Nénuphar - 1

Nénuphar was little more than a leaking zombie that night. Silencieuse tried to engage her in conversation to take her mind off Trell, but it was no use. Nénuphar could only manage a couple words, and they generally trailed of into a sobs. As morning dawned, they stopped to watch the sun rise, but Nénuphar barely raised her eyes. Silencieuse tried to get Nénuphar to eat, but the best she could get in her was a drink of water. So Silencieuse decided to keep traveling.

The day passed slowly and Nénuphar began wear down. Her legs were just not used to the walking. When the sun reached its peak Silencieuse decided to pause, and see if Nénuphar would eat. A few mushrooms were all she could get down her, but Nénuphar did consent to a long drink of water. As they sat and rested, Silencieuse could see that


Nénuphar’s legs were shaking from the long walk, and decided to rest for a while.

Nénuphar slept like a rock, and woke up at nightfall in tears. She ate some spinach, mushrooms, and strawberries, but couldn’t stop the tears. Her mind was clear now, and she obsessively began watching the dandelion for any signs of distress. It looked a bit dried out, but she could feel no distressing condition.

With Nénuphar rested, Silencieuse once again lead her forward through the night. Nénuphar was eating good meals, but Silencieuse was concerned that she was not getting enough protein so she let Nénuphar watch the sunrise while she scouted for some food. She returned an hour later with bag full of pecans and two small eggs.

Silencieuse knew the eggs would be a hard sell so she kept the hidden until Nénuphar had eaten a bellyful of pecans, mushrooms, and a leafy salad. She then decided to make the attempt: “Nénuphar, I am worried that you are not getting enough protein to sustain you through our journey.” she looked into Nénuphar’s eyes and only saw a blank uncomprehending stare.

“I know this makes you sad, but I think you know that I’m right.” Nénuphar reluctantly nodded, but still there was no more than a blank stare.

“I need you to eat these.” she said bringing out the eggs.

Nénuphar’s eyes filled and began leaking down her cheeks as she looked away, and put her head in her hands.

“I know you don’t like to disturb the animals, but you must keep up your strength. If Trell runs into trouble he is going to need you to be strong.”

This was a bit of a ruse, Nénuphar only had to be alive, and leave the flower ring on her hand to help Trell, but Silencieuse was hoping that Nénuphar did not know all the details of the muse.

Nénuphar looked back into Silencieuse’ eyes with great concern.

Silencieuse noticed that the dandelion was a bit droopy, and decided to take a gamble. “Nénuphar” she began hesitantly, “Look, the flower seems to indicate that Trell is struggling a bit.”

Nénuphar’s eyes snapped to her ring, and she desperately tried to wipe her eyes clear to see it clearly. She began to breath heavily and clench her hands and her toes.

“Okay”, she said, and motioning toward the eggs, she continued, “How?”

“Well, “ began Silencieuse, “we start by drilling a tiny hole in one end of the egg.” She drew out a needle from somewhere in her belt. “Just like this…”
“Then, you just draw the contents out by sucking on it.”

Nénuphar grimaced as she drank the contents of the eggs, but after both were gone gazed intently at the ring. It didn’t seem to change at all. She let a few tears drop on the flower in a vain hope to see some improvement. She then took the empty eggs and gently buried them as a respectful thank you to those birds that had sacrificed for her.
Silencieuse watch Nénuphar for signs of sleep or exhaustion, but she was focussed so much on the ring that she could not sleep, so Silencieuse decide to continue their march.
They were now well beyond the southern shores of the lake and were following a river that flowed south out of it. The tree began to thin and change to more draught tolerant types, and the undergrowth almost entirely disappeared except close to the banks of the river.

Around mid-morning they came to the edge a rocky slope. The river tumbled down it with a great deal of noise, and the thinned trees gave a good view of the world to the east and south.

To the south the plants entirely vanished in a sea of yellow sand that went on as far as the eye could see. In some places in was piled into great hills, and others flowed gently up and down like ripples on the lake. To east they could see see a perplexing sight. There seemed to be a river channel with a double line of trees and some tall grasses, but it was entirely choked with sand. The river itself seemed to have chosen another path as was wandering in the same general direction but often far from the trees and grasses.

