She explained that the effects of the other moons on it shifted it in regular intervals in and out of the shadow of the planet, and so it regularly waxed and waned. S he thinks that she is plying me with information I am completely unequipped to handle . I smirked. I was not a physics nerd, but plenty of my friends. Actually, all of my friends really now that I thought about it where. I had picked up much from my years of hanging around them.
I asked about the gravitational pulls of the various moons, how they all affect each other, and the totality of their effect on the tides. I couched this in the explanation that my people knew of such things, but that I personally was never trained beyond the very basic concepts of how such forces worked on one another. My explanation had the benefit of being true.
The entire conversation took on an academic air, something that I felt very comfortable with. I found that I had enjoyed spending time with her, that our conversation was both distracting from the long hike we were taking, and intellectually stimulating in ways that had honestly been hard to find back home. With a pleasant conversation, the cool night air, and my tiredness from the long journey, I found myself looking at Lisander in a slightly different light then I had before.
There is no way I have a chance with this woman. I thought as I watched her chuckle at some stupid joke I had just made about how the moon’s food was excellent but that they all had bad atmospheres. What would I do with a relationship like that? I’m planning on going home, right? Well yes, but there's no harm in having a little fun until then right? I thought. I shook the thoughts off and allowed myself to simply enjoy her company and the conversation as we continued our journey through the night.
Chapter 7: A Festival, A Meeting, and A Funeral
Lo’sar Forest, Somewhere Outside of Lo’sar City, Frega, 27th, 2987 AoR
“In the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years” - Abraham Lincoln
Eventually, the conversation died down, as did my energy level and instead of a hike, I felt like I was trudging through the forest, barely conscious of where I was putting my feet. After an incident involving a thorny plant, a little blood, and an ambivalent shrug and “Eh” from me when asked about it by Lisander, I broke down and asked.
“At the risk of sounding like an impatient child, how much longer is this trip going to take?” Lisander actually laughed, and my comment elicited a few chuckles from the elves in front of us.
“We have been in the settlement for the last five minutes, young wizard. That bush you ran into was part of someone's garden.” I laughed out loud as tears came to my eyes. I don’t know what was so funny about the situation, I think it was more a releasing of tension and pent up expectation rather than the actual humor of the situation. The elves all shot glances back at me as we moved, curious what the strange, young, uneducated yet somehow intriguing human wizard was doing.
Once I had control of myself again, as I wiped the tears on my cheeks away, I looked around shining my light in different directions from the path as we continued to walk. Yup, those are houses alright. I thought as my light bounced off of a particularly well crafted little cottage that seemed to be grown out of a tree, or perhaps that had a tree grown on top of it. I wasn’t really sure. As I continued I saw others, each unique and some more human than elven, others pure examples of the craft of either species.
The pure elven homes where more like tree forts with buildings built onto and into the tree further up the trunk. When asked Lisander confirmed they were magically hardened and formed. Geen elves must experiment with their home designs, it's probably a pass time for some.
Eventually, we came to a large, well-lit clearing, where hundreds, perhaps near a thousand elves where present. Some lining the massive clearing, others in the trees lounging in hammocks, others sitting on branches whittling with knives, or in small clumps singing songs together in the center. As the procession arrived a clear, single horn note was played, it sounded welcoming, triumphant, and celebratory, and the crowd in the center made room for our party to pass.
Once the last of us, meaning me and Lisander, walked passed the tall armored elf guard who had blown the horn, he did it again, and then the real party started. Everyone in the glade erupted in a shout of welcome, there were hugs, pats on the back, shouts of joy, songs were sung at twice the volume and with thrice the alacrity and skill, despite more whine then I think I'd ever seen in a single place being drunk by nearly everyone in sight. This was a homecoming, and the only two people not being embraced by every elf in the glade were Tol’geth and I.
Even Ailsa spun through the air enjoying the atmosphere of celebration, sending sparks and mana constructs of every kind imaginable into the air designed to delight and entertain. If I was being honest it was better than fireworks.
Eventually, I and the large man found ourselves at one of the tables festooned with food that seemed to magically refill whenever someone took something from it. I looked at what was offered and settled on a banana, an apple, and what I thought was some kind of meat pie thing. Tol’geth, on the other hand, grabbed five of the meat pie things and a cup of what I assumed was honey mead, which I avoided in favor of the fountain of clear spring water. We sat together under a tree eating and watching the merrymaking and Ailsa’s antics in silence.
“I think by now you have been told of Pina.” It was more of a statement than a question and I nodded. “Good. Will you help me rescue her?” I could feel the desperation in his words despite his stoic lack of inflection. “If not, I will go alone. But with help from someone who understands the Torish, I have a better chance of reaching her.”
“Tol’geth, from what the others have told me she is probably dead. You now this yes? And if she is not dead, she is more than likely far outside of our reach.”
Tol’geth nodded and then thought better of it. “She might be dead, But I do not feel it is true in my bones. The Earth Mother would tell me if it was so, Barisel clansmen have a connection that even our elven brothers do not recognize.”
