Three of them were separated from each other. One of them was separated into four. And yet, they did what they had to do. They continued to work together, cohesively.
And so, they continued forward. Oram's scowl was multiple and at the same time it was one scowl - which was very clever of it, really. As the three who faced different opponents and opposition did so - as they moved forward - Oram felt himself returning more and more to the single-scowl-state which resided in the massive hollowed out tree in front of three small mushrooms. He saw and was with the other three -he knew everything that happened, but as they stepped closer to this place, so did he become more and more firmly in that one place.
The fight between Xander and the spider-snake was quite something to behold. The Taithir-marked nobleman displayed skill, agility and tactics and he was victorious. There was, of course, a moment where all the world seemed to hold it's breath as Xander was struck and fell into one of the pews, but he turned that into his own advantage and, the beast was slain.
As Xander watched, cautiously making sure that the now-seven-legged creature did not continue its attack, it "melted" before his eyes. Green gloop oozed from it and the fur and skin and eyes slid off the skeleton until all that remained there was a shattered carapace and the skeleton of an enormous spider-snake. If Xander wished it - or if Oram did, come to that - they would be able to retrieve bones or fangs.
The eggs were still where they had been and, as the spider died Xander - and the eggs - found themselves in what seemed to be an open clearing in the woods. As he looked around he saw that it was, in fact, the inside of the hollow Emerald Tree and it was massive.
Like -
really massive. There were mushrooms which were so large that they were taller than him, their stalks so thick that he would have had to take five or six steps to walk around them. As Xander realised that he was a tiny person in an oversized world, he saw Oram.
Oram had become a giant scowling fairy! To Oram, Xander had become the size of a tiny fairy.
The two eggs had retained their size, though and so there was something of an issue. To Xander, they were enormous. To Oram, they were tiny. Both men could now see that they glowed, but on one of them there was a
symbol
on them now which neither of them had been able to see before. Xander could see that these huge mushrooms were like fairy-houses. They were abandoned, though.
Bao's tiny form shook as sobs wracked his body and he prayed.
At first, it seemed, nothing would happen, no one heard. But Oram saw that the center of Bao's chest, where his heart beat, began to glow. Just slightly.
And then, simultaneously, all the doors opened. They flew open and from them poured light and sounds and laughter. Tears and screams, too, but the first thing that happened - as all the doors opened - was that the whole of life, not just the negative and worst aspect - was seen.
Then, Bao saw.
To his right, where there had been the person who stole from a beggar. It was dark and the stars in the sky twinkled and cast a light down on the scene. The thief took off with the stolen items, but then a small cadouri who looked like Bao came to the sleeping form and put a blanket Bao recognised over the beggar. The stars glowed brighter.
Another door, and there was indeed dancing and singing as he had asked. Cadouri were there, but not just them. Humans, biqaj, avriel. People of Idalos, in all their forms and with all their strengths and flaws.
None of what he saw, however, acted like the bad didn't happen. It did. But every time it did, there was someone with a kind word or gentle act - someone who built or who helped or who stood firm or someone who fought, even. There were always stars, Bao noticed, and while there was no glossing over or denying of the horrors which happened, what he saw was starlight shining on the difference that kindness and good actions could make.
Somehow, in that moment, he saw them all. Bao had the experience of seeing the world as Saoire saw it, maybe. There was darkness, yes, there was no denying it. But in the darkest places, in the inkiest blackness, there was light. There was hope.
But then, maybe it wasn't Saoire's eyes he saw through. As the starlight sung to him, and the clouds in his vision cleared, he realised that it was not her. Removing his hand from his heart, he realised that there was a tiny snowflake in his hand, with a
symbol on it.
And Bao stepped forward.
With the first step, he found himself in the same place as Oram and Xander were. As Bao walked in, the giant Oram and the tiny Xander both felt the world "shift" a little. Now, Xander and Bao were half their usual size - Oram was twice his. The world, or the room they were in, shifted too - it became that bit closer to whatever normal might look like.
Zoro placed the small body on the boat and he moved forward. The filth of the river was obvious, the stench dreadful. It was something which would make even the most hardened individual hesitate, but Zoro squared his shoulders, straightened his back, and stepped forward.
And he and Oram discovered that the river, while wide, was not deep. It looked it, but it was not and Zoro got the bottom of his shoes dirty. Each step he took strengthened the fairies around them, it seemed, and they grew more and more real, more and more physical. More and more
there. Their light brightened the place and as he took the body of Mildred across, Oram and Zoro got to hear a song of mourning. Fairies flew around the barge, glowing and moving in beautiful patterns of light. Softly at first, their song began and it was a sound no mortal had heard for hundreds of arcs.
It was beyond beautiful. Beyond sad.
As Zoro took his final step, moving once more on to dry land, Mildred's body was lifted up, borne by her fellow fairies and carried on what seemed to be a funeral procession of light. They carried her in front of Zoro and, as he stepped, they were all in the place with the toadstools.
Zoro stepped in, behind the singing fairies who carried Mildred's body, bathed in light. As Zoro arrived, as the four of them were together once more, the world reverted to it's proper size and they stood (all of them, Oram was suddenly a human scowler, not a fairy one) together, at the four corners of a circle. The fairies floated Mildred to the very middle of that circle and the four of them saw the tiny creatures lay her body on to the ground where it glowed. One of them then returned and fluttered over to Zoro. She planted a tiny kiss on his nose and the biqaj found that in his hand was the tiny funeral barge. Except now, it too had a
symbol on it.
There were three mushrooms with flat tops, each of them glowed the same colour as the symbols and Mildred's body.
"Will you free us?" a hundred tinkling voices asked.
"Put the stones down together, and we will be free. Sweetwine will be free. Ol'Tuck will once again walk. Please."
They seemed very keen. Their lights were bright and flickering and there was a lot of high emotion in them. Which could, of course, be a problem if they paused or waited.
Next Post: Sunday 4th July