Stunned by the sand, and confused by the trees and the river, Nénuphar momentarily forgot the ring, “What…” her voice trailing off, not know even what to ask.
“This is why we have come”, said Silencieuse. “You see, the sands from the south are constantly driving their way north. Often during the summer, after the river has receded, the sandstorms will blow from the south completely choking the riverbed with sand. As the river fights its way back toward the ocean, it often gets tricked and confused into taking a different route. The trees and grasses of the riverbed seem to catch a lot of sand, and actually become high ground forcing the river round as you can see.”

She paused, looking for some recognition for Nénuphar then continued, “So one of our duties is to unclog the riverbed and return the river to its course.”

“Why?” asked Nénuphar innocently. “What does it matter?”

Silencieuse thought for a moment then took her hand and said, “Come, I’ll show you.”

Nénuphar allowed herself to be led down the rocky slope to a bowl-like depression in the sand.

“Here you can see where the river pooled up when it ran into the great mounds of sand.” said Silencieuse, “…and over there you can see where the river broke out and started forging a new channel.”

She continued to lead Nénuphar for another half mile before stopping at a place where the double line of tree separated and formed a strange round pile of sand between them. They walked up to the edge of the ring, and while Nénuphar struggled to make sense of what she was seeing, Silencieuse began chanting and spread her hands out in front of her.
Nénuphar watched at the sand began to develop small bulges and then out of the sand began to pop dozens of frogs, salamanders, and even some spiders. They came and formed a circle around the two, and just seemed to wait for something to happen.

Silencieuse stopped chanting and turned to Nénuphar. “You see, this is usually a beautiful little pond. All of these creatures live in the mud and grasses around the pond, but when the sands come, they get buried, and the ground begins to dry out. Our job is to rescue them before they dry out or starve.”
“So how do we do that?” asked Nénuphar.

“Well…” started Silences, “We dig it out so the river can return.”

Nénuphar stared at Silencieuse, her eyes wide, then at the massive hills of sand in the clearing, then back at Silencieuse.

“We dig it out?” she repeated.

“Well kind of.” said Silencieuse. “We actually start from the other end, so to speak. If we were to dig out this pond first, the water would fill it up all nicely, then it would carve its way out the side destroying the pond. So what we do is create a new riverbed between the rows of trees and then when it is ready we turn the river up where it begins to deviate, and it will clear the bulk of the sand on its own.”

“So, where is the other end?” asked Nénuphar starting to get really nervous.

“Down at the ocean.” said Silencieuse cheerfully. “Have you ever been to the ocean?”

Nénuphar shook her head no.

“Then this will be wonderful. Your first trip to the ocean.”

Nénuphar suddenly began to feel very tired, she sunk down onto a sand dune, and her chest began convulse into sobs again. With some reassurance that it was not as far as she might think, Nénuphar was able to bring her sobs back under control, but her face wrinkled up in worry as she looked at her hand. The dandelion, forgotten for a few hours, still seemed to be getting worse.

“I think Trell is in some kind of trouble.” she stammered not taking her eyes from the flower.

Softly Silencieuse took her hand again and began to take her back toward the rocky slope. “Well need to keep an eye on that.” she said knowing there is nothing they can do to help Trell if he really was in trouble. “But let me show you how we start to get this river cleaned up.”

Nénuphar’s breathing was choppy and shallow, but she did not resist as she lead her to the top of the slope.

“Now I am going to need your help with this.” said Silencieuse locking eyes with Nénuphar. “Repeat after me.” She then said some strange sounds that Nénuphar could only stumble through. “That’s close, now watch my lips and listen closely.” Silencieuse spoke the words again, but slower this time. Nénuphar tried again, but still found little resemblance to what she had heard.

Eyes still locked they repeated the effort several more times. Then Silencieuse turned in the direction of the woods and began to chant the words in a rhythm that seemed to beckon to Nénuphar. If she had not been standing right next to Silencieuse she would drawn closer without hesitation. Silencieuse repeated the chant several times as Nénuphar tried to copy her. Then Silencieuse raised both her hand into the air taking one of the Nénuphar’s hands with them. Nénuphar quickly understood and raised her other hand to match. As they continued to chant Nénuphar could see animals of all kinds appearing out of the forest and drawing near.

