Павший Луч на английском. Продолжение

Друзья, отличная новость - благодаря таланту Анны Коньковой-Никитиной подоспела третья глава перевода "На крыльях Павшего Луча".

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Chapter 3. One Long Day of a Cleric 

“Among other gifts of the forest people usually improperly 

forget Green Flame, vulgarly called ‘emerald fern’ 

which possesses a wide range of properties 

not only in healing but in other areas, too, 

as one human possesses rare virtues

along with sins, which are all soul filth.”   

“Herbology of Happiness” by Aelorn of Khorim

  A group of excited boys were impatiently waiting at the lake shore, next to the wood edge. There was the third village ‘landmark’, after the ruined mill and miller Choronus’ dog, who was able to fart making funny tunes. The boys muttered annoyingly when instead of Xano blushed Mia showed up. 

  “Well, this redhead will get on us again!” broad-shouldered Vlair smirked. “Guys, watch out!” 

  “Yup! Get ready for the gas attack! Her Highness, Princess Feartail is coming!” lanky ever smirking Ahren added. 

  Loud burst of laughter followed. Everyone else liked Ahren for his jokes. No one could imitate a mating ox’s bleating in such genuine way. No wonder he managed to become local kid’s leader. 

  “Hi there!” Mia waved at them, and her little freckled face lit up as she smiled. “Xano asked me to tell you, we shouldn’t wait for him, but rather pick up some blue cowwheat, dropsy and chaloe. He’s gonna make some… univer… serdal… fartunivertal potion! There!’

  “Never heard of such a potion, redhead!” Vlair smirked. “Ain’t you took it for something else?”

  “Nope! I repeated it on my way here! Each of you must pick as much as possible. Xano will pay for each fifty petals of cowwheat!” she made a meaningful pause, glancing at the boys. “A copper coin for a bunch!” 

  “You gotta be kidding! For a copper coin I’d dance at an anthill pants-off! Ha-ha-ha!” Ahren stopped sneering at once, counting how much he could earn per day. “Look, guys. When Xano tells something, he keeps his word. If any of you show up at the Moose Meadow, I’ll kick his ass!”

  So Ahren headed for the woods straight away. Other boys exchanged glances. Moose Meadow had long been a place where lots of rarest herbs grew. What a sight he was! The woods were of common use, but this hulk wished to pick all by himself, while the others would crawl in the thickets. They had better catch him and give him a good beating, so that he wouldn’t show off any longer. But Ahren was a hard nut; he was as huge as calf. So the boys rushed to the other side of the lake so as not to run into Ahren. They were running as fast as if mad cannibals were chasing them. 

  “Hurry up! Or the best spots will be occupied!”

  “Mind Horrible bushes!”

  “Yoo-hoo! I’m the first!” 

  “No way. I am! Stop hunching you, lame bear!”

  “Out of my way! You just try…”

  “Ouch! I twisted my footie!” a little boy shouted being pushed on the run. Tears burst onto his blushing cheeks not because of real pain but out of painful insult. All other boys were running there, to the woods, full of adventures and wonderful treasures. They would be picking rare herbs, listening to birds and admiring forest flowers. But they pushed him on purpose, not to let him follow them. That was so unfair! 

  “Keep out from elders’ way!” Vlair said angrily. “You better hang out with the girls. Snot!”

  The cleric was hurrying to Meelah hoping that her fever has broken a little. The Rainbow Monastery was running out of potions so they laid hopes on the next herb crops. If the boys picked  at least several hundred cowwheat petals, he could make a couple of potions. Those would heal a peasant beaten by wolves or a girl poisoned with mushrooms. Every extra pair of hands, every kid counted. For them, every trip to the woods was an adventure, a game. They competed who could howl better or find a snake-eater’s skin, which these creatures shed monthly. That was another pain in the neck for him. What if they did not return safe and sound? What if they got too far into the bush and met a venomtooth, a roteater or a gooner, although he had warned them a hundred times stick to used paths? 

So think hard, Xano, what could be better: leave the little rogues alone and let them fight each other out of boredom, or send them to the woods where an experienced ranger needed a fine bow with a bunch of silver-headed arrows. 

Stop it. Easy, cleric, easy. They would be all right. You’ve explained them how to tell a common anthill from a hungry gut-chewer bugs’ nest. Even young kids felt at ease in the woods more then adults those days. And they won’t run into the roteaters or venomteeth – too far from these creatures’ favorite swamps. 

