Chapter 25: Follow the Water

Mæri led them into a small room with a table and a set of chairs in a corner near a bookcase. The wooden floor creaked under their weight, and the faded blue curtains blue in the wind as they entered. There was no rug or carpet, so the chairs screeched as they were pulled out from underneath the table.

"So," Mæri started, settling into her chair. "What do you wish to speak with me about?"

Rienna fidgeted nervously. "Well, I am looking for directions to the crystal caves. I hear you know where they are?" she said, phrasing it as a question.

Mæri eyed her doubtfully. "Why can't you ask a fairyeld guard?"

"Because she is working against them!" Mina burst in with confidence.

"What?" Rienna blurted. "I mean yes... in a way... but I can't let them discover I'm from Vieryen. They would take me back to the Kingdom, and I wouldn’t be able to do anything. And it's not like I am a rebel or anything!" she said in a rush. "I don't even know what I'll do when I'm there! I just think that I might learn something important if I go." What am I doing? her thoughts continued. How am I supposed to stop Sovereign Jenni? I don't know anything about anything! Her thoughts were racing so fast that she missed what Mæri said in response. "Huh?" she asked timidly.

"The caves. They are most easily reached through Bisha," Mæri repeated. "I will give you a map, but that's all. No transport. No extra materials. Only information. Trilliah cannot support a random stranger's wishes," she said bluntly. "Now, because of that, you must listen closely. They don't let just anyone into the caves. The lists they make are always of able-bodied adult men. You are not that. You may have to find another way in, if that is what you plan to do."

"Okay." Rienna attempted to commit the information to memory. "So, would you happen to know another way in?"

"I have an idea!" Mani said suddenly. "The rivers of Wertuv. One of the rivers goes into the caves." She smiled proudly.

Mæri nodded. "In that case, you should follow Prul Kand Luv to the other mining town: Lofun. It will bring you to the side of the caves closer to the river." She tapped the table with her wrinkled fingers and long nails that clacked loudly against the wood. "If you do not go by road, though, it will be a multi-day journey," she warned.

"That is alright." Rienna stroked Xia's head thoughtfully. "Are there dangers from going by road?"

"The fairyeld guards do not patrol the roads, but they are a common occurrence. Especially closer to the caves," Mæri explained.

"I will have to think about it," Rienna said slowly.

Mæri stood up. "That would be wise. I will see if I can find a map."

"Thank you for helping me," Rienna called out.

Mæri stopped and turned to face her. "Do not mistake me. It goes against my job as a counselor to send a small child into a dangerous mine. But you are from Vieryen, and even if you claim to go against the guards, I cannot risk refusing you."

Rienna was shocked by the elderly woman's sentiments. She was forced to wonder whether she had become spoiled by the helpfulness and kindness that everyone else had shown to her. Had they only been helping her because they were worried? No, she reassured herself. Måren wouldn't care about that, and Jen wouldn't either. She remained silent as Mæri walked away.

"I think you have a good cause and can be trusted," Mani offered.

"Thanks," Rienna said quietly. She smiled tiredly, and Xio bumped her hand reassuringly.

No one spoke again until Mæri came back with a map. She spread it across the table and pointed to a town in the upper right corner. "This is where we are. The caves are down here, and if you go down to Lofun, you would follow this river to try and find an entrance," she said, pointing to each respective location. "Do you understand?"

"Yes," Rienna said timidly.

"Good. Take the map. Be careful on your journey...and good luck," she added begrudgingly. She rolled the map up again and handed it to Rienna. "I would advise you to leave as soon as possible. Now, if you don't mind, I have work to do."

"Thanks," Rienna said before she could stop herself. "Sorry. Um... Have a good day," she said quickly, rushing out the door with Mani and the cats in tow.

Once they got back to the main village, she bid Mani farewell and found a shaded corner to examine the map. It looked like she could follow the lake like Mæri said, but that would be harder than going by the road. Then again, the lake-way looked a lot shorter, and Rienna knew she wanted to get to the caves as fast as possible.

