Birgitta the Nun

Part 34 - Old Friends

A week in the woods passed by - then another - then maybe some more. In her new forest home, the wizard didn't notice time moving at all. But the Calendar of the World continued to make progress, changing dates like never before. Luckily Charlie didn't have a calendar. Neither did she have an agenda. The only thing revealing any passing of time was the slight change in the season of the woods. Leaves turned stiffer and darker. Berries and mushrooms decorated the forest floor.

The wizard was sitting on a stump, chin in hand, looking like she'd sold her hat and lost the money on horse-races, when a noise reached her. She didn't look up. It came from the obscurity of the shrubbery, but she didn't care. By now she was used to the rattle and crackle of the great outdoors and she no longer paid any attention to her wild surroundings. But the rustling of leaves intensified. It went from seeming almost a part of the reverberating nature, to sounding like a firecracker shut up in a mailbox. Indeed, it was a clumsy kind of crackle. Finally the noise was too dreadful. The reveries of the wizard were cut off and she looked up. She sniffed the air. Then she sensed it: someone, or something, was making their approach.

"Well," she thought, getting up from her seat, "I'd better do something about it—I'd rather do the surprising around here, than be surprised myself. Even if it's the devil."

Her pondering put aside, she made some quick preparations. A flashlight was procured - just in case - and an extra load of wood was put on the fire to keep its alluring light going. Then, on the tips of her toes, she quit her glowing camp. Sure to be careful, she sneaked out into the dark wilderness. And so her hunt for an eventual intruder had begun.

The crackling noise continued undisturbed in its obscure corner of the forest. It was loud and clear, and even seemed to welcome the wizard as she inched her way towards it. She wasn't very quiet herself - indeed, she wasn't a cat or anything - but she did her best to at least make less noise than the intruder.

She didn't succeed. When her robe got caught on some thorns of a small bush, she panicked. It was no use not make a fuss over the hooked up fabric. She was completely taken aback by the attack. And soon she made more noise than the intruder.

Her battle with the bush and its vicious thorns ended with a fantastic rip of fabric, finally letting her precious garment loose. It was no victory. The fresh hole in her colorful robe turned out to be very unflattering, stretching right across her arm. The wizard continued her hunt somewhat abashed.

However, the noise was gone. She pricked up her ears - but nothing. In fact, the whole of the woods seemed to have quieted down. The wizard was left alone with nothing but her own heavy breathing to penetrate the dark silence. What now?

She tried to remember the direction of the disturbance. From where had it come? Then, after a short pause, she jumped straight ahead. She went through the thick shrubbery, head first, towards what she thought to have been the source of the invading noise. She landed on her hat but managed to curl up into a ball, engaging in some rolling about on the ground. Finally she sprawled on her stomach and came to a halt. She directed her torch in front of her.

The light of her torch reflected three lost creatures. One stood guard, legs wide apart. The other two huddled together, hiding behind the trousers of their towering friend.

Company was not really welcome and the wizard gave the newcomers a bothered stare. She got to her feet and asked for an explanation. What were they doing here? Why were they sneaking like idiots around her camp?

She didn't recognize the nuns at first - who would behind those heavy trousers of the merchant? - but on a closer inspection a penny seemed to drop:

"Well-well-well," the wizard said. "Look who's bothering to visit an old friend."

"Friend?" Birgitta looked around, as if seeking an invisible partner. "I didn't know you had friends? Once you were our uninvited guest, trying to tear our home apart, but that's all."

"Be quiet Birgitta," the abbess interrupted.

"What do you know about friendship, really?" Birgitta continued, ignoring the abbess and the fact that they were here to seek the wizard's help. "Have you ever lost a friend? Or had the bonds of friendship torn apart? You are hiding in the forest I see - probably molding schemes to confiscate some treasure or other - but not, I'm sure, to create friendship."

As it were, hearing this impolite remark, a large bird came flapping through the air. It landed on the shoulder of the wizard and cut off all rude comments. The owl was magnificent - it really was rather spectacular and deserving of all the attention. Even Birgitta kept quiet, stunned by the delicacy of the bird.

"Look," the wizard sighed, "I didn't invite you here—why have you sought me out? I know I made a poor impression on you in the past—but please leave me be. What's done is done."

"We didn't seek you out," the abbess lied.

"Well—we sort of did," Birgitta objected.

"Don't spoil this," the abbess hissed.

The nuns stared at each other with flashing eyes. A sort of chatter rose between the two colleagues, a cacophony of pros and cons, truths and untruths. And the quarrel was a fact. They were not used to traveling, unlike the merchant and the wizard. And here and now proved to be the point where tiredness took over. It made them come apart. Their squawking even made them seem more like birds than the owl.

"Do you want part of my campfire or what?" the wizard at length offered, interrupting the nonsensical nuns. She didn't really care what brought them to her woods. They were here now—nothing to be done about it. Still, she would at least try to make the confusion as harmless as possible.

"Please, if you please," the merchant replied, keeping the nuns from answering. She accepted the offer with a low bow and let the wizard take the lead.