A/N: Sorry, another short chap. And pretty much only the last bit is even recent, 'cause I've been focusing on other stories. And I am functioning on three fewer hours of sleep than usual today. Everyone have a happy valentines day.

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Lynne moved forward, nearly bumping into a tree for the third time. Her little sister was doing no better, and had a great deal less energy. Neither could find the strength, nor the breath, to ask Marmalade to stop. There was no way they could keep this up for even five minutes longer. Lynne reckoned that they had been walking into the forest for a day and a half straight, no rests. Up ahead there was a break in the trees. The sisters literally fell into a clearing and knew no more.

When Lynne woke up, she was in a small cabin. Her head hurt a great deal, but she was able to move. She twisted her head around and spotted an elf maid across the room, apparently arguing with Marmalade.

“How dare you drive them without rest or food for forty hours! I will think of something ethical to punish you with.” Marmalade purred anyway.

“You are talking to my cat.” Lynne yawned.

“You . . . understood that?” The elf looked puzzled, “But I was using The Talk, animal speak, I should have sounded like a cat.”

Marmalade laughed; she had a deep, throaty laugh. “She discovered this ability a couple weeks ago. Why else would they be following me?”

The elf and Marmalade started to argue.

“Okay, she talks to us, we talk to her, I followed her into the forest. What happened? Where’s Lightsong?”

“The red-head girl? She’s in the other room. Go bathe, spend some time brushing your hair, and then come in for lunch. Here are some clothes that should fit you.” Lynne took the small pile and went outside to follow the elf maid’s instructions.

Light’s head hurt. “Growing, growing, growing!” the grass was squeaking. The trees were humming in deep voices, and the earth was the only thing quiet about it’s song. She heard the blurred conversation in the next room over, and a new song joined the throng. This song was familiar, full of prowling, pouncing, and purring noises; it was Lynne’s. Now she remembered. She’d heard this before, but it was very quiet humming. Lightsong had heard these noises all her life in the background. Now, however, she heard them all loudly and distinctly.

Lynne’s song went from confused to a combination of prowling and purring, to straight purring. The elf maid came back into the room. Light could tell because her song moved closer. Lightsong’s head hurt too much to open her eyes.

“ ’Kay, dove, you need to open your eyes and drink this.” Lightsong did as she was told. Once the tea was gone, Light felt much better. The grass didn’t get on her nerves quite so much. “Better? Good. I’ve never heard of this skill before in all my hundred and fifty years. I am going to go look in the records.” She handed Lightsong a hairbrush. “Spend some time brushing your hair.”

The elf-maid, Kethua, left the cabin at high speed. The grass reached to her, and she paused to soothe it, for Kethua was a druid of the high order. Her extremely dark brown hair and green tinged gray eyes glistened as she threw her fist up into the air for her hawk to land on. She held him close and went deeper into the forest. A cloaked figure appeared by her side. Kethua spoke, “Erica, would you mind watching the young chirpas?”

A shrill voice came from her leg. “The young sheerpys? What are those? Can I eat one? Because I love food. As long as it doesn’t taste like chicken. I had a chicken once . . .” There was a white kitten attempting to climb Kethua’s shin, talking the whole time about the horrors of chicken bones. It wasn’t talking in the animal language either.

The cloaked figure picked up the kitten and set it inside her hood. A husky, feminine voice said, “Quiet yourself. There are many things in these woods that would soon eat a young oracle, even with a druid.”

“Really? Well, that’s quite interesting. But she’s a powerful druid. Who the heck would . . .”

There was a fearful squeak, and then only heavy breathing from the kitten. A second later the hooded figure spoke again. “Go ahead Kethua, I’ll watch them all.”

The hooded figure disappeared. Kethua went ahead along a seldom tread path. It looked like a deer trail. After a mile or so it opened into a clearing with a big fat sequoia in the middle. It was so large and so tall that it shaded the whole clearing. Kethua laid her hand on the trunk, and then walked into the tree. Normal people can’t walk into normal trees. Only druids can walk into only record trees. The trees were told what happened, and it was saved for future generations. Therefore only the most long lasting of trees were chosen to be record trees. Kethua felt love and acceptance coming from the tree. It had been a good year. The tree sent the information of centuries running through her. None of it mentioned a gift even similar to Light’s. Kethua stepped back out of the tree. Thanking it, she ran back to the edge of the clearing. Her hawk friend was perched on a dead branch. She put her nose right up to its beak and whispered. The hawks waddled onto her fist, and she launched it into the air.