Then without notice Silencieuse changed her chant, and Nénuphar was unable to follow so she just kept repeating the sounds as she had been. Silencieuse began shooting small balls of color from the tips of her fingers. Some she would send skyward, some into the forest infant of them, and some into the ground around them. After several seconds of that Silencieuse raised her voice into a beautiful high note as if singing. The sound resonated through the woods, and Nénuphar completely lost sense of where she was, but embraced Silencieuse, laid her head on her shoulder and closed her eyes.

After what seemed like a glorious eternity to Nénuphar, Silencieuse fell silent and the sound began to slowly fade into the distance. Nénuphar opened her eyes and found them surrounded by animals of all kinds: birds, rabbits, gophers, dear, pigs, and many others. They were all milling around, some of them rubbing against the two druids.
Silencieuse, apologized softly, “I am sorry. I forgot that you would be affected so strongly by that spell. I forgot the nymphs so close to the animals. You weren’t hurt or offended were you?”

Nénuphar stepped back to arm’s length and with tears of joy said, “No, no. Certainly not. That was very beautiful. Was that a spell?”

“Yes.” said Silencieuse. “I was calling the animals to come help us.”

Nénuphar gave her hands a squeeze and smiled. She then knelt down and began to pet some of the smaller animals. One cat in particular drew her attention. It had a yellow-brown coat with black spots and stood a foot and a half tall. But the thing that charmed Nénuphar was the fact that huddled around the mother cat were five kittens each purring, climbing on their mother, and generally roughhousing with each other.

The mother cat, which Silencieuse referred to as Sloos stood by and purred as Nénuphar tickled and played with the kittens. The kittens loved the attention, and began to climb onto Nénuphar’s lap and attack her hair. More than once she had to intervene as one of the kittens got an extra good hold and began to climb. She quickly noticed that the largest of the kittens, a male, was the clear leader. When one of the other kittens found something to play with he pounced on them and generally took it away. When he found a cool new toy, such as Nénuphar’s hair, the other kittens would prowl around hoping to get a chance to pounce on it. There was also a small kitten that was reserved and not very adventurous. This small male tended to sit by his mother and watch the frivolities of his three sisters and big brother.

The largest kitten had just pounced on Nénuphar’s hand as she began to stand. This movement surprised the adventurous kitten, which drew out his claws. As Nénuphar pulled her hand away eight little scratched on her forearm turned red and began to bleed. She squealed further surprising the kittens, and the largest kitten did the thing that cam most natural to him when frightened. He tried to climb to higher ground. Unfortunately Nénuphar’s leg was the closest thing to climb. Again she let out a startled cry of pain, and the kittens dashed back to their mother. If the kitten climbing her leg had hurt, the kitten using her leg as a spring board with four feet full of fully extended claw was downright painful and left four launch marks on her thigh where the kitten leapt from.

Being young, surprised, and off-balance the kitten landed badly and its hind quarters struck a jagged corner of a rock eliciting a hiss and producing a limp as he retreated to his mothers side. Sloos gave her son a couple good looks hoping to help ease the pain, but the limp remained, and the kitten sat down to lick his wound.
Nénuphar, on the other hand, was writing in pain and watching the lines of blood begin to slide down her leg in several places. Moments later the mother cat came over to her rubbed against her uninjured leg and then gave her injuries a couple good licks as if to apologize for her son.

Silencieuse, on the other hand had been take a mental catalog of the animals present, but was concerned at something. When Nénuphar yelped, her attention was drawn back and she quickly saw the painful looking wounds. The look on Nénuphar’s face was almost comical with the pouty lips, and a look in her eyes that clearly said she felt betrayed.
Suppressing the smile that threatened to curl her lips, Silencieuse led Nénuphar over to a rack where she could sit down. She then took Nénuphar’s hands and placed them on her leg over the most serious looking gouges. Nénuphar immediately jerked her hands away and looked horror at the blood on her hands.

Like a gently but firm mother, Silencieuse again took Nénuphar’s hands and placed them on the wounded spot. She then placed hers on top of and began to chant.

