Ebbing away
*5 times she traveled alone and 1 time she had someone with her*
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I.
She doesn't know these waters – they are dark and mysterious and she doesn't know (nor want to know) what lies beyond the little circle of light coming from her scepter. All she knows is a vague direction and the fact that she has to go deeper and deeper, far deeper than any of her people has even gone – in a hundred years.
Her village is situated in the quite shallow depths and through her people's might and wisdom, the sun still reaches the buildings, warms the currents and enables them to see each other and marvel at the ocean's beauty.
But this is different. She can't see anything – and frankly, she doesn't need any light. Because what could she probably see? Her loved ones are so far away and if her mind went crazy enough soon, she could picture them in front of her, waiting for her in the depths. The only problem is that they aren't. She has always counted on them for help and support – the Marai have always been few so everyone looks out for everyone.
But now she is alone.
And that scares her more than the unseen terrors around her.
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II.
Life on land is a weird thing and Nami knows she has much to adjust to. The only thing she doesn't understand is why the landwalker who was supposed to give her a moonstone in exchange for the abyssal pearl, didn't show up. After all, don't they need the pearl for some weird land ritual too? Otherwise, why will they go through the nuisance of doing this every hundred years?
Such questions plague her mind every day, every possible waking moment when there's nothing normal to think about. In that respect, she is kind of glad she found the League of Legends because not only does she have a lot of opportunities to search for that whale breath of a moonstone bearer, but the matches also allow her to relax and get her mind off things, even if they involve a lot of killing and ability-using.
However, she's come to realize one thing about this League. In it, even if the team consists of 5 beings, it does not mean they are bound together by loyalty or anything. They are together until one of these nexuses explodes and the invisible announcer declares victory or defeat. It's a sad existence.
This is not her village where everyone works for everyone and where everybody supports everybody.
And even now, as she helps her carry in her usual place in the bot lane, even if she protects and supports with all her heart, there is no one to do that for her. No one is touched by her story.
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III.
The Avatar of the Moon had, quite angrily at that, told her that she would not find anything at the place she wanted to visit.
"There's nothing there to see anymore. Only ruins of past greatness."
Apparently this woman has a penchant for talking grandiosely, not realizing that she might be a little funny in her manner of speaking, but around her Nami feels an aura of sadness and melancholy – over a time and people the woman can't know. At least the Marai are still there, even if they now seem like a distant dream, so that she can draw strength from them. Diana, however, has nothing but a few age-old relics, encrypted with messages she cannot decipher. And what is worse, she doesn't allow anything else close enough to comfort her.
A bit of sympathy ebbs through the sea dweller, but the matches have taken their toll: that little bit flows away as quick as the breathing of a small body of water. She has a quest to fulfill and has to check even the smallest hint.
So she sets out for the Great Barrier. The directions she's received are not as helpful as one would like, but she manages (she's made her way through the terror of the depths, she can handle anything). And on her way, she ponders.
This Lunari clan does seem to be a very plausible idea – a cult centered around the Moon would make sense to be in possession of a mighty moonstone – but sadly, the malice of these land dwellers knows no bounds.
Who would be so mad as to slaughter whole families, kin, just to prove a certain belief is the right one and none other faith can exist?
The massacre had been bloody, Diana told her before, and from the pain on her face one could think she had experienced it firsthand (or maybe she feels their pain, somewhere in her bones, deep down in the centre of her very being, where the memory of those before her lies). None have been spared and all monuments to a lunar culture have been destroyed. However, Nami reasons, the moonstone shouldn't be that big, it can't be destroyed (can it?). Stones should last longer, even if she knows no stone lasts against the caress of the sea.
In the end she reaches the place, repeats the ritual up to a notch, just as the Avatar of the Moon has explained it to her, and enters the Lunari temple.
Everything is at it is – Diana hasn't bothered to do anything to it and instead has left the remains as a monument to the madness of a believer. Pieces of pale metal, which has once been part of beautiful architecture, now shattered waste, alternate with equally pale bones some of which scare with their small size.
Nami watches all that and suddenly realizes she is quite happy she's floating in the air – she wouldn't like to know what she'd step on in this place if she had legs.
An image of an ivory-coloured eerie society, suddenly overwhelmed by red, plagues her mind, but Nami doesn't let that deter her from her purpose. She gets down to work.
And even if she's surrounded by the ghosts of the slaughtered, she can't feel them close. They have their own pain and she has hers. They won't understand her, just as she won't understand them. Maybe there's a reason to Diana's melancholy – maybe she is able to feel their pain and carry it onwards. Maybe.
The Marai finds nothing. The ghosts, too caught up in their sorrow, don't even bother to lead her back.
The land is such a sad place.
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IV...
