Waters Under Earth

A Ranma 1/2 Fanfic by Alan Harnum 
-harnums@thekeep.org
-harnums@hotmail.com (old/backup)

All Ranma characters are the property of Rumiko Takahashi, first
published by Shogakukan in Japan and brought over to North
America by Viz Communications.

Waters Under Earth at Transpacific Fanfiction:  
http://www.thekeep.org/~mike/transp.html

Epilogue : Riverrun

INTRODUCTION

     As I can begin at neither the beginning nor the end, I will 
begin with the passing of my father, as told to me by his friend, 
Ryoga Hibiki.  I cannot tell it as I myself experienced it, as I
was not yet born at the time it occurred, and had, in fact, been 
conceived only a few hours earlier.

     To begin the history of a man's life with the facts of his
passing may seem inappropriate, but the story began for me when I
grew old enough to understand the existence of fathers, and 
inquire as to where mine was.

     The common answer, from those who knew him, was: he passed
away.

     Never died, because, of course, there was no body.  As Ryoga 
tells it, there could not be one, and I do not think he would lie 
about such a thing.  Nevertheless, I cannot say, and neither 
could he, that his account is entirely accurate - such events 
tend to transform themselves within the mind, and, no doubt by 
recording it as I have here, this account shall spawn an 
infinitude of permutations, for stories pass into history, into
legend, into myth, and finally into amnesia - only to become
stories again.  My father's story was one of new clothes from old
threads.  Such is the conundrum of the river, ever changing, ever
the same.  

     As Ryoga tells it, after a long and untraceable passage
through the tunnels beneath Mount Phoenix (1), he entered a
high-ceilinged cavern that appeared to have undergone a recent
earthquake, for it was heavily littered with rubble apparently
freshly fallen from the ceiling.  In places high above his head, 
a violet light that he described to me as both "alien" and "cold" 
poured down, illuminating the cavern and making the small lantern 
he had brought with him unnecessary.  The following is a 
transcription of a verbal description of what occured next, given
to me by Ryoga shortly before his own death:

          It was so big I didn't see him right away.  He was in 
     the dead centre of the cavern, and even though I had to pick 
     my way over all that rubble to get to him, once I got within
     about ten feet, there wasn't any at all... there was a clear
     circle all around him, and I saw why when I got closer,
     because it was all full of water, like a moat, so dark that
     I almost stepped right into it without seeing it.  I only
     saw it because it was moving, very slowly, in a circle, like
     there were tides driving it from far beneath the surface.  I
     couldn't see any bottom, maybe because it was so dark, maybe
     because there wasn't any bottom.
          
          Your father... Ranma, he was already dying when I got 
     there.  I saw right away there wasn't anything I could do, 
     he was just hurt too bad. (2) 
         
         I jumped the water, since I didn't think it would be a 
     good idea to touch it, and knelt down by him.  His breathing 
     was getting slower and slower, but I somehow had the sense 
     that he would keep on breathing forever if something didn't
     change. Something was making him stay here - in hindsight, I
     think it was your mother, or you, or maybe he just didn't
     believe everyone would be safe without him - he was clinging
     somehow... and that wasn't right.  I knew that wasn't right.
         
         If he hadn't spoken, I don't know what I would have 
     done.  It was like there was someone else inside me, another
     body, getting ready to lift my arm, and... well, anyway, he
     spoke, so it doesn't matter.  Didn't open his eyes, just 
     said my name.  I said his back; I felt the sense of
     wrongness leave me.  He said, "Did I win?", and, even though
     I didn't know what he was talking about - although I do now, 
     I think - I said, "Yes, everything's all right now."  It was 
     like that other body had become another voice, using me, but 
     it was my voice at the same time.

          I'll always remember how he smiled.  It was like he 
     wasn't in any pain at all, even though I could see how bad 
     he was hurt just by looking at his body.  "Good," he said.
     "Watch over them."  He meant you and your mother, I think, 
     and his mother... maybe everyone.  That's what I've tried to 
     do, though, because I promised him I would.

     As Ryoga relates it, after he had made his promise to my
father (3), the circling water that surrounded them began to
grow, to change; he had the sense, impossible though it seemed,
that it was remaining a circle while becoming a straight 
line. (4)
     
     The water spread out, consuming the rubble, consuming the
cavern itself, until he and my father were upon a tiny island in
a great rushing flow.  Ryoga could see no ceiling or walls any
more; there was light coming from the water, a light he described
as absolutely bright and pure, which must have made the 
appearance of the black boat all the more startling.  