Xano sighed. He felt nervous as if someone kept scratching his chest from the inside. 

When the kids went running and shouting into the woods in search of treasures, Mia approached the little boy and helped him to his feet. 

  “I might have broken my foot!” Shako sobbed. “Or both might be broken! A-ah!”

  “Don’t worry,” the girl patted his head. “It’s just a bruise. Xano’s shown me how to tell it.” 

  “Really?” the boy stopped sobbing at once. “So no one will believe now that I’ve been running away from the cannibals and broke my legs in their traps.”

  “You, boaster!” the girl chuckled. “Why brag with something that’s never happened?”

  “You know nothing! Scars adorn a man!” the unlucky ranger flared. “And how will I explain why I failed to pick anything? The whole village will be laughing at me!” 

  “Well, you still have the chance to beat Vlair and others,” she smiled and patted her mouseflapper, sitting on her shoulder, looking quite satisfied.  

Shoo scratched his pink ears thoroughly and gave the boy a wink. Young cannibal hunter’s tears dried out at once. Instead, his swelled eyes now glittered with curiosity.

  The Viceroy glanced gloomily at the bulky guards dressed in dark-green cloaks and almost disguised among the tress. Only a skilled ranger could tell the difference. Yet the one would not manage to warn anybody, as a second delay would result in an arrow in one’s throat. 

The plan was in action. Rylin appeared and started without pleasantries:

  “All paths are blocked.” 

What else to expect from an ill-mannered war-dog? 

  “Master Holling, sir,” the man corrected the lieutenant, giving him an ugly face.

  “Master Holling, sir, would you kindly allow me, an insufferable war-dog used to smashing slugs and swamp beasts with his bare hands, instead of boring one’s butt in a castle, to report?” the warrior grinned, squaring his mighty shoulders, towering over the short Viceroy. 

 “Your sarcasm needs work,” Holling winced. “Report.”

“My men occupied the woods. Even a mouse that gulped an invisibility potion won’t slip out of that village. They have their order to let no one out and to shoot on sight.”

  “If something in this mission goes wrong, you will take the fall, Rylin. Our Emperor needs a new performance to awaken the Eye. And for that we need not just some tramps or a bunch of hungry thugs unable to tell a vain knight from a common huntsman. We need a real fighter, a rare specimen, you get it? The riot in Clevia was exhausting, so the spectators demand a new show on the Arena. The better you perform the task, the greater our chance for success is. If that healer is as good as they say, we need him alive. Others do not matter.”

  “Gotcha. But what should we do if, let’s say, kids show up? They may come to the woods for berries or herbs.” 

  “I do not care, lieutenant. Just do it quietly.”

  “Humph.” Rylin scratched the back of his head. “Call me a waffler, Viceroy, but I’m not trained to shoot at kids. I’m a lieutenant of the guard, if you please, not a murderer. Hopefully, kids won’t wander in here, and everything will go smoothly.” 

            Instead of an answer Holling glared at the warrior in discontent. Then he touched a massive ring with the Emperor’s seal. 

The lieutenant twitched, and his eyes dimmed. He whispered something and bowed to the Viceroy, before disappearing in the maze of trees. 

   “Well, just as usual…” Mia patted Shoo, and her pet lay down on his back showing its fluffy belly, purring. “No one is interested in the fact that the monks are giving three copper coins for a bunch of emerald fern. Shall we call them back or not?”

  “Three coins?” Shako’s eyes became as large as coins and the boy sprang up having forgotten about the bruise. “You don’t say! Let’s call them back! Don’t you know that Ahren and Vlair will kick our arses when they find out. Just think what they can do! Three copper coins! Wee! Zounds I become a stinky rocktooth! Three real copper coins!’ 

  “Gosh! Don’t chicken out!” the girl brushed off. “They’ll do nothing. And we must teach those bold-faced wankers a lesson. They’ve been teasing us harder so far. Why do boys never listen to girls?” 

  “They just think they’re cool. If one isn’t worth a crap, one never listens to others. But you are not stupid at all. For a girl, of course.” Shako sniffed.

  “Thanks. A load off my mind,” Mia smiled shaking her red head. 

 “Oh… I mean… I didn’t mean it like that. I mean, you ain’t dull and you ain’t giggling at every stupid joke. Means you’ve got something above your shoulders,” the boy summed it up merrily. “And this ain’t common at all for a girl!”

“Glad you’ve noticed that. Well there, Shoo, shall we call the boys back?”

“Nope!” the mouseflapper said narrowing his foxy eyes.

