Journey to Hot Springs

The morning was bright and crisp, and the smooth rocks leading to Sweetwind's favorite bathing place at the waterfall were just beginning to be warmed by the sun. Sweetwind's bare feet relished the rock's coolness as she slipped down to the bank. Beside the pool sat two others, Nightwind and Dreampeace, who had obviously just completed their baths. Stifler, Sweetwind's bond cheetah, had followed her closely the whole way from the camp, but now he drew back. He still wasn't used to elves in general. Sweetwind was probably the first elf the youngling had seen when she found him on her journey to Eight-of-Dreams Holt. Stifler was devoted to her, but never quite sure what to do when other elves and their bondbeasts were present.

'Peace and 'Wind exchanged greetings with the new arrival, and continued donning their leathers as Sweetwind began to take hers off. Noting Shadow, who rested near his bondmate, Sweetwind said, "I thought all the wolves took their elves with them when the hunting party left last night."

Nightwind smiled. "No, indeed. This wicked one went hunting by himself at nightfall. He came back with a nose full of quills."

Dreampeace nodded. "It's taken us all morning to get them out. Look, there's enough to make a small basket!" She pointed to a pile of quills on a rock. Shadow whined, knowing that he was the subject of discussion.

"The poor quill-pig must be bare as a bagfrog now," Nightwind sighed. Shadow crept forward on his belly to receive some more consolation from his elf-friend. Nightwind's healing powers had mended his nose completely, once the quills were out. His pride was still pricked, though.

**Yes, you're the only wolf in the camp now. You got left behind. How does that make you feel?** sent Nightwind, scratching the black wolf behind the ears. His grimace of pleasure indicated that he did not feel badly at all.

Dreampeace finished brushing her hair and put her hat on. Nightwind carefully picked up the quills and the two rose to go. "Bye," said Sweetwind. "I guess I have the pool to myself now." "Oh, not quite," replied Nightwind. She and 'Peace exchanged glances and began laughing. "You'll find out!" called Dreampeace as the two hurried up the bank.

What did they mean, wondered Sweetwind as she slipped into the pool. There's no one here.

Stifler doggedly followed his elf-friend into the water, enduring wet paws with little grace to keep a close eye on her. Across the pool at the foot of the waterfall, a clump of vines had bloomed brilliantly blue. Sweetwind swam to that side to see if the flowers had any scent. As she approached, the sound of a tiny voice prattling to itself became apparent.

She started as a tiny winged sprite, colored just a shade darker than the flowers themselves, burst from the clump, flew a tight circle, and disappeared back into it. Her momentum carried her closer to the bush before she could stop, and at last she recognized the words and the voice behind them. "Merrywind!"

The Holt's newest member emerged from the flowers and hovered over them. "Seven-Finger-Highthing no disturb," he scolded. "Merrywind almost finish very important project."

"What's that, 'Windy?"

"Look and see!" he said, shifting instantly from crossness to giddy excitement. He dipped down to the blossoming clump. When he arose again, he was burdened with an enormous quantity of the flowers, woven together into a garland. Merrywind flew a circle around the pool with the garland in full display. When he returned to the flowers and laid it down again, he announced: "Nicepretty flowerwrap for Wolf-Blade-friend! Merrywind almost done. Merrywind start when all stilldark, before big moon go away, finally finish. Wolf-Blade-friend be happy for be all wrapped in beesweets!"

Sweetwind laughed. "I'm sorry, 'Windy, but Wolf Blade is gone and has been for some time. She left at midnight on a hunting trip. If you're lucky, the hunting party may be back by daybreak tomorrow. But by then all those beautiful flowers will be wilted." In the camp last night, Sweetwind had been wakened by Wolf Blade's howl of relief that Merrywind seemed to be gone. It had been cut short by Dreamchant's "Hush!!" and the rest of their preparations had gone on in silence, lest Merrywind was still in earshot. He would turn up again, of course- he always did. But in the meantime Wolf Blade would have a hunting trip, at least one full day, free of the pest. Not that she didn't like him, but he had been at her side without leave for the past cycle of the smaller moon. His absence provided 'Blade with a well-needed break.