     As Ryoga described it, the boat became visible first as a
black speck at the edge of the horizon, and travelled fast enough
that he was clearly able to distinguish details within a minute.  
It was long, and draped all in tattered black cloth that 
fluttered like banners.  Two women, dressed in gold and green,
sat in the bows; a third, dressed in black, stood in the stern
and drove the barge with a long pole.  Even from a distance,
Ryoga could see how beautiful they were; he always described them
as the most perfect women he had ever seen (5), although never in
front of his wife. 

     The boat pulled up smoothly beside the island where Ranma 
lay, and the two women in the bows rose from their seats.  With
their hands, they beckoned Ryoga to lift Ranma into the boat.
None of them spoke the entire time, and Ryoga tells me that he
felt no need to speak either.
     
     Once Ranma was placed upon the flat bottom of the boat,
Ryoga describes the following as happening:

          The one in green touched her hands to his body, and his
     wounds stopped bleeding.  The one in gold touched her hands
     to the rags of his clothing, and they became whole again.
     The one in black put her pole back into the waters, and
     pushed off.  I watched the boat recede into the distance,
     waving goodbye until it was out of sight.  A lot of people
     have questioned why I didn't say anything; why I didn't try
     to take Ranma back, after the one in green healed him.  I
     can only say that the thought never crossed my mind at the
     time. (6)
     
          Once they were gone, I sat down, and then saw that two
     broken pieces of wood, apparently once a single piece, had 
     lain beneath Ranma.  I took them up, and they were warm in
     my hands.  I cast them into the ebb and flow of that great
     river that was all around me, which I have come to believe
     was the River of Time, and, at that, the waters began slowly
     to recede.  I waited for them to do so, and then set out to
     find my way back.
     
     This, then, is the end of my father's story as I can tell 
it.  And, so, from the end, I shall go back to the beginning, the
real beginning of my father's story.

***

Footnotes to Introduction

(1) Incidental research during the compilation of this history 
over the past twenty years has established that these tunnels 
are, in all likelihood, the remnants of a colony of the First 
Ones.  Archaeological evidence is inconclusive as to whether 
they were of Pan Qu's tribe, or of the one they call only the 
Queen.  I am indebted to Lougui of the line of Mengyua for 
nearly all of the information on the First Ones throughout this 
work.

(2) As I cannot ascertain just how badly my father was hurt from
my conversations with Ryoga, I cannot say whether anyone, even
someone with training in the healing arts, could have helped him.
Had healing him been possible within this world, I believe that 
someone other than Ryoga would have been called to his side.  
Whether my belief is justified, I cannot say with certainty.  
There are patterns to these things, and the Lady (Ladies?) is/are 
bound to them in ways I cannot yet comprehend.

(3) While this history can only concern itself with Ryoga's
character to the extent that it intersects my father's life, I
will state that I believe this promise to my father shaped his 
life from that point onwards, and accounted for the actions he
undertook during war against Shen Bai-Gu that led to his death.
With the final publication of this history of my father's life,
I can now undertake to write a history of the war against Shen
Bai-Gu, focusing especially upon Ryoga's prominent role within 
it.

(4) This perception might well have been entirely true from
Ryoga's point of view; in the same way that a sphere of enormous
size (such as our planet) appears flat to an observer, a circle
of enormous size (a great river, sourced by its own self) could
appear as a straight line to an observer unable to see the whole
of it.

(5) That each of the three is described as perfectly beautiful 
is, I believe, good evidence for a synonymous nature.  This is 
not hardly unique to their aspects as detailed here; see, for
example, the Maiden-Mother-Crone aspects of the lunar goddess 
among the ancient Celts.

(6) I do not think it would have been possible, either.  Ryoga
was needed to pass Ranma from this world into the one from which
the boat came - the world in which his wounds could be healed.
The parallels to the Arthurian legends should be obvious to any
schooled in basic mythology.  Arthur says to Bedivere, in Chapter 
VI of Book 21 of Le Morte Darthur (Malory), "Comfort thyself...
and do as well as thou mayst, for in me is no trust for to trust
in; for I will into the vale of Avilion to heal me of my grievous
wound..."

***

CHAPTER 1 

     Once upon a time, there was a mighty and terrible king, and 
he had three beautiful daughters...     

