Dragantwood Sacred Pool

The sacred pond lay before them, perhaps fifty feet across, roughly circular, cradled in a natural amphitheatre of moss-covered stone. The water was so clear it seemed almost not to be there at all, revealing a bottom of smooth stones in shades of amber and rose and pearl-white. The spring that fed it sent ripples across the surface, catching sunlight in dancing patterns.

The fish were huge, each one as long as a man's arm and some larger. Their scales gleamed with a metallic sheen that shifted between gold and copper and bronze, catching the light like living treasure as they glided through the water, utterly untroubled by the strangers at the water's edge.