The grasses rustled with the breeze that whipped through the plains. The whistle was empty yet pleasant. The solitude had eased its way in hours ago and she had settled into her meditation. She was already one with Thra, but she still took a few moments to better attune her mind to its sways and flows. There was a lot on her mind as of late, and she wasn't as level headed as she once was. The formation of the resistance had been necessary for a multitude of reasons. The time of skekSis needed to end. Their very presence strengthened the Darkening and defiled the very lands and people that they governed. The gelfling uprising was Thra's way of fighting an infection, like any living, breathing organism.
Then there was Raunip. Her son had always been a wild card. He came from a living meteorite she had found and decided to use its substances to form another being. One she could converse with. And he was just that, for a few moments of time. He had been a good sounding board and an intelligent, sentient being she could talk to. But over the trines, he started to rebel. He didn't hear Thra's song and therefore he didn't understand the importance of some of her actions. And when the urskeks arrived, changing the song of Thra, he really started to fight back, creating more upheaval. He saw hypocrisy everywhere and decided he would take matters into his own hands. He went off on his own. He would disappear for trines at a time, and everytime he returned, something major happened. Though he was doing things his own way, he still had Thra in mind and wanted what was best. He did it in his own way. It was just annoying that his actions interfered with hers. And he wasn't really one for open communication while there were things he could be doing instead.
She hadn't felt Thra's song change since they had parted ways from Raunip's Cradle. She didn't know whether to take that as a sign of relief or worry. After he left, she had regained her strength with the fruits growing from the tree in the crater. She then took the long hike demanded of her by Thra to Nenadi-Staba; The Gnarl Tree of the Spriton Clan. She then took this moment to sit down and meditate with the world. She didn't know how much longer she had to go, so she was preserving her strength.
Mother Aughra, she heard through her meditation.
She didn't open her eyes and instead reached out with her mind to the beckoning call.
It has been a long time Mother Aughra, the voice continued. You are close, not much further now. Come, follow my roots. I await your audience.
Aughra opened her eyes and looked down to a tickling sensation. A small root had grown up from the ground and the tip was now scraping the ball of her foot. She took her walking stick from across her lap and jammed the end into the earth, lifting herself up to stand. She looked down at the small little root that was swaying in the breeze with the grasses. Looking to the horizon of the grass ocean, she saw a line of hills and mountains rising in the distance. At the top of one, she saw the massive shape of a physically squat tree.
You won't have to climb to the top, the tree assured her.
Aughra smirked a bit and began walking again. Walker Aughra had a nice ring to it, maybe she could convince the gelfling to start calling her that.
After an hour or so of walking, Mother Aughra came to the Spriton city of Sami Thicket. The fragrance of freshly baked bread and homestyle cooking filled her nose. She would have to have a taste before she left. The city was uncharacteristically quiet. Not to say it was completely dead, there were still gelfling walking about and doing their business, but there wasn't the bustling, lively atmosphere that she was used to. Everyone was keeping to themselves, holed up in the houses built into and under the massive labyrinthian roots from the Gnoll Tree. They were scared, hiding away from something.
She came to a market square with empty booths and carts scattered around the area. A small, simple fountain bubbled in the center and a breeze swept light dirt and soil across the ground in small tornadoes. Aughra looked around in confusion at the marketplace. She looked up to the great tree.
"What is happening?" she asked.
There was a creaking around her as the massive roots shifted ever so slightly to grab her attention, but not to disrupt the city nestled in her roots. The old sage walked over to one of the massive taproots, which towered over her like one of the buildings. She tentatively reached out a hand and pressed firmly against the bark. The growth of her pinky clicked into the gnarls of the wood and she felt the power of the tree surge through her entire being. Like a sudden jolt of lightning, she felt highly energetic but something was wrong. She had energy and an urge to do something with it, but that same energy was holding her back and keeping her rooted to her place. The Darkening.
Mother Aughra, the tree greeted with a verbal and emotionally sad smile. It has been too long.
"Indeed," the sage said. "I have missed this place. I apologize for my absence. I wish to speak further, but there are dire times ahead of us. Thra has sent me here on a mission, though I don't know of what kind."
