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Ives is confused why old naiad can't remember something she just said, but he speaks with all the bluster and confidence of youth:
Selvfølgelig vil vi stoppe denne kampen! Vi skal gjøre hva det krever. For å beskytte hjemmet mitt, vil jeg gjøre alt!"
Teleri lays a hand on his shoulder. "Hun snakker om mer enn ditt hjem, Ives," she says in a slow, dreamy voice. "Hun snakker om Tre og Jern. Din skog ... og alle skogene. Min by ... og alle byene."
"Du ble født av Jern ... men oppvokst av Tre. Og jeg ... jeg ble reist av Jern. Men ... av hva ble jeg født?" She raises her face to the Elder as she speaks. Perhaps it is a trick of the pale fungal light, but for a moment her face seems ... inhuman.
"You were born to Iron ... but raised by Wood. And I ... I was raised by Iron. But ... of what was I born?" She raises her face to the Elder as she speaks. Perhaps it is a trick of the pale fungal light, but for a moment her face seems ... inhuman.
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Ives looks at Teleri in the fungal light. In a new light.
I never noticed before, but she doesn't look like a normal human. She is...a little different. Where does she come from? How did she get these magic powers? Does she not belong in her world just like I really don't belong in mine?
In common, Ives says. "We will save both worlds, Miss Teleri. The Wood and the Iron. We are a great team, you and me. You saw how we took down those grippli champions, and had no problem with the snake. Your magic, your brains, my claws, my... ummm... knowledge of the woods. Together, we can do it. And this other person, the one the naiad doesn't even remember talking about. Maybe this other person will help us too."
The naiad doesn't understand these last words by Ives but she does know what Teleri and Ives just said. She smiles at their youthful enthusiasm but a spark of hope also lives in the sapphire lines of her aged face. She smiles and holds up bracelets made of some sort of dried, tough, aquatic plant holding smooth beads on them. "Det er godt å se den unge går der jeg ikke kan. Disse vil hjelpe deg." She places the bracelets on your wrists and you feel suddenly more competent. She smiles and nods to the naiad who brought you here to lead you back whenever you are ready.
"It is good to see the young going where I cannot. These will help you."
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Ives feels more competent, more powerful, as the bracelet goes over his wrist.
" Takk skal du ha. Vi skal gjøre vårt beste. Vi vil redde folkene dine. Jeg lover!"
Ives and Teleri leave the way they came, along with their grippli escorts.
Ives is quiet and thoughtful. I just made a promise, but I don't know how to be true to my word. I don't know what to do except try.
The naiad oracle nods gravely to Ives as he and Teleri depart. It's easier holding your breath this time as you know the underwater trip will end soon enough. The naiad watches you pick up your belongings and finish crossing the ford then slips away.
You spot something moving in the bushes. On closer inspection, it is a very small crocodile. It moved weakly to escape from you when you came near but doesn't seem strong enough to flee in earnest.
Teleri throws a last searching glance back at the oracle before they leave, but says nothing. She nods respectfully before leaving, judging that a curtsy would work poorly given her sodden clothing.
Ashore, she uses one of her spells -- prestidigitation -- to dry and clean herself. By the time she is done, one would never know that a few minutes earlier she had resembled nothing so much as a drowned rat.
"Well, that was ... " She lets the thought trail off. "Come on. Let's get back to Pentrefan. We need to let Mr. Trenton know what has happened."
Then movement in the bushes catches her eye. "A crocodile!" she exclaims. "What on earth is one of those doing here? Don't they usually favor warmer climes?"
Indeed, the young crocodile looks lethargic and ill-suited to its current location. It snaps weakly and slowly at Teleri as she regards it.
It's possible that contaminants in the river accumulated into a fish that was eaten by the juvenile downstream. You're also aware that contaminants often disrupt the abilities of animals to orient themselves and migrate, leading them to mistakenly travel far outside their natural range.
Teleri looks at the weak hatchling. She kneels near it and extends a hand. "I should seek warm waters downstream." she says.
"Yes," Teleri says. "You heard what I said? I've given it that thought. If it works -- my hope is that the spell will drive it back downstream to wherever it came from. It's the same spell the grippli elder used to make that frog attack us."
