Dunno why I wrote this, it just suddenly occured to me that it would be an interesting idea. I've never seen anything from a pet's PoV and am actually quite surprised by it, so thought I should try.
Hope seeing this except of Tide Knot through Sadie's eyes will be both different, and enjoyable. xxx GC
I am Sadie. That is what they call me, so that must be me. I am a what is called a 'Golden Labrador', I am more generally referred to as simply a 'dog'.
I have many things that I love: food, smells, running, chasing rabbits especially, being stroked... But there is nothing I love more than 'Sapphire', who to me is my dearest friend, as well as my lady and my mistress.
Mistress has taken me for a 'walk'. I do love this activity greatly, but it is never as enjoyable with any other person. However, tonight my mistress seems distracted as she strolls with me towards the beach.
Ah, the beach, another of my joys. I do not like water very much, but I do adore sand, the way I cannot quite run normally, the way I slip a little with every step – it is a test, and one I would normally rise to meet with extreme eagerness. But tonight... well, the sea is so close, the smell of it fills my nostrils with information, and with threat.
The sea hates me.
Lady starts to tug on the rope attached to my neck, but I daren't go closer to the waves – they will eat me. They will swallow me whole without remorse. The sea is evil, and I will not let it harm my lady.
"It's all right Sadie," she says "you're allowed on the beach now, remember?" as she pulls at the rope again, but no, I will not let her go, the sea will devour her tonight. "Sadie, you're being very annoying..." she declares, turning her gaze to the dark abyss of the ocean, tugging again.
No, my lady, I wish to say, do not go, not tonight, not while the water is so murderous! But she does not seem to notice, so, without any conscious thought, my claws dive into the cracks in the stone floor, trying to make her understand.
"All right then Sadie. Wait here a minute."
No! Mistress! I whine, deep in my throat, it is the closest to one of her screams that I can manage. But she ties me to a post of gleaming metal which winks evilly in the light of the moon, who is the heartless mistress of the sea.
"Stay, Sadie!" she commands, even as I try to move towards her, warn her of the wrath of the waves, how they will consume her if she goes near.
But she does not listen, she ignores my warning, and my heart begins to shrivel at the loss of her trust. My lady, please! I bark at her, but she doesn't care, just keeps walking towards the water as if in a trance. Her general direction is to the right of my location, towards a collection of devilish rocks that seem more like teeth, a huge, open maw ready to feed on my sweet lady.
The sea crawls forward, hoping she doesn't spot its intent, but she does, and climbs atop the mouth of deadly boulders. Yet, Moryow, the cruel oceans of the world – yes, I know their name, just as they know that the Earth is Norvys – are too clever, they close in on my lady, defying the rules of the land and reaching up towards her. But my lady is smart, she turns to come back to me, and I know then that she will be safe, my lady is a superb swimmer.
No! One of the children of Moryow approaches her, ready to sink her in his beauty, his enchanting charm. I cannot let him, I bark as loudly as I can, but she still does not hear. Oh my poor lady!
They speak with each other, a grin on her face, and a sly smile of that of the male creature. She shouts at it and it laughs, only for her to snap at it, but with words, not her teeth as I would have. They talk a little longer, and panic grows in me, the thing has ensnared my mistress, and all the barks and yaps and growls I let loose are not reaching her.
Mistress looks up to the gleefully gleaming face of the moon and I let out a volley of cries towards it No! You will not have her, I would die before I let you take my lady! You cannot have Sapphire! But it is a lost cause, and the moon knows it as she turns her gaze to my poor mistress, and the seas obey her command.
My girl is gone. My lady is gone. My mistress is gone. Sapphire is gone. My world is gone. My love is gone. My joy is gone. My everything is gone.
And, therefore, I have nothing.
My life is forfeit.
I failed.
…
I wait for eternity, howling a lament for my lady, my poor, sweet lady who was lost to the waves. The moon smiles, the pits of its eyes are serene, not caring about the loss she has caused me, the loss she has caused the world by taking the life of Sapphire Trewhella.