“As you wish,” the girl took a lump of cheese out of her pocket and gave it to her little friend. He squinted out of pleasure, leaped and did a somersault as if he had not recently fallen from high above. 

“Look, Mia, haven’t you confused it?” Shako asked pitifully a minute later. His dark-blue eyes flashed, and drops of sweat sprang from his forehead. “Three copper coins is a whole fortune, right? Won’t the Monastery go broke if they pay such bundles for a bunch of emerald fern?’ 

“Well, what can I say…” the girl narrowed her eyes foxily. “Xano said that an order from the city had come. There was a new… like… ‘moun-ting of ten-sion’ in Clevia. Don’t you remember? The Cheap Jacks were telling about it.” 

The boy nodded. He remembered the one funny merchant, who used to hand out cute wooden toys. However, the weird words “mounting” smelled like “boiled potatoes” to him and had absolutely nothing to do with “tension”. Although deep inside him some weird prickly anxiety started to build up. 

Clevians provided the Empire with emerald potion, and everyone knew that. The potion served as a remedy for a number of diseases. Even pregnant women were given it to ease deliveries. But when the new riot began, the proud southerners started making some awful fern poisons for their arrows. 

“Do you think there’s no emerald fern anywhere else in Empire?” Shako asked dubiously. The task was too hard for a little boy, his poor head split up with various possibilities. 

“Only in our area,” Mia whispered, as if someone wished to eavesdrop them and nick all the fern which became more and more expensive. “The rest of it was spent on some fashion paint for barons and their mistresses. I heard it by chance from the monks near the men bathhouse.” The girl seemed to burst with joy. “You get it?” 

“Holy cats! You bet! Well… this fern is priceless then! What are we waiting for?” Shako was jumping with excitement. 

“Wating! Wating! Wa-wating!” Shoo cried flapping his ears like wings. 

Mia laughed looking in the direction of the woods where Ahren and Vlair and the rest of the crowd had disappeared several minutes ago. The kids exchanged glances and then, laughing, dashed to the other side of the lake, which the locals often called “emerald lake”. 

            Meanwhile, Xano was thoroughly examining Meelah, the girl’s mother. The woman was sick in bed for more than a week now. Her dark-brown eyes fell in, her face looked haggard. She looked like she got older by ten years in course of just a few days.

            “How are you feeling?” he asked, searching for a proper potion in his leather bag.  

  “My whole body is aching, good healer. It burns from the inside, and I’m thirsty all the time.”

  “Only a serious poisoning has such symptoms. I have to find out if you were eating something suspicious.”

  “Nothing… Just bread and milk. We gain our living by work,” she whispered barely audibly. A grimace of pain then twisted her face, as if something was tearing her from the inside. “And I used to pick some berries in the woods.”

  “This may be of help,” the young man took out a flask with greenish half-transparent liquid and poured several drops into the woman’s open mouth. Meelah coughed. Xano touched her forehead with his fingers and breathed out some words. Her coughing subsided right away. 

  The peasant woman closed her eyes. Deep wrinkles on her face started to smoothen. She fell into a deep sleep. When the cleric was leaving the house, Sarkh, as tall as a thick oak tree, rushed to him. 

  “How’s she? Will she… er… get better?” 

  “She will be alright,” Xano replied coldly as if trying to calm himself down. “Give her more spring water and several drops of the emerald fern potion every two or three hours. It’s the best remedy. But don’t waste it. I’m not sure when the Monastery will be able to replenish their supplies.”

  With awe, Sarkh took the tiny vial with his rough fingers.

  “Yup,” he nodded. “We ain’t some nobles, nope. But if anything, call us! I’d be gobbling dirt, but do as you order!”

“Come on. I’m not some baron, to give orders,” the cleric smiled. “But I definitely won’t have anything against some rare ingredients for my experiments.”

“Like what?”

“Well, like Lunar root, for instance, and mandrake, or verenus tricephalous… and emerald fern of course. We are short of ingredients so we’ll be grateful for any help. We even have to send boys to the woods!”  

  Sarkh grunted and scratched the back of his neck. 

  “I can’t repeat half of those names, nope. I’m gonna tell Mia. She’s clever, yeah. Took after her mother,” his face lit up. Xano smiled too, remembering the girl was better than the older boys when it came to picking up herbs, and knew a lot of secret paths in the woods. “Have a meal with us. Maybe its not much but what’s ours is yours.”

“With great pleasure.”