The Preserver's face fell. "Awww...forgot about trip-go-hunt." He considered the garland. But before Sweetwind could even begin to feel sorry about breaking his heart, he grew happy once more. "Merrywind follow hunters. Merrywind good tracker and hunter. Catch-up with Wolf-Blade-friend quick-quick."

Uh-oh! There was an idea to discourage!! "But look, 'Windy, the flowers will be wilted by then. See, the first ones you put on are even wilting now!" She pointed to the end of the garland, which was at least twice Wolf Blade's height.

Merrywind industriously plucked two more flowers and replaced the two most wilted of the garland. But he could see that it would be a losing race if he followed the hunters, for the sun was now well up in the sky. Even with his full flying speed, he could not reach the wolf-mounted party fast enough. His mood began to fall again. But once more he pulled himself up with new hope.

"Merrywind know! Merrywind make wrapstuff!! Keep beesweets all newfresh!!" With that the Preserver grabbed the garland and was aloft once more. In an awesome display of aerobatics, he at once kept the garland aloft while circling it and spraying gunk on it from his mouth. Sweetwind was shocked and a little repelled.

"What are you doing?" she asked, backing off.

Finished in the wink of an eye, Merrywind took a firm hold of the garland, which now resembled a giant white grub. He explained, "Wrapstuff! For keeping all nice and safe. Is good! Now Merrywind follow hunters, give to Wolf-Blade-friend. Where go Highthing friends?"

As mystified as before, all Sweetwind could do further to protect poor 'Blade was to dissemble. "I don't know," she lied.

"Merrywind great tracker - use powers. See!" Clutching with one hand at the tiny gem hanging from his neck, he hovered over the center of the pool, humming with concentration. He turned a full circle with his eyes shut. When he completed his circle, he opened his eyes, shrieked a cheerful "Good-bye!" to the astonished elf, and flew away in the wrong direction.

Sweetwind drifted back to the other side of the pool, consternated. The image of the goo and the Preserver's words touched something nearly forgotten in her mind. No, the connection was mistier than that, even. It was something she had never known, but still familiar. What could it be?

Dreamstar sent, **Relax, it's only a harmless treeshaper.**

"Oh, Dreamstar," Sweetwind said, sticking her bow back into the sand of the bank. "Can you help me? I have a question."

"Ask away," he replied. He moved to a rock at the side of the pool and sat.

Sweetwind swam towards him. "Did you know that Merrywind can spit all this goo out of his mouth? He calls it 'wrapstuff'. He put it all over some flowers he wants to give to Wolf Blade. Why would he do that?"

"Well, that's two questions, but they're both pretty easy. First, the blue terror is called a Preserver for a reason-- that goo keeps things better than a good tanning keeps a hide. For the second question, why he put it on the flowers: he wanted to keep them nice for 'Blade. He probably didn't think about how hard it would be to get it off."

"Keeps things. Hmmm. I think...," she tread water near Dreamstar's rock, "... I think I've seen it somewhere. It's in the corner of my mind ... I keep trying to remember and I can't."

"You just keep on trying, and I'll sit here and enjoy the view." He winked.

"Oh, yeah? You know, Dreamstar," Sweetwind purred, "you can see much better from down here!" With one quick movement, the archer grabbed 'Star by his leg and pulled him into the pool.

Their parting was a bittersweet memory for Sweetwind, for the two had not been able to communicate since. The ancient elf had put herself in the big stone chair in the center of the cavern with an air of finality and once again tried to explain what was happening.