He’s reaching , I thought sadly.
“She is not dead. As for where she is? I do not think they have sold her to slavery to the islands of glass as the council fears was her fate.”
“And why is that buddy?” I asked trying not to sigh.
“She and I did something. Together. At the court of the human king before we left. It angered someone.”
I really hope he’s not saying what I think he’s saying. “Look, dude, whatever you two did together is your business. I don’t see how that affects the slavery thing though.” He looked at me confused for a moment before, I swear to God, he blushed.
“That is not what I meant.” I motioned for him to go on as I finished off the apple or the thing that looked like an apple. It tasted a little sweeter than most apples from earth. “We, angered, one of the king's men. A man who professes to be a Wizard, when all he is, is a black sorcerer.”
I’m going to have to find out what a wizard is to these people I thought before again prodding him to go on.
“He hailed from the local religious stronghold of the Torish Sun God that we passed by. I think it was him that sent the attackers after us, not for the Ambassador, but for Pina and I, for revenge.”
“What, what did you do to him?” I asked concerned. But before the large man could answer I raised my hand to stop him. “Nevermind, I don’t want to know. At least not right now. Do you happen to have a map so I can see where this all took place?” Tol’geth produced a large folded parchment from one of the comparatively small bags along his belt. He unfolded it and placed it on the ground in front of us for me to study.
The map showed Cutters Hollow and Lo’sar clearly marked on it in the northernmost portion. It showed the twins, which looked like two towns on opposite sides of a lake that spanned a gap between the mountain range, to the south of where we were just then. From the twins was marked a large highway called the “kings road” that passed by and connected directly t
o the place that Tol’geth pointed too.
It was a small town named Sowers Vale, and an adjacent city named the Cathedral of the Harvester. Well it certainly sounds imposing, a religious city large enough to need a peasant village next to it to feed and see to its maintenance wasn’t unheard of back home on earth during the middle ages, but those places typically developed into the largest cities in Europe.
Looking at the map gave me ideas for several things as I studied it carefully. After a few minutes, I folded it up. “Do you mind if I keep this?” The large man shrugged and explained that he didn’t need it anymore. I made up my mind then. “I’ll help you search for that sorcerer Tol’geth, and see if we can find your Pina there. I can tell that you love her.”
Tol’geth inhaled sharply, held it, and then let it out in a long breath. He slapped my back, and I fought not to wince. I failed, but I tried dang it. “That is all I ask my wizard friend. If we find not a whiff or a whisper of her there, once I stand on the broken stones of that sorcerer's lair, I will relent and pray to the Earth Mother and the Four Winds to watch over her in foreign lands, and carry her soul home when she finally passes. But you? My brave weakling wizard friend, have given a man reason to hope. That is all any man can ask.” I nodded at him and we went back to a comfortable silence.
“Of course,” I said after a few minutes of watching the revelers. “You will need to ask Ambassador Salina if you can take leave of your duty to her.” I said breaking the silence between us.
“Already done. When I brought her here to safety I asked leave of both her and the council, they agreed as long as I did them a boon first.”
“Retrieve the children who had wandered off while they were deliberating?” He nodded at me, something that made his great dreadlocks, which were held in a ponytail by an iron band, bob up and down almost comically.
“They thought it would give me enough time to come to my senses, but the more I think about it, the more I know she is alive and most likely in that monsters clutches.” I patted the large man on the shoulder and stood up to go get some more food.
“Want anything? I’m grabbing another of those meat pies.” Tol’geth shook his head no and I walked to the table a few paces away from where we had found a spot. While I was filling a plate whittled out of bark into a square with intricate designs carved into it.
As I was admiring the craftsmanship of the plates before I piled heaps of gravy and meat pies onto it, a hand touched my shoulder. “Agh!” I yelled, and the plate in my hand went flying. “What is it?!” I yelled as I turned around. There were five elves there, none of them I recognized. And they all looked frightened.
“We-we didn’t mean to scare you, human.” The female who had touched me said as she gripped her hands to her chest looking at me like a viper. I breathed in and let out a sigh.
“Sorry, you just startled me,” I explained, as I bent down and picked up the lost plate. “I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting any of you yet. How can I help you?”
“We heard you had songs, songs we had never heard before. We were hoping that you might share some of them?” A tall male elf said. He looked a lot like Sed’s young boy.
“Say, are you related to Sed?” I asked pointing at him.
He puffed out his chest with pride “Yes, Sed’min’el is my father. You probably met him and my younger brother on your trek.”
I nodded “Yeah, they were both cool.” The look of confusion that swam across their collective faces was amusing as it was alarming. Damn idioms!
“I mean that they were very kind to me. Cool to my people means they were good people.” Their faces all lit up, again in an odd collective kind of way. I remembered what Tol’geth had said, that here in Lo’sar the forest responded to music. The reactions of the elves to Johnny Cash’s version of the simple song ‘you are my sunshine’ was powerful, that meant that music held a special place in elven hearts as well. Or, at least Green-Elves hearts anyway.