She bites her lip. "It's ... permanent. I'm not sure what will happen if it makes it all that way. Maybe it will think, 'ah, I'm home' and stay there and live its life, troubled no more by the thought occasionally popping up. But maybe it will keep thinking there are warmer waters further downstream. Maybe it will wind up in the ocean. If so, I may have done nothing but condemn it to a different death than the one it would suffer here."
The juvenile crocodile pushes itself feebly into the current and floats downstream while swimming feebly. The pair continue the long walk over rough terrain to Pentrefan. They arrive back in town as dusk falls. Miners comment and look at them in interest as they've been gone two nights.
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On the way back to town, Ives breaches what he thinks might be a sensitive topic. "Ah...ummm...Miss Teleri. I've noticed that your ears a little pointy, and maybe your eye seem better in night-time than they should. You aren't human, are you? And then you said you were raised in Iron, but were born of...ummm...something else. What did you mean?"
Teleri has been very quiet since leaving the naiads. "Well, no, and I've made no attempt to hide it. I'm a half-elf." She hesitates. "Or ... at least that's what I've always believed. Now I am not sure. My mother is human; she raised me. But my father ... all mother ever told me was that he was handsome, and had narrow hands like mine, and that he lives in a warm wooden house on the slopes of Blackmount, not far from Glynnffridd, the village she grew up in. She apparently can't even remember his name. I didn't like to push too much -- it makes her so upset and sad."
"So I assumed my father must be an elf. But ... most half-elves don't spontaneously start speaking Sylvan. Or cast spells. At least, not as far as I know. I haven't met a great many half-elves. I'm not sure if that's because there aren't many to meet, or if they avoid the city, or some other reason."
She gets an odd dreamy look in her eye. "The naiads' cave ... it was so strange. I felt ... different there. Not entirely myself."
"No." Teleri says. "So far as I know, most half-elves do not spontaneously develop magical abilities."
"That's an excellent question. I wish I knew the answer."
By now, the murmuring of some of the curious miners has drawn the attention of the office. Mr. Trenton soon exits to investigate. "What's going on? You were gone for days! Did you solve the problem? Who was behind it?"
"Yes," Teleri says. "My theory that the local fey were responsible was wrong. There's a tribe of grippli -- frog-people -- living in the swamp downstream of here. The runoff from the mine has been making them ill; they were responsible for the attack on Mr. Anderson and the vandalism of the storage shed by the river."
"However, we have persuaded them that you did not understand that the runoff was causing a problem, and that you intend to address it by digging a separate pool to keep it out of the river. They have agreed to cease hostilities. I believe the tribe's elder intends to send a couple of scouts to verify that you do in fact build the holding pool. As long as that gets done in a reasonable time frame, I believe the problem is solved."
Trenton nods sharply. "Grippli, eh? And where do they live? Better keep an eye on them. We'll get the workers started on the drainage pit this afternoon. You are, of course, entitled to the rest of your reward. I'll have my secretary write up the form for you."
"They live in the swamp," Teleri says. "I'm not sure I could tell you in any more detail than that -- our exceptionally scientific method of locating them was to wander around lost until we bumped into them. By the way, there are a pretty fair number of stirges in there. Horrid things. Also some rather large snakes."
She looks thoughtful. "The elder seemed a reasonable sort, though I think he's got a couple of different factions to ride herd on within his tribe. Still, once the drainage pit is taken care of, I suspect you could establish peaceful contact. Perhaps even trade? They treated some wounds we incurred -- I suspect they know where to find a variety of useful medicinal plants and herbs that grow in the swamp, and they're much better suited to harvesting them than we are. I suspect there is profit to be made trading them manufactured goods -- cloth, tools, and so on."
Trenton nods to Teleri "Yes we might contact them..."
He turns to Ives "Ummm... Not that I know of... Sounds like the kind of thing you'd find in the big city though."
"That's right," Teleri agrees. "We'll need to go to the city for that. To Dinas Diwydiant!" She smiles broadly at the prospect.
"But not till tomorrow morning at the earliest," she adds, glancing at the setting sun.
"Thank you, Mr. Trenton," she says. "I am glad to have been of service here. I'll drop by the office before leaving tomorrow to collect the paperwork for the reward. Which should be evenly divided between Mr. Tunn and myself, please. I would not have been able to do it without his assistance."
