Nénuphar - 3

It was almost dawn when she finally came completely awake. A rough tongue was desperately trying to clean the dried residue of the aloe vera plant from her arms. She tickled the kitten, and then stretched. The kitten jumped off her lap into the sand and began cleaning himself. Then the thought of Trell drew her gaze slowly to her ring where she feared what she would see. To her relief the flower was alive. It did not look healthy, but it was improving. The yellow color had returned to the center petals, and the outer petals seemed to be reversing their progression as well. The blackness was getting higher, and brittle petals at the edges were softening.

She was so excited she literally pounced on Silencieuse; Nénuphar’s knees thumping against her hip, and her hand crashing down on Silencieuse’s shoulders, shaking and lifting her into a sitting position.

“Look! Look!” she kept saying waving her dandelion ring in her face.

Silencieuse quickly shoot the sleep from her eyes and took a look. Drawing the flower away from her nose so that she could focus on it, she sighed, and whispered, “Hurray, I am so glad.”

Nénuphar burst into tears again and began crush Silencieuse in a hug fed by days of worry and grief. Her tears turned to sobs that grew deeper and deeper until she seemed to be convulsing uncontrollably. She release Silencieuse and sat back burying her face in her hands. The kitten stood on its hind legs and began licking the tears from her hands and arms. She continued to sob great convulsing sobs for several minutes. Silencieuse sat holding her, and the kitten became overwhelmed by the flood of tears.

After a few minutes she picked up the cat and hugged him. Cradling him in her arms where he could lick her cheeks, and better keep up with the tears. Silencieuse rocked her gently until the sobs subsided, and she was sure the Nénuphar was breathing normally. She then gave her a kiss on the forehead and a little squeeze before releasing her, moving away to gather her things. Looking back she whispered again: “I am so glad.”

Nénuphar hugged the kitten again until he let out a tortured meow. She loosened her crushing hug, but refused to let him down, and relaxed in her arms purring contently.

Nénuphar literally skipped her way among the animals petting and tickling them, waking them or slashing them with water. When she came to the elephants, she ran straight to the large bull, who as laying with his legs curled under him, and threw against his huge mass as if trying to hug a mountain. He responded by curling his trunk around her waist, the tip searching through her hair and tickling her. She called up the birds in the trees both large and small, and before long the whole camp was chirping, grunting, and trumpeting a good morning to the world.

Eventually she returned to Silencieuse and the shared another meal of fish, roots, and coconut. This time she let the kitten have his fill of the coconut water, and he revived to his old rambunctious self, pouncing on his sisters and parents, and generally harassing the larger animals.

As they were finishing their meal Silencieuse took Nénuphar’s hands in her own and looked into her eyes. Nénuphar saw love and kindness her her eyes, but her voice was serious. “Now you are one of us. Now you will begin your journey as a protector and healer of the forest.”

She released one of Nénuphar’s hand and pulled a something from the back of her belt handing it to Nénuphar. It was a knife about nine inches long. The handle was made of polished horn with a large green gem set into the base of the pommel. The blade was covered in a sheath of toughened brown leaves. Drawing the bade from its sheath she drew a quick breath. It was made of a shiny black stone, worked to a perfect smoothness and sharp and anything Nénuphar had ever known.

She looked into Silencieuse’s eye and began to shake her head, pushing the knife back toward her. Silencieuse put her free hand on Nénuphar’s cheek, and looked deep into her eyes.

“I hope you will never need to spill blood or take a life with it, but my heart tells me that you will may.” she said softly. “…and I cannot bear to leave you with nothing for protection, but a few kitten claws.”

“Besides” she said in a much lighter tone, “it can be very useful.”

She then grabbed two of the drained coconuts and smashed them together. One of them crashed, but the other broke into several pieces. Offering one of the pieces to Nénuphar she said, “Try getting the meat out you knife.

Nénuphar drew the knife out again, and it was wonderfully effective and separating the meat for the shell. All three of them spent a few minutes chewing the coconut meat until Nénuphar got up the courage to ask: “What do you mean leave me?” she said hesitantly.

