Lira and Aril and I were the only ones staying semi-permanently, but others of our friends came and went quite often; we seldom had a night when one or more were not there for dinner and bed and breakfast. There were always the right number of bedrooms for those who stayed the night.

We were kept occupied much of the time. We had our magic lessons; Malcolm would drop by or one of the Gnome wizards. If they didn't come by, Mora would do the class. We had our horseback lessons with the gnomes. On our free time we were welcome to explore the surrounding countryside. It was a peaceful area with only natural dangers so far. We wondered if Bolgar had infiltrated this country or if he was only set to conquer the land we knew, not the whole world, which seemed to be a much bigger place than we had assumed. However, there seemed to be no reports of any sinister characters lurking about.

I wasn't too familiar with the lands I came from, living in an isolated village all my life until I met Malcolm. I had learned since then there were the great southern mountains, a great plain spreading east and west, the less impressive northern mountains and other lands to the north Lemuel came from. Beyond that I didn't know. Things here were quite different; there were tall mountains we could see to the east across a wide valley with the Valdon River running through it and dotted with many farms and large tracts of forest. The farm was on the western edge of the valley with the foothills of a smaller range of mountains beginning close by. We were told that the Western Sea was just the other side of those mountains; about thirty miles away. To the south the river turned west and flowed into the sea.

As soon as we heard the sea was so near we wanted to go and see it - we hoped it might be the sea where the Great Tree lived on a small island. Malcolm said we could go when we were good enough horsemen. That gave us incentive to be diligent in our lessons and get in a lot of practice.

Everyone was worried about Tintinel's disappearance along with the priests, but we couldn't do much about it until they were found or Tintinel was able to contact a tree spirit. Malcolm said there wasn't a trace of them for miles around; the mystery of the priest's search for me was getting stranger all the time.

One of the first things we did when we got to Malcolm's farm was to seek out an old tree. We had done that with one of the trees in the front yard, but they were not natives, Malcolm had brought seedlings. It seemed the farm had been established on an old natural pasture, but we could see a forest where the hills started west of us and we wanted to visit the native trees. As part of our riding lesson we rode to the forest and selected the oldest tree we could see on the edge of the wood. These trees were quite different from the ones we were used to. Most of the big ones had trunks that went up very high before any branches started. Then all the branches came out at once, making the tree look from a distance kind of like a tall skinny mushroom. The smaller versions looked the same, so the branches must drop off as the tree grows.

All five gnomes were with us, Siil, Delgo and Teeb and the two guards, Fairaan and Niis. Mora also came along to begin to learn as well as our horsemanship instructor Suman; the more trusty people we could teach the better. Siil and Lira had learned tree-popping of course, but we all sat down around the tree and all held hands and popped in.

It was a fast ride up to the top where we felt like we were right on the flatish domed top. Those of us who were used to this could "see" (sense) around us for many miles. The other were quite disoriented, though not quite so badly as I had been the first time; they weren't fighting it. Lira, Sill and I talked to them about how to sense rather than trying to see. Soon they were getting the hang of it and we "looked" around for the tree spirit. She was quite different. All the tree spirits so far had appeared to be man-like or woman-like but made of roots, branches, bark and leaves. This spirit looked more like the tree.

We had speculated that somehow I made up the appearance of the tree spirits when I went in. Some things the spirits had said seemed to confirm this. Perhaps as I grew more used to the process I was becoming comfortable with the idea that trees were people too, though it wasn't the tree itself but the spirit that inhabited it. As I became more comfortable I may have been making the spirit look more like a tree than like a human.

Though we didn't hear in this state any more than we saw, we seemed to have senses that corresponded, so we "heard" her say, "Welcome visitors, the Great Tree spirit has told all tree spirits to welcome you and cooperate. My, there are so many of you."

"Yes," I replied, "the more of us who learn to converse with the tree spirits this way in these troubled times the better. I seem to have a natural ability to do this, Lira and Siil here have learned how, and the rest are beginning to learn. Most of the time we will be teaching them at the farm yonder, but the trees there were brought from our home. We very much wanted to visit some of the native trees since there seems to be some difference in the spirits that inhabit different kinds of trees."

"I'm happy you selected me." She said, "I had not much hope when the Great Tree sent word - think of how many trees there are in the world! But I would like you to visit me often, if I may be so bold; I would like to learn from you as you learn from me."

"That's wonderful!" Lira said, "Most of the tree spirits we've contacted seem to be willing to help, but they really aren't any more interested in those of us who can move around than they were before. I think we can be sure to come out here more often than we had intended before."

"I agree," said Siil, "We gnomes have long loved the trees, though we didn't know how to communicate with them. Now that we can communicate, we'd like to begin to have a greater relationship with the trees. By the way, do you know if there are any gnomes in this area?"

"I'm not sure," the tree spirit replied, "we haven't really had much to do with the movable folk - we just don't pay much attention. But I believe there are some who have been noticed as having more care and interest in trees than others. We don't understand much about directions and distances, so I can't help you much."

"I think I may be able to help you there," said Mora, "let's talk about it when we're done here."

"What kind of things would you like to learn from us?" I asked.

"I don't know," she replied, "I don't know enough to know any questions to ask as yet. I think we'll just have to get to know each other and then the questions will arise naturally. I will ask the Great Tree to put me in contact with the other trees you have visited and hear their stories and that may give rise to some questions. "One did occur to me just now though, you said this one's name is Lira and this one is Siil. What about the rest of you?"

"Pardon me," I said, "I should have introduced all of us. I'm Justin, this other girl that looks like Lira is Aril. The other gnomes are Delgo, Teeb, Fairaan and Niis. The other humans are Mora and Suman."

"What do you mean, Aril looks like Lira? They look as different to me as any of you."

"I forgot, your senses are different than ours. If you look at our bodies sitting around the trunk, perhaps you can see the girls are similar."

"Ah, yes, I see. What I see here are your spirits, and they are all very different."

"We all know each other visually," said Aril, "and our minds apparently have attached our physical forms to our spirits. Maybe as we grow in understanding that the spirit doesn't have to match the body we'll begin to see each other differently in these situations. Maybe we'll get to know each other - an ourselves - better."

"I want to pursue this interesting subject, but I sense beings coming through the forest toward us. Perhaps it would be best if you would return to your bodies before they arrive."

"Yes," replied Mora, "even though this is peaceful country we should be careful. Good-by, We'll return when we can."

We exited the tree and waited for whoever it was.

Read Part Two 

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