Day 10

Grargh the not-enough-Nano craze!

I'm not feeling so good. As in slightly dizzy, slightly feverish, don't want to move my head too fast not-so-good. It's probably due to way too little sleep thanks to three really really late nights the past week.

Anyway, I managed to write today. And it went faster than I thought it would. Maybe I should write while feeling dizzy more often. I think it's coherent. Notice how I was all fast-forward-y and stuff because I thought of the stuff in this scene and wanted to write it up before I forgot.

Etana could hardly believed that they had finally reached the Lady of the Hills. The journey seemed to have taken far too long, and she was tired in a way she'd never expected to be. She found herself wondering whether she was just on a fool's errand, but then she remembered what Moren had looked like just before she left, feverish and hallucinating, and she made up her mind. There was the outline of a door on the hill, and she knocked on it. The door opened.
From the door emerged an ethereal young girl -- she looked like she could not have been more than 12. The girl inclined her head to the two of them and seemed to be considering for a moment. She pointed at Etana. "You are welcome here." Then she pointed at Aleth. "You know the rules. You may not enter through this door."
Aleth nodded his head, but said nothing else. Etana protested "What? But why not?"
The girl shrugged. "He knows the rules, and why he cannot enter this way. You see he is not protesting." She turned as if to enter the corridor again. "Come. The Lady of the Hills is waiting." Etana started to follow her. She turned to look back at Aleth, but the door had closed behind her, and there was only the darkness of the corridor.