Silencieuse again looked into her eyes. This time with a strong determined look. “I need to leave you for a couple days.”

Nénuphar’s brow wrinkled noticeably and she opened her mouth to protest, but Silencieuse gently placed her hand on Nénuphar’s lips and continued.

“I am going to take the elephants east to the shore, and coerce the river back into its channel further down stream. I need you to take the rest of the animals back up the real riverbed, and start turning the river down the the track that we made. I’ll rejoin you as soon as I get the lower river righted, and it is desperately urgent to get the river back in its course. It has been absent for far to long, and I fear that every day is causing more and more hurt to the flora and fauna around the true channel.”

Nénuphar was breathing faster as she contemplated striking out on her own. She again took a breath to protest, but Silencieuse pressed more firmly.

“The animals WILL follow you, and the way is clearly marked. When you get back to the forest, where the river leaves its channel, just do your best to get as much water into the track we made as you can. Some of the animals will be a great help. Ask them to help. I know you can do it. The forest needs you to do this. I need you to do this… Please.”

Nénuphar took several deep breaths as new objections rose in her mind, but slowly she sank back to her knees, and said quietly, “Okay.”

“Excellent!” said Silencieuse. She leaned forward and gave Nénuphar a big kiss on the cheek, then stood and strode off toward the elephants.

Nénuphar sat for a few minutes building up her courage until the kitten stood up in her arms, placed both of his forepaws on her cheek and meowed loudly.

“Okay!” she said playfully, looking into the kittens face.

Leaping to her feet skipped her way down to the river where most of the animals were drinking or washing, and announced loudly. “Its time to HEAD OUT!” She skipped back across the sand toward the rocky slope followed closely by the family of cats, and a few of the smaller animals. Most of the large animals, however, hesitated looking after Nénuphar and back to Silencieuse.

When she reach the base of the slope she turned, noticing the hesitation, and called “Well, come on!”

She saw Silencieuse slap one of the bull elk on the butt. He trumpeted and the whole heard began stampeding toward Nénuphar followed by all the other animals. Nénuphar had to laugh as Silencieuse struggle to hold the elephants back. She turned and danced her way up the slope.

The morning passed quickly retracing their steps, and further working a path for the water. She refused to set the kitten; cradling him in her arms or strapping him across her shoulders. She watched her ring regularly, and it did continue to improve. All of the petals cam back to life, but still they stayed a light yellow grayish color rather than turning the bright yellow she had hoped. Still, gray was better than black; at least Trell was alive.

She stopped the procession about mid day to rest in the shade of some healthy cottonwood trees, but with nothing to eat or drink, she began to get worried. She noticed the elk pawing at the sand uncovering some crushed water plants. She saw them eat the dried leaves and then they began to paw at the ground as if there were more deeper down; but rather than exposing more leaves they tore up the roots leaving them exposed. The elk would then look at Nénuphar and grunt before moving away and pawing at the ground again. After a minute Nénuphar realized they were trying to tell her something so she came over to take a closer look. She was surprised to find the roots dug out by the elk were the same bulbous roots that Silencieuse had given her on the trip down. She patted the elk affectionately in gratitude, and brushed off a couple roots. After she had taken a couple several other animals ate the rest.

Nénuphar knew that the next water was over a days journey so she only allowed a short rest before she lead them on. As the afternoon progressed she found parts of her skin were beginning to burn pretty badly, but rather than using her healing spells on herself, she chose to suffer through. She did find some relief as she walked beside one of the large bull elk, and put her kitten across her shoulders, but still she knew it was going to get worse.

She did find the coconut she had discarded the previous day. It had some sand, but with the knife she was able to get the remaining meat out. It had retained its moisture very well, and provide a small relief to her thirst. The kitten too seemed grateful to be able to chew on the coconut.

Her legs were shaking badly, and the sun was less than an hour from setting, when they finally reach the lake were they had slept on their journey down the river. She was so grateful for the familiar spot that she just sat down on one the dunes in the shade of one of the trees. The other animals filed into he ring of trees. They were also grateful for the end of a long march.

