The Faithful Ones

Part 1- Chapter 11

A cold wind whistled through the caves, and the sun hid behind a thick blanket of clouds. The seven trudged through the knee-high snow, singing and talking. Night came earlier than they were used to here in the winter, and when it did they thought they'd freeze. Their village only sometimes saw snow, and never as deep as it had fallen here, even after a whole winter. Dwarvern life was so different from theirs too, without the sky and land to tell time time unless one was a hunter or gatherer. They had to cross three half-frozen river to get to the forest, which took them almost two weeks. The first day in the forest was spent gathering food for Moarnil's Daey, the spring feast. The next day was largely spent building tipi huts, but at midday the seven laid out their food to celebrate.

"The days are getting longer, the sun is getting warmer. Spring has come, winter's gone; dawn has come, night has passed. Summer's light, winter's night, autumn's hope, spring's growth. Cycle, circle, rhythm, round. By this we are bound!" they all chanted before beginning the feast -- however simple it was. After the sun set as they sat around the camp fire looking at the stars, Raine could almost hear the lion constellation calling to her.

The seven quickly became familiar with the forest around the clearing where they camped as the moon went on. It snowed lightly one night, but soon it all became sludge and filled the rivers with icy snow-melt. Raine slept closer to the fire on especially cold nights, hoping closed eyes would defend her from fear. She almost never remembered dreaming the leopardess dream now, but she knew she still dreamt it because she'd woken in the middle of the night before without it and felt odd. She pulled out the fabric with the embroidered adventure at the lighthouse from the bottom of her pack, and stitched on the next part, which was telling stories in the Dwarvern Caverns. Raine realised she didn't know what they were meant to be doing. The wind had pushed them over the cliff at the lighthouse, and a dream had said to tell the dwarves Nimue's stories, but the note had only said to go to the forest. Nothing had explained anything, yet the note had promised answers.

The first flowers began popping out of the soil and the sun began to shine more and hide less. Even with little else but food-gathering or hut repairs to pass the time, the days passed quickly, and it was soon the end of the eleventh moon. The ohtceks had run out a short time ago like the rest of their stocked food. One day when Raine had watched the fire for so long that her eyes stung, she woke in the middle of the night from a nightmare. Salma also awoke, and comforted Raine, and together they made up a lullaby to calm or comfort after a bad or stressful day.
"In the moonlight/ we shall run/ until we sleep/ or see the sun,/ and safe with the stars us keep./ The shadows prance/ in a long wide dance,/ and the wolf howls up to the moon,/ and the dawn is coming soon./ The wind is but a sigh/ and soon the birds will fly./ The snow-melt begins to flow/ but we know where to go."

But they didn't know where to go or what to do, and that made Raine anxious.
"Does anyone know what we're meant to do?" she asked the others.
"No," answered Matthew.
"What did the note say?" asked Rose.
"Just that we'd completed out task and to go to there," Raine said. "But now we've come here and we still don't know what to do." Raine wanted to be travelling. She'd lost her way to ask for guidance too, since she never remembered the leopardess dreams now. She missed Nimue and the dwarves.
"Maybe we could go back to the Dwarvern Caverns?" asked Salma, and Freya shook her head.
"We must be patient and do what the note said. I'm sure we'll understand soon."

So they stayed. They often sang and told stories of things that had happened in the Caverns. Matthew made a carving of the beautiful Forgen and gave it to Rose. Raine, Salma, and Freya wove a mat and a basket -- although they had no purpose for the basket yet. They'd looked after the most useful plants that grew around them, and they now flourished. When it rained they hid in their huts and told stories and riddles. There was hardly a moment when there wasn't someone singing, except when they slept, ate, or talked together.They began to speak in lilting, almost sing-song tones.

One day when the sky was particularly clear, just before the sun painted the blue with the warmth of pink, as the stars began to show themselves faintly, the seven watched them appear. 'There's one' Rose would say, or 'look, another' from Salma. It was rather rhythmic. As the sun set and twilight set in, the constellations began to shine brighter. When one was found, everyone would say what they thought of it
"Lion: compassion and mystery," Raine pointed to the familiar shape.
"Bravery," said Rose.
"King," smiled Sunny.
"Determination and perseverance," Salma nodded.
"Strength. But I can't see it it," sighed Freya.
"There, just above that tree," Matthew replied. "I'm the same as Raine; compassion."
"Caring," said Blaze, getting up to put more wood on the fire. The pattern continued.

"It's Matthew's birthday in a few days. I want to get him some nice wood to carve, so might I take Sunny for company and go looking for some?" Blaze asked. "I already checked that she wants to come."
"Sure. But what will I tell him??"
"That we went looking for another stream"
"Alright. You'll be back before tonight, right?" Blaze nodded. He and Sunny were off before the sun rose another hand's breadth above the horizon. The others spent the day playing hide-and seek and trying to camouflage themselves into the scrub. At sunset Blaze and Sunny returned, carrying an armful of wood and full water-skins. They hid the wood from Matthew, and when Blaze could he cut off the big splinters. On Matthew's birthday, they showed him the pile, and he thanked them for the gift. It was really nice wood. Everyone could see that, and Matthew spent much of his spare time carving with it.

Raine woke with the feeling of having forgotten a dream. She tried to reach it, but it faded quicker the harder she reached. There'd been a sunrise, a smile, and a... oh, it was gone. She missed the leopardess dreams, and she was sure that was the dream that had just lept out of her reach. Sometimes, -- well, it was more often than that, but what other word is there? -- Raine wondered why they'd agreed to this, and then she remembered how wonderful it all was, travelling and growing closer to each other. She was restless. She needed something to do, to somehow understand more of the big pictures , to know what they were waiting for. How could these tasks free them from the world, and how had the world trapped them? Raine saw these questions in her friends' eyes, too, but no-one had any answers so they stayed silent about them. And it had been so long with nothing to do but wait that they began to doubt the questions would ever be answered. Who was the note sender? Would they meet whoever it was? How long must they wait? Questions built up, often in twos or threes, but they remained patient.

It was nearly a year since their adventures started. The moon was nearly empty, and even peaceful Salma was getting restless. They could all feel that something was just out of reach, yet soon they'd be able to seize it and be on the move again. They felt like embers ready for more kindling and another log, ready to burst back into life and sparks high into the air. It wasn't quite tense or anxious, but an excited and confused mix between them. Yet ordinary things to do like gather food and collect water were still boring and hard work. The seven danced around the fire at night and sang cheerfully, waiting to see what would unfold next, somehow feeling in their hearts that something wonderful would happen.