The Cove

ne day, while diving for fresh water pearls in the lake in the central clearing at Ys, Tintara made an amazing discovery. As she swam near the northern wall of the lake (for this lake is more like a quarry, with no shallow end and steep sides made of rock), she found a glimmer of light protruding from behind a rather large rock. Dropping the clam bag she was carrying, she planted her feet on the wall and proceeded to pry the rock away. As she did so, the glimmer of light grew brighter and brighter, until she could see an underwater passageway behind where the rock had been.

Tintara surfaced, caught her breath, dove back down to collect her clam bag, and surfaced once again. She quickly climbed out of the lake and, still dripping, brought the bag over to the gem smiths. When she returned, she found that the light from the passageway shone faintly upon the surface of the water, for night was falling.

Taking a deep breath, she dove off of a high rock and swam back down to where the passageway was. The water inside grew steadily brighter until it opened up into an underwater cavern.

In the center of the cavern there was a large hill, green with moss, that rose out of the water and into the large air pocket in the cavern. The walls gleamed with veins of rose quartz and clusters of emeralds, which reflected the light.

The strange, greenish light seemed to be coming from a cluster of rocks beyond the hill. Tintara surmised that they were similar to the rocks the Dryads use in place of the light from fire. Not wanting to run the risk that they were all together different and her disturbing them would cut off the light source, she left them alone.

A plethora of plants grew on the sandy bottom of this cove and bent slightly away from the direction of one wall. When she reached down to see why, Tintara felt an underwater vent gently blowing against her hand. The plants thrived in this oxegyn-rich water, and so did the silvery minnows that fed off of the algae.

As she climbed up on top of the dry, mossy hill, she heard a faint trickle that echoed off of the cavern walls and filled the air with a pleasant rushing sound. A small trickle of a waterfall, broken in places by the quartz, continuously brought fresh water into the cavern, and rich sediments along with it.

Greedy though it may sound, Tintara has kept this cove a secret from all but her best friend, Ariana. They agreed that if the other Dryads knew of its presence in their forest, the cove would know no peace and it would lose its pure beauty. To this day, whenever they leave the cavern, they close it back up with the large rock that was first covering it so that the light won't show on the surface.

Because of the great echoing effect of the cavern walls, Tintara had the goldsmiths at Ys make her a small harp, which she brought down to the cavern and hangs on a small hook. She has been playing for years, and is currently teaching Ariana.