The night of the silver catfish
A catfish as long as a canoe slid past three nets before an old heron struck it at the last bend. The keepers still point to that bend when new herons arrive.
Notes kept by the boathouse
The Lake Chronicle
Every season leaves a mark on Riaryru Lake. These are the stories the shore keepers tell between waves — fiction for the game, written down so nothing is forgotten.
Four seasons on the water
Spring thaw
The ice breaks into panes of green glass and the royal bass chooses a fresh nesting ground. Herons return first and stand watch in the shallows.
Long summer
Warm days, still water and a nest full of young fish. The otters teach their pups to dive, and the shore keepers repair their birch nets.
Maple autumn
Leaves turn the colour of embers and the first pike arrive from the deep. This is the season of the ten waves, when every keeper is needed.
Quiet winter
Snow settles on the pines and the lake rests under ice. The keepers count the season's stories and wait for the thaw.
From the chronicle
The otter who would not sleep
One autumn a single otter guarded the channel for ten nights in a row. Since then the maple window sometimes grants an otter ally to the nest.
When the window first turned
Nobody remembers who set the maple glass above the boathouse. The story says it turned on its own the first time the pike came, and it has turned for every visitor since.