CH2
It is now 2 years later:
Rikki had just gotten back from London, Zoological Society of London (London Zoo) and had no sooner than gotten through US Customs with her bags headed for ground transportation when her cell phone rang.
Rikki moaned that she had been stupid enough to turn it on after landing. Still her life's work came first so if she needed to turn around and go somewhere else she would make arrangements. Elka would kill her, but she would live.
The caller ID however showed it was her publisher. It still got Rikki to groan, Gina was good at her job, even if it was like talking to a giant iceberg. "Hello Gina, to what do I owe the pleasure of your voice?" Rikki answered the call.
"No I can't come into your office today, I just made it to the airport after coming back from London, it will have to be another day." Rikki wanted to go home and rescue Elka.
"Because I have a day job and the London Zoo needed my help. Next week or even next month it may be Berlin or San Diego for all I know, and I'll go when they call." Rikki reminded her yet again, since they had fought over this before.
"Yes I'm aware I don't write that many books, however you have to admit that the ones I do write all get great reviews and the Storm series makes both of us money." Actually the ONE Derek Storm was going to be the first in a series of books. And the only book that made her much money. The other series with a different publisher didn't make hardly any money for her. However those books weren't intended to make her lots of money. They were supposed to help people understand Nature and what we needed to do to save it.
It did however get her a lot of recognition and a lot of accolades for her thinking. It was partly why she kept getting calls from Zoo's all over the planet. When they had a problem she was the first one they would all call. It didn't hurt when she came to them for free.
Rikki paid her own way for each visit to the zoo. She paid the high price of an airline ticket purchased the day before. Paid for her own hotel. Paid for her own meals.
"Yes tomorrow at 2:30 will be fine. …. Bye Gina." Rikki hung up the phone.
Rikki was stepping out of the town car at her Townhouse, happy to be home.
636 WEST END AVENUE
636 W End Ave This elegant Renaissance Revival brownstone is one of eight townhouses constructed in 1896 by George F. Pelham, noted architect of several iconic Manhattan buildings including the Olcott at 27 West 72nd Street, the Park Royal Hotel at 23 West 73rd Street, and the Hotel Plaza Athenee at 37 East 64th Street. Consisting of a fabulous owner's triplex and six additional apartments, this stunning 19th century townhouse offers a glamorous residence, comfortable income, and incredible upside potential. The garden level of the owner's triplex begins with a lovely open parlor with preserved original woodwork and an ornate decorative fireplace. The front bedroom is currently used as an oversized study, with an additional fireplace and an adjacent full bathroom. The kitchen has been renovated with care, including a Sub-Zero refrigerator, Viking stove, and full-sized KitchenAid dishwasher. Both the kitchen and the parlor open to the charming private garden, flooded with eastern light and perfect for entertaining with a herringbone brick patio and landscaped beds surrounding. Upstairs, the master bedroom offers original inlaid floors, a third decorative fireplace, and a sumptuous ensuite marble bath with a clawfoot tub and separate stall shower. The adjacent apartment on the front of this floor is a free market studio that could be combined with the owner's triplex to provide additional living space and a third full bathroom. The finished basement is private to the owner's triplex and includes excellent storage, laundry, and access to mechanicals. On the garden and parlor levels, the living space is complimented by hardwood floors, high ceilings, elaborate moldings and handrails, and central air conditioning. Beyond the owner's triplex, this townhouse is configured as five studios and a one bedroom apartment, half of which are free market.
It might not be the most glamorous townhouse in New York City, however Rikki loved all the wood. Wood floors, wood trim everywhere. Rikki had chosen to add the free market studio to her space, so she had more living space as well as a third bathroom.
Rikki really didn't need the third bathroom, there was just her and Elka, and it was likely to stay that way. It wasn't that men didn't turn their heads everywhere she went, because they did. Also quite a few women looked her way as well. It was just that Rikki had no interest.
Rikki opened the front door and was attacked instantly. Though attack wasn't quite the right word for what Elka was doing. Since Elka was wimpering and whinning and trying to show just how much she missed her mistress (master).
Rikki dropped her bags and started petting Elka. "Hi Elka, …. I missed you too. ….. Have you been a good girl for me?" Rikki did her best to pet and hug Elka till Rikki had thought she had been loved enough.
"How about a snack to celebrate my coming home? How does that sound?" Rikki asked getting a bark from Elka. "Yeah I thought you'd see it my way." Rikki headed for the kitchen to find Elka one of the homemade biscuits that Rikki makes just for Elka.'
