As usual I'm not sure how well this one works. There is a lot of banter in this chapter...perhaps way too much. Aleina and Jhelnae and very very guilty of rambling. The strange thing is, when I created them they were supposed to be rivals in a love triangle. I knew this was going to be a bit YA and the YA novels I read always had a love triangle. In Percy Jackson you have Annabeth and Rachel Elizabeth Dare. In Hunger Games you had Peeta and Gale. So I thought, "I will have a love triangle..." Only when I started writing the characters refused to cooperate. Aleina was like, "I'm in a fricken prisoner in the Underdark, in my damned underwear, and you actually think I'm going to compete with some chick over some dude? It ain't happening. I've got much bigger things to worry about!" And Jhelnae pretty much agreed with her and every time I put them in a scene they'd just chit chat and chit chat and I'm like, "Ladies...no one wants to listen to this drivel!"
So hopefully it isn't way too much. Let me know if it is.
Oh, I might not be posting for a bit. I have some stuff come up and it might eat up a bunch of time.
The sound of rushing water filled Aleina's ears and the smell of fungi, earth, rot, decay, and dampness filled her nose. She stood at the entrance to an expansive cavern with a panoramic view of a clear pool of water and a mushroom forest that covered every surface, including the walls and ceiling. Luminescent lichen grew throughout the cavern and bathed the area in soft hues of yellow, blue, and violet.
"So, this is your home?" Jhelnae said to Stool and Rumpadump. "It is beautiful."
Aleina agreed. The myconids had shared visions of the Neverlight Grove through their empathy spores, but those visions didn't compare to actually seeing it.
"If you ignore the smell," Ront said.
The half-drow threw a punch at the orc's shoulder, then winced after her knuckles met studded leather. Ront gave a tusk filled smile.
"My nose and my eyes sense very different things," Derendil said in Elvish. "But I imagine, were I a myconid, this place would smell as sweet as wildflowers. Rot and decay must seem like Spring to them, the renewal of life."
"The smell isn't so bad." Sky shrugged. "I've gotten so used to it I barely notice it."
There had been plenty of time for them to grow accustomed to the smell. It had grown as they trudged mile after mile up the tunnel leading to this place. By now it also didn't bother the aasimar too much.
"Ignore Ront," Aleina said. "Your home is beautiful. All the colors make me feel like I'm in a dream."
Rumpadump straightened with pride at her words while Stool hopped up and down in excitement.
"I think Stool is saying we should stop staring and get going," Kuhl said.
Stool removed all doubt with a full bodied nod.
"Is this amount of light a problem?" Eldeth asked the two darklings.
"Without our cloaks and goggles, yes," Diarghan said. "With them, we'll be fine."
"By fine he means sweating and miserable," Rhianne said. "But alive."
Aleina felt sympathy for the darklings, those in armor, and Derendil with his fur. Strangely enough Sky handled the heat well. The aasimar herself had shed and stowed her cloak long ago. And still she sweated. A steamy damp heat pervaded the place.
"Fargas, you have enough light to see by?" Aleina asked.
The halfling nodded. "It's a strange light, but I can see well enough."
Aleina tucked her moonstone orb back in her belt pouch.
Rumpadump let out a cloud of empathy spores warning them the outskirts of the Grove remained dangerous and sprouts were not allowed to stray there. They skirted the edge of the pool for a time, then came to the edge of the fungal forest. Pale cream and beige stalks grew thick and tall and giant mushroom caps competed for space overhead.
"This reminds me of when we ate the mushrooms that made us small," Sky said.
"Why did you have to remind us of that?" Aleina asked. "We were almost eaten by giant centipedes."
Sky shrugged as they picked their way past the zurkhwood stalks.
"Everyone keeps forgetting they were regular sized centipedes," the tabaxi said. "We were shrunk down."
"I wasn't with you," Fargas said. "But I have to agree with Aleina. I'd prefer no centipedes, giant or otherwise."
Aleina had expected it to grow dark when they entered the shadows of the giant mushrooms, but luminescent fungi also grew on the underside of the caps, which gave off a shimmering, multi-hued aura. Fungi grew in profusion everywhere, and they found nothing resembling a path between them. Aleina's boots sank into the soggy ground with each step, releasing a rank scent of decay from the mud as she pulled her foot free with a squelching pop.
