Spirits and the River

Streaking colour on moving water, the spirit of the river and the spirit of early night play in the air over the water together. Night and light and pink and fungal glow dance at the edges of the riverbank casting their own colours through the shifting refraction just above the water.
  River dips into the water, coming up wet and spirals in the air, spraying at Early and watching the water pass through them to dance and rain down into empty space before returning to its eternal path below. Early catches itself in the light of the night, dancing images and mirages over the river, but not on River, so that the spirit can watch fish and flies and small birds grow curious to the light show without being afraid of the company.
  River and Early have played this game many times, always once Debron has left the sky, but not before Morticia makes her way to rest as well. Something with a glow flies between River and Early, a bug of some sort with energy and life, a short middle to a glorious end made flesh. The spirits breathe into the bug, giving it a moment more of splendour, that it may dance and buzz one night more than it should – so that at least someone else may see it and be caught by its beauty.
  A man in a boat makes his way down the river, and River slides behind the boat, giving it an extra push so that the man may get quicker back to his mated tonight, so that they may enjoy the early night together before they need sleep and give his friend Early a touch of praise. The man grabs his hat at the swiftness of the river and the help of the spirit but thinks it only the water, time and tide having taken much of the wonder from the everyday of the people of Levis and left just a little more logic behind.
  Early sees a young woman trying to feed a hollow vine filled with gunk and worms into a circuit, the other connected to the vines that trace her cottage and keeps failing, something twisted along the way. They catch some of those retreating rays of light, casting a glow over the woman’s workspace, and bringing energy to the creatures of the bank of the river, letting the woman complete her task that she might tarry beside the river and enjoy its scent and sounds before night takes her truly.
  The spirits come together again, embracing once more as early night darkens to deep night. That is the difference in the spirits. Early is everywhere, a dozen Earlys felt across the breadth and span of Levis building a collective memory of dozens of adventures each night. While River is of This river, and goes to work during the day, less playful when both suns are high, though sometimes laughing when the light hits just right. But River will only ever see this river, unless River is reckless and breaks the banks, though that might lead to unexpected flooding.
  Night leads Early to sleep, bowing to River but leaving it be. Night prefers the forests, calmly walking through the trees as living shadow, or resting in the crook of a building where the vines shine the brightest. Night is the rustling of reeds at the river’s edge, and the loud and glorious croaks of heavyset frogs looking for their mates.
  Night abandons River, letting River be itself, and enjoying deep rich sky and where Early casts the last light of Day, Night brings forth sound as its toy and tool, a crunch of a leaf trodden on, the sound of a bending branch, the illusion of movement, to chase into the minds of creature and kin that something is out there in the dark which means many things to different folk and not always fear as those from the city and town like to believe.
  Dawn follows night – powerful, inspiring, a million horns blown at once in a celebration and a million more moans of regret. Dawn is a spirit paper thin, lending its power to a hundred smaller and more precise spirits – things that take flesh rather than etherim, a little Dawn in The-Night-Before and Up-too-early. Still Dawn and River meet with joy, a big hug of daytime creatures waking up and coming to make use of the river and thus give their own unique handshakes to River before they set out their day.
  River enjoys Dawn, even if Dawn is too loud and rarely treats River with the care that River needs as a fellow spirit. When Dawn arrives, River must attend or let things descend to chaos, and unlike Day, Dawn’s chaos has no time to be dealt with properly. Dawn’s chaos becomes a problem for the day, even when Day brings a heavy hand and a desire to get things done. There is no play during Day’s watch.
  River is a playful spirit, and the static thoroughness of Day leaves River feeling tired, and hot, and empty oftentimes. Day’s constant demands that River ‘do better’ takes more and more from River as they keep trying to give help and work the problems of those that use the river they are bound to.
  Day is not omni-present, going off to do their thing, but checking back more than River would like as a beam of heat across their surface. It’s always heat, even when the sky is rain, River often feeling full and full of work on those days, but Day checks in, and the chirp of insects is the tutt of Day, always disapproving and needing more from River – always more.
  But soon, soon Early returns, their favourite friend and River feels young again, fresh from the flowing of water from the hills, and ready to drag Early back into their games as the early night teases the river and the world descends into that light pink darkness once more.