I cannot stop twitching, I have tried, by my whole being wants the world to scream and wail as I do. All is deathly quiet, calm as the grave, and that is all the world is to me now, a graveyard. My mistress is dead, drowned by the relentless sea, and so is my heart. A figure crawls from the wrathful water, shivering almost as much as I, it has a mass of maroon hair stuck to her face.
No... It cannot be! The eyes are the warm brown, like the 'chocolate' my lady enjoys so much. The arms and legs have the same depth of colour, despite the goose-flesh and paleness attributed to those who are freezing to death. The smile at the sight of me, and the panic at the same... they are all hers.
My lady is alive!
I press myself to her, even as she untangles the rope from the pole with trembling fingers. I must be sure it is true, I must keep her with me, never let her out of my sight again. You're alive, you're alive, you're alive, you're alive, you're alive. Youarealiveyouarealiveyouare aliveyouarealive. The words swirl around my head breathlessly, like if I ever stop it will no longer be true, and she will disappear.
Her mouth moves, but I do not hear her over the roaring of relief in my head. She's alive, she's alive, she's alive, she's alive, she's alive. She continues to shake as, pressed together for comfort as much as warmth, we make out way home.
She finally manages to open the door after an age of fumbling with the metal 'keys', and I sink to the floor, exhausted with the fear of losing her. A being such as I does not normally care to spend time on the what-ifs and the might-haves, but I cannot help it, all of the possibilities of tonight's events swirl, cackling in my head like gulls.
My lady is gone, but I know where, and do not feel the terror of before. She is in the 'shower', it is another form of water, but I do not mind, as it obeys her rules, and always leaves her smelling wonderful. Yet, even knowing the safety of it, I am fearful – What if?
Eventually – after forever of the horrible alternative futures teasing and torturing my stupidity and uselessness when she had needed me – I fall asleep, curled into myself for comfort atop the normally interesting 'rug'.
…
I awake to find my lady on her knees beside me, looking down as I try to wag my tail as I normally would at her presence, but now cannot find the energy. In place of that action, I stare at her, the odd shape of her, yet the beauty of it compared to the rest of her species – the beauty and unearthliness I nearly bore the responsibility of letting die.
She watches me for an endless time, and I drink in her features, still feeling unworthy of her scrutiny, unworthy of her care. I failed you, I wish to whimper, how can you love me after letting that happen to you? Letting that monster take you away?
"Shall we got for a walk, Sadie?" she asks, and I continue to observe her miserably, regretfully.
How can you be so kind as to suggest such a lovely thing to me, I think, when I don't deserve such a gift? But also rebelliously wondering: How can you be so heartless as to suggest an activity you can see I haven't the heart for? Then going right back to: I cannot possibly go, I'll only fail you again.
The other human with my lady's face approaches, also examining me critically. Oh, so you think I'm a failure too, do you?! I want to scream at her. They each speak to one another, but as I slowly fall again into despair, I cannot hear them. Then arrives the male human who also looks similar, but he does not even glance my way, and I don't care about whether they look or not. I don't care about anything anymore. I am a failure.
An endless time of movement on their part, more human speech that I don't understand most of, except 'Saph/Sapphire', 'Sadie', 'Tired', and the phrase 'Good girl'.
Mistress tugs at me, and I begin to notice that only she remains, and that she wants me to come with her. Why? I want to know, Why do you want my company when I could've let you die under the moon's cruel order? But I follow her anyway, out of habit, and the fact my head may come off if she yanks any harder.
…
All I know is weariness, and that I cannot make it end. My whole body weeps exhaustion, and I can do nothing about it. All that exists is the slow plod of my footsteps, and the white noise of my lady's voice against numb ears. Now we are going up, and I cannot bear it, but know I must, I cannot fail mistress again, she will never forgive me if I do. Now there is a blessed treat, I can lie down, and I do, slumping at my Sapphire's feet, she murmurs soothing words, but I cannot hear them, I cannot hear anything but the rush of my blood, and the worryingly slowing beat of my heart. But now I have to walk again, and cannot even feel my feet, or my heart, or hear my lady's words of comfort. All I am is exhaustion, it is all I feel, it is all I know, and I cannot bear it a moment longer.
