The Curious Life and Death of Don Fernando is a fable by Jack Rusher, published here Friday, January 18, 2008. It is part of Stories.
Long before he was Don Fernando.
Part Three: The First of Many Names
She lifted the water-born boy from the spring’s edge. He was silent and nearly motionless, watching her with calm, dark eyes. She gave him the first of many names: Atzo. Her name was Lilura.
Lilura enlisted the aide of forest spirits to build a dolmen enclosing the spring. She served there as a miracle worker, a witch woman, then a priestess, drinking the waters and using the fountain’s power to heal the sick.
Atzo lived with her, learning the languages and customs of the pilgrims who came to her for help. After fifteen summers he grew tall, strong and restless. The trails of the land drew him away from home, and he wandered for a hundred years before returning.
Naiad, Henri Fantin-Latour, c.1896.
When Atzo came home, Lilura had grown thin and pale. She would take no food, only the sacred water. He watched her grow paler until she was translucent, then nearly invisible, with light passing through her skin, blood and bones, tiny fishes swimming in her veins.
One night she called for him to come into the temple and hold her close. She turned to water in his arms, her flesh flowing down into the fountain, which dried up before morning.