Bing Gananda 3

Gala Gania was waiting as Bing and Pandurina entered the Holt.
"You've been to the sea again, haven't you."
Bing said nothing as she dismounted. Panduria moved stealthily back into the jungle to sleep. Gala spoke again.
"You know it's not safe."
"The sea is so great, and the world is so small," Bing Gananda answered.
She had been all around the world. Bing had ridden Pandurina from the Morning Shore, all the way to the Evening's End of the world. They had even climbed though the clouds, to the top of the Smoking Mountain. There they had looked down into the center of the earth, and the fire below.
There were stories. Stories of the distant past, now mostly forgotten. Once the world had been a great place, where one might ride for days, and even years, and never come to the end.
In those times the Lithorians filled the endless forests. One could ride for days between the Holten. Bing Gananda had never understood what had changed. No one did. But the world had lessened and lessened, and the sea had surrounded it. Now a swift Shadocatch, like Pandurina, could easily cross it in a day.
The sea had no end it was said. Bing had ridden to the highest pinnacle of the Smoking Mountain. There, she had watched the sun and the moon rising and sinking into the sea. And from those heights, she had seen the whole world, with the sea surrounding it. It was not such a great place now, if it had ever been so.
But the sea went on forever.

Gala Gania's voice brought her back. from her revhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.giferies.
"The sea will swallow us all."
When Bing didn't respond, she added,
"It's already eaten the world. This is all that's left!"
"You worry too much," Bing returned, and slipped into her den to sleep.

The sea had no end, it was said. Perhaps it was true. Bing Gananda thought as she lay on her bed. But who could tell? And what of this thing she had seen on the sea. Where had it come from? And what was it. She wondered if she should tell the High Ones. She knew she should. But it would wait until evening.
She snuggled down into her bed of Shadocatch fur and moss. Bing curled into a ball and slept.



*Bing Gananda may also be found in the sidebar, at the right.