Dancinglight, Old Eddy

History

The title of Dancinglight was originated not by Water Seekers, but by the tideriders who visited the Eddy. The sages preferred to avoid the company of outsiders; therefore, on the rare occasions that a ship happened upon the Eddy, one of the Seekers was sent out to intercept and communicate with the visitors, keeping them at a comfortable distance. At the same time, a team of Seekers raised a dome of water around the ship, adjusting the thickness as necessary to cancel out the interfering aura noise. That the effect happened to be visually spectacular was unintentional. Tideriders returning from an audience with the Seekers told of a "dome of dancing light", with the result that the Seekers' reputation spread rapidly and the visits only increased. The term "Dancinglight" was eventually appended upon the Seekers' representative.

Cultural Significance

Confusion arose about the Dancinglight's position within the Eddy. Because of the awe-inspiring dome and the fact that the Dancinglight appeared to walk on water, tideriders came away with the impression of the Dancinglight as a mystic, a magician, and the leader of the Seekers. In fact the opposite was true; since most waterwise who sought the Eddy disliked being around people, the representative was inevitably someone with less affinity for the ocean and more for people. Such individuals rarely stayed long at the Eddy in any case, and were looked down on by the sages as flighty and useful only as doorkeepers.

Type

Informal