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"Ech!"
"It's alright, my child—"
"It feels weird!"
"It's just wiggling, that is what worms do. Hold the hook still."
"What if it bites me?"
"It cannot bite you, Cereza."
"But how do you know?"
"They don't have teeth. Look here, see how you slide it on? Just like that."
Father Balder held the hook up so Cereza could watch. The worm continued to wiggle despite the metal barb piercing it. He placed the primitive fishing rod into her hands, guiding the movements of her arms to hold it ready. It was a strain on his back to lean down so far to match her tiny stature, but it would not hurt as much if not for the hours of root digging he did two days prior.
"Remember to pull back, one finger on the line, and…cast!"
In one motion, Cereza failed to let go of the line on time, and the hook and worm hit the wet sand with a dull thud.
"Oops," Cereza tensed up at the shoulders, but her father's gentle hands and low rumble of a chuckle set her at ease.
"Almost there, let's try it again."
They eased the rod back up, and on the second swing Cereza let go of the line perfectly, and the hook and its new occupant were sent flying. It plopped into the water, nestled between the large rocks they stood upon. The wooden bobber went up and down in rhythm with the gentle waves, the stark red and yellow paint made it easy for Cereza to track.
"I did it!"
"Indeed you did. But now comes for the hard part."
"Catching a fish?" Cereza looked up to him with a toothy grin. She had a gap in the front where the last of her baby teeth had fallen out.
"Waiting to catch a fish," Balder raised a finger.
Less enthused, Cereza turned back to her line, giving it a few seconds before tugging back on the rod. The bobber bounced in tandem, but she felt no bite in return.
"How long does it take?"
"It all depends. It could be a few minutes or a few hours."
"Hours? Father, I don't—"
"You said, you wanted to learn to fish, did you not?"
Cereza sighed, a petulant huff more than anything, and dipped her head down.
"Yes…"
"Well, this is all part of learning it! Fishing is about patience, and sitting with ones self, all while enjoying the wonders of the Creator's nature!"
Cereza missed her Father's display of theatrics as she looked back to the water expectantly, but her bobber only moved when the water did. She felt nothing at the end of her line. She could only sigh again, longer this time.
"Well, if you don't think you want to wait, you could always help me cut up some firewood."
"No, I'm fishing, I'm fishing!" Cereza immediately plopped herself down onto the damp rock, hurting her rump more than she wanted to admit. She held the fishing rod with fierce fervor. "I'll catch a fish, just you see! I'll wait all night if I have too!"
"Alright, Cereza," Balder leaned down and patted the top of her raven black hair, "And remember what I said; if one bites and it pulls to hard, you let go of the rod. I would rather lose dinner than a daughter."
"Okay, Father!"
Balder stepped away and back to the campsite to finish pushing the stones together for their humble bonfire, and tidied up their sleeping sacks before he gathered himself to head to the forest for more wood.
He was looking forward to the rest, and that they did not need to anticipate an early rise. Besides the long and strenuous hike down the mountain pass, the few villages they found along the way were more than ready to ask a Lumen Sage and his eager, albeit inexperienced, daughter for aid. She was still learning her basic Enochian, let alone knowing how to hold a garden hoe well enough to dredge up weeds. Most days would end with splinter-filled hands, and the failing restraint of tears when Balder would pluck them out. Regardless, she would rise the next morn ready to do it all over again, bandages wrapped around her tiny fingers.
Balder knew their path would lead them to the water, and knew this would be a great opportunity to finally teach his daughter how to fish. It was all she talked about since the small fishing hamlet they briefly passed through, after witnessing a man upheave a mighty sturgeon that was the size of Cereza herself, begging her Father relentlessly to try it. On their last stop, a shop keeper gifted Balder some carving tools as payment for his help fixing his roof, and Balder showed Cereza how to make a bobber. He let her choose the colors and she helped him paint them on.
He had hoped to set her up to fish in a small pond, or even a lake. However, their path has led them to the ocean's edge instead. The water chopped at their feet like gators lunging skyward to snare oblivious birds, the taste of salt heavy on their tongues. Balder had spotted a cluster of small fishes circling in a rocky alcove, and hoped this would lead to a faster catch for her.
