Friday at school came and went; we were in the final phase of our rehearsals, and the publicity of the musical was city-wide. I found out that other schools in the city were also doing musicals in the next couple of weeks or so, and that all of them were just as dedicated as we were to ensuring that their performances would make an impact to overturn the opinion of certain naysayers. Our school, however, was the vanguard for them, it seemed; if we didn't do well, it would reflect on them in the eyes of those who were determined to squash the arts.
Why do those people have to be so dead-set against it anyway? I wondered to myself frustratedly as we walked home that evening. It's not like it harms anyone; and except for Panarena, being in a play is the most fun I've had this year... heh, now that's saying something... Sean Daniels, recluse-extraordinaire, enjoying the lead-role in a musical... a crinkly smile came to my face as the thought ran through my head.
“Math homework looks even more brutal than usual tonight...” Rachel remarked as we crossed a street.
“Heh, usually it's me saying that,” I grinned in reply.
“Which makes it twice as brutal tonight than it is normally!” she joked back.
“Hahh... true.” I said. “At least it was given on a Friday instead of during the week...”
“Oh my Gawd, definite agree.” Rachel nodded emphatically. “We'll have to have someone kidnap us tomorrow so they can help us with it.”
“Hm? Didn't we also have a publicity thing tomorrow?” I then wondered.
“Did we?” she returned, and then snapped her fingers. “Oh we did. At the city council building or something.”
“Gyeck,” I stiffened slightly.
“Right??” she returned in agreement, pulling out her phone.
“Ugh...” I sighed, letting myself relax again.
“It's at two in the afternoon,” Rachel said as she looked over her notes.
“Hrrmm... it was just a couple of scenes, right?”
“Yep, just three. And one song!”
“Right,” I nodded.
“Your swordplay has definitely improved, though.” she remarked.
“Thanks; it feels more natural by now for sure,” I smiled back.
“And the dancing?” she grinned at me.
“Hah, I guess so,” I said, returning the grin.
“Oh! The cornerstore.”
“Hm? Weren't we just gonna have dinner at the hotel buffet?”
“They canceled it tonight, remember? There was some big reception going on instead and we wanted to stay clear of it.”
“Ohh, right.”
“Come on!” Rachel smiled as we turned to head inside the store, picking up a few things for dinner and snacks before heading back to the hotel.
It almost felt natural now, being there; the thought that we only had a week left of living there together hadn't really come to the forefront of our minds yet. What it had done, however, was ease me into the idea of actually moving out--when the time came for that part of our lives. Still... there's gonna be a difference between just Rachel and me and four or five of us together, I pondered as we made our way along the city streets.
No one had come along to try and accost us again so far, but I still kept a wary eye out just in case. Happily, my vigilance was unneeded. We reached the hotel safe and sound, and scurried up to do what homework we could after making a pasta together and then enjoying it for supper. Once we had finished off the easier portion of our homework, we decided to leave the rest for Saturday, and then got ready to head into Panarena.
“Andi said Thomas will be on tonight; and Ellie has the night off too... though she doesn't seem to like it!” Rachel told me with a grin.
“Hrrmm... I guess I kinda understand... but then again, she'll be fine if she gets something to swing at.” I shrugged.
“With her hammer or her halberd?” Rachel smirked back.
“Yes.” I replied, and she burst out laughing.
“You'd get a hundred points docked if she heard that!” she told me.
“Then we'll make sure she doesn't!” I said as I beamed a cheesy grin in reply.
“Come on, handsome.” my girlfriend then said, tossing my headgear to me as we laid down upon the bed.
“Sure thing, angel.” I returned. She gave me a kiss, and then we set the Dream Machines on to head into our special little world.
***
As it turned out, Lizzy had gone back up north to where Dracuoatlax still was, along with Maryn, the twins, and Sky Belle, leaving the rest of us to deal with things in Bethelia. We tended to our new chores around the farmstead for the first couple of hours. No one had yet come along to try and disturb anything through the means that Clara Toxin had insinuated to us, but we kept vigilant all the same. Then, remembering the words of our new friend Edgar Moorgren (who, along with Maisy Heartsong, had begun his own gardening in a plot behind the orchard), we made our way northwest with Fyu and the waggon.
