowed immediately, and lifted her head back up.
"Well well, what do we have here?" Vordea smiled warmly, and looked the shrine over. She noted the finely crafted carpentry, and the excellent carved figurines. "Talua, the spirit of this valley."
"Yes Lady Vordea, what do you require of me?" Talua was doing her best to contain her excitement. The mother of all creation, speaking to her!
Vordea ignored the question for the moment, and walked around the simple shrine for the moment. She paused to pick up a few pebbles from the riverbank. Looking them over, she smiled.
"Talua. Tell me, what would you do to protect this place?" Vordea casually crushed a pebble to dust as she spoke, letting the sand fall between her gloved fingers.
"This has been my home for my entire existence, Lady Vordea. I would do anything to protect it."
Vordea smiled broadly, but the expression lingered too long, stretching wider than any mortal’s ever could. "Anything?"
Talua shivered for a moment, but strengthened her resolve. She thought back to when Eigengrau visited. "Anything. I'd die to protect this valley. I'd kill."
Talua was surprised by Vordea's response. She laughed. Not a mocking laugh. A warm laugh.
"A simple test then, o'spirit of mine." Vordea turned and threw the pebble at the lake. It skipped across the surface, loud booms and plumes of water in its wake. "When the spring thaw comes, the river's course will change. Farms will flood and the forest will drown. Will you bend to its whims, or will you push back the tides of change?"
"I must change the course of a river?" Talua's eyes were wide. How could she do such a thing?
"You're nothing more than a ghost if you can't do even that, Talua. To call yourself truly part of nature, to be part of my song and not merely an observer, you must prove you can change the stage." Vordea threw another pebble, and it ricocheted through the trees, the sound of wood cracking and splintering.
Talua balled up her fists. "I-I'll do my best!"
"That is all I ask of all my children, Talua." Vordea approached Talua closely, and hugged her. "Prove to me that my confidence is not misplaced."
"I will." Talua all but whispered, as Vordea released her grip on Talua, and walked away into the snowy forest. The world itself seemed to dull as she walked away, as if she was taking reality with her.
---
When spring came, Talua finally saw what Vordea meant. The weather was unseasonably warm far too early, and the snow melted faster than the river could take the water away. As the river broke its banks on the forest side, her mind raced. What should she do?
She saw the looks of fear on the faces of the humans as they desperately sandbagged the farm side of the river. She heard their fervent prayers to protect their farms from the wrath of the floodwater.
"What can I even do?" She whispered to herself, as the lake itself lapped at its own shores, threatening to overflow.
As the first sandbags gave way to the wall of water, she realised the time for a decision was upon her.
"It's now or never." She balled up her fists and closed her eyes.
Picturing the entire valley in her mind, she suddenly remembered. Once, a long time ago, before the humans came, there was another river. The riverbed had long dried, but it was still there. Where did it go? The caves. The caves!
"Hope is not yet lost!" She shouted. "With me!"
She ran across the surface of the water, all the way to the long clogged headwaters of the dormant river. Before the humans could even get a boat over to her, she was already digging. It was their only hope, and she wasn't going to waste a second.
Soon, a trickle started to flow into the old riverbed, and with help from the villagers who arrived some time later, it turned into a raging flow of water.
"Lady Talua, where does this river go?" A farmer asked, as they all watched from the safety of the riverbank while Talua continued to dig in the waters.
"The caves. I forgot about them. A very long time ago I blocked this off, before any human ever came here. They can hold the floodwaters!"