Where the Sun Meets Duthalia

Chapter 2

Upset and not yet ready to return home, she decided to collect some mushrooms and go visit Tethye. Once her apron pocket was filled with the morels, she continued toward the secluded cabin.

When she arrived, she readied to knock, but the druid was already at the door. She always seemed to know when Ethney would arrive. Ethney asked her once how that was possible, and Tethye just said that they were connected by the Great Mother's spirit ever since her father brought her to be saved. Tethye was the only person Ethney knew who spoke of the earth goddess. The only temple in the village was dedicated to Areylia, the sun goddess who was favored by the Luthgrians, the high elves who ruled the territories of Duthalia. Tethye was of the Talamhian elves who preferred forests and communal living to the Luthgrian ways. The two races coexisted well enough together, nonetheless, and Luthgrians typically did not interfere with them.

"Come in, little one," the old wood elf said with a smile. She was smaller and darker than the Luthgrian rulers, but still a little taller than the average Sogalta who made up the majority of the peasantry. Many of Tethye's people had been wiped out by orcs who had overtaken her home woodland in the Sephrael Forest. The orcs residing there now called it Kron'thrus which meant something like 'conquered bush.'

The tiny cabin smelled of herbs and earth. Something simmered in a pot over the fire. The ancient druid hobbled over to the fire and pulled the pot off to pour a steaming cup for Ethney. She always drank whatever the woman handed her without question, a habit she had developed from the time she was first brought to her.

This one tasted nutty and sweet, and as always, of the earth. As she sipped, Tethye looked on contentedly.

"What brings you out into the woods today?" she asked when Ethney had finished.

"I was with Simon. But we had a disagreement. He tried to kiss me again and wants to marry me. Do you think I'm wrong for not wanting that? Is it truly childish that I prefer to stay with Papa?"

"You may still have some growing up to do, but that boy is not meant for you. You were right to refuse him," Tethye said as she carefully lowered her willowy body onto the small wooden stool opposite Ethney. Her eyes were narrow and tilted up at the sides like a fox, with mossy green irises. Her skin was the reddish hue of the wood from a cedar tree. Her straight hair hung just past her shoulders in strands of dark brown laced heavily with grey. She had several green leaves tied throughout it making it seem as if she were a part of the forest moving within this small space.

"How do you know?" Ethney asked. Could the druid truly know such a thing?

"You've spoken of Simon before. He wouldn't make you happy," she said and waved and arm as if to wave the idea of Simon away. "Also, I can feel it in the spirit that courses through your blood and connects us. Your future lies on a different path than his."

"Can you truly sense that?"

"I can. The Great Mother's spirit has grown strong within you," Tethye said with a nod.

"What else do you know? Will I become a blacksmith like my father?"

"That is far more difficult to tell. What have you received from the Mother today? Let me see."

Ethney pulled out a handful of mushrooms that she had gathered earlier from her apron pocket and placed them in Tethye's waiting hands.

Tethye closed her hands around them and closed her eyes. When she opened them they glowed slightly for a moment, then she spoke.

"I sense... something. I think we should go pray to the Mother, like we do before the solstice," Tethye said, her voice a little distant. It was very unusual to do the ritual in the summer, but Ethney didn't question the druid.

Ethney had been doing this since she was an infant, so she knew what to do. The whole process took close to an hour. To begin, Tethye cut both Ethney's palms and pressed them into the blessed earth beneath the sacred willow tree behind the cabin. Then they prayed together for the Great Mother to allow some of her spirit to flow back into the earth, to merge with it. When Ethney's blood stopped flowing, Tethye gave her a strong tincture to drink, after which Ethney would pass out for a time.

When she woke up her hands would be healed, and she received a cup of sweet water. She never knew if anything else happened when she slept. Tethye insisted that some druid magic is for only druids to see and know of. So, Ethney gave up asking years ago.

"Is everything alright?" Ethney asked her when they had finished.

"Yes, child. You are just growing up, and things will change as they were always bound to do," Tethye said with something like resignation. "You'd better get back home before your father worries about you."

She kissed the old woman and thanked her before bidding her farewell.