Hoist the colours, proud fiction writers!

Thank you, brave writers, for another fantastic edition! We had 14 fantastic entries in response to @Marcoriccardi's beautifully beguiling beginning. Grazie, Marco! It is always a treat to finish one of your stories!

Also, we've two new writers join in our adventures. Everyone, please give a potassium finned welcome to @WakeupKitty and to the return of @Stormlight24!

Let's raise our pints in congratulations to @Felt.Buzz, @Gaby-Crb and @Tristancarax for receiving votes from the @Curie community for their splendid stories!!

Everyone rose to the challenge this week and delivered spectacular works! There's a plethora of recent news that I want to share with you so I'm going to swig my delicious Banana Grog, put on a professional looking purple tie and get right to it!

What's boiling in the bananafish kitchen (the news!)

• Coming February 11th, we'll be launching Bananafish's first QUEST IN THE REALMS! Tell your family, friends, neighbors and favorite chupacabras to prepare their puzzlers for an exciting treasure hunt! For more information, please click this lovely little link. A rich reward of 30 Steem and and additional 30 Steem Basic Income shares awaits! Special thanks to @ntowl for her post pimping out our newest adventure!
  
  
• let's rejoyce and throw up in the air our cocked hats, Bananafish pirates! @dirge and @calluna raised their delegation to 150 and 140 steem. Hurray!
  
  
• To those who are unaware, @Theycallmedan is currently running a poll to decide which Steemit project he'll delegate 10K Steempower to. Our phenomenal partner, @Crowdmind is in the running for the delegation. Should they win the voting, it would be a terrific boon towards their mission to support crowdsourcing initiatives on Steemit. Please take a moment to click the link and cast your vote for @Crowdmind.
  
  
• The Bananafish acolytes are blessed by upvotes. Those of the generous @co-in and also those of our amazing witness @crowdmind. Thank you to the wondrous @crowdmind community for the support they've given to the Bananfish Tribe! Their mission to empower crowdsourcing initiatives is of tremendous benefit to the Steemit community. Check out their blog and consider as well a vote for their witness, @Crowdwitness. Let's raise a pint of our finest to @svemirac, @hidden84 and the Crowdmind Community for their sustain! Cheers to you!
  
  
• Have any of you braved the - Banana Grog?
  
  
• Don't forget to join the Realms, where you can promote yourself and meet all of us strange creatures!
  
  
• Curie factoid: we have been supported by the amazing Curie community with 50 upvotes in 44 editions.The rate is increasing lately..we have now more than an average of 1 curie upvote per edition!.
  @Brisby and @Cyemela are tied out in front, closely followed by @Tristancarax, @Marcoriccardi and @Calluna.

..And the winners of this potassium laced edition are:

• GRAND PRIZE - 5 STEEM: @Theironfelix
  Felix's masterful piece carried on the story with a majestic series of haiku. Each flows fluidly into the next, gorgeously using poetry to convey Ren's inner struggle, a reflection to his past and the changed perspective he comes away with. You're going to want to feast your eyes on Felix's piece which was so inspiring that @Cyemela also chose to write his beautiful entry which combined both the FTS and Mizu No Oto prompts. Smile for being a muse, Felix!
  
  
• SECOND PRIZE -3 STEEM: @Sarez
  Sarez gives us a story within a story in his unique take on the prompt! The body in the river is that of a master archer who had chosen to lay down his bow to passively wait for deliverance of the ability 'to foresee the consequences of my actions.' In doing so, he allows a tiger to maul him to death without raising a hand to defend himself. Horrified by the archer's decision, Ren wakes when his daughter shakes him with a changed perspective to the wise man's words. He's going to continue to wait for the wisdom he sought but while doing so, he's also going to live his life. Check out Sarez's entry for yourself, you'll be glad that you did!
  
  
• THIRD PRIZE - 2 STEEM: A tie with1 STEEM each for @Agmoore and @Stever82
  Agmoore's redemptive tale has Ren realize what a life of transgressions begets and resolves to change. The level of respect Ren shows his deceased enemy in her ending is perfect in portraying the depths of his vow. With symbolism and some of Agmoore's playful digital art, this entry is not one to be missed!
  
  Stever82 also gave us an emotional taste of attonement with his ending. Seeing the face of his enemy, Ren recalls their friendship and realizes that he was the one who pushed the man away in bitterness over his struggles. Returning to the village to discover that his friend's death occured while trying to save him, Mr. Renhe spends the remainder of his life caring for his friend's family. A fantastic piece from Stever that I hope you will all check out!
  
  
• POPULAR VOTE - 2 SBI: @Amirani
  Claimer of first blood for this edition with a poignant and insightful entry that the voters fell in love with and I urge you all to read. In his words:

All rivalries end when we face the reality that we are all equal when measured against the great beast of confusion that this existence is...

• BEST COMMENT - 2 SBI: There were so many amazing replies made to the authors this week! @Calluna takes the prize with her comment on Felix's entry!

There is a sense of trying to reach the intangiable, the ethereal, in touching his own reflection, a moment of wonder at the self. The murkiness, slipping away time the river with the many possible layers of meaning, from new clarity, to the old washed away by the new, and the passage of time. (You manage to incorporate so many haiku elements in to each one of these - so many of them could stand alone)

Sustain the @bananafish project through your delegations! We're a selfless inclusive and decentralized community, we put our heart in what we do and a lot of passion and everyone will be abundantly rewarded for their generosity as the @bananafish will keep growing. Here you may find a guide by @marcoriccardi on how to sustain this project.

A special thank to @felt.buzz, @gwilberiol, @dirge, @theironfelix, @raj808, @brisby, @maverickinvictus, @cyemela, @marcoriccardi, @calluna, @oivas, @anixio, @ntowl for their precious delegations, making this project a reality!
If you like this contest..SPREAD THE GOSPEL! We're grateful for your resteeming and word of mouth. Everything helps to grow together!

SEE YOU TOMORROW FOR EDITION #45, BRAVE WRITERS OF THE REALM!