“So everything looked too healthy, according to the stories, huh...” Healina mused. Derwydd, who had come along to join us for the night, seemed absorbed by the puzzling words as well.
“I guess it's a sort of reference to old myths and stuff, like in the Otherworld where things tend to look more alive; though the NPCs themselves wouldn't know that.” I said with a shrug.
“Oh! Interesting,” our healer noted.
“How can something look more alive than things that are alive?” Anhe wondered; the look on her face seemed to show both skepticism and amazement.
“Hrrmm... it does sound ridiculous, especially with this world's realism already at a hundred and ten percent...” I admitted, a wry grin on my face. “But, if I had to make a good comparison... I'd say it'd be similar to what we saw at Heaven's Mountain. It would have that kind of atmosphere, anyway.”
“Hmm...” Anhe returned softly, crossing her arms as she leaned back to ponder this.
“It would be almost ethereal, you mean,” Ariana said, and I nodded back.
“There's a good word for it.” I said.
“We'll see it or not pretty soon, at this pace,” Derwydd remarked as he turned to watch the countryside almost flying away as Fyu ferried us to our destination.
“I am also eager, masters, to find this beast that is said to be so elusive!” the dog-beast said to us.
“I'll have to use my own sense of smell to help out a bit,” our werebear-druid friend added with a grin. “It won't be as good as Fyu or Lysandra, but every little bit helps.”
“Of course it does,” I nodded in agreement.
“I can't wait to see what this thing is!” Ariana smiled as she looked ahead.
“Same!” Anhe agreed. “I bet it is something cute!”
“Right??” my partner returned with a nod.
“As long as it does what the rumors say it does...” I shrugged, leaving the rest unspoken as I quietly grinned.
“Oh?” Ari said to me with a smirk. “So, it's okay if it's black and yellow and has wings?” she prodded, gently poking me.
“Kyeee!!??” I tensed up at once, shuddering.
“Didn't think so.” she said, patting me on the head.
“Most likely...” Healina began, a calming smile on her face, “It'll be something that looks related to the Bethelians in some way.”
“Agree.” Ari said.
“Seconded--no, wait, 'thirded'?” Derwydd looked puzzled for a moment, then shrugged, a grin on his face.
“I also agree -- which is why it is definitely going to be Cute!” Anhe smiled.
“Hmm.” I said as I stretched a bit, then leaned back in my seat.
A creature that can be persuaded to help with pests; something that makes all the plants and stuff near its location look more alive than regular ones; Bethelia; animal-folk; the Mead Forest... if it was just the 'pests' it would help with, I would say it'd be some sort of cat, but Edgar mentioned that it likes keeping plants and things looking lively, too, according to the stories that he heard... I can't put a picture on an animal like that, I softly frowned, puzzling over the clues we had. So help me, if it really is one of *those* things, I'll be screaming so loud it might kick me offline from the stress factor.
Well, anyhow. We reached the Mead Forest around noon that day after a brief respite at Elmburg. While there, we heard another story about the mysterious creature; it seemed to favor places deep in the forest, and there were those who said that singing could, at times, be heard from such places. As we ventured into the forest itself, an ancient expanse of hickory, maple, oak, and pines, certain bells began ringing in my head as to what it might be.
Hahh... if I'm right, it's definitely going to be more than cute, I mused inwardly.
A sudden breeze blew past us, scattering a swath of leaves that had been left from autumns long ago across our path. Fyu halted to watch them, and we turned to look as well. As they fluttered by in the wind, I heard a sound like the jingling of little bells. It made me sit up a bit, and it caught the attention of the others as well.
“Bells...?” Anhe blinked curiously.
“Masters, I should not wonder if that peculiar sound was related to the one we seek.” Fyu remarked.