Pausing for a moment she looked into Nénuphar’s puckered eyes, “Say it with me.” she said lovingly but firmly.

They both began to chant, and after a few seconds Nénuphar began to feel a soft tingling sensation in her hands. Then Silencieuse’s hands began to glow a soft blue color. The color passed through Nénuphar’s hands and into her leg; then down her leg until all the wounds glowed and tingled a bit. As the light faded, her skin was left as if nothing had ever happened except for the blood that had already escaped.

Nénuphar lifted her hands, and found the wounds gone, but her hands still streaked with blood. These she turned palm up and offered them Silencieuse.

“Come on. Lets go get you washed off.” offered Silencieuse gesturing toward the river.

The fresh blood came off easily in the swift current, and Nénuphar revived from her desperate expression. Washing her hands reminded Nénuphar of the dandelion, and was again very concerned to see that it continued to look more emaciated than before.

Silencieuse pulled Nénuphar to her feet, but their eyes did not meet. Silencieuse was looking into the distance, and had a worried look on her face. Then her face softened and large herd of elk came thundering into view.

“Excellent!” she said, “Lets get going.”

Turning to Nénuphar she said, “Try to keep the animals in single file directly behind me, we want one deep path right down the middle of the riverbed.”

She then took a couple steps away from Nénuphar, and transformed into the huge elk that had appeared at the farewell feast. Letting out a very loud trumpeting call, she began to march down the slope and into the sand in the old riverbed.

The animals all followed Silencieuse, and for the most part kept in a single file line. Even the birds would walk along the ground for a time before hopping and gliding ahead for a few feet. Once again Nénuphar was stared in silence at this unimaginable scene.

As she watched she began to understand. The single file trail was working a significant rut into the sand dunes. By the time all the animals had passed, she could almost imagine the river back in its course.

After a few minutes she noticed a couple foxes frolicking around and leaving tracks all over the place. She noticed that their tracks were breaking down the ridges on the sides of the track, partially filling in the track that been so carefully created.

Jogging over to the foxes she approached trying to herd them back into line. The foxes noticed her and turned to face her. One of them began to growl, and the other let out a couple warning barks. Nénuphar did not know what to do so she just stopped and began to lecture them.

“You two get back in line.” she said point toward the line of animals. “You are destroying the work that everyone else is doing, I won’t stand for it.” With that she stamped her foot on the ground and the two foxes jumped back. They didn’t get back into line, but they did stop growling and barking, and their tails were wagging any more.
Nénuphar again pointed at the line of animals, and stamped her foot, “Now!” she demanded. The two foxes quickly ran back to the line of other animals their tails almost dragging on the ground.

After that she fell in line herself. She could occasionally see the great rack of horns worn by Silencieuse, but the other animals and the trees often obscured her view.
The entire line stopped from time to time, and Silencieuse would come trotting back to see how Nénuphar was faring. She was faring well, and was often kept busy chasing some of the more rambunctious animals back in line. Two black bear cubs were especially troublesome, and Nénuphar had started focusing all of her attention on them.
By nightfall, Nénuphar was walking with eyes half closed, and didn’t notice that she had walked right into another large ring of trees. This one ringed on the far side by a ridge of rocks about a hundred feet high. There was a smoothed wide crack in the wall where the river would normally flow, but now the sand filled much it.

All the animals scattered around the sand lake and bedded down for the night; some huddling together, some stretching out pushing everything way, and other settled into the trees. Nénuphar just laid down on the warm sand, and was immediately asleep.

Some time later Silencieuse woke her and urged some food and water into her. Nénuphar consumed what she was given without saying a word, and then laid back down and was immediately asleep.

The sun broke over the horizon right into Nénuphar’s eyes, as she squeezed her eyes closed against the barrage or light, she felt warm fur all around her. As her eyes adjusted she found that the family of forest cats had curled up against her stomach and chest, there were two large white bird huddled in the crook of her knees, and the two troublesome bear cubs and their mother had curled up together in one massive pile of black fur against her back. As she started to move she found whole swarm of furry little rodents had entirely buried her feet in fluff. Her movements woke the animals around her, and each began to scurry, waddle, and prance away except the bears, which seemed oblivious, and the largest of the forest cat kittens which lay curled up by her should. After a good scratch under the chin, the kitten gave her a long lick up the side of her cheek.

