Slyva
| Slyva | |
|---|---|
| English gloss | otter (harbor animal) (translation, not identification) |
| Role | Wild |
| Where found | Eldershore's harbor; southern rivers; households in the south |
| Kept / wild | Kept; bred from the wild Waeva by Eldershore |
| Used for | Harbor work — retrieving, carrying lines, checking moorings, driving fish |
| Associated cities | Eldershore |
| Lexicon | Slyva |
Long, sleek, and built for the water: sinuous, thick-tailed, dense fur that sheds water, a low ridge of bone along the spine that wears smooth in older animals, and feet made for swimming. Slyva work in family groups and cannot be made to work alone; every keeper learns this quickly and accepts it.
Eldershore's harbor requires them. A Slyva group retrieves cargo dropped between hull and quay, carries light lines between vessels moored too close for boats, checks moorings and cables below the waterline, and drives fish toward nets when there is nothing else to do — work no other animal can do and no human could do as quickly. They are intelligent to the point of inconvenience: a Slyva that has decided a thing is finished has decided, and a group that has decided will never be made to continue. Harbor groups belong to the docks and are worked by keepers who inherit the position. Some households keep them as pampered pets; affectionate, playful, and clever enough to open a door they have seen opened once. Eldershore's keepers hold that they took the Slyva from wild Waeva stock long ago and bred it into what it is, and nobody disputes it; the two cannot tolerate each other.