“It is a beast we're looking for, right?” Healina asked.
“Well, the word was creature, which could mean beast, but...” I said as I looked around.
“But it could also be something that's not a beast.” Ari finished for me.
“That would definitely narrow it down.” Derwydd said. “It wouldn't be too out of theme for the area if it was a dryad or a nymph of some sort or another, or even a fairy... you're thinking about the same, right, Lana?” he said to me, and I gave a nod in reply.
“Pretty much.” I told him.
“A fairy would be most in theme, and the jingling bell-sound might actually hint at it being one,” Healina agreed.
“Let's keep going.” I then said, and Fyu gave us a nod, resuming our at a trot.
Whatever this creature is... if it's one of those three or something similar, we can expect tricks to happen, I noted to myself as I watched another pile of leaves further away from us get stirred up by a second breeze.
We wandered around the Mead Forest for nearly four hours. Fyu had dropped to a walk after the first hour, and the six of us had kept a close eye on anything that so much as twitched. The bell-sound made its presence known several times as we made our way around the forest, yet we could never quite tell exactly where it was coming from.
As we got deeper into the forest the sound seemed to get louder -- when we heard it, at least. We had found what seemed to have been a road, long overgrown and now crumbling to pieces, its path winding under the boughs of ancient hickories and pine. There seemed to be ruins deeper in the woods off to the sides of this long-decayed highway; I wondered what they were like up close, and if we would somehow lose the path in trying to get to them. That sort of thing happens in books, but it might be tricky to actually pull off in a game.
What am I saying; these developers would have some sort of system in place to help us become lost if that was the gimmick here, I then reasoned to myself with a faint smile.
“Who knew Bethelia of all places had a forest that could be this way?” Healina said as we passed by a particularly large pine tree on our right.
“You mean as in the 'mysterious wood' vibe?” Ariana asked her, and the older girl nodded back to her.
“Exactly. It's not, like, threatening or anything; just...” she trailed off, trying to think of a word.
“Like it's watching us?” I suggested.
“There we go, that's it.” Heali said as she nodded again.
“I think some of it is watching us,” Derwydd remarked. “Some of my passive skills have been alerting me to 'watchful creatures' or 'presences' as we get deeper into the forest. I imagine that Fyu is also picking up on some things as well,” he added, looking towards the dog-beast.
“There are many strong scents about; some of them I seem familiar with, and others not as much. And there is one I know not at all,” Fyu told us, his gaze fixed ahead.
“That could be what we are looking for.” Anhe said as she heard the words.
“Could be,” Ari agreed. Fyu stopped then, and sniffed the air more attentively.
“Masters, I find a strong scent of... flowers, and fruits, perhaps,” he said to us.
“Hmm...” I pondered, and then I caught a faint whiff of it myself. “Heh? I smell it, too; it's... sweet,” I noted.
“Ooh, yes!” Ari said as she and the others noticed it. “Mm! That's lovely,” she remarked.
“Is it further ahead still?” Derwydd asked Fyu.
“Not much further, I would say.” the reply came, and we started off again.
“If we can smell it, it's got to be close,” Heali smiled.
“I concur, masters.” said Fyu as he pulled us along.
A few minutes later, we found ourselves pulling up to what seemed to be a woodland sanctuary; hedges and ivies had “walled off” what was likely a garden or orchard of some kind. Fyu halted, and we set him free of the waggon as we got out to take a look. As I got closer, the foliage began parting to reveal an entry-way for us. I noted that the leaves looked very different from the bushes and shrubs throughout the rest of the forest, almost as if, as if--
“It's more alive...” I softly whispered, eagerly heading inside. The others followed me quickly, and once within the sanctuary we found ourselves amazed.
Everything really did seem more alive, more vibrant, in this space. Trees, flowers, herbs, ivies, shrubs, mushrooms, vineyards; there were springs bubbling up, a variety of songbirds, and several kinds of small, furry animals scurrying about the place. It was as if we had stepped into a piece of wondrous music. Speaking of which.
