Helping Hand (2/2)

Featuring Maren and Amadán
Autumn, Y765 of the New Age
Oakfern, the Lunar Passage

Amadán

 The river current continued to rush by, but Amadán felt a certain joy in seeing the young doe no longer seem anxious, but rather fascinated.  He found himself smiling back when Maren looked up at him again, nodding  understandingly at her gesture. Having always been a wordy stag, he was  coming to appreciate her other means of communicating.

Gazing  ahead, the end of the bridge was approaching a few feet ahead. “O-our  herd is very b-blessed, to b-be able to w-wield water,” he added  earnestly, a last note of his own thoughts rather than an attempt to  sound wise. He hoped she would not come to take it for granted as he  once had.

Maren

Maren continued to grin broadly. She  had never seen this much water in one place, and she could almost feel  the currents. The most water she had ever gotten to experiment with was  the few trickles running down her family’s cave. She had once gotten the  streams to move slightly as they ran down the wall, although she wasn’t  sure if it was actually her moving it or just the way the water moved.  In any event, she was very happy to have gotten that far.

The  filly listened earnestly to the stag, her eyes wide and happy. “Yes,”  she replied quietly, nodding her head in agreement. This stag seemed to  know much about magic, and she was excited to learn more from him.  “Lesson?” she asked, hoping he would understand her request. Maren moved  closer to the banks as they cross the bridge, flicking her tail  repeatedly towards the water.

Amadán

“S-slow down, there,” he said, although Amadán had an amused smile on his face at the filly’s enthusiasm. “Not q-quite yet.”

After  reaching the bank, he explained, “The river m-moves too m-much, see.  It’s e-easiest to start w-with s-still water.” He then pointed his nose  ahead, towards the dark gaping tunnel before them. “It won’t be long.  The Moonpool is just at the end of this passage.

“Some call it the  Passage of Whispers,” he added. He wondered if she would notice the  silence that crept up as they walked further away from the river; he had  begun lower his own tone of voice as well. It was an almost automatic  response for him by now.

Maren

The filly blushed  slightly as he stopped her. She stood still, listening to the buck. She  guessed that this was the same moon pool that her parents had visited so  often. Her mother was often embarrassed by the filly and didn’t like to  take her out much, so Maren had never seen anything too far from their  cave. Her father had talked about the Passage of Whispers and had told  her to always be quiet.

Maren followed Amadan, listening to his  quieting voice. She nodded in response to him and looked around, almost  expecting the quiet place to be empty. A few fawnlings here and there,  but they all remained quiet. Maren shut her mouth tightly, not that she  really needed to, and stayed close to Amadan’s shoulder.

Amadán

 Amadán stifled a chuckle; he remembered how he and his brother used to  try to hold their breath all the way from the bridge to the Moonpool.  They never could, of course, but the game was enough to keep two fawns  quiet.

“There, i-it’s just up a-ahead,” he whispered after a short  while, eyes brightening. “W-what do you think?” The beams of light  shining down to the water were unmistakable. Wide and imposing, the  Moonpool was never a deserted place, as there were always at least a few  fawnlings scattered around the edges. He understood; he’d always been  drawn to it himself.

Maren

Maren was so stunned, she  felt she wouldn’t be able to speak even if she could. “Amazing,” she  finally managed, looking up at the stag with shining eyes. She lowered  her nose toward the pool, not daring to even touch it. She could feel  the water moving under her snout and breathed gently over the surface.  Maren backed up again to stand next to Amadan. She tilted her head,  gesturing towards the water and stomping a hoof lightly.

She was  excited to learn how to move the water like the shamans could. She had  yet to be chosen as a shaman-in-training, but she was excited  nevertheless to show off the skills she had to the Oracle. The filly  looked out over the water. She felt a familiar buzz in the back of her  head and let out a gasp, almost too quiet to hear, and entered the  oh-so-familiar, yet unwanted, trance that often claimed her now. From  the outside, it looked like she was focusing. Inside, nothing was  happening, but everything was going crazy. Her mind was blank yet  racing. Her heart had sped, but it felt like it was dragging along the  ground. She stood still, legs shaking slightly.

Amadán

 Amadán walked up to the edge of the water without a word. A delicate  ripple started waving itself from side to side in front of him, making  lines as if he’d drawn his nose over it. It was a slow and very simple  motion, one he did with complete ease.

He sat down and looked back  to Maren. To his eye, she looked only as though she were too lost in  starting out at the water to notice him anymore. He didn’t blame her,  not even for the slight tremble he saw; the Moonpool was an amazing  sight, he thought, and very easy to get caught up in. The dragging  ripples in front of him halted.

“The Moonpool i-is a sacred  p-place,” he decided to explain, hoping to recapture her attention, “and  the b-best place for lessons b-because of the hole a-above the water.  The moon itself s-shines down a-a-at night. We are c-closer to Gealach,  i-in that way.”

