Day 5 - Scene 4

The path wound it's way up the hillside again, in the space between the stream and the wall of trees. High above, the mid-morning sun warmed the treetops, but down on the ground, cool shade still lingered.

Eventually the wall ended, and the light it had blocked off filled the forest with life and color. Enar stepped out of the shadows, past the wall, and into the sun.

He turned right and looked out over the Storvak Gardens.

The million living greens of spring welcomed him and his heart beat a little faster. He forgot to breathe as his eyes drank in the view. Level after level of terraced lawn spread out before him, all the way down to the water's edge.

The entire layout of the garden – paths and flowerbeds, canals and waterfalls, even the curving of the terraces themselves – centered on a small island just off the edge of the lake. That must be where the shrine was. Every line in the entire garden pulled his eyes to that one point. A small white bridge connected the island with the garden itself, and where the bridge met land, paths lead out in all directions.

He must go there.

Enar blinked and remembered to breathe.

With the breath came the smells and maybe, just maybe, he ought to sit down and take it easy before it all got to his head and he fell over. He closed his eyes and let the flowers fill his nose and mind – more numerous than he could ever know or name. If he died here, he'd die happy.

He opened his eyes again, put his hands on his hips and shook his head. Definitely worth the walk. He'd move out here, become a gardener and live happily ever after.

“First time here?” came a woman's voice from somewhere to his right.

“Yes.” He nodded, but didn't take his eyes off the view. The voice had held no urgency.

“I'm glad you made it. It'll do you good.”

He nodded again. “Yes. Yes, I think it will.”

Enar turned to look at the woman. Tall and round, with her head shaved clean, and dressed in a blue monk's robe she stood on her knees by a flowerbed a little to his side.

She raised a hand and waved at him. “Welcome to Storvak. I'm Lilac.”

“Good morning Lilac. I'm Enar. Enar Ryebloom.” He bowed his head. “I'm happy to be here. Thank you for the welcome.”

“Everyone's welcome here. You just have to find your way.” She smiled up at him from where she sat; hands covered with dirt, and a wickerwork basket full of weeds at her side.

“I just wish I'd come earlier. It's so beautiful here.”

“Finding a reason is part of finding the way. What's yours?”

“My reason? Well...” Enar's cheek warmed a little. “Actually, I'm looking for someone – her name's Amanda. Red hair... very red. She's supposed to be staying here.”

“Is that so...” Lilac looked at him and nodded. “Is that so...”

“Yes... do you know if she's here?”

“No Enar, I don't know if she's here.” She groaned and got to her feet. “But if you come with me I'll take you to the Storvaks themselves. They'll know.”

As she walked around the flowerbed and approached him he realized she was older than he'd first thought – by decades. Her skin had been worn rough by weather and wind, but her smile still held joy and energy. Enar looked up at her. She stood nearly a head taller than him, and broader of shoulder too.

“Thank you,” he said.

“Don't mention it. I was hoping for an excuse to stretch these old legs anyway. You saved me making something up.” She started walking, and waved for him to follow. “Come.”

The path cut straight through the garden, like a giant stair with the terraces as steps, all the way down to the little white bridge by the water. With each terrace they reached, the path changed. At the top, it had been a plain gravel path through tightly trimmed grass. The next level down, the path was paved with flat rocks, and after that wooden slats carried them over a bed of thorns and roses.

All around them the garden basked in the late morning sun. Full of life and color. You could almost hear it growing.

“It's very beautiful here isn't it?” said Enar.

“Yes, it is. But then the Storvaks have been tinkering with it for generations. They're not half bad at either.”

“It is a family thing then? I wasn't quite sure.”

“Well, mostly, but not always. If there aren't any sons or daughters to take over Gardenership, the villages will get together and appoint a new Storvak.

“New Storvak? I thought it was a name. It's a title of some kind then?

“It's both actually.” She smiled down at him. “I don't know if you noticed, but people out here don't have family names – not like you do in the city.”

“Oh...” Enar blushed. He'd completely missed that. “I thought that was just the way people were out here, not holding with formality or something, you know.”

Lilac laughed and let him mull it over for a bit.

He'd just assumed. How could they not have family names? Was that even legal?

“It's your first time here isn't it?”

“Yes. I arrived here on Feastday. In the evening. Just been here a few days.”

“I see.” She nodded. “Don't worry about the names then. It's a local thing. They like their old traditions out here.”