As my gaze slowly wandered around the area we had entered, I caught sight of a radiantly beautiful being on the far end. I felt a breathless gasp escape me. There before us was a nymph indeed; a dryad, I supposed, given that she was living in the forest. Her raiment was a skirted tunic of ivy, and she had a coronet of white and pink flowers in her green-black hair. She looked up at us, smiling, and then turned to enter a portal that was framed between an oak and an elm.
“Tch!!” I hissed, and as quick as I could I ran towards the portal to dive in after her. The others followed me in seconds later.
We emerged in a realm that was just as vibrant as the space we had been in moments ago; I found that my disappointment was vanishing like a puff of clouds. Who would want to hang on to negative emotions in this space anyway? I found myself thinking as I looked around in bewildered amazement. This... this is all designed by *people*, right? Like people people?? I dunno, man, it feels like it could've been... divinely made, I mused, struck speechless by the amount and quality of detail around me. Ariana took my hand, and I clasped hers back lovingly.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
“Amazing...” Anhe whispered, summing up all our feelings with that quiet word.
“Can we just say we've won the game now? Because I feel like we've really won the game at this moment,” Derwydd said as he looked around. I heard Fyu chuckle.
“It would be a fine place to end our travels after the final victories, masters,” the dog-beast agreed.
“You're telling me,” Ariana returned. My gaze circled around a few times more before I caught sight of our quarry, who winked at us and then pulled aside a length of trailing ivy that had been covering a great stone before heading deeper into the realm we had followed her into.
“That stone has to be important.” Healina said, and we hurried over to it.
“It could be a distraction, too; but maybe it's related to gaining her trust?” I noted.
“Agree!” Ariana nodded.
Derwydd pulled aside the ivy again when we reached it so Heali and Ariana could look over the stone in question. The characters on it looked like something I had seen before in a book, but I couldn't remember exactly what it was.
“They almost look like hieroglyphs or Hieratic, from what I remember seeing in one of your books.” Ari wondered.
“Good eye, but not quite,” our healer replied. “These... they look like one of the old Linear scripts... I bet this is a lore-language this time... oh! I remember now, it's Thessalian!”
“Oh, that makes sense,” I said.
“Right?” Heali agreed.
“Hm?” Anhe looked curious.
“Thessalia is based off of mythological Greece, and dryads are part of that mythology; Linear is one of the early writing systems that they used in that part of the world, so the developers made up their own version for the game!” Healina explained.
“Ahh, I see!” Anhe said in reply. “These characters almost looked familiar to me, too...” she added, idly tracing one of them as she looked it over.
“It does almost look like one of the early Chinese scripts your mother showed us, huh?” Ari observed, and the younger girl nodded.
“Yes, a little bit,” she agreed.
“Right! I have it.” Healina then told us.
“What's it say?” I asked her.
“It says, 'Tread carefully these Elysian Lands, O Wanderers; be generous, be compassionate, be knowledgeable, be wise; to be elevated, be humble; to receive, give. Your reward shall be friendship everlasting,'” she read, pondering the words as she spoke them aloud.
I looked around again, trying to recall in what direction the dryad had gone after she left the stone. Does it matter, though? Or will we find her so long as we observe the words on the stone? I wondered, deciding that it could go either way.
“'Tread carefully', huh?” Ariana repeated. “Let's not rush around then. We might disturb something or get caught in a trap.”
“Agreed.” Healina said, and Anhe nodded as well.
“Right,” Derwydd replied, Fyu bowing his head in assent.
“La-na,” Ari grinned, tugging my ear.
“Y-yeah,” I returned with a bemused grin.
“You've been a lot less shadowy lately, my love; it's time to be sneaky and careful again!” she said to me.
“G-got it,” I nodded affirmatively. She then let go, kissing my cheek as we set off at a slow pace, finding a rustic path leading up into some hills east of us a few moments later.
