The water was like crystal, so clear and undisturbed it was almost invisible. It was filtered by rocks above and seeped into the sponge-like rock below. Above the underground lake floated a cave, a pocket of air 400 metres underground, like a smooth stone bubble that would never burst.
Inside that bubble, two tiny figures were caught in an acrimonious conversation.
"I don't care what you do to me Amira. Simone is safe at Sanctuary. And the paidirean is long gone. You can't use it."
Elizabeth was slurring ever so slightly, evidence of the drug still making its way sluggishly through her system. Trained priestesses could metabolise most substances but of course understood their sisters' weaknesses better than their own.
"That's brave Diplomat, brave yet foolhardy. I may not be able to use the paidirean but I can use you. And Simone is the lever. Are you sure she's at Sanctuary? When has she ever done what you have expected?"
Amira circled her deliberately, knowing the drug made its users feel dizzy and nauseous.
"Why do you thwart me Elizabeth? It's time, time for BastBula to rise and lead us again."
"Not the way you want it. The Age of the Dragon is not about blood and poison and culling non-believers. It's about ascension to a new, enlightened way of living."
Amira ignored her. She was fiddling with a vial and beaker of water. She carefully lowered the beaker into the lake below then drew it up. She sprinkled lilac powder from the vial into the beaker then poured that drop by drop through a porous stone. The liquid coated the stone like thin pink wax.
"Perfect. Everything is perfect." She smiled at Elizabeth. "I know you have the power to do this for me. I would have preferred a drop or two of your lovely daughter's blood, so much simpler but you'll do."
"Amira, how could you do this? You've watched Simone grow up, you've guided her along her path to womanhood."
Her eyes narrowed to hard slits. "Precisely. I've looked after your brat while you've ascended the ranks at Sanctuary. No longer. I've carefully groomed her and now she'll work for me, just as soon as you join the waters. Spirit is the right time, BastBula is at the intersection of the worlds. We strike tonight."
Elizabeth slumped to the floor. "You'd have to untie me and even if you did, I can't do what you want me to. I don't even understand it."
"Lies," Amira spat. "Your talent is control of the elements, it's what makes you such an asset as the Diplomat. Wars have been won and lost at your intervention, droughts stopped, tsunamis raised. I know you can link the waters of Gaia, Metta and Rygon so the poison flows like contagion. I've seen you do it."
To Amira's surprise she heard muffled sobs. She marched over to Elizabeth and flipped her over only to see her snorting with laughter.
"You just don't get it," she got out through the manic laughs, "kill me. I don't care. I've made my peace with the Goddess. She's waiting for me. Do it, do it now. I will never help you."
There was a splash that echoed through the underground cavern. The perfect water was marred with waves surging from a single source. Simone's voice carried through the silence: "Get off me Amanita, you're going to drown me. And where the bloody hell are we?"