Warok was sitting on a small stump outside Logray's hut, with Latara and a bare-headed Wicket tucked in blankets to his right and Chief Chirpa and Princess Kneesaa to his left. A little farther away Paploo was helping his mother collect all she could get from the rubble to which most of their hut had been the lookout post above, Graak was looking at the woods through the telescope from the observatory, confused and not quite understanding how to deal with the strange tool. Somewhere off in the distance the bravest warriors of the village were about to attack Patrash and Kaalwar's Dulok army.
Only a cloud or two had passed by the strange star dominating the night sky, since Warok had returned to the Bright Tree Village. He was flying above Paploo and Wicket riding on the back of a stubborn bordok named Yago; that had somehow appeared out of nowhere, with a cart.
And only about half a dozen of clouds had passed by the same star since the moment he had been about to call off the search, the moment when the strange fire he had seen earlier seemed to have disappeared. He was about to turn his glider around when he noticed a cloud of dust rising from the same direction. He steered his glider to the snow-covered meadow nearby and decided to take a closer look. When the curtain of smoke and sawdust parted to reveal a large crater in the middle of the clearing, he thought his surprise could not have been any greater, but what he saw next he saw nearly broke him.
"Here they are, Warok. Warok?"
Warok turned around to see Shodu Warrick standing across the platform. She brought Batcheela and Malani along from the hideout. Both of them were sporting spasm-like expressions on their faces. Warok moved a bit for his wife to sit down, as his daughter climbed into his lap. They exchanged a few looks with Kneesaa and Latara. Shodu helped her youngest son put on his old orange hood, then walked off with the chief.
Batcheela finally broke the silence. "When will we be able to go in?"
Warok shrugged and looked at Latara. For the past couple of snows, he had not bothered to remember the name of his son's crush. He knew her as either "Lumat's daughter" or the "that girl with a braid". She was always doing so many strange things he had not seen anybody do before. She painted her nails and lips. She happily told the woklings stories of where they really came from, instead of retelling the same old story with how each Ewok baby is found underneath a tree, or in a large flower. She once ran away with the Jindas. She had always made him think of nothing but trouble. And then, earlier that night, he had found her next to his son, holding his limp hand and whispering to him to hold on. The braid was gone, and so was the namelessness. In a vortex of fear for his child and blaming himself for what he used to think before, he had remembered her name. Latara. The one who sings to the moon. He promised himself never to forget her name again.
Inside the hut, Logray was hurriedly mixing some herbs. Asha was standing next to him. She was nervous, shifting from one foot to the other. She was still sore from running around in the snow all day and from the battle at Bozzie's hut, and she harboued numerous bruises under her thick red fur, but she did not seem one bit tired.
"If anybody can pull this, it's you. I have to stay here and…try and see if there is anything I can do to save my apprentice." The shaman paused for a while and then added. "I hope you can understand that, Asha."
"Chak, Master Logray. If the animals have indeed been freed from the spell of that vicious creature Wicket killed, I know just what to do."
They went out. Asha headed to the stable, and Logray looked to the group of Ewoks waiting on the platform.
"You can come in now," he said. "No, not all of you. Only Batcheela, Warok and Malani."
"We don't want our daughter to witness this," Warok declined. "I know that this has been quite a night for you, but...could you, please, take care of Malani? I know you're already watching Latara, but…"
The princess nodded. She hadn't said much since her father had returned to the village with Umwak and Logray. Right before her eyes, there was a constant, repetitive shadow play of what had happened at Bozzie's hut. And sat right next to her was her unrequited love of so many years, not wanting any comfort from her, or from anybody else for that matter. Latara was similarly apathetic, still in shock from everything that had happened to her that night.
Little Malani, in contrast, was doing her best to appear cheerful. For some reason, she was sure that her brother was going to be alright. But Kneesaa and Latara were not paying attention, and neither was Wicket.
And then Malani remembered something: the piece of parchment that was still hidden under her hood.
"Latara?"
"M-hm…" the flutist turned around.
