User:Eachna

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(It’s pronounced ack-na or eack-na, depending on your preference)

The Kelpie

A race dominated by males, Eachna is one of few females of her kind born into Rynvale’s ocean. Her demeanour, however, is classically that of a kelpie. Dark and wild but dangerously mesmerising is how Eachna is best described in human form. To the contrary, in horse form she is graceful and noble, but still utterly untameable.

Without rhyme or reason, Eachna travels, enchanting those she comes across with her natural bardic gifts. It’s not just people who fall for her charms, even the sea itself can be temporarily tamed by her voice. Eachna has little respect for anyone, save for the kraken, guardians of the ocean. To them, she pays some, admittedly grudging, dues.

But be warned, cross her, or the ocean, and be prepared to face the kelpie’s wrath.

A History

Once she was young.

The kelpies choose roam the oceans alone; even children don’t stay with their families for long. Craving the companionship denied to her by blood, the young kelpie made her way to the Rynvale shore where she watched a high-elf maiden, adorned in beautiful clothes and jewels walk the beaches for days before she approached. As it would happen, the elf was lonely too, the daughter of nobility too busy to pay her the attention she craved. Each fascinated by her companion, the two entered into a friendship.

Said the kelpie to the elf"

"What do they call you, up on the land?"

"And why do you wait here on the sand?”

“My name Eachna” the elf replied,

“Down to the beach is where I come to hide”

They became inseparable, meeting as the sun rose and only leaving each other’s company once darkness had rolled over the sea. There was only one point of contention in their relationship. The elf claimed that her family heirloom, a necklace with a deep emerald encased in the centre, was the most beautiful jewel in the world. The kelpie disagreed, claiming that the treasures below the depths were the most phenomenal beauties she had ever seen. Soon after, the kelpie asked the girl if she would meet with her at the easternmost reaches of the beach that night. She promised to show the girl what the world was like under the ocean and show her the treasures of the seafloor.

“Let me show you the world beneath the waves,

Let me show you the treasures we keep in the caves.

There’s so many things that you’d love to see,

if you’ll come with me, come with me.”

The elf agreed, excited to see the delights that her friend had told her tales of. They met under cover of darkness. The kelpie promised to keep the girl safe and, transforming into a magnificent sable mare and encouraging the girl to climb onto her back so they could traverse the ocean together. As Rynvale disappeared on the horizon, the elf grew nervous, but the kelpie promised to return her to the shore before the sun rose and reminded her of the delights that awaited them. Placated, their journey to the bottom of the sea began.

“Oh, pretty girl, you don’t need a boat,

Ride on my back and I’ll keep you afloat.

On Rynvale isle, they’ll still be asleep,

When we return back from the deep”

Down and down the kelpie swam, keeping her companion safe in a manipulated bubble of air. Once the blackness of the ocean became overpowering and none but Seaborn could see at all, the kelpie allowed the bubble to float away to the surface, leaving girl and kelpie behind. She watched as the elf choked for her final breaths, pleading for salvation and desperately swam for the surface. Eventually she fell heavy, still and silent.

“Sleep, pretty girl,

Alone in the sea.

The world may forget you;

You won’t forget me.”

The kelpie left the body to the depths of the ocean, a morbid offering to Selene, and left, taking the dead girl’s name, and that emerald necklace, for her own.

From that day onwards, she was Eachna.

Asides

• As Eachna is a bard, I try to post her speech in verse as often as I can. It’s harder than it looks and so posts sometimes take a little time!
• Eachna’s backstory is adapted from the folklore surrounding kelpies. It is said that they would tempt weary travellers to ride upon their backs by appearing as beautiful horses, before charging into the deepest parts of rivers and drowning them. Creepy bastards.