The Sage was delaying the inevitable for his short trip up the hill in that he would have to leave Cereza unattended for a short while. It normally wasn't a problem; he has left her to her own devices many times and she would rarely return with any sort of serious injuries. A scrapped knee or hair full of twigs was normal for the energetic child. However, he could not shove away the fear this time with her sat so close to the water.
To say Cereza learned how to swim would be generous. She could hold herself up well enough in a doggy paddle in the shallow end of a pond, but couldn't withstand the most minuscule of waves. Despite her aquatic shortcomings, she did not fear the water or its depths, which only made her Father that much more nervous. Fearlessness would not stop her from drowning.
With a long exhale, Balder arose and tucked a small hatchet in his waistband. He walked to Cereza's side to see her still staring at the bobber, her feet kicking as they dangled over the edge.
"Any bites yet?"
She shook her head, but was not discouraged.
"I'm going to the clearing just up the hill to gather wood. Will you be okay here on your own?"
"Yup!"
"Remember no jumping in, and if the fish is too heavy—"
"Let go of the rod!"
Balder leaned down and placed a small kiss on her head, "If you catch something, shout for me, I will hear you."
"Okay!"
With lead feet, Balder trudged up the incline back towards the trees. He kept looking back towards her, but eventually he cleared past the brush and she was lost behind the green foliage. He let out sigh and shook the anxiety from his fingers and trekked onward.
He had noticed dry wood off the path that would make for good kindling. Much of the fallen branches and logs closer to the shore were damp from the sea breeze. The nights had not been terribly cold, but a spring evening paired with the sea's company ran the risk of a brisk slumber. Though Balder had shared his bedroll with Cereza her whole life, she had to learn to sleep in her own from now on. He would not miss the feeling of her cold nose pressed against his ribs, but he was concerned with making sure she stayed warm.
The sun was reaching the end of its descent, and was leaving the land in beautiful ember and amethyst colors of twilight. Balder could feel a faint touch along his spine as he carefully hacked away at a rotted log. There was an ease there, like a gentle hand combing over his back to still his worrying heart. He collected his small findings of wood and placed them in a nearby pile. The soothing warmth did little the stay the roar of his stomach.
They had enough in their packs for dinner, but it was hard to find excitement for rye bread and dried meat for the fourth day in a row. He lived off of less many times before, even going to bed hungry when he had no money or means to procure a meal. He did not worry much about it then, but it was not the same when he had a growing daughter to look after. He would often sacrifice his own meal to ensure she had one, and she was not blind to her Father's acts of kindness.
Balder recalled a time when Cereza gave away her ration's share to a poor blacksmith's son, when winter was cruel to their harvests. She never once complained, even as her stomach groaned to her throughout the night. Balder laughed, and smiled with a stray tear that streaked his cheek as she devoured a raw tomato the next day. His daughter took Her teachings' to heart, and embodied a selflessness he often failed to see even in the wisest of his brothers.
The fishing would not just be for her, but for many other poor blacksmith sons that could not do the same.
Escaping his thoughts, he looked to his pile and determined it would suffice for tonight. He carefully stacked them in his arms, layering them one by one so they could—
"Father!"
The cry was shrill, panicked, and echoed off the trees. Balder's head swung back towards the direction of the ocean.
"Father, come quick!"
Balder dropped the timber without a second thought, and practically glided through the forest with an incredible speed only a Lumen Sage could harness.
"Cereza!" He broke the clearing, but his legs failed him and caused him to collapse to his knees. The beach was engulfed in a shadow; a shadow that was being cast from a gargantuan being.
There was creak of metal, and the taste of salt was overpowered by that of Rosemary. He felt sea water rain a soft mist down his face. Balder's head arched further and further to meet the face of the beast that befell them.
Not a beast, but that of Her most holiest creation; an angel of the Auditio.
Sapientia.
"Father! It stole my fish!"
Balder tore his eyes away from the looming angel to look for his daughter. She was no longer near the rocks where he had left her, but wading waist deep in the water with her arms far above her head, the rod still firmly in her hands. She struggled to turn to look at him, twisting her body to glance back at the shore.
"It won't give it back!"
"C-Cereza!" Balder jumped to his feet and kicked up sand in his desperate sprint to get to her.
