River felt a drop.
It was a single drop, fallen from the beak of a passing crow.
That was common enough.
What was unusual was that the drop was human blood.
River disliked human blood, or blood of any kind.
River tasted her share of blood, mortal and otherwise, especially during times of mortal war. Which seemed to be almost always. Sometimes, it came in great quantities.
At those times, she avoided tasting it as best as she could manage. Too much pain, anguish, rage still lingering in that blood.
But it had been days—perhaps weeks or even months, for River did not measure time as mortals did—since she had tasted any mortal blood. And a single drop was unusual. So when this drop fell, she couldn’t help but taste it idly.
It intrigued her.
There was information in this blood, something of import. Something new. Something frightening.
She would convey it to her Mother. Not merely her mother.
Mother of all Rivers, all water on Arthaloka.
Jeel.
She encased the drop in a bubble and put the bubble into the mouth of a fish.
Fish swallowed the bubble, which did not burst inside its mouth because River had made it impossible to open except by Jeel.
The bubble went into Fish’s stomach, where it remained as solid as a swallowed pearl.
River pushed Fish up to her surface as a flock of cranes flew by.
Sure enough, one of them swooped down greedily and snatched up Fish.
River caught hold of Crane’s tail.
Crane gave a cry of alarm, dropping Fish.
Fish plopped back into River.
River spoke to Crane, telling him her errand.
Crane listened, wide-eyed, and did not argue.
Crane gathered Fish in his beak and flew away.
Over fields and forests and hills and valleys.
Until Crane came to another smaller river, a tributary of Mother River.
Crane dropped Fish into Smaller River, passing on River’s message.
Smaller River carried Fish dutifully, passing Fish up through several other tributaries, streams, rivulets, until Fish was conveyed finally to Mother River herself.
Jeel examined Fish, removed the bubble from Fish’s belly. (A simple burp was sufficient to accomplish this.) Jeel burst the bubble and tasted the drop of mortal blood carefully.
Jeel neither liked nor disliked mortal blood. Part of her Krushan law was to absorb the mortal remains of all those who cast them into her waters. To cleanse and recirculate them.
She knew how to read a mortal body and its secrets as well as a saptarishi could read a Krushan scroll.
Jeel read the entirety of the information contained in that drop of mortal blood.
When she was done, she knew what she had to do with the information.
She had to go to her son and warn him.