Maren

The filly heard the buck’s voice  in the back of her mind and desperately tried to pull herself back. She  could make out a few of his words.  ‘Moonpool...sacred...lessons...moon...Gealach…’

She wanted to learn  magic. She was so ready to. She could still see the ripples as they  disappeared, but then they were gone. A voice echoed in the back of her  mind, something telling her to focus on the lesson so she wouldn’t anger  Gealach. She tried again, but to no avail. She had always wanted to  learn how to enter trances, but she knew this wasn’t how it was supposed  to happen. You were supposed to meet Gealach or at least feel closer to  them when it happened. If anything, she felt further away from their  god.

She slowly felt herself being dragged into reality, but it  felt off from the previous times. She couldn’t make out the buck’s words  anymore if he was still talking, but everything else seemed clearer.  Maren’s heart started racing as she felt the color come back to her  surroundings.

Amadán

When he was met with no response,  Amadán tilted his head and looked closer at her. The great Moonpool was  all important and wondrous, sure, but Maren had been still for longer  than the usual moment of wide-eyed admiration.

“...Hey. C-can you  hear me?” he asked, while his mind threw out guesses all in one instant.  He didn’t know much about herbs but he knew some affected the mind, so  perhaps it was a nasty side effect from something she’d eaten that  day... He guessed she wouldn’t gobble down a funky plant for the heck of  it, though. Well then, they were in a sacred place; did divine messages  ever come to regular fawns? One of Amadán’s ears started flickering.

Or, maybe, he was overthinking the whole thing, and the Moonpool really was just that shocking.

Maren

After  another few moments in the daze, the filly shook her head to get the  cobwebs out. Once she processed the buck’s words, she gave a nod. “I  okay. Lesson now?” she asked, wanting to forget the episode. This one  had lasted longer than most of the others, and they were only increasing  in length. She was ready to get to work on learning more about magic,  and wanted to pay full attention to Amadan. She looked down at the water  and watched the ripples. She smiled slightly up at Amadan to urge him  to continue and nodded her head towards the pool.

The water let  off a cool feeling in the open space, and it seemed to help Maren to  relax. She watched the ripples as she waited for Amadan to continue the  lesson. She didn’t know how they had been so lucky to have Gealach, but  they were. She didn’t know how other fawnlings dealt with magic of other  sorts. Water was so beautiful, but also held a solemn strength that  couldn’t be ignored. Fire just destroyed, and air couldn’t do much.  Water. Water was different. She could feel it.

Amadán

Amadán blinked when Maren finally moved again, and found her reply to be  less than reassuring. It was over, just like that? He stared at her for  a few more moments, not quite sure what to think. He mentally ruled out  the influence of herbs and settled, for his mind’s sake, that she’d  simply been struck by the immensity of the pool. Yeah. Sure. That was  it.

With hesitation, Amadán drew his concerned gaze away from her  and back to the water before him. Maren didn’t look the least bit  bothered as he was, so with a last thoughtful pause, he started again.

 “Ahem… yes. R-right. This… t-this is a very b-basic motion.” The  dragging line appeared once more, gently moving back and forth. It moved  slower than before, partly from distraction, partly from wanting to  emphasize the simplicity. “Re-d-d-directing water at y-your own will. It  t-takes t-time to get fully in t-touch with… but, i-it is the f-first  stepping s-stone. You have to f-feel the water around you, l-let it be  the o-only thing on your mind, a-and will it to d-do as you ask.”

Maren

Maren  gave a reassuring smile to Amadan and listened as he spoke. She watched  the lines in the water and in her mind began to picture them. She  focused on the thought and closed her eyes, Amadan’s voice still present  in her thoughts. The lines swirled in the filly’s head and she focused  on them. Soon she opened her eyes and focused on picturing the lines in  the water. She willed the water to move, and soon it did. The movement  wasn’t as pronounced as Amadan’s had been, but it was there. Maren let  out a soft squeal of excitement and grinned, smile almost reaching ear  to ear.

If she could do this in the Moon Pool, then what else  could she do in other places? Maren was excited to try this out later,  but she turned to Amadan to see what he would have her do next. Her tail  flicked happily as she glanced over at the water again. The grey filly  couldn’t wait to continue with the lesson. “More?” she asked.

Amadán

 “Yes, there you g-go, good!” he praised. A part of him was relieved;  she surely was just fine, then, as she’d said. Amadán was content any  concerns slip to the back of his mind, and stifled a chuckle at her  excitement.

“Try d-drawing it out more. A l-line might seem b-boring,  but...” -- Amadán’s own line veered off to demonstrate new shapes,  leisurely forming circles and serpentines -- “it’ll be easier t-to turn  it i-i-into something new, once y-you’ve got it.” With a cheeky smirk,  he extended his grasp to push a long wave past their feet. It wasn’t a  novice move, but he hoped it’d help show what starting small led to.  “See w-what you can d-do with it.”

Maren

She watched  him while listening, giggling slightly at the wave. She studied the  shapes in the water and thought about how they would be formed.