Rikki had no trust in those things that you could buy at the store. Most of them weren't even made in this country so there was no control over how they were made.
Rikki didn't even feed Elka processed dog food when she was home. The dog sitter that showed up 3 times a day when she was gone was the only time Elka was fed "normal" dog food.
"Did she clean up after you?" Rikki headed for the back patio that used to be nothing but paver's or bricks, till Rikki had, had it replaced with grass, just for Elka. Though if Rikki was truthful to herself, it was for her too. The more nature in or around her home the better.
It was also one of the reasons why there were plants all over the house. The other was because it allowed her to use one of her spells to go wherever she wanted in an instant, or back. "Yes she did. … I'll start watering the plants if you want to go find your favorite toy." Rikki offers, getting Elka to bark and take off searching the house for her favorite stuffed toy.
Rikki was only about a third of the way done watering and talking to each plant when Elka showed up with her stuffed hedgehog, biting it to make it squeak the entire way.
This turned into a short game of tug of war that Rikki eventually won and threw the hedgehog for Elka to chase, pick up and bit it to make it squeak, followed by Elka throwing it up in the air for her to jump after to bite it again.
Eventually bringing it over to Rikki to play tug of war again, so Rikki can win again to throw it again and repeat.
Rikki was sitting outside eating her late lunch with Elka lying at her feet. It was nice and quiet. "It's been an interesting last 2 years huh girl?" Rikki looks down at Elka who lifts her head to look at Rikki.
It is now 2 years ago:
Lelu had stepped through the mirror with her eyes closed and when she opened them she was standing right out in front of the home she is living in right now. There was a for sale sign on it even then.
"Where the hell am I?" Lelu had called out. This was definitely not what she saw when she selected an Earth to go to. While this place had more nature that the Earth she had just left, if was still well on its way to being just like it. Lots of technology and filled with concrete and steel everywhere.
Lelu had elected to use one of her Wild Shape changes (she had 6/day) to turn into an Eagle and fly high over the city to look it over. The city itself was huge; however she also saw a large green section right in the middle of it.
Wildshape is a method used to transform your body into another animal. It makes you look like the animal, you gain the size of the animal and you get the abilities of the animal. Also all of the items that you carry at the time "Meld" into the new form and cannot be accessed while in Wildshape form.
Lelu found someplace to land in what turned out later to be Central Park and watched as the world went by. People were walking everywhere, which was different from the last place. They were riding on things that had two wheels. There were hand powered boats out on the lake. There were even men wearing uniforms riding horses.
They reminded her of Smoke and it made Lelu's heart break a little more. Thankful that Smoke had agreed to go with one of Rikki's friends to a new Earth and hopefully have a better life.
O-kay, this is not what I selected but it doesn't look like it's too late for this Earth.
It's just that Lelu wasn't looking for another challenge; her heart just wasn't in it. Her heart was empty and hollow.
Lelu decided to take off and look elsewhere, which took her deeper into the city. In the city it was evident that an Eagle was just too conspicuous, so Lelu used another Wild Shape change to turn into a pigeon.
It still allowed her to fly around the city but since it looked like there were thousands of this type of bird it allowed her to easily move around with bringing unwanted attention to herself.
It was while she was flying around that Lelu came across Elka who was just a new born puppy who had been abandoned and looked to be in bad shape. Lelu flew down to the street and changed back into a human where no one was looking and went over to the puppy and picked her up. "Oh poor puppy!" Lelu's heart may be broken, but seeing this caused it to start beating again.
"You better come with me little one." Lelu started walking for the big park that she had seen earlier.
People were everywhere on the streets, and Lelu was doing her best to pay attention to what people were doing. Noticing that you could only cross streets where large metal moving machines were traveling on when the light was green.
It took some time but she made it to the park and then worked at finding a spot that no one seemed to ever go to. It was here that she pulled out her bag and pulled out a piece of cloth and laid it out on the ground and spoke the words to activate it.
Daern's Instant Tent - The tent sleeps 8 and has a temperate climate. It is resistant to electricity, acid, and fire. It is immune to cold.
Stepping inside Lelu pulled out her sleeping bag from out of her bag.
Magic Bedroll - This woolen sleeping bag is embroidered with stars and moons in silver and blue thread, and it smells of lavender.
A magic bedroll grants you a comfortable and peaceful night's sleep. As long as you lie in it, you do not suffer from any harsh environments like extreme cold or heat.
