We landed on the East side of the Cheyth river. The air here smells of rain and starlight. The water was clear, and I couldn't stop staring at it--right through to the bottom! I couldn't have imagined it a few hours ago, and here it was. The trees on either side were so many colors of green. I was amazed. I wanted to dive into the water, though good sense held me back. It was, after all, still the Cheyth. I had agreed to cross that way, but every stroke of the oars pulled me farther from the side I wanted to go to. My home--my own home--just six hours in the opposite direction! To travel thousands and thousands of years and not spare 6 hours!!! I think I could recognize my home even then. I'd know the rocks, I'm sure of it.
That is why, when we landed on the wrong side of the river, I needled Thargash about the man in the tower. Apparently his name is Tenglebur, and Thargash deeply dislikes him "He is an ass" were a few of the exact words. Thargash told us that Tenglebur (with some others, I think) had somehow broken time, which had somehow made Thargash's friends disappear, and maybe a wife? But I was very confused at this point, and not quite sure. At any rate, Thargash's dislike for the man was a solid character reference as far as I was concerned. I WAS curious about Tenglebur, of course, but mainly because the Manor would have been situated in his land. Obviously, my fathers portion is much (much) smaller, but I was still very curious what kind of man Tenglebur was. I do think the land remembers men. Some of them, anyway. Maybe if I met him here I'd be able to recognize him in some way in my own time.
I kept needling at Thargash till finally he said, "Look, it was me who brought you here and aren't you glad I did?" Which I was. And I stopped arguing. Of course I was glad. But my heart was already starting to ache. I took a moment to clean up in the river (and wash off that terrible white paint!), and gazed at the opposite shoreline. I wondered if one or two places were a bit familiar, but I know it was my wishful eyes playing tricks on me. Shorelines do change, even in one person's lifetime, and it would be many lifetimes before I was born. I picked out a stone from the shore, a smooth white one that would fit in my palm. It had never seen corrupted waters. That was something to think about.
Thargash had agreed to take the pace slowly, for Inayin's sake. We set off, and I searched as I walked for herbs. What if I could find some plants that had become extinct in the many years between our times? What if I could keep them alive and plant them in my piney woods? We have lost so much from the dark times and the Nalshbori and the many wicked things--what if I could bring one or two of them back? A hard knot settled in my stomach that hasn't left. It was like I could see the burnings, and the future withered woods around me, imposed on the cool and pleasant path that was in front of me. I did find herbs, though. They were nestled in the shade of two different trees, near the base. I dug them up carefully, dampened my skirt hem (which i'd cut) and wrapped them gently in the moist fabric. They like cool, shady places. The flowers were small and white, they almost glow. Like a lotus, but more beautiful than any sacred lotus I'd seen.
We traveled for awhile and then met a Treian hunting party. They, of course, spoke Old Treian, which most of us do not speak. Fjalanar does, though, and Thargash. Fjalanor introduced us, and when I realized Thargash could understand I went over and asked him to translate. He seemed happy enough to whisper in my ear.
All the Treian's were taller than us. The men were bare chested, the women graceful. They were all beautiful--both the men and the women. They assumed we were of the Ancient Sothbori, who dwelled in the woods across the Cheyth. One of the women was a healer, and when we asked help with Inayin's wounds she quickly pulled something golden out of a leather bag and crushed it into the wound. It had immediate effect. I longed to ask her so many questions, but I was at least able to ask--through Fjalanor--what the herb was? It was living amber, the heart of a tree. I was in awe. But also felt sick. This is what we'd lost.
Everywhere I look--beauty.
Everywhere I look--loss.
A few general questions and we discovered that Orkon had already come as the giver, and we were likely drawing close to the coming doom. When we asked for help with Inayin's eyes they drew back in dismay. They didn't have anything to help with that kind of injury, but recommended us to a small village, Amurkarr, down the path where a certain Priest of Raos named Anfanella lived. He might be able to help us.
We continued on, and somehow managed to loose the path. We wandered in the woods for days on end--5 days, I think--and were reminded that even though this wood is cool and beautiful, it is still magical and still not safe. One afternoon Inayin and I both heard a voice singing. He told me it was the enchantress he'd become engaged to. I told him to cover his ears and don't follow the voice. We tried to go the opposite way. The next day Telini climbed a tree, and spotted some ruins just a short distance away. We headed toward them to seek shelter, but then we all heard the singing. I was dismayed. The last thing Inayin needs right now is an enchantress in the woods. But we all agreed it was following us and must be faced.
We stumbled into the clearing and found an ancient water forge, and beside it a beautiful young woman. Inayin recognized her, of course. Fjalanor began to speak, and something about the look on her face--I tugged on Thargash's sleeve and asked what they were saying. "Oh," he drawled out in amusement, "he's wooing her with the words of Neras to Kanle." I elbowed him. I assumed he was making fun of me. Maybe he was. But Fjalanor? He'd come to the Manor because of my mothers letter--and then hardly spoken to me. Well, he had spoken to me. But not like... I was confused, and angry, and annoyed and in rather a poor temper and found out later that the rest of the conversation had something to do with a snake in her precious water forge. Inayin wanted to kill it. Of course he did. He assumed it would be a service to her.
I assumed it was her pet.
Well, if it was her pet, so much the better. She already had one man enthralled with her, now Fjalanor too. I KNEW we shouldn't have followed the voice. I KNEW it.
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