"Alright, this is a little gross," Jhelnae whispered.
"A little?" Aleina asked, after confirming the sprouts were too far away to hear her.
The two myconids walked near the front of the group with Kuhl, Sky, and the darklings. The sprouts seemed to barely be able to restrain themselves from running ahead, their myconid feet seemingly unaffected by the clinging mud.
"A lot gross," Jhelnae said. "Are you feeling better? Recovered?"
At first the aasimar wondered at the question, then she realized they hadn't had a chance to talk since the tomb, the time between filled with marching along the tunnel leading here, sleeping, or other matters.
"Fully recovered," Aleina said.
But a shiver ran through her as she spoke. It would take longer for the memory of that ghostly chill touch to fade than the physical effects of it.
"Glad to hear it," Jhelnae said. "I want you feeling healthy. Partly because you are my friend, but mostly because I don't want you so weak that when you try and throw one of those fireballs you end up dropping it at our feet."
Aleina smiled. The half-drow referred to the necklace of fireballs they'd found in the tomb amid the other treasures. If they ever made it back to the surface and to a major town the aasimar finally had enough to transfer a meaningful amount of coins to her family in Baldur's Gate. Not enough for them to forgive her from running away, but a start.
"I'll try not to kill us all," Aleina said. "But no promises."
"I'd appreciate that," Jhelnae said.
"You and Sky patch things up?" The aasimar asked.
The half-drow sighed. "Eldeth sat us down and forced us. That woman can be as hardheaded and stubborn as, as…"
"A dwarf?" Aleina asked, glancing back.
The dwarf in question was near the rear of the group. Aleina couldn't tell if Eldeth and Fargas encouraged the larger Derendil through the mud, or if it was the other way around.
"Not what I was going to say," Jhelnae said. "But fine, a dwarf."
"Didn't you try and use her to pass messages to Sky?" The aasimar knew the answer, having had a brief word with Eldeth, but she wanted to hear it from Jhelnae.
"She is a messenger," the half-drow said. "That is what an envoy is. A messenger."
"But she didn't see passing messages between two feuding friends as one of her duties?" Aleina asked.
"Not so much," Jhelnae sighed.
Aleina was only able to keep a straight face for a couple of steps before she burst out laughing.
"I don't see what is so funny?" the half-drow said.
"You and Sky weren't speaking," Aleina said, still laughing. "So you tried to use Eldeth as an intermediary. Your rationale was, she is a dwarven envoy, hence she should function as our go between. And you don't see why that is funny?"
"Made sense to us," Jhelnae said with a shrug.
But she had already started to join in on the laughter. It earned them a look and a snort of dismissal from Ront just ahead of them, which only made them laugh harder. Soon they were wiping tears from their eyes. When their laughter had subsided the half-drow arched an eyebrow at the aasimar.
"So, what plans do you think Rhianne has for the philter of love?"
Aleina returned her arched expression. "I'm guessing any couple, after being together more than a hundred years, could use some rekindling in romance."
"I wish I could have seen Diarghan's face when she chose the potion as part of her share," Jhelnae said. "I'll bet he was blushing under his cowl."
"You saw what she looks like under her cloak," the aasimar said with a chuckle. "Any embarrassment he suffered will be well worth it. When we get to Blingdenstone, and an inn, we don't want the room right next to theirs."
"Oh, I don't know," Jhelnae said with a wink. "Maybe we do. In desperate times you have to live vicariously through your friends."
Aleina laughed and shook her head.
Jhelnae smiled. "Don't play all innocent. You're not the least bit curious on the effects of a potion of love?"
"Fine," Aleina said. "Maybe a little. For purposes of magical research only."
"Magical research purposes only," Jhelnae agreed. "Nothing more."
They trudged on in companionable silence for a time, laboring across the squelching soggy ground past tall mushroom stalks. Then the half-drow spoke again, tone more serious.
"Why did Brysis have a potion like that in her tomb? I mean you are dead. You can't drink. Can't do...other things. So why the potion?"
"For the same reason as the coins, gems, and jewelry, I suppose," Aleina said. "Not to mention the sword. To try and take it all with her into the next life."