Then Lelu pulled out her traveling cooking equipment to find something to put water into for the puppy to drink out of. And then Lelu cast a spell to fill it and other containers for herself.
Create Water - This spell generates wholesome, drinkable water, just like clean rain water.
After watching the puppy drink Lelu pulled her over to cuddle and check her out for any problems. Lelu decided on a couple of spells.
Cure Light Wounds – Heal wounds that are barely larger than a large cut.
Remove Disease - Cures all diseases that the subject is suffering from.
Then Lelu pulled out another bag from her bag and placed food in another container and placed it in front of the puppy. "Go ahead, you can eat it. I'm sorry it's not milk, but maybe I can fix that soon. I know I didn't cook it, but it's good for you. Even if it's not overly tasty." Lelu talked to the puppy.
Everlasting Rations - This small leather pouch contains enough trail rations to feed a person for one day. Every morning at sunrise the pouch magically creates another day's worth of rations.
It was the only food Lelu had available too so she ate most of it since the puppy while hungry kinda only nibbled on it. "I'll find you something tomorrow, how's that?" Lelu picked up the puppy and cuddled and played with the puppy until it finally went to sleep.
"You need a name little one, I can't just keep calling you puppy." Lelu mentions. "Blacky, you are mostly black with a little rust color. Rusty maybe? … How about Sparky, since you are anything but." Lelu offers.
"Ok have it your way, we'll decide when you are awake again." Lelu offers.
Come morning Lelu took the puppy outside so she could do her thing outside of the tent instead of inside. It was close to lunch when Lelu got out more food for the puppy to eat and then she pulled a small figurine out of her bag and activated it.
Figurine of Wondrous Power – Onyx Dog, Transforms into a riding dog once per week for 6 hours.
It really wasn't a guard dog, but it would obey her commands. "Stay and keep the puppy inside, unharmed, and keep anyone from entering the tent but me." Lelu commands of it. She knew she now had 6 hours to accomplish a number of tasks.
Since it wasn't really a guard dog per say, Lelu took her bag with her. Since she didn't have a lot of time she was forced to ask a lot of questions to help her in her quest to find what she needed.
Lelu had a bag that if you put one and only one piece of gold no larger than one pound into, one month later you would find 25 pieces of gold all the same size as the original piece.
It didn't take much work to find out where she could find a place to convert one of these pieces into currency that was recognized in this city. Lelu's one little pound of gold turned into $19,560. They wanted a driver's license to open an account; however Lelu was forced to tell them she didn't drive. Which was the truth.
They took her signature anyway and opened an account for her to store her money in and gave her $1,000 in cash and held the rest till she could get herself a photo ID of some kind, not needing it to be a driver's license.
They also told her where to go to get one of those. It's just Lelu wasn't sure she had the time, since she only had 6 hours, but tried it anyway.
It turned out to be a non-driver photo ID as issued by the DMV for the state of New York. With this in hand Lelu no longer had any problems. Lelu went back to the same location and cashed in her other 24 pounds of gold and left her money in the account they had set up for her.
$469,440
Lelu made it back to the tent with only a few minutes to spare, complete with milk and dry puppy food that she found in a pet store with the help of the people that worked there.
"These people have pets!" Rikki had seen dogs, cats, ferrets, birds and fish that were for sale. Along with food, enclosures and items to help their pets feel better or make it easier for the owner to keep the pet.
The next day Lelu packed everything up and with her bag in hand as well as a puppy in the other, Lelu went looking for a more permanent place to stay.
One month of staying in a tent in Central Park and with $469,440 in her account, Lelu was standing outside of the home she had arrived in front of on this world. It still had a for sale sign outside along with an open house sign.
Lelu agreed on the full price, not knowing any better and paid $450,000 up front for it. Ten months later and she had it completely paid for. It took another week after the initial purchase to have it filled with furniture since it came unfurnished.
It was during these 10 months that Lelu found a number of magazines in grocery stores about nature. It was in these magazines that she bought and took home to read that she found out that there were places called Zoo's.
Her new ID however had a new name that she had chosen for herself. Wanting to leave her old life behind, thinking she was only going to survive if she was a new person that reinvented herself.
Rikki Alexandra Rodgers was born.
In the petting area of the zoo it took only a few seconds before all of the animals were gathered around Rikki, while she talked to them and found out a lot of answers.
After silently healing a wound on one of the rays that any zoo guest could reach, touch and feed, Rikki found herself in the back area watching an elephant being worked on.
"May I?" Rikki asked before walking up to the elephant. "Looks like a foot infection."