Her smile turned to horror as she felt her cheek explode in pain. She scrambled to her knees put her hand to her face to discover that her whole face burned like it was on fire, and the pain was terrible. She touched her forehead, her shoulders, her arms, stomach, back, legs, and feet. Every part of her was absolutely on fire, and the more she moved the more it hurt. To make matters worse her smooth white skin had turned splotchy red, and parts of it were turning an unnatural white color.

She screeched, then as the panic and confusion grew she erupted into an full scream fueled by both her pain and her confusion. She stood, and continued to cry out in pain, stumbling around trying to find some relief. She quickly discovered that moving caused the worse pain, so she stood still, her eyes filled with terror, her face contorted with pain, and her throat letting out a wail interspersed with sobbing.

Silencieuse came running her scimitar drawn. As she approached she could see the source of Nénuphar’s distress. She dropped her scimitar and began chanting. Between her chants she told Nénuphar not to move, but Nénuphar could only respond with her wailing cry. Silencieuse grab her by the shoulders, but this cause Nénuphar to scream, and collapse in a shaking panting heap in the sand. Kneeling beside her Silencieuse began to chant more intently, and her hands began to glow blue. She placed her hands on the sides of Nénuphar’s head, and the glow began to pulse across her quivering body. The glow grew brighter and spread across her entire body.

Nénuphar’s eyes closed as the blue glow obscured her vision. She felt the magic spread, and pain began to subside. Slowly the pain completely disappeared, and her panting turned into deep breaths. She felt Silencieuse’s hand release her, and she opened her eyes. The glow was gone, the pain was gone, but Silencieuse’s cheeks were streaked with tears, and her eyes were desperate with concern.

“Are you okay?” asked Silencieuse.

“I… I think so.” said Nénuphar. “What was that curse? And who… or… what…” Her breathing and heart began to race again.

“No, no, no” Silencieuse whispered quickly. “Not a curse. A sunburn.”

Nénuphar looked at her in confusion. “But I have lived under the sun and moon my entire life, and they have never done this to me.”

Silencieuse took a deep breath before responding. “Yes. The difference is… Well… the difference is the type of exposure. Back at home what did you do when you started to feel hot?”

“I would go for a swim or just find some shade.” returned Nénuphar.

“Exactly.” said Silencieuse. “But if you had not found a way to cool yourself, your skin would have burned just as it did yesterday.”

Nénuphar’s eyes began to water as she thought of facing another day in the sun and another burn. Silencieuse saw her concern, but was already thinking. “I can help” she said.

She began to chant rubbing her throat and ears. Nénuphar saw nothing, but felt the magic. Silencieuse then looked skyward and let out a screech like a bird of prey. Several more times she called out, and fell silent and waited.

The both watched the sky until several hawks and two great eagles with white heads landed in the trees near them. Silencieuse again cried out several times as if speaking the the birds. Eventually they all took to the sky again again and disappeared.

Turning to Nénuphar, Silencieuse explained that she had asked the birds to gather some herbs that would help prevent the sunburn. She explained that if they found some they would bring it and drop it at Nénuphar’s feet. She was then to break open the leaves and apply the cream to her entire body. Silencieuse then excused herself, retrieved her sword, and disappeared over a dune.

Nénuphar struggled to contain the fear that was welling up inside her, hoping the birds would be able to find some of this magic herb.

Soon Silencieuse once again brought food, this time it was a massive round nut with three strange circles on one end. It looked furry at first, but Nénuphar soon found the
outside to be very wiry hairs. Silencieuse let Nénuphar look at the nut for a few moments then announced: “Coconut.”

“Coco…nut.” repeated Nénuphar. “What does that mean?”

“It just means one of those.” replied Silencieuse.

“How do we open a nut that big and hard?” puzzled Nénuphar out loud.

