9th of Inandyl - 2nd Kaldros

  I am excited to pick up Chou from Professor Lighthammer’s workshop after my Practical Medica class. Being without her felt like an eternity! And Dr. Featherspeaker’s class did little to distract my mind from the nagging feeling that I am missing something. Like I had forgotten something necessary in my room and I keep searching for where I placed it.

  When I arrive just before the midday bell, he offers me a crestfallen expression as Chou flutters over to my left shoulder. He again sings my praises, remarking of the wonder that I have created with the assistance of Wen, who is likewise in the workshop. He invites me to join him and a few others of his more advanced students for a light lunch. I accept happily, though I wonder if he is just trying to keep me here for a chance to observe Chou more.

  My suspicions are unfounded though, as I enter the back room of the workshop that feels crowded with only four other students. Professor Lighthammer introduces me formally as we walk into the space which only seems smaller with the large table in the center covered with platters of food. Wen is first, though I feel like we already have a report at this point. Narin is there too, sitting with his head nestled sleepily in his arms on the table in front of him and I am glad for Wen’s explanation that he’s always like that.

  I am introduced to two other second-year scribes: a serious, stout dwarf by the name of Kotek and an energetic shortfoot that rivals Wen for eccentricity by the name of Mackenzie. I in turn introduce myself and awkwardly include Chou, with whom, to my embarrassment, they are now familiar. Over lunch they discuss the project that they have all been working on together this term, which was apparently Narin’s idea.

  Narin, to his credit, lifts his head weakly at the mention of his name and mumbles something unintelligible to Wen, of all people, who translates for him.

  “Oh, yeah, he calls it earoh propulsion.”

  “Earoh?” I ask, still unsure about Wen’s accent sometimes.

  “No! Not ‘ear-oh’, ‘ay-row’. You know,” she gestures, waving a hand in the air, “wind type magic.”

  “Oh! Aero propulsion!”

  “Exactly! It is quite an ingenious way to use mana.” Pipes up Mackenzie as she stuffs her face with a large roll of some kind.

  “Sounds exciting.” I comment, taking a noticeably smaller bite of a bland wafer with a slice of hard cheese and shaving of a smoked sausage.

  “Well, it’s no as exciting as creating an automaton.” Comments Kotek in a deep, gruff voice with an accent not to far from Sigrid’s.

  I blush when I realize the compliment was toward me and I glance at Chou who is observing the conversation curiously.

  The conversation goes on about how they are implementing Narin’s idea into a real world application for a cheap, reliable mode of transportation. While it all sounds fascinating, the jargon they use once they devolve from explaining the concept to me to debating the finer points of material and magic details is much too technical for me to follow.

  Still, I stay for quite awhile listening to the ebbs and flows of their debate and try to pick up as many terms through context as I can. Once the third bell rings though, I politely excuse myself and make my way out to the fresh, Everdawn air.

  The sun is shining and I can almost fool myself into thinking that the rays on my face are warm. Chou makes small trilling noises on my shoulder, questioning my pause. I couldn’t say how I knew it was a question without words or common tones to follow, but I know all the same that she is looking to me for an explanation.

  “What do you say to a little tour of the Midnight Court?” I ask her softly, not needing to project my voice with her on my shoulder.

  Her wings flutter momentarily at a quick pace as an excited tone escapes her, “Brreee!”

  I take this as affirmation and begin to show her around the grounds as the days are starting to turn warmer and longer. As we walk into the sunny afternoon, I ask her about her visit with the Professor and her responses, while still light and airy, have a bit more strength in them than yesterday. I take this as a positive sign, like she has grown somewhat more accustomed to using words.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  Even still, it is sometimes hard to hear her as any wind seems to blow her small reverberations away. Perhaps this means that her “voice” is one of the complex wind lattices that I mapped in my notes and I make a mental note to review those weaves again later. To combat the light, nearly warm breeze, Chou stays perched on my shoulder just at my ear to communicate.

  We wander the grounds like this for an hour or more and I recall my promise to Cira about not venturing off on my own. As I am pointing out landmarks around Court to Chou, however, I realize that I’m not alone while Chou is around. Somehow that brings me a warm comfort that I have not felt since before I came to the Court over a month ago now.

  “Brrrrrreee.” Chou trills sharply in my ear and I have found that this noise means she is wanting my attention.