The tree sent an uncomfortable wave through its essence.
Look up to my branches, the tree said.
Aughra looked up to The Great Tree. She was expecting to see the large, broad golden leaves in the warm summer air, but there was no such glisten. The Gnoll Tree was stripped bare of her brilliant leaves. The sage hadn't even noticed until it was pointed out, and there was a reason. The leaves were being mimicked by swarms of windsifters and vindles. They were holding on to the ends of the twigs, swaying in the night air.
They spend all day eating away at what leaves I can produce, the tree said. They are infected with The Darkening, which poisons the very air and soil of this world. Sami Thicket is being destroyed by the energy of The Darkening. Crops fail. Bread no longer rises. The animals and livestock rampage and run wild through the farmlands, destroying crops further and spreading The Darkening. I hold on as best I can. As strong as I can. But I fear The Darkening will consume me, as it did Olyeka, Omerya, and Vliste-Staba.
"Omerya-Staba?" Aughra asked. "The Great Tree of the Sifa Clan? The Darkening has spread that far?"
Yes, the tree answered. We are all doing our best, but the Darkening must be beaten to save Thra. And with three of us gone, only four remain. We cannot purify The Darkening's energy fast enough. There is too much already, and it continues to accumulate exponentially.
"What must I do?" Aughra asked.
Our fate lies with the gelfling resistance, the Great Tree said. They must reunite the shard with the Crystal of Truth. It is the only way.
"But you mustn't fail either," Aughra reminded. "For if you fall, then the resistance will surely follow, consumed by Darkening."
The tree suddenly fell silent. She neither spoke, nor thought, or even moved. Yet she was not dead.
"You've gone dormant," the sage said, removing her hand from the tree's root. "Too weak to speak. I understand. Focus on your task. I must see to mine."
Aughra looked up to the branches, at the critters holding onto the branches and gnawing away at whatever vegetation was left.
"But first," she said. "I must help you with yours."
There was a scuttling directly above her and the old sage looked up to the top of the root. A squirrely swoothu skittered along the bark, looking down on her. Its feathery black and white tail twitched with every chirp it made. The four large whiskers on the front of its face bent towards Aughra, trying to get a sense of who and what she was. Given its poor eyesight, that was the only way for it to decipher the world around it. Those four whiskers and its large wing-like ears. She reached forward and it coiled back, screeching at her approach, folding its ears and whiskers back while its tail furiously whipped back and forth. Aughra held her hand where it was and let the creature approach her on its own terms.
"Nothing to fear my sweet creature," Aughra consoled. "I mean you no harm."
The swoothu slowly approached her hand. Upon the tips of its whiskers brushing her skin, the creature immediately became comfortable, crawling onto her arm and up to her shoulder. She couldn't help smirking at the creature tickling her face with its whiskers.
"Stop it," she laughed. "Stop it I say."
She reached into a pouch on her hip and pulled out a tree nut. The swoothu wasted no time in scurrying down her arm and snatching it from her grasp. It returned to her shoulder to eat its bounty.
"There," she said. "Haven't eaten in a long time have you?"
"Mr. Tumbus likes you," a small voice said behind her.
She slowly spun to the voice, as not to disturb the swoothu, and beheld a small gelfling child.
"Is that his name?" she asked.
"Well," the little girl said, nervously shifting on her feet. "It's what I call him. But my brother says he doesn't have a name. That he's a wild animal, and they aren't supposed to have names."
"Everything has a name," Aughra said. "Dear child, everything and everyone has a name."
"Do you have a name?" the child asked.
"I do," Aughra groaned as she squatted down to the little gelfling's level, the swoothu still on her shoulder. "One that you might know."
"You don't look like any gelfling I've ever met or heard about," she said.
"I am not gelfling," Aughra said. "I am older."
"You dont look like a skekSis," she said. "Are you a mystic?"
Aughra shook her head. The swoothu had finished its nut and was looking for more, crawling down and pulling another from the pouch.
"I am older," she said with a little smirk. "Much older."
"How old is that?" the child asked.