Sendings were better than words for this, and presently Sweetwind understood the peace that the old one would find at last. There was purpose in turning over her whole being to shape the stone through which the volcanically heated water flowed. To guide the water and keep it flowing; a purity in life at last attainable. Although Sweetwind could not agree, she could see the rightness of the choice for Heat, and asked what she could do to help. The sending-answer confused Sweetwind: it was nonsense. Heat herself was taken aback, as she sometimes was at the unattached memories of long, long ago. They would wander across her mind and meander away again, like a butterfly of the Burningsun season, leaving no trace.

Some time later, she replied again, in words. She asked the younger elf to return every few turns of the seasons to restore her with some nourishing liquids. The more magically receptive because of her great age, she had described the Dreamcall to Sweetwind and told her how to find the holt of dreamers. They parted.

Sweetwind, thinking to tell Heat of all she had seen and learned in the Holt, had returned after only two turns to the place she called Hot Springs. She set off with a pair of companions in the last Burningsun season. Unfortunately, as the crowning centerpiece to a miserable journey, Heat did not respond to any of her sendings. Heat had often gone into deep trances before, but never had she been inaccessible. The archer tried to contact her friend repeatedly, even with forehead pressed to forehead. She cried when all her sendings went unanswered.

After half the night spent in unhappy recall, Sweetwind finally fell asleep. Not too long afterwards, she had an intense dream. She was back at Hot Springs, where Heat was once again bidding her farewell. Again, she asked what she could do to help.

In the dream, however, the sending-answer came instead with a prodigious clarity: it was a vision of wrapstuff. Like a fresh layer of snow, it muffled sensation, and yet made it sharper. It removed time. Sweetwind, wide awake now, suddenly understood the remarkable property of wrapstuff and why it already lay in her mind. That had been Heat's first instinct. As far as Heat's present state could be called natural, wrapstuff was the way to achieve that state most naturally.

"Then wrapstuff she must have," murmured the elf. She was instantly resolved to deliver whatever her friend needed. She began to think about how this could be done, when an amusing thought struck her. She poked her bondbeast, who still lay asleep. "Guess what? After all this time, among all these dreamers, I've finally had a dream worth more than a howl at a moon. I guess I do belong here." Stifler sighed, yawned and stretched.

"I think you've finally found the way to get rid of the pest," remarked Nightfire when Sweetwind dropped by her hut, on an off chance. "Indeed, the time I set Gilden to chase him away, he returned before Gilden did. Now that you need him, he is nowhere to be found."

"Elf-friends want find Merrywind?!!" came an abrupt, enthusiastic yell, along with a buzzing WHOOSH as a blue blur streaked by them. "Here Merrywind be!!"

"Finally! Merrywind!" Sweetwind exclaimed with relief. "I've been looking all over for you! I've got a very important favor to ask you. Will you journey with me to my friend Heat who needs wrapstuff?"

"Yes-yes! Merrywind like trips!" He perched on Sweetwind's shoulder. His voice suddenly dropped to a pleading tone. "Wolf-Blade-Friend come too?"

"Of course we'll ask Wolf Blade to come with us." Sweetwind replied. Not wanting to exclude the firestarter listening to the exchange, she added, "Would you like to come too, Nightfire?"

"No, thank you," said Nightfire curtly, and disappeared into her hut. Sweetwind looked at the red-maned elf's dwelling a moment. Not long ago the archer would have thought that she had done something to offend Nightfire. But finally she came to realize that the firestarter was like a near-wolf without a tail. There was never any indication that Nightfire was happy, just as the near-wolf could never wag her tail. But like a feral near-wolf quick to growl, one always knew when she was upset! Sweetwind wondered if Nightfire ever was happy. But her thoughts were distracted by Merrywind's eager questions as they left for the main camp.

