Crow - The Awakening (9 page)

Asherah shrugged. "A little."

Steven laughed as she suddenly looked sheepish. "Yeah, I draw... a little... too." He flipped through his sketchbook that was almost completely filled with his drawings.

He turned the page and started another drawing. They got quiet as he started drawing seriously again. He focused on the plants of the meadow they were sitting in. She leaned against him as he drew, watching him work. He drew his tree house, his new friend, albeit imaginary but real enough for him, the meadow and snag that was now a lush sort of coniferous tree. He still couldn't put his finger on that one, and was a little perplexed how his imagination had gotten so quirky. It was fine enough with the imaginary animals, though it was a little out there with the trolls and dragons. He put that thought aside. It was very nice at the meadow now, weird plants and girl notwithstanding. And as weird as it was, the longer he stayed in that fantasy the more real it became to him, and the more natural. She started singing again as she watched him draw and he was pulled into the music as he drew and found that his drawings ended up even more vibrant than before.

He reached a stopping point in his sketching and put his pad down on the grass and looked around. The plants were decidedly exotic and beautiful and almost glowing in the sunlight. It was warmer there too with a heavy humidity, even as the cool of fall was approaching in real life. There was one plant that seemed most common to him, a broad leaf that popped up out of the grass like a gorgeous dandelion. It grew abundantly around him in the meadow. He picked up his sketchbook and drew one, fascinated with its detail - the red veins on its dark green leaves, the yellow flowers that rested on tall stalks way up over the foliage and the purple buds that haven't opened yet. It was larger than a normal dandelion though, and the flowers reached up higher and were very aromatic.

"What are you doing here?" Asherah asked curiously, leaning against him and examining his rendering of the flora they were sitting amidst. Steven looked at her and thought of a suitable response. He found her fine fur fascinating. The detail was exquisite. He wasn't quite sure what he was doing there, however. In part he was conquering something that had been very scary to him, remaking it to his own desires and not the dark nightmares that had tormented him so. That remaking seems to have turned as far left as his nightmares had turned right. He grinned at the thought. It wasn't bad, though. Weird, but pleasant.

"Looking for answers, I guess." He got contemplative. "I have nightmares and this meadow is in them."

Asherah got sober. "I'm sorry you are having bad dreams. What are they of?"

"My parents. They're missing and I'm trying to find them." Steven sighed. He should probably get back to his tree house to continue his search, but was pleased to have this break, even if it was a distraction.

"That's terrible." Asherah looked genuinely sympathetic. "My mother is missing too." Asherah wiped her moistening eyes, looking away in embarrassment. "My father says she is far, far away."

"Penipe? That's a bummer." Steven grew interested in the life he created, and it became less his creation and more real all the time, so much so that it was easy to forget he was sitting in a browning clearing with a dead snag at the center. "I have never met my parents, but I dream of them. I will find them, though."

He looked at her for a while and she looked back, wiping her moist eyes as she remembered her mother. She hummed a song as she looked at him and smiled. She was the most exotic person he had met and yet he felt perfectly comfortable with her, as if it was all perfectly normal. The thought that she was a figment of his imagination had all but vanished by now, especially as he looked into her eyes. She was so real. He looked at her closer. "What are you?"

She giggled. "Why, a girl, of course!"

"No, I meant..." Steven reached out and touched her arm. The very fine and short fur that covered her was extremely smooth and soft. He could have sworn that she blushed.

"I'm an Elf, silly." She acted as if he should have known that. Perhaps he should have, but the mysteries of this place were starting to compound and move beyond anything he could have dreamed up. She put her hand on his face ever so gently and looked into his eyes smiling. "And you're a Terran." Steven looked at her, quizzical. "A... human. From Terra," she clarified, smiling at him. Her whole face lit up when she smiled and it made him smile reflexively.

"Well, glad we've got that figured out." Steven shifted uncomfortably. He looked around at the exotic tropical flora that dominated the landscape, and up at the tree that grew out of the center of the meadow. "Beautiful," he said, breathless.

