The Night's Curse #3 (Waverly Stump and The 7 Realms)

Chapter 23

Waverly was ushered to bathe and have breakfast - which was heavily comprised of fruits and nuts - before Loni and Blauren would speak to her. Wherever she went, several eyes lingered on her and numerous voices whispered her name. It made her feel queasy and curious all at once. If not for Cassiope's constant vigilance, she would have been unable to have a quiet bath as even the flower spirits by the stream peeked out from their stems.

When she was well fed and feeling refreshed and warm and oblivious to how much the nature spirits stared, she was invited to sit under the mighty sagging branches of the huge tree which she discovered was as old as Alpgeton itself.

Waverly was immensely curious as to why her name was constantly being whispered. No matter how strange the languages of some of the spirits were - especially Derews who were more ancient - she seemed to understand them perfectly. She politely handed over her coat to a Derew and panicked when leaves shot out of the nature spirit's hair like a wild spring.

Cassiope giggled at the scene, leaning to whisper into Waverly's ear.

"I told you. You are their hero."

Blauren and Loni came to her at last.

Blauren was the spirit of the wisteria while Loni was of the honeysuckle. They both greeted her warmly and welcomed her to Eden and then the hardest part came when she was to be introduced to every single nature spirit present.

Waverly barely remembered any name at all. The sun dipped in the sky long before Loni presented the last batch of nature spirits which were those who made up the Nature Council.

"This here is Ekin. He is master of the oak tree." Loni introduced.

Ekin had deep dark red skin and his hair was so thick that it looked like a bush. He bowed to Waverly but did not speak.

"Pultre of the maple." Blauren introduced.

"At your humble service." Pultre cooed. She reminded Waverly of the Derews she had met in The In Between. Each spirit after her said the same line "at your service" whenever their name was mentioned.

"Etula of the birch. Eschen of the ash. Papel of the poplar. Popul of Aspen. Fag of the beech. Mus of the elm. Cariya of the hickory. Hidra of ivy. Tanne of the fir. Dear of the orchid. . ."

All Waverly could think of was how much she admired the retentiveness of Loni and Blauren as they were able to recall all the endless names.

". . . and finally, Cassiope of the heather."

Waverly turned with wide eyes to stare at Cassiope who had suddenly gone crimson red. She stared down at the grass on the ground.

"Why did you never tell me that you are a member of the nature council?" Waverly inquired.

She wanted to get angry at Cassiope for keeping a secret an information so important but she felt a pride so strong for her friend that she quickly forgot about her anger. Cassiope had always seemed to her the least important nature spirit around.

"I was told not to." Cassiope muttered. Her pointy ears wiggled and she refused to look up.

"We told her to keep that bit a secret so that you would think she was a common nature spirit." Blauren said.

His eyes were mesmerisingly dark and despite the growing evening, Waverly could see his face clearly especially in the light of a dull glow that seemed to bathe the forest.

"Why?" Waverly questioned. She suddenly wanted to understand everything at once.

"We wanted her to keep an eye on you and also of course, be your friend. Cassiope often brought back as much information about you as she could and they have all been honorable stories." Loni replied. Her voice was calm and soothing and came like a soft whisper.