Once that's settled, Teleri makes her way to Molly's house and settles in for the night. Over a bowl of soup and some crusty bread, she regales Molly with the tale of their journey and its outcome before heading to a proper bed for the first time in several nights.
"Very well, Mr. Tunn. Thank you for all your assistance. Try not to eat all that candy too quickly -- it'll rot your teeth." She offers him a formal curtsy.
The next morning comes, the sun rising over the snow-clad peaks that ring Pentrefan's high montane valley. Teleri wakes on her guest bed in Molly's house, rises, and packs her bags. "You'll be goin' back to the City now, then?" Molly asks her over a breakfast of scrambled eggs and toast.
"Yes," Teleri says. "That's the plan. The issues with the mine are settled, no one is attacking anyone; I should go back to the City and work out what to do from here."
"Well, you're in luck -- Steven Gillie is scheduled to start back to the City today. He's leavin' about 9 bells, so eat up."
"Oh my! I haven't packed, and I have to stop by the SMC offices first -- and it's half eight already!" Teleri exclaims. She starts plowing through the remaining eggs with unseemly haste.
"Ha!" exclaims Molly, flashing a broad grin of slightly uneven teeth. "Don't you worry, Miss Teleri -- I'll just pop over 'n let Steven know t' hold up a half hour. He won't leave without you."
Teleri returns the smile. "That'd be ever so helpful, many thanks!"
While Molly is away, Teleri gets into the traveling outfit she'd left behind -- the one that wasn't ruined by repeated immersion in swamp and river water. Working quickly she packs up her goods, both those she came with and those acquired along the way. Molly returns to find Teleri staggering out of the house under the weight of her travel pack, lugging her portmanteau behind her.
"Don' you worry about those, Miss Teleri," Molly says. "Steven says he'll swing the wagon round 'ere, and load 'em up for you."
"Oh, thank goodness," Teleri says, a wave of almost pathetic relief sweeping over her. "You're a gem, Molly -- you and Steven both."
"Tain't nothin'," Molly replies. "Go do your errand at headquarters; Steven'll be waitin' right 'ere when you're done."
Thanking Molly once again, Teleri deposits her gear by Molly's door and quickly makes her way to the SMC headquarters. But as she passes the infirmary, a figure seated on a bench outside its door hails her. "Oy! Miss Teleri!"
"Oh, good morning, Mr. Anderson -- feeling better, I hope?"
"Yes'm," he says. "Just soaking up the morning sun -- doc wants to keep me one more day, and light duty for a week after that." He gestures to her to come over. "I guess you're leaving now?" he asks.
"Yes -- in fact, I really don't have much time. I have to finish some paperwork at the HQ, and then I'm riding back to the City with Mr. Gillie."
"Well, look," he says quietly, after checking to see that no one's in easy earshot. "I just ... wanted to say thank you. For, ah, everything. It sounds like Trenton's going to make the foreman do proper strength trials for the kids. And they tell me there you solved the problem with the weird critters attacking."
"You're most welcome, Mr. Anderson," Teleri tells him, coloring slightly. "Yes, the attacks should stop. Try not to hold it against the grippli, will you? They felt threatened ... and they did use blunt arrows."
He snorts. "Well ... I'll try. No promises. It don't sit right, though -- I don't like getting bushwhacked by a bunch of frogs. I could whip any one of 'em in a fair fight. Or two, even."
Teleri thinks of the grippli monk and his cleric friend, and smiles. "I'm sure you could, Mr. Anderson," she assures him. "But I hope you won't ever need to. I worked hard to prevent that sort of thing."
"Yeah, yeah," he says. "I said I'd try, didn't I? Anyhow. Here. Take this." He hands her something that gleams in the morning sun. It's a series of short, glittering gem-like spikes, still attached to a rock at the bottom. "Quartz crystals," he says. "They're not especially valuable -- a couple silver at most. Turns up fairly often around here. But they're pretty. So, uh, I guess ..." he turns faintly red as he stumbles over his words.
"It'll make a lovely memento," Teleri assures him with a smile. "I'll put it on my mantel, when I have one. Thank you, Mr. Anderson! Now, I really have to go!" She gives him a curtsy, and makes for the SMC HQ as quickly as decorum allows.
