Syrena

let the water take me

The girl starts to grow a little bolder, which Syrena likes. She doesn’t necessarily mind the questions. Not, that she’s necessarily the best on to be answering them, but she will. She’d not into meek or quiet companions. If she’s going to be forced to keep company, she’d rather they be worth her time at least. Syrena was a monster, in life before Helovia, and she can’t really keep company with anyone who shies at the idea of her, now can she? She’s no longer deadly or even all that dangerous, but still, there are moments when the old her slips out. When she can’t help the stories of the sirens that sit on her tongue.

Bitterness has taken hold though, dragged her once high head closer to the ground. It’s made her impatient. She’d love to say it’s made her unkind, but she’s always been unkind. It takes effort to stand in a crowd a make small talk, or not to growl at the mare with her returned pointed look as she makes her own little speech. She doesn’t though. In fact, no flicker of interest or annoyance crosses her face instead, and she just ignores it. Let the Unbound think they are so very different from a herd. What difference does it really make for Syrena? In the end, she has no interest in the girl if the girl has no interest in the Falls. No reason to waste anyone’s time.

Instead of taking the bait, she actually laughs slightly, an odd dry sound with a hint of amusement. “It’s been a while since I stood in the Threshold, but I’m often alone. Seems we have something in common,” she says, with almost a smile at Paradox. Almost. But it’s not personal, Syrena just doesn’t really smile.

The masked mare trails off, unable to answer anything more about the herds. Syrena picks up where the mare left off, not knowing a whole lot of details, but aware of the basics. She’s been in Helovia long enough that she’s no stranger to the way this place operates. “There are four herds, and each has a patron God, though you are not necessarily required to worship said God. The Aurora Basin, in the north, and they pretty much only accept unicorns. The Dragon’s Throat, in the south, which is made almost entirely of Pegasi, so they’d take you,” she says, nodding at the wings. “The World’s Edge, which as the name suggests is situated on a cliff or something like that. And the Hidden Falls, which again, as the name suggests, is full of waterfalls and hidden paths in the mountains. Both of those herds accept any species.”

She pauses for a moment, letting that sink in. Then she picks up again, still more or less where Paradox left off. “A herd is far from a prison. It’s a specific land that you know you can always call home, and a place where you know you will find others who accept you as part of their family. You are excepted to attend meetings, and in the Falls at least, you are expected to have a job. Granted, I still haven’t picked one, and I’ve been there for a while, so they are not super strict. You can sleep on the beach if you want, or the meadow, or you can carve out a place in the Falls that is all your own. You can also come and see what you think of the place, and leave and join a different herd or find the Unbound if you don’t like it. The decision you make today is hardly binding. It’s just a step into life here.” Having spoken far more than she likes to, and far more than the girl probably even needed, she shuts up. The choice was hers, and Syrena really figured she was only here to offer what information in that choice she could. Clearly, she’s a terrible recruiter, but it’s always felt rather like a waste of energy to fight over someone else’s life choices.

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