Now, as I am standing amongst the flowers, I stoop to examine them more closely. The pure punch of purple-ness is breath-taking. Each flower has a faint musky-sweet scent. All together, the field of blooms is heady – almost too rich. This field stretches out around me – the portal tree juts out in the middle of it. Ah, should be easy to find it again when it’s time to leave.
Leave? I just got here – okay, time to focus on the task at hand. First, to find this infamous Enchanteur…
“It’s about time you arrived.” says a husky voice to my left. I nearly jump out my skin at the sound. I turn to look and am greeted by the sight of a dark haired, pale-skinned woman, all in purple. She has wine lips that grab me with their softness, and she blinks sleepily in the bright sun.
“I couldn’t resist having a catnap in the sun – and in these flowers!” She gestures to the field. “Thank you for bringing them.” She adds.
“I…me?” I stammer, “I brought the flowers? But how?”
“Oh, everybody brings a little something of themselves to Lemuria. I suppose this is what was in you. Very nice – I love purple.” She rises finally. “I’ve brought you a bag of goodies – very important, so please keep it with you.”
She hands me a brown leather sac of sorts, rather large, but not heavy. The woman then points to the northwest corner of the field. “You’ll find a horse waiting for you just near the maple trees. Her name is Nooba. You can attach your bags onto her saddle, and she’ll take you to Owl Creek Road and Leaning Birches, and the mine. Here is some mining equipment.”
“Wait – mining?” I ask, taken aback.
“Yes, the old alluvial mine – you’ll be staking a claim there. You’ll find some reading material on the way that will tell you more. And you can always ask the locals, or your animal companion.”
“Animal…companion.” I repeat dumbly.
“Most people find it helpful to have one.” The woman nods. “Well, toodles darling, I’m off – teatime soon. And don’t look so worried! You’re here to have fun, dear girl, not to have a kidney removed.”
With this she turns and heads south, where I can just make out a pencil line of smoke coming from a chimney. I half-heartedly say goodbye, then turn to where my horse is supposed to be.
As I reach the edge of the field where the golden-leafed maples stand, I bend over to pick a few of the purple flowers to press in my notebook. Standing up, I find myself staring into the pale blue eyes of a horse.
“You must be Nooba.” I say, though it sounds more like a question.
The white and brown speckled horse nods (at least, I think she does), and digs her nose into my hand.
“Ah, right, food.” I dig into my backpack and pull out an apple. She takes it delicately with her large teeth, and crunches it appreciatively.
“You’re welcome” I say. Then I move to Nooba’s side to strap my bags to her saddle. After securing them, I mount the horse.
“Now, which way do I go?” I wonder aloud.
“How about taking the road.” a voice says from the tree above. I look up sharply to see a smokey gray cat sitting on a branch of the nearest maple, watching me patiently.
“Road?” I ask blankly.
“Yes, the one just in front of you.” the cat replies, and jumps down onto Nooba’s rump. “That’s the way to the town and the mines. Have you got the tools Enchanteur gave you? You’ll need them.”
“Enchanteur…?” I stare at the cat.
“The woman you were talking to in the field back there – didn’t you know?” Two pale blue eyes stare back. (What’s with these animals and their blue eyes?)
“I…guess I didn’t think about it.” I stammer. “She didn’t introduce herself.”
“Ah, then since you are clearly not the intuitive type, I see introductions are necessary here. I’m Landy, your animal companion.”
“Landy – hi. Wait, I’m not intuitive?” I start to protest.
“Aaah, don’t worry about it, kid. Let me handle the intuition and instinct thing, okay?”
“Sure, okay.” I reply, very unsure.
“Right, so to the road?” Landy says as he jumps onto my left shoulder and proceeds to wrap himself around the back of my neck. I feel him purr near my left ear, “Hope you don’t mind – this is the only way I feel comfortable riding on a horse.
“Yeah, I guess that’ll be fine.” I say, as I grab the reins and lead Nooba forward to the dirt road that, funny enough, I don’t recall being there earlier.
“Here’s to an adventure.” I say with a sigh and my heart racing.
until Day 3,
WiccanGal
Oh so behind – I am only leaving for the portal now. The others are far ahead. I hope I can find my way…
Then I spy the stranger. This person is cloaked and hooded from top to toe. I don’t know if it is a man or woman, or even human. The stranger is holding a lantern, very like the Hermit of the Tarot. A pale hand motions for me to follow.
