Safiya's tent was quite a feat of arcane engineering. She took it out of her satchel, and it looked no bigger than a scarf, and no thicker than silk. She threw it in the air like a juggler, where it hung for a moment like a leaf on the wind, and zapped it with some energy from a short, thick wand that she produced from the same satchel. The square of cloth was caught by the energy, and it was though it unfurled, revealing quite a lovely structure, white and black silk that nearly disappeared against the background of the snowy woods, something Adahni realized was probably quite clever when one did not want to be seen. The problem, though, was that it was no bigger than two men, standing back to back.
"Well go on in," Safiya said.
Keeping an open mind, Adahni walked in. As she had suspected, it was larger on the inside than the out, and contained five real beds and a firepit with merry blaze going below a grate suitable for cooking. Best of all, she noticed, a fully-stocked liquor cabinet in the corner.
"Same concept as a bag of holding," Safiya said, sounding quite satisfied with herself, "This project is what got me a job as an instructor at the academy. I still carry it everywhere."
"Remarkable," Adahni said, sitting down on one of the beds, finding it soft and comforting, especially after a week of narrow plank covered in furs that the witchboat was furnished with.
"Why Safiya!" Gann exclaimed, poking his head, and then the rest of him through, "This is extraordinary." Kaelyn echoed his sentiment. Okku was absent for around half an hour, but before Adahni could suggest they go looking for him, he arrived, half of the carcass of a freshly-killed deer dangling from his mouth. He dumped the bloody offering on the ground.
"...thanks," Safiya said.
"I got hungry," Okku said sheepishly, "I prefer my portion raw, anyway."
"Lovely!" Gann exclaimed. He produced a bone knife from somewhere in his belt and began skillfully cutting the skin away from the flesh. Okku had, kindly, already eaten most of the internal organs and gross parts, and so it wasn't much of a task to butcher three peoples' worth of and throw it on the cooking grate. Safiya picked up the remnants of the carcass and stuffed it through a hole in the tent wall.
"It goes to another plane," she said, "It's excellent for disposal."
"Somewhere, there's someone who owns the property on which you dump all of your food scraps," Adahni said.
"Dwellers on another plane," Safiya said, "It's a primitive one. Believe me, I did my research. They haven't even discovered magic yet. It's not like they'll be coming through to get me."
"I certainly hope not," Adahni said, eying the garbage hole with suspicion.
The four humans wolfed down the venison, happy for the fresh meat, but Adahni, for some reason, craved greens. She kept her thought to herself, knowing that finding anything leafy in this frozen wilderness would be an exercise in futility. She found herself drifting off to sleep listening to the four of her companions softly talking, and, thankfully, did not dream.
The next day, they made their way to the southeast, through a gap in the mountains the separated the Ashenwood from Immil Vale. They moved closer to the great fire, and the smoke smell became more and more bothersome. Kaelyn, Safiya, and Gann soaked rags in melted snow and held them over their noses and mouth as their eyes watered and the linings of their lungs burned with inhaling the ash. Adahni's dragon blood kept her quite comfortable, though her eyes itched a bit, and Okku, being only partially of the plane, was unbothered.
The heat rose greatly as they walked down the hill and a violent hot wind began to blow at them. You think of fire as providing light, Adahni thought, but it is so dark here... The orange glow of the fire was nothing in comparison to the light of the sun, which was entirely blotted out by the thick black smoke billowing skyward.
"We're going to have to work to stay together," she said, as the woods grew darker and the path more difficult to make out, "Can anyone see?"
"I can," Okku said, "Put your hand on my shoulder, Adahni." She groped out blindly, and breathed a sigh of relief as her hand made contact with Okku's soft fur.
"That's not my shoulder," the bear god said.