With a laugh and dancing flourish Silencieuse drew her long scimitar, and retrieved the coconut from Nénuphar. “Like this.” was her reply. Holding up the coconut in one hand she sliced the top right off nut about an inch from the tip. She then carefully handed the nut back to Nénuphar with the open end up.

Nénuphar was surprised to find the hollow except that it was almost full of water. “Wow.” said Nénuphar impressed both by the swordsmanship and the strange nut.

“Drink it slowly.” instructed Silencieuse as she handed Nénuphar some brown plump roots.

With her first swallow Nénuphar almost dropped the coconut. She stared in amazement at it.

Silencieuse laughed and began her transformation back into her elk form.

As Nénuphar waited for the birds to return, she noticed the daring kitten slowly sneaking his way toward her. With much purring and rubbing against her legs, he convinced Nénuphar to give him a taste of the coconut juice. He took a couple quick licks and paused considering, then he tried to climb right into the coconut. Nénuphar laughed and rescued him before he was able to climb all the way in. She played with the kitten for a few minutes, and found that one of his hind quarters was tender from the fall the previous day. He didn’t seem to be concerned about unless shed that leg, but she was a little concerned.

Suddenly Nénuphar heard the trumpeting of Silencieuse announcing the start of the march, and soon all the animals except the still sleeping bears where on the move. Nénuphar decided to wait until she was sure the bears were going to wake up before falling in line. She was also a little afraid the birds might return and not be able to find them.

As the last animals were filing out of the sand lake, she decided that she better attempt to wake the bears. After all, their huge paws were a wonderful addition to the trench they were working into the sand. She nudged the mother bear, and stepped back. The she-bear didn’t move. She nudged harder, and still nothing. She began to fear they were dead and grabbed hold of the mother in an attempt to roll her over. To her relief she rolled over on to her back, spread out all four paws in a great yawn, and bellowed lazily. Climbing to her feet, she gave each of her cubs a nudge that rolled them over, and stumbled off after the other animals. The two cubs quickly followed suit followed closely by Nénuphar who kept her eyes bouncing between the animals in front of her and the sky.

Morning began to drag on, and Nénuphar began to wonder how far they were going to go like this. She saw her skin begin to turn pink, and still there was no sign of the birds. The trees along the edges of the riverbed were thinning, and that last sign of any other green plants vanished once they left the lake where they had slept. Surely the animals were not going to endure long outside the forest. Nénuphar began to wonder how they were holding up without food for an entire day.

Looking around her she could see very little. To her right were endless dunes of sand. To her left, the dunes climbed the rocky hills and threatening to engulf them entirely. She was able to see some dry yellow grass on some of the hills, but she was not sure if any of it was alive. The depression in the sand where the animals were walking was not very impressive. It did carve out a path about five feet wide that was several inches lower than the surrounding sand, but it was hardly going to contain the entire river.

Nénuphar drank some coconut water and ate some of the bland roots. They gave her some strength, but did nothing to raise her spirits.

By midday her drink and roots were gone, and she began to eat some of the white meat lining the inside of the coconut. She enjoyed it very much, but it was very difficult to get out, and she had been digging at it with a rock for several hours. She also noticed that her dandelion ring was getting severely dried out, and it began to concern her greatly. She found herself staring at it more and more, and at times her fears would even bring tears to her eyes.

Wiping away some tears she noticed that the family of cats had just been passed by the bears. The male cat was with them and was carrying the largest of the kittens in his mouth. They were struggling along, and their paws were pretty good and maneuvering in the sand, but the extra load was slowing the burdened cat down, and they would soon be left behind.

Nénuphar’s heart lurched in her chest to see them struggling so, and wanted to help. So she gently extracted the kittens from his father’s mouth and began carrying him in her arms. It felt good to be helping, and the other cats seemed to appreciate it. She would not be able to carry the coconut, but it was more frustration than value now anyway.
She played with the kitten while she walked, tickling his belly and under his chin, while he batted at her hair that strayed too close. This helped her pass the time, but it could not entirely distract her from the burn that was slowly creeping over her body again, or from the concern as she watched the dandelion wither more and more.

