Pebble

298 AC, Ibben…

The doors of the Ibbenese temple were full of engravings like it was telling a story; men with spears, fishing boats, flying whales and many other things.

Gerold was asked to go alone inside so asked Trios, Kobo and others to wait for him here. As soon as he stepped inside, he felt the change in the air. It was like he was inside a still ocean. However, there was no life in this ocean, this was a dead ocean.

Suddenly, Gerold heard two laughter sounds. When he turned his head to look, he saw two children, a boy and a girl. The girl was trying to catch the boy. While Gerold was watching them, the boy crashed onto him and fell to the ground and seeing this, the girl held her belly and laughed at the top of her lungs.

The boy raised himself from the ground and looked at Gerold pouting. "Sino ka? Hindi mo ba alam na ipinagbabawal na pumasok sa templo!?" He waited for Gerold to answer but when he saw Gerold not answering, he spoke again, "You Prophet?"

His words were crooked but Gerold still understood them and nodded his head. The boy's and girl's eyes went wide and they quickly looked at each other. The girl ran to Gerold and held his hand. "Come!" She said.

The boy held his other hand and they dragged Gerold to the inners of the temple. On the way, they introduced themselves simply by saying their names. The boy was named Roba and the girl's name was Hiba. Apparently, they were cousins and orphans and the high priests were their uncle.

The temple was not too big so they soon reached a hall. A man wearing a crown made from whale teeth was sitting upon a throne, similarly made from whale bones. His clothes were grey coloured and he was wearing a necklace with an eyeball attached to its end. And there was a book on his hand.

The boy went to his uncle's side and spoke while pointing Gerold. "Tiyo, sabi niya siya ang propeta."

The man raised his head and looked at Gerold then he turned back to his niblings. "Iwan mo kami." he said. Roba and Hiba nodded their heads and left the hall hand to hand.

The man raised himself from his throne and walked down the stairs. "Welcome, Propeta." He opened his arms wide to welcome him but seeing Gerold not intending to hug him he went near to the long table and pulled a chair and looked at Gerold. "Come sit, we have a lot to talk about."

Gerold sat on the chair quietly as the man went to the head chair to sit. "My name is Rabo. I was the one who sent you the missive. I will not beat around the bush, we need your help." he said.

Gerold was surely expecting this but honestly, he did not expect the man to be this direct. "I'm all ears," he said.

"I'm sure you saw on the way, there are not many merchants coming to the port but the reason for that is not the lack of trade but the lack of goods. We do not deal in slaves as we consider it as sin so our only resort is to use our natural resources and that is fish."

Gerold nodded his head as he, indeed, saw the lack of merchants while he was still in the port.

"Though after the fall of the God-king we had bountiful years but in the last few years, our harvests became nearly non-exist. Every ship we send gets destroyed and none returns." Rabo tilted his head to the walls and the lights that were not burning, Ibbenese whale oils are famous in every corner of the known world but now, we can't even harvest enough for ourselves."

Gerold creased his brows. "What do you expect from us? Send warships to deal with whoever haunts your fishing ships?" he said.

Rabo wryly laughed. "Of course, if those who were destroying our ships and killing our people had been normal men then we would have dealt with them, personally, but..." He sighed and continued, "Our problem lies with our god, not mortal men."

"God?" Gerold was confused. "If you do worship him, why should he harm you?"

Rabo pressed his lips together while reminiscing the past. "You saw the two-child that brought you here, right? A few years ago, their fathers, I mean my brothers went out fishing as the season was right. They were lucky and the fish was bountiful. They returned home with many different fishes but there was one different fish, one fish we never saw before…" Rabo clenched his fist and loosened it. "It was a big one like a meter long. We saved it for ourselves and feasted upon it on that night. However, when cleaning the fish a black pebble fell from its stomach. My eldest brother took it as a trophy."

Gerold was having bad thoughts when he heard the black pebble but still waited for him to continue.

"We did not mind that pebble as we thought it was a normal sea rock. Anyway, we ate the fish and it was the most delicious fish we ate in decades. However, after two days my brothers had a fight with a merchant regarding the prices of fish and in the end, he was stabbed near his heart. From what I heard, the merchant was killed as a punishment but my brother was heavily wounded. Our healers couldn't do anything so he wanted to be with his family. We carried him to the shore and brought his family. As our tradition, we had to lay him rest in the sea so his family also brought his belongings. My brother wanted to be laid to rest with his recent trophy so when we gave the black pebble to him a miracle happened."

Rabo eyes went wide like he saw a miracle. "As soon as he touched the pebble, he began groaning and after a few seconds, the opening near his heart was healed! He stood up like he was not stabbed just a few moments ago. Indeed, I saw miracles before that but this… this miracle came from just a pebble. For us, a miracle from the sea was to stay within the sea so, immediately, I ordered it to be sent back to sea. I was planning to send it with a few priests but my brothers insisted that it was them who brought it so they must be the ones who send it back."

Gerold was sure now this black pebble was the same one R'hllor used for her own agenda. The stone indeed had its own powers but it also had corrupting effects so it was a dangerous thing to use.

"Nevertheless, my brothers sailed to the north of the Shivering Sea to offer it back to the Great Leviathan but they never came back. And that day a deep roar was heard coming from the depths of the Shivering Sea. The Shadow Council, our governing body sent a few ships to investigate it but none returned. After that, none of the ships that went for fishing returned."

Rabo took out a shining pearl from his pocket and put it onto the table. "This is the Pearl of Leviathan, it is said that the closer the god to you, the more it shines. However, this pearl was white as the snow that fell to the mountains before that event but after it, it went pitch-black. Though it still shines every once in a while, I feel the darkness inside it when I hold it. Thus, I believe something happened to the Great Leviathan." Rabo looked at Gerold's eyes intently. "We hear things from Western Essos even from this far and we heard you can make deals with gods so… I was hoping that you could help us."

"Everything has its price… Are you willing to pay for it?" Gerold asked.

Rabo looked at the pearl and creased his brows then raised his head and looked at Gerold again. "We worshipped him for he is the one who ruled this sea but we did not worship him for suffering…"