Return To Otrindara – Chapter 3 Excerpt

Then Sanondra told me the true of it was her kind shrunk down in size and fluttered all throughout the realms in hidden silence. They gathered the know, or knowledge, of everything. The know of anything that ever happened in all the other realms was brought back here. Hidden in Ferndalon was a place where it was safely stored and remembered for all eternity in something called the stone of know.

It seemed the tree fahrae could really be whatever size was needed whenever it was needed but most of the time they stayed extremely small and hard to see unless they wished it. She said if need be some could even change form. However that was not an easy task to learn by any means. Right now she only knew of three who had the ability to do it but she could not name them. I told her I understood about the naming someone else thing

Even though they all fluttered naturally many still wore a necklace, or neylas as the fahrae called them, around their necks. Sanondra said it was there to help lift one who was hurt and could not do so on their own. The neylas was also used as a way to help others flutter easily on the breath of the magra, or the breezes of Otrindara as I understood it to be.

I found out the tree of being was supposedly moved here during something called “the passings of no see” or the first time of darkness in Otrindara. It was to keep it hidden from all those who would seek the stone of know. To the fahrae it was the only way to keep the know of much passings safe.

After telling her a little bit about me and others in my realm my thoughts quickly turned to gramps and grams. I could feel the sadness spreading across my face and the welling of water in my eyes. Sanondra must have seen it right off.

She said, “It sees to be much good Reeshard. In less passings you see them true.”

I lowered my head a little and said in a soft voice, “I hope so.”

“Now I speak of the stone of know,” she said.

The stone of know was said to have the magic needed to see the real true that is deep inside someone. It was said it could show someone an untrue if that person really wasn’t worthy. If they were to believe the untrue it showed them they could be trapped in that untrue for all passings.

Sanondra said she had been told that no one who had ever entered an untrue had ever made it back out. I was told we might be tested with an untrue before we found the stone of know. If we were able to find it we would then see what was meant for us to see. Even still we would need to return to her gathering if I was to get any help from the fahrae.

“Has anyone ever returned after leaving in search of it?” I asked.

Shaking her head lightly Sanondra said, “None that I know of.”

“Why would you do all this for me?” I asked.

She said, “If you see to be of the Reeshard true you will see true. It is not of your being to do less. It is of your being to do more.”

She told me the tree of being seemed to become much more alive when I got close to it. Never before had she felt so much true held within it. After entering Ferndalon she said she had somehow felt the true of my being within her as well. I only hoped she was right. It seemed over time many other kinds had tried to reach the stone of know and none have ever returned.

Tomorrow, Sanondra and I would leave to flutter in search of the stone of know. This reminded me of the trial gramps had taken on his first journey into the swamp. Now it was my turn to take a test of trust. Trust is what it was plain and simple.

“Reeshard see hud less true,” said Sanondra, bringing my attention back to the here and now.

“I was lost in here,” I said, smiling and pointing to my head.

Sanondra giggled and said, “Reeshard speak strange.”

Then she continued to tell me tomorrow I would return to the gathering hud and choose the neylas I would wear. The one I had on now had only been a temporary gift to get me to and around Ferndalon. I was told each neylas, or necklace, held a different magic which gave each wearer special abilities of their own.

Sanondra told me usually the white were for truth, the red for danger, the pink for healing, and so on. She went through most of the colors explaining the basic use for each. Then she told me each would also have other unique abilities as well. When it came to choosing I was supposed to look at each one and feel its magic.

If I were to find the stone of know and return to Ferndalon I would need to feel out the right one. She said once a neylas was offered and chosen it was the only one the chooser would ever have in their lifetime.