Two years later both Orb and Luna could see the sprites and other magical creatures, and Orb could hear the music of natural things, while Luna could see their auras. It was a secret from their mothers but not from their fathers, because Pace could relate to the magic of nature and the Magician, Luna's father, knew everything about magic. The mothers were virtual twins in beauty, though they were, like the girls, of different generations. But they had no such perceptions and seemed too busy with practical matters to be concerned with them. Luna's mother Blenda spent most of her time assisting the Magician, who was doing ever more obscure research in magic, while Orb's mother Niobe did the laundry and shopping and meals and reading stories. Luna came to regard Niobe as virtually her mother, for Luna spent more of her time here than at her own home.
Luna tried in vain to show Orb the auras she perceived, which she said manifested as shimmering glows around and through all living things, while Orb had the same frustration when trying to have Luna hear the songs of nature. "It's the Song of the Morning!" she would exclaim at dawn. "Can't you hear it, Moth-eaten?"
"Look, Eyeball—if you can't see the auras as plain as day—!"
But the other magic Pace had promised Orb had not materialized. She could hear the music, but could not make it. Oh, she could sing, and with fair effect considering her age, but there was no magic. She was glad that her father had not told her mother about her misadventure with the sprites of the river—at least not about the cause of it, which was her ability to hear the Song of the Morning. She heard that song every morning now, if she was awake, and it was always lovely, changing a little with the nature of the land and the season, so that there was always a refreshing novelty about it. If only she could make music like that!
"Daddy..." she pleaded one day.
"Maybe the hamadryad can help you," Pace said.
"The what?"
"She taught the Magician his first magic," he explained. "She's a tree-nymph, like a sprite for a tree, and she befriended the Magician when he was a baby. We used to take him there to visit her for an afternoon, when he lived with us. They seldom deal much with our kind, but Luna's the Magician's daughter, and you are very like her, so maybe she will meet you. I know your mother will be glad to take you there, just for a visit."
"Oh goody!" Orb exclaimed, hugging him.
So they went for a day to the cabin near the swamp that they maintained as a vacation house. Niobe made sure that both girls were wearing their polished moonstone amulets, for the Magician had given them these for protection, and there could be dangers in the swamp.
The swamp was impressive. The trees expanded their bases near the water as if to embrace as much of it as possible, and magic surrounded them. Luna kept exclaiming as she saw the interactions of their auras, and Orb as she heard their separate yet interactive melodies. Niobe evidently perceived neither, but realized that the girls were not teasing her.
They came to the giant water oak. "Hamadryad!" Niobe called. "Do you remember me? You trained my son, the Magician."
The dryad appeared, perched on a stout lateral branch. She smiled cautiously; she remembered.
At that moment Orb suffered a recurrence of her vision dream. She was walking down the aisle with the strange man, and the globe was turning, dead. Who was the man, and what had happened to the world, and how did she get involved with either? She tried to turn her head to see the man and managed a little, catching a fleeting glimpse of his profile. He was no one she knew now. And the world—she was responsible, in some fashion. She knew, and was horrified.
"I have brought the Magician's daughter—and mine," Niobe said, jolting Orb out of her vision. "Will you meet with them?" The dryad peered down at the two girls. Luna and Orb, coached on this, smiled like twin moons.
The hamadryad nodded. She would meet.
"I will return in two hours," Niobe said.
Orb turned on her in alarm. "You are leaving us here?"
"The dryad will not approach an adult," Niobe explained. "Only a child. But you are safe here; she will not harm you, or let you harm yourselves, if you do what she says."
Uncertainly, the girls watched Niobe retreat. They knew she would not put them in any danger; she was extremely fussy about that sort of thing, and her definitions of risk could be pretty annoying. Such as eating too much candy, or playing in deep mud. Still, the swamp seemed awfully big and dank.
When Niobe was gone, the hamadryad came down the tree. She did not exactly climb down, she walked down. It was as if her feet were glued to the trunk, allowing her to walk at a right angle to it. That was impressive.