"As old as Thra itself," Aughra answered. "As old as the very ground we all walk upon."
"I don't believe you," the kid said, crossing her arms. "Nothings older than Thra, not even Aughra."
The sage raised her eyebrow.
"How do you mean?" she asked, intrigued to hear the child's response.
"Thra came first," she said. "Then Aughra. Aughra is linked to Thra because Thra made her to act in its stead."
Mother Aughra smiled at the child and chuckled.
"That is true," she said. "I am indeed ancient, but Thra is much older than me still."
The child's eyes widened and she uncrossed her arms, stepping back surprise and respectful fear.
"There's no need to be afraid," Aughra laughed. "Child you've well entertained this old bag of bones. It's been a long time since I've spoken with anyone such as yourself."
The gelfling became more at ease with the sage before her.
"Perhaps you could help me," she said. "You seem like a smart girl."
She smiled at this.
"Come," she said, pulling a small lantern from her hip. "Sit with me for a while."
"I really should be getting home," she said. "It's almost bedtime."
"Allow me to walk you there," Aughra said, standing up and lighting her lantern. "I'd love to meet your parents."
"I don't see why not," the child said.
The little gelfling walked to Aughra's side and took her hand. The swoothu, having emptied Aughra's waist pouch, scuttled away, back up the root. It disappeared into a little hollow in the root.
"Lead the way," Aughra said, leaning on her walking stick. She had walked all the way to Sami Thicket from Raunip's Cradle. She could handle another short walk to a house. Maybe they'd let her stay the night.
The child led the sage from Spriton Pavilion down one of the roads of Sami Thicket. They wove through the roots of the Great Tree that stood sentinel over the clan. The night air was still, the only sound being their footsteps and Aughra's cane tapping on the stone road.
"Tell me child," she said. "How long has The Gnarl Tree been like this?"
"You mean the little tree people?" she asked.
"Vindles," Aughra said. "Yes."
"A few days ago," the child started. "The little tree people came in a large, flying group. They eat all the leaves and take their place. Since then, the soil smells funny and sometimes the fields glow purple. And nothing tastes as good as it used to. Everyones is afraid to eat anything now. My mum says not to go running through the fields anymore. But I love running through the fields."
"She has her reasons," Aughra said. "The world has changed. Become more dangerous for young gelfling such as yourself."
"But the skekSis are hidden away in their castle," she protested.
"Not the skekSis," the sage warned. "Something else. Harder to control than skekSis. Something I am here to face."
"We're here!" the child shouted. She let go of Aughra's hand and ran to a nearby house. She turned the handle and motioned for the old hag to follow her. Which she did. Aughra stepped into a little two story home. The main floor was a dining area attached to a large, well supplied, equipped, and stocked kitchen. A staircase led upstairs to what she assumed were bedrooms.
"Ma!" the child shouted. "I'm home. And I've brought a friend."
"Oh Cath," someone said from upstairs, footsteps coming down. "I've told you once before. You can't just bring people home without planning it with me. I can't take care of-"
The female Spriton gelfling stopped at the foot of the stairs, her mouth dropped as she saw who her daughter had brought into her hearth.
"If it's any trouble I can stay somewhere else," she said, turning to leave.
"No," the gelfling said, taking hold of her senses and beckoning her back in. "No, of course you can stay here. I'd be remiss if I didn't offer at the very least a hostel to Mother Aughra."
"Hmm," she said. "Well thank you."
"Cath," the adult said. "Run upstairs and wash up for dinner."
The child looked to Aughra, as if for permission, and she nodded it to the little gelfling.
"I'm so sorry for the state of things," the mother said. "I didn't expect visitors. Not that it would help if I cleaned up."
"Oh please," Aughra waved away. "I lived in a cave for a few million trine. And you have no reason to make things look nice for me. I'm an old hag in service to Thra. And you are Thra. It is I who should look better than...this."
"Please have a seat," the gelfling said.
The sage moved to a chair in the corner of the room.
"Don't mind if I-"
As soon as Aughra sat in the chair, her legs let go and she faded into a deep, meditative sleep. One she needed desperately.