"Yes we know, our Vet is on his way over to look it over. If it's what we think it is we may need to put her down." Rikki is told.
"Oh no!" Rikki knew she needed to do something, just couldn't do it with everyone watching, as she rubbed the elephants leg. "Can I have a tub of water to put her foot into? I want to see something."
They didn't understand what Rikki could possibly see, but one of them left to go get it while the other was distracted by watching the other elephant trying to get closer to Rikki and the elephant.
This allowed Rikki a few moments.
Remove Disease and Cure Moderate Wounds later and the elephant was walking around perfectly again. The tub of water long since forgotten.
Patty, Maxine and Happy would all come running whenever Rikki came for a visit. "They seem to be taken with you."
"I've always loved animals, maybe they can sense this?" Rikki shrugged it off. Rikki knew early on that she needed to keep her skills hidden.
It was about now that Rikki heard them talking about putting down a tiger in a sister zoo. "May I see?" Rikki asks.
The people at this zoo looked at each other and opened and closed their mouths like a fish, not really sure what they should do. "If I can get yours to like me, will you send me or at least offer them my help?" Rikki offered.
The zoo workers were soon standing around with their mouths hanging open as Rikki is soon petting and hugging one of their tigers. "You're just a hug-able and love-able kitty aren't you?" Rikki was soon cooing at him. "What do they feed you here?" Rikki was still cooing. "Steaks, really? … Sounds like you eat better than I do." Rikki was still cooing.
Wild Empathy is the ability to improve attitudes of animals.
The next day Rikki was at another zoo looking at a tiger that wouldn't get up, wouldn't eat and wouldn't drink but wasn't sick.
While one of them is off getting a steak for Rikki to try with, the other is getting a bowl of fresh water.
Speak with Animals - You can ask questions of and receive answers from animals, but the spell doesn't make them any more friendly than normal. Wary and cunning animals are likely to be terse and evasive, while the more stupid ones make inane comments. If an animal is friendly toward you, it may do some favor or service for you.
Remove disease, cure light wounds, plus Rikki paid for some new toys that the tiger asked for and the zoo had one happy and active tiger again.
By the time her home was paid for, 10 months later, these two zoos had shared with other zoos that they had a person that was a specialist that would come to you to help you.
Rikki was back from a trip to the National Zoological Park, or known as the National Park. They wanted help with Tai Shan, one of their Giant Pandas.
Rikki had never seen an animal like it, and in just a few minutes Rikki was in the panda's arms giving each other hugs. It was actually here that Rikki found herself wiping away tears. "I'm sorry Tai, it just brings back memories. You're a good boy, you haven't done anything wrong." Rikki kisses his hairy head as she coos at him. Remembering the bear that loved her daughter and called him Hairy.
Rikki was thanking the administrator of the zoo before leaving when she was intercepted by one of the workers as Rikki was leaving. "Can I invite you to dinner or to drinks? You have an amazing way with animals."
He was relatively handsome, but there was just something about him that rubbed her wrong. "Thanks, but I'm going to go to my hotel and order room service. I have an early flight back home in the morning." Rikki didn't want to spend time with him. Not with any man technically, but certainly not with him.
Rikki took a taxi to get to her hotel and ordered room service. Going to the door to get her food after they knocked and announced themselves.
Rikki was sitting at the little table eating when there was another knock on her door. Opening the door Rikki found the man from the zoo that had asked to take her to dinner or drinks. "What are you doing here?"
He waltzed right in past Rikki and into the room, leaving Rikki at the door holding it open. "You're a very beautiful woman who I wanted to get to know better." He answers her question.
Rikki let go of the front door allowing it to close, getting him to smile, and thinking he was going to get laid by the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Rikki however jumped into the bathroom and slammed the door closed, and started casting.
Summon Nature's Ally VII – Invisible Stalker, This spell summons a natural creature. It appears where you designate and acts immediately. It attacks your opponents to the best of its ability. If you can communicate with the creature, you can direct it not to attack, to attack particular enemies, or to perform other actions.
"There is a man on the other side of this door, take him to the exact opposite side of this exact point on this planet and leave him there, naked. Now go!" Rikki commands of it.
A minute later after Rikki washes up a little she exits the bathroom to find her room empty again. "I wonder what is on the exact opposite side of this planet?" Rikki talked to herself. Going back to finish her dinner, no longer concerned about the man who had followed her here.
Answer: A few hundred miles southwest of Perth, Australia, off in the Indian Ocean.