Celestial Demarcation

Prompt from DailyPrompt.com

”Oi! Oi, Fish!”

The shimmering god rolled and surfaced to peer at the little whale.

“What is it? I’m getting ready to-”

“That’s the thing. Boat’s ill!”

“Ill? Not now!” Fish blew a petulant bubble. “So you came to bother me.”

“Well, you’re next in-”

“My shift doesn’t start for a fortnight! Does Boat expect me to work an extra half shift?”

“They said they’d step in and do the second half of their shift as soon as they’re recovered.”

“Humph.” Fish dunked their head below the starry waves to sigh. “What if that takes more than a month?”

“Then Goat will have to start early, and Boat will cover part of their shift.”

“Chaos!”

Whale rolled their eyes. “Far less chaos than letting the sun sit for a fortnight!”

“Alright, alright…” Fish stretched and flexed in the start of their warmup. “Oh, but I don’t have the hour tables for Boat’s-”

“Here.” Whale extended a fin with a glowing parchment.

“Thank you.”

Fish studied it carefully. It wouldn’t do to suddenly add extra hours to the day, everyone would be confused. Might even fear the end times or such.

“Alright. Shorter route at least.”

“See? You’ll do fine!”

“I shall have to.” Fish sighed and waggled one fluke in farewell, then dove into the sky stream proper and set off for the Forge.

“Farrier!”

“Fish?” The great celestial being paused in their work to peer at the god. “What are you doing up so early?”

“Boat is ill and asked me to cover for them.”

“Ach! And of course I hear about this now, with the tethers half tied!” Farrier cussed under their breath and started yanking the sun’s bonds off.

“If I’d known any-”

“Oh, I’m not blaming you.” Farrier shot a wry smile. “We’ll both just have to make do. Can’t delay sunrise.”

“Hm.” Fish considered the current arrangement, so different from what they needed to carry the sun safely. “Well, of course, but while you get that harness rearranged I’ll ask the weather gods if they can’t whip up a heavy cloud cover.”

“Ah. Aye, good thinking.” While Farrier would accept no insult to their work, they weren’t so foolish as to turn down a screen for a rush job.

So Fish dove once more and swam briskly to the Weather Kitchen.

“Fish?” Head Cook squinted. “What-”

“Boat’s ill. I have to cover. Can you make some clouds to dull the sunrise? Just in case.”

“Tsk, if it’s not one thing it’s another…” Head Cook turned and shouted some jargon at the rest of the team, who leapt into action around the cauldrons.

“Should be ready before you are.”

“You’re an essence saver.”

Fish shot back to the Forge, where the tethers were mostly retied. Accompanied by a rapid drumbeat of escalating curses.

“We’ll have the cloud cover.”

“Good. Get in here.” Farrier pointed to the stand, and Fish dutifully slotted into place.

‘Honestly. This is why we have a rota!’

Prompt was “Create a story where a celestial being embarks on a daily journey across the sky to deliver light to the world. “

[My initial thought of “which zodiac sign is active now?” was met with “depends on what system you use”. So of course my mind went to the handover process and this became a union situation.]