"So Brysis thought one of the first things she might need to do on the other side was seduce someone?" Jhelnae asked. "So she packed a potion?"
"Or bribe someone," Aleina said, "So she packed coins. Or smite someone, so she packed her sword. Or worse yet, might be lonely, so she packed her friends."
Jhelnae shook her head and sighed. "A bit of a morbid take on being a devoted friend."
"A bit?" the aasimar asked.
"Fine," the half-drow said. "A lot morbid."
Up ahead the terrain changed from boggy to rocky. At some point a massive stalactite had sheared free from the cavern ceiling and now stood part embedded and part in a broken heap on the fungal forest floor.
"It almost looks like the ruins of a tower," Jhelnae said.
The aasimar glanced nervously upward, but quickly shook off her fear. Untold tons of stone lay above them. It was a reality she'd had to accept in the Underdark. Another rockfall in the cavern might not happen for centuries or could happen in the next few moments. If she thought too much on it she'd drive herself mad.
Something shifted among the rubble. Time seemed to slow as a creature rose out of the rocks. It's body was huge, long, and wormlike. The tip of its head held a giant curved beak and four large tentacles sprouted off the sides like a flower with vines instead of petals. These tentacles snaked out towards the closest available prey, the myconid sprouts.
"No!" Aleina yelled.
Rumpadump had warned them of the danger of the outskirts of the Neverlight Grove, but they had allowed the beauty of the place to lull them. Kuhl ran towards the sprouts, his sword already clear of his scabbard, but mud sucked at his steps, slowing him.
With a shrug of her shoulders, Aleina dumped her pack. She felt radiant energy fill her as she took a couple mud hindered steps, then wings of light burst from her back and she was airborne and racing towards the myconids at top speed.
Already she saw they would be too late. The creature wriggled its massive bulk forward and the two sprouts seemed frozen in place. Just when the seeking tentacles were in range of the myconids a blur of motion tackled them from the side. Sky and her magic boots. The three of them skidded across the muddy ground to slide past zurkhwood stalks.
Relief flooded through Aleina, quickly replaced by anger. She thrust her hand towards the creature and let fly with a bolt of fire. Too late she saw Kuhl's run carried him directly into its path. It flared into the shield slung across his back, pitching him sprawling in the mud.
"Kuhl!" Aleina yelled.
Still speeding forward, she took a calming breath. She was letting emotions take control and drive her to rash action. The aasimar angled her flight upward, weaving past giant mushroom caps and carrying her beyond the reach of questing tentacles. More importantly she now had a line of sight down to the worm creature among the rocks with no allies in between. She pulled her moonstone orb from her belt pouch.
On the ground Kuhl scrambled to his feet, but before he could orient himself to attack, a tentacle slashed down at him. He screamed in pain as it struck, then struggled in vain as he was dragged towards the clacking beak. An arrow from Diarghan's bow sprouted from the creature's body and Aleina nearly dropped her orb and covered her ears as Rhianne bellowed a wail into the thing, which fell upon it like a physical blow. Aleina managed to maintain her grip on the orb and her concentration. She sent three rays of light raining down. Two scorched flesh, and the wormlike thing emitted a high-pitched screech and let go of Kuhl, who stumbled back. In response to the light from Aleina's attack, the cloaked darklings raised their arms to shield their hidden faces and retreated.
A crackling beam of energy slammed into the monster's face. Jhelnae approached, rod raised and wisps of mist still seeping off her summoned blade. Eldeth, Ront, and Derendil slogged forward through the mud beside her, weapons raised. None, however, seemed eager to charge into range of the writhing tentacles and clacking beak. Fargas hung back behind them. He'd drawn his dagger but seemed content to remain behind the protection of the others.
"Kuhl! Catch!" Sky ran from out of the cover of the zurkhwood stalks, where she'd left the sprouts.
She tossed the gleaming hilt of the sword, Dawnbringer, towards the half-elf. Kuhl looked up. He'd lost his blade in his struggle to free himself from the monster's tentacles. Too late he made a grasp for the hilt as it flew by. It fell with a plop in the mud.
"I imagined that working out differently," Sky said.
