Chapter 46: It's a Kind of Magic
Ember closed her eyes. The misty air was cool against her skin; as she focused her attention, she could feel the individual droplets touch her face. Around her, the activities of animals were betrayed by rustling leaves and twigs.
A week had passed since Jaheira had become her mentor. Most of Ember's time since then had been devoted to learning to understand nature; they had spent three days cleansing the defiled grove, and Ember was now able to recognize the signs of distress as well as the signs of health. They had traveled south after that, inspecting troubled areas in the forest as they went. Many of the spots were former bandit camp sites, but they also stopped in Mutamin's garden of statues, where they made sure there were no wayward basilisks still terrorizing the area. There had been very few skirmishes of any kind, which suited Ember just fine.
Ember's companions had taken the change of pace in stride. Kivan and Minsc had always shared their knowledge of woodlands with Ember and Imoen, and now they preoccupied themselves with telling Ember as much as they could about plants, animals, terrain, seasons, and nature in general, thus augmenting the lessons she received from Jaheira. Their emphasis was on the woods they were traveling through, and every new thing Ember saw was thoroughly explained. Alora skipped along behind Ember and the rangers, absorbing little nuggets of information about pretty birds and flowers and all the really great trees; sometimes, Boo rode on her shoulder instead of Minsc's.
In the evenings, Minsc shared what he knew about the Forest Lady with Ember. Through the giant's disjointed tale with roots in a culture alien to Ember, she learned at least as much about her newfound patron as she had learned through her studies in Candlekeep, and the ranger's knowledge filled some of the gaps Jaheira could not help her with.
She breathed slowly in, then out. Her new leather armor creaked, almost imperceptibly, with every breath.
Edwin seemed the most out of place of the group, and consistently kept as far away from Jaheira as he could. He had been less than happy when Imoen had demanded he give his enchanted wooden staff to Ember, and barely an hour passed where he did not complain about something pertaining to forests and traveling in them. Imoen walked with him most of the time, though, and when she wasn't goodnaturedly teasing him about something, the two mages held lively discussions about magic and spellcraft. It made Ember happy to watch them; nobody at Candlekeep had had the patience to answer the myriad of questions Imoen had about anything magical, not even Tethtoril or Gorion, and everyone had kept telling her that her mind wasn't ready for the challenges of magery. You'd show them now, Immy, Ember had thought fondly as she'd listened to the two mages discuss the merits and disadvantages of conjured arrow spells the previous evening.
The drops that wet her skin were gradually becoming larger. It would be a rainy day.
Ember settled into her meditative thought patterns, and stretched out with her senses. She had practiced this every morning and evening the past week; with Jaheira in the evening and by herself in the morning. It was an exercise similar to the ones she'd used to learn to fully listen to her senses, only far more profound. It would be in a meditative state, communing with life around her, that she would be able to pray for spells.
Spells were different from cantrips; they required more focus and control than the simple invocations and prayers that could inspire a wounded tree to grow faster or cause a fire to yield no smoke, and were far too complex to memorize accurately through any measure but meditative prayer. To begin with, the Lady would only grant her a single full spell, Jaheira had told Ember, but she would be blessed with access to more spells as she gained the understanding needed to wield such power. She had sat with Jaheira as the older druid prayed in the evenings, but she wouldn't fully understand the process until she had accomplished it herself.
A bird burst into song under the shelter of a large-leafed bush.
According to Jaheira, Silvanus preferred prayers offered in the evening, under moonlight if possible, but Mielikki's followers could pray for spells either at sunrise or at sunset. It'd been a simple choice for Ember; she'd always loved being awake at dawn.
Ember listened, letting herself understand what she heard without thinking. The rustling leaves, the pattering of tiny feet, the crunching sound as one small animal caught and ate another, her own heartbeat; it all blended together in a quiet harmony as the sun rose unseen behind low, grey clouds.
With an almost painful clarity, she saw herself as a part of life. She felt how energy flowed through the forest around her, and through her. She could almost see how she could use that energy.
My Lady of the Forest, show me what I can do.
Something shifted in her mind, and she understood. By drawing upon nature itself, she could heal, coax plants into reckless growth, arm herself, or strengthen and protect someone. Other possibilities would come later; for now, she could ask to hold one of those spells in her mind.
She knew exactly which spell she wanted to ask for first.
---
The morning drizzle had turned into a veritable downpour by the time they broke camp, and everyone wrapped their cloaks tightly around themselves as they walked. Some of the paths had turned to mud; Jaheira questioned Ember about her prayers while Kivan and Minsc scouted ahead in search of the least muddy path.
"Healing? An excellent choice," Jaheira said. "Its casting is straightforward, and you are likely to succeed on your first attempt. Entangling plants or summoning a shillelagh require more complex invocations."
"Couldn't she have asked for this infernal rain to stop instead?" Edwin muttered, pulling the hood of his robe lower down over his face. Jaheira shot the wizard an annoyed glare. Edwin glared back.
"It'll be all right, Eddie," Alora chirped. "We'll be in Gullykin tonight, and there'll be warm houses and warm drinks and the most wonderful food in the world!" The halfling skipped through a row of puddles.
"Do not try to cast your spell yet," Jaheira told Ember. "We may have use of it, and you would learn more from healing a genuine injury."