  I stop, glancing up and searching for what she is seeing. My voice is a calm murmur only for her to hear. “What is it, Chou?”

  One of her spindly, mechanical legs point in a direction to our right. “What is that place?”

  I follow her direction and find what she is pointing to; an ivy covered archway, the color only just barely starting to green and flourish with life. “I’m not sure, Chou. Let’s get a better look.” I say perplexed as I walk toward the lush, cascading arch of foliage.

  It is taller than any standard arch I have seen before, but the opening is more narrow as if the whole thing were pulled upward like taffy and set there to harden. The walls nearest the archway are likewise covered in vines of ivy and other creeping plants. I only recognized some of them from our Alchemy class and Cira’s diligent updates about her Botany class.

  Even though most of the foliage is still tinted brown from the cold months of the Shiver, it is impossible to see beyond the dense, thicket-like structure that makes up the tall walls. I peer into the archway and am surprised to see the inside, while made of the same dense vines, is a vibrant shade of green complete with buds and even blooms in some places.

  “Oh wow, Chou, it’s like Verdelune in there already!” I say as I stand in the cusp of the archway in awe.

  Chou flutters from my shoulder with a soft glow emanating from her tiny body and trills when she reaches a part of the walkway. As I walk toward her, I notice first that I can hear her trills perfectly as there is no wind in this place to carry them away, only a light, warm breeze. Warm! Sure enough the temperature here has dramatically increased from outside the arch. Distracted by this shift, I look to the stones on the walkway as Chou finds my shoulder again, pointing down toward them. The stones of various small shapes and colors have been designed and molded into letters that read “The Forbidden Grove”.

  “What does it mean?” Chou asks at my ear in her sing-song, breezy tones.

  “It says ‘The Forbidden Grove’ so we probably shouldn’t go any further.” My voice trails off as I look down the archway path that stretches on and I feel something stir within me.

  A familiar sensation starts to reverberate from deep inside me as I feel more than hear the whispered murmurs that swell within my mind. As I focus on them, I am filled with its impression; asking me, pleading me, telling me, compelling me to continue down the path.

  “Follow, little one…”

  I take a step forward.

  “BRRRREEEE!” Chou’s excited trill brings me out of my trance. With a stunned blink, I realize with a sinking horror that this is the same familiar sensation when I wandered into the Eldwood.

  I take a step back, heart pounding with a growing dread. Cira was so right to tell me not to wander, but also that voice… The voice that was not a voice, that misty vibration from a place deep inside me, has a name that I know now. The Morrighan. I now start to wonder if this is one of those places that Professor Elandria warned me about.

  The thought spurs me into motion and I rush out of the archway, back to the main grounds. It is only then that I glance to Chou who clutches tightly to my bulky knit sweater.

  “Are you alright, Chou?” I ask breathlessly, though I only traveled a short distance.

  “Yes.” She responds and in my pause for more, I recall that while she does have intelligence, she will only answer questions in the most direct way.

  “What happened? Why did you trill that way?” I correct my question to get a more specific answer.

  “Your skin was hot and glowing! It was new. Surprising!” There is a vibration to her voice, much akin to excitement.

  “Where was I glowing and hot?” I ask even though I can guess the answer.

  Chou fluttered her wings in an erratic, excitable manner over to my left shoulder and I moved away my loose hair until I felt two of her spindly legs touch my neck just behind my ear. “Here. But it is dark now.” Her voice sounds lilting as if disappointed.

  “Yes, Chou,” I explain, “that spot is usually and supposed to be dark.” My voice is harder with frustration than I mean it to be and I sigh to break myself free of some of the tension. “Thank you for telling me and please tell me again whenever it is hot and glowing.”

  I feel erratic wing beats near my ear. “It will happen again!?” Voice no longer lilting, the vibration has returned to her. “Yes, yes, I will tell you when this happens! What should I say?”

  I pause to think about it and determine immediately that it should be a code that only me, Chou, and maybe Cira would understand. The more I understand about this mark, the more troublesome it becomes. And here I thought it would get better, not worse, the more knowledge I gained. Still, I would rather not make it common knowledge or draw attention to it.

  “How about,” I start, still mulling it over in my head, “you say ‘stay grounded’.”

  “Yes, yes! Stay grounded. I will! I will!” Chou’s melodic voice was vibrating all the way back to the Sanctum.