Many Meetings
Boundaries of Mirkwood
Chapter 9
"Many Meetings"
Niobe wasn’t exactly sure where the tree-light voices were leading her. The sensation was a hypnotizing, rhythmic, flowing stream; she allowed the current to lead her on. Night fell over the wood. Perhaps it was never light very long in these woods.
More and more she sensed ripples of darkness; electric-static blotches between the trees. It was hard to describe them aside from the bad feeling emanating from their vicinity. The anomalies were far off and didn’t concern her. At least, not for the moment.
Light shone ahead. Real light. Not some illusion in her head, but the gentle flicker of firelight. It lay directly in her path and she wondered why she hadn’t noticed it earlier. Part of her wondered if the invisible darkness she saw with her mind was actually absorbing the light residing in the physical.
Closing her eyes, she drifted through her own being, trying to find the means to reciprocate conversation with the tree-light voices. Touching the flow, she breathed a ‘thank you’ which was released in a ripple.
Immediately, a tremor went through the light; the trees felt it, and this seemed to please them immensely. With each step she took toward the camp by the bank, it became easier and easier to tune out the voices of the trees. Instead, she honed in on another signal. One that seemed friendly and human.
Still, she was taken off guard by what she found.
Abigail, who’d spent the past hour or so experimenting with her wand (attempting to turn pebbles into peanuts, to no avail), heard Niobe coming. Inwardly, she was thankful she’d at least slipped on her tank top and wasn’t completely in her underwear. Startled and wary, she stood alert with her wand trained on the intruder.
“It’s alright.” Niobe held up her hands, noticing the wet clothes hanging to dry and the fact the other girl’s stick was being wielded like a weapon. “I saw your firelight and mean no intrusion. As I seem to have taken a stumble into the river myself, I’d appreciate the chance to use your fire.”
“Who are you?” Abigail demanded, hoping she sounded a good deal more menacing than she felt.
“I am Niobe Night Watson.” Niobe sensed no ill intension from the other woman, and no reason not to speak the truth.
“Abigail Williams. Where am I?”
Niobe’s brow creased. It was possible this other girl suffered the same odd journey through the water. Both were wet and on edge. “I am not sure, my friend. Last I knew, before I woke here, I’d fallen from a ferry into a loch. A good friend and I were on our way to St. Andrews, in Scotland.” Softly, with her eyes downcast she added, “I thought I’d died.”
Abigail lowered her wand, not quite sure if it was all that astonishing another woman had experienced the same odd transformation as she.
“Now I find myself. . .sensing the trees, the flickering shadows just beyond my vision. I sensed you were trustworthy by your light.”
“My light?”
Niobe came closer to the fire. The once tense situation between them was easing into curious cordiality. “There is light, or its absence around everything. It is strange, and to be honest, a bit frightening. I could never feel anything remotely like this back on Earth.”
“What do you mean?” Abigail hurried over, dropping her suspicion of the stranger just as suddenly as it’d come, thinking of her own remarkable transformation. “You don’t think we’re on Earth anymore?”
“It doesn’t feel the same. . .do you not sense it?” She smiled at her own cryptic words; words she wasn’t even sure if she understood. Rather, they felt right. “Though I know I’m not making any sense of my oddly acquired talents.”
Abigail’s face lit up. “Oh, no! I understand perfectly. One moment I lost my balance climbing a tree. Next thing I know, I’m lying just over there on the shore. Soaked to the bone, which, well, explains my current state of undress though you probably guessed that.” It was then it occurred to her she was being rather thoughtless. “But come here, over by the fire. You can lay your coat to dry over on that log; it doesn’t touch the ground. Hopefully everything will be dry by morning. You must be freezing.”
Niobe stifled a giggle, thinking the half-naked, ranting, doting girl quite endearing. She removed Gabatu over her head.
“Is that a violin or viola?” Abigail asked curiously.
“Violin. Her name is Gabatu.”
“You’ve named her? She must be quite special to you. Oh, don’t mind that, go ahead, put your coat over there and we’ll see if the water did any damage to Gabatu. Wood instruments tend to warp; a good friend of mine plays the cello. Girl’s obsessed with the thing, cried her eyes out when she accidentally tripped on the hem of her concert dress and nicked it. You looked dressed for a performance as well.”
“I am. Or I was.” Niobe shrugged off her coat, warming up to the stranger even more. Knowledge of strings was always a plus in her book. Besides, Niobe could feel a rush of exuberance radiating from Abigail’s light as she discovered Niobe was a musician.
