The Night's Curse #3 (Waverly Stump and The 7 Realms)

Chapter 5

The sun was blinding.

It was so hot that it scorched clothes, made leaves cringe, and forced everyone to go out for a swim. The lakes, and streams and rivers grew warm from the heat, and even goglets could not keep water cool for long. There was a frown on every face from the discomfort the weather brought, and many tried their best to placate Cret with gifts and sacrifices, but the heat prevailed.

Even the birds and animals were not left out. They came out into the open, lapping and diving at any source of water they could find. The searing heat was a sign of the final days of Floom season and the hasty approach of the next one.

"The NeverEnd." Dermot revealed.

He wore a green vest underneath a black jacket. Waverly had reverted to her own old habit of sporting shorts. She walked behind him at a hairsbreadth, constantly lingering under the shade of trees and branches for a second to enjoy their dull comfort, but it did nothing to ward off the heat.

There was no wind at all.

"Whatever is a never end?" She asked.

In her hometown of Bremeton, there were four seasons that took hold in haphazardly occurrences; like spring manifesting for half a year, a fortnight of winter, four months of summer, and so on. In Alpgeton, Elves had a more fixed occurrence of seasons. Dermot told her about them as they strolled in the afternoon light headed for the mountain where they had found the large Elven coin.

"The NeverEnd comes after The Floom. It is my least favorite season in some ways because it's always noon." He explained.

Waverly stopped dead in her tracks. For a few reasons, she felt very frightened. "Always noon? You mean, night never comes?"

"Yes." He replied, smiling brightly. "It's okay that you find this a rather strange phenomenon, but I'm sure you can handle it. You've handled a lot of things so well."

She resumed walking. "It is not so strange. I have seen spring last for a quarter of a year. How does anyone know when to go bed in this season?"

She ducked under the low branch of a tree, where a nature spirit was dousing the roots with water from an interesting looking jug. There were butterflies all over the Derew's hair, but Waverly did not stop to ponder it. Every one of those creatures had something peculiar to them.

"Er, a lot of us don't. Save for the scorching heat, The NeverEnd is a great season for us wood kin." Dermot replied.

He turned a path that was completely shaded on both sides by peach trees. It came as a comfort being away from sunlight for a while, but Waverly's legs felt like lead. Tyros had spent days on end training like wild animals. Chedor and a few other officers made sure they dueled until their fingers numbed. It was a good distraction for Waverly, but she wished her superiors would not train them half to death.

A select batch of Tyros had gone to the South of Nael for a drill. Waverly decided to stayed behind because she was eager to see the mysterious fourth item her friends had found.

"The Elves of Ford create the illusion of nightfall over our homes so we can be able to go to sleep. A low hanging, gray cloud would give an impression of nighttime, but you've seen how Elves are. A majority of them would rather spend all day doing useful things than going to bed."

Waverly plucked off a small branch from one of the trees and began to peel its leaves off bit by bit. "So, do the Snow Elves know which one of you wish to stay up and which prefer to go to bed?"

"Not exactly. We have to go tell them which is why they particularly hate the NeverEnd. Lucky them, it has little effect on the Ford."

Dermot jogged down a set of stone steps that led down to the muddy bank of a clear stream. Across it was a low hill, where a long line of birch trees grew stark white and thin like a boundary. Below them was a wide vegetable farm with heaping mounds of growing greens, and beyond that, an insanely wide plantation. The mountain was still very far away, and it would be unwise to run in the smoldering heat.