"But otherwise, I can still practice casting by healing someone who isn't wounded, right?" Ember asked.
"That is correct," Jaheira said. "The result of a healing spell improves if you have an understanding of the being you are healing, and of the nature of the injury. They become more efficient if you prepare, for instance by straightening broken limbs and aligning torn flesh, and if you focus your attention on an injured body part rather than the whole."
"What you mean is that she shouldn't forget how to treat wounds the nonmagical way, even when she's throwing spells around," Imoen said.
"Exactly. She should even further her knowledge in that field, if she wishes to be a skilled healer."
"I'll remember that," Ember said.
"She knows some of that stuff already," Imoen said. Ember looked warily at her friend, but thankfully Imoen didn't seem to want to elaborate; Ember wasn't sure she wanted to let Jaheira know that she already could heal after a fashion.
"That is g-good to hear," Khalid said.
---
The chance for Ember to test her new healing spell came soon enough. In the late afternoon, they spotted three gnolls near the foot of a hill. Minsc immediately charged at them; a minute or so later, Minsc's arm was injured, and the gnolls were dead. Kivan helped Minsc take off his ankheg plate mail while Alora held Boo, and Ember and Jaheira quickly inspected the damaged arm.
"It has been badly twisted," Jaheira proclaimed, "but there are no breaks. Are you ready to try your spell, child?"
Ember nodded solemnly, and reached for Minsc's arm. Her first instinct was to reach within to wherever it was her gift came from, but she caught herself before she triggered it. Her voice dropped almost to a whisper as she uttered words she hadn't realized she knew, and she slowly moved her hands in the required patterns, trying to focus her attention on the injured limb. As she spoke the final word and reached towards Minsc's arm, the spell triggered. Her gestures had gathered energy from their surroundings and into herself; now, the energy flowed through her like cool, soothing water, then leapt into Minsc's arm in a flash of blue. The bruises on the ranger's arm faded immediately.
"Minsc is ready to kick butts for justice again!" Minsc cried happily.
"Excellent work," Jaheira said, examining Minsc's arm. "It appears to be sound. Your casting was hesitant, but it is to be expected from a novice. You should request the same spell again tomorrow."
"I've planned on doing that," Ember said, feeling slightly elated. That felt wonderful! And not at all like my gift, even though they do the same thing. With the spell, the healing energy had come willingly, merely using her as a conduit; by comparison, her gift was more like forcefully drawing power from a source in herself. I should try to look into that; maybe I'll be able to understand the gift better.
"Could we continue onwards now?" Edwin asked irritably.
"We will continue when we are ready, wizard," Jaheira replied.
"Aw, don't be so impatient, Eddie!" Alora said. "I'm sure Minsc is happy that his arm won't hurt, and we're really really close now! Aren't we, Khalid?"
"You are c-correct, little one," Khalid said with a smile. "W-we are less than an hour away."
"Provided we actually start moving instead of waiting for her to decide that we are ready to do so," Edwin said. "(Wretched druids and their wretched disregard for climate! Nothing like this would ever happen in Thay!)"
"Calm down, Edwin, we'll move on now," Ember said. "Happy?"
"(No.)"
---
A half hour later, the group caught sight of the village for the first time. A simple fence made from long, slender birch trunks encircled a cluster of small, odd-looking houses; as far as they could tell, there was only one building of regular size in the entire village.
"Their houses are m-mostly underground," Khalid said. "We only see the t-top level. That is the winery," he continued, indicating the larger building.
"They had a problem with kobolds recently," Jaheira said. "As it turned out, one of the villagers was in cohorts with an ogre mage. They had built a tunnel between his house and the Firewine catacombs; the kobolds infested the village through the tunnel. We backtracked the creatures and found they were merely part of a larger kobold infestation; almost half of them had gone to Nashkel."
"Where we took care of them," Imoen said.
"Yes. The ogre mage and the half-ogre cleric in Nashkel had worked together, convincing the kobolds to move here in search of a reborn kobold deity. We believe they assembled near Darkhold, but have not been able to prove Zhentarim involvement," Jaheira said.
"The Iron Throne wishes to implicate the Zhentarim," Kivan said. "We have seen many signs."
"I see. How convenient for them to have a readily available scapegoat," Jaheira said.
Alora ran ahead of them to the village gate, where she leapt into the arms of a finely dressed halfling. "Uncle Gandolar!" she squealed.
"Alora!" the halfling exclaimed. He hugged her tightly and turned to face the rest of the group. "Welcome back, Khalid and Jaheira, and well met, travelers! Gandolar Luckyfoot, at your disposal. To what does our little village owe the pleasure of your visit?"
"We wished to see if the kobolds had returned, and we'd like to stay here while I instruct Ember," Jaheira said, indicating Ember with a hand.
"And Eddie's tired of walking and we're all tired and wet and hungry because it was such a long walk through the woods!" Alora added, speaking at a breakneck pace.
Gandolar laughed. "Hungry and wet? That will not do! Come, you shall join me around the hearth, and I shall bid you a proper welcome to Gullykin! Oh, this will be splendid!" he said, and beckoned them to follow.
Ember and Imoen shared amused glances and followed the rest of their friends into the halfling village.