Breath of the World

Voah was in enough trouble with the Duke regarding her interactions with the witch of the Grey Mouth. She had to change the subject. A thought came to her that might work.

"Let's go to the beach. I know a place half a mile north of the docks. We can experience the beauty of Cambena there."

Hunter nodded as he understood that Voah wanted to show him an example of Cambena. He replied, “Very well”. Will we need to bring anything?” As he got up adjusted his clothes.

She smiled.

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About an hour later, Voah and Hunter stood looking over the edge of a large open cavern that the ocean had bore inside a low cliff area up the coast creating a nearly landlocked lagoon full of brilliant aquamarine water. Strands of her blonde hair and the hems of the Arbiter’s crimson garments whipped freely in the salty breeze coming in from the Bay of Pearls. Both of them carried wooden staffs and a large pack of extra clothes and other odds and ends from the rectory for which Hunter didn’t know the purpose.

The crystal water of the lagoon was shallow and still but Voah knew that when the moon reached its zenith, the pool would surge with water from the high spring tide.

“Come.”

She bade Hunter follow her as she stepped carefully down the boulders surrounding the lagoon and into the lower area beneath the lip of the hole. Beyond the view from above was another area carved further back under the stone. It was a natural grotto which descended slightly before curving back upward into a dark chamber.

Voah set her pack down on a boulder near the edge of the water.

“Close your eyes. Listen to the mighty breath of Cambena, the breath of life. How can anyone deny that?”

Voah closed her eyes and listened to the waves advance and recede, the sound of which was like a great inhalation and exhalation. The breath of the world itself. Indeed, the sound echoed magnificently in the cavern.

After following Voah on a long hike he set his pack next to hers in case it might get wet if he put it anywhere else. After watching her gestures and listening to her instructions he figured Voah wanted him to meditate with her. So he stood near her and began to copy her actions as he used his senses to try to learn what he could about this place.

As he closed his eyes he could hear the ocean and feet the wind. The smell of salty water misting his face and the hint of sea life in his nose was a normal thing when by the beach. He could hear the flow of the water and wind brushing nearby which was not very magical. Though he could feel the elements he was still confused by what he was supposed to learn here.

She sat down and began to vocalize a slow enchanting choral melody that reverberated inside the grotto chamber like a bell while opening her pack.

Inside was a tinderbox, a stack of tiny cylindrical briquettes, several small leather pouches, thin splint sticks, a flask of an oily yellow liquid, a mortar and pestle, small calipers and some other small tools, and a handful of short tallow candles.

She handed the mortar and pestle to Hunter and gave him some of the pouches and said nothing to see if he got the idea of what she was asking of him.

“When the moon is high, this place will be brimming. Quite the opposite of what we see now. It is a regular practice for Cambena’s worshipers to visit the beaches of the cove during spring tide and swim unclothed in the tidal surf. There is dancing and merriment. This grotto will be the serene counterpart to that excitement. A place of calm prayer and meditation. You’re going to help me turn it into a shrine… should you be willing.”

When Hunter opened the pouches, he found that one of them contained chunks of an amber resin, another with sprigs of some kind of herb, and a third containing red-orange powder and a few dried roots that it came from.

Voah motioned to the wooden mortar. "You can get started grinding some materials for incense. I'll be right back."

Voah left Hunter alone with the supplies for a few minutes while she went to grab some things from the beach. There she gathered several sea shells of varying sizes, along with a collection of sand and driftwood. When she stood up from picking up the perfect pearlescent shell, Voah spotted a fleet of ships approaching the city from the southeast.