On the journey to Hot Springs the burning sun season before, Sweetwind had taken Wind and Whistle with her. The tales of their mishaps, along the way there and back and within the pool-filled caverns, had provided many a night's entertainment for the Holt, usually accompanied by roaring laughter and disbelief (although most of the tales were true). Well, thought Sweetwind to herself, who would have thought that Wind had never seen a whitestripe before, and didn't know what it would do when teased? Who would have thought that, when given responsibility for the party's supplies, he would pack only honeymead and dreamberries? And further, that he didn't realize an anthill is an inappropriate place to set those supplies overnight? She should, she supposed, have anticipated that he would get his bare foot wedged between two huge stones in a stream for a day-and-a-half, ruining his pants from prolonged immersion and losing his shirt to the current by trying to catch fish with it. It was a surprise, though, that he mistook manzanita berries for similar-looking pyrocantha berries, because he was usually good at plant identification. The strong laxative effect of the berries he cooked up with supper gave all three of them "the runs" for a full day. It was a surprise to all, too, when the minty-scented leaves he threw into one of the bubbling pools at Hot Springs to make it smell nice colored the water. It also stained their skins troll-green from the neck down for a cycle of the larger moon. But then again, it was Whistle who had picked the camp where they had fallen asleep on some nice, soft, thick foliage. Thank the High Ones that the strangleweed underneath was not yet mature enough to strangle even a long-ear. The three elves and two of their bondbeasts had been uncomfortably pinned for half a day until Whistle's pouchful of treats had all been eaten and his bond raccoon Spirit finally chewed them loose.

However Sweetwind herself, she had to admit, was the only one who could be blamed for forgetting how to work the entrance to Heat's mountain. She located the area of the doorway, and for two frustrating days they searched for the way in. Finally Wind literally stumbled against the key stone, which gave and swung the rock door aside. Stupid troll-like mechanical device, anyway, thought Sweetwind, why not just hide the door behind some bushes?

Sweetwind had hoped to forget these misadventures before she had to travel with Wind and Whistle again. Right now the memories were still very vivid. Hoping to escape the two elves, she suggested to Wolf Blade that they leave right away. Wolf Blade agreed. They reported quickly to Dreamchant. Wolf Blade didn't even knock the travel dust off her leathers before she was on the trail again.

"No wonder Wind tried to sweeten the water," chuckled the pale-haired elf. She continued chuckling all the way down the tunnel, to Sweetwind's great annoyance. But when the tunnel opened into the great chamber, she caught her breath. It was awe-inspiring, this great graceful cavern as unlike a troll-tunnel as the rockshaper could make it. Merrywind leapt off 'Blade's vest and zipped through the air to the great stone chair where Heat sat as still as stone herself.

"This the one for be wrapped? Where her legs?" said Merrywind on the approach. Then, as he hovered above the rockshaper, "Ooooooooh, is think-do! Merrywind feels! Is good!" The Preserver landed on Heat's shoulder and hugged her head, caressing her short fluffy hair.

"The trolls took her legs, like they took my finger," explained Sweetwind.

"Hmmmm.... can't stand up. Then elf-friends must lift Highthing," ordered Merrywind. "Need to get wrapstuff all over," he added. The two elves climbed carefully up to Heat and prepared to lift her to receive her wrapping.

"Hold a moment," whispered Sweetwind. She bent her head and attempted one last time to send to her friend. **Dear one, it's me. Do you hear me?**

Merrywind saw Sweetwind's intensely furrowed brow and guessed what she was trying. "Whyfor send now, Seven-Finger-Highthing? Send easy when all wrapped in wrapstuff!" he announced.

"What?" said Sweetwind.

"Yes-yes, for think-do magic too hardbusy, no time for sending. Wait till all safe inside wrapstuff, then be easy!" With that, the Preserver spun webbing over Heat's head, took to the air and circled the rockshaper, covering every bit of her with wrapstuff. 'Blade and Sweetwind replaced the ancient one reverently on her chair.

**Sweetwind? Are you near, my youngling?**

For the second time, kneeling on the great throne, Sweetwind cried. But this time, it was tears of joy.