Make a decision, Vilko!

Before I retired into my hammock I went after Lily too, despite having a strong feeling what she’d have to say.

I found her quite a bit away from our little camp, near a giant boulder, taking in the breathtaking view of Lake Atûmna and its surrounding landscape. She sat there, motionless in a relaxed, yet reflective pose, the last sunrays of the day playing in her mane, casting long shadows over the scenery before us. High up in the air shone bright and blue the big, almost full orb of Liýranda, now symbol-laden in a whole different way than up ‘till now. Lower on the horizon was the small orange sickle of Ahruanda, whereas Kathanda I couldn't spot.

I was hesitant to approach the beastess, not wanting to disturb her, so I sat down not too close and soaked in the view with her. It was a very special, quiet, yet intense atmosphere, experiencing the slow waning of the daylight in the north. I didn’t know if we were near the polar circle, but since the solstice was already a few weeks (pardon: sidehs!) past, the sun again dipped during the night for a short time under the horizon, and the Askælean Mountains only contributed to that effect.

Lake Atûmna was a true wonder of nature, its main body absolutely massive and stretching seemingly endlessly beyond the horizon like an ocean, but near the shoreline it split into multiple branches, fjords, entire sub-lakes, many of them gigantic on their own, but here only sidearms of an incomprehensibly vast freshwater expanse. I let my eyes wander slowly over the incredibly bifurcated, islet-littered shoreline, letting it sink in at a measured pace, thankful we weren’t moving right now, so I had time to explore every visible detail. I still had to get used to this richly varied landscape, opposite to the empty ice plains of Skîbæria we’d left just today.

Long we sat, until Lily finally addressed me.

“I hope you didn’t come to talk about that …woman.”

Her tone was as dismissive as discouraging, but I answered nevertheless.

“Not really.” I said. “I’ve come because I need your advice. Once more it seems.”

She snorted.

“Is it because of this ridiculous proposal? To reincarnate part of your soul back into your world? You are not seriously considering something like that, are you?”

“To be honest, I’m torn apart on that matter.” I answered. “On the one hand I want to enable at least part of me a reunion with my brother and my master, on the other hand I don’t trust her quite enough for that.”

A bitter laugh escaped the beastess.

“Well, you finally seem to be learning. A little bit at least. Still…” she shook her head. “Just considering such blasphemy and then trusting a complete and potentially dangerous stranger with such an …intimate procedure! What did she do to all of you to enthrall you so completely?”

“Hey!” I protested. “Yára isn’t enthralled. And I'm not either!”

She just waved her paw dismissively.

“Semantics! Of course you are not smitten in the way of Reeza, but I for my part don’t want to have anything to do with that woman anymore. Preferably for the rest of my life. And my afterlife too! I don’t know if that’s any help for your indecisiveness, but that’s all I can say for now. And as I said, I don’t want to talk about her anymore.”

Well, that didn't leave much room to pry any further. Nevertheless I made one last attempt to loosen her tongue.

“Forgive me, but can I ask you one last question?”

A deep, dangerous growl, like from a bear escaped her throat, but her head tipped an inch forward that could after all indicate a short, impatient nod.

“Talk!” she snarled when it took me too long to formulate my request.

“Then, may I ask openly: what is your main issue with Elä’Ahrûna?” I finally managed to utter.

I wanted to add more, but she already cut me off.

“It's simple.” she answered and for the first time turned her fierce gaze toward me. “She tried to gain our trust through words and mind magic, but never proved her worth through work and helpful deeds. She never earned it and made no attempt to do so. Instead she tried to woo us with her tale and intimidate us with her power. And that is simply no ground to establish a trustworthy relationship. To me at least.”

With these words she turned back and looked again out into the vast open space and the beautiful panoramic view of the lakescape before us. I waited for a little while, but the beastess had seemingly said all there was to say.

Finally I wished her a good night when I got up to head back to my Munchie.

“Good night.” she wished back in a surprisingly tender tone, a sign she was still on good terms with me after all...

Contrary to her wishes my sleep was restless and laden with heavy, difficult dreams I couldn’t quite remember in the morning. I still haven't come to a conclusion regarding Elä’Ahrûna's offer and the girls all had enough on their mind too, so we had a mostly silent breakfast.

Afterwards we left our current location to seek out the last hideout near the shoreline with a last batch of supplies. We would need them, since it was still thousands of miles and several sidehs of travel until we’d reach Tóràbun, our final destination. Yára assured me it wasn’t a particularly hard journey - if the weather held. We’d ‘just’ have to cross lake Atûmna and then raft down the big river Amandus that would take us directly to Iyexis, Tóràbuns capital.

The hideout we now visited was different from all the other supply storages, as it lay in a watercave near the end of a small bay - weatherproof of course, but also protected from the bigger waves in the open waters. Despite its visible entrance blocked by solid rock it seemed not so safe to me as the other hideouts. These had been completely isolated from the outside, while this one still connected to the lake with a small underwater tunnel.

Reeza telekinetically opened the rock wall above the shoreline for us and we entered, floating, held with magic above the water that filled the bottom of the opening cavern. The sense and purpose of the location became clear to me as soon as I saw the catamaran, moored on dry shore way in the back. Similar to the ‘Ice Wallow’ it was a piece of beautifully crafted art, seamlessly built from wood with a broad deck and a streamlined, edgeless cabin at the stern.

Yára told me it was one of three boats they had used to explore the wilderness of the Tóràya last year. This one was named ‘Oruandríya’, a name based on one of the lost moons of Liyúra.

The supplies were completely sealed off behind another rock wall that Reeza opened just as casually as the first one. It is amazing, but I actually got used to these surreal pictures of rock behaving like a living being, seemingly without any influence from the outside.

We all wanted to start hauling the pieces of equipment onto the boat, but Lily stopped us.

“Please, let me do this.” she said. “You wait outside for that blasted woman.”

And without further ado she started to work and just left us standing. There wasn’t much to say, so we floated back into the sun and to the Munchie that waited for us patiently up a small rocky hill.

The landscape here was mostly barren, only here and there a few green sprouts from splits in the rock and small bushes or even trees in more protected locations with a thin layer of soil. Yes, it was a harsh land, but not even close to the conditions found in Skîbæria! Except for the caldera oases near the pole of course. It was still unbelievable for me, how these kinds of wonders had come to be, with much more lush greenery than here, roughly seven thousand miles further south! Indeed I recognized the amanite trees from back there, but here they were much smaller and looked downright crippled compared to the still gnarled, but mighty, towering individuals in the north.

I couldn’t indulge in these observations for very long, because Elä’Ahrûna made her entrance. This time she flew very fast towards us, so fast she even left a faint condensation trail behind her. Either she was very eager to meet us again, or she didn’t want to let us wait.

I dreaded this meeting because I still hadn’t made up my mind. It would come down to a spontaneous decision which I hated the most! These ones I regretted most later on! 

Furthermore, I was never before faced with such an important decision. This time it was not about buying a washing machine or not, but about my soul, my inner spiritual being that would be on display, could set new developments into motion and create whole new destinies!

My mouth was dry and my knees weak when the majestic, ancient, though still in her prime looking, blue skinned daimon approached us. I hold it dear to Reeza and Yára that they both remained silent and didn’t try to influence me in any way, especially because I probably never was as susceptible in my whole adolescent life as I was right now!

It was Yára this time who saved me, stepping forward when Elä’Ahrûna greeted us and boldly said: “Please excuse my audacity, but may I ask a few questions that were forgotten yesterday? They are of utmost importance!”