  The lakeshore was all covered with emerald flames. Like a mount of jewels, it was shining and glittering iridescently. This magical view took one’s breath away. What an amazing beauty! The two kids were standing in the middle of the fern thickets, admiring the light playing in diamond dew which covering the fluffy little branches like precious beads.

  “It’s unbelievable!” Shako breathed out and licked his lips.

  “Yeah!” Mia whispered back. 

  “Tis livble!” Shoo imitated. Large dew drops reflected in his happy beady eyes. 

  The boy took Mia’s hand carefully. The mouseflapper, sitting on her shoulder, darted an angry look at Shako but then looked back at the lakeshore, covered with wonderful thickets. 

They stood there for several minutes, and it seemed that all three of them – the red-haired girl, the blue-eyed boy, and the scruffy little beast with pink round ears – became one. Time stood still, and only the wind was whispering softly nearby. 

“I don’t feel like… destroying all this beauty!” Shako admitted. “It’s like the lake… will change, lose its magic, if we break even one little branch! I don’t know how to say…” 

“But the miracle will stay inside, in the deepest little corners, hidden under invisible covers, waiting for us to discover it again!” Mia’s eyes glittered. 

“And what if we never find it again? What if we become big dull adults? Then we’ll never see this miracle again, and the blanket will stay there forever…” 

  “No way! I’ll never become an adult. Never-ever! It’s much more exciting to be myself!”

“Aha,” Shako whispered. 

“Ha,” Shoo repeated and pressed up tighter to the girl’s shoulder. 

 “Then we should… make a wish! Yep, a wish! If three persons wish for something, with for it really-really-really hard, and at once, this wish has better chances to come true. Got it?”

“Yeah! That’s a cool thing you’ve thought of! Will Shoo help us?”

“Helpsses,” the mouseflapper agreed with some strange notes.

The kids laughed, and then both, silmultaneously, rushed into the emerald thickets, feeling the fern branches tickle their sun-warmed skin. 

Shako was holding the girl’s hand, and they both felt they were the happiest beings in the world. This lake, bathing in sunlight, looking like a golden sparkling dream, belonged to them. And so did the woods, full of amazing mysteries, weird creatures and plants with their unpronounceable names! And behind these woods there was a whole world, embraced in happiness and bright inexpressible joy!

None of the kids had ever thought what could happen if a stranger sneaked into their little bright world, to find answers to different, adult questions. So they were laughing, jumping, screaming wildly and happily, dancing in the fluffy fern bushes, to keep these precious fleeting moments of feast in their hearts. The sun was rising above the lake, lighting up the woods with its bright arrow-like rays. 

  Mia was carefully picking fragile fern leaves and gathering them into neat fluffy bunches tying them up with a rope. Shoo was beating about having completely forgotten about his wounded paw. His curious muzzle showed up here and there in the bushes. Shako piled the bunches together. 

The kids were so busy they didn’t notice evening was falling. Had they really spent so much time here? They felt like they had just come here. 

Mia decided to have some rest and took out a piece of bread. Shoo sprang out of the bushes in no time and sniffed around. He then folded his pink ears and so his paws and threw a sneaky glance at his mistress. Could anyone refuse such a beggar? The mouseflapper gulped the bread down and purred happily, as he stretched on the soft silky grass, offering his belly to his mistress for a scratch. Mia laughed and scratch him. 

Perhaps, they should have called the other boys. What if they take hard knocks while picking petals? What if they met a wolf or a really ugly monster?

“Oh! What’s that?” she gasped involuntarily. While gathering the fern, the kids were walking farther and farther away from the lakeside. 

“Where?” Shako turned his head. “What’s where? Holy cats! Who’s been sneaking around here?”

He looked at the trampled down grass a little to the side from the fern thickets. Only a grown-up man could have left such a trail. 

The girl felt shivers up and down her back. The villagers rarely went into the woods, and boys ran along the other side of the lake. So who had been walking here?

Her heart sank. Thugs! Xano had been telling her about them yesterday! Thugs were two-legged monsters who attacked and mugged the passer-by, stealing everything of value. And the boys added that thugs also sucked human brains to sell it on the market for silver. The boys didn’t specify how exactly these horrible creatures were sucking brains out, but they were eagerly discussing underground hiding places, full of treasures rusty armor and men-eating spiders. Mia wasn’t sure the giant creatures who could tear a calf up with their huge claws had anything to do with treasures, but the boys, especially Ahren, the boaster, stuck to their story. 

