the Flood

Another couple of weeks, that had been rather uneventful, thankfully, Mai was sheltering indoors today, as a sudden, and apparently out of season, storm was bringing quite a bit of rain to the village today.

While Mai tottered about inside, firstly finding and then patching up a few little leaks that had sprung up about her new home, she then moved on to practising her baking skills, and warming the small house up simultaneously in the process.

A fresh batch of cookies, that was missing a little chocolate touch, was soon prepared, but so far Mai had yet to come across a suitable replacement, as living in a temperate area; coco beans wouldn't be anywhere near, if they even existed here.

A crack of thunder echoed in the sky above, near enough to lightly shudder the entire house, but Mai wasn't concerned, remembering that inside was the safest place during a lightning storm.

Letting the cookies cool off, Mai looked out the kitchen window, watching the steady rain fall out there.

So far her 'vision' of seeing the town ablaze had yet to occur, and with the current weather it seemed quite improbable, but that one short and realistic sight had lingered in her thoughts, but with no clear cause or reason, and the unpredictable way they came to her, it left only questions that no-one could answer.

Still watching the outdoors, a coated figure dashed toward Mai's side door, but it looked like the local farmers eldest daughter, Carla.

Mai went to the entrance to let in the slightly older woman, who she'd recently swapped more than just the passing greeting to.

"Carla, come in."

The shorter lady shuffled her wet coat in the doorway and stepped in.

"Did you see me coming?"

Carla said a little excitedly.

"Yes - through the window."

"Oh yeah..."

Carla knew a little about Mai's ability, perhaps a little more than the rest of the village, after apparently having a distant relative with a similar trait, so she had a few stories to share, and was probably asked to share them with the newest resident.

"It's really coming down now."

Hanging the coat up by the door, they sat down beside the small table, still wearing her wet and muddy boots.

The brown haired woman was the dependable daughter of a big nearby farm, and followed in the families profession and interests, knowing all about produce, the land and weather, but although she was another lady, they had little cross-over in their lives to really chit-chat about.

"Yeah..."

But being a similar age counted for something though, being the only other person in their twenties, as the village was quite short of appropriate male suitors', which Carla had previously informed Mai all about, being quite frustrated about that fact herself.

"So what has you in town?"

Mai asked, as Carla still lived with her parents, over the river and out past the many farm fields in the flat of the valley.

"Just dropping off a few boxes of veggies, for the tavern."

She looked about the plain room before returning her hazel eyes to Mai.

"Just thought I'd check in on you, see how you're doing."

"Same as usual, thanks."

Mai offered a cookie, which was gratefully accepted.

"So have any more... you knows happened?"

Carla crunched through the biscuit.

"Not recently..."

"Well that's a good thing right?"

She helped herself to another.

"But have you tried to do whatever it is that gets them going?"

I have no idea what sparks those 'visions' off...

Mai just shook her head, partaking in one of her own creations.

They sat in mostly silence for a little while, as Carla crunched on a few more little ones.

"Well I better go before I eat all of these - they're just too good you know!"

"Again thanks for dropping by..."

Mai was about to get up too as she took Carla's hand, but her head suddenly swirled.

More flashing sights, some noise and motion slightly overwhelmed her and she fell back onto her seat.

"Mai!"

Carla hovered with alarm, unable to assist at all.

They were a little less convoluted this time, but the situation was fairly clear, with a scene filled with a mass of dark water running throughout the houses, it meant only one thing in this weather.

"You need to get home, and warn the others..."

"Warn them about what?"

Thudding on the wet door quickly brought the head occupant to it.

Brian opened up, filling up the space were the wood had been.

"Oh Miss Mai, how can I -"

"A flood is coming!"

She huffed out interrupting him with her urgent news.

That was all that was needed to bring him out and into full swing, as he burst past her from his house and bolted - straight for the tavern...

Emerging a few moments later, along with half a dozen older villagers, he started barking orders at each as they entered the rain in a hurry.

"Get all the low lying residents up to the slopes!"

Mai had regained enough breath to relay more information his way.

"Carla is already heading back to her folks with the news..."

"Good, very good! Now get some rest, you'll have earned it."

I only ran to your doorstep, it's not like I really need a break... anymore...

However there was really nothing more she could do, as the alerted residents evacuated the lower lying houses, nearer the usually calm river, that had already swelled significantly. The quickened water already reached the short banks either side, so with a little more, it would have been obvious for all that perhaps some action was needed.

There were not all that many that needed to vacate their places, with the quite small amount of people per properties, everyone soon gathered up by some of the larger homes on higher ground, before settling down and watching nature do its thing.

Surely enough, the water rose, than quite rapidly to move up, before swelling enough to flood a few houses with the muddy rapids.

The whole rise and fall took only a few hours, but that was the possible danger living in a long valley and with many high mountains sitting further up the heights, the water could funnel down quickly. But as the rain eased, the rushing water slowly died down, with its intensity, before gradually slipping back to near the regular river size.

While much of the town had fared well, the other side of the also sturdy stone bridge, remained waterlogged for a lot longer, as the flatter area was covered by much of the crop lands. But with everyone out of the way, the sudden surge had claimed nobody's life, which was greatly appreciated.

Even Mai's little house had stayed dry, as the waters only got near the front stone foundations, but failed to rise above that.

"The seer has saved many today."

Was the main story that quickly passed through many of the older resident's lips throughout the night, and well beyond.

I don't think I'm going to live this tale out, am I...

Mai was pretty much left alone in the aftermath, as her warning had probably done as they said.

It did slightly bother her that she was the centre of attention, again talked about and not too, but when the chance to set out to see if Carla and the rest of her family had escaped harm, she jumped onboard the small boat that was paddled over to see.

"Mai - because of you we had time to save so much!"

Carla swung her off her feet, giving a strong thankful hug the moment they arrived.

"How can we ever repay you?"

"Oh no, think nothing of it, please..."

"We can't do that!"

Mai had never been one to soak up any glory before, and wasn't about to now.

"Please do."

The farmer family looked to one another and whispered, while she watched on.

"How about we give you whatever you ask for?"

"That would be great, thanks."

Mai quickly accepted their offer, before more could be added to the already quite generous deal.

"Anyway, come take a look around, since this is your first visit!"

Carla was excited to have someone over, and to lessen Mai's own discomfort about being the town's savoir, she gladly tagged along as the farm girl showed off the large barns, safely housing a variety of livestock, with many different animals, that Mai had only ever seen in books or on the net before.

"Here we have the milking cows."

They wandered past the big animals that seemed quite comfortable to be patted by any random person.

"And here are the plough horses."

The even bigger creatures also didn't seem worried by the stranger at all, while Mai took in their huge and hairy frames cautiously.

While Carla finished her guiding tour of the little homestead, Brain - who'd paddled them over, discussed with the older couple, about this and that, till the young ladies had finished.

"I'll visit again, when everything settles, okay?"

Mai waved goodbye as the burly man powered the little boat back toward the village.

"You're welcome anytime."

The farmers waved back till they were almost out of sight.

"I get that all this praise doesn't sit well with you, so I'll only say this once okay..."

Brian continued to stroke along.

"I'm grateful that you chose our little village to live in."

I didn't really get a proper choice... but as long as these 'visions' can keep these kind people safe...

"Thank-you for having me."

Mai looked out the side, watching the still trickling by waters, which had lost the murkier colours now. While the sun was beginning to set, turning the whole covered fields into a brilliant red and orange reflection of the clearing sky.