Beware of the Water Lilies ~ trixya

The Tales They Tell

Ten years.
Ten years of nothing.

The lake had vanished without a trace, her darling father's true grave nowhere to be found. The people of the town told her to forget about it. Only fools chased nixies, they said.

She had heard the tales since birth.
Tales of men who disappeared in the forest. Stories of women who saw their lovers get dragged into lakes late at night.

Water lilies was the sign, the stories claimed. Wherever there was a nixie, there'd be yellow water lilies.
Every man, woman and child in their village knew to stay away from any water where they grew, and yet when Katya had seen the lake, she hadn't been able to resist.

People said she should let the past be the past, try to move forward, but Katya couldn't let it go. Her dreams were haunted by Trixie's song, the nixie's voice still calling out to her. In her dreams a poem seemed to repeat itself over and over whenever she dreamed of that night, and yet Katya was sure she'd never heard it said to her, nor read it in any book.

My night was long
I could not sleep
I pulled him down into the deep
I cried soft tears, then sang again
So chosen souls could meet their end

Those words played in her mind over and over in Trixie's voice, their meaning never explained.

"Katya!" Her friend Ron called.

Ron was the baker's son and had always seemed more settled in his role in the small town than Katya was. He was happy knowing he'd some day take over the bakery, and didn't feel a need to look for other adventures. Katya however had never quite fit her role, the quiet life of the small village did very little for her, and far less did the prospect of marriage.

Katya came from no riches. Her father had been a lumberer and her mother was a seamstress, so she knew that marriage was the only safe way to make sure she had a future.
But no man ever peaked her interest, in truth, no man could.
She didn't want a man, she wanted a woman. Of course, that wasn't something she could ever say. Ron was the only soul she had entrusted with that information, and that was only because he himself had guessed it.

"Ron, good day." Katya greeted as she walked up to him.

"Good indeed, should be clear skies all day. What are you up to today? Got another proposal to deny?" Ron teased.

"Don't tease! It's not like I do it out of spite!" The girl replied, hitting his shoulder lightly.

Katya knew she was considered pretty, she felt it too. She had bright blue eyes, deep pink lips, and blonde wavy hair which used to be long, but was now cut short for convenience. She was in good shape, her physique quite muscular now after years of running around in the woods, but her soft, feminine lines were somehow still prominent. She liked how she looked, what she didn't like was the number of men who also liked it. Katya often felt like a prize to be won amongst the men in town, so many of them betting with their friends on whether or not she'd accept their proposal, and she hated the constant questions it brought on in regards to her marriage status.

"Alright! No need for violence." The boy said.

"Oh please, you haven't felt pain from anything except the oven."

"Well, I'll soon feel the pain of your mother's hand should you head into those woods again." Ron replied. "Honestly, when are you going to let the whole thing go, Katya?"

"Listen, I know it seems foolish, but I know she's out there somewhere and I feel like I need to find her." Katya told him. "It's like she's still calling for me."

"All the more reason for you to stay away. It's strange though, I've never heard of grown women getting called by nixies."

"I know, it's usually only grown men." She replied.

"Well, that and very young girls." Ron said.

"Wait, what? Young girls? Where did you hear that?"

"My grandma told me once. She said a child going missing in the woods was the first sign of a nixie coming. They were always girls, she told me, younger than you were back then, the kids who went missing were babies still. According to her, one child always disappears first, and then the nixie lake appears." The boy explained.

"I never knew that... I thought it was only the men." Katya said.

"Well, either way, no good can come from looking for such a creature. You best stay away, Katya. Now, I must be off, my father will be waiting."

"Alright, see you later then." Katya replied.

"See you later." Ron said before walking off towards the bakery.

Katya considered for a moment if she should listen to Ron, perhaps seek a new adventure or see if the library had any new books, but then that poem filled her mind again. On and on it repeated as she started to walk towards the forest edge without even realizing it.

And then she heard it.
The voice.
The song.
Trixie.