"Ah. Father Balder, I thought I had felt your presence," The jaws of the angel moved with a automaton cadence as it spoke the ancient tongue of Enochian. Its head titled down slightly to look upon the two guests. "You have followed the water's path here, and so made the same journey the river must take from the mountain's maw. An admirable pilgrimage, Sage."
"Thank you, Sapientia." Balder could see clearly now that the fishing line trailed upward towards it's face, but was stuck on a random facet along it's nose instead of it's mouth. "My child, let go of the rod—"
"But it ate our dinner!"
"Cereza!"
A deep wave of laughter rolled through the angel's throat and it escaped through its teeth like a diaphone horn.
"What a fierce fisherman you have, Father Balder. Her arms befit the strength only rivaled with that of my Brother's dragons!" He knelt his head down even further until his horns were digging into the soft sand around them. From the sky, it would look as if he was bowing. "Well met, young Cereza."
Suddenly, Cereza pulled the rod close to her body, and pressed herself into her Father's robes. Through the rambling of gibberish she didn't understand, she heard her name. As it's face turned downward in their direction, she froze entirely.
"Fret not, young one, for I bear no fish of your catching. Nor was it my intent to pull you from you perch as I arose from the sea."
Cereza remained as calm as she could, then turned to her father for guidance.
"Forgive us, holy one, for she does not know the ancient tongue by heart just yet. She does not mean any offense to you, I swear it."
"There is no offense as none was given," The Auditio reached up an elongated claw and snipped through the fishing line. It drifted in the wind until it became lost in the waves. "Her courageous spirit makes the Creator proud. Carry on, Father, and I bid thee safe travels on your journey."
Balder bowed, and Cereza copied on instinct.
"Thank you, your holy one," Balder leaned down to Cereza's ear, murmuring something with great haste.
"Thank you!" Cereza shouted with her full chest, even if the pronunciation lacked elegance.
The Auditio reared its head back in a slow motion, its chest bare to the sky as it continued to twist. Anticipating the angel's move, Balder back stepped out of the water, guiding Cereza with his hands on her shoulders. Propelling off its hind legs, Sapientia back flipped and dove towards the deeper waters, leaving a small clash of waves in his wake. The Auditio disappeared into the depths of the ocean, and bellowed with low-droning sound from beneath the surface, like a pod of whales singing their song.
The father and daughter stood at the shore's cusp as the new waves drove up the sand and across their shins. Balder could feel Cereza's heart racing where to held her close. His anxiety had begun to simmer, but hers had not. He knelt down to his daughter's level, turning her around to face him so he could look over her thoroughly.
"Were you hurt?"
She shook her head, unable to meet his gaze. Her hands nervously wrung at the wooden rod.
"What happened, my child?"
"The bobber started drifting further out into the water. I thought I would get more fish if I let it go. Then it started to tug, and I didn't let go," Cereza was as quiet as a mouse, her head turned down to watch the foam collected around her knees. "I was suppose to let go but I didn't…I'm sorry, Father."
Balder cupped his palms to her cheeks, lifting her head up.
"I am just glad you are safe, Cereza."
His words did little to soothe her, as tears threatened at the line of her eyes.
"You should be proud."
"But I didn't catch anything!" Her voice squeaked.
"You were graced by the presence of Sapientia, one of Jubileus' Auditio. My child, some Sages will go their whole lives not ever seeing one of them. Let alone speak to one."
"Was he…angry with me?"
Her father's chuckle at least soothed some of her agitation.
"No, my child, he was not. Come, let's dry ourselves and I will tell you about it."
"What about fishing?" Cereza looked back to the open water.
"There will be a better time and a better place to learn, for now we will leave it be."
"You promise? I get to try again?"
He could hear the excitement return to her voice, and he felt another wave of relief pass over him.
"I promise."
Soaked garments were replaced with fresh ones, and their camp fire was a lit with a soothing warmth; a candle light amidst the silver evening that fell over them. Balder recounted the angel's words to his daughter, and Cereza grinned all the while, with strings of the cured meats stuck between her teeth gaps, and her chin littered with the crumbs of her last slice of bread.
Even as they settled in to sleep, the distant song could be heard echoing across the waves. Balder could have sworn he heard Cereza humming it to herself before slumber took him.