27.6 Walk A Golden Path
General Summary
Days 426 - 427
Before leaving Deep Refractions I collect some ancient language books to further my studies. Elvish, Osyr, and modern/ancient Fae are rapidly becoming insufficient for my work. Along with Auldrich Fae I will need to know the language of dragons and both modern and ancient dwarvish.
Parting with Lyssa is easier this time. We are more assured of meeting again as I place the living circlet on her head and we laugh about her being a princess. Princess, queen, commander - none of the titles matter as long as she's mine.
It takes Kaide and two and half days to return to the Grotto at a good pace with fewer distractions besides a flock of large birds who move with the grace of swallows. They have wind magic in their wings.
Day 428
Ipthina greets us when we return and Hue arrives shortly thereafter. She notices that we've been with Onyx and says she'll accompany us to meet the new riders in a few weeks.
For the first time Kaide shows herself before the two guardians of the Grotto and disappears with Ipthina to discuss magic. Whatever Hue thinks of this hidden person is unreadable but she doesn't protest.
I'm eager to see Wayin and Jerun and find them relaxing beneath Wayin's tree braiding Jerun's hair with flowers. The three of us settle in to spend the rest of the day lounging and braiding, with Wayin showing me how to seek out dormant seeds in the ground and encourage them to grow into flowers for us to use in the braids.
I tell them about Onyx and his millennia-running guard post and Jerun is amazed at the span of time one could spend engaged in such a singular task. But Wayin notes that we measure time by the major events - time in the Grotto feels like it's passing in stillness but outside there must be many waves and ripples.
Time is the distance between waves.
It is a wonderful way to pass an afternoon and we find ourselves awake as the sun is slipping beneath the horizon. Wayin has adjusted his branches to create a perfect perch from which to watch the sunset, just as he has one for the sunrise. I accompany the sleeping sun on my instrument, drawling out a tune that slips lower and lower until it's the deepest thrum of sound from my accompanist.
Days 429 - 343
The next several days pass in exploration of the things that grow around Wayin's tree. We share knowledge of plants that thrive in shade and of mushrooms and moss. Wayin knows which mushrooms are safe to eat but he also shows me how to persuade a toxic mushroom to drain itself of toxicity so that it can be safely consumed.
By pulling all of its life and potential into the roots that remain alive, the upper part can be removed and eaten. So long as you leave the mushroom its potential and show it that you will help it thrive and spread, they don't mind offering nourishment.
It's the same with any living thing, of course. The sort of anger and aggression that comes from being cornered dissipates quickly in open space with options and gentleness.
When we are in pain it is hard to heal; we fight for life. But if it's too painful then sometimes we run from the idea of life in order to make the pain stop. Sometimes healing is only possible when the pain has been removed - it lets someone stop fleeing from life long enough to show them the path to health again. These life lessons are packaged with apothecarial lessons on herbs that numb the pain, induce euphoria, and make the body more receptive to healing. Once I can recognize how to induce the feeling with a particular sort of yellow and purple mushroom I can also feel how to invoke it with my magic. Jerun excels with the herbs but falls behind in magic so it is heartening to see multiple paths to the same goal.
The magic itself is adjacent to what I did with Dawn when we were transforming her - the combination of this magic and my sleep magic would be a potent way to ease someone into healing.
Days 434 - 437
After spending so much time with Wayin while Kaide works with Ipthina, we trade places. Ipthina takes me across the lake from Wayin's tree and we settle down for tea around an old stump.
Far from being dead and ordinary, it is clear that the stump still possesses a deep well of magical energy that feeds intensely magical herbs around it. I count seven different varieties but the only one I recognize is Moonflower, a rare plant in the Empire. Carthians hold it sacred and use it in potion that ease suffering, often in rituals as their elderly prepare to pass on. Unlike many similar plants it also clears the mind and allows those with mental ailments to say proper goodbyes.
How is your heart? Still wounded and scarred, still wanting things just out of reach?
She sees how strained I am trying to do something impossible without hurting anyone else.
Would you take Wayin's life?
What would you do to protect him?
Having spent weeks now with the charming youngster I am even more insulted by the question than I would have been before meeting him, when the answer would have been the same. As for protecting him - it's the sort of question that doesn't have an answer until I'm faced with whatever is threatening him.
But this is a prelude to the thing she wants to share with me: The nature of the Essence itself. It is not, as I feared, the life of a spirit. Rather it is the bond between the spirit and their tree. Without that bond the spirit would wither and fade, unable to draw upon the tree's strength.
The four ways to acquire Eldritch Essence (though I note that she only lists three).
- Plunder it. Like many in the Pruning did, killing spirits and stealing their life force.
- Receive it as a gift. Some spirits might choose to give up their essence and sacrifice themselves.
- Take the place of the tree. Without a bond with their tree the spirit would die but if you offer yourself instead, you can strengthen the spirit and let them rely on you.
She tells me that when I've gathered the other components I need I should return and then either my loved one or myself could take the place of Wayin's tree. Still, it strikes me as a cruel thing to do. How can I separate Wayin from the beautiful tree I've spent the last few weeks beneath?
At this, Ipthina points out that Wayin can never leave the Grotto. He is so full of energy and curiosity and can't leave because of his tree. It would be an chance for him to see the rest of the world too. It's a good reminder to focus not only on the pain I might cause but on the opportunities that might be offered.
I fall into the hug she offers and it feels like hours pass before I settle back. Her embrace is soft, orange blossom scented and motherly in a way that makes me feel unexpectedly bereft. Magdalena is out of reach, I haven't spoken to my own mother in far too long, and Mistress' absence is still a never-healing ache in my heart.
That night we dine together and Kaide joins us. She has been spending time with Tsili, a tree that has been struck by lightning. She has used some of the wood he has gifted her to begin working on a piece for Lyssa, carved with magic circles and runes shaped like lightning.
She teases me that eventually she'll make a crown for me as a new Empress. A crown, a circlet, maybe a sceptre. I protest at these trappings - if a hood was good enough for her back when she chose trappings it'll be good enough for me too. I have no interest in an unwieldy crown.
No, your symbol will be a cloak. Long and billowing enough for all to rest under its shade.
But we both acknowledge that making practical things for me is not as freeing as it is to make things for others. After all, it is her job to protect me. Instead I suggest we make something undeniably impractical. And so I come to own a delicate set of anklets that cast dying light from them as I dance in the air. Decidedly impractical but treasured and beautiful nevertheless.
Days 438 - 441
My last few days in the Grotto are spent mostly with Ipthina. She shows me the vast quantities of cultivated herbs that she has grown in the magic-rich environment.
For the first time since potions lessons in the Academy I start to feel like I have a truly strong grasp of apothecary, particularly the healing magic imbued in many of the things she shows me. The time I've spent here has strengthened my sense of the mystic and given a golden shine to my understanding of hemocraft and manipulating the life force in myself and others. The clumsy way I've healed people using blood bonds and pouring my own energy into them becomes refined and I can feel the raw energy as something to redirect and encourage without needing the blood alongside it. I feel it in the herbs, in the potions, and I recognize it in the magic that pours out of Daybreaker when I use it to heal.
Leave here as a healer
