The Search for the Eoz Potion

22. A Familiar Face

When the pink clouds first started taking over the sky, Tellis noticed it right away. Walking closely behind Hailey, she monitored the situation carefully. They didn't say much to each other as they walked, but it was shortly after the clouds started to appear that Tellis broke the silence and suggested that they find a place to rest. It was getting late, she insisted, and she felt they should find a place to sleep before it got dark. Hailey was opposed to the idea and wanted to get as far as they could before nightfall. She wasn't tired and saw no need to stop yet. Tellis simply nodded and agreed with her desire to press on.

At one point, she asked Hailey if she could look at her map and they stopped to make sure they were headed in the right direction. Still, Tellis kept trying to move them off of their current course. She pointed to another path on the map and asked Hailey if she thought it was worth checking out, but Hailey insisted on heading the way she was. They came upon some ominous looking animal tracks and Tellis suggested taking a different direction, but Hailey refused. They walked for a mile or so, the pink clouds getting thicker above them, when Tellis finally found it. A small log cabin surrounded by trees and bushes. The woods were so thick around the home that Hailey did not even see it at first, it was like the little dwelling was actually built into the trees there were so many around it. As Hailey looked at it with confusion, Tellis ran toward it eagerly like she had been expecting to find it. When she got to the door, she turned back and pointed up at the clouds. Until then, Hailey had not noticed them. They had grown heavier and were beginning to block the sun. Even Hailey realized it might be a good idea to take shelter, so she followed Tellis into the cabin.

Inside was one small room with a wooden table in the middle. There was one tiny window with cabinets and drawers on either side. Tellis went right to the cabinets as if she knew what she was doing, as if she had been there before. She pulled out plates, silverware, and food and began to set the table before inviting Hailey to sit, but she simply looked on, still confused.

"Have you been here before?" she asked.

"Not to this particular location," Tellis said. "But we built many of these throughout the Garden and they're all the same."

Realizing just then that she had secretly led them there, Hailey started to get angry. Before she could complain, however, Tellis continued.

"We wanted to have shelters for the Searchers when the rain started falling."

Hailey rolled her eyes in silent protest and turned to leave the cabin. She didn't like feeling tricked and she wanted to get back to her search. But as she opened the door, Tellis shouted after her to stay. She didn't turn back, but she did stop when she saw the yellow drops of rain begin to fall harder. A small mouse-like animal with brown fur and green spots ran by the doorway. As the rain fell on it, it began to run slower and slower until finally it stopped, collapsed onto the ground, and died. Hailey turned around to look at Tellis who walked quickly toward her and closed the door.

"The Poison Rain is a nice gift from the Prince to the Garden of Yllop, isn't it?" Tellis said as she walked back to the table and sat down.

As she explained the rain to her, Hailey looked out the one small window in the cabin. The rain did not seem to have any effect on the plants in the Garden, but she noticed that all the animals were burrowing into the ground or hiding under trees. Her thoughts drifted to Claire and she hoped that she was okay, that she had found shelter as well.

"I hope Josef and the others are okay," Tellis said in agreement with Hailey's silent concern.

"Josef? Whose family you destroyed?" She looked Tellis directly in the eyes with a piercing expression. Neither was willing to look away.

Hailey had not planned on bringing up the issue, but Tellis's concern for Josef forced her to call out the hypocrisy.

"Yes," Tellis finally said. Then she got up and went to the cabinet for more food. When she sat back down at the table, she looked up at Hailey, inviting her with her eyes to sit. Hailey refused.

"I know you don't trust me. I understand. It's okay." Hailey stood silently without expression. "I'm not proud of who I was, of what I did. But that person's dead now. I believed in what this Garden could be, in the good that it could do for everyone here. But I also believed in the fear. The people of Yllop are victims of an Evil Spirit that's taken over their hearts. It's taken everything good about them, their concern for others, their love and kindness, and turned it against them. The General and the Prince are the same. They all now only care about themselves. They want to horde and protect everything good and true for the people of Yllop. They're afraid that if others come, if they have to share everything that's beautiful about this place, that they'll lose something. I used to feel the same way. It was Josef who changed me. He's the one who introduced me to the Queen. When I found him years later in the forest, when I saw what he was doing, helping others after everything he had been through, not giving up and becoming angry, I saw the Queen and I fell to my knees. I realized I was wrong about it all."

Hailey looked on, still unmoved by the speech.

"There's no way for me to undo what I did," Tellis continued, lowering her head "and there's no way to change what happened to Josef. But it's possible..." She lost herself in thought.

"What?" Haiely asked abruptly.

"I met his father in jail."

"He's out there?" Hailey said cautiously as she sat down at the table.

"I assume so. I told him about the SG's plan to topple the prison and regroup at the east end of the river. We came up with a symbol we could make in the dirt so that if we saw it we'd know the other was alive and close by. We practiced making it over and over again the few times we'd see each other in prison so that we could be certain of what it was when we saw it. It's a little drawing that's supposed to look like a Yllop Flower."

Tellis stopped talking for a moment while Hailey sat trying to process it all.

"I used to think the Searchers were a threat to the Garden," she continued. "But now I realize people like you are the Garden of Yllop. People who come here looking to help others, to save them, looking for a better life, that's what this place is all about."

Hailey had a lot she wanted to say, but she kept it in as she looked back out the window. She didn't believe it was possible for Tellis to just wipe away years of devastation, and despite her confession, she still didn't trust her. Yet Tellis had come to help her after she left the others. And she did seem sincere as she told her story. Still, Hailey was too afraid to give her her complete confidence.

She didn't have much time to think about it, though, because through the window she noticed something that sent fear coursing through her. Walking through the garden, lost in the overgrown trees and bushes, were two members of the HRA. They were covered from head to toe in a green armor that Hailey assumed was meant to protect them from the rain. Tellis noticed the fear on her face and stood up to see what might be the cause. When she saw the soldiers turn toward the cabin, she immediately grabbed Hailey's wrist and pulled her under the table. She pressed down firmly on the floorboards with all her strength and a door sprung up. She opened it the rest of the way by hand and Hailey noticed a small staircase that led down into a dark room. Tellis nervously waived her on as she heard the soldiers talking at the door. Hailey reluctantly went inside. When she had disappeared down the stairs Tellis quickly went down herself, pulled the door closed, and hurriedly turned a latch underneath it to lock it shut.

There were about ten or twelve steep steps that led down into a darkened cellar. When Tellis caught up to Hailey, she pushed in front of her gently. It was dark in the cellar and Tellis ran her frail hands along the dirt walls as if she was looking for something. Finally, she found a small shelf with some matches and a lantern that she quickly lit. As the weak light flickered, Tellis and Hailey both noticed they were not alone. Cowering in a ball, all the way at the end of the room that looked more like a small tunnel or cave, was a young man Hailey recognized instantly. After the initial shock of realizing someone was there, She took a step closer.

"Evan" she said, not as a question meant to determine his identity, but as a statement meant to let him know she knew who he was.