The Grieving Sea
Three Sailors float in the shallows, their eyes tracking the seabed as it curves towards the shore of the landmass known as the Lonely Rock. The youngest of the three begins to communicate, tentacles flashing, “It seems to be a sedimentary formation, doesn't it? Look around, we were taught that in these rocks are fossils proving that the ocean spread beyond even here.”
“Yes, we know that now”, the oldest of the three replies, “But that's not the reason we always believed.”
“When the Sailors were young, there was open ocean through here to what is now called the Grieving Sea. I'm not sure what it used to be named, sources differ, but my favourite is 'The Gracious Depths'. It's the name of the spirit that used to live there before she was destroyed.”
“You see, the gods have their places in the sky – each one a planet, orbiting our small moon. But they grew distasteful for one another. In particular, the Inventor and the Widow, who in those times were lovers.”
The middle Sailor pipes up, “We know about this, father, you've told us. The Inventor shunned his lover, and she left. Blah blah blah. 1)”
The father shoots his child a look. “Ah, but I did not tell you what happens afterwards.”
“The Widow left the Inventor and fell deeply in love with the Gracious Depths, so much so that she brought the spirit up to the stars with her. When the Inventor found out, he was furious. He had ignored his lover, but could not bear to see someone else treating her kindly with the respect he never showed. Whilst he had a brilliant mind, he could also be fiercely jealous.”
“So he took the spirit and cast her back down into the ocean, fashioning a cage to contain her. But it was no ordinary cage. It was an arid wasteland of stone, walling her into the Grieving Sea.”
“When the Gracious Depths realised this, she wept and cried, the strength of her grief raising storms crashing against the stone, trying to break it open. It failed. Meanwhile, our ocean under the Eternal Sky grew colder and colder, yearning for the warmth of their sibling, the Gracious Depths. This is why the storms of the Grieving Sea have battered the ocean ever since, trying to break open her prison, crying out for both her siblings and her lover.”