"I think Teebo would want you to have this. This is the thing Wiley…" The little girl paused; Kneesaa turned to her, suddenly interested, as she continued. "…the thing Wiley did not eat the other day. I have been saving it for you, Latara."
Latara unfolded the piece of parchment. The messy symbols were hard to read at first, but eventually she realised she was reading a poem dedicated to her - the very same note Teebo tried to pass to her before she had departed with the hunting party.
I left my heart
Above the village huts
On a cold snowy night
I froze completely
When I kissed you
Snowflakes were so big
The wind was blowing, too
My heart is in your hands
Amongst the bright stars
None of them brighter than you
The wind should've carried me away
I couldn't believe you were with me
I couldn't believe you were mine
We sank into white pure as your smile
I want to be there
With you
Forever
Would you stay here
With me
Forever?
She could not hold back the tears anymore. She patted Malani on the head and then hugged both her and Kneesaa, crying into her hands.
Wicket, meanwhile, was pretending to adjust the bib of his hood.
…
Batcheela stepped inside first and let Logray lead her to his canopy bed, where Teebo lay still in a patch of his own fur which was rapidly falling off, covered in Wicket's green hood. His fair forelock was mostly gone; his jaw seemed too small for his teeth. In his hands there was a long, fair braid.
"Honeydrop, can you hear me? It's me, your mother." Batcheela touched her son's cheek, causing another patch of full to fall off. There was no response. "Logray…can he?" She put her head on his chest. "His heart is beating. But he's showing no other signs of life."
"He did not wake up during the ride back home," Warok explained. "According to Latara, he regained consciousness right before Wicket killed that creature...what did Bozzie say his name was, the Wanderer...he regained conscience for a moment and said that the eye was a powerful gem."
"A powerful gem, indeed." Logray shook his head. "It sucked out most of his life juices."
"What does this mean, master? Is our son going to die?"
"No, Warok. There is one thing that can save him. I will have to use the Sunstar."
"Has this been done before, Master?" Batcheela seemed suspicious.
"Chak, but not in an Ewok village. There is nothing about this in my scrolls. It's a secret that I never documented in any way. I saw it done when I was Morag's servant. She used the purple side of the gem to revive her precious mantigrue once and the beast came alive, right before my eyes, even though it had been badly wounded."
"Is this safe?" Warok asked.
"As long as Kazak and the rest of the Council of Elders never finds out about it, chak, it's safe. The Sunstar's powers will significantly fade for a while. But just as a good wizard relies on himself first and magic the second, which your son did tonight, this village needs to rely on its warriors in the times of need."
Logray put on one of his ceremonial masks. He removed the green hood from Teebo's head and handed it to Batcheela, together with Latara's braid. He placed the gem on his apprentice's chest. Warok and Batcheela stepped back, holding each other's hands, as the old shaman started chanting. The Shadowstone, the dark side of the Sunstar, was now emitting an aura of pale violet light that surrounded the entire bed.
Suddenly Teebo screamed and shook one of his fists, only to be motionless a second later. Batcheela put her hands to her mouth. "His eyelids are twitching. Is that a good sign? Is my child in pain?"
Logray stopped the worried mother from touching the violet light. "Teebo is experiencing something. It could be what happened tonight, it could be his life so far, it could be a vision of the future. We must not interrupt it, regardless of how much he might scream and how he might look like throughout. He is not feeling any pain, because all of this is happening to his spirit. His body is responding every now and then, as it needs to draw on enough of the Sunstar's energy to reconnect to his spirit. Once he's really tossing and turning, we'll know he's cured."
Indeed, behind idle eyes and twitching eyelids, Teebo was in a completely different place.
…
"What is this? Why am I here? Isn't this Mount Thunderstone? This is where Logray turned Morag the Tulgah witch into stone and she crumbled to pieces. She tried to take her with him, but he escaped alive. And this tree… "
The flowers on tree next to him were growing in a strange pattern. It did not take him long to realise that they were forming the outline of the dead witch's wrinkled face.
"It's her. It's Morag!"