The elk were able to dig up some of the roots, but they were so hard to eat with a parched throat that Nénuphar was only able to choke down a couple bites. She wondered where Silencieuse had found the coconut last time they were here, and began to look around hopefully. The trees were of various types, and they were all suffering from the lack of water, but none more than the tall trees with the massive leaves. Their leaves were withering and mostly brown dangling from the center of the leaf like dead appendages. She did notice gray oblong fruit handing from a couple of the more healthy trees, but it was twenty feet off the ground and looked like it would be hard to cut away from the tree anyway. She tried climbing the tree, but was unable so she quickly gave up and sat down in the shade.

As she sat and watched the various animals, she found that many of them were in very bad shape. Even the mother bear was half carrying half dragging one of her cubs.
Nénuphar did not know how much magical healing she could provide, so she selected the mother animals that looked to be having the most trouble, and started healing them first. It only took a handful of spells before she was exhausted, and knew her magic was spent. Her heart ached to see so many other animals in distress, but could only store their backs and let them sleep.

For Nénuphar, sleep was difficult that night. Her shoulders and legs were burned pretty badly, and she woke up often from the pain of sand rubbing against them. Once she tried laying on some of the fallen branches, but found that they had barbs on them several inches long, so she just laid on the sand and grit her teeth.

The morning sun was excruciating, but she forced herself to up and announced the beginning of another day’s march. She wanted to stay at the back and help any animals that were struggling, but she knew that she had to lead them on or they would not keep moving. She placed her kitten carefully on her shoulders, and started off.

The morning sun turned into a scorching torture for Nénuphar as the day drew on toward mid-day. Her legs ached and shook with every step, and stung constantly. Something inside her was distressed about the discoloration of her skin, but she knew that far more important was finding water and food for all the animals. She did glance at her ring from time to time, and it seemed to doing well enough.

She now walked beside one of the bulk elk at all times as much to steady herself as to the get shade, and before long she found herself leaning on him more and more. Her knuckles began to bleed freely from the burns and general dehydration, but she hardly even noticed except for a wince as one would open anew.

The sand began to rise as if climbing a gentle hill, but she only felt her legs growing weaker and weaker until she was almost riding the elk at her side.

Finally the circle of trees that indicated the small pond came into view, and she knew the were almost to the river. She pushed herself upright in an attempt to walk by her own strength, but collapsed into the sand. As she fell her kitten tensed and his claws came out as he tried to land on his feet. On her hands and knees, Nénuphar cried out as blood began to trickle down her shoulders in several places. The other animals were beginning to run now as they could smell the river ahead, but he burns combined with the cuts were too much for her, and she vision darkened as she lost consciousness.

She awoke after nightfall to her shoulders itching and burning unbearably. She tried touching with her hands, but that only made them worse. Her kitten was laying next to, and several other animals were there as well. She rose to her hands and knees and stopped to let the pain of her skin subside.

She gently nudged her kitten, and was relieved when he got up and licked her face. Her burned cheek erupted in pain, and she jerked back involuntarily. The kitten meowed softly and before she could stop him, he rubbed up against her arm. She clenched waiting to pain that was surely to come from the touch, but it didn’t come. For some reason the soft touch of his fur calmed the pain slightly as he brushed against her. It quickly returned, but she let him rub against her for a minute while she struggled to keep herself from crying out from the pain.

With her mind racing she knew that the river was less than a mile ahead, and she desperately need to get there, but moving caused her shoulders to hurt so badly that she was not sure she could stand without passing out again. Then as if in answer, her kitten leaned softly against one of her shoulders. She cried out softly, but found that his touch even help her shoulders a little. She wonder if there was any way she could get him onto her shoulders without moving, and without opening new scratches across her shoulders or back.

The kitten knew she was in great pain, and began to meow and nudge her with its nose. When that got no movement from her, her gave her one solid lick behind her left ear. Nénuphar’s eye shot open as a tingling cold chill spread across her body lighting up every nerve with its tingling sensation, without even thinking she grabbed the kitten dropped in onto her shoulders and stood with a cry of defiance. Her legs still trembled, but they held for now.