She chuckled, and move her hand up to his shoulder. She then reached behind her and felt Gann's dry blue hand grab hers. Kaelyn took Gann's other hand, and Safiya took hers, and following the old bear, they made their way through the fire. Safiya, Gann, and Kaelyn, kept their eyes closed to the acrid smoke, but Adahni left hers open, fascinated by the blackened landscape they moved through. She saw the flames licking around the trees of the grove, big and small, some of the larger fires dancing threateningly through the canopy. She looked up, and could have sworn she saw the flames actually leaping from tree to tree.
"Okku, I think my eyes are failing me," she said, "Do you see a living flame, up in the treetops?"
"That's just the Shape of Fire," Okku said, "Never mind him. He is a pesky little thing. He can burn the grove, but is not strong enough to destroy it. Ignore him, or he'll try to speak to you."
Adahni lowered her eyes from the treetops. Evidently, though, the presky little thing had other ideas. It began dancing in the lower branches, putting itself in front of her eyes, hissing things at her in a language she did not understand.
"All right!" she cried, "What do you want!"
The little fire thing leapt down from the branches. She could see that it was man-shaped, though it had no features, only the vague suggestion of arms and legs and a head.
"Is the Wood Man dead?" it asked.
"What?" Adahni asked.
"Is the Wood Man dead yet?" it asked.
"No," she replied, "At least I hope not. Why...?"
"Noooo!" howled the little spirit.
"Is that why you're burning the grove?" she asked.
"To weaken the Wood Man, yes," he said. He twitched a little, the flames that made up his head and hands flickering, "But you... you are the Spirit Eater, are you not?"
"Addie, whatever you're doing, can it wait until we're out of the smoke?" Kaelyn asked. A glance behind revealed that the cleric was scrunching her eyes tight, tears streaming out of them.
"Just a moment," Adahni said, "Yes, that's me."
"You must rid me of the Wood Man!" the spirit said, "You must!"
"Really, Addie, can we go?" asked Kaelyn, "I think Safiya is feeling faint, it's all I can do to keep hold of her hand."
"Very well," Adahni said, "Let's move. I have no time for this."
They made their way through the burning grove. By the time they got beyond the smoke, and everyone could breathe properly again, night had nearly fallen. Safiya set up her tent again, this time at the edge of a cliff. She had nearly coughed a lung up on their way through the smoke, and huddled in her bed, dabbing at her eyes with a silk handkerchief.
"What do you think that was?" Adahni asked.
"Shape of Fire is a silly little thing," Gann said, "He has a grudge against the Wood Man, at least that's what the whispers on the winds would have you believe. He burns the grove in order to weaken him."
"And why did he recognize me? What did he want?"
"I can only imagine that he thinks that by weakening the Wood Man by burning the grove, he can coax him out, so that you can devour him," Okku said.
"Do you think that burning the grove might be what's keeping the Wood Man hidden?" asked Adahni.
"I doubt it would on its own," Okku said, "If he were at his full strength he would squash Shape of Fire like the bug he is. But with the blight, and the death of the dryad of the pool, it may be that the burning grove has indeed kept the Wood Man in hiding."
"That was quite a fire," Safiya said. Her voice was hoarse and deep from breathing the smoke. As the only member of the band with only ordinary human blood pumping through her veins, she had evidently taken a much worse beating from the elements than Adahni and Kaelyn, with their celestial blood, and Gann, with his hag blood, "How do you propose to put it out?"
"Yes," Adahni said, looking from Okku to Gann and back again, "How is it that such a silly little creature has kept the wood burning for so long? And what might be powerful enough to extinguish it?"
"The Wood Man is weak," Okku said, "That is the only explanation I can think of off hand. As for extinguishing it... perhaps chaining the element of cold? Do you have any arcane spells that can do that?"
"Probably," Safiya said, "I'll have to consult my library." She went to one of the walls of the tent and opened a flap. She reached inside, her whole arm disappearing, and it withdrew a thick volume. She sat herself back down and began to flip through it.
"I've heard tell of a bheur, an ice hag, that resides in Immil Vale," Gann said, "She may have access to some magic."
"A what?"