Enar nodded. “I've noticed. Beired, the matron in the burrow I'm staying in, always goes on about the secrets of the hillsides, as she calls it.”

“Beired? But she lives up in Hyardum?” Lilac raised an eyebrow. “You've been up early this morning if you've come all the way from there already.”

“Aye, indeed.” He tried not to puff out his chest too much. “I didn't know if Amanda had anywhere to be today, so I was hoping to get here before she left.”

“Well, she comes and goes as she wants, but if she's left I'm sure Barry or Chocaline will know when she's expected back.”

“They are the Storvaks? Beired mentioned Chocaline last night.”

“That's them. Watch your step here.”

They'd reached a terrace covered entirely in shallow water. Tiny buds of something that might be lotuses poked through the surface, and more still came up from beneath.

Lilac pointed at rocks that had been laid out as stepping stones. “These can be a bit wobbly.”

“Oh, okay. I'll be careful.”

“They're good folks. Barry can be a bit grumpy, but he barks worse than he bites.” She lifted up the hem of her robes and skipped from stone to stone, all the way over to the outer side of the terrace.

Enar's mouth fell open. No way he could skip like that, and she was probably almost twice his age. He stared at the stones. Or could he? Big woman, her age. How hard could it be? The first stone lay solid and unmoving under his foot when he put his weight on it and he moved his free foot over to the next one. Perhaps? It'd be fun.

Perhaps he'd walk around in wet jeans the rest of the day. He'd crush the little lotuses too – if that's what they were.

Eventually, and at a sensible pace, he made it across to Lilac on the other side. A low wall, just a few inches high, ran along the edge of the terrace and kept the water from flowing down to the level below – except where it was meant to.

“They felt solid enough to me,” said Enar.

“One of them moved this morning, but perhaps it's settled now.”

Enar raised an eyebrow at her. “The stones move?”

“Well, not the stones themselves, but roots like to crawl in under them and then they can get a little unsteady.

“I see... They grow quickly I take it? Some kind of lotus?”

Lilac shrugged. “I think they're backahasts, but that's close enough to make no difference for us mere mortals. Don't ask the Storvaks. They'll talk your ears off – and that's if you're lucky.” She smiled and stepped down the little stairs to the next level; a neatly trimmed lawn, crossed at regular intervals by narrow canals.

“Heh... and what if I'm unlucky?”

“Then they will start to argue about it. They're good people, but neither of them can handle being wrong – especially about gardening.”

“Got it.” He nodded. “I knew a few people like that too.”

“I'm sure we all do. I'm sure we all have a little of that in us.”

They stopped next to a group of blackcurrant shrubs. To the side stood an old wheelbarrow, filled with moist, black, soil.

“Hey! Barry!” Lilac raised her hand and waved. “You have a guest!”

The bushes rustled and a mop of grey hair emerged above the leaves, looking away from them. “No work, no food!” The head turned left and right and eventually all the way around to face them. “There you are girl. Who did you bring this time?”

Lilac reached out her arm to point. “Barry, this is Enar. He's here to see Amanda.”

“What!” Barry's eyes bore into Enar. “What do you want with her?”

“Err...” Enar's face grew warm. “She's got something that's mine.”

“What!” Barry started making his way out of the shrubs. “Are you saying my granddaughter is a thief?”

“No no. Of course not.” He fidgeted and sweat broke out on his forehead. “I gave it to her.”

“Then it's not yours anymore, is it?”

“Well...” He stuttered. “It wasn't a gift. I... I put it on her cart for safekeeping.”

Barry steppe out on the path and came up to stare at Enar. He put his chin out and his hands on his hips. “Go on. I'm listening.” The angry old man smelled of freshly dug soil, blackcurrant, and – underneath it all – of years upon years of pipe.

Enar squirmed, but didn't step back. He swallowed and looked Barry straight in the eye. “I forgot to bring it with me when we parted. So now I'm here to see about trying to get it back.”

Barry snorted. He reached out a dirty finger and poked Enar in the chest. “Well lad. You'll just have to wait. Amanda said nothing about no thing on her cart some outsider forgot. She'll be back later. You can talk to her then.”

“When...” Enar's knees rattled. He cleared his throat and shifted his legs. “Excuse me. Do you know when she'll be back?”

“I said later, didn't I?” He turned and headed back to the blackcurrants. “Lilac will show you what to do. No work, no food.”