                    FIN WATERS UNDER EARTH

**********

Author's Notes:

I suppose after nearly two years, forty chapters, five vignettes,
a prelude and an epilogue, these are more or less obligatory.

I had originally intended (and, had, to an extent, prepared) a
lengthly annotation of all the parts of the series, pointing out
certain undercurrents or symbols within the narrative that might
not have been immediately obvious.  Over time, however, my view
of what role an author should take in interpreting his or her own
work has changed significantly, and I have lost the desire to do
so.

Waters Under Earth sprang primarily from my deep interest in
comparative mythologies, a topic so eloquently detailed in the
works of Joseph Campbell.  I have consciously followed his Hero's
Path, which, like so many other things in WUE, is ultimately
circular in nature.

There is a lot of mythology - Japanese, Chinese, Norse and 
Celtic, to name some of them - in WUE, and, also, many homages to 
fantasy literature, particularly the works of Guy Gavriel Kay.

The original genesis lay in my idle attempts, one day, to come up
with various explanations for the unexplained things in the Ranma
series: How does Jusendo cause the magic of Jusenkyou?  Why does
the body of the Orochi create the healing water?  How did Saffron
come into being?  What links exist between the various peoples 
who live in the area around Jusenkyou?

There's much more to the story than just answering those 
questions, but the story really began for me with an image of a
dragon lying bound beneath Jusendo, suffusing the waters with the
magic of her blood.

Nearly two years ago, at the end of "The Dying of the Light", I
wrote in my author's notes that I didn't expect to write a fanfic
that big again.  I was, of course, wrong.  I hope I'm not wrong
this time in saying that I hope no project becomes so big and
unwieldly as WUE, because, despite my fondness for much of it,
there are a lot of flaws in it.  It's too big by half, and a lot
of the subplots and characters are unecessary to the central
story.  To an extent, this is unavoidable in a serial work
spanning two years - some things I'd intended to do at the
beginning, and had laid groundwork for, simply became unworkable
as the story progressed.  However, my laziness in planning the
story (my planning notes for the original draft fit on half a
sheet of lined paper) is also responsible for the occasionally
incoherent and rambling nature of the story.

Still, there are good things in it, and there are passages that
I consider to be the best writing I've ever done.  It is 
ultimately a work that I'm pleased with, even if there are things
I would do differently in hindsight.  Had I the time and 
patience, I'd go back to the beginning, tighten up the story, fix
the problems that are so obvious to me now, and produce something
better-suited to telling the story I wanted to.

Knowing myself, though (I hate revising - I'd rather write new
stories), it will take all my remaining energy just to revise the 
20+ chapters that I haven't sent to RAAC for posting.

I can't think of anything more to say about the story right now,
so I'll move on to thanking some people.  In no particular 
order, I thank:

All those from the FFML who gave commentary on WUE, particularly
Gary Kleppe and Vincent Seifert, both of whom gave regular and
insightful commentary that was always helpful.

Susan Doenime, for being the co-writer on my longest unfinished
project other than WUE.  Maybe we'll finally be able to finish it
now...

Blade, for all the discussion and debate and suggestions.  And
for Evil Zone.  And Jealous Eyes.  Which will get finished.
Eventually.

Chris Willmore, for explaining to me about not describing
everything, and for co-writing Waterfalls with me.  

David Tai, who's even crazier than I am, and came up with the 
idea for "Pantyhose Tarou, I Choose You!", no matter what he
claims to the contrary.  Therefore, it wasn't my fault.

The various RAAC moderators assigned to me over the last two
years, who have always posted WUE and my other works with great
speed.  

Anyone who ever wrote me e-mail about WUE, even the ones who 
accused me of being a gnostic feminist.  The commentary kept me
going.

Meg Eichler, Kathy Greene, Tae Jensen, Kristen Smirnov, Lauren
Ullrich, Nikki Wilcox and Ryan Young, talented fan artists all 
who flattered me by doing artwork based on WUE.

The folks at FFIRC, who provided me with endless hours of
amusing procrastination.

The Keep Rats.  Spacong.

Mike Loader, who isn't me.

Krista Perry, who encouraged me from the start.

Everyone who's been with this massive story from the very
beginning, even though it sometimes seemed that it would never
get finished.

Anyone else I've forgotten to thank who should be thanked, and an 
apology to them for forgetting.  

Ciao,
-Alan Harnum, December 31st, 1999