Something else
The general tour didn’t seem to be the most appealing option for you, though his mention of some congregation building seemed to catch your interest way more than simply walking around and seeing buildings. You wanted to MEET people, and where better to go than a place where others congregate. It seems as if it was easier to bring the adventure to you this time, instead of going out to beseech something you had no previous clue about.
Promptly, you decided to let your new friend know that you were actually more interested in going to whatever building he mentioned to you earlier. It didn’t take long for the two of you to come up on the enormous building, which was apparently meant to hold just about all of the residents of the town to congregate in.
The colorfully painted brick building was adorned with the symbol of a sacred looking fish with a halo behind it. The marking was surrounded with glowing lines which symbolized a type of halo around it; the patterning on the building was almost hypnotizing to you as you slowly watched the building grow in your vision.
Your new friend just so happened to take you to the building at just the right time for you to witness what was going on. No wonder it was one of the suggestions. The people seemed almost elated to reach up from enormous pits of fish before collectively hoisting full baskets of their gatherings up through the ceiling in an almost planned manner. The building rang with the deep droning sounds of song as they hummed low frequency, underwater sounding hymns. From outside of the building you could easily see a crane transporting the fish baskets onto somewhere unknown, though the packaging the water-filled tanks seemed a bit familiar to you.
“Is this where… Fish come from?” you asked inquisitively.
“Yes! Every day we take the fish we capture and send them away to a better place. One where they won’t be trapped in this disgusting river, therefore giving them better lives throughout the rivers of other kingdoms.” something about this seemed off. You wondered how such a large scale and elaborate congregation could have been organized, but something in you could tell that this tradition had been carried on for generations.
Something still didn’t seem right with you, as if you were watching a culture built upon lies and treachery. You knew for all your life, regardless of coming from a kingdom full of herbivores and scavengers, that maybe some of this wasn’t as truthful as it seemed. You knew that in the rest of the world, fish was seen as a delicacy, maybe that’s what they meant by ‘taking good care’ of the fish. Maybe not? You’re not too sure, but this new form of culture seemed so foreign to you, and you didn’t know whether or not you felt comfortable about it.
You take a moment to think.
Written by Driftingdragon on 05 September 2020