Alpine Lake Creator without a conscience

I apologize that this is going much slower than I intended. My job is killing me, but the busy season should be winding down soon, hopefully.

It was music to Tohka’s ears when she heard Wraen say, ‘There are many stories about this,’ and she didn’t even have to ask to hear it. She turned from the lake to focus on the other and sat down, her ears perked forward and her wagging tail brushing the grass behind her. She listened carefully to the story, pleased that it was one she had not already heard.

While Wraen didn’t describe the wolf’s appearance, Tohka pictured him as pure silver and larger than life – a wolf fit to be a prince. She imagined the world of the princess that could perhaps lay beneath the surface of this very lake. Her expression saddened at the point when the wolf wanted to leave the princess to return to his old world, and even more when she described a world that had changed with time. But, she kept her eyes glued to the storyteller.

“That’s really sad,” she said softly after Wraen finished. By this time, her ears were flat against her head and her eyes were moist. Still, she managed a comment, “I have to admit, if a handsome prince came out of this lake, I think I would probably find him hard to resist, but that whole thing about time passing is pretty important, huh?” She paused for a moment to reflect before asking a question of the storyteller. “So did the princess know what was in the clam that she gave him? And if so, why didn’t she tell him? Maybe he wouldn’t have left the underwater kingdom if he had known 100 years had already passed in his world.”

Since Wraen had just told her a story, she felt she ought to return the favor, and besides she liked telling stories as well. “I got one too,” she said, “but in this one, the other world is no paradise, it’s quite dangerous in fact, and it doesn’t get all wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey either. And I’ve heard the story told two different ways. Would you rather hear the good ending or the bad ending?”