Taking care not to disturb anything around us, we trod the path leading upward in search of the dryad. I was not surprised when the trek became more difficult. Besides the increasing angle of ascent and the breaking up of the pathway by intermittent cliffs, the foliage around us was becoming thicker. A dense sea of wild grasses and saplings lay sprawled out across our way at once point, and we needed both Fyu and Derwydd's senses to keep us from disturbing the more delicate growths beneath our feet.
Then there was a particularly tall cliff that came along; this time, Fyu had to fly us up in pairs before we could continue on. He brought Ariana and myself up first, and the two of us decided to explore the immediate area around the cliff until the others arrived.
“More writing,” Ari said as we approached an upright stone slab.
“The same as before?” I asked her.
“Looks like it; now that I know which it is, I should be able to read it as well as Heali,” she returned, bringing up one of her own books for reference. She looked between this and the stone for a few moments, a thoughtful expression on her face.
“What's up?” I wondered.
“I don't think it's as relevant as the first one,” Ari commented. “What it does say is, 'My name begins with Music and ends with Eternity; in between lie three songbirds and three fruits found in these heavenly gardens',” she told me.
“Hrrmm,” I returned bemusedly, wondering if this was going to be like the puzzle we had to get through to win Fyu's allegiance. “I guess it begins with an 'M' and ends with an 'E', but the rest of it...”
“The rest of it will definitely be harder.” my partner nodded back to me. “Three songbirds and three fruits... all of them around us in this place, somewhere...” she mused as the others joined us.
“Not more riddles?” Derwydd said with a faint grin.
We told them what we had discovered, and Healina began listing off the fruit trees she had already noticed, bringing out a field guide from her inventory to keep track of others we might find. Derwydd brought out one for birds, and we resumed out trek along the path, now just barely noticeable.
“An icaco...” Heali observed as we passed by a tree with purple and green fruit hanging on it. “And of course lots of apple trees; this one's a strange one, it's an ensete,” she told us as we passed by something that I was sure had been a banana of some kind.
“And there's lots of orange and pear trees, too; oh, and the grapes!” Ariana said as she looked around. We were definitely seeing a lot more grapes in this part of the area.
“How's your bird-observing?” Heali asked her boyfriend.
“Hmm... from what I can tell, there's robins, thrushes, nightingales; there's one called a 'linnet' -- haven't heard of that one in a while.” he returned, listening intently for a moment. “And that was... a skylark? I think,” he added.
“How do you recognize them all?” I wondered.
“My grandfather was a bird-watcher for a nature magazine and film company, so I picked up bits of it from him.” Derwydd replied.
“Neat!” Ari smiled.
“You can get paid to watch birds?” Anhe said incredulously. “I think I want to do that for a living now!” she remarked, and we all laughed.
“Oh! A starling!” Heali suddenly pointed as one flew across our path.
“Ah! Nice!” Derwydd grinned.
“Hahh... already so many letters to choose from...” I sighed, and Ari cracked a grin, patting my head.
“We'll figure it out.” she assured me.
“Masters, the path ahead... it has become a proper road,” Fyu said to us.
We looked into the distance ahead then; the path did indeed make a transition into a properly paved road, leading through what looked like a temple of some sort, yet rather than being “built” it was more like it had been “grown”. There were luminous trees and mushrooms that grew around the place, adding to the ethereal radiance that was already present in this strange and beautiful sub-realm of Panarena. The centerpiece was a great boulder with a smooth surface, Thessalian characters etched deeply around the edges and one word carved into the center of these.
“The word in the middle is 'Enisalem', and the inscription around it says that this sanctuary is dedicated to she whose name is mirrored in this altar. Mirrored? It's stone!” Healina said, frowning as she gazed at it with a puzzled look.
Wait a minute... I suddenly realized, but then we were disturbed by something.
“Have pity! Have pity!” an old beggar pleaded, his voice pained.
“What can we do for you?” Ariana asked as she hastened over to him.
“My granddaughter ran afoul of a poison in these lands; have pity, have pity!” he cried.