"A bheur," Gann replied, "Don't try to pronounce it, foreigners can never do it properly. Just call her an ice hag. Night hags, whom I can claim as my own illustrious ancestors, walk in dreams, as I can. Ice hags are not nearly as interesting."
"What do they do?" asked Adahni.
"They make things cold," Gann said, "Yes, it's just as boring as it sounds."
"Brings a whole new meaning to the term "cold as a witch's..."" Adahni started.
"Found it!" Safiya interrupted her, "It's a simple spell, really, it's just been awhile." She sat crosslegged on the bed and started weaving a spell between her hands. The strands of the weave fed into it, and she molded it into what looked like a translucent snow ball, "It worked on the pond, I just had to amplify it bit, so it might work on some of the burning trees."
"So what's the verdict?" asked Adahni, "Do we look for this bh... bhe... ice hag? Or do you think you can take care of it, Safiya?"
"I have no desire to walk back into the burning grove," she said, "I would be willing to take another couple of days. I can try to get rid of the fire from the outside, but there's no way I could concentrate in the heart of the fire."
"Very well," Adahni said, "We make for Immil Vale tomorrow, in search of the..."
"Just call it an ice hag," Gann said.
"But it's not as authentic," Adahni said.
"You care about stupid things," Gann replied, "Let us sleep some. Safiya is not well, and the way into Immil Vale is not long, but it is steep, and we will have to make it four times if we are to extinguish the fire before petitioning Chauntea."
"Well look at you, being sensible for a change," Adahni said, nodding approvingly, "Whatever you say, sir."
"I rather like it when you call me sir," Gann said. He pulled the covers over his head, and snuggled up happily under them. Adahni buried her head in the pillow and did the same, falling asleep almost immediately.
She was in Luskan, in an apartment she didn't recognize. It was larger than Dayven's flat, or her room above the Cuckoo's Nest. She was sitting at the kitchen table in front of a large plate of beet greens. She devoured them hungrily. Across the table was Dayven, the old Dayven, before he had given himself over to the drug Cyric's Madness. Handsome, blond-haired, green-eyed Dayven, whom she had fallen so madly in love with when she was little more than a child.
The front door opened and in stormed a child. A boy, blond, with pale brown eyes like Adahni. He was around ten.
"Mama! Mama!" he exclaimed, "I've passed my exams!"
Adahni was quiet a moment, and then realized that he was talking to her, "What... congratulations?"
"Good job, my boy!" Dayven said, picking the kid up and pulling him into his lap, "Your mother and I are so proud of you!"
"Yes, of course," she said, "I'll make you a cake. A special cake." She got up. She had an instinct for where things were kept in the kitchen. It must have been her kitchen. And Dayven was not dead, and they were still married, and the boy was...
...the boy was the baby she had lost the day after she and Dayven had been married.
She awoke in a cold sweat, the night still dark around her. She breathed deeply, trying to calm her racing heart. If things had been different, she thought, staring up at the ceiling of Safiya's fine tent, If Dayven hadn't fallen so far. If those thugs hadn't been me to a pulp in my fourth month of pregnancy. She paused, But how would that have turned out? I still would have had the shard. I still would have had to defeat the King of Shadows... I would still be here in Rashemen. The gargoyles from Lienna's rooms-beyond-rooms would have dragged me here. The difference is I would have a child...
Now that was a strange thought. She knew people with babies, but babies weren't really people. If she had not miscarried the pregnancy, her child would have been nine. Old enough to read, to write, to have thoughts, to perform elementary magic, to play the harp...
She'd never really mourned the loss of the child, or thought too long on the fact that the violent miscarriage had left her barren. She allowed herself to fantasize for a short moment about teaching the kid to play the mandolin, kissing scrapes and making cakes... and then she put that part of herself away. The choice had been made for her, whether she would ever be a mother. She had herself to take care of, and she could barely do that. She pulled the covers back over her head, and went back to sleep.