As the tingling faded, the burn returned as painful as it had before, but with the kitten across her shoulders it was just bearable enough for her to stay upright. She began to walk, and cracks opened up all across her toes and feet. Yet as painful as they were, they did not compare the burning of the rest of her body, so she set teeth and kept moving.

Eternity seemed to pass with each footstep, but slowly she climbed out of the dunes and approached the river. Every step a fresh pain to her feet, and her legs weakened quickly. She saw many of the animals milling around the rivers edge or wading into the current as she approached. Her steps began to come faster and faster, and she knew she was going to fall headlong into the swift current unable to stop her momentum, so at the last moment the tossed kitten into small grass and let her momentum carry her into the river.

The cold water against her skin brought her back to full consciousness in a flash. She felt herself rolling over and over in the water without the strength to stop it. She was just about to surrender to the current completely when she heard some strange splashing near her. Then her body struck a couple obstructions in the water, and she stuck fast; not able to get her head above the water, and unable to move with the current crushing her against what felt like branches in her back.

Again she began to relax and surrender when she felt herself speared by several other branches and lifted out of the water. She gasped for breath, and then screamed as the branches dug into her arm and ribs. Her weight shifted and fell against more of the branches and stuck fast again. Her eyes were closed and she couldn't help the cries that were escaping from her body when she felt the branches begin to move. Slowly at first then faster they moved, and she expected to be pitched into the river at any moment, but it didn’t happen.

After a few moments she felt herself falling then her shoulder struck the branches again. Her weight carried her forward out of the branches, and she rolled into some grass on the bank of the river. Looking up she saw the bull elk, its horns and head dripping wet, standing over her. As she stirred and began to drink from the river, he splashed back up stream to be with the other elk.

She had to heal herself twice to be able to stand properly, but once she was up she immediately began digging a trench to bring water to the animals too weak to leave the pond of sand below. She knew that she did not have the magic or the strength to help them in any other way than to bring the water to her.

She found a strong stick and began grinding a small path for the water to follow. Soon the animal that were strong enough began pawing and digging in the dirt as well. Before long they had a small trickle in the path then a small stream. Most of the animals were as exhausted as she was, and could only work for a few minutes before they had to rest, but the stream was growing ever faster. She moved forward following and watching the stream until it reach the deep sand where it seemed to disappear; the sand drinking it up.

She went back up to the top of the hill and found the beavers working feverishly to cut down trees, and wedge them into the river. Soon it was all she could do to sit on a rock as watch in agony as some of the trees floated freely down the stream while others caught hold in the mud and rocks. Then as she watch a large tree fell right into the river it struck still partially attached, but all of its leaves and branches pushing the water toward the north side of the river where surge of water began to flow down the old riverbed. She suddenly realized that the beavers would be able to do morello shift the water than all the other animals combined, and she decided to give them all the help she could. As each beaver came out of the water to find a new tree or branch, she would heal it. The beavers were clearly strengthen by this redoubled their efforts. With her magic expended she knew she could be of no more value to them, and returned to the pond. The water was making progress against the sand, but it was heart bracingly slow, moving only a few feet at a time before stopping to fill some new pit of sand.

As she watched the slow advance of the water she grew increasingly anxious for the animals that still lay at the pond, too weak to move. She decided that no matter how little it was, she was going to carry water in her hands and her cheeks to those desperate animals. She did this many times that night walking up to the head of the river and back to the animals, giving them a lick or two at a time.

By morning, she had given each of the animals at least a swallow of water, and the larger ones two or three. As the sun rose she shifted her tactic to trying to urge, carry, and drag animals up the river to where the water was. On her return trips she would bring a handful and mouthful of water, and then escort another animal up the slope. She had rescued all the animals except a large cow elk, and the bear cub when she reached the end of her strength. She sat for a minute next the bear stroking its fur but the scorching sun soon drove her into the shade. She could see the water now, and hoped it would arrive in time.