She stood up. "We'll follow the lake and rest in Lofun before heading down to the caves." She looked around and then back down at the map. "If we follow... this road, we should be able to reach the lake pretty quickly." She pointed to a large dirt road going east. It was probably a little more crowded than the other roads, so they would have to be careful.

As they walked, Rienna kept her eyes down and steered away from the guards and pretended to be interested in various wares or wildflowers whenever someone looked at her for more than a second or two. The cats kept close to her ankles, and Rienna occasionally picked up one or both of them.

She noticed a villager looking at her strangely, and she rapidly made herself interested in a vendor selling jewelry. She kept silent, hoping the vendor himself wouldn't notice her being suspicious. There were mostly bracelets and necklaces made of polished wood beads, but there were a couple of pieces that included things like jade or even some pearls.

"Out of my way," a grouchy voice said from behind her. She was suddenly shoved aside by a large fairyeld guard with a gross and scruffy beard. She didn't know much about the fairyeld guard's rank system, but the man seemed to be of a higher rank than most due to the multitude of patches and metal pins attached to his arm sleeves.

"Sorry," Rienna mumbled, stepping out of the way.

"Hey!" the man said loudly, grabbing Rienna's sleeve. "What'd you say?"

Rienna felt her eyes widen. "I said 'sorry?'" She winced as the man gripped her wrist tightly.

"That's 'sorry, Sir,' to you, rat." His eyes bulged with unnecessary anger.

"Y-Yes. Of course, Sir. I'm sorry, Sir," Rienna stuttered.

The soldier dropped her arm and smirked. "That's right. Now go, you aren't the kind who could buy these wares anyway." He turned to the vendor, who had gone pale while watching the encounter.

Rienna took the opportunity to nod her head and then bolt down the road toward the docks. As soon as she could, she ducked behind a building to take a breath. How could the fairyeld guards be so terrible? She thought only the most loyal and noble guards worked as fairyeld, but it seemed like these guards were more self-interested than loyal. It made her head spin with doubt and anger.

Xia nudged her ankle comfortingly, mewing sweetly before turning around and walking down the street a bit. She stopped and looked back. She meowed loudly.

"Come on, Rienna. We have to get going or we may not make it to the next town," Xio said in explanation.

Rienna stood and shook herself off. "Right. Yes. Let's go."

They made their way to the docks, slowly and more carefully this time. Making sure to avoid vendors and merchants altogether, as well as staying away from the fairyeld guards. It was tedious, but they had been pretty close to their goal already and reached the lake shore in no time.

Rienna was in awe of the giant water feature. The water seemed to go out forever, its clear blue water sparkling in the late morning sun. Rienna was certain she had never seen so much water in her life.

Dozens of boats were speckled across the water, and even more were around the shoreline, preparing to go home or into the lake. Even more than that was the number of fish and other water creatures that were being brought back to the market. Rienna knew that this lake must be the town's main food supply. The only thing keeping them from submitting to starvation.

Even knowing that, she couldn't help but smile. The lake was so beautiful, and it seemed like the one place where the townsfolk felt safe enough to be happy. Obviously, the fairyeld guard had no interest in fishing or going out onto the lake. They probably didn't know how anyway. It's not like there was any similar place back at Vieryen.

They walked along the edge of the lake until they were no longer in the town, and the only boats they saw were far out on the lake or behind them at the docks. After that, they took a moment to eat a meager lunch and rest before continuing on their journey.

Rienna felt so free after trying so hard to go unnoticed while in Trilliah. With the lake to her left and shrub lands and wildflowers to her right, for a moment, everything was perfect. She was going to defeat the Crystal Sorceress, and she was going to stop the reign of the fairyeld guards. Anything was possible, everything was possible, and she couldn't help but smile.

Eventually, though, evening came and they started seeing clusters of boats ahead of them, a sign that they were entering the town of Lofun. They forced themselves to slink back into the shadows and remain on the outskirts of the crowds.

There were so many people gathered around the harbor that it was dizzying. It must have been because it was a good fishing time, though, because once Rienna and the cats got into the main town, there were almost no people whatsoever. There were failing houses and shabbier roads, and the streets were dead silent.