Feeling like I needed to earn their trust and help, I made a decision quickly crafting a plan. I just needed to get these elves on board with it. “To answer your question, yes I have a few songs I can share, but my voice is a little inadequate to carry them alone. Would anyone want to join me?” I had the feeling that the group of elves I was currently facing were young adults, around my age, perhaps a bit younger in terms of mental maturity. They all nodded enthusiastically, and after scarfing down another meat pie and telling Tol’geth where I was going, I wandered off with the small group.
Eventually, I was able to get together a little band. We had a small three-person drum circle, two people on a flute looking thing, and we even got Merkel on the reed grass harmonica that I had made him earlier. I asked Ailsa if she could help me with some of the sheet music, and she did. I was able to copy them down onto a few pieces of bark with charcoal as a writing utensil. It was remarkable how fast the elves picked up on musical notation.
“This is fascinating! You’re people can write, music!?”
“I guess if you have limited access to magic, you have to be creative” Another this time male voice said from the back of the group.
“Wait, they don’t have magic? What? Thats, that's sad!”
“No, they have magic, they just don’t have a lot of magic. Something about Sith killing off all the Jedi.”
“What in the world tree is a Sith? Or a Jedi?”
Conversations about my home, and the tidbits of false information that I had spread around circulated around me as I worked. The first one I was finished copying down was another Johnny Cash favorite of my fathers, Wayfaring Stranger. I sang it simply for them acapella at first, and once they picked up on it, and understood the simple music notes that I gave them on bark scraps, they improvised slightly. We didn’t have any violins or really any stringed instruments, so instead I had to come up with a couple more reed harmonicas before we could move on.
We went through the song once, still along the side of the clearing and it was pretty good! A few parts were still rather rough, and I had to explain the symbolism of the river Jordan a few times. We ran through it a couple more times, and by the fourth go we sounded great! “Aright!” I said raising my hands for them to join me. “Let's go!”
“Go where?” The young woman who asked about the Jedi asked. “We’re having fun right here.” They all murmured agreements and smiled at one another.
“Well yeah, but the purpose of music is to share with others, right?” A few of them cocked their heads or raised eyebrows at me in confusion. I sighed “Alright look. To my people, music is to be shared with others. We practice like this so that we can share the new skills we’ve learned for the enjoyment of our loved ones.” A couple of them nodded in agreement but most of them just stared at me uncomprehending. “If you don’t come with me now, I won’t teach you I Walk The Line later.” That got them moving.
We walked as a group into the middle of the circle of folks. “Hey, Ailsa?” I asked the fairy as we walked. “Do you have any spells that can amplify sound?”
She giggled “Do I!” And immediately started casting spells on the instruments and the area we had started setting up in.
“Not too loud, we don’t want to deafen people five towns away!” I warned, she turned to me mid spell and winked. I got everyone organized in a rough semi-circle, facing the side of the clearing with the most people. Eventually, they all settled down, and I walked in front of them all facing the crowd who had only just started paying attention to the odd display in front of them.
There were other musical groups but all of them were circles, music to the elves was an activity you did for your own pleasure, something you could do with friends and family, but generally it was for personal enjoyment. I wanted them to see how humans did it. “Ladies and gentlemen, elves and elvesses” I said after pointing to Ailsa to activate her spells. My voice boomed over the crowd, the empty forest night beyond and I winced. Ailsa winced as I looked at her and did the ‘turn it down’ motion,
and she adjusted the spells. “Sorry about that.” my voice was loud enough to be heard clearly but not so loud as to make people's ears bleed. “ Technical difficulty with the spell.” A few elves laughed or nodded in understanding.
“I wanted to share something from my homeland with you all, something special to my family in particular. It's a song called Wayfaring Stranger by a great bard known as Johnny Cash” The name didn’t translate well, so I spoke the foreign name in English. It was on many of their tongues before I had finished speaking, nodding to each other and lightly discussing the interesting sounding name. “And these gentle elves behind me have all agreed to help me do just that. So please, relax and enjoy this song. Old to my people, new to yours.”
I pointed at the assembled group behind me and they all picked up from the start in perfect harmony. The sound they produced wasn’t overpowering, on the contrary, it was soulful, sad, and filled with an almost repentant, contemplative tone. When I and the trio of other male singers all picked up the song from the start with “I’m just a poor wayfaring stranger, traveling thru this world below…” Every elf head and ear turned to regard us.
The strange song, and odd lyrics mixed with the soulful sad, almost repentive nature of the words about man's frailty, his journey to the promised land, how we pine for better things to come, and the homage to family and its importance. It all seemed to captivate them. By the end, when the last “I’m just going over Jordan, I’m just going over home” tapered off with the tinny, tragic and energetic sound from the final harmonica note, I heard the noise of several women and children crying. As I looked out, there were tears in nearly every elf eye I could see. The sound I thought was women crying was by far majorly men. Odd, but whatever.
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