As she entered the grove with her cabin she came upon a much cleaner and happier Lynne. They went inside and Kethua called in the hooded figure. Kethua got a fire going, and the hooded figure started lunch. Light’s eyes followed the figure’s every movement.

“Well, since we are obviously going to be with each other for a little longer, we should introduce ourselves. I am Vardariel Naryl Kethua Saefel Dhoen Koehdrim. You may call me Kethua. I come from a very large and ancient elven city.” Now that they had time to notice, Lynne and Lightsong saw the Kethua was very, very short for an elf. “Not so long ago, I became a druid, and soon found Erica over here,” She indicated the hooded figure, “and I will let her tell the story from there.”

Erica came over to stand in front of the table. She was the average height for a human, and tall for an elf. She did not have the visible proportions of an orc. “First you must know what I am.” Erica took a deep breath and drew back her hood. She looked like an immensely beautiful elf. Her hair was a curly light copper, barely touching her shoulders. Her blue eyes seemed huge, and her ears lifted into the most delicate of points. “I am a nymph,” Erica unfastened her cloak and hung it next to the door.

“When I was a very young nymph, barely mature enough to have my own pond and grove, men came. They killed all of the animals, defiled my waters, and left me near death. The only living thing left in my grove was a small blueberry bush. Kethua found me in my stunned state, and healed me the best she could. She took me to her favorite grove, and named me after that blueberry bush, Ericacaea. She taught me the ways of mortals and gave me clothes.” At this, Ericacaea pinched the teal cloth of her one-strapped blouse. “But after a small while, she began to be lonely. Kethua needed the company of other mortals.

“She supplied me with many different colors of all-encompassing cloaks, and we traveled. Very few were privileged enough to see me then, for I was shy. We both became more powerful. After a long time, I was able to fully blind anyone who looked at me and stun anyone I was really mad at. Then I was ready to learn other ways of fighting. I chose to be what other people call a ‘barbarian’. We fashioned a two- handed sword out of slate, and that is what I used for a time. After a while, we were caused to head underground to pursue a foe. We found ourselves in a deep gnome city. After getting rid of the original foe, and several of his companions, they gave us one gift each. I know not what Kethua received, but I got that sword.” Erica gestured toward a huge sword that shown and sparkled blue and green, and did not appear to be metal.

Lightsong appeared intrigued by the sword. Lynne spoke in awe, “Is that deep gnome crystal?” Lightsong just listened, for this was one of the few inanimate objects that had a song.

“Yes, and I was given my second name after that blade. I am Ericacaea Moonblade. For your sister’s benefit, I will list the properties of the sword. The crystal, normally a clear blue speckled with green, will glow in the lack of natural light. It is incredibly strong and will rarely lose its edge. Also, its touch is incredibly poisonous to mortals, causing touched wounds to fester. Argh!”

At that moment, a door had opened, and a carefully groomed white kitten came rolling out of the other room, and was stopped with a splat by Erica’s sandal. A second later Marmalade came out, having obviously finished grooming the kitten.

“Ah, keep me away from the orange blurry. It groomed me. I’m WEH-HET.” Kethua reached for the white kitten and set it near the fire.

“We then decided to come live here, to finish our learning. It’s very out of the way place, and there are some very old trees that Kethua could gain wisdom from. I usually keep myself cloaked so as not to stun anyone that didn’t see me coming, without having to consciously restrain the ability. Now you two?”

“No, Erica, I’ll tell you what the cat told me. Let them rest.” Kethua told the nymph.

“I don’t want to rest, I want to learn how to get these songs to be quiet!” Lightsong said.

Lynne decided to pay more attention to her lunch.

“You say they are songs, all of them?” Lightsong nodded. Kethua disappeared into the back room. She came back holding, of all things, a fiddle. “Play one of them.” Lightsong immediately went into her sister’s song. Lynne looked up, mesmerized.

“I like that one.” Both the song and Lynne were now expressing curiosity.

“Enough, play another.” Said Kethua. Lightsong, figuring this was important, stopped, and chose another. It brought trees and a babbling brook to mind. A soft whisper of breeze . . .

“STOP IT!” Erica shrieked, falling to her knees and covering her ears. “It sounds like home.” She whimpered to Kethua.

Kethua stared at Lightsong, “That is one mighty strong gift young lady. You need to learn to control it quickly.”