The Heart of a Kelpie [GirlxGirl]

Chapter 14: A Tear

Anamíon   
I stare, and stare, and stare at the words before me. 

The day dies out, but my eyes never leave the parchment. 

My fingers slide across the ink, as if the feel of them will help me read in the low light. I rub too hard in places, causing some of the paper to curl off, taking some ink with it. Immediately, I stop, panicked that I lost a letter that could change my entire life.

That is not the case, although the weight that these words carry does not ease with that knowledge. Instead, I continue to fret over the work.

My eyes finally stray outside, to the darkness of late night.

I know I should have gone back to the sea hours ago. While only Loki knows of my predicament, he is still expecting me to be back. He may worry, otherwise.

I cannot bring myself to care about that. I sigh. You would think I had gotten very far in the journal. 

I have only read two words in the span of several hours:

Dear Anamíon, 

My mother wrote her journal, to me.

That should be impossible. The first entry is long before I was born. Yet, there my name stands, written in perfect penmanship.

I take in a shaky breath, forcing my hands to steady. I have never allowed someone to have such a momentous hold over me. I will not start that sort of behavior now.

With another breath, I force myself to the next line. And the next. And the next. And so on...

Dear Anamíon,

This is such a silly thing to do, but I'm told that as a candidate for the position of Ríoga, I must keep some sort of journal for historical purposes.

That seems like a terrible reason to write, so I've decided to put my own thought into it. I don't know if you even exist, but I'm going to address this to you - my future foal. 

It must sound odd to whoever is reading this. Thank the Moon the Keepers are trained to have a lack of judgement!

I suppose I should speak of my impending Trials:

I don't know why the Pearl thinks I'll be a good Ríoga. My sire and dam are the natural leaders, not me. Maybe it knows something I don't. It doesn't matter how I feel, it's my duty to train and prepare myself. Despite the Pearl's power, I know that I'll have to win over the hearts of the Comhairle before I take my spot as leader of the Kelpie species. 

I'll have to show my talents in the arena by battling other candidates.

The weight of that role isn't lost on me. I just try not to think about how many lives will be at stake. 

Thank the Moon I won't be alone. My friend, Koriand'r, has been helping me study and learn. Without her, I would be lost. Hopefully, she will become my guard. I don't think I can trust anyone else with the job.

I should probably end this, now. My dam wants to speak with me.

- Cothrom

I stare at the entry, clenching my jaw and fists to prevent myself from ripping the paper up. Breathing heavily, I skip to another letter, this one just after Cothrom became Ríoga.

Dear journal Anamíon, 

I notice the word journal is crossed out, my name written next to it.