She drew her hand crossbow as Kuhl lunged after the hilt, clawing through the mud to find it. The tabaxi sighted and let loose a bolt. Her aim was true, but the bolt glanced off the creature's tough hide and sailed off among the fungal stalks.
"Damn it!" Sky cursed. "Have we even hurt this thing?"
"Oh, we've hurt it," Jhelnae said. "And made it angry."
The monster's tentacled head looked upward, identifying Aleina as the one who had burned it from above. The tentacles writhed in frustration as it realized she was out of range. But she wouldn't be for much longer. The aasimar could only fly for a short time and the end of that time was rapidly approaching.
"Get back!" Aleina called out. "I'm going to drop one of the gifts Brysis left for us in the tomb."
"She means a fireball!" Jhelnae yelled. "Everyone run! I'll lead it away from the sprouts."
"You don't have to tell me to run from that thing twice," Fargas said, already moving away.
The half-drow sent another beam of energy into the creature and then ran. With a roar of pain, the monster wriggled after her, sending the companions scrambling out of its path. The mud sucked at Jhelnae's every step as she retreated. Over firm ground she'd easily outdistance the creature chasing her, but over the boggy mud it gained on her with each passing moment.
Aleina followed overhead. She thought everyone was out of range but couldn't be sure. But if she waited any longer her target might make the cover of the zurkhwood caps and Jhelnae would be in range of the blast. She groped under her tunic, found one of the hanging beads, and tugged it free. With a prayer on her lips to Selune she dropped it on the creature's back.
A ball of flame exploded on impact, engulfing the monster. It screamed and writhed in agony and a wave of heat washed over Aleina, sending her upward. She spent a few moments blinking her vision clear from the after image of the flare from the explosion. By the time she looked down again only a smoldering, unmoving husk remained. She descended, dismissing her wings of radiance as her boots met the mud.
"Is everyone alright?" Aleina called out.
"How far that little bead threw its flames," Derendil said in Elvish, examining the scorched carcass. "The gift of Brysis is potent."
"Almost too potent," Eldeth said. "I'm surprised my hair didn't catch on fire."
Ront responded with a grunt and Fargas simply nodded, still trying to catch his breath from running through the mud.
With a groan the half-drow crawled to her feet and turned. Mud caked her entire front, including her face. She spat several times, gagged, and spat and gagged more while wiping mud away with her fingers and flinging it to the ground. After scrubbing at her face with her sleeves and taking a couple of breaths she looked at the aasimar and spoke.
"Well you did promise not to kill us," Jhelnae said. "And I'm alive. Barely."
"Actually, I said I'd try not to kill us," Aleina said. "But I made no promises."
"I wish we had a looking glass so you could see yourself, Jhelnae," Sky said, laughing and wiping mud from her shoulder and hip. "The sprouts and I slid through the mud when I tackled them, but we had enough sense to not put our face in it."
"It's not like I tried to put my face in it." Jhelnae spat on the ground and wiped at her face some more. "One moment I was running and then a wave of heat pitched me forward."
"Try being buried in the stuff," the hilt of Dawnbringer mindspoke from Kuhl's hand as he approached. "I was tossed through the air like a common hand axe or dagger. The person who was supposed to catch me, missed, and I ended up stuck in the mud like some cast off gardening trowel. And now I'm coated in what I can only hope is wet dirt, but I suspect the truth is far worse."
The sword hilt's last words caused more gagging and spitting from the half-drow.
"Sorry," Sky said. "Like I said, I imagined that working differently. Kuhl, why didn't you catch her?"
The half-elf didn't answer immediately, still whispering a prayer as he held a palm up to where the tentacles had slashed him open. After a sigh of relief, he spoke.
"Oh, I don't know. Maybe because I wasn't expecting a magic sword to be suddenly tossed at me? Especially right after that thing wrapped me in its tentacles and tried to bite my head off. And I also might have been still getting over the surprise of a friend of mine sending a bolt of fire into my back."
A concerned look came over his face and he unslung his shield to look at it. A scorch mark had joined the giant fist sized dent on its surface.
"You know," Aleina said. "I think that will polish right off."
The aasimar approached the paladin and used the hem of her sleeve to rub furiously at the burn mark on his shield. None of it came away.
