Legs churning under a still pond
In a nondesxcript tea-shop in An-Teng a humanoid with the head of a duck had accepted an invitation to tea and biscuits by the goddess of tea herself, Ohanlei.
"Thank you, Lady Ohanlei, for your words today, and the tea, but I must return to Nexus, much is unsettled there."
"I always welcome visits from the bureau of nature, it is my pleasure to welcome them."
" I'm afraid I'm not here in my official capacity, I'm currently on leave from the bureau due to the incident..."
"Oh, that dreadful thing? Surely they cannot mean to imply you had anything to do with that?"
"I'm afraid they have, already, the appropriate censor has called me for testimony."
"But surely, one must care for one's family!"
"A point I have tried to make unsuccessfully."
"Perhaps I could help..." The deity of tea surmised.
"I would be most grateful... But how could I ever repay you, I am the deity of the smaller waterfowl, what can I do?"
"You'd be surprised by the effect of enough voices, and also the surprising amount of knowledge the small, meek and unthreatening can gather, unobtrusively, I'm sure, but let's not speak about that just now."
Legs churning under a still pond's thoughts were churning... He had heard rumours that the goddess of tea was some sort of wannabe spymaster, and had found them funny. Right until he suspected he was now being asked to be one of her spies. He closed his eyes, remembered a much different meeting, with a much different god.
"General Five-Metal Tang!" "Colonel Legs-under-pond, I have brought your troops more weapons!" "Thank you, but my troops are trained Warstrider pilots, we can't use swords as proficiently..."
"Thank you for seeing me, Love Conquers All." "Of course, I always wish to help the other bureaus. Especially someone who served in two of them." "I've found my time talking to you most valuable, after... the incident." "That was two decades ago, before you earned your current position... Have the dreams come back?" "Yes, and worse. I saw my soldier's killer's face last night." "Who was it?" "It was smooth, featureless, a curved shape of some silvery metal." "And your men were all cut down by this person?" "Yes, in this dream, some bladed weapon eviscerates all of them." "I take it you think these dreams are significant?" "Yes, Councilor, a god of my postion in the Bureau of Nature would normally dream dreams common to ducks, not about something from my prior mandates in a different bureau." "I cannot imagine you in the bureau of humanity's division of war." "I was in the division of weapons, as a warstrider test pilot and trainer. I was put in command of a unit due to their officer being killed en-route to training, I was seconded and led them through a sortie against the Raksha. Then we received the new orders from the General." "This is the first time you mention these new orders..." "What, that makes no sense..." "No, I assure you, you've never mentioned even meeting a general. The august general of the west?" "No, Five-Metal Tang, the god of swords, who'd come to equip my men with swords, and tell us to leave our warstriders." "What? I imagine Five-Metal Tang gave you wondrous swords, but your Royal Warstrider had essence cannons!" "I was the only Royal pilot, though, as a trainer. Although, I was expected to train maybe ten of my hundred men in their use, none of them lived long enough..."
"General Five-Metal Tang!" "Colonel Legs-under-pond, I have brought your troops more weapons!" "Thank you, but my troops are trained Warstrider pilots, we can't use swords as proficiently..."
"Thank you for seeing me, Love Conquers All." "Of course, I always wish to help the other bureaus. Especially someone who served in two of them." "I've found my time talking to you most valuable, after... the incident." "That was two decades ago, before you earned your current position... Have the dreams come back?" "Yes, and worse. I saw my soldier's killer's face last night." "Who was it?" "It was smooth, featureless, a curved shape of some silvery metal." "And your men were all cut down by this person?" "Yes, in this dream, some bladed weapon eviscerates all of them." "I take it you think these dreams are significant?" "Yes, Councilor, a god of my postion in the Bureau of Nature would normally dream dreams common to ducks, not about something from my prior mandates in a different bureau." "I cannot imagine you in the bureau of humanity's division of war." "I was in the division of weapons, as a warstrider test pilot and trainer. I was put in command of a unit due to their officer being killed en-route to training, I was seconded and led them through a sortie against the Raksha. Then we received the new orders from the General." "This is the first time you mention these new orders..." "What, that makes no sense..." "No, I assure you, you've never mentioned even meeting a general. The august general of the west?" "No, Five-Metal Tang, the god of swords, who'd come to equip my men with swords, and tell us to leave our warstriders." "What? I imagine Five-Metal Tang gave you wondrous swords, but your Royal Warstrider had essence cannons!" "I was the only Royal pilot, though, as a trainer. Although, I was expected to train maybe ten of my hundred men in their use, none of them lived long enough..."
Children
Pond, James Pond......
How did I not see that coming? Well done!