"Thank you," Asherah said, grinning.

"No, I meant..." was that really the second time he just said that? And this time he was the one blushing. Asherah laughed and got up and did a cartwheel, giggling.

"You're funny. I like you," she said as she danced around him to music only she could apparently hear then started humming and singing again to accompany her dancing. Steven grinned, getting up.

She snuck up behind him and poked him hard. "Tag!" she yelled as she ran away, hiding behind the tree.

"Hey!" Steven gave chase and they ran around the meadow until he had to stop and sit down laughing. She bounced up to him and sat across from him, staring. He picked a flower from the tropical dandelion plant and sniffed it. It smelled like lavender. Its aroma hung over the meadow.

"What do you call that?" Steven asked.

Asherah picked a flower from one of the same plants and nibbled on it then answered, "Ne're temore." She leaned forward and held Steven's hand as she nibbled his flower too, grinning mischievously. Sitting back, she giggled. "This plant is popular on my world, but grows well here too."

"What?" Steven looked at her then the flower. He took a small bite out of it. The flower was very sweet, almost like eating fruit, and he finished it. He picked another one and looked at it more closely.

"Ne're temore," Asherah repeated again, enunciating each letter. "You don't know Elvish?"

Steven shook his head. He didn't know there was any such language.

"Well, now you know some." She looked proud of herself. "I'll teach you."

Steven grinned. A whole new language sounded fun. "You know English well enough."

"Well, I'm not really supposed to. But my father is stationed here and I listened in on his lessons." She looked around, as if making sure no one else was there.

"That's just silly. Not supposed to?" Steven was aghast at the thought.

"It's a Terran language. But it's not like I'll get in trouble or anything. I hope."

"Wow. That's weird." He wondered how it would have been if she had not known any English at all. "Well, I'm glad. You're fun to talk to." He tossed the half eaten flower at her and she caught it and popped it in her mouth and gave him a flowery smile. Steven laughed and laid back. She crawled over and lay next to him looking up at the sky.

"Two moons," Steven said.

"Sorta. One is a sister planet." She pointed. "Telestra."

"Really? That's cool!" He looked at it, but it looked like the moon did on a sunny day - faint and distant in the blue sky. "This place is magical."

She elbowed him and he poked her back. He looked up at the tree. It was lush and full and very tall. "Have you ever climbed that?"

"Like a million times!" Asherah exclaimed. A tall tree sticking out of the center of a large meadow, what did he think?

Steven got up then jumped up onto the tree and started climbing. "Race you!" he called back to Asherah.

"Hey, that's cheating!" She followed him, catching up. He figured she would be faster than him on this tree since he'd never climbed it before. He pushed himself harder, flying up through the branches until they both reached the top at nearly the same time. He looked out over the vista and marveled at how beautiful the forest looked from his vantage point.

"What a view." He could stay up there all day.

"Yeah," Asherah whispered as she followed his gaze out into the forests below.

He realized that the day was starting to wane and he had yet to check on his laptop and the search. "Race you back down." Steven dropped off the branch he was resting on and started clambering down the tree in more of a controlled fall. He heard Asherah scream with delight and it wasn't long before they were neck to neck trying to reach the ground first. Both pushed off the trunk at nearly the same time and landed on the ground twenty
feet
below almost simultaneously. Steven laughed. "If I didn't cheat you'd beat me every time, Asherah."

She jabbed his ribs with her fingers. "Don't you forget it."

He went to his drawing materials and collected them together. She helped him and they looked at each other for a moment. Steven looked around at his meadow and felt a deep affinity for it. "This is pretty cool. I think I'll spend lots of time here." He turned to go.

"You're leaving?"Asherah sounded worried.

Steven turned back. She looked lonely all of a sudden. "Don't worry, I'll be back. Maybe tomorrow. This will be a good place to study, I think."

She gave him a quick hug. "Don't stay away long. This was a very fun day."