"Welcome to the Neitherworld, Goldenfur." Morag's raspy voice echoed through the remains of the volcano and the nearby gigantic trees. "I have been expecting you. I knew you were destined to fail."
"I am not to be stuck with you forever, you monster!" Teebo shook his fist at the Tulgah witch. "I died serving my master and my fellow villagers. I died saving my best friends and the girl I wanted to marry someday. I should become one with my Soul Tree and watch over my parents and my sister!"
Morag laughed. Teebo knew that laughter too well, for he had heard it often back when he was imprisoned in the mountain with Wicket, Kneesaa and Latara.
"Foolish Goldenfur. If I, the face of evil, can live as a beautiful tree, then there is one place less left for a soul to live forever. Your master, Logray…he betrayed you. He punished you for endangering him on the day of my demise!"
"He did not punish me for anything. We were closer than ever after he rid Endor of the plague that used to be you, Morag! And my name is not Goldenfur!"
"True." The flower-face spoke again. "Goldenfur was a sweet, foolish little critter who was easy to break. His friends broke him before I came along; all I had to do was to lure him to my lair. The ugliest corpse the Ewoks are about to witness will not remind them of Goldenfur…"
"I don't want to die!"
"Is that fear I am sensing in you? Good. I can offer you a trade: if you promise me you will defeat Logray, you can live again. And be the sweet little, almost girlish Goldenfur again. Otherwise, you will be an ugly corpse covered in bruises, with no single trace of fur left. Perhaps your master could make some drawings of an Ewok body for whoever his new student will be, or even stuff you…it's not like anybody would willlingly shave their fur for that, right? Right?"
"Logray is like a third grandfather to me. He would never dishonor my corpse! He is not you! There is no evil in his soul. He can do anything, without even touching the powers of the Night Spirit!"
"Is that why he is now using the Shadowstone to bring you back to life?" Morag cackled. "Time to shed your ideals, just like you will shed your fur, whether you choose to live for me or die for him."
Teebo lay down on the ground, and was surprised to feel the dry grass scratching him. His fur was indeed falling off. Morag kept on cackling, louder and louder, the large face of flowers dissolving and each of the flowers turning into a miniature version of the witch's face. He tried to cover his ears, but the amount of brown hair that came off onto his hands frightened him. He closed his eyes.
And then he heard Logray's voice.
"She is partly right. I am using the Shadowstone to bring you back to life, but do not trust anything else she says. Snap out of it. You're the best student I have ever had and the only one who has never betrayed me."
"How do I know if this is really Logray and not the Wanderer, like last time?"
"Because Chukha-Trok could not kill the hand until you had severed the whole arm."
Logray's voice was no longer to be heard. What hand was he talking about? He did sever an arm, but he didn't remember that arm ending in a hand. Was that it?
Teebo opened his eyes again. Numerous Morag-flowers were still staring at him, but they were quiet and their eyes were closed. He looked down at his almost bare-skinned grey legs. Never before did he realise how small he was underneath all that fur. Then he sat down, gathering his own shed fur and dry grass around himself. He expected the Morag-flowers to laugh at him, but instead of that, the tree shed all of its leaves. Once bare, it no longer resembled the Tulgah witch in any way. It was a tree, just like any other, bending as the wind was blowing. With every single blow, it seemed to be growing smaller and smaller, until only a pile of leaves remained.
A fallen leaf found its way to Teebo. He took it in his bare hand and looked at it from both sides. The lines on it were crooked. With one more gust of wind, they rearranged themselves to resemble an unusually clear picture of a small creature carrying a huge box towards what looked like a hut. Before he could even wonder what it was, he felt the weight on top of his head.
The next leaf was too far for him to reach. He dragged himself out of the pile of grass and fur and crawled to it. Just like the first one, this leaf had a story to tell. The lines looked like a gigantic monster crawling out of a large cave.
Were these leaves telling a story? Just as Teebo was about to crawl to the next one, the wind blew it into his face.
