When You Least Expect It

My rescue began with an umbrella.

Fortuna, the Roman goddess of Luck, has been on my side more often then not in my adventures. I suppose if she had not been I would not be here writing this now! It is a trait shared by most Otherworld ship captains I know and I would not be surprised if it's somehow a required part of having the position in the first place. We somehow always end up where we need to be and somehow always acquire the aid we need the most. It may not always arrive in the package we had expected but it does, eventually, arrive.

As I sat perplexed as to my next move, thinking heavily about leaping off the side of the Nekomimi and trusting to my flying crystal, an umbrella suddenly appeared near me with a small note tied to the handle with a piece of thin green vine.

You never really get used to things suddenly appearing next to you. No matter how often it happens it can always be a bit disconcerting.

"Help is closer then you think. This should do the trick," was written in elegant handwriting with thin black ink. On the other side of the note was scribed, "Open it, step off, and Trust. Not necessarily in that order..."

I recognized the handwriting. Though I was sure by this point the Nekomimi was to be no threat to my person, I was delighted to see the note. I had heard it's writer had come into world as part of her Otherworld travels but this was a most unexpected surprise!

Opening the umbrella, I felt a pulse of sylvan magic extend from the handle and immediately swirl around me. Stepping off the edge of the Nekomimi, the umbrella immediately held me in mid-air for a moment and then dropped me gently a dozen or so feet. Then, with a slight tug on my arm, I began to drift northward.

Why was I so quck to trust a strange object with a cryptic note? Only one reason and that was because it was from one of my most dearest friends as well as my mentor in the Ways of the Otherworld.

So suprised and utterly delighted by this fortunate turn of events, I did not stop to realize how absolutely silly I must have looked, a dark cloaked Otherworld ship captain gliding through the clouds and being held aloft by a black umbrella! Regardless, my ever present imager captured the moment for me so I might share. It seemed to click and whir with great delight as it showed me the image later.

As I have said, I traveled northward. Below me, the landscape moved slowly along and I have since estimated I traveled approximately two counties, or sims. Only two counties? How was it possible that my course of travel had brought me so close to something involving her? The umbrella, guided by some form of enchantment, began to lose altitude and lower me toward a lush and green gardened area. Spinning slightly, we came to rest within the center of a stone circle where, at its center, flickered a small campfire. And on the edge of that, a small steaming pot of tea.

Upon landing the umbrella closed itself and I got a good chance to survey my surroundings. Her handiwork was everywhere; in the trees, the flowers, the stone pathways, but mainly the flowers. She always has loved gardening and the natural world, most magical healing dryads do, you know? I cannot easily explain the gentle flow of peacefulness which moved over me. Like a drink of cool clear spring water, the land immediately began to have a restorative effect.

And, of course, the minute I finished looking around, she was standing there near the fire and not looking like a dryad at all. Dressed casually in jeans, a black top, her silver hair pulled back, and fixing on me that penetrating mentor gaze I sometimes had the audacity to think she saved just for me, she surveyed me quickly and shook her head. Perhaps she had been there the whole time, perhaps she had just arrived. It was hard to tell with her.

"You do look a mess," said Jesa Li.

I smiled at her and gave a humble bow, "My thanks."

She smiled back but her eyes flickered over my face, the black cloth surrounding my neck, the unhealing bite underneath it, and then I could tell her gaze was shifting, looking deeper, at something invisible. With another small smile she gave me a deep hug and motioned to the stone bench by the fire. "Welcome to An Lios Gardens and Waters. First thing, tea. Then, we get you healed and rested."

I started to say something else but she fixed me with that gaze again. It was hard like the stone of the stone circle we were standing in, "tea, healing, and rest. We'll save the rest for later."

One must understand that I had little choice in the matter...

~~~ To Be Continued ~~~