"There you are!" Sarah says as Teleri rushes in the door. "Mr. Trenton filled out the forms for the reward. If you could just sign here, please ... thank you. Do you want a letter of credit drawn on Haversham and Poors, or cash? Also, where's your ... err, friend?"
"I'll take the letter, please," Teleri says. "And Mr. Tunn went back to the forest."
"Oh. Well ... how are we supposed to give him his money? He hasn't signed his form!" Sarah exclaims.
"Just hold onto it for now," Teleri suggests, "And leave him a message for him at the general store. I suspect he'll be back in town at least once in a while. He has something of a sweet tooth, and it's hard to get candy out there in the wilderness."
"All right," Sarah says. "Mr. Trenton said to extend his compliments on a job well done. He'd see you, but he's in a meeting right now. Something about planning for a small festival and some strength trials in a few weeks."
"Thank you, and I wish him all the best," Teleri tells her. "But I'd better get going -- Mr. Gillie is holding up his wagon until I join him. Good bye!"
Thankfully, no one else stops her on the way back. Her luggage is loaded, but on the pretense of checking for anything she might have forgotten, Teleri makes one last trip into the house, where she conceals an extra five gold under the pillow of her guest bed, with a short note saying "Get yourself something nice! -- Teleri". After making her farewells, Teleri puts on her muslin traveling cloak and ascends to the seat by Steven Gillie.
As the wagon thumps its way out of Pentrefan, Teleri glances back over her shoulder. From the top of the first rise, she can make out workmen laying out the bounds of the future runoff pool under the direction of a surveyor. Smoke rises from a few chimneys, and spring sunlight bathes the entire scene in golden warmth.
It slips out of view. Teleri turns her face back to the road, an unaccustomed crease on her brow, and settles in for the trip, lending only half an ear to Mr. Gillie's steady stream of light, mostly one-sided banter.
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Ives takes the long walk back to the Mother Tree from town. It goes for hours in to the wilderness, giving him plenty of time to think.
That didn't feel good. It was too quick. Miss Teleri and me, we went through a lot, and to just say... bye... and leave... it doesn't seem right. But our time together was done. We set out to fix a problem, and we fixed it. I hope. I'm going to miss her. She was pretty great. And pretty. Yeah... she was really pretty.
Maybe there is an even bigger problem out there...I mean, I promised to save everything. But I don't even know what the problem is. How can I hope to make a difference? I'm not even... I'm only a kid. 13? 14? 15? Something like that. I can't remember.
The road from Pentrefan is long and winding. For the most part it follows the course of the river, where it has cut through the mountains. Here and there the rough wooden cabins of prospectors can be seen dotting the slopes above. The day wears on. Mr. Gillie seems happy just to have someone to listen to him, and keeps up a more-or-less one-sided conversation pretty much of the day, interrupted only by the occasional stop to rest the horses or answer nature's call. Around noon they share some cold sandwiches Molly had made. Teleri brushes the crumbs from her lips with a handkerchief.
The shadows are growing long when they pull into Aberstane, a tiny hamlet which seems to exist primarily as a waypoint between Pentrefan and Dinas Diwydiant. It consists of a small inn, a general store full of mining and foresting gear, and only two or three houses. "Well, there we are," Mr. Gillie says with satisfaction. "That's 'alfway. This time tomorrow we'll 'ave you 'ome."
"I have to go back," Teleri blurts out.
"Wot?"
"I have to go back," she repeats.
"Did you forget somethin'? 'Cause I could just pick it up next time I'm there and bring it." he offers.
"No. I thought I was done in Pentrefan -- but I was wrong. I left some unfinished business. I have to go back."
"Well, I can't turn around," Mr. Gillie says. "I've a schedule to keep, I do. I have to get to the City tomorrow. Then I'll be a day loading and unloading, and then I'll head back. I can bring you back with me again -- have you there in ... four days."
"Thank you, Mr. Gillie," Teleri says. "But I think I'm going to turn back on my own from here. There's a clear road."
He glances back into the wagon at the overstuff pack and the large portmanteau. "Wot about your stuff?" he asks. "You ent goin' to lug it along?"
"No," Teleri shakes her head. "I'll take a light pack, enough for a couple of days. As for the rest -- I would be much obliged if you could have it delivered to the house of Mr. Wilfred Owens, at 37 Hedgerow Close. My mother, Rhosyn ver Owain, lives there. She can accept the delivery. I'll send a note."