As she watched the water inch its way forward there was a sudden explosion in the sand near her, and something came flying out of the sand landing right in the middle of the pond by the bear cub.

Nénuphar leapt to her feet. It was a woman, her skin was as black as space between the stars at night. She had a strong build, and long black fluffy looking hair that was tied at several places down her back. She was dressed in strange white and gray clothing, and was gasping for breath.

After a couple of quick breaths the woman raised her head, and began screaming in pain. She buried her eyes in her elbow thrust it toward the sand. She continued to scream as if she were being burned alive.

Nénuphar had no idea what was happening, but she began calling out to the woman: “What’s wrong? What can I do.”

The woman’s reply was strange, and Nénuphar could not understand what she said, but she kept waving her free hand in the direction of the sun.

Nénuphar guessed that she was either afraid of the sun, or was being burned by it. She ran to the woman’s side and began pulling her toward the shade several yards away. Amid the crying out she slowly crawled in the direction that Nénuphar was attempting to drag her.

The shade helped soften her cries some, but still she could not take her eyes from the crook in her elbow without excruciating pain. Nénuphar found some large hand shaped leaves, and began cover the black woman in them. She seemed to catch to the idea and laid down pulling them over her face. Nénuphar gathered every leaf and stick she could find, and still the woman continued to moan and cry. Extremely worried Nénuphar could do nothing more except wait, and hope for a miracle.

As afternoon passed into evening the woman fell quiet, and Nénuphar, hoping she was asleep, slipped off into the forest to find some food. She returned with some raspberries piled high on a large piece of bark, a handful of some sweet roots, and another piece of bark piled with walnuts.

She made it back to the pond just before sunset, but the woman did not seem to have moved. She sat down and placed the food between herself and the woman, and waited.

It was nearly two hours before the woman began to stir, and Griffe, as Nénuphar came to call the kitten, Griffe in common speech, was getting anxious to eat the berries.

The woman spoke softly, but Nénuphar could not make out what she said. The woman repeated the words a couple times, and Nénuphar responded as best she could, but neither of them understood the other. Slowly the woman began to raise the branches until she could see that the sky was dark. Lucky for her the moon was a late riser that night.

As the woman sat up she winced in pain as if every muscle and joined was in pain. Concerned, Nénuphar tried to ask if she was hurt, but couldn’t get any idea where. She offered her the food, which was quickly accepted. She was surprised by the sweetness of the root, and seemed to enjoy it thoroughly. When Nénuphar finally convinced her to try the raspberries, she was absolutely flabbergasted. She enjoyed the nuts as well, but the raspberries were clearly the favorite.

After eating, Nénuphar helped Yetta to the river. They found that where it entered the pond, it seemed to have stopped. At least it had stopped advancing. The water was still flowing into the sand, but the sand was simply drinking it up as fast as it could come.

They drank their fill and returned to the tree to rest. They tried for several minutes to communicate with hand signals and simple words, but all that Nénuphar learned was that the woman’s name was Yetta. Nénuphar tried several times to help the woman pronounce her name, and finally reverted the common name Lily, which was much easier for her.
Finally Yetta signaled for Nénuphar to stay be quiet for a minute. Yetta began to chant and then placed one hand on her mouth and one hand on Nénuphar’s mouth. Nénuphar recognized the feelings as similar to the one that allowed her to talk to animals, but this spell was somewhat different. It seemed to take hold of her lips and tongue as the other had, but it spread into the back of her throat and even made her ears begin to ring.

As the sensation passed, and their ears stopped ringing, Yetta spoke, “There, can you understand me now?”

Surprised Nénuphar replied in the affirmative.

“Good. I am Yetta of the Sansen. Thank you so much for your help.”

“You’re very welcome.” said Nénuphar. “…but where did you come from?”

“Down below.” said Yetta pointing at the ground.

Nénuphar blinked a couple times trying to comprehend what she could possibly mean.

“My people,” began Yetta, “have a spell we call pass through earth. It allows us to move through rock and sand magically.”

“So you mean you came from the ground?” asked Nénuphar hesitantly.