The blonde sat before the fire and opened the case. “Excellent. Still dry.”
“You don’t plan to use it for fire wood, do you?”
Abigail look up, scandalized and drawing the instrument away from the fire. “Of course not! I wouldn’t even. . .” Then paused. “You were kidding.”
“Yes.” Niobe chuckled lightly, but at the sight of Abigail’s irritated face, she added, “You don’t have anything to eat do you?”
“Sorry, I’m afraid not.” Abigail shut the case as Niobe joined her by the fire and untied her shoes. “I landed here with my bag, bike, and the clothes on my back. And this stick too.”
Because of the way Abigail spoke of the stick, Niobe felt inclined to investigate further. Sending a tentative wave of light over it, she was startled to sense a surge of power emanating from the stick.
“What is it?” Abigail crouched down, eyes darting around the dark woods to their right as she mistook Niobe’s surprise for some creature (like those horrible thestrals) about to pounce on her.
“Your stick; what is it?” Niobe demanded.
“This?” Abigail didn’t notice Niobe’s serious tone. “Well, I suspect it’s a wand. I broke it off the tree I fell from back on Earth, and I still clung to it here.” She blushed slightly. “I threw a bit of a tantrum and the most remarkable think happened; sparks came out one end.”
Niobe’s eyes narrowed.
“Don’t give me that look. I know it sounds preposterous, but honestly, it’s how I started this fire. See here, I worked out how to levitate pebbles.” She raised her wand. “Wingardium Leviosa.”
A tiny pebble lifted into the air. Niobe felt the magic’s power in the air causing tremors in the light. There was no denying what she saw with her own eyes and ceased doubting Abigail further. After all, she was the one hearing trees talk.
“Before you came by I was trying to transfigure the pebbles into peanuts, as I’m rather hungry, but I haven’t quite got the hang of it.”
“Could you do this before, on Earth?”
“Of course I bloody well couldn’t! I was normal; at university in Wellington.”
“Wellington?”
“Right, New Zeland. You know, I have a theory about all this.”
“About how we got here?”
“Yes.”
Niobe settled in closer to the fire as did Abigail.
“You see, when I was a girl, I was absolutely mad about Harry Potter.”
Niobe chuckled.
“You laugh! But don’t you see? This is a holly wand, and it’s the same spells from the books make magic happen. The forest, well, it’s creepy and magical, which is enough cause for me to think
we’re in a book."
Niobe felt a tremor flutter through her consciousness at Abigail’s words, and yet it didn’t quite ring true. She remained incredulous. “Harry Potter?”
“It fits.”
“It does not explain how I came to be here. How my own powers do not equate with yours.”
“They don’t?”
Niobe explained serenely. “The woods are magic, but it is a natural kind of energy. It’s as though I sense things through. . .the best way I can describe it is light. Energy.” Her grin deepened. “Like a jedi, you know?”
Both girls giggled heartily at the implausibility of it all. Abigail sighed, resigning her thoughts. “It’d be rather exciting to be a witch, but I guess that’s a bit fanciful. To think one can end up in a book!”
Niobe felt the same slight, uncomfortable tremor result from the other’s words; it was ominous and dark. Abigail herself appeared oblivious to what Niobe sensed.
“We should discount nothing. After all, we seem to be dead and living all at once. Perhaps this is what lies ahead after we move on.” Her death reminded Niobe of William, and his intangible memory pained her.
“You think we’re dead?” Abigail whispered uncomfortably.
“Perhaps. Perhaps not. Suppose this is a dream; I lie unconscious and you are not real.”
“Or you are not.” Abigail blinked thoughtfully, staring at Niobe’s face. “It’s none of my business, but those are the most intriguing contacts I’ve ever seen.”
Niobe frowned at this, but before she could question Abigail, a dark tremor rippled through the dim light of the trees, darker than the general oppressive cloud hanging over the woods. Her eyes darted to the dark shade in the foliage creeping towards them, silent in its movement. There may have been more shades behind it.
Abigail lowered herself closer to the ground slowly, and whispered, “What is it?”
Niobe wordlessly mouthed shadow.
Chapter 9
"Many Meetings"
Niobe wasn’t exactly sure where the tree-light voices were leading her. The sensation was a hypnotizing, rhythmic, flowing stream; she allowed the current to lead her on. Night fell over the wood. Perhaps it was never light very long in these woods.