"Well ... deliveries is what I do, Miss," he says doubtfully. "Though not usually to that end of town."
"I will of course pay you for your trouble," Teleri assures him. They dicker a bit and settle on 2 gold as the price of delivery.
He sighs. "Well, at least stay the night 'ere and start out in the morning. It's to be full dark soon -- you don't want t' go blundering about in the dark. Really."
"Yes, that sounds sensible," Teleri assures him.
"All right, then," he says.
After an indifferent dinner of roasted turkey at the tiny inn -- 'The Miner's Rest' -- Teleri spends the evening packing, unpacking, and repacking. After her previous experiences hauling a heavy pack around, she ruthlessly cuts her supplies to the bare minimum for a two-day trip, even going so far as to jettison the tent.
1x traveller's outfit, worn
Dagger
Light Mace
Belt Pouch
- Chalk
- 3x vials
- Earplugs
- Money
- 3x Potion of light wounds
Backpack
- 1x traveller's outfit
- Hammer
- Inkpen
- 2x Oil
- 2x Trail Rations
- Trowel
- Journal
25.5 lbs, a light load, yay!
In the morning, Teleri loads the rest of her gear into Mr. Gillie's wagon and shoulders her pack.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" Mr. Gillie says soberly. "It ent safe for a young woman t' travel alone."
"I think I have to," Teleri says.
"Well ..."
"I appreciate the concern, Mr. Gillie. But my mind's made up." She favors him with a smile.
He sighs, a bit gruffly. "All right then," he says. "I'll see your stuff safely back, I will. Be careful, hear?"
"I will," Teleri assures him.
She turns back the way they'd come the day before and begins walking. It's a long moment before she hears Mr. Gillie cluck to his horses behind her. And in a few minutes, she is walking along a forest road, more thoroughly alone than she had ever been.
Teleri trudges a long, uphill road. Soon, darkness falls and she has to decide if and where she should camp.
Mother Tree listens to Ives "Then why don't you sound happy, Ives?"
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"I really liked Miss Teleri, Mother Tree. And I didn't even say a very good goodbye. She talked about going back to the big city, and I got nervous and I left."
"And... uh... well. This is hard for me to say. I love being here. This is my home. But ah... well, I did enjoy being around people who are more like me. Not that I don't love you, because of course I do! But I just wonder..."
Ives trails off and sighs.
As the light wanes, Teleri begins looking for a spot to stop. Eventually she comes to a small brook coursing down from the mountains, its water splashing and playing over the innumerable rocks lining its bed. A wooden bridge spans it, mossy but still solid.
Turning uphill, Teleri hikes a good fifteen minutes into the surrounding forest, until she finds a small, mostly level clearing by the stream bank. A boulder juts out of the mountain side on the upslope side of the clearing, leaving a dark space beneath it. Teleri studies it a moment, then imbues a pebble with light and tosses it underhand into the opening. It clatters to the ground, revealing a small almost-cave with a dry dirt floor. Nothing seems to have made its lair there. The opening ends where the boulder meets the dirt, no more than a few feet deep and not really large enough to accommodate Teleri.
"Hmm," says Teleri. "Well, I guess this'll do. But I don't think I trust that hole enough to sleep in it."
She imbues another pebble with light and rummages through her belt pouch, where in short order she discovers that she has come without any means to make a fire. "Well ... drat," she mutters.
Sighing, she pulls out a packet of dried pasta, and looks blankly in her pack until it dawns on her that she also hasn't brought a pot, plate, or any sort of eating utensils.
"Oh, for the love of little green gargoyles!" she exclaims, cross with herself.
She takes off her boots and sits down on a rock by the stream as she struggles to fashion the wax paper wrapping of the pasta into some kind of vaguely water-tight container.
It promptly dissolves. Giving up, she scatters the pasta on the water and watches it sweep downstream. "There are going to be some happy fish somewhere down there tonight," she remarks glumly to the world.
For a moment, she blinks away tears. But then her expression hardens. "Quit griping, Teleri," she scolds herself. "Missing a meal won't kill you. Get it together."
