The River Guardian

     Technically, Elerya was supposed to ask them to state their business, then grant or deny passage while taking tribute. That was her job, as a minor river spirit.

     Unfortunately for her job, the girl group A*CAR*A was livestreaming a Get Ready With Me, which was far more important than -

     “Excuse me.”

     The Maraquan Krawk sunk a little deeper into her river, under her bridge.

     “Ex-excuse me -”

     Casting an annoyed look at the bridge above, Elerya turned down the sound on her phone. Aeki was talking about her moisturiser, made with herbs that only grew on a mountain in -

     “I can hear your phone!”

     So much for that. Groaning, she surfaced to see a Korbat with a very large messenger bag over his shoulder. “What?”

     They were taken aback, but continued. “I come to seek the wisdom of Kaoro in the mountains and ask permission to cross your bridge unharmed.” They rifled in their bag. “I come bearing -”

      She held back from rolling her eyes - barely. “Yeah, go ahead.”

     The Korbat stopped. Stared. “What?”

      Ugh. “Go on!” She eyed her phone again. Darni was putting on blush and this silly nerd was interrupting. “Cross the bridge! Do your thing!”

      “You….don’t need my tribute?”

      Elerya fought the battle again to not roll her eyes, but lost.”Fine - What is it?”

      “Uh…a Water Mote.”

     These visitors…Goddess of the Sea, help me. “Good thing I already let you pass, because that offering is weee-ak.” She dragged the word out. “What else you got?”

     The Korbat looked around, wondering if anyone else was seeing this, before continuing. “I have a pack of … peach gummy candy.”

      “Now we’re talking. Gimmie.” The Korbat stared at her, and she snapped her claws together. “You wanted to do this traditionally, let’s go!”

     She snapped the package out of the air with her jaws, ripping through it with a shake of her head.

     “Good luck doing…whatever.” Sinking back into the reeds, she kept one eye on the Korbat’s retreating wings and one on her phone - the girls were talking about their upcoming album - fun!

     —--------

     Over the course of the day, there were more visitors. Finding no river guardian, they simply continued.

     Elerya had draped river weed over her head, ignoring how it got into her hair - and huddled in a corner under the bridge, turning down her sound when someone came by. It was annoying, but doable. One time, she had been too slow and was seen by a Skeith, a scholar from Meridell who tossed her some smoked meridellian fish - which had been delish.

     When the setting sun shone directly between two mountains and set her bridge alight, Elerya felt a cool wind, unusually cool, and her blood grew even colder. She snapped her phone closed, tucked it between some reeds, and said in a more serious voice. “My Lady?”

     And the Lady appeared.

     Lady Fossa was a (minor) ocean goddess, and this river Elerya was assigned to was under her (totes too strict) jurisdiction.

     The Maraquan Kougra had purple hair and many bracelets adorning her arms, made from shells and seaglass. They sparkled in the setting sun. They were always so pretty, and made such melodious noise -

     “Ahem.” Fossa was smiling gently. Clasping her claws together, Elerya inclined her head in respect.

     “Elerya of the Southern Tributary, what tributes have you gathered?”

     Swimming to a hole in the riverbank, Elerya withdrew a basket with a few objects; One of the smoked fish from earlier, a peach ring with a bite that she had added after remembering the goddess needed tribute, and other objects she had taken over the week.

     It’s not so bad. Elerya thought to herself, as Fossa looked within - and frowned.

     “Fifteen pieces of tribute? Fifteen, despite a hundred and fourteen Neopians walking by?”

     Elerya almost asked how she knew that - before stopping. This wasn’t going well. Lady Fossa sighed.

     “Despite the relative ease - and loveliness - of this part of Shenkuu, you don’t seem to enjoy this assignment.” She glanced towards the reeds where Elerya had hidden her phone, as if she knew it lay there.“I could send you to The Depths. Would you prefer that?”

     The Depths! There was no way she could get reception down there. Also, it was dark. And cold. “No, My Lady.” Her eyes were pinned to the water, not looking at her, hoping this show of humility would work in her favour.

     It did. “You’ve a week to accept ninety percent of tributes that cross, or you will be… reassigned.”

     Elerya released a breath. “Thank you, thank you thank you - Uh, how much – what percent of items did I get this week, My Lady?”

     Fossa looked down at the running water they floated in. “Well?” After a moment. “My accountants say seventeen.”

      Oooh, that was…not a lot. “I won’t let you down - Starting tomorrow?”

     The goddess looked at her levelly.

     “Ohkay, starting today…right now! Totally. Here and now.” The goddess's eyes slid back over to that patch of weeds. Uh-oh.

     “I think I'd best take your … device-thing.” Lady Fossa pointed to the weeds.

     “My phone?!” Elerya gasped. “Can't we give it a week? I promise if I don't do well, you can take it.” The all-peophin girl group was debuting this week! The snippets sounded great!

     “Phone now or Depths now.”

     Grumbling inwardly, Elerya swam over and withdrew her phone, specially designed to withstand the scales of maraquan pets - and all the water - and handed it to Fossa, who smiled.

      “I believe in you, Elerya.” And with hardly a splash, she sank beneath the surface and disappeared, taking Elerya's lifeline with her.

     —---

     The first day, she had overslept. Elerya relied on Good Morning Neopia to wake her up, but instead it was a gaggle of tourists.

     “Got your tribute ready?” One had said - far too loudly for the hour.

     “I do, I do! Do we just toss it in…?”

     With a groan, Elerya surfaced, brushing her tangled hair out of her face. “Hey - I’ll take them.”