Fortunately, they were able to find an inn before nightfall. The innkeeper had given her a strange look, but paired with an excess of money and the fact that she was from Vieryen, he reluctantly gave her a room for the night.

They didn't leave the room until morning. They made sure to wake up early, as most of the customers were guards, and she didn't want to draw their attention. Rienna returned the key to the innkeeper, who offered her breakfast. She hastily declined and led the cats through the back alleys of the small town.

They received no trouble this time and were able to quickly get to the lake once again. They were surprised to find that the docks were just as busy as they were yesterday when they had been there last. Many people had risen early to start preparing for the day's work.

They stuck to the early morning shade and began following the edge of the lake again. According to the map, they wouldn't have to go far before finding a river that branched off from the lake and went south.

The farther away they got from Lofun, the taller the grass got. It must have rained during the night, because before long, Rienna was soaked from the waist down because of trudging through the grass.

Fortunately, the river soon came into sight. Water rushed out of the lake and into a two-meter-wide divot in the ground. The grass closest to the river was flattened or drowned, making it much easier for them all to walk once they got close to the water. By this point, Xio's fur had become completely soaked, and his fur was covered in various seeds and bits of dead grass. His mother was not in much better condition.

They had to be very careful. The ground they traveled on was slippery from the water, and the river was running so quickly that if they fell in, they would struggle to get out again.

As the sun reached its peak and the river began to widen, Rienna decided that they should stop for lunch. She flattened an area of dry grass that was a little bit away from the river and sat down with her bag next to her. Rildie had thankfully given them more rations to compensate for eating some of the ones that she'd first packed. Unfortunately, most of the said rations were vegetables.

The cats refused to eat anything other than meat, so she was forced to give them the little meat she could spare and eat the plants by herself. Trying not to absolutely hate the strange vegetables and fruits that Rildie had given her, she hurriedly shoved the food down her throat. Some of the fruits weren't actually that bad, but one of the veggies, called a blackwart, left a bitter residue in her mouth that ruined the rest of the meal. Maybe it was a prank on Rildie's part.

They continued along the river for the rest of the day. The river began to slow down, and eventually they felt safe enough to bathe and refill the water canister. Xia even miraculously managed to catch a fish. They didn't have fire, so the cats ate it on their own as an early dinner. Rienna was yet again jealous.

They didn't reach the caves until just after sunset. The lighting was poor, but with the river, one cave entrance was clear. There was the problem that the water seemed to be a few feet deep. In that zone, and was likely freezing cold. No matter where they looked, though, there didn't seem to be any other entrances nearby. Their light was quickly fading, and they were running out of time.

Suddenly, Rienna was struck by an idea. She called over to Xia and Xia. "Xia, do you think you could make me tight enough to float on the water?" she asked. "I'll still get wet, but it won't be that bad. Also, you guys could sit on my shoulders and not get into the water at all!"

Xio chatted with Xia for a moment. "Okay," he finally said. "Mom will make you light enough that you can sit on the water."

Rienna grabbed a hunk of grass as Xia worked her magic. She felt herself become lighter. Perhaps even lighter than she had been when they'd left Rufdand. Still holding the grass, she carefully sat down on the water.

It was cold. Colder than she had expected. She clenched her teeth and smiled warily at the cats. "Okay, I'm ready," she said forcefully.

Xio jumped to his regular spot on her shoulders, and Xia cautiously climbed into Rienna's remaining arm, eyeing the water worriedly. A bit of water rushed by, splashed upward, and hit Xia's tail. She dug her claws into Rienna's arm and hissed softly.

Rienna let go of the grass to hold Xia, surrendering herself to the current.

That was a mistake.

The water immediately pushed her forward towards the cave entrance. She was also very unbalanced, as it turned out, and was almost forced onto her back. She quickly grabbed another tuft of grass sticking into the river and barely stopped herself from soaking the pack and Xio. Xia growled loudly, and Xio let out a high-pitched squeak as he climbed up Rienna's hair onto her head. They had just barely managed not to hit the rocks of the cave entrance.

