They passed into a clearing that was surrounded almost entirely by fruit bearing trees and berry bushes. Nicole couldn't quite put her finger on it, but they looked odd. But then, by now everything was gray. The colors she did see were the result of flowing sources or glowing auras. She was finally able to look up at the sky. The glowing stars, planets, gas giants, and clouds of plasma from the heavens above were clearly visible and so she dropped her sight and waited for colors to return. It was still daylight. The sky was overcast, and other than the vague impression that it was somewhere towards the evening, Nicole had no idea how close to evening it was. But looking at the rows of berry bushes made her stomach grumble.
"We can take a break here," Nancey explained. Then seeing the plants that Nicole was eying, "You definitely should not eat those plants."
Nancey dropped Nicole's hand and she reached into her cloak and started withdrawing various pouches and packages and handing them to Nicole. She pulled out the metal tripod, a small wire stand, and started taking some of the pouches back from Nicole and dumping them into the pot that was suspended from the tripod. It looked vaguely like dried peas, carrots, some sort of tuber, and other miscellaneous flakes and cubes. She took the excess pouches from Nicole and placed them back into the pocket within the cloak. She unfolded a thick blanket and invited Nicole to sit next to her.
Nicole noted that it was oddly more comfortable and reassuring to sit such that she remained in contact with Nancey.
"The closer we remain to each other, the longer the aura trick will last," Nancey explained, "And if it should slip, it's quicker for me to recast it if you're near me."
"You want to borrow some water from the air for our cook pot? The pollen isn't as thick but you'll definitely want to funnel water from those clouds up there instead of leaching humidity from the air around us."
Nicole glanced up at the clouds, "I can't. The clouds are too far. Is it safe if I just pull from the air above the trees?"
Nancey shook her head. "No, the vacuum might pull more spores in and I don't want to push our luck. But here," she held out her hand, "I bet you can reach the clouds with my help."
Nicole stared dumbly at her offered hand. "Wha- what?"
Nancey grabbed her hand, "Just try it," she offered and then went back to watching the dry pot with its heaping of dried vegetables and seasonings.
Nicole looked up at the clouds and started to reach, it was an odd sensation, but she could feel the clouds. In feeling them, she began to see and feel the clouds of vapor amid the dust and other particulates. It happened so fast and easily that she made the rain sprinkle briefly on them.
"You want to aim for the pot, I know I'm a little sweaty from all the running around, but I'm not ready for a shower, yet," Nancey chided.
"Um, sorry." Nicole was equal parts elated at having accomplished such a feat and embarrassed at her lack of control. Having such an acute tactile sense over the sources made it like learning to channel all over again. She fumbled between trying to grab them tactilely and visually before finally getting a loose handle on both.
She regained control and moved the water droplets in a chain until she had filled the pot half way. Then she directed more of the water into the remaining kettle. She over did it and ended up leaving puddles of water in the grass just beyond where they were sitting.
Nancey regarded the puddles with a smile as she mumbled an "Abracadabra", wiggled her fingers, and then moved the puddles of water into stacks of ice so quickly that one moment there were puddles and the next there were blocks of ice.
Nicole started to ask "Where did the heat-" but then she noticed the steam rising over the pot and steam rising from the kettle. "What's with the," and then she wiggled her fingers in mimicry, "vocalizations and such?"
Nancey grinned and answered with another question, "Haven't you ever seen a street magician before?"
Nicole had no idea what she was talking about. Nancey explained, "They always have to have a magic word or flourish when they do a trick."
Nicole couldn't quite put her finger on it, but something seemed to have put Nancey in a strangely giddy mood after they sat down.
"What gives?" She inquired.
And without any further prompting, Nancey smiled and replied, "When you channeled, you could feel the sources better than you ever have before, right?"
"Yeah, so?" She prompted.
"Well, I didn't know it would work. I had thought maybe it wouldn't after we started out. I mean, I tried to see them around us while we moved throught the woods, and I know you had been watching them for a while, but until you actually channeled a few moments ago, I couldn't see them." She must have realized she was talking entirely too fast and kind of babbling.
"So when you started channeling." Nancey's voice cracked as she continued. "I could see them. They were beautiful. I've never seen anything so beautiful."
"Oh," replied Nicole, "is that all?" She reached and started practicing her fine control of air while periodically adding more heat to the kettle and cook pot.
Nancey looked up at the sky and smiled as tears silently streamed down her cheeks.
I'm taking a brief hiatus from this series, the next block of it isn't as firmly set as the parts up to now. The rough outline, the plot, sure, that's all fine, but the tiny events that fill the spaces in between aren't as well developed as everything was up to this point. So, I will be taking a break from these posts until I can flesh all of that out again. I don't have an estimate as to when it will be done, but when it is I'll post another link in the comments below.
