The Golden Herons

Worldbuilding | Ittoril

"Often is seen a strange boat out on the bay of Leona. After the sun has sunk behind the mountains, and the various folk of the city (mostly half-elves) have settled in for the night, you might walk to the shore and look out across the bay. It is quiet there; there is naught but the fluttering sounds of tiny waves to be heard, the remainders of those larger waves from out in the sea breaking upon the sandbar at the edge of the bay. And there is naught but the scent of salt and water and of chilling night air to be breathed. On nights where the sky is clear, and the wind not too heavy so as to disturb the surface of the water, then through that surface you will be able to see the wobbling reflection of the sky's stars, illuminating the still water with an iridescent glow.

Sometimes, on those aforementioned nights when the bay is quiet, a boat can be seen sitting out atop the bay, rowing lightly and slowly in the calm water. It's not a large boat. It's thin, and only about six metres long, judging by the size of the silhouetted figures seen on it. It seems to be made of some sand-coloured wood, but it's hard to see in the dark. At the front of the boat, the keel curves up high and back, before turning forward again into a crowned beak, and at the back, the keel curves over and down and splits into a tail of wooden feathers, which trail in the water, leaving behind a wake of overlapping ripples. For this, it often gets called 'the Golden Heron' (or, 'the Golden Herons', plural, as it's unclear if it's the same boat each night or a new one).

But these boats don't resemble Leonid craftsmanship. Such pale wood doesn't exist on the Denatite Peninsula or the surrounding rainforests, and nor exist the woodcarving techniques required to construct such a boat. Furthermore, the boats are never seen coming into shore, nor ever seen leaving out to sea, but they are always somehow gone come sunrise. It's a mystery where exactly they are from, and where they go; it's just one of the strange phenomena of the Meridán. But some folk will insist that they are the boats of the last remaining sea-elves — hah! — but no, these folk are fools; elves no longer exist on the Meridán, they truly are all gone."