  “You see, those spiders spin silver cocoons and catch travelers in them. Then they torture their victims to death and lay eggs into corpses. That’s how it is, yep!”

“But… why?” the girl had asked once. Ahren’s creepy stories made her feel uneasy, and she used to see those men-eating spiders In every corner, just waiting for the right moment to jump out, bite her fingers off and drag her into their underground den. 

“What do you mean ‘why?’” the boy chuckled, squaring his shoulders, and scratched the back of his head. “They suck you dry, and then feed you to their spawn. It makes them grow huge like bulls. That’s how huuuuge they become! And then these spiderlings sit underground, starving, until they smell other humans. So they sneak from behind, spit out their sticky net, and then…”

“A-ah! Goodness!”

Mia vividly imagined a men-eating bull-sized spider, and her heart sank. What if their den was nearby? What if they were already sneaking to attack the village right now? 

“We must save them!” she exclaimed. 

“Save who? Mia, are you alright?” Shako touched the girl’s cheek. Her skin was hot, and he drew back, frightened. 

“There! There! Thugs… spiders… they want to attack us!” Mia cried out and sprang up, dropping the fern leaves. “We must warn the others! Everyone!”

“Warn them about what?”

“Don’t you see!” she waves her hands, failing to find the right words. Her eyes were filled with tears. “Only grown-up men could leave such footprints.”

“Oh, I see,” the boy’s face fell. “So you think the Spider Lords did that – the ones from Ahren’s bed-time stories? Ha-ha-ha!”

“Well yes… Wait… what are you laughing at?”

  Xano’s day passed in a usual routine. One peasant got his cow sick, another got a fever, just another got poisoned. Everyone needed help, and he had not a single minute to spare. Deep in his heart the cleric knew – it was not his skills, but the simple faith that helped people. Sometimes good advice, a smile, or an inspiring gestures could do more than the most complex potion. And peasants, smelling of sweat, dung and prejudice, held Xano in reverence for his respect and kindness he treated every patient with. 

Perhaps, he simply fancied his service in the Rainbow Monastery indispensable. The very thought he was using the Force to make the villagers’ hard life a bit easier, warmed him, driving the dark thoughts away. His work didn’t leave him time for boredom, and by the end of the day the young man got exhausted. The hardest task was to heal the miller’s daughter bitten by a snake while she had gone to the spring. If Xano had not filled the peasant girl with a potion, mixed up from the rarest components, Loya wouldn’t have made it. 

Finally the cleric finished his work. A whole flock of kids was already waiting for him by the old mill, and their eyes shining with curiosity. Each was carrying a bunch of herbs showing that herbology lessons had not been in vain. Each kid wished to be attended first, to be called the “Best assistant”. Each had already imagined that his petals would become a magical potion which could not only heal their village, but make the whole world a happier and healthier place. Ah, the smeared philosophers, chieftains in ragged pants, with their clear innocent souls. 

What am I to do with them? Xano kept asking himself. He thought of knew tasks, planning new lessons, even though he knew perfectly well: every new class would turn out unexpectedly crazy, and every time would be quite different from the last. 

“Well-well, little forest rogues, who will help me sort out your treasures?”

“I will!” Vlair cried out, jumping forth. 

“You did it the last time, blockhead! Go get him, guys!”

Four boys got on him, knocking him to the ground. Someone pushed a bunch of grass into his mouth and the other three started punching him paying him up for punches and knocks of the past.

Xano had a hard time break the fight apart. They got on each other like mad dogs! Lo, they could have killed each other or something.

“Quiet down,” he told them calmly.

The kids noticed a familiar scary and dominant flash in his eyes, and stepped back, lowering their shaggy heads. 

“The one who behaves with integrity will sort out the herbs,” Xano said. “What does it mean ‘with integrity’, Vlair?” 

“Well… it’s like, he shouldn’t be not cussing around and yelling. Should set an example. Like me!” he stuck his chest out proudly and winked at the girls who gathered nearby. They giggled, because he looked too funny with his face covered with dirt.  

“What a lier!” Ahren could hardly keep himself from rushing into a fight again. “You, perky scum, behaved like an idiot! ‘Cause an idiot you are! He-he-he!”

The kids thought his joke was so very witty that they burst out laughing. Xano did his best to look serious, but he couldn’t help it. The boys’ faces were just so funny! Each of them who could think of a mean nickname for a girl, or behaved more insolently than others thought himself a hero. 