A poison, huh? I don't remember anything poisonous around here, but we do have a lot of-- oh!!
“Give him some of our antidotes, and a healing potion, too,” I said to Ari, who nodded back at once. She gave him three of each, and he thanked us profusely before dashing back the way he came.
“Lana?” Anhe asked me.
“Like it said, 'be generous',” I smiled back.
“Ah! Of course,” she returned. “I wonder, does that also count as compassionate?” she then wondered.
“I guess it could,” I remarked as we continued heading down the road through the living temple.
“I bet there's something specific for that one ahead, though.” Derwydd shrugged.
“I agree.” Heali nodded.
“We seem to be heading into a city of sorts, masters; I believe we will find ample opportunities to act upon the maxims written in stone,” Fyu told us.
“I don't doubt it,” I replied as I placed my hand on his head.
There was indeed a city ahead. Like the temple, nothing had been built; rather, all of it seemed to have been grown. Near the center of what appeared to be a marketplace, there was a spring that welled up in the midst of a tiered flower-garden with a small cherry-tree growing off-center from where the water flowed. The people here were normal-looking people; Thessalian, obviously, from what I could see of their dress (based on clothes from Ancient Greece).
“Compassionate, compassionate,” I softly repeated to myself as we made our way along the road.
Healina suddenly changed direction, heading to a building on our right. Derwydd followed her at once, and after the rest of us exchanged glances we hurried after them. Inside, we found people laid out on sickbeds, with others tending to them. Our healer began doing the same, treating injuries and healing ailments with her skills.
“I think this is definitely compassion,” Derwydd remarked. “I'm going to help her; I do have some healing skills.”
“We'll look for other opportunities, then,” I nodded back, and we left them to it.
With Fyu at our side, the rest of us meandered along the paths of this nature-made city. There were shops and places of gathering, there was what looked like an outdoor school, and high above in the trees we caught a glimpse of what looked like a forum--in the Ancient Greek sense, that is. A large crowd of people had gathered and were debating with one another, with some agreeing and others disagreeing, in a more or less civil fashion.
What could they have to debate or disagree about in this little paradise? For that matter, why were any of them sick or injured? I wondered, looking back towards the--hospital? I guess you could call it. Suddenly, a thought clicked in my mind, and I raced up the stairs, such as they were, to the forum far above us.
“Lana? Oh!” Ariana said as she and Anhe chased after me.
“What is it?” Anhe asked her.
“The forum is up there; in ancient times, a forum was where people actually gathered in-person to discuss or debate things!” my partner told her.
“Ah! I remember that from a history class I had a while ago!” Anhe replied. “Then this might be the test of knowledge and wisdom!”
“Exactly!” I grinned. “Now we just need to listen for the right opportunity,” I added.
“Right,” Ari nodded back.
We reached the top a few moments later, and situated ourselves on the edge of the forum, listening carefully to the main speakers. From what I could make out, they seemed to be discussing the relation of the divine to the epidemic of sickness that had recently come upon them. The man in blue and green robes was arguing that it was a sign of some infidelity on their part, whereas the one in white and gold was countering with a rationale that it was merely a test of fidelity.
“Dimitera and her handmaid Melasine would never do us true harm, in this their own realm; all we must do is trust, as our forebears trusted, and soon this will all pass away and be but a memory, a lesson for future generations!” the latter declared.
“Be not so misdirected by the words of Thioskopses,” the other one sniffed. “We have committed some grave sin against the divines; perhaps we have lingered too long in this supposed bliss, and are now being given a sign that we must leave!”
“The words of Agrevemnon might have merit were we in Thessalia, our ancient home; but this is a realm of the Elysiar, Melasine's own garden, which she has given our ancestors to tend. And now it is our turn! We must not forsake this sacred duty merely because some naysayers are fearful of sickness and doubt the faithfulness of the Elysiar!” Thioskopses returned with grand gestures.