She began to feel her breath coming in gasps, and legs were getting weak as well. Here eyes and mouth were completely dry, and she began to feel dizzy when suddenly one of her knees gave out. The kitten tumbled to the ground with his, but was quickly back at her side rubbing up against her and licking her face. It meowed a couple times as if urging her to get back up. She could see that it limped as it walked, but it was doing its best to help her.

Removing her hands from the deep sand he saw that the sand was caked onto her knuckles here they had cracked and begun bleeding. She was horrified to see that all of her once soft white knuckles were cracking and withering up like a dead leaf. The sight would have brought tears to her eyes if there was any water to be had, but instead she just blinked a few times tried to stand.

Her legs were both shaking, and it took several tries in the shifting sand to rise. She retrieved the kitten only to find that her arms too were shaking, and she had trouble supporting him. She closed her eyes, silently calling out into the elements for help knowing that she was needed help. After a few moments thought struck her, and she raised the kitten and dropped it across the back her neck. He was skittish at first, and left a few small scratches before he was able to relax, and just lay there. The small scratches burned and itched badly, but she was determined to continue.

As she began to walk she saw that the animals had all disappeared around the base a large rocky hill. She struggled forward determined to catch up, but as they rounded the hill she saw the animals quite a ways ahead of her, and they were beginning run.

She ran as best she could trying to catch up the animals began to run as well. She was terrified, and heartbroken. She wondered if the animals were really running from her or if her exhaustion was making her delirious. She felt her legs shaking as she ran. Her breathing became shallow and quick, and her mouth became unbearably dry.

Coming around a large dune, the track in the sand abruptly became a hard rocky path, and began to slope down slightly. She fell to her knees and set the kitten down as gently as she could, but knew she would not be able to rise again without help. There at the bottom of the hill was the river. All the animals were spread out along the bank drinking, but she too weak make it.

She fell forward onto her hands, dropper her head down in exhaustion, and began to sob, not able to cry out for help. The kitten beside her lay on its side panting, he too was clearly in distress.

She heard hooves ponding up the slope toward her, and felt her vision beginning to fade. Immediately Silencieuse was at her side brushing back her hair and telling her that it was going to be okay. She also the large male cat bound up to them and retrieve the exhausted kitten.

Nénuphar heard Silencieuse ask, “Can you climb on my back?”, after a short pause with no response she tried again, “I need to climb on my back and I will carry you down to the river.”

Nénuphar nodded, and Silencieuse transformed into an elk laying down as flat as she could next to Nénuphar. Nénuphar took a couple quick deep breaths and crawled up onto the shoulders of the great elk. The two cats climbed up behind her.

It seemed to Nénuphar an eternity as Silencieuse carefully picked her way down the slope. It wasn’t steep but the rocks were smooth, and there was no dirt for her hooves to find support. Finally the elk laid down again, and Nénuphar rolled off.

She was not sure how long she lay there unable to move, but she was startled when something began splashing water. The coolness revived her enough look up and see a family of beavers splashing with all their might to get water to her.

She looked over and saw Silencieuse on her knees beside her, “Come on, I’ll help you.” she said, taking Nénuphar around the waist and helping her to her hands and knees.
Together the crawled the few feet to the river all the while being sprinkled by the beavers.

Nénuphar knew there were various animals around them, but was too dizzy to take notice of any particulars except the the beavers. As they drew near the river Nénuphar suddenly felt the river rise up and pounce on them. The crushing weight of the water made them pause, but it was not enough to make them loose their balance. As then blinked the water out of their eyes it came again. Nénuphar was about to collapse into oblivious when creature right above her let out a trumpet that filled her body with adrenaline.
Silencieuse, too was startled, and they both lurched forward sliding completely into the river. They settling on their knees in the river that was only about two feet deep. Surprised, but relieved that the river was not deeper, Nénuphar lookup up to see a massive creature with a six foot nose, and two white teeth sticking out the front of his mouth that were as long as spears.

Nénuphar, startled again, lurched backwards as if she were being attacked. She heard the animal trumpet again, and several more answered from somewhere not too far away, but just then Silencieuse quickly grabbed her arm to steady her.

In a weak voice Silencieuse whispered, “Elephants.”

Nénuphar had heard of such creatures, but had never seen them. The were magnificent, and terrifying towering above her.