The cleric smiled. The crowd burst out laughing again, as if the kids followed the cleric’s smile, waiting for a slightest purpose to play more pranks. 

Vlair frowned, clenching his fists, but stood still. Ahren was a head higher than him, and his shoulders were wider. In thirteen he looked like a grown-up man, and he was second to none when it came to fighting. One could loose his teeth before one blinked. 

Ahren grinned, clearly flattered with the success of his joke. 

“Vlair, Ahren and other bullies are deprived of walks to the woods for two days,” Xano said after a minute’s pause. “Who still didn’t have a good laugh over the silly jokes? Go ahead, we’ll listen.” 

The kids fell silent. Two days without walks – that was serious. Really serious. One couldn’t find a harder punishment! It was better to clean cow dung for a week, than to lose the opportunity to explore the woods with the rest of the kids, picking rare herbs, catching huge joker-grasshoppers, quarreling whose trophy was better, and boasting with the things they’d seen. 

Well, these guys were busted. Silence became threatening. 

“But who will be sorting out the herbs, Xano?” flap-eared Tako looked up at the cart with such hope as if his life depended on the cleric’s decision. 

“The one who worked harder,” the young man decided. “By the way, some one is still missing.”

 “Looks like Princess Feartail got lost in the woods. Probably got scared of a mad spider. So now we all will have to come to her rescue, before the throws a tantrum, drowning the whole wood with her green snots. Ha-ha!” Ahren burst out laughing, hoping for the other boys’ support.

However, Xano glanced strictly at the boy who was half a head taller than him. The laughter died away.  

“I’m sure Mia is fine, and will join us soon, so…”

“Waaait! I! We! Oh… We’re coooming!”

The boys stood with their mouths open, watching an unusual creature climbing up the hill, breathing hard. The creature consisted of an enormous bunch of fern with two flaming-red braids flying over it. Two pairs of feet ran under the bunch, and on the top of the emerald pile a proud mouseflapper sat, twitching his pink ears busily, squeaking something – probably giving directions. 

“Look at her!” Vlair said, surprised. “How could they drag such a mound?”

“What’s so special?” Ahren chuckled. “Just some grass, not logs. Some heroes they are…”

“Mia, come along!” the girls shouted and rushed to help their friend. But Tako had already ran ahead, taking more than a half of the forest trophies. 

“Phew!” Mia breathed out heavily, after she climbed up the Mill hill. “I’m late, right? Oh, not again. Please, tell me, tell me! What did I miss?” 

Shako sat down next to her, taking some leaves out of his shirt. Another loud laughter rose in response. Mia’s blushing face looked like a giant tomato covered in golden speckles – golden sparks, as her dad called them. Her read hair was tousled, and emerald fern leaves stuck in it, making the girl look even funnier. Shoo leaped down on the ground swiftly, made a face at Ahren and started cleaning his ears thoroughly, humming some tune. 

“Well, now since everybody’s here, I suppose there’s no doubt who’s won the prize of sorting out our forest trophies,” Xano winked at Mia and Shako discreetly.  

The girl caught her breath and smoothed her hair. She received a silver cowwheat locket from the cleric, gave him a respectful bow and started sorting out the bundles of chaloe, youthener, and other herbs in the cart. Shako helped her, and the rest were watching them. The kids’ eyes shone with admiration, jealousy and hope that one day they would have the honor. 

“As we accept the growing gifts of the Woods wholeheartedly, a Spark of Life within our souls blesses us with health, love, and delight. For all of us – humans, birds, and beasts – are just children, children of Light, embodied by Nature, aimed to find our own way,” she uttered, taking bunches of herbs from other kids’ hands. 

The kids’ faces grew serious, for the Song of the Woods demanded sincerety. Only Ahren twisted his pressed up lips sarcastically, when the girl took a bunch of tender-green chaloe from his hands. She got lucky, as usual! Well, fine then… 

Evening covered the village with its dusky blanket, when the Song ended. Mia wiped her brow, dug out a lump of cheese from her pocket and gave it to Shoo. Nobody could see her eyes shining with joy. Finally, she chanted the Song! Oh, her mom would be so happy when she found out! She’d smile and kiss Mia, and tell father a long story. 

Shako was standing at her side, smiling as if this was the best day in his life. Fancy that – he was part of the real ceremony, the Song of the Woods! That wasn’t like counting flies in a loo! 

For some reason, at that very moment Mia felt that her mother would certainly recover. If Xano promised, everything would be alright. 

And if one wished for something really-really-really hard, this wish would certainly come true!