In a moment the dryad stood before them. She was no taller than they were, but was more finely proportioned, more like the sprites. Her hair was green and leafy, and her body, though unclothed, had ridges resembling bark. She was pretty in the way a tree was pretty, and in the way of a woman, too.
"Hello," the dryad said tentatively, as if not expecting any favorable response. She was poised for instant retreat.
"Hello," Orb responded.
The hamadryad responded with a smile so brilliant it was like a shaft of sunlight reaching down to touch her. "You are his child!" she exclaimed.
"Uh, no, not exactly," Orb said. "That's Luna. I'm Niobe's child."
"What?" Luna asked, perplexed.
"She got us confused, that's all," Orb said.
"How do you know?" Luna asked.
"You heard her! She called me the Magician's child."
"But she didn't say anything!" Luna protested.
"What?" Orb asked, in her turn.
"She did not hear me," the hamadryad said sadly.
Orb turned to Luna. "You didn't hear her?"
"Hear what? She only moved her mouth."
Now Orb realized. "It's like the music! I can hear it and you can't."
"Well, you can't see the auras, smarty!" Luna retorted.
"She sees auras?" the hamadryad asked.
"Oh, sure," Orb said. "I hear things, she sees things. Mommy can't do either. But Daddy can hear the music, so he said we should come see you."
"Who is your father?" the hamadryad asked.
"He's Pacian Kaftan. He makes magic music."
"Yes. So did Cedric, his cousin. The first time I heard it, I almost fell out of my Tree!"
Orb pictured the dryad falling out of the tree and she started to laugh. The dryad laughed, too.
"What's so funny?" Luna demanded.
Orb realized that she would have to translate, or there would be trouble. Usually she was the one who got mad and threw a fit, but Luna could do it, too, when she tried. "She says when she heard Grandpa Cedric's magic music, she almost fell out of the tree!"
Luna giggled. That was funny!
"But then he died," the hamadryad said. "It was so sad. The Magician was right here with me, just a baby then."
"A baby?" Luna asked when Orb translated. "My father?"
"Yes. He could hear the music and see the auras, but he couldn't make them. But he was very smart and he wanted to learn, so I taught him the natural magic."
"Can you teach us?" Orb asked. "Daddy can make such wonderful music, and he says maybe I can, but I can't!"
"Come into my Tree," the hamadryad said. "Perhaps I can teach you."
"Oooo, goody!" Orb cried, clapping her hands.
They scrambled up into the spreading branches of the tree, unable to walk the trunk in the manner of the hamadryad. Orb scraped a knee a little, but she was used to that.
Above, the leaf foliage closed in about them, forming a pleasant bower. The branches twisted this way and that and had knots and boles that were like chairs, and they sat on these. Speckles of sunlight came through, making it pretty.
"Ooo," Luna exclaimed. "The aura brightens where the sun strikes!"
"That's because the light is the life of my Tree," the hamadryad said. "Light and water and soil and air—four mundane elements."
Luna's brow furrowed as Orb translated. "I thought there were five elements."
"Yes. We call the important one spirit, or magic."
"That's why my father studied magic!" Luna exclaimed. " 'Cause you told him that!"
"Yes. He wanted to help the natural things, as Cedric did. We dryads are magic, but we don't have much power over unnatural things, so I thought maybe if he learned..."
"I guess he's still learning," Luna said. "He and Mommy spend all their time with it."
"Let's see what we can do with your own magic," the hamadryad said, diverting the subject to safer territory. Orb was still relaying her words to Luna, who could not hear them. "Can you do this?" She made a gesture in the air with her right hand.
Luna stared at the space defined by the gesture, though Orb saw nothing. "Ooo, lovely!" she exclaimed.
"Try it yourself," the dryad said.
Luna made a similar gesture. "It's not working," she said, pouting.
"But the hand is only part of it! You must emote, too."
"What?"
"You must see! Become one with the natural aura, shape it to your desire. Try it again."
Luna concentrated, gesturing again. Orb saw nothing, but the hamadryad smiled. "See? There's a little!"
Luna had scrunched up her eyes in her concentration. Now she looked. "Ooo, uck!" she exclaimed with distaste.
"But it's aura!" the dryad insisted. "You did it!"
