“Yes.” She stops at the base of the tree.
“Where did it come from?”
“They say that Krateus Izydor planted this tree to represent his life,” Rowena explains. “And when it speaks to you, it’s Krateus who speaks.” She pulls a strip of ribbon from her sleeve, her fingers trailing over the small handwriting on the fabric. Then, she reaches up and ties it to one of the branches.
Rowena kneels, pressing one hand on a tree root and the other over her heart. She bows her head and closes her eyes. Her lips move in a silent prayer, but I can’t hear what she’s saying. With a deep breath, she opens her eyes and stands, returning to my side.
“Oh no!” She gasps. “I completely forgot to tell you to bring an offering!” Rowena frantically scans the space around her. “Does anyone have a spare piece of parchment?” she calls out to the crowd.
“I do,” someone says in return.
She rushes off, speaking in hushed tones to an Elvarran before returning with a bottle of ink and a small parchment. “Many people write their offerings and place them inside one of the hollows.”
“Thank you.” I bend down, using my knee to write as Rowena holds the ink bottle for me.
Dear Eldertree,
Please reconnect me with enough of my mother'smagic so I may open her journal. I miss her more with every passing year, her absence a wound that refuses to heal. Guide me. What path am I supposed to take?
- R
Once I finish writing, Rowena dashes off to return the ink to the man who lent it to us. Folding the paper a few times, I close my fingertips around it and press the parchment into my palm. I try to commit the words into my skin before reaching up on my toes and dropping them into one of the tree hollows.
I press my palm against the tree trunk, feeling the cool bark under my skin as I close my eyes. Instead of praying to Itheon, I try to speak to the tree, feeling the magic flowing beneath the surface.
“Receive my humble petition and bestow upon me the Eldertree’s blessings and share in her bounty if I am worthy,” I whisper.
Not even a heartbeat later, the tree whispers back to me. “Long live the queen…”
I gasp, my eyes flying open as silver wraps around my right hand and surges into me. I feel the Eldertree’s magic flow into my fingertips and up my arm. A light erupts from my palm as I pull away in shock. The tree branches quiver, as if they’ve caught a chill. Every Elvarran falls silent around me, the weight of their stares pressing against my skin, heavy with disdain. A hand wraps around my wrist and pulls me away from the tree.
“Time to go!” Rowena’s cheerful voice cuts through the silence as she guides me back to the busy streets.
“Ro, what happened?” I say in a hushed tone as we disappear into the crowd.
“The Eldertree spoke to you.” Rowena smiles. “It used to speak to all of us before the curse. So you’ll have to forgive everyone for being a little surprised.”
“Is that a bad thing?” Worry fills me. “Did I take it away from someone who needed it?”
“Don’t be silly! The tree thought you needed it.” Rowena stops at a booth and hands two bronze coins over to a merchant. “Elvarrans love connecting with nature, protecting it, and finding solace in it. Before the curse, we could communicate directly with trees, rivers, and mountains.”
“You can talk to a mountain?” I blink in confusion. “What does it say?”
Rowena laughs. “It doesn’t saywords, silly. You would connect your magic to nature and feel it flow back to you. Since we draw our magic from the earth to wield, we sometimes give it back in thanks.”
The vendor passes us two wooden sticks coated in brightly colored candy. I have never seen a sweet like this back home. It is slightly jagged and hard to the touch.
“Try it!” Rowena urges me, already chewing.
Taking a bite, I chew the hard candy as it slowly dissolves into a sweet liquid. It assaults my senses, causing my left eye to twitch and water up. I cough, trying to clear the sensation, but the sweetness persists.
“See!” Rowena exclaims, taking another bite. “It’s the one I was telling you about! It makes your eyes water,” she says with her mouth full.
“It’s quite sweet.” I swallow the candy, shaking my head. “Gods, I need something to wash that down.”
“Come on! We’ll get some wine,” she loops her arm through mine, pulling me along.
I watch in awe as Rowena wolfs down her entire candy by the time we make it back to the main road. We circle thecorner and cross under the lanterns, stopping at a booth that sells wine. Before Rowena can pay, I pass the merchant two bronze coins.
