Sanctuary

Chapter 8

Eben closed the door behind them and helped Emilia unfold the blanket, take of the jacket and then helped her to bed. As he bent over the bed to cover her with the blanket and place the pillow in a comfortable position under her head, he could not help but smell her scent. There it was again. The memory of someone close and dear to him. His expression must have betrayed something, because Emilia's eyes got bigger, as if questioning what happened. Eben let that slip as if unnoticed. She did not push.

"Are you comfortable and warm, Emilia?"

"Thank you, everything is well, except the pain that started troubling me again. Maybe you have something to help smooth it? But none of you pills. Maybe some herb extract of yours?". She smiled.

"Sure, I can make you some tee, but it will take me some time. I will need to search for the right ingredients. Are you sure you do not want a pill? It would work right away."

"I am sure. I'll trust your natural medicine more than any pills or other medicine man. Oh, and Eben... if you are going in search for herbs, can you please also collect some for me? I could use some cedar wood bark or juniper bark, buckthorn, dogwood and fern. You should be able to find most of them here in the woods, if the woods did not change that much in 100 years. But Eben, try to collect broken branches you find on the floor and plants that are rooted out, and if not not, do not forget to ask the tree or plant for permission, give it some time to consider it and thank afterwards if you get positive vibes for collection. Thank you."

"You want me to talk to the plants?" Eben asked confused.

"You do not need to get vocal. Just touch the tree, ask the question in your mind stating your intent and wait a short while. You will know it, trust me on that."

"I'll feel silly... but if you want it that way, I shall do as you asked". Eben could feel his cheeks turning red from embarrassment. He turned and went straight for the door, paused and turned: "Emilia, I'll have to lock the doors. For your and for all my friends protection. I trust you, but not everyone around here does. And there is also Olaf and his story. It is better that way. I'll get back to you as soon as I can. Try to rest until then."

"I understand. It was me who came with the idea of locking me in, have no thoughts troubling you because of that." Emilia smiled and closed her eyes.

Eben left the trailer and locked the door behind him. The others were still around the fire place, except Nina. Eben could not see her around.

"Where are you going? I see you have your herb-bag on your shoulder".

"I need some more heeling herbs for Emilia, Tim. I'll be back before noon. Take care of everything around here. And do not let Olaf loose. And Laura, Emilia will be sleeping. Check out on her from time to time if I'm not back in 30 minutes. Trailer is locked, here is the key" Eben said and handed the key out. One minute later they could not see him anymore as he went deeper into the forest.

Eben wandered between trees, bushes and ferns without noticing what he was passing by. His mind was working intensely. A lot of questions, but no answers so far. And the crazy story Emilia and Olaf told them. And speaking of Emilia. Why would she remind him in so many aspects of that specific someone he had been trying all this years to forget? Without any success, however. He felt overwhelmed, so he decided to take a break and light a cigarette. He looked around. Not far to his left there was an old elder tree. The floor below it was covered in leaf litter and small patches of moss. A good place to sit and take a break. He reached the elder, sat down leaning his back on the tree, took out a cigarette, lit it and inhaled deeply. Too deep in this cold fall morning. It also was his first smoke of the day. It made him feel lightly dizzy for a few seconds. But it also eased his mind. He remembered why he was here. Here, out in the forest, alone. He needed herbs and Emilia also asked him to bring her some. As Emilia popped into his mind, he smiled. He tilt his head up, watching the now almost leafless crown of the mighty elder. "If it was spring, I could use your flowers, if it was summer, I could use your fruits to make an infusion for Emilia's pain. But in fall, it looks like you are no help to me, old friend. I need to find birch leafs and further down the stream white willow bark. Chamomile I will not find in this season. But we have some ginger roots back at the camp." His smile faded. He let loose of all thoughts, deciding to enjoy the serenity of the forest in its magnificent fall clothes. As he inhaled one last time the fumes of his cigarette, Eben did feel an almost imperceptible vibration throughout his body, followed by an inner feeling of warmth. A thought came out of nowhere. It would be wise to collect a branch of this Elder. He could not explain why, but the thought would not leave him, so he did it. Then he took his bag and decided on a direction. Just before he moved, a white feather fell right in front of him. He tilted his head up again and saw a barn owl on one of the elder trees branches. It was not there minutes ago. "These beautiful birds are mainly nocturnal, known to also hunt at dusk and dawn. But dawn has past hours ago. Strange to see it flying around in daylight." Eben collected the feather since owls had always been one of his favorite animals, put it in the bag and left towards the river. On the river shores it was likely to find fern and with any luck, some white willow.

On the way to the river, he managed to collect juniper and buckthorn. Dogwood was nowhere to be seen. Neither was birch. Along the river he did get fern and white willow however. He decided it was time to head back and make do with what he had. When he arrived at the camp, it was already almost noon. Nina was still not around, Olaf was still tied up, and Tim and Jan were discussing about what happened and what they were supposed to do. He looked after Laura. She was not there, but the door to his trailer was open. "She must be looking after Emilia" Eben thought and approached the trailer. As he wanted to enter, Laura stepped out.

"I brought Emilia some soup, she just woke up and asked about you."

Eben did not reply, just nodded as he entered end closed the door behind. He noticed Emilia sighing in relief, although she tried hiding it. He put his bag on the small table and got everything he collected out and arranged it.