I fall into darkness.
Mistress screams my name at me, what seems like over and over but I know is only once. I open my eyes, but the dim does not change much, I am blinded, I cannot see. Now I will sleep, there is no point in trying anymore.
I have failed again.
Yet, I feel her at my side, feel the warmth, feel the fear. She is desperately frightened. Even if I no longer deserve her, I cannot shake the need to do as she wishes, so I pull in a breath. I will not leave her until she bids me, I decide. But deep in me I know, she is what has done this to me, she didn't trust me when I warned her of the moon's intention. This is her fault, her fault that I am so lost.
"Hold on. You're going to be all right." I finally hear Sapphire murmur, I don't know what it means, but her voice sickens me, it sounds like the moon and Moryow's breathy whispers, I pull away, needing the comfort of Norvys.
The all mother feeds me, returning a little of my strength and energy, if only enough to take myself to a place of healing. As I look up, I see the fearsome, yet kindly representative of Norvys, this is Earth's queen, she has power and she is using it on me. I am not sure what she is doing, but it is a summoning, her lips form a whistle which tugs at even my soul, saying Get up, and I can help you, but I cannot help you here. The call grows in register until I can barely stand it, until it shakes the very skin of my body with its volume.
The sound fades away, and gives me a final shudder when it stops, but its message has reached me, help is at hand, not just for me, but my lady too. We shall be saved, Earth's queen will save us, make everything all right again. My good ear pricks forward, and I thump my tail in thanks, not strong enough for enthusiasm, but when I open my eyes to see her, I feel alive again, not well, but alive.
After a few more moments, and some words between my lady and the human representative of Earth, I feel some strength in my legs, enough to stand, or try at least. I follow them, but am afraid of my lady, she reeks of the ocean, and I fear it has consumed her, returning only her body to haunt me, kill me with the power of Moryow.
We reach the heart of Earth queen's power, her home and hearth. Sapphire calls to me through a well of water, the sea which has been consuming her I think for some time now, drawing her away from me. "Brave girl, brave girl Sadie." but she does not mean it, her heart is gone now, cold and icy and as uncaring as the sea, yet she is trying, I can hear the effort in her voice, she is pulling herself out of the ocean, piece by piece, just as slowly as I am.
That is what breaks me, the fact that she is trying and it is written in me to love her, I press myself to her leg, trying to use myself to bring her back, have my warmth suck the sea's curse from her. She strokes my back and her hands are warm, not slippery as they were before, they are human, not that of an ocean dweller. My eyes fill up with joy, my Sapphire, oh my Sapphire, Moryow didn't take you! Moryow didn't steal you completely, you are fighting! You are fighting for me, and I love you.
…
It has been an age since we arrived in the Earth queen's humble palace, but it has gone quickly for me, I feel better by the moment, but there is a long way to go. I am not hungry when they try to feed me, but necessity has me drink sweet Earth water which rejuvenates me more still.
I listen sleepily to Earth queen and my lady talking, they speak of my lady's blood and how she is a divided soul, having half belong to the sea, and half to the land. I can forgive my lady for this now, it is not her fault, she was born this way, and has power no-one can understand as she has that of both the land and sea, and can command each if she would just try. It is fascinating from the bits I understand, and I almost envy mistress for having the power to observe two of the appearances of an individual that none other could, the young and the old.
Earth queen abruptly takes a flame into her hands and speaks with Sapphire about taking me away, I know what she speaks of, and pity my lady when she is frightened. Do not fear mistress, I convey through my eyes, no harm will come to either of us, do not be afraid of Norvys, you are Earth's blood too. Then add, I must go with Earth queen to have the strength to return with you. I know it is true, the sea blood in my lady will kill me unless Earth queen gives me the power to bear it.
My mistress is not happy, but is acceptant of the fact I cannot be with her just now. I wearily go with Earth queen, and as soon as I enter the chosen room, I collapse from the weight of Norvys' power, and fall into a pleasant, healing sleep.
…
I am alive, I am awake, I am well. And, more importantly, and more potently, I love my lady!