The lines formed a picture showing two bodies of water, a large tree next to a smaller one and a clear summer sky at night, with a star falling. He felt a light bite on his ear, warmth on his lips and something was pushing him backwards, as if somebody were trying to sit on him.
The next leaf did not show as clear a picture, or so it seemed. Large Gorax-like creatures were walking on two legs and shooting fire out of their short hands. Teebo felt an unpleasant sensation in his lower back followed by an unnatural sound that resembled nothing he knew.
Another, larger leaf, was showing a sky, but there was no ground. He could hear somebody's voice, speaking in a language he didn't understand.
The pictures on the leaves were becoming blurry; the stories they were telling were becoming garbled. There was something that looked a lot like the stars on the previous leaf, but they seemed to be well placed and outnumbering the starks of the sky of Endor. At one moment, he could hear thousands of voices, but he could not make out if they were cheering on or mocking him. The pictures were slowly turning into random shapes, not accompanied by any sensation whatsoever.
And then he picked up the last leaf. It was blank. He gasped, then looked at his palms. The lines on his palms were showing the pictures from leaves, so fast that it was making him dizzy.
He fell down. Everything was pitch black. It was cold. And there was something on his chest. He picked it up. It was smooth and cold, in contrast to his warm skin.
Warm skin.
Eyelids twitching.
He was alive.
He opened his eyes, but everything was still pitch black.
"Where...am...I?" He screamed, on top of his lungs. "I cannot see!"
As the violet light faded away, Batcheela stepped out and hugged her son. Although Teebo felt her warmth, he was getting goosebumps; she could feel them, as his fur was still falling off with every single movement.
"Mom…is that you? I can hear you, but I cannot see you."
"Be careful. He's very weak." warned Logray, as he helped his apprentice drink some water.
"And blind, by the look of things." cried the mother, "Will he be able to see again, master Logray?"
The old shaman shrugged and patted Batcheela on her shoulder. "Only time can tell. I need to look through the scrolls to see what else I could do for him. In the meantime, you can wrap him in some blankets and carry him home. If everything goes well, the Duloks won't come any closer to the village...which is good, as he would freeze in the shelter."
"He does not have anywhere to sleep," remembered Warok. "He broke his hammock beyond repair the last time he slept in it."
"I had Lumat and his apprentices build me a new wooden bed. You can take it; I will request a new one. Tuck Teebo in, and use as many blankets as possible. Make sure the fire pit in the chamber is always lit. He will grow new fur, but until then, he is very, very vulnerable. Be careful."
Out on the platform, Wicket, Malani and Kneesaa were still waiting when an angry figure approached them. Latara, who was sitting in one corner, holding a piece of parchment close to her chest, turned around to find herself face to face with Lumat. He was fuming.
"Father?"
"What has happened here and why are you waiting with them in the first place?"
"There are many things we have to talk about, many things I kept a secret for years…but that does not matter now. If my love doesn't live, nothing matters anymore."
"Your love? I knew it; the two of you were secretly canoodling before my eyes all along!"
"The Wanderer was aiming at me and Teebo took the impact." Latara continued. "Then…then I distracted that creature until Wicket killed him. Then there was a lot of dust…"
Lumat shook his head. Whatever had happened was beyond his understanding. He looked over to the rest of the group, but he did not find the approval he was seeking.
"Wicket! You're the only male here. Do me a favour and escort my daughter home. I will deal with her later. I need to check on the catapults and…I could really use that knife she stole now. K'vark! What kind of a filthy creature did I father?"
Kneesaa tried to say something, but Wicket winked to her and took Latara by hand. Once they were on a lower platform, he stopped for a moment.
"Don't worry; your father is not going to deal with anybody, as long as we're here. Paploo and I will stick up for you and not just Lumat. The whole village will know that you fought as hard as we did. For now, you'd better hide somewhere. At least until we know if Teebo has made it."
"What do you mean, 'if'?" Latara protested. "He must make it. Otherwise nothing will make sense anymore."
"You really love him, don't you? How come I never noticed this before? The two of you are in love with each other!"
There was no response, just crying, as Latara ran down to the lowest platform.