More and more she sensed ripples of darkness; electric-static blotches between the trees. It was hard to describe them aside from the bad feeling emanating from their vicinity. The anomalies were far off and didn’t concern her. At least, not for the moment.
Light shone ahead. Real light. Not some illusion in her head, but the gentle flicker of firelight. It lay directly in her path and she wondered why she hadn’t noticed it earlier. Part of her wondered if the invisible darkness she saw with her mind was actually absorbing the light residing in the physical.
Closing her eyes, she drifted through her own being, trying to find the means to reciprocate conversation with the tree-light voices. Touching the flow, she breathed a ‘thank you’ which was released in a ripple.
Immediately, a tremor went through the light; the trees felt it, and this seemed to please them immensely. With each step she took toward the camp by the bank, it became easier and easier to tune out the voices of the trees. Instead, she honed in on another signal. One that seemed friendly and human.
Still, she was taken off guard by what she found.
Abigail, who’d spent the past hour or so experimenting with her wand (attempting to turn pebbles into peanuts, to no avail), heard Niobe coming. Inwardly, she was thankful she’d at least slipped on her tank top and wasn’t completely in her underwear. Startled and wary, she stood alert with her wand trained on the intruder.
“It’s alright.” Niobe held up her hands, noticing the wet clothes hanging to dry and the fact the other girl’s stick was being wielded like a weapon. “I saw your firelight and mean no intrusion. As I seem to have taken a stumble into the river myself, I’d appreciate the chance to use your fire.”
“Who are you?” Abigail demanded, hoping she sounded a good deal more menacing than she felt.
“I am Niobe Night Watson.” Niobe sensed no ill intension from the other woman, and no reason not to speak the truth.
“Abigail Williams. Where am I?”
Niobe’s brow creased. It was possible this other girl suffered the same odd journey through the water. Both were wet and on edge. “I am not sure, my friend. Last I knew, before I woke here, I’d fallen from a ferry into a loch. A good friend and I were on our way to St. Andrews, in Scotland.” Softly, with her eyes downcast she added, “I thought I’d died.”
Abigail lowered her wand, not quite sure if it was all that astonishing another woman had experienced the same odd transformation as she.
“Now I find myself. . .sensing the trees, the flickering shadows just beyond my vision. I sensed you were trustworthy by your light.”
“My light?”
Niobe came closer to the fire. The once tense situation between them was easing into curious cordiality. “There is light, or its absence around everything. It is strange, and to be honest, a bit frightening. I could never feel anything remotely like this back on Earth.”
“What do you mean?” Abigail hurried over, dropping her suspicion of the stranger just as suddenly as it’d come, thinking of her own remarkable transformation. “You don’t think we’re on Earth anymore?”
“It doesn’t feel the same. . .do you not sense it?” She smiled at her own cryptic words; words she wasn’t even sure if she understood. Rather, they felt right. “Though I know I’m not making any sense of my oddly acquired talents.”
Abigail’s face lit up. “Oh, no! I understand perfectly. One moment I lost my balance climbing a tree. Next thing I know, I’m lying just over there on the shore. Soaked to the bone, which, well, explains my current state of undress though you probably guessed that.” It was then it occurred to her she was being rather thoughtless. “But come here, over by the fire. You can lay your coat to dry over on that log; it doesn’t touch the ground. Hopefully everything will be dry by morning. You must be freezing.”
Niobe stifled a giggle, thinking the half-naked, ranting, doting girl quite endearing. She removed Gabatu over her head.
“Is that a violin or viola?” Abigail asked curiously.
“Violin. Her name is Gabatu.”
“You’ve named her? She must be quite special to you. Oh, don’t mind that, go ahead, put your coat over there and we’ll see if the water did any damage to Gabatu. Wood instruments tend to warp; a good friend of mine plays the cello. Girl’s obsessed with the thing, cried her eyes out when she accidentally tripped on the hem of her concert dress and nicked it. You looked dressed for a performance as well.”
“I am. Or I was.” Niobe shrugged off her coat, warming up to the stranger even more. Knowledge of strings was always a plus in her book. Besides, Niobe could feel a rush of exuberance radiating from Abigail’s light as she discovered Niobe was a musician.
The blonde sat before the fire and opened the case. “Excellent. Still dry.”
“You don’t plan to use it for fire wood, do you?”