Melasine's own garden, huh? Melasine, the handmaid of... Dimitera, he said? Sounds like a goddess and nymph situation... oh! I slowly smiled to myself; looking over at Ariana, I could see she was reaching the same conclusion. Anhe's expression was one of focus; she was zeroed in on the speakers. I turned back myself as the second one, Agrevemnon, began speaking again.
“And what proof do we have that it is a sign from the Elysiar for us to remain? None! We have sickness, and that, O people, is oft the sign heralding doom!” he said confidently.
“And it is also the sign of trial! Forget you, Agrevemnon, the Nine Trials of Keraklar, where he was tasked with curing the people of Thenatra? Have you no memory of Clepadra the Saint, who at the last prayed that she might take upon herself the illness of her people, and lo! Alopius the Beneficent, instead of granting her prayer, cured them all? Nay, my friends; the divines are not angered with us; they merely wait to see that we are faithful!” the one called Thioskopses said.
“Perhaps it is so, perhaps it is not; perhaps neither are correct!” a third man said.
“Sidomenes, pray, what mean you with such words?” Agrevemnon asked him.
“The both of you have spoken eloquently and at length concerning the nature of the divines in this plague; have you both forgotten the nature of nature? That there are things which happen, not at the whims of the Elysiar but at the whims of nature itself? I have made much study of the natural world; and I have studied this sickness from the time it began! Was it not on the day of the festival that the first victims fell ill? And did not all of them drink wine from a certain vineyard? And the victims since; have they not all been connected to the ones who fell ill earliest in some way?” said Sidomenes.
Boy, that sounds a lot more rational to me, I mused. Oh, I get it, because Ancient Greece hovered between superstition and rationale, though that's a huge oversimplification of things...
“Wine!” Thioskopses cried out. “Wine! The delight of Syselion and the friend of Maethe has become our bane?”
“The philosopher's words have some merit; even you must see it, Thioskopses!” Agrevemnon remarked with a shrug.
“Aye, perhaps! But I see new faces at our forum! Outsiders, I perceive, from their dress; come, ye young maidens, I beseech you as the Bard once besought the Lord of the Underworld! Lend us your thoughts, unbiased as they might be from the vision of those gathered here!” the man in white and gold said to us.
Ahh... I froze a moment, then Ari nudged me.
“You or me?” she softly asked.
“Go for it,” I nodded.
“Not the nymph!” Agrevemnon declared as she stood up.
“Eh?!” Ariana blinked in surprise.
“Aye, not the nymph,” Thioskopses agreed, “And behold the youngest of them with that beast, surely they are not even Thessalian! But this one looks near enough to our own people as we might expect; you there!” he called to me, and Ariana sat down with a sigh, giving me a bemused smile.
“Sir?” I asked as I stood up.
“Yes, you! You have heard the substance of these debates; what say you? What course should we take?” the man in blue and green robes asked, gently hauling me to the center of attention while the third man, who wore garments of black color, rose to stand with us.
Oh boy.
“Ahh...” I started uncertainly.
“Shame on the both of you, asking such questions of an untried girl!” Sidomenes told the two debaters reproachfully.
Watch it, bud; this 'untried girl' has taken down monsters you can't even imagine, I thought to myself indignantly, seeing Ariana and Anhe quietly giggle. I then cleared my throat. Now, I was never part of any debate team at school, and I was certainly never getting into philosophy or anything like that. But what I was good at, at least in video games, was putting a big picture together.
“People of Melasine's Garden!” I then began. Even Ari and Anhe looked caught off-guard by my voice. “I am an outsider here; but I hope that, as Thioskopses says, that perspective might help you to the right choice.”
O-kay, now I've done it... Heali and Der should be through healing the people in that hospital now, though, so I think I have the right track with this... I mused, quickly gathering my thoughts.
“I must agree with him, and with Sidomenes on this matter. Perhaps this bad wine was a test, meant to teach you to be more careful in the future when you take care of these gardens, as the Elysiar have asked you to do. Two of my friends are in the city below, and even now they are working to heal those of your friends and family who have fallen victim to this sickness; by now it may be that they've already done so!” I said to them.