They watched Barry disappear into the bushes again. When he was out of sight, Lilac motioned for Enar to follow her, and together they started back the way they'd come.

“I must say, you handled that quite well,” said Lilac after a while – the blackcurrants well out of earshot.

“You think? My legs were shaking so much I could barely stand.”

“You did fine Enar. Barry's not an easy one to deal with when you don't know him.”

“Heh, yeah... I noticed.”

“Don't worry. You stood your ground and didn't back down. That matters.” She put a big, friendly, hand on his shoulder and squeezed, just like Rolf did.

Enar nodded. He hadn't felt very tough with Barry bearing down on him like that, but then he rarely did. She was right though; he hadn't backed away, and that was kind of cool. Maybe he was growing a bit of a spine. He puffed up his chest and walked a little straighter.

A little while later they arrived back at the flowerbed Lilac had been weeding when Enar first stepped into the gardens.

“Here we are again,” she said. “I was almost done with this one when you showed up. You can start on that one.” Lilac pointed at the next one over. “I'll come join you once I've cleared out the rest here.”

“Okay, sure. What exactly are we doing? Just weeding in general?”

“Oh, yes – nothing fancy, just weeding.” She smiled down at him. “You know how to do that, right?”

Enar frowned. “Of course.” He may be from the city, but he did have some culture. “I always used to take my mom to the park on the weekends, before...” His mom would have liked this garden. She'd have been proud to see him tending it.

“Bad things?”

“Cancer...”

Lilac hummed and nodded. Enar stared at the ground.

“You should go visit the shrine after lunch Enar. It's a good place.”

“Yes.” He chewed on his lip. “If I have time...”

“Of course you do. It's your vacation isn't it?” Lilac smiled down at him; a warm, round, smile.

“I'm sure it would do me good, but Rolf needs his toolbox back this afternoon.” Enar sighed. “As soon as Amanda returns I'll grab it and head back.”

“Ah, that's what you forgot on the cart. I can see how you'd want to bring that back.”

“Yes. He was meant to help out with some repairs at the inn, but without his toolbox he can't really do that.”

“He can't now, can he?” Lilac chuckled and shook her head. “I'm sorry Enar, but that's the silliest thing I've heard all week.”

“What?”

“Have you ever heard the saying 'A man likes his tools, but he's not much of a man if he can't deal without them.'” Lilac asked.

“Yes, but I thought...” His cheeks flared up in heat.

Lilac laughed. “Ah, yes. In the city these days you'd be right, but back in the day, and out here, there's more to it than that.”

“Oh... I see...”

“Did you ever look inside the toolbox?”

“Yes, why?”

“Did you see anything in there out of the ordinary? Something you wouldn't expect to see in a toolbox?”

“No, not really. Not that I noticed.”

“There you go then. He'll want his toolbox back of course, but it's not like he won't be able to make do without it. They've got tools aplenty at the inn.”

Enar nodded to himself. The thought had occurred to him, but it had seemed so important to Rolf to get the toolbox back as soon as possible. “Yes... I guess you're right.”

Lilac smiled down at him again. “Don't worry too much about it. Either way it's not like you can do anything before Amanda gets back anyway. If you really don't want to visit the shrine, I won't force you, but know that you'll be missing out.”

“No no, I want to go. It's just, you know...”

“I know,” she sighed. “You do as you wish of course. I just think you ought to take the opportunity when it presents itself. Who knows when you'll be here again.”

“Right...” He nodded.

“There's plenty of weeding to be done before lunch still, so at least think about it. That's my official advice as a flower.”

“I will. Promise.” He turned to look at the little island down in the lake.

What was up with all the holy sites out here anyway? He'd been to two already and a third one lay within sight, down there. He should ask about that. Back home they only had the Cathedral of Telos, and that wasn't even Anna's.

Then again, Kul Viller was an almost entirely human city, with only a very small anfylk population. The city even had more elves than fylkin.

Enar sighed to himself. If Amanda wasn't back by the time they'd eaten he'd go visit the shrine. Maybe he could have a post-lunch nap there. That would be a great way to show his goddess he'd enjoyed his time out here.

When he turned back to tell Lilac he'd made up his mind he found she was already on her knees tearing away at the weeds among the flowers. He stood still and looked at her working for a moment; a big, friendly, old woman. He hadn't met many monks in his life. Maybe he should try to change that – too.

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Continued in Day 5 - Scene 4 - Part 2.

Back to Enar's Vacation.