Kuhl laughed. "I'll keep it. A token of your affection."
"Take this one instead," Aleina said, moving on tip toes and giving him a kiss on the cheek. "I'm sorry. You alright?"
The half-elf blushed at her kiss. "I'm fine."
Aleina looked towards the sprouts walking towards them. "I was just so angry when I saw Stool and Rumpadump in danger. I made a mistake."
"I said I'm fine," Kuhl repeated. "New heraldry for my shield. Nothing more."
"And you'll probably use it to remind me of this whenever you need some leverage over me," Aleina said with a smile.
"That I will," the half-elf said. He looked over to Sky. "I believe this belongs to you."
He handed the tabaxi Dawnbringer with mock ceremony.
"You can hold onto Dawnbringer," Sky said. "I'm really not all that good with a sword."
"Oh no," Kuhl said. "Now that I know what you intend I will catch her next time you throw her to me."
"Sounds good." Sky said.
At the same time, Dawnbringer mindspoke, "Don't you dare!"
"I need to go retrieve my pack and find my sword," Kuhl said. "Hopefully that thing, that Grick, didn't bury it too deeply when it chased after Jhelnae."
The half-elf trudged off, looking for signs of his lost blade as he went.
"That was the biggest Grick I've ever seen," Diarghan said.
He and Rhianne had already retrieved their packs. The darkling ranger moved closer to the burned creature to study it.
"There he goes," Rhianne sighed from deep in her cowl. "I don't suppose any of you would be interested in listening to his observations on the Grick?"
Silence followed her question.
"The sacrifices one makes for love," the darkling bard said, trudging after her partner.
Aleina moved to get her pack. Since she and Jhelnae had been walking together before the Grick attack, their discarded packs lay near each other.
"So you accidentally hit Kuhl and he gets a kiss on the cheek," Jhelnae said. "Your fireball knocks me flat and I get nothing?"
The half-drow cocked a cheek in the aasimar's direction. She'd scrubbed off as much of the mud with her sleeves as possible, but as her sleeves had also been in the mud a stubborn layer still clung to her skin.
Aleina rolled her eyes, "No way I am kissing that muddy face."
"Oh, I see how it is," Jhelnae laughed. "If you are so uneven about how you reward your affection to your friends, I'll just have to assume all of my suspicions about you and Kuhl are correct. Which means I'll simply have to keep teasing you."
"Fine." Aleina grasped the other woman's shoulder and pulled her close and planted a kiss on her cheek. "Satisfied?"
The aasimar turned to continue walking, then paused. Somehow, the nauseating taste of the mud seeped past her lips. She involuntarily licked her lips and more of the taste entered her mouth. Aleina gagged, spat on the ground several times, then wiped her mouth with her sleeve.
"Now I'm satisfied," Jhelnae said, chuckling.
"That was really gross," Aleina said. "And in case you didn't know, you're a spiteful bitch."
The aasimar resumed spitting and wiping her lips.
"Oh, I knew that," the half-drow said, then burst out into full laughter. "You're so gullible. I was never going to stop teasing you. It's too much fun. And stop being melodramatic. You barely got a taste. Try a face full of it."
"No thanks."
Aleina could still taste the mud, but it had faded to tolerable levels. She stood and they resumed walking, Jhelnae still laughing and the aasimar resisting the urge to cast a flaming bolt into her. When they reached their packs the half-drow grabbed her water flask, took a drink, swished water around her mouth, and spit it out.
"You don't know how much I needed that," Jhelnae said.
"Thanks to someone, I sort of do," Aleina said.
She watched for a few moments as the half-drow tried to clean her face, then grabbed the water flask.
"My sleeves are clean, and I can see what I'm doing."
The aasimar resisted the urge to pay Jhelnae back by scrawling a message in mud on the half-drow's face and set about cleaning.
"Better?" Aleina asked when she'd finished.
"Much," Jhelnae said. "You know I didn't intend for you to get mud in your mouth before. I was teasing. I didn't know you'd actually kiss my muddy cheek."
"Feeling guilty, are we?" the aasimar asked.
"A little.
"Good."