“Yes, well we live in a space between the rocks that we call Paradise. It is not very big, but it is what we have.” said Yetta.

“Oh, so you live in a cave underground?!” replied Nénuphar cheerfully.

“A cave?” now it was Yetta that was at a loss.

“Yes” said Nénuphar, “That is what we call the space inside the ground.”

“Oh, okay.” consented Yetta.

Yetta then touched Nénuphar’s knee, and ask very seriously: “Is this… is this the… surface?”

Nénuphar was not sure how to answer, but slow answered, “Yes.”

Yetta closed her eyes and sat back raising her hands and face to the sky, “Praise the maker. I actually made it.” She kissed her palms and raised them to the sky. Her voice then dropped to a whisper, “Thank you.” she spoke skyward.

Nénuphar sat curiously watching her strange show of devotions that seemed to consist of much kissing of the palms and raising them to the sky, intermixed with thanking the maker for all her ancestors, and her gifts, and her families gifts, and her protection, and guidance, and on an on. Soon she found, though, that her eyes began closing involuntarily. She nearly fell right over, but her body jerked and she regained her seated position.

Yetta said a few more thank you’s and then whispered to Nénuphar. “You are tired. Sleep friend. I will watch.”
No sooner had her cheek rested on her arm than she was asleep.

It was a couple hours later, when Yetta noticed the light of the moon began to brighten at the horizon. She rose nervously and raised her hand to shield her yes from the light until the first glimpse of the moon itself appeared. She immediately pounced on Nénuphar who struggled to find consciousness again. After several shakes she sat up trying to understand what was happening.

“The dagger! The blue dagger is coming! We have to hide.” begged Yetta desperately.

Nénuphar followed Yetta’s hand, but couldn’t understand what she was pointing at. Her head continued to clear, and she remembered Yetta’s reaction to the sun, then it occurred to her. The moon was just beginning to wax, and with only the top section above the horizon it did kind of look like the blade of a dagger.

“No, no.” Its okay said Nénuphar, “That is the moon.”

Yetta took a deep breath and whispered, “The mun. We have legends of that, but I didn’t even think.” She continued shield her eyes, but couldn’t help stealing quick glances of it.

“The mooooooon.” said Nénuphar slowly.

“Moon. Okay.” said Yetta. “Our people have legends that on the surface a mun… err moon… crosses the roof of the great surface space and makes everything glow. I never imagined it was so bright.”

Nénuphar finally understood Yetta’s reaction to the sun, and began to worry.

“How often does it cross the roof, and how big is this surface? It seems so far away.”

Nénuphar was not sure how to explain, but began with, “It comes out every night. Well almost every night. Sometimes it… well every night.”

Yetta looked at Nénuphar with complete bewilderment, “Every… night? What does that mean.”

Nénuphar began to feel tired again as she tried to figure out how to explain the day and night cycle to someone who had never been to the surface world. She pondered and struggled to keep her eyes open and the moon cleared the horizon, and began to climb into the sky.

Yetta broke the silence again in amazement, “What a strange shape. What is it?”

Nénuphar’s muddled brain could not bring her brain to focus, and just said, “I’m sorry, can we talk in the morning?”, and she laid her head down again.

As she faded into sleep she heard Yetta rolling the new word around in her mouth, “morning”.

Yetta watched diligently to make sure the moon didn’t come any closer, and was amazed that with how bright it was, she never caught the slightest glimpse of the ceiling even as it passed by the glowing dots of fungus on the roof. She walked around a bit and looked at the strange plants that glowed under the power of the moon. She looked out over the sand dunes to the south was completely overcome with nausea at the sheer distance. Her brain just couldn’t register such a vast expanse.

By the time the moon was directly overhead she was able to look at it without wincing, but she still was baffled by its shape, and could not figure out how it moved. She concluded that she must be seeing some kind of shell, and its legs moved smoothly across the ceiling, but the shapes and patterns on the shell were very strange and the curvature of the shell was imperceptible.

