It all went very smoothly and when we were through the mouth of the bay and the sail caught the wind the boats dropped the lines and turned back. Two sailors hauled in the lines and laid them in neat coils.

Once out to sea we had light breezes from the north that gradually picked up as the morning progressed and we made excellent time according the captain. Once everything was shipshape and routine, we all trooped into the captain's cabin. He had a map - a chart - laid out on the table and he showed us the route he was planning.

There was the coastline with Garnet Bay and many other ports to the north and south indicated. There was another coastline to the northwest and a third to the southwest with many other ports. The sea was dotted with many islands large and small and captain Jar pointed out the island we were rescued from and said the southwest mainland was the one we had been bound for; the slaver country.

A number of the islands were drawn in blue and a few in red. He explained that the blue islands were ones to be on your guard if you had to put in there and the red ones were to avoided unless there was no hope otherwise - few ships had ever returned from those islands; just enough to give sailors the horrors hearing about them. Over in the area between the other two land masses there was an place where a dragon drawn. This was the area the captain though the island we were looking for was situated; the dragon didn't mean dragons were there, just that it represented an unknown area.

We had to take a somewhat round-about route so we could stay near enough to friendly islands in case of storms, and he pointed out the island we were making for in case the coming weather was bad enough to require shelter.

It was great all that day to be free on a ship knowing that the next storm was at least four days away and all the sailors were our friends. The sailors who weren't on watch joined us in conversations and songs and taught us various thing about the sea and ships - and the sailors.

Malcolm let us have this day off but he wanted to restart our lessons the next day and we were eager to do it as well. Malcolm and Tintinel would be our teachers and Olu could join us as both student and teacher. He had learned a lot on his own in certain areas, more than anyone Malcolm and Tintinel had ever heard of, but he needed a broader education for he seemed to be a natural wizard - just untaught.

But today we just enjoyed the sailing, the warm autumn air, the sea, the peace, the company...

The next day Olu informed us that the storm that was coming appeared to be nothing dangerous; something we could sail through with no trouble, but he'd know better tomorrow. But today it was just as fine as yesterday and everyone enjoyed it greatly. We gathered together in the captain's cabin for our studies and Olu started with instructions on speeding and modifying the growth of trees. We brought in one of the little trees to demonstrate on.

Olu said the way was not of words or potions or gestures or anything of that nature, it was a directing with the mind. Therefore it would probably be best to pop into the tree with the tree spirit; it would probably be much easier to perceive and understand the method through our spirits and the perceptions of the tree spirit than just explaining in words that couldn't really explain much.

So we all held hands and popped into the tree. Olu told us he was going to begin forming a button on one of the limbs of the little tree; a limb that wasn't important to the tree's health. It was quite easy to see what Olu did, using his mind to guide and speed up the growth though it would be impossible to write down how it's done. It would have taken a long time to guide us through the process without the spirit insight of being within the tree/tree spirit - whatever we really were. It can't really be put into words, any more than the technique Olu was teaching us.

Each of us had a go at it and by the time we were all finished the little tree had a small knob on the end of one limb. Olu told us that it would take the little tree a couple of days to regain its energy and then the process could be continued. It was really quite obvious how to direct the growth but it couldn't be put into words. We all now felt the given enough time we could form anything we wanted from a tree that was large enough, even a house like Olu's - given enough time of course. Even the tree spirit could do it and that meant all tree spirits could do it once the Great Tree had been told how.

Once this part of the day's lessons was finished, Malcolm and Tintinel discussed with us the concept of not doing too much for others. Part of being a good wizard was to help people, as we were doing by working to defeat Bolgar. But you have to be careful; helping people too much can weaken them, making them angry or even hurting them if the help is stopped.

It's best to help people in ways they can't help themselves, they don't know they're being helped and they don't know the help has stopped because the situation doesn't call for more help. Wizards are around to help people mostly in invisible ways - the battle against Bolgar will be fought mostly unknown by most people. When it comes to open battle, people will appreciate any kind of help and when the enemy is defeated won't continue to depend on unneeded help. All wizards must learn, partly by experience, partly by tales of other's experiences, how to discern when to help and when not.

Then Malcolm began a series of lessons concerning the deep structure of the world so that we could begin to understand how he could make things that were larger on the inside than the outside and then practice doing it ourselves. After that, and it will take some meditation and discussion together before we're ready for the next lesson, Tintinel began another series about how to discern good and bad wizards. Again, on this subject the direct spirit to spirit contact we had with the little tree made it much easier to learn.

That afternoon, Olu said the wind would shift to the southwest the next day and pick up speed. He felt the coming storm, beginning the next day after that, wouldn't be bad, just wind and rain; it would last at least two days but no telling yet how much longer.

Captain Jar said we'd pass by the island we'd been making for and he'd selected several others about a day apart so we'd have a place to go if needed.

We continued to greatly enjoy this day and the next, knowing that troubles were probably lurking not too far over the horizon.

Read Part Twenty-One 

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