The Howling Abyss is chillier than the caves which hid the pearl (maybe that's the thing about abysses – they are cold, enormous, lost, and the only guide there is your voice bouncing off walls in a weird dance) and Nami has to practically boil the water around her to keep her body toned and able to fight.
She has been told that the Iceborn used to hold many, many artifacts and items of value, and keeps the small, the minuscule hope that she just might find that little precious stone which is more precious to her than to anyone else in there somewhere. One of their last stands has taken place over a narrow bridge over that abyss – which of course was later turned into another Field. And all artifacts were turned into items in a game. And among them – no sign of a pale stone.
The extent to which the landwalkers have defiled the earth is boundless.
Failure has a bitter taste – ashes, ashes and frost in her throat.
"Sorry, we're fresh out of moonstones," one shopkeeper jokes.
Tears freeze on her face and no one sees them.
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V.
She sings to give rhythm to the fireflies, sings until her throat hurts and her voice breaks and then some more, and plays with the piranha, and curses a landwalker she doesn't even know.
Fireflies dance around her, chase each other, dancing, drawing various shapes in the air, showing the enthusiasm of those bound to die fast, unburdened by no greater purpose than loving. Her desperate song vibrates through them, sending them in new epic adventures nobody is going to know of, but the little bug and its lover and though she's happy she's giving them momentary happiness, she can't shake the feeling of guilt off her fins.
The fireflies are nice – they encourage her song and follow her bubbles and tidal waves. However, their shy greenish colour reminds her of the creatures she has encountered on the search of the pearl. She cannot forget creatures like that.
Having abandoned the ocean, she's but a river spirit now, but the fireflies can't hear the plight that still haunts her mind.
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1.
"C'mon, let's go!"
"Hey, I'm not really sure that's a very good—"
"Trust me, it's gonna be awesome!"
One of the closest friends she'd made during her quest on land, not entirely on her own volition, the Tidal Trickster was standing in front of her, grinning and mustering the closest to what was called "puppy eyes" that he could do, considering the fact that he was a marine creature. Honestly, he managed to pull it off.
Nami sighed.
"Honestly, Fizz, this is a bad idea. Who knows what's lurking in these waters…"
It was funny how easily his name rolled off her mouth.
They were standing on a bare rock a few kilometers away from the Blue Flame Island. Bilgewater was barely visible in the morning fog. But that town of brigands and pirates wasn't their focus. Instead, they stared on at the opposite direction, where, beyond the mist, lay Bandle City, their final destination.
Fizz's consecutive somewhat genius, somewhat crazy idea was to partake a big giant surf journey from Bilgewater to Bandle city. Of course, for that to happen, he needed Nami's help. Not that, as she had found out, he wouldn't have asked her to join him if he hadn't needed her. He'd always think of something cool to try out and he'd always invite her, no matter how many times she had refused beforehand. That kind of always made her insides swell.
However, she wasn't really sure this time. She could hold the wave from the rock they stood on till Bandle City with little to no problem, but the route he had chosen meant that they would pass through the place where his village used to be, and close to her own town. She had talked extensively on that topic with Fizz and it seemed that the same creatures which wiped out his people (or abducted, or made run away) were the ones which terrorized the Marai. So who knows what they might encounter on their way.
Fizz, however, seemed to be taking it quite calmly.
"Hey, we're one of the League's best champions and on toppa that we're even more powerful here! There's nothing to worry about!"
"Yea, but…" she trailed off, not sure whether to continue or not, but as he sat there, doing the little dance thing he always did when he was idling, but nevertheless waiting for her to finish her sentence, she continued on, "I think the route is dangerous—"
"Hehee, you scared?"
"Not really, but we can run into what got your people to disappear."
That didn't seem to kill his enthusiasm even a little bit. Even if he didn't harbour the same feelings of loyalty and duty towards his people like Nami did, he still kind of wanted to learn what happened to them.
When he spoke, however, his voice wasn't as bouncy as usual.
"Hey, I stand by my word – we can take care of everything and defend ourselves against everything!"
"Against something which might have driven off an ancient race from their city?"
"A lazy braindead ancient race, remember?" he skipped up to her, balancing himself on the trident so as to look her in the eyes, "Hey, Nami, everything's gonna be fine! Let's have some fun!"
She evaded his stare.
But really what was she afraid of? She had braved unspeakable horrors in the depths and she had seen his shark swallow many a yordle's corpses?
Fizz's eyes were big and watery and adorable. Irresistible.
"Pleaaaaase~?"
Something snapped in her and barely containing her tiny smile, Nami nodded. The trickster beamed at her
"Fine, let's go," with that she summoned her grandest tidal wave yet and off they went on their journey.
Apparently, living on land had its perks too.