Slower this time, and only holding Xia with one hand, she grabbed another plant and let herself drift closer to the tunnel. Once she stopped moving forward, she grabbed another plant, and another, until she was at the tunnel itself. Then she moved her hand to the ceiling of the tunnel and slowly guided them into the darkness.

Rienna couldn't see anything. All she knew of what was around her was what she felt. The tunnel was small, especially since she was floating atop the water. Occasionally, she would slip because of algae growing on the rocks or just plain slipperiness caused by the water.

The river sped up around her, covering her legs with even more cold water. She struggled to hold onto the rocks around her as they approached a loud roaring noise.

Rienna had never heard a waterfall before, so she thought that there must be a monster up ahead. She realized how wrong she was once the roaring got to its loudest and the ground dropped out from underneath her. Or rather, the water did. But she didn't have time to think about that: she was falling through the darkness with not much idea of what lay below her.

She screamed as she fell. Seconds turned to minutes, and she screamed again as she felt Xio lose his grip on her head. She held Xia tightly and hoped that, against all odds, Xio would be okay.

Then the seconds really did turn to minutes. Yet they still didn't land. She stopped screaming for a moment and focused on her senses. There was no longer the feeling of wind rushing through her arms, and she no longer felt as though her stomach was fighting its way to her throat.

"Xia?" she whispered. "Are you doing this?" She leaned close so that Xia could hear her over the roaring water.

Xia let out a strained mew of affirmation. Rienna couldn't imagine what it was like for her to work her magic on others when she couldn't even see them.

She imagined herself slowly floating downwards towards the bottom of the waterfall. She stretched her legs down towards where she knew the water would be, ready to let Xia know when they reached the bottom.

It took a moment, but soon enough, her toes were dipped into the freezing water, soaking the tip of her shoe. "Xia!" she said, “We've hit the bottom. Could you move us to the side so we can be on dry ground?"

Xia meowed agreeably, and Rienna felt her toes dragging through the water. It took longer than she had expected to reach the edge of the river. She was worried that the river took a turn, and they were just following it.

Right when Rienna was about to tell her to go a different direction, she felt her foot hit solid ground. As she moved farther to the side, she carefully stepped down onto the rock floor. "Okay, we've hit the bank of the river," she told Xia.

She felt Xia's magic stop working as her normal body weight returned and her feet settled onto the ground.

"Look out below!" Xio squealed from above her head.

Startled, Rienna looked upwards... just in time for Xio to land claws first on her face. "Gah!" she yelled, her voice echoing through the cavern. She cringed as she was reminded of the shoocan incident.

Xio crawled onto Rienna's shoulder and from there, to the floor. "Sorry. I told you to look out."

Rienna set Xia slowly onto the ground. She was breathing heavily from the magic exertion and seemed relieved to be on solid ground again next to her son.

Rienna chose not to take the argument any further. "Can you guys see at all down here?" she asked.

There was a moment before Xio answered. "Hardly," he said. "Only shapes of somes rocks. Also, there is somes waters."

"I thought cats were able to see in the dark!?"

"Hey! I can see a small bit! Just not a lot..." Xio said defensively.

Rienna rolled her eyes, though she knew no one could see her. "How about an okay spot to rest until daylight?" she suggested. Squinting, she tried to see the outline of any rock or river edge. There was nothing. All she knew was the ground below her and the sound of the waterfall to her right.

She heard Xio pad around, sniffing. His paw-steps grew quieter as he got farther away, causing Rienna to worry. "Here!" he called out from the darkness. "This spot seems very dry enough."

"Okay! I'm coming!" Rienna cautiously made her way towards Xio's voice, testing the ground in front of her as she went. She did not want to slip on the rocks and fall flat on her face.

Once Xio called out to her to stop, she slowly lowered herself to the ground. She shouldered off her backpack and set it next to them. It was a little damp, but otherwise no worse for wear. She blindly shifted the contents around and leaned back against the bag. She didn't know how long it would be before the sun reached the cave, but she hoped it would be morning. If not, it could be almost twenty-four hours before she could do anything, and she wasn't sure she was prepared to wait that long.