The Autumn Prince

37. Trees and Flowers

I shrugged and brought the bowl to the table, "I don't have any better ideas. How do we answer it?"

"Water. Galadriel poured water in hers to make it work."

Rachel shrugged, taking the information in stride, and slid her bottle across the table. I set the bowl down, but instead of vibrating against the wood it just hummed softly. Becca accepted Rachels' bottle, unscrewed the top, and slowly emptied its contents into the bowl.

"Now wha—?" Katherine began, and as if in answer, the surface of the water rippled and Miss Gold's voice boomed out of the air around us.

"Thomas!"

I hesitated in surprise, but quickly shook off my stupor and answered, "Yeah, I'm here."

"Manifest before me," the disembodied voice commanded. I looked around the room, and even Becca shrugged.

"I... uh, I don't know what that means," I stammered. A full minute passed with no reply.

"Maybe it's a bad signal?" Rachel suggested and leaned over the bowl, then cursed and stumbled backward as a cloud of droplets sprayed toward the ceiling, swirling through the air in a dense mist. It began to twinkle with light, then shine, then the form of Miss Gold appeared within. After watching new growth cover our island in a matter of seconds, a mystic hologram appearing out of a wooden bowl didn't shock me. The fact that she was naked did.

"Hey, Miss G.," Rachel said, wiping the moisture from her face. "You know you're on speaker, right?"

"What are you..." then she folded her arms, staring tight-lipped around the room. "I see you have not been studying as I asked," she directed a disappointed glare in my direction. "Manifestations are more secure than simple visions, but they are more personal as well. The will transacts through the Veil. Garments do not."

"I'm cool with it if you are," Rachel said, kicking back in her seat. Katherine sat expressionless, as if the tiniest fracture in her composure would cripple her with laughter, and Becca looked as if she wanted to crawl under her chair.

"When you have remembered that you are adults and can summon enough maturity to address me properly, you may begin by explaining what happened in greater detail." She seemed to sit down, which hid much of her body from view. The rest was obscured by her crossed arms and I regained a little composure.

Rachel found her voice first and the rest of us filled in details, explaining the growth spell and the Fferyn's transformation while Miss Gold floated silently with a steely expression. Everyone avoided mentioning the black tree until I brought it up at the end.

"I see." She appraised the staff on the table beneath her. "Fferyn allwedd a tharian y Barwn Runeaid. I did not believe we would ever see it restored."

"Restored?" Katherine said, "It was broken?"

Miss Gold nodded. "The staff was created by druid lords before the first incursion and has since been held and wielded by the greatest among them. What fell to you was the head, all that has remained since it was sundered long ago."

"Then how did this happen?" Katherine asked, gesturing at the staff.

"You must look to Rebecca for that answer."

"I didn't do anything," Becca protested, but quietly, as if afraid to speak. "I just wanted the grass to grow."

"You have, nonetheless, awakened the staff of the druid king, Máele Runeaid," Miss Gold intoned, "shattered by Queen Mab herself when she conquered and subdued the Brotherhood more than twelve hundred years ago."

She seemed almost reverent, as though it was far more than a fancy stick with a few magic powers. "How did you end up with it?" I asked.

She paused to decide how much she would reveal before speaking. "It is where your story begins." She said at last. "You know that your grandmother was Fae."