Turq | Inlet - Part Three

The following is a vignette of backstory for my D&D character, Turqoise Stormwave, a water genasi paladin. Enjoy!

Turq tilted his head up slowly, doing his best to remember what Mama had taught him about honoring the sea. His little mind raced as he knelt, on one knee in a dimly lit cavern, surrounded by water and lichen and glowing mushrooms.

A water elemental! Ceri and Zur were going to be so jealous. Even Sapph had only met an elemental once, and she was way older than Turq!

It took a moment for him to come back to the present. He jumped when the water elemental spoke again.

“Little friend, please. Stand, come a bit closer.”

Turq scrambled to his feet and padded a few feet closer, looking up and up as he drew near; this elemental would have dwarfed his father, and Turq was only six! He smiled upward, grinning a pearly grin. A wall of water loomed over him, gently swirling, soft lights mimicking eyes and mouth near its top.

As Turq approached, the form shifted, widening and lowering, bringing the face down to his height. A tendril of water rippled closer slowly and tousled Turq’s hair.

“You’ve grown strong since the last time I saw you, Turquoise Stormwave.”

“There was a time before?!”

“Yes, yes. You were just born. I owed your mother a favor, and she called it in.”

“She…huh?” Turq frowned, confused.

“I’m sure she’ll tell you the story one day, lad. You needn’t worry much about it now. She did a wonderful thing for you.”

“Yeah, my mom is really great. Super the best!” Turq beamed, standing up straighter with a sense of pride. The lights of the elemental’s face brightened as it let out a misty chuckle. A tendril of water emerged again and clasped Turq’s shoulder.

“Even better than you know, my boy.” It paused, eyes seeming to look far away for a moment. Turq waited quietly, still smiling. After a moment, the eyes turned back to him. “But that’s not the reason I invited you here today. I have a special gift for you, something that’s part of the promise I made to your mother.”

“Ooh, a present? I came here to get mushrooms, do you have some of them? Or a saltfish? Or some shallots?”

“Hmm…no, it’s not food, lad. It’s something that’s going to help you for a long time. You’ll need it some day, and it will help you more then if you get to know it now.” Within the core of the elemental, a new light formed, slowly taking the shape of a manowar jellyfish. As the shape coalesced, it came to the front of the elemental’s form and pushed outward, leaving the body. It hardened into a fixed shape as it emerged, with a long handle coming after. It floated in the air in front of Turq; a maul, powerful and beautiful, sized perfectly for his small form.

Before the invitation could be given, he reached out and took hold of the handle, cradling the weapon in both hands. It was heavy, but in a satisfying way. He felt an instant kinship with it, watching the tendrils of the maul’s manowar shaped head continue to dance gently.

“Does this mean I’m gonna be a knight?!” he exclaimed, looking up at the elemental.

The expression on the elemental’s face was hard for Turq to understand.

“That’s one of the many things it means, Turquoise Stormwave. One of many.”