She  grinned and nodded, starting a new line. This one was more clear than  the one before, and it was much longer as well. It moved slightly to the  left as she thought carefully about it. Once it faded, she squealed and  jumped slightly. “Wow!” she got out, eyes bright and excited.

“What  else?” she asked, stumbling over the words in her readiness to learn.  She turned to him, nudging his shoulder with her nose, and made another  line.

Amadán

“Hmm, let me think…” Amadán was pleased  with how naturally Maren was following along. Some fawns struggled for a  while in their first lessons. Perhaps, then, he could let her take a  shot at something harder. There wasn’t much a novice could do, but he  could still show her a few tricks to practice on her own... hopefully,  something that might impress a shaman.

“Ah! I’ve g-got it.” Amadán’s  line seemed to vanish; from where it disappeared rose a ball of water,  about the size of his hoof, from the surface of the pool. He let it rise  slowly, stopping it about a foot up.

“With a-a little more  c-concentration, you can s-suspend your w-whole area of control,” he  told her. “It t-takes a more st-steady grip to hold it st-still.” With a  moment’s consideration, he added thoughtfully, “Y-you’ll strain  yourself if you t-try to copy me all a-at once. Go slowly. Try making a  l-little ball. Smaller than m-mine -- like a-a big raind-d-drop.”

Maren

Maren  watched in wonder at the sphere of liquid that hung above the rest of  the water. Her eyes widened in curiosity as she looked down at the  ripples in front of her. She watched Amadan for another moment, trying  to figure out how to start. The hind looked down again, head tilted to  the side slightly as she thought. Slowly she made a more circular  pattern in the water, just a small one to figure out spacing. She  focused, her face setting firmly as she concentrated on the bit of  water.

Maren tried to get the water to move, focusing hard. All  that came was a ripple from the same circle she had been tracing in the  water. She gave a dissatisfied grunt and looked up at Amadan, eyes  pleading. “How?” she simply asked, the word hanging in the air. A frown  lay on the face of the hind as she tried to think about how to make the  water rise in the air.

Amadán

Amadán let his water  ball sink back into the pool as he watched Maren’s attempt. When the  little doe seemed to grow frustrated, he nodded in encouragement. He had  expected as much, but he was pleased she was trying. “Mm, it’ll t-take a  bit of p-practice,” he admitted.

This time, his magic was slow,  deliberately to let her see each step. A sphere within the water, barely  visible save for the ripples, formed by their feet. Amadán kept it  under the surface this time. “S-start by isolating a s-spot in the  water. Sus-s-spend your control in o-one spot,” he said as he idly swept  his tail. “Even holding it f-for a few seconds will p-push your  end-d-durance. Y-you’re asking the water to s-stay still for you,  i-instead of following the f-flow.”

He released the underwater sphere, which dissipated into the water around it.

Maren

Maren  watched Amadan intently, focusing on what he was saying. She observed  how the water was shaping under the magic and tried to replicate it in  her mind as she thought through how to make it work. She watched as  Amadan’s sphere was let back into the water and turned to the liquid in  front of her. The hind focused her whole being into making the shape  underwater stay still.

Slowly, the water began to shape into a  little bubble underwater. Maren squinted slightly as she made it grow.  Suddenly, the water popped and went back to its normal form. She grunted  in disapproval of herself and turned to Amadan. “Tried,” she squeaked,  looking down at the rock under her hooves.

She didn’t know why  it wasn’t working, but Maren was determined to make it work as soon as  she could. No matter what, it would happen quickly. She was planning to  work on the magic as much as she possibly could in between times with  the shamans. Well, at least she had a start and could work on her own  now.

Amadán

“There, c-carefully,” Amadán said as Maren  started her own sphere again, willing her to get a little closer this  time. His eyes gleamed when she got it grow. “Excellent! --”

It  didn't concern him when it vanished, though he felt a pang of guilt to  see the little doe so disappointed. Amadán gave Maren a gentle nudge.

“Oh,  now, i-it’s alright, you d-did well,” he tried to assure her. “L-let’s  call it a d-day, y-you’ve got the s-s-start. And s-something to  practice.” As he stood back up, he smirked and made a playful wave by  the edge of the pool, just enough to send a couple drops their way.

Maren

She  gave a small smile to Amadan when he tried to comfort her, and she  nodded when he suggested they stop. When he created the wave, Maren  squealed softly in surprise. A few drops hit her nose and she shook them  off, now smiling for real.

“Thanks for help,” she said, making a  small ripple in the water once the waves from Amadan’s shower had  subsided. “Maybe again?” she suggested with a broad grin. Her tail  flicked happily as she looked around. “I should go…” she said, looking  in the direction where the shamans stayed. Eventually she would have to  find someone to learn under, but she knew for that to happen she would  have to meet many of the shamans first. Maren turned and waved her tail  in goodbye, smiling over her shoulder as she walked off.