They pulled their packs off the ground, slinging them over shoulders as they turned. Movement from the stand of zurkhwood drew Aleina's attention. She raised her moonstone orb, then lowered it as a mixed cloud of empathy spores from Stool and Rumpadump enveloped her. They recognized the tall and lean myconid striding towards them. He towered over them. Not as tall as the zurkhwood, but close. His pale skin matched the tall stalks of the fungal forest. Aleina suspected the myconid could have easily approached unseen had he desired it. The top of his head was a broad mushroom cap with a deep notch cut out of its side. It looked to be an old injury that had never healed correctly. When the myconid adult came into range he released his own much larger cloud of spores.
"Rumpadump and Stool, you have returned safe to us."
Stool hopped up and down in greeting. His own answering spores brought a jumble of images of their journey to Aleina's mind.
"I thank you softers for returning two of our own younglings," the myconid said through the spores. "And we further thank you for slaying this creature who recently started lairing in these rocks. It was a threat to our hunters. Unfortunately, it is too damaged to be reanimated, as we intended."
"Sorry," Aleina said.
"No matter," the myconid thought spoke. "I will send hunters and spore servants to harvest it. It's rot and decay will still nourish the grove."
"We're looking for one of our group," Jhelnae said. "His name is Sarith. Is he here in the Grove?"
"A softer?"
Looks passed through the group at the unfamiliar term.
"Softer?" Rhianne finally asked.
"Ones like you. Skin so soft you wear a second one over it and you have hard bones underneath. Thin fingers for fine detailed work when needed. Excellent spore servants."
"Excellent spore servants," Ront said. "I don't like the sound of that."
Neither did Aleina. She recalled the mindless quaggoths covered in spores with the myconids in the tunnels under Gracklstugh. Those must be spore servants. Would the myconids see them as nothing more than potential spore servants? Suddenly part of her wanted to hug the two sprouts goodbye, and then leave this place. Diarghan's next words eased her fears.
"Myconids only make spore servants from those already dead," the darkling ranger said. "And when they can no longer serve they are returned to the earth to nourish it. They do no harm to others unless in self-defense."
"This is true," the myconid mindspoke. "You know our ways?"
"I know them," Diarghan said.
"Sarith would be a softer, then," Aleina said. "Have you seen him?"
"A whole group of softers came, I do not recall them leaving. He may be with them."
"Did one have dark skin like mine?" Jhelnae asked.
A puff of spores from Loobamub refreshed the empathy link.
"Perhaps. All softers look so alike. It is difficult to tell one from another."
Stool let forth with his own cloud of spores. Images of each of the companions flashed through Aleina's mind. She smiled. The little sprout was showing he could clearly differentiate between different 'softers'.
"Stool's introduction to each of you reminds me I am being rude. I am Loobamub, Leader of the Circle of Hunters." The towering myconid gave a slight bow. Aleina wondered if the bow was part of myconid tradition or if he'd picked up the habit from a 'softer'. "I will bring you to our sovereigns, Phylo and Basidia. They will know if the one you seek is here. Follow."
The tall myconid turned and strode off through the zurkhwood. Rumpadump and Stool trailed in his wake, stepping quickly to keep up. Kuhl came trudging back, still scraping mud from his retrieved weapon.
"What is going on?" he asked, looking after the myconids."
"Apparently, we're following," Jhelnae said.
They followed, mud still surrendering each footstep reluctantly. Soon they fell behind and lost sight of Loobamub among the zurkhwood. A puff of spores from Rumpadump or Stool periodically stopped the adult myconid to wait for the companions.
The ground sloped downward, becoming marshier with every step. Water seeped into Aleina's boots, saturating her socks. The zurkhwood stalks thinned and the area was more open. This was fortunate as Loobamub waited for them less and less frequently and they'd have lost the myconid had the forest remained thick.
A central mound ahead seemed to be the only dry spot in sight, though a small cliff also rose above the cavern floor far across the clearing, with giant mushrooms visible in the distance. Aleina almost sighed in relief when she saw they headed for the mound. She just wanted to get out of this mud, if only for a little while.
Bioluminescent fungi traced strange constellations along the cavern's ceiling and walls, showing the darkness of the ravine. There seemed to be a mist-shrouded smaller cavern beyond.