     The mixed group stared at her. “You’re the river guardian?”

     “Sure am.” She gestured with her claws. “Just toss ‘em here.”

     They had a mishmash of items; special Neopoints from Terror Mountain and Northern Haunted Woods, Stamps, a plastic frond she braided into her hair. That’s not Fossa-worthy.

     —

     Day three, she woke up early. Guess going to sleep before one in the morning has its perks. She thought, as she saw the glowing sun rise into the sky, light shining between the tall mountains, streaking sunlight across the valley and river. Several pets took photos, flapping the papers that came out of them and admiring the image. One even gave her a photo of it as tribute!

     Elerya had tried asking the water how much she had collected, but that must have been Fancy Goddess Magic, as the river simply tossed a gulper at her in response.

     —

     Let’s give ‘em some pizazz, Elerya thought on day five, and between accepting offerings, she planned how to present herself to visitors. She had a smattering of magic, and could raise herself up on the currents a little.

     Ideally, there would be a lightshow and music to accompany her, but the visitors seemed impressed enough when, instead of crowding around to bend over the side of the bridge, a lovely Maraquan Krawk with silvery hair floated above!

     “I am the guardian of this river, collecting tribute for the goddesses of water!...Sooooo..Where you going today?”

     The pair, a couple of elderly Neopets, laughed at her informalness. “Ooh, what a charmer!” The female Lenny said, adjusting her walking sticks. “It's the Spring Bamboo Festival!”

     “Oh-em-geeeeee!” Elerya clapped her claws together. Without her phone calendar, she had forgotten. “That’s so fun, try the sugar stalks - bamboo hollowed out with sugar plum paste, soooo good!”

     “That does sound good,” said the Meerca, licking his lips. “Thanks for the tip!” They took off down the path, and Elerya sank back into the water. That little interaction set off a glow within her.

     She considered swimming up the tributaries to enjoy the festival - The goddesses didn’t mind their guardians having fun - but a growing responsible side of Elerya thought it best to stay in her river and hope to see fireworks. At least until Fossa saw she took her job seriously.

      Besides, she could ask other travellers about the festival. Maybe there were some up and coming musical acts performing.

      So it was a totally sweet surprise when the couple returned with several sugar stalks wrapped in wax paper for her and sat on the edge of the bridge, keeping her company and watching the fireworks that night.

     —

     Elerya wasn’t sure of the day, but she was excited to see more visitors. Sometimes, she would catch a few notes of a song someone was humming and ask about it, leading to a nice conversation.

     She heard them before they appeared; A chattering group, who soon came into view. A tall Lutari led two lines of young Neopets; Students.

      Elerya hid until they all stood atop her bridge, and approached with a smile. “Hi, guys!”

     There were some “Hullo”s and “Hi”s, along with the silence of curious looks.

     “This is - er, Miss -”

     “Elerya.”

     “Miss Elerya is a river guardian,” The teacher turned to her students. “Now, we offer our tributes and - and ask if we may cross - Kadden, what’s wrong? ” She turned to a crying Buzz.

      “I - I can’t find my tribute!”

     As the teacher moved to comfort them, the other children looked at Elerya in the river. She looked back. “Um…”

     The silence drew out. How do you amuse children?

     A gelert spoke up. “Wanna hear a song?” and without prompting, she began to sing. “‘We’ve got looks, we’re on trend, but most importantly -’”

     “We’ve got friends!” Elerya covered her mouth. It wasn’t her favourite song from NEO1, but she couldn’t help herself. But it was worth it as the gelert beamed and kept singing.

     “Our friends make us great,

      Working together,

      The fun and the music,

      It just doesn’t end.”

     Some other students joined in, and those unfamiliar with the words danced about, then they started again and, one by one, the students dropped their tributes into Eleyra’s claws, pebbles and pencils and faerie erasers, all received with gratitude.

     “You’ll be a group in no time! Remember me when you’re famous!”

     Little Kadden had been soothed, and the teacher called her students into two lines. “Thank you for entertaining them.” She said to Eleyra, who waved it away.

     “It was super fun.” And she meant it.

     She grinned as the children called out “Bye, Miss Eleyra!” and made their way into the mountains.

     As she smiled at their retreating forms, she felt the cold wind tickle the back of her neck. “Well. Look at you.”

     It was the seventh day, and Lady Fossa had returned.

     The Kougra looked after the retreating group, who were still singing. “Aren’t they dear.”

     “The little Buzz lost his tribute…” and Fossa shook her head, smiling.

     “Kids are trying their best in a big, big world, it’s all right. But let’s talk about you. Accepting one hundred and eighty-one tributes out of two hundred - which is ninety percent!” She smiled. “Very, very well done! This belongs to you…” Sticking her paw into the water, she withdrew Elerya’s pink phone.

     Elerya took her phone and smiled down at it…and blinked rapidly at the amount of notifications she had.

      “Thanks my Lady.” Sure she had missed the debut of the new groups, but the music wasn’t going anywhere, and it had been enjoyable - to mind her bridge and talk to visitors.

     “I will say…” Lady Fossa cast a coy look around. “Those A*CAR*A girls can really sing. Maybe I’ll whisper in some ears, see if they can tour Shenkuu, by a river.” and with a wink, she descended back into the running river.

     Elerya stared after her in disbelief, then laughed as she flipped to stream the all-Peophin girl group song. It sounded upbeat and poppy, a good swimming tune - but she turned it off, as she heard more footsteps approach.

     Time to go to work.

     The End.