Amber Reed

Amber Reeds grow in dense golden stands wherever Tauria's rivers run clean. Their hollow stalks — amber-coloured, straight, the thickness of a thumb — sway in the river wind and produce, when the air passes through them at the right angle, a faint resonant hum that carries across the water. The first music played in Alcyone was cut from Amber Reeds on the morning of the Festival of Roots.

Giliad has noted that a particular aquatic insect lays its eggs inside the hollow of the Amber Reed — and that the presence of these insects indicates clean, oxygenated water. Where Amber Reeds grow thickly and the insects are present, the river is safe to drink.

Giliad's Field Note

The flute that Mira cut from Amber Reed on Festival morning produced a sound I did not expect. Not thin, as I anticipated from a hollow stalk. Round. Warm. Something in the mineral content of the reed, perhaps. The music carried across the settlement and people stopped what they were doing to listen. What I felt is not recorded here. — G.