"Come on, slowpokes."
"Wait, Morton," said Tattan. "I need to catch my breath!"
Morton was eager to show his new friends the wishing pond in the village. Wishing
Pools were very common around the land. They were little pools of water that
were a certain colour. The wishing pond in Tattan's village glowed a yellow
colour. Tattan used to make a wish everyday at that pond.
"Quick or we'll miss lunch!" Morton yelled. He was a few feet ahead of Tattan
and Celia. Tattan and Celia were enjoying the Chia village a lot. They all seemed
very nice and peaceful. Tattan learnt that even though most of the explorer
Chias were taken by Lupes, that almost all of the little Chias wanted to be
explorers. Tattan thought that Morton was the most interested in exploring.
Ever since Tattan and Celia arrived at the village, Morton wanted to show them
everything.
"Come here it is!" shouted Morton with pride. This particular Wishing Pool
was a bright shade of blue. "I threw a purple stone in and wished for some firewood,"
boasted Morton. "A few minutes later there was a big pile of wood in front of
my house."
"Wow, Morton that's neat," said Tattan investigating one of the many purple
stones that lay around the pool. "Don't you think so, Celia?"
"Wow, Kondach must really favour you and your village Morton," she replied
with a smile. "You are all very lucky." Morton beamed with pride.
"Why don't you try?" Morton said in a little voice and handed Celia a stone.
She took it from him and smiled. Morton blushed a bright shade of red. Celia
brought the stone close to her heart, closed her eyes and thought for a moment.
Then she tossed her stone deep into the pool.
"What did you wish for Celia?" asked Tattan.
"She can't tell you," scowled Morton. "If she does it won't come true."
"Yeah Tattan," said Celia. "If you want to know a wish then make one yourself."
She tossed him a little purple stone. "Go on Tattan," said Celia. "Make a wish."
"All right then," said Tattan. He brought the stone close to his heart just
as Celia had done. He did this because all Shoyrus believed that if you wish
on something. It would be granted if it heard it from your heart. Tattan thought
about a wish for awhile and then it came to him. I wish that we would return
home someday and that we would all be safe and sound. Then he threw the purple
stone in the water and watched it disappear into the depths of the pool. "All
right I'm all finished now, why don't we all go home and have some lunch."
They all had a race to see who could get to Morton's house first.
"Hurry along now and wash your hands," said Morton's mother when they finally
arrived. "Before your lunch gets cold."
The three friends raced to the small creek to wash their hands. When they were
done the headed inside for a delicious dinner of vegetables and a delicious
dish called Hartroot Pie. Tattan helped himself to the dinner. He had three
servings of the Hartroot Pie. Morton outdid Tattan and had four servings of
Hartroot Pie. They spent the rest of the afternoon playing with some of the
local young Chias They were all fascinated by Tattan and Celia's wings. Then
they went home for a dinner of a Chia favourite called Chickapod salad. Since
Celia and Tattan were leaving the next day, Morton's mother had made them a
fire and gave them a few things to roast over the fire. They had a lot of fun.
"Okay you two," said Morton's mother turning towards Tattan and Celia, Morton
was already fast asleep on his little rock by the fire. "I've refilled your
bags so that you can get an early start tomorrow. Tattan I filled your with
extra pieces of Hartroot Pie"
"Thank you," said Tattan with a very happy look on his face. Celia laughed,
said goodnight, then she lead Tattan to their room and the two fell asleep.
"Good-bye!"
"See you later Morton," said Tattan.
"Bye," said Celia.
"Watch out for the Lupes!" said Morton's mother with a very worried expression.
Tattan took one last look back at the Chia village and then headed on with
Celia. It was a cloudy day and it looked like a little rain was coming. Tattan
said that they had better hurry or they wouldn't be able to beat the storm.
They had been making good time all morning when it started to rain.
"Great," said Celia with a small frown. "Let's go into that hollow tree."
The two friends headed into the hollowed out tree. It was very nice and warm.
The two friends fell asleep soon after entering the tree. Tattan had a very
strange dream. He dreamt that Lupes surrounded him. He was armed with a spear
and a wooden shield with a small green gem in the center. He was looking around
when he spotted Celia. She was on a high rock toward the back of the plains.
Four Lupes trapped her. Tattan realised that she was wearing the wings of the
dream. Tattan was just about to lunge at the Lupes when he woke up. He looked
around and noticed something very odd. Celia was gone.
To be continued... | 
