Nature's Bounty - Tidal

Was Fish honestly surprised that Rune had ended up knowing more than he should have? No, not really.

In truth, now that Fish knew (well, knew as well as you honestly ever could with Rune since the man would rather eat his own shoe before even thinking about stopping something he thought was even a little bit 'fun') a lot of things perhaps made a bit more sense. The shopkeeper always had a prank up his sleeve and sometimes they ended up just a little more unbelievable than should be possible. Magic, maybe? Definitely not Cybele though. Another deity? That...was certainly a thought for later.

For now, Fish had to finish his basket. He'd taken Rune's instructions to heart. He'd collected grapes on the vine from his family's orchards, roses from his sister's garden, fungi from the woods that had only ever known sweet sunlight and clean rain where he often went to swim. It was a beautiful spread, honestly, but Fish couldn't help but feel it wasn't enough. It wasn't him. At least, not yet.

It needed the ocean, too. Land wasn't the only place that plants grew, the sea was rich with life and that was his true home. Fish took a sleek board out, pulling a dingy behind him as he searched the coast for what he needed next. He dove down into the kelp forests, cutting loose elegant fronds and their bulbous pods. A forest he kept just as dutifully as any forester upon the land, any orchardist their saplings. He helped keep the place healthy and lush, kept it clean and safe. He hauled a few stalks up to the surface and lashed them to his board. Paddling further down the coast, giant kelp trailed behind him like a great jellyfish.

It was a small project, what he'd been working on. More of a hobby than anything, but if anyone could appreciate it, Fish thought it would be the goddess of growing things, the goddess of fertility and life. He eased himself close the the towering cliff-edge and directed himself through the small crevice there by feel alone through the dark. When he'd first found the place he'd needed a light to make it through the winding half-tunnel but now he could do it by memory alone, some parts of the soft stone even rubbed smooth from the years of his touch.

He turned and the dark suddenly erupted into light as the world opened up again, spreading out into the hidden lagoon beyond. His own personal garden. From bananas to pears, blueberries to golden berries, each little life was carefully cultivated on the little island in the middle of the warm water, the high stone cliff walls protective and shading both. He'd spent many years in this secret place but it was in the water around the little beach that he was most proud of.

Stones and wood tied together with natural knots of leaves and vine, stretching out across the water in bobbing clumps. Hand grown reefs. It had started with the red algae but then one day he'd found sea stars and corals starting to bloom on his little farms and decided to let them go as they pleased and slowly, over time, they'd taken on true lives of their own and each was an independent little ecosystem now. Floating islands of life, like planets around the star that was the main island, the ocean the great emptiness between.

It was beautiful, it was alive. Fish carefully trimmed off a few sprigs of the red plant and added them to the pile behind him on the board. Perfect.