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"He'll need a home," the fire tender said, glancing about the village. "There might be room to squeeze him in over there." He nodded toward two huts with just enough spacing, away from the opening toward the bayou's heart.
Temken lowered the ladle from his lips. "I won't need a home," he said, confused.
He sipped again at the weak, fatty broth. Darkness wrapped about the area, but Gaea's song, dim but recognizable, pierced the gloom and brought back to mind memories of cleaner lands: the whisper of a breeze among willows, the creak of tree limbs rubbing over a clear, gurgling brook. Handing back the ladle to the tender, Temken glanced at Gwe
"I'll be looking for more Survivors soon, on my way westward. I hope you'll come with me."
They met his invitation with frightened looks of concern and sidelong glances.
What had happened to him, back along the trail? It seemed an important question. Unfortunately, Temken had no good answer. Marsh gas, or simple fatigue? He remembered feeling ill. He remembered the shadow collapsing after the failure of his spell. He'd lain in the foul-smelling muck, looking to Gwe
Gwe
We can none of us leave.
Why not? What was he missing?
Gwe
Temken stretched her right hand forward. "There, " he said, voice soft but intense, "the living force of the bayou. Growing trees, plants, animals; the never-ending cycle of life. It's Gaea's song, as you heard it, before. "
She didn't hear it. And, if she understood his explanation, she couldn't remember ever hearing it, which could be a problem. Also she did not favor keeping her eyes closed, shutting off her best warning of the danger that the bayou could visit on them at any time. In her mind's eye, the darkness encroached upon them, drawing tighter every time they tried to call upon the magic of the land.
"I can't touch it, " she said, resigned. Deeper within her mind, she also knew that she didn't want to touch it and shouldn't be trying. She wouldn't have been, except for the reserve of energy that Temken seemed able to tap into for them both. "It's not there. "
"It is, " he insisted. "You've seen it once already. "
"It's not there for me, " she said, squirming within his embrace. Still, the memory of the orchid almost made her believe until the shadow's touch fell over her and dimmed the memory again.
Temken's grip tightened on her wrists. "It has to be, " he said. Then quieter, he observed to himself, "There must be a reason I was led to you first. "
From Gwe
"I was sent, " she began slowly, then grew confused as if a dark shroud had suddenly been pulled across her mind. She saw no use in arguing the point. Frustrated and tired, she saw little use in continuing the exercise. "Let it go, Temken. Magic is just one more false promise. "
"Have you forgotten Titania? The Citanul druids?" He spun her around. "Magic is a part of our lives, just as it was then. "
Opening her eyes, Gwe
"It didn't help any of us, " she said listlessly.
Eyes narrowing, the elf mage glanced back over his shoulder, following Gwe
"Let it go," she whispered again, tired and imploring.
"No." He didn't sound as certain of himself as before. His hazel eyes blinked their doubts. Then his voice grew stronger. "The potential exists within you and has to be the seed of your release. Try again." He guided her back around, keeping hold of her right hand, and moved up beside her, stretching his own right hand out ahead of them both. He glanced to her face and frowned. "You have to trust me, Gwe
Trust did not come easily in the bayou, but Temken's touch wore away at the despondency that blanketed their lives. The darkness rallied, forcing itself in on her, but a temporary breeze through the overhead canopy rustled leaves and branches and brought to her the faint touch of nature's song. Gwe
"Accept it," he whispered. "Allow Gaea's power to work through you toward the beauty of life's never ending cycle. Find in your memories the strength you remember from other lands you've passed through- other lands that touched you and you touched in return. This place has similarities to those if you look."
Gwe
But it was not so easily dismissed.
Despair roiled up under the surface of Temken's promise, challenging the place he had won inside Gwe
The power surged against the life-force ru