With another sigh, she pulls out the three vials she'd bought for sampling water in Pentrefan. She dumps their contents well away from the stream, then rinses them thoroughly and sets about drinking her fill. It's hard to get enough water from something the size, essentially, of a test tube.
Her thirst slaked, a thought occurs to her. "Why not?" she murmurs to herself. "I mean, when am I ever going to get another chance like this?"
It only takes a few moments to disrobe, and then she splashes into the stream to bathe. The dust and sweat of a long day's hike sluice off her, but the water is shockingly cold, leading her to wash quickly and get straight back out.
"I bet this water was snow not more than a couple days ago," she remarks through chattering teeth as she dries herself magically. "Brrrr." She's glad to get her clothes back on.
Wrapping herself once again in her thin muslin traveller's cloak, Teleri lies down on a mostly level spot in the middle of the clearing, smoothing away pine needles and chucking a couple rocks into the stream.
She lies in the darkness staring up at the looming shapes of the pines all around her, faintly visible against the sky behind them. The wind soughs through their branches, and the air smells of pine. She's hungry, tired, and cold.
But as she drifts off to sleep, somehow she feels more at peace with herself than she has in some time.
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Ives builds up a small fire in his fire pit and stares at it long into the night. He doesn't even activate his powers, and instead just lets time past quietly and enjoys the heat of the flame on his face.
Miss Teleri sure was terrible at being outside, wasn't she? Oh ho! Remember how she dragged two backpacks out into the woods because she thought I would like one? And it weighed so much she could barely stand. Ha ha! That was great... She didn't need to do that, but she did. That is the kind of person she is. Thoughtful.
Ives eventually retires to the hole in the Mother Tree, and he breathes in deeply trying to find the scent of Teleri. But it has been a couple of days now. Any trace of her is gone.
Teleri sleeps poorly. She opens her gummy eyes to find the sky lightening, though still gray. Her back is stiff, and a tree root she missed has dug into one hip.
She sits up. "I can see ..." and pauses to cough. She takes a sip of spring water to clear her throat, dispensing with vials and simply scooping cold stream water to her face with one hand.
"I can see why Ives likes this," she says when she's done. "It's just delightful." She shakes her hand and wipes it on her cloak to dry it.
She rummages in her pack. "Oh, look. Oatmeal. That I could cook in a pot, over a fire. Wonderful." She shoves it back in, shoulders the pack, and heads back downstream to the road to begin another long day's hike on an empty stomach.
Mother Tree falls silent when Ives talks about people more like him. Then I the morning, she speaks to him "It's good for you to be with other walkers, Ives. Things should be that way. Just always come home to me abd tell me what you saw."
Thankfully the road back to Pentrefan, though long, is clear and easy to follow. Teleri arrives late in the day, about an hour before sunset. Molly sees a disheveled Teleri drag herself into town and rushes forward. "Oh no! Was it bandits!?"
"Nothing so dramatic," Teleri says. "We got half way back to the City and I decided I had some unfinished business here. Mr. Gillie had a schedule to keep, so he went on to Dinas Diwydiant. I had him deliver most of my belongings to my mother, and then turned around and walked back on my own."
"I don't suppose you have something cooking, by any chance?" she asks hopefully. "I had breakfast yesterday and brought a sandwich for lunch from the Miner's Rest, and I carefully carried provisions. But it seems I failed to pack a pot, plate, or eating utensils of any kind. So I missed dinner last night, and I haven't had anything but water all day."
Molly nods. "Of course, of course I do." She pulls Teleri inside for a hearty helping of vegetable stew. "So what's this unfinished business?"
Teleri gratefully eats the vegetable stew, which tastes better than practically anything she's ever eaten. "It's true," she remarks between mouthfuls. "Hunger really is the best sauce."
When she's filled her empty stomach a bit, she slows down. "Ah. Thank you! That's so much better."
She laces her fingers together in front of her on the table. "As for this unfinished business -- I didn't tell you quite everything that happened while dealing with the grippli tribe." Seeing the expression on Molly's face, she hastens to add "No, nothing happened with Mr. Tunn! This concerns him, but it has nothing to do with ... romance."
"What, then?" asks Molly.