As she lay on her back pondering she dozed off a couple times, but snapped back awake afraid to miss even a minute of the magical crawl across the ceiling. She watched it slowly crawl down the other side when she noticed that the entire ceiling began to brighten, especially over where the moon had first appeared. When she saw the dots of fungus begin to disappear, she quickly roused Nénuphar.

“Quick, look.” she said pointing to the east. “What is happening?”

Nénuphar knew that Yetta could not bear the sun so she began to arrange the large branches and leaves again for Yetta. As Yetta realized what she was doing, terror rose in her eyes again.

“Is it coming back?” she ask shaking.

“Yes.” said Nénuphar calmly, “but its okay. Lets just get you in here, and I will watch over you while it passes.”

Her breathing began to accelerate as she climbed back under the leaves, and buried her yes in her arm.

Keeping her eyes covered she whispered with a shaking voice, “What is it?”

“The sun.” whispered Nénuphar. “but don’t worry, you are safe here.”

Nénuphar then asked, “How are you doing? Do you still hurt?”

“Yes.” replied Yetta from under the leaves. “It will be many days before that pain is gone.”

“Then I have a gift for you.” said Nénuphar as her hands began to glow a gentle blue.

When the healing was complete, Yetta moved around a little, and said in amazement and deep gratitude, “Thank you.”

Nénuphar heard a kiss and Yetta’s palm extended from the branches toward her. She did not know what she was supposed to do, so she placed her palm against Yetta’s and said, “You’re welcome.” She then added quietly, “What happened to you anyway?”

Yetta paused, and then began her tale. “Our village is a wonderful and beautiful place, but we have overfilled it. The fungus is no longer able to support the growing families, and the fish are becoming harder to find in the water. The naga are attacking our fishermen, and there are rumors that the elves have finally found our home.”

“So when the waters stopped again, the elders send me to follow the water trail, and see if I could find another space where we could live.”

“I followed the trail as far as I could but found the way blocked several times by rock. Each time I used the spell to move through earth, and each time found that the trail continued on. I spent several days climbing, and moving through earth when I had to, but it seemed to go on forever. One day the water started to flow, and I knew that time was short. I must either find a space, or return before the water reached its full capacity.”

“I knew that my people were in a very dangerous place, and any day the elves would attack and probably kill us all, so I decided to continue no matter what. The water was steadily increasing, and I got in a hurry. The last time I cast the spell, I found it much further than I had anticipated; I guess it was the presence of this sand that threw me off.”

“Anyway, my spell began to fail, and I was trapped, I panicked when I hit the sand, and felt trapped. As the spell faltered, I thought I would die, but instead found myself shunted out of the sand.”

“Shunted?” ask Nénuphar.

“Yes.” Yetta continued. If you are still in the earth when the spell ends, you will get squished and if you are lucky you get shunted or thrown out to the nearest hollow space. I was extremely lucky that I was so close to the surface, but it was still excruciating to be shunted out of the earth.”

“So that is where I met you, under the destructive glare of the sun. I thought I was being burned alive, and my eyes have never felt such pain.”

Yetta fell silent for a moment then added, “Thank you again Lily.”

Nénuphar laid down near the leaves and talked to Yetta for several hours, asking questions, and telling Yetta about the surface world. They both marveled at the incomprehensible descriptions, and promised to show each other the wonders of their homes. Nénuphar explained the cycle of day and night, and that the sun was hot and incomprehensibly bright, but that they had learned to enjoy its presence, and Nénuphar hoped that one day Yetta could feel its warmth without pain.

As the sun climbed toward noon, Nénuphar expressed again her certainty that Yetta would be okay under the leaves, but that she needed to go help some of the animals. Yetta accepted her comforting, and urged her to go. She even promised to try to sleep while they waited for the sun to go away.

Nénuphar was able to heal the remaining animals and ushered them off into the woods. She checked on the beavers, and found them hard at work, but not progressing very quickly
in their new diversion dam. She gathered some berries, nuts, and roots, and returned to see how Yetta was doing. Her slow breathing indicated that she was indeed asleep, so Nénuphar pulled Griffe close, and went to sleep herself.