The corridor seemed to lead on for a very long time, and Etana's eyes had ample time to adjust to the darkness. It was a while before she saw a light begin to grow at the end of it, and finally they reached the center of the hill. The light came from a glade that grew within the hill. There was no sky, only an even, green illumination that came from the ceiling. There were no shadows in the glade. Seated on a throne made from a living tree sat the Lady of the Hills. She looked imperious, with a crown of twisted honeysuckle, but Etana could not help but notice that her dress seemed to sprout from the floor and the seat of her throne.
"Greetings, young one," she said, in a voice like the whisper of a wind among the trees. "I seem to remember that you have a message for me."
Etana gulped and nodded. She curtsied first before she approached the throne, an act which made the Lady smile. Then she handed the Lady the letter that Granny Rumple had written. The Lady took the letter, opened it, glanced at it, and then crumpled it. The pieces of the letter seemed to dry instantly and drift away as if they were bits of leaves.
"So the Groundling's Cache has been found," she said to herself. She noticed Etana again, and smiled. "You are welcome here, child. Granny Rumple speaks highly of you, and you wear her token."
"What is the Groundling?" asked Etana.
"The Groundling was an ancient creature who was ever skulking in the shadows. It amassed a large treasure, which it hid in many places. The Cache is only one of the many hidden treasures; it is the largest, and has the most items. Unfortunately, the Groundling was also quite suspicious of everyone else, and so his treasures all carry curses of some sort. He disappeared some time ago, and it is thought that he died, but given his solitary nature and inherent sneakiness, he may well still be alive."
"How can I lift the curse then?"
The Lady of the Hills sighed. "That may be problematic. There is much that you will have to do, and it will be difficult. Is it what you truly want?"
"I -- I think so."
"You do not seem so sure."
"Well, I... I feel kind of responsible."
"Ahh," said the Lady. She seemed about to say more, but then was distracted by some sound. A corridor appeared in the opposite side of the glen, and Etana was surprised to see Aleth step out of it, holding a sword.
"Greetings, my lady. I have bested your champion in mortal combat, as is required of me."
The Lady smiled, obviously amused. "I see."
Aleth bowed to her, and then ran a hand along the blade of the sword. It turned into a branch of holly. He approached the Lady, then placed the branch at her feet. Through all of this, Etana stared; she had never seen Aleth wield a sword, much less claim to have used it to defeat someone else. Or turn the sword into a branch of holly. "Wha- what?" was all she managed to say.
The Lady smiled at Etana's confusion, then bent to pick up the branch of holly. In her hands, it became a staff. "There are rules that govern who may enter my domain, and by what means. Aleth has been here before, and he has entered as he must."
"But -- did you really kill someone?" she asked Aleth.
"What do you think?" He asked back, evasively.
The Lady laughed. "You have travelled this long with him, and must still ask him such a question? Truly you cannot have been very observant."
"Hey, I resent that."
"It is beside the point. We were, I believe, discussing whether or not you truly wanted to free your love from the grasp of the Groundling's vengeful curse."
Now Etana gathered herself, determined to make a stand of some sort. "Of course I do!"
"Is that truly your heart's desire?" Asked the Lady, giving Etana a long, hard look.
Etana nodded. "I want him back."
"Very well, then." But the Lady seemed disappointed somehow. "There is no easy way to remove one of the Groundling's curses. However, there is a power greater than it that you may call upon." The Lady clapped her hands twice and summoned the girl who had guided Etana into the glade. "Fetch me my map," commanded the Lady, and the girl rushed off, disappearing into a corridor that had not been there before and was not there afterwards.
The Lady turned to Etana again. "There is an old woman who lives at the top of a faraway mountain. Those who make it her stronghold may ask that she grant them their hearts' desire. The journey may be made only once in a lifetime, and there are other conditions that must be met. These will become clear as you journey." At this point, the girl returned bearing what appeared to be a pillow of some sort.
"Spread the map," said the Lady, and the girl placed the pillow on the ground. Immediately, it began to unfold itself into a huge map. The Lady looked at Etana. "Do you have the reading of this?"
Etana stared at the map, unsure. She had not had the opportunity to see a map before, least of all one like this. She said so.
"Ahh," sighed the Lady. "Well, it is not too difficult. Think of it as a drawing of the world seen from the back of a bird." In the meantime, Aleth had knelt down to the map, and pointed to a location. Etana looked at it. She squinted to read the labels, which were small and in a cramped, unclear hand. Slowly, she sounded out the symbols.
"He points to your own home," said the Lady.
That made everything come clear. She now recognized the layout of her village, and she could see to the east Granny Rumple's hut. Aleth now traced a path with his finger. The line meandered through several locations before arriving at some hills. Etana realized that he was tracing out their journey.
"Good, you have the reading of it now." The Lady turned to the girl. "Show them the route they must take." The girl nodded acquiescence, and then pointed at the hills. Aleth backed away, giving the girl room. The map seemed to be a part of the floor, now, as if it had taken root.
"This is where we are," said the girl. She moved a finger along a path that seemed to continue their journey. "This is the way to the Mountain Woman." She jabbed at a forest. "The Forest of Woe. Dangerous. Neither eat nor drink anything of the forest, or you will never leave." Then she circled a finger around an area of vivid orange. "The Sea of Flames. You must cross this. I cannot tell you how." Finally, she motioned to some mountains beyond the Sea of Flames. "The Mountain Woman is here. To climb her mountain is difficult." Finally, she pointed at the fortress on the mountain. "The Mountain Woman." Then the girl fell silent.
"Good girl," said the Lady. "You have learned your lessons well." The girl beamed up at the Lady. "You may go now," she said gently. The girl got up and ran off.
Etana had been following the path and felt a strange sense of apprehension. Trying to marshal the formless feeling into something with a name, she spoke. "But how are we to reach the Mountain Woman? I cannot think how we can cross the Forest of Woe or the Sea of Flames."
"You are resourceful, and you have made it to my own stronghold. I cannot think that you would be unable to make your way through such trials."
Aleth placed a hand on Etana's shoulder. "Do you not remember outwitting the giants of the storm?"
Etana found herself smiling. "No, I do remember. Thank you." She turned back to the Lady. "Is there any advice or help that you can give us for these trials ahead?"
The Lady inclined her head slightly. "Of course. But first, both of you must be weary. I invite you to stay in my domain for some time, to refresh and strengthen yourselves."
Etana was about to accept, when Aleth interrupted her. "What time will it be when we leave your domain?"
The Lady laughed. She looked pleased. "Ah, the cautious one. But then, your companion does not yet know the intricacies of how my domain works." She turned to Etana. "Know, child, that time flows as I will it in my domain. I have often played tricks on those who sneak into my domain uninvited, so that a second here becomes several years outside. But you were invited, and entered through the proper doors, and so I will play no tricks on you. Instead, no matter how long you spend here, you will find that only an hour has passed outside the Hill." The Lady clapped her hands, and the little girl came running in again. "Sweet-briar, take our guests to their accomodations. Treat them well."
Something that had been tickling at the back of Etana's mind came to the forefront of it now. "If we eat here, will we be able to leave?"
The Lady again looked pleased. "Wise thinking. Yes, for I will feed you on delicacies from your own worlds, and not the magical fruit of my realm. You may eat safely, and refresh yourselves. Etana glanced to the side at Aleth. She thought he also looked pleased that she had thought of the food issue, but she had a feeling that he would have brought it up if she had not. Still, she had felt strangely off-balance from the time she set foot in the Lady's realm, and it felt good to have thought of something so vital. She let the girl -- Sweet-briar -- lead them away.

The room that Etana was led to was not what she had expected. She had expected something as strange and unearthly as the rest of the realm seemed to be, but instead she found herself in what looked like one room of a small cottage. It was the kind of room she had hoped to have some day -- more luxurious than her own, but not so rich and strange that she felt out of place. There was a single window, although it looked out onto a scene that did not exist in the realm of mortals. There was a bed, which had a mattress that looked to be stuffed with straw, and a table. There was a jug of water on the table, and a basket of fruit.
Sweet-briar gestured at the jug. "That is drawn from a spring near Wildthorn Town." She pointed at the fruits. "Fruit from the orchards of Wildthorn." She smiled, and for a moment looked actually child-like. My sister was there recently, and brought us back these treats." She looked embarassed, then said, "May I have one of the apples?"
"Oh! Of course. I cannot possibly finish the entire basket by myself," said Etana.
Sweet-briar grinned gleefully and grabbed one of the apples from the basket. She pocketed it so quickly that it seemed to have disappeared. "Thank you kindly, lady. I will not forget." Then Sweet-briar left the room, leaving Etana alone.