Steven had to admit that he'd had more fun that day than in a long time. The stress of the nightmares and his consuming search had lifted from his shoulders and he felt very refreshed. "Oh, I'll definitely be back."

He turned and walked toward the edge of the meadow. It was no longer the foreboding figment of his nightmares anymore, but now had become his favorite place. As Steven approached the edge of the clearing, he looked back at Asherah and waved. She waved back tentatively, and the meadow dissolved back to reality as he slipped into the forest toward his tree house.

The cave entrance was little more than a hole in the rocky ground in the mountains. Sirel landed by the entrance and slipped into it. The darkness seemed to envelop her as she walked in deeper, leaving the evening sun far behind her. Her skin sparkled like a thousand stars and the stone passageway filled with light. She walked as though walking on air, silently traversing the passageway and entering a maze of caves that she navigated confidently. She trailed her fingers along the wall as she walked, leaving glowing lines that gradually faded back to darkness as she glided by.

After many twists and turns in the narrow cave system, she came to a little cavity. She stood for a moment, silent and dark. The blackness swallowed her completely and yet Sirel could still see. Peering back the way she came, she waited for several minutes to see if she was followed or detected, if there was any sign of intrusion. Satisfied, she reached out to the nearby wall. It was hard and cold, with a texture that felt pleasant. Putting both hands on the wall, she pushed harder. Suddenly the wall was behind her and she took a step to clear it, walking into a well lit antechamber.

A massive shadow appeared behind her, and with a sniff it walked past her. Migalo, ever on guard, gave her a toothy grin as he walked into the main chamber where the others were assembled. Sirel smiled at him and followed her furry friend in.

Penipe crouched in a corner looking intently at a collection of holographic objects that hung in the air in front of her. Some of them represented videos and others data as she conducted her research. In her hand was a retro looking tube about
an inch
in diameter and a little over
five inches
long. It appeared to be constructed out of brass and was adorned with ornate engravings. As Sirel walked in, Penipe deactivated the computer and she tucked the tube into a pouch on her belt and sat expectantly. They had all been waiting for Sirel's return, hopeful that the time was drawing near for them to fulfill their mission.

Lohet sat at a table that was cluttered with a large collection of vintage lab equipment, all very much matching the same motif as Penipe's computer, retro with a smattering of steam punk. A large electronic microscope dominated the rest, and on either side of that were devices for examining every aspect of whatever sample was fed to them. Another computer sat on the counter, processing the data that the devices produced and displaying it in a large holographic collection of objects that hung in the air in front of the microscope. The results of the project Lohet was working on were displayed in front of him. Hovering in the air, the magnified three dimensional output of the imaging that the microscope was generating rotated slowly. A glass liter of blood sat on the corner of the table on a device that kept stirrers agitating the liquid, and a rack of glass pipettes sat next to that ready for sample collection.

Lohet didn't look up as Sirel walked daintily up to him and stood patiently, rocking back and forth on the balls of her feet. Migalo went over to another table that contained a variety of energy and projectile weapons and started cleaning one of them, impatiently passing the time while he waited for Sirel's report. Penipe crossed her arms and tried hard not to yell at Lohet who was taking his time with his current experiment.

Lohet extracted a sample from the microscope and put it in a small incinerator while staring intently at the image that displayed the atomic structure of what he was examining. His porcelain countenance crinkled in concentration and his eyebrows furrowed as he reached up and manipulated the image to see the scan from different angles. "There is non-Terran DNA in these samples."

"Playing with dinner again?" Sirel giggled.

Lohet looked aside at her for a moment then focused back on the results of the examination. "How is the deviant?" He asked dryly as he continued to rotate the image around, looking at the sample from different angles. He used his hands to expand the image to get an even closer look at the sample.

Migalo and Penipe came over to the table and sat on the log benches, intently interested in their partner's report. Sirel looked over at Penipe for a moment, then remembered and pulled the mushroom out of her pocket and tossed it over to her. She winked at Penipe as she straddled the bench Lohet was sitting on, facing him. "Bon appetite, Penny."