The Lady and the Lake

This is a tale made-up by Ares Payne, the inspiration of which was a lake in northern K'chon.
His knowledge of the lake came from research in the repair and restoration of a relic of the Trickster and notes from the research of Dakarn Pringle..


Many many many years ago, back before my grandfather's grandfather was born. The country of K'chon was constantly at war with itself. The great feudal lords of the time were fighting over land, resources and trade routes. The rivalry between each of the lords was fierce and this fierce hated of their enemies was passed down even to the common folk.
The legend says that two rival villages were mere miles away from each other. One lying at the base of a line of mountains and another lay towards the upper slopes. These villages faught fiercely night and day over the smallest stratch of land and in each village, anybody who could fight was called to do so.
A young girl of the village on the slopes and a young boy from the village at the base of the mountains one day stumbled upon each other. The boy was injured from a recent battle and without help was surely to die. The young boy afraid and lost pleaded with the girl to help him.
The young girl, seeing the boy's weakness, was no longer afraid and began to tend to the young boy's wounds. He sat there and watched as she dressed his wounds and saw her to be beautiful and began to speak to her of his home. The young girl, hearing the kindness and sadness in his voice, felt her heart to go out to him. Acting against her better judgement she lifted him and took him to a cave she knew of near by to rest.
The young girl visited him every day after that, bringing food and water to help him recover and as he gathered his strength to heal he told her more and more of himself. Day by day they learnt more of each other and learned of the futility of their villages' animosity and also, day by day they fell more in love. That was until the third week after finding the boy, the girl went to the cave to find him gone and a trail of blood leading outwards and up the slopes.
She followed the trail trying to find her lost love and discovered him lay against a rock next to a vast lake. The boy was cut from stomach to ear and was bleeding heavily. As she drew close he called out to her and she rushed forth. While attempting to clean and dress this wound the boy explained. Two men from her village had found him in the cave and attacked, barely strong enough to run he chose to stand and fight. He had managed to defeat the two men as he ran to the lake, but had received the wound for his troubles.
The girl wept as the the boy's voice got fainter and his speech more confused. She knew he was dying but had not the means nor the skill to help him. She had heard all his tales and knew him to be a good person, she had learned her villages reason for fighting his was exactly the same reason they gave for fighting hers. She knew he did not deserve to die but had not the power to prevent it. So she did the only thing she could think of. She held his hands and prayed for an answer.
So deep was the girl's sadness and so desperate the prayer that Lady Life deigned to answer, she spoke to the girl and told her that she could save the one she loved. But as with all such acts, there had to be a price. The girl herself had to give her own life to return the boy to his. The girl, knowing it was her only chance, stood up and walked into the lake, thanking the Lady for her help, and as the girl walked deeper into the lake, so the more the boy's wound healed. By the time the girl was fully submerged the boy was returned to complete health by the lady life, but sadly the girl was gone.
When he awoke, the boy cried out in anguish as he realised what had happened, to save his life, his love had sacrificed hers. He vowed from then on to never raise a sword to another man so long as he should live.
So moved was the Lady Life by the love between these two former enemies and so strong was his devotion to the vow, that she blessed the water of the lake with her own power. She vowed that all those true of heart to drink from the lake, no matter how grievous their injuries, no matter how close to death they should be. Would be restored to the peak of health, in memory of the young girl who made such a great sacrifice.