Riparian: Fantasy

The riparian nomads were known to the water spirits, and vise versa. This did not help their popularity in the communities that they visited. Anyone untouched by the same kind of drownings, sudden floods, and other waterborne calamities was not viewed popularly, no matter that their caravan barges held all manner of useful things and their plays, put on by torchlight on the wide boards of their barges, brightened dull lives. Oh, they were looked forward to, but they were not exactly trusted. Who knew what evil bargain they'd struck with the sylphs to allow them free reign of the rivers? The sylphs knew. So did the nomads. They knew, and their eldest sons knew. Sometimes the boys came back from their year beneath the water moonstruck and unable to concentrate on anything else until they fell over the railings--

Inspiration: "riparian" - related to or living on the bank of a natural river or watercourse.
Story Potential: Medium.
Notes: I like the idea of a culture of water-gypsies with a dreadful bargain, but that's background, not a story. Basically, I was writing along and naturally the locals are suspicious of the outsiders, and the outsiders are poor misunderstood--but no, wait, what if there *is* a dreadful bargain?