Nénuphar - 2

With some fish in her belly and her body rehydrated, Nénuphar was able to sit in the shade of some strange trees that had huge leaves like hands reaching out from a single bare trunk. From there, she was able look around. To the west, was the rocky slope they had come down. It seems to be where the the original riverbed lay, thus explaining why it was so rocky and slick. The river itself had swung far to the south in its new course, but had found its way back to this spot to once again follow its normal route. To the south were still sand dunes as far as she could see. The river simply slipping between them where it could. To the north were hills that rolled on as far as she could see. To the east was still pretty much a mystery. The riverbed, lined with trees, extended as far as she could see. It wound around small hills, but seem to continue due east. She knew the ocean was out there eventually, but she did not know how far it was, and could see no sign of it.

She learned from Silencieuse that they would be resting the remainder of the day, and start again in the morning. Apparently the river lost its way again before reaching the ocean and they needed to correct the riverbed all the way to the ocean.

She also learned that the elephants didn’t often travel this far north, and when they did they did not travel this far inland. Silencieuse did not know what they had come, but both of them were glad that they had.

She asked why the river was so small here, but Silencieuse could only give a partial answer. It seemed that it lost a lot of water as it wandered around in the dunes and had a tendency to pool up and break free from time to time, but that did not fully explain its diminished state. The druids had always known the river was much smaller as it flowed into the ocean, than when it left the Fey Wood Lake, but they did not know why, and could only guess.

They rested and talked off and on for the rest of the day until an hour or so before sunset when a large crow flew by and dropped a couple strange branches near Nénuphar’s feet. Picking one one she quickly discovered that the bulging green leaf had sharp thorns running up the side. It was difficult to tell whether it was leaf or a branch as it was shaped like an elongated triangle comment to a barbed point on one end and a thick roundish stump on the the other. Between the two rows of barbs the plant was squishy, but beyond that, Nénuphar did not have any idea what it was.

Silencieuse quickly came to her rescue, explaining that this was the plant that would help with her sunburns. She showed Nénuphar how to open the plant and spread the clear jelly across her skin.

The piece that the crow had dropped was only a couple inches long and only contained enough of the jelly to cover one of her shoulders, but still, she was very grateful as it immediately removed the stinging. It did not help restore the color, but hopefully that would come in time.

A few minutes later a hawk dropped another leaf about the same size, and Nénuphar quickly applied it to her other shoulder. Another and another came, and soon she had covered most of her arms as well.

Nénuphar began to watch the sky again hoping for more of the birds to return. Eventually several more did return when she suddenly the two great eagles approaching. Each of them had and entire plant in their talons which they dropped at her feet. Excitedly she covered her body in the jelly (aloe vera as Silencieuse called it) which raised her spirits a great deal. She did complain more than once about the sticky feeling on her skin, but agreed that was better than the stinging and burning. When she was done, Silencieuse showed her how to replant the roots so it would grow. To her surprise they had to travel almost a mile away from the river to find a spot the was suitable.

When they returned to the river, most of the animals had settled down for the night, and they decided to do the same. Their conversation prompted Nénuphar to take a fresh look at her dandelion, and to her horror, she found it be almost entirely wilted gray and black. There were only a few yellow petals right at the center.

She began to panic, and was unable to sit still. She began to pace back and forth staring at the flower and occasionally wiping a tear from her eyes. Silencieuse also showed sincere concern, but had no way to help Trell, wherever he was. She could not even talk to the birds again until she had rested and refreshed her magic.

Silencieuse watched as Nénuphar began to work herself into a panic. She could also see that even the last couple petals were darkening and wilting. She knew that Nénuphar was going still weak, but would not be able to sleep unless she could do something. So she decided to try to distract her.

“Nénuphar!” she said walking over to her.

Nénuphar looked at her with teary and glazed eyes like a rabbit that is trapped by a wolf.

“I think you might be able to do something.” she said hopefully.

Nénuphar stopped, “What!?” she said, her eyes wide staring at Silencieuse expectantly.

“Do you remember that spell that I cast that allowed me to talk to the birds this morning?” she began calmly.

“Yes!?”, returned Nénuphar anxious, but not sure how that would help.

“Well, “ continued Silencieuse, “we could send one of these larger birds to see if they can find or even help Trell. Maybe like they helped you with the sunburn plant.”

“But, I thought your magic as was.” protested Nénuphar.

“It is.” she replied, then added, “…but yours is not.” She paused waiting for the thought to register.

Suddenly Nénuphar let out a high pitched squeak that sounds a little bit like: “Me?”.

Silencieuse calmly took her hands and lead her to the base of a tree where she tried to get her to sit down. Nénuphar began to sit but was just too anxious, and couldn’t.
“Show me. Show me.” she begged over and over looking again at her ring.

Just at that moment the brave young kitten rubbed up against her leg and purred, looking up to her expectantly.

Momentarily distracted Nénuphar replied, “Oh, hello claws, are you going to try to climb my leg again?”

The kitten just sat down looking up at her and let out a meow.

She looked at the ring again and absent-mindedly reached down and picked up the kitten. She then plopped down beside Silencieuse, and began stroking the kittens back. She took a couple deep breaths letting them out with a hiss, and turned again to Silencieuse.

“Okay, ready.” she said.

“Now this spell is a little tricky.” began Silencieuse. “It comes in two parts. If you want to be able to understand animals you just have to cast the ears part, and if you only want the animal to understand you, you only have to cast the throat part.”

“Oh right!” chimed in Nénuphar. I saw you rubbing your ears and throat.

“Yes.” continued Silencieuse, “Now here are the words.”

She began chanting strange sounds and phrases, and Nénuphar repeated them diligently.

“Now place both hands on your throat…” said Silencieuse demonstrating on her own. “…and reach into yourself and out into the world around you and continue to chant.”

Nénuphar continued again and again, and eventually she posed for a minute, wrinkled up her brow, and began again, a little slower, and with a stronger confidence in her voice. She immediately began to feel the magic collect in her hands and then move into her throat.

As the spell ended Silencieuse looked excitedly and expectantly at Nénuphar. She raised her eyebrows and motioned for her to speak.

Nénuphar looked around for an animal to talk to, and saw a large hawk with a bright red tail sitting in a nearby tree watching them. She looked at the bird and asked if he could understand her. The hawk screeched in reply, and continued to watch.

Silencieuse grabbed her hand and began to pat it excitedly. “You did it.” she said smiling.

Nénuphar was excited as well, but quickly turned back to the hawk and asked it to go find Trell and make sure he was okay. The hawk screeched again and flew off.

Laying next to Silencieuse, with a purring cat in her arms Nénuphar did eventually fall asleep. She had fitful desperate dreams where she was searching for Trell. She saw herself flying over the forest then the deserts beyond ever searching, but not finding him. When she did awake she looked desperately at her ring hoping to find a change for the better, but saw no change.