The ground grew firm underfoot as they started the circular trail climbing up the mound. As they crested to the top, Aleina realized what she'd believed to be large fungi at the top were actually myconids. Two of them towered over the others, multiple caps sprouting at angles off shoulders and backs. Loobamub had already made his report and the eyes of the half dozen or so myconids looked toward them. Aleina sensed even the tall zurkhwood mushrooms also watched. Empathy spores exploded out from one of the two largest myconids.
"You are safe, friendly softers. You arrive at a wondrous time, for Neverlight Grove is on the verge of something great, something marvelous! Celebrate, as the day of joy is nigh! I am sovereign Phylo and I welcome you."
More than any other myconid they'd met, the Sovereign's thoughts resonated to Aleina's core. His message, however, confused her. What did it mean? She didn't seem to be the only one confused. The group remained silent. Stool prompted them to reply by moving behind Kuhl and bumping him forward.
"Thank you," Kuhl said. "We came to bring Stool and Rumpadump back. We are also looking for a companion, Sarith."
"We thank you for returning these two sprouts. I believe the one you seek is here. In the Garden of Welcome."
"Can we go to him?" the half-elf asked.
"He is working with the Circle of Masters on a wondrous and glorious surprise. It is not ready yet, but I will honor you with a peek at it tomorrow and you can be reunited with your companion."
"Sarith is working on a wondrous and glorious surprise?" Kuhl asked.
"That doesn't sound like him at all," Sky said. "Are you sure we are talking about the same Sarith? A drow, about this tall, always irritated, always rubbing his temples, permanent scowl on his face like this?"
The tabaxi held up her hand to just below her height and furrowed her brow to the point she was almost cross-eyed.
"I sense your doubt," Phylo said. "His time here has awakened him to greater truths."
An uncomfortable silence followed. Aleina had not forgotten the strange behavior of the myconid in the tunnels under Gracklstugh, and she was sure the others recalled the same. She also sensed disquiet in the way the other towering sovereign swayed, out of rhythm with Phylo, as if they were two trees in competing breezes.
"I really hate to spoil a surprise," Jhelnae said. "And it sounds like this garden isn't ready and we have to go on to Blingdenstone. If you bring Sarith out, we'll take him with us. We've grown so fond of Stool and Rumpadump they could come with us too and we'll bring them back later."
Stool turned to the half-drow and emitted a cloud of empathy spores full of confusion. Rumpadump, however, sidled close to the Jhelnae.
"We don't even need Sarith," Ront said. "Or the myconids. We can just go and see this garden later."
"The Garden of Welcome is not ready to be revealed to our fellow myconid," Phylo mindspoke. "But I promised you the honor of a glimpse tomorrow and I will keep that promise."
Had an edge crept into the sovereign's mindspeech, or did Aleina imagine it?
A cloud of spores burst from the other towering myconid sovereign.
"I, sovereign Basidia, also welcome you." Aleina sensed a deep reservoir of calm in Basidia's mindspeech. "Phylo honors you greatly for I have not yet seen the Garden of Welcome as he desires to reveal it to all of the Grove at the same time."
"The time for that draws near, my friend," Phylo mindspoke.
Basidia swayed in acknowledgement but focused on the companions. "Accept the honor Phylo bestows on you. In the between time, enjoy the hospitality of the rest of the Grove. Stool and Rumpadump can help show it to you."
Stool hopped up and down in excitement while Rumpadump remained by Jhelnae's side.
"A perfect idea," Phylo said through spores.
Stool sent images of the inn in Gracklstugh through the spores.
"Unfortunately, we have no such place as Stool suggests," Basidiasaid through spores. The little sprout drooped and Aleina moved to give him a comforting pat. "We rarely get softer visitors and our spore servants do not require comfort. We do have a dry spot in the Northern Terraces with clear cool water to drink and wash with. Softers who have stayed there described the air there as sweet smelling."
"Dry with nearby water," Diarghan said. "That will work."
"With sweet smelling air as well," Rhianne said. "It will more than work."
"I will take you there," Basidiasaid.
"Wonderful," Phylo sent through the spores. "Today visit the Northern Terraces. Tomorrow the Garden of Welcome."