The Youngest Mage [Completed]

(15) Over the Hill

Dalbreath went slowly over the hill, and ate every kind of thing that bears like to eat along the way, including some blue honey made by bees that love blueberry flowers. The bee stings stung, but the honey was more pleasurable than the bee stings hurt. It took a lot of energy to be a bear, especially an Amenadon bear, and he ate so much he almost forgot that he was also a boy. If it had not been for the mysterious odor over the hill he might have forgotten everything except being a bear.

The mysterious odor tugged at him. It took a while for him to reach the other side of the hill. When he finally got there his nose told him the mysterious odor came from a large cave. When he reached the cave he saw the White Lady standing before the entrance. He knew he was in a dream then, so he shape-shifted back into a boy. She motioned for him to come close.

"You thought you would find Rhonthowaa here, didn't you," said the Mother Blessing.

"Yes," said Dalbreath. "Is she really my mother?"

"Rhonthowaa is who she used to be, and who she will be again, in the future, but for now she is your mother, Maurinn. "

"She doesn't know she's Rhonthowaa?" asked Dalbreath.

"She knows it, but a part of her doesn't accept it anymore."

"Am I doing okay? I got her to take me to Mage School at least. I start in the fall," said Dalbreath.

"You're doing very good, but you need to find the thing your power longs for as much as the bear in you longs for this cave."

"What am I longing for?"

"I can't tell you, but you will know when you hear of it." Then she smiled sweetly and disappeared. Then he heard her voice at a distance. "Listen to Bekma, he's the best teacher you'll ever have."
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Dalbreath woke up then, a little boy once more, with his head resting on Ontiwa's great belly. His first thought was to go find Bekma and tell him about the dream, but he didn't know the way to the treehouse, and Ontiwa seemed so content he didn't want to wake him. "I wish I could shape-shift into a bird," he said out loud.

"Try it again," came a familiar feminine voice from the mouth of the cave.

"Leanha?"

She stepped into the cave. "Come on, try it again. Use your Mage instincts this time."

They went outside, and Dalbreath was surprised to find that the same technique he used to shape-shift into a bear worked at becoming a falcon. Dalbreath and Leanha flew and flew, but they did not go straight to Bekma's treehouse. They enjoyed their flying for an hour, and they saw many animals in the woods, but they missed seeing the black panther that was watching Ontiwa's cave from the shadows of the dark woods.