“He won’t hurt us.” whispered Silencieuse, “He was just trying to help.”

Nénuphar again looked up at the elephant in awe. Soon she heard as much as saw more elephants marching up the river towards them. The were bellowing and swinging their trunks around in the water, and spraying water out the their trunks. The large elephant above them answered and pounded off to meet them.

Nénuphar knelt in the river beside Silencieuse for some time drinking she they could, and resting. The water running across her sunburnt skin was absolutely wonderful. It was like a thousand fairies were rubbing honey lotion on her entire body and massaging all her pain away.

Eventually Silencieuse rose to her feet and offer Nénuphar her hand. As she was pulled to her feet she noticed that Silencieuse’s legs were shaking. She put her arm around her should, and they helped each other out of the river.

It was then that Nénuphar noticed that the kitten she had carried was still lying where he had landed. Its entire family were milling around meowing and nudging the kitten, but there was no response. The kitten was soaked, and looked very thin. Its breathing was shallow and quick, but was fading quickly.
Nénuphar began to panic. “Silencieuse, can you help him?” she pleaded.

Silencieuse shook her head sadly. “I have already used up all of my magic today. There were so many that needed it.” Her voice trailed off as tears began to run down her cheek.

Nénuphar went over to the kitten speaking softly and petting it. She carried the kitten to the water and even put its nose in, but still it did not respond. Setting the kitten down on the bank she looked to Silencieuse, and begged.

“Please, isn’t there something we can do for him?”

Silencieuse wiped her eyes, and shook her head again. “Not unless you have some magic left in you.”

Nénuphar’s eyes snapped open. “I don’t know.” she said quickly, looking around as if something might tell her the answer. “How do I know if I have magic left?”

Silencieuse rose and came over to kneel by the kitten with Nénuphar. The kitten was barely breathing now, and Nénuphar was crying uncontrollably. Even the kittens family seemed to have given up, and was just laying nearby waiting.
Silencieuse took Nénuphar’s hands and laid them on the kitten. “You remember the words that I taught you?” she asked.

“Well, kind of.” replied Nénuphar.

“Let’s try it together.” said Silencieuse.

They both began chanting, but there was no reaction, no humming magic feel, no blue light.

“Look inside yourself, and reach out to nature and the elements around you.” Silencieuse coached as Nénuphar continued to chant.

She the little body shiver slightly, and go still.

She let out a defiant “Noooo!”, and her voice suddenly took on a desperate and intent tone as she recited the chant again. Suddenly her hands began to glow blue, and shot into the kittens body like a bolt of lightning. There was an audible snap or crackle, and the little body convulsed, lit up. The other animals that were nearby jumped, and Nénuphar pulled her hands back out of reflex.

Nénuphar and Silencieuse looked at each other in surprise then at Nénuphar’s hands, and then at the kitten. Its body was no longer lowing, and it was breathing again. A moment later it opened its eyes and meowed softly.

In a flash the other cats were around it meowing and purring, and nudging the kitten. It slowly rose to its feet and stumbled over to a puddle left by the elephant’s shower. It lapped up a good amount of water and then sat back panting.

Nénuphar squealed and hugged Silencieuse until she grunted unable to breath. “I did it! I did it!” she repeated over and over. Silencieuse smiled ear to ear, and let her celebrate.

It was not a minute later that something dropped right in front of the little kitten knocking it over and eliciting a hiss. It was a fish about the length of Nénuphar’s hand. One of the bear cubs had swatted the fish right out of the river, and it landed in the little puddle the kitten had been drinking from.

The excited cub bounded out the river pounced on it. It grabbed the fish in its teeth and bit it in half, swelling the head and much of the rest. The other half of the fish dropped again, and the kitten reflexively pounced on it. The bear cub seemed to study the kitten for a few seconds then bounded playfully back into the river.

Nénuphar was stunned by the sudden events, and simply sat back and watched as all the kitten began biting into the fish; mother and father looking on approvingly.

Silencieuse took Nénuphar by the hand raising her to her shaky feet. “We should catch some fish for ourselves as well.”

Nénuphar gave Silencieuse a sad look, but nodded in agreement.