Moon Flowers (Book 1 of the Flower Trilogy) #Wattys2016 #Featured

CHAPTER FIFTEEN - HALIA (Edited)

HALIA'S POV

I left the Tisannieres' hut to go to the forest where I hoped Nixie would be. Since King Siegfried had created the Hidden Land, she had been swimming in the forest for hours daily.

I looked around but did not see her. Instead, I saw a beautiful and powerful, white mare-like creature, hooves and muzzle in the creek, drinking. The mare raised her head when she heard me approaching. She stared at me for a moment and turned into a nymph. Nixie.

"I have been waiting for you," she said. "It's about time you learn the basics of nymphology." She walked towards me, her feet disturbing the waters under her steps. "You did not know I could shapeshift?"

"No," I replied.

She smiled. "It was difficult to shapeshift in the alley," she said. "It requires too much magic and energy, something I could not afford."

"So you can take a horse shape?"

"It's actually not a horse, although I understand the confusion. Humans saw other fairies riding creatures like me, in the past, and decided to ride horses in the same way. Horses are not meant to be ridden; it hurts their back . . . the poor creatures . . ."

She was digressing.

"So what is it if it's not a horse?" I asked.

"A kelpie," she replied. "It feels nice to shift back into a kelpie. Of course, I could not do it in the alley. The humans would have seen me. I cannot be a kelpie in my miniature form."

I nodded. I wasn't sure what else to say.

"Enough of that," she continued. "I have a gift for you!"

Another gift? I thought, caressing the necklace Phi had given me only the day before.

"Now, I know you like this green dress of yours, but do not forget that before being a green fairy, you were always a nymph," she said before proudly handing me another dress. "It's a dress water nymphs traditionally wore back in the golden days."

"You made it?" I asked, admiring the fine work of art.

"No," she said. "I have no talent for sewing. I asked your godmother to do it. It's from the both of us. Do you like it?"

"I do. It's beautiful," I replied.

The long dress was carefully crafted from the finest cobweb. It was hemmed with golden threads and embroidered with rainbow hues of unearthly magnificence.

Sure enough, it did not have the recognizable wet hems of Nixie's dress, however. I was reminded that I was not the same kind of nymph she was. For instance, I doubted I could shapeshift into a kelpie.

Maybe I will be able to do something even more wonderful.

"Try it on!" Nixie insisted.

I obeyed and took off my Tisanniere dress. While putting on my new dress, Nixie went to hang the green one on a tree.

To my surprise, Nixie knocked on the tree trunk three times and the tree opened. The dress disappeared into it.

"Don't worry about your dress," she said. "It's just to protect it from the animals and other creatures. If you want it back, just knock three times on the tree."

Nixie then stepped back into the creek. I followed her. My new dress was so light. I loved how the wind felt passing through the robe and caressing my bare skin.

"So what are the basics of nymphology?" I asked.

"First, you have to purify oneself," she said, giving me a pumice stone and cleansing herbs.

I splashed cold water on my face and mechanically started to wash my hair. I felt renewed.

The woods around the creek were full of ferns, shrubs, and tall trees. The lush greens sprawled everywhere. I remembered the creatures that came during our aging ceremony last night.

Where do the bear spirit and his master live? Could it be that they live here, in the woods? I looked around quickly.

The creatures we had met yesterday had seemed relatively peaceful, save for the bear spirit who had a temper; but his master kept him in check.

Without his master, he could kill us all.

I looked at the water around me and remembered the washerwomen, creatures I had learned about in one of Grannie's stories. The washerwomen were nocturnal fairies that spent most of their times washing shrouds in freshwater sources. When a person saw them, it was because he had committed too many bad deeds and was set to die in three days, strangled in the shroud the washerwomen had been washing.

A cold chill crept up my spine. Are there creatures like those here?

Nixie interrupted my line of thought by taking back the stone and herbs. She left them on a rock on the bank and returned to face me.

"Ready?" she asked.

It was the question Tönx had asked me when we jumped off the boat and swam to the New World.

"More than I'll ever be," I answered.

We followed the creek into a lake nearby and let ourselves sink into the depths.

The water was muskier than the sea. It had a different feel on my skin. It felt and tasted less salty. I leaped on soft and colourful rocks and was surrounded by fish and phylliform plants that reached for the sun light.

"When a nymph swims in her element," Nixie explained, "her energy and the energy in the water merge and she strains the environment. A bit like a tree purifies the air. This is what keeps everything well and healthy."

Nixie swam close to algae. It tickled and made her laugh. I grinned. I liked to see how much of a child's heart she still had, despite of her hundreds and hundreds of years.

I could have gone on following her for a long time, but I felt something was wrong. I stopped swimming. A familiar feeling grew in my guts. The same feeling that had predicted the Merrows' arrival and our coming to the New World.

"Why are you so glum?" Nixie asked me, studying my face.

She looked so serious now, as if all traces of childhood had left her face. I wanted to answer her, but I was still not sure what was happening. The feeling was familiar but different. This time, I was not feeling sick. My body merged with the water and I became more and more translucent. I looked down at my hands in fear.

"What is happening to me?" I asked.

The puzzled look on Nixie's face told me she was as clueless as I was.

My body was water. I raised out of the water and I heard myself speak. The voice emanating from my throat was not mine. The words I spoke were someone else's. I had no control over them.

"A time of sorrow ended
Yet another time of sorrow will rise
Beware, the kingdom of the south will come
And a king shall run."

Slowly, I regained mastery over my body. My features re-solidified. I was myself again.

"I never saw a nymph turn into an oracle before," Nixie muttered. "What kind of nymph are you?" Her tone was accusatory.

"I . . . I cannot say . . . ," I replied. "What does that mean? Are we in danger?"

"We should head back to the Hidden Land," she said. "Let's warn the king and ask him what he thinks of all this."

My lip began toquiver. I hoped the king would know.