Abigail look up, scandalized and drawing the instrument away from the fire. “Of course not! I wouldn’t even. . .” Then paused. “You were kidding.”
“Yes.” Niobe chuckled lightly, but at the sight of Abigail’s irritated face, she added, “You don’t have anything to eat do you?”
“Sorry, I’m afraid not.” Abigail shut the case as Niobe joined her by the fire and untied her shoes. “I landed here with my bag, bike, and the clothes on my back. And this stick too.”
Because of the way Abigail spoke of the stick, Niobe felt inclined to investigate further. Sending a tentative wave of light over it, she was startled to sense a surge of power emanating from the stick.
“What is it?” Abigail crouched down, eyes darting around the dark woods to their right as she mistook Niobe’s surprise for some creature (like those horrible thestrals) about to pounce on her.
“Your stick; what is it?” Niobe demanded.
“This?” Abigail didn’t notice Niobe’s serious tone. “Well, I suspect it’s a wand. I broke it off the tree I fell from back on Earth, and I still clung to it here.” She blushed slightly. “I threw a bit of a tantrum and the most remarkable think happened; sparks came out one end.”
Niobe’s eyes narrowed.
“Don’t give me that look. I know it sounds preposterous, but honestly, it’s how I started this fire. See here, I worked out how to levitate pebbles.” She raised her wand. “Wingardium Leviosa.”
A tiny pebble lifted into the air. Niobe felt the magic’s power in the air causing tremors in the light. There was no denying what she saw with her own eyes and ceased doubting Abigail further. After all, she was the one hearing trees talk.
“Before you came by I was trying to transfigure the pebbles into peanuts, as I’m rather hungry, but I haven’t quite got the hang of it.”
“Could you do this before, on Earth?”
“Of course I bloody well couldn’t! I was normal; at university in Wellington.”
“Wellington?”
“Right, New Zeland. You know, I have a theory about all this.”
“About how we got here?”
“Yes.”
Niobe settled in closer to the fire as did Abigail.
“You see, when I was a girl, I was absolutely mad about Harry Potter.”
Niobe chuckled.
“You laugh! But don’t you see? This is a holly wand, and it’s the same spells from the books make magic happen. The forest, well, it’s creepy and magical, which is enough cause for me to think
we’re in a book."
Niobe felt a tremor flutter through her consciousness at Abigail’s words, and yet it didn’t quite ring true. She remained incredulous. “Harry Potter?”
“It fits.”
“It does not explain how I came to be here. How my own powers do not equate with yours.”
“They don’t?”
Niobe explained serenely. “The woods are magic, but it is a natural kind of energy. It’s as though I sense things through. . .the best way I can describe it is light. Energy.” Her grin deepened. “Like a jedi, you know?”
Both girls giggled heartily at the implausibility of it all. Abigail sighed, resigning her thoughts. “It’d be rather exciting to be a witch, but I guess that’s a bit fanciful. To think one can end up in a book!”
Niobe felt the same slight, uncomfortable tremor result from the other’s words; it was ominous and dark. Abigail herself appeared oblivious to what Niobe sensed.
“We should discount nothing. After all, we seem to be dead and living all at once. Perhaps this is what lies ahead after we move on.” Her death reminded Niobe of William, and his intangible memory pained her.
“You think we’re dead?” Abigail whispered uncomfortably.
“Perhaps. Perhaps not. Suppose this is a dream; I lie unconscious and you are not real.”
“Or you are not.” Abigail blinked thoughtfully, staring at Niobe’s face. “It’s none of my business, but those are the most intriguing contacts I’ve ever seen.”
Niobe frowned at this, but before she could question Abigail, a dark tremor rippled through the dim light of the trees, darker than the general oppressive cloud hanging over the woods. Her eyes darted to the dark shade in the foliage creeping towards them, silent in its movement. There may have been more shades behind it.
Abigail lowered herself closer to the ground slowly, and whispered, “What is it?”
Niobe wordlessly mouthed shadow.
Subtitles
- Darkness and Starlight
- Abigail of Wellington
- Niobe of St. Andrews
- Arielle of Cedar Brook
- Yumiko of Shinjuku
- The Banks of River Running
- Stiff and Stark
- Screams in the Dark
- The Red Bird
- Many Meetings
- Night Fight
- Yumiko's New Friend
- A Mind of One's Own
- Running in Circles
- The Price for Revenge
- The Coming Night
- It Speaks English!
- Fragile Things: I
- Lull