There were murmurs of astonishment throughout the crowd; I wondered how many of them were hoping or believed that I was in the right. I wonder if I'm in the right, I thought to myself with a wrinkled grin, and then I saw our two friends arrive.
“There you are! We finished healing the people down at the hospital; it was some sort of sickness brought on by wine, of all things,” Healina said as she came over to me. “What the heck are you doing in the middle of the forum?” she smiled.
“Ahh... playing poker?” I returned with a wry grin.
“Stranger, you have cured our people?” Agrevemnon asked her at once.
“I have,” Heali nodded back.
“Ah-ha! I was right, then!” Sidomenes declared triumphantly. “Though this young woman said it best; we should be more careful in managing what we have been given by the Elysiar!”
“Quite so, quite so!” Thioskopses said with a nod, then turned to the other debater. “Now, you foolish fellow, will you have done trying to tell us we should leave these hallowed halls?”
“I admit my words were wrong, this time!” Agrevemnon agreed. “But come! Let us leave the forum now, and make celebration -- yet be careful of the wines!” he then said, and the others around him, including the crowd, all laughed.
When we had descended to the ground, the six of us somehow managed to slip away from the crowd so that we could continue on our way. I was definitely eager to move on. That Sidomenes had started a new debate between himself and Thioskopses as to which one of their sons should marry me. The girls had managed to hold back their laughter, but Derwydd had not been as subtle, nearly doubling over when he heard the debate intensify. After we had gotten far enough away, we sat down for a rest, and they all let loose with laughter again. Except Fyu, of course.
“We should have stayed! I wanted to know which one of them would have won!” Heali cackled.
“Right??” Derwydd agreed, clapping his hands with laughter. Ari gave me an apologetic grin, laying her head on my shoulder, and Anhe refrained from making a comment, though I almost felt as if she, too, had wanted to see the debate through to the end.
“Masters, I believe we may have satisfied the first five parts of our strange riddle,” Fyu said after they had calmed down.
“Hm? Oh! Because we didn't want to be the center of attention,” Ariana noted.
“Be humble to elevate yourself, huh?” Heali said. “I agree. That leaves the last bit of it, then... 'to receive, give'.”
“Hmm...” I pondered, looking around aimlessly.
“Isn't that a shrine?” Derwydd then remarked, pointing to something further along the pathway.
“Let's take a look,” I said, and we got up to hurry over to it.
“It is a shrine,” Heali affirmed a few moments later. “To someone called... 'Melasine'?” she blinked, and then lit up in realization. “Backwards! It's Melasine!”
“Begins with 'Music' and ends with 'Eternity',” I smiled. “Hrrmm...” I then looked back at the shrine itself.
It was some kind of flowering bush with purple and white buds on it that had grown into a shape like a well; some of the stems had been intertwined to resemble a female figure near the top. I opened my inventory, taking out a few gold coins. Better make it... eight, I reasoned, going off the number of letters in the dryad's name. I dropped the eight gold coins into the shrine. Not that I knew for certain this was what the riddle wanted, but it felt likely. Come to think of it, a lot of these higher-level quests or events don't have markers, I recalled.
“Generous ones,” a soft voice called. We turned around; there was the figure who had led us here to begin with, Melasine the Dryad. “Full of compassion and generosity; possessed of knowledge and wisdom; humble, and giving. I am Melasine. Do you wish for my services?” she asked us.
“We do,” I affirmed, and she smiled.
“Then let us go back to your world; these people have been reminded of their duty, and they will not shirk it again. Come!” she said, and a portal opened.
In a few moments, we were back in Harmonia, heading to our Bethelia homestead and explaining to Melasine what our situation was. She agreed to help us, and was actually delighted that we had sought out her services.
“Defending nature is my utmost prerogative.” the dryad told us. “It will be my pleasure to help you keep your farmstead safe from those who might try to work against it.”
“We're glad to have you,” I replied.
Another day, another ally, I thought as a grin came to my face.