TheNexusProject/ShunasWell

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Shuna's Well

by Okensha

Brookside: A tiny island of a neighbourhood where the edge of Nexus meets the Yellow River. Residents are wise not to drink the water of the river, as it is polluted with their own waste as well as that of the Nexus District against which their neighbourhood huddles. Shuna’s Well is the local source of potable water.

Shuna's Well was established ninety years ago by Shuna Artelien, the first person to successfully scale the strange pillar of stone rising from the river, lift up the heavy stopper, and see what was inside. Shuna built her house around the well, and the well is accessed from a special fourth storey room, which is kept guarded at all times. Shuna's grandson, Arte Blagados, now owns the house and controls the well. He charges reasonable prices for litres of water, and by tradition, no one is allowed to purchase more than six litres a day.

The well itself is a hollow column of blue-flecked tan stone, delving deep into the riverbed and extending high enough out of the water to avoid being covered if the river floods. It is carved all over the outside with water-themed images. The water from the well is clean and clear, and tastes much better than boiled river water. Bottles or jugs to be filled are run to the mouth of the well and back down again by any one of Arte's six children, who range in age from 14 to 23 years old. Usually it is Arte's wife, Pagaski, who measures out the water while Arte chats with customers.

Arte and Pagaski make enough money from the well to have helped put their eldest son, Dorheev, through school at the Orinas Colors Academy. He will soon be moving to his own place with his new wife, Braids of Ochre. An elaborate engagement party was held for the happy couple a week ago.

Rumours

• The Well is the home of a god of wells whom Arte has a shrine to in a secret room of his house - but someone evidently found it, and stole an important item from the altar during the engagement celebrations. Now Arte is frantic to have it returned, because the god is beginning to grow angry and threatening to cut off access to the water.
• The Well contains a treasure trove of jade, hidden there by Shuna Artelien's Dynast lover, and this is the real reason her descendents are determined to keep the well in the family.

Secret

Pagaski has been poisoning the water that goes to Hopelia Tayaro a little each time she sends for it because she believes the woman to be responsible for the death of Netroliy, Pagaski’s brother, with whom Hopelia was having an affair before he was found floating face down at the Nexus docks.

Comments

I couldn't really think of any quotes to put at the beginning here. Feel free to add some. :) Also, I'm not sure, but I think I might be using the French spelling of litre here. Should it be "liter"? -Okensha

Well, it's also the British spelling (and possibly the Canadian one), so I'm fine with it. Neat entry, BTW. - imperialistic Moxiane
P.S.: When adding & removing links to the link-pages of TheNexusProject it's best to click on the "Minor Edit" checkbox so that these actions don't clog up RecentChanges.

Okay, thanks, I wasn't clear on whether I should have been calling those minor edits or not. Also, I'm Canadian, but I wasn't sure if "litre" was used in English, being as it most often came up in my French immersion math classes. :/ -Okensha