Teleri sighs. "On the way back, a naiad approached us and told us that an elder of the naiads wished to speak with us. We agreed, and were led under the waters to a dim cave where we met a truly ancient naiad woman. She told us that she was grateful for our efforts at making peace in the area, but that she was afraid that it only delayed a larger conflict between what she called the Wood and the Iron -- the wilds and the cities. Then she said she wished to offer us the guidance of 'Gozreh'. I ... am not a religious woman, but even I recognized that name, the Lord of Wind and Lady of Waves."
Teleri takes a sip of the small ale that Molly served with the stew. "The elder chewed a leaf of some kind, and went into a trance. She spoke in a deep voice not her own, and said 'Jeg ser ... en ung mann fra Jernbyen ... han arbeider om og om igjen med metall hele dagen ... han forstår det snu metallet bedre enn noe annet ... han vil hjelpe Veden i disse tider av forandring.'" Her face goes somehow distant as she speaks.
Molly's eyebrows go up, and she says "Err ... what's that, then?"
Teleri shakes her head slightly. "Oh. Sorry. She said, 'I see... a young man from the city of Iron... he works under and over turning metal all day... he understands the turning metal better than any other... he will help the Wood in these times of change.'"
"Oh," says Molly. "And what does that mean?"
"I think it means that I need to seek out a young man in Dinas Diwydiant. I think he needs my help, whoever he is."
"I'm confused," Molly says. "If you're meant to go help some lad in the City, what're you doin' back here?"
"Ives ... Mr. Tunn was there too," Teleri says. "I think he's needed as well." She hesitates. "He was born here in town, he told me," Teleri says. "But his father abused him and his siblings mercilessly. So he ran away to the forest, and was raised, apparently, by a grove of trees. He's a child of Iron ..." -- she sweeps an arm to encompass the town, and the mine beyond -- "... but he was raised by Wood."
"So ... he's the one that needs to go to the City?"
"We both do. He's the Child of Iron, raised by Wood. And I ..." she trails off a moment, looking down at the empty stew bowl before her Then raises her gaze and goes on, "I was raised in the City. Raised by Iron. But I have come to believe that I was born to Wood, somehow." She makes a gesture, says a word, and the stew bowl lifts off the table and spins lazily in the air. Molly exclaims, and stands, and takes a step back in alarm.
Teleri lets the bowl sink to the table once again. "I don't know who my father is," she says. "But I believe that from him, I am born of Wood."
Molly shakes her head in disbelief at Teleri. "Well child, I truly hope you find your answers and I wish you the best. I certainly don't know anything about such big and unusual matters."
"Tomorrow will be soon enough," Teleri says wearily. "I hope I can stay here again tonight, Molly."
At Molly's nod, Teleri smiles. "Oh! And ... actually I have a question for you." She stirs a tiny drip of honey into her tea.
"When I came to you for advice -- you know, before traipsing off into the wilderness to fight frog men and speak with weird naiad oracles in aquatic caverns -- you told me that you'd speak to me like a daughter, and that dreams are worth fighting for. But ... you seemed sad, somehow. I was awfully wrapped up in my own affairs just then, but I did notice."
"So ... and if this is too personal a question, please tell me to mind my knitting." She looks up at the older woman. "Did you ... lose something? A dream? A daughter?"
Having opened the question, she immediately looks back down at her tea. "It's just ... you gave me such good advice. I thought about that all the way back to Pentrefan. And I wondered if it came from bitter experience. I hope I haven't offended you by asking."
Molly sets down her work and looks quietly out her door for a few long breaths. "No, Teleri. You haven't offended me by asking. I figure it will be good to tell and rememeber them. I lost my husband to an orc raid. You know that. But we had a daughter. Beautiful little girl with hair like yours. She had the voice of an angel. She dreamed of supporting us all in a nice house, the little dear." Molly sniffs deeply, a tear running down. "But supporting us by myself was hard. Wasn't much work and when the famine came, we didn't eat much. She got thinner and thinner but never complained. And when she got sick..." Molly purses her lips hard, closes her eyes, and shakes her head as a few more tears stream down "She just didn't have the strength to get better..."
Teleri leans across the table to put a hand on Molly's. "That's terrible -- I'm so sorry!" she says. "What was her name? Tell me about her."
Molly smiles sadly at Teleri. "Her name was Lavender. She loved flowers and insects and singing. She could remember everyone's name and never met a stranger..." Molly sniffs and squeezes Teleri's hand. "She was something special..."