The cabin was bare and messy, but a little bit friendly in an odd way. Krent
poured the hot water into three teacups. He dropped in the teabags and carried
them carefully to the table and set them down.
"Thy quest," Krent began, "must be worthy of the reward thou shalt receiveth.
It must be dangerous, Jilmarah saith. I do not knoweth what quest I shalt giveth,
or what it must accomplish in the Plan." Holding the cup with both hands, he
looked into his tea and drummed his fingers on the side of the cup. "Mayhap
thee can fetcheth the tears of the sea, or mayhap thee can captureth the moans
of the clouds. I do not knoweth." He sighed. "I giveth thou a choice. Thee may
chooseth to fetcheth the tears of the sea or the moans of the clouds."
Listillo and La_Estrella_de_Sol looked at each other. Listillo thought it would
be easier to capture tears than moans, and he saw in his sister's eyes that
she thought the same.
"The tears of the sea," said Listillo.
"Very well," said Krent. "However, before thee must goeth…I must question
thou. Thee arest under a spell-the spell of Jilmarah. Thee adoreth her, dost
thou not? Thee must helpeth me and I must helpeth thou to breaketh the spell
so that we may be our own souls. Willst thou agree?"
La_Estrella_de_Sol nodded, knowing how Krent felt. She nuzzled against him,
then motioned to Listillo.
"We are out of here," she said, setting off at a trot to find the tears of
the sea.
The ocean roared in La_Estrella_de_Sol's sensitive four ears. She and Listillo
stood at the edge of Krawk Island, peering into the deep blue water. They did
not know what they were looking for, but they hoped that they would know when
they saw it.
Sea salt sprayed up at their faces with the next wave. Listillo took a container
and captured the salt, thinking maybe that was what they needed.
"I wonder," thought La_Estrella_de_Sol aloud, "if he meant the moans of the
sea and the tears of the clouds. It would make more sense. After all, listen
to the sea moaning, and the clouds really do cry. But I've never heard the clouds
moan."
Listillo was silent, but he nodded in agreement.
"Arr, what do ye be lookin' for?"
A sudden voice from behind startled them.
"Excuse me, sir, but we are looking for the tears of the sea. Have you any
idea where we could find them here?" La_Estrella_de_Sol voiced to a pirate with
a peg leg and an eye patch.
"What you be talkin' about, lassie?" he asked.
"We are on a quest to find the tears of the sea," Listillo explained. "The
sea is here. Do you know what this man means by the tears of the sea?"
"Aye," said the pirate, "but these tears be very rare here. Ye will find them
on Mystery Isle. However, ye must be careful. When the sea cries, it cries."
The pirate turned and started to walk away.
"Do you know exactly what tears of the sea are?" called Listillo after him,
but it was of no use. The pirate did not hear, and he was gone.
"To Mystery Isle?" La_Estrella_de_Sol asked.
"Aye," said Listillo softly, nodding. "To Mystery Isle."
They hopped into the boat that they had used to take them to Krawk Island and
rowed to Mystery Island. When they went ashore, they did not know where to look
first. Though a small island, Mystery Island seemed so big…like there was something
missing from it.
"The mystery," said Listillo, voicing his and La_Estrella_de_Sol's thoughts.
"Yes," murmured the Aisha.
They trotted a long for a while until they came to the Tombola Man.
"Perhaps the Tombola Man knows where to look," suggested La_Estrella_de_Sol,
and Listillo agreed, so they walked up to him.
When they explained their quest, the Tombola Man knew what tears of the sea
were.
"Well, you see," he said, "Teahs of the sea ahn't dings you can easily capture.
Dey ah de feelings people feel at de ocean…a tropical ocean, a blue ocean. Dat
is why you could not get dem at Krawk Island. But heah, deh ah many teahs of
de sea, but dey cannot be captured easily. Try sitting and watching de sea faw
a while and see if you can describe how you feel. If you can do dat exactly
right, de teahs might show demselves. But you must be cay-ahful, for de teahs
can make you go places you may nevah want to go."
Listillo looked doubtful. La_Estrella_de_Sol, looking at her brother, knew
she felt the exact same way. It sounded so easy.
"We might as well try it," she said, shrugging.
"I guess we should," said Listillo. "After all, no harm can come out of just
watching the sea. Thank you, Tombola Man, for everything. You helped us in so
many more ways than this."
"You ah welcome, little pets," laughed the Tombola Man, and he went back into
his hut.
The waves crashed everywhere about them. The two brave little pets were sitting
under the shade of the palm trees at the island's coast by the Trading Post.
The roar of the sea was deafening, especially to La_Estrella_de_Sol's delicate
ears, and the brackish air from the water mussed up their fur, but they sat
there, watching and waiting for something, some "Aha" moment so that they knew
exactly what they felt.
Gradually, Listillo had begun feeling tired. His eyes softly closed, just a
fraction of a millimeter every few seconds. He realised he was feeling peaceful
and calm and sleepy and happy and a little sad from the soothing moans of the
water that kept coming closer…closer…and finally engulfed his body.
La_Estrella_de_Sol was having a similar realisation, but the water did not
carry her away. Instead, she felt it gently, each time it touched her, take
a few of her atoms away, and she was finally swept away as well.
Listillo awoke to find himself twirling, swirling around in the giant whirlpool
that had so evilly destroyed Maraqua. La_Estrella_de_Sol awoke to find that
she was a few miles away from the whirlpool and as she had drifted in her sleep,
she had given the pool a wide berth. However, she saw Listillo, and her heart
was breaking…her brother, whom she so loved, was sinking farther…and she knew
she had to rescue him. She forced herself through the water and let herself
go around and around.
"Listillo!" she shrieked, holding out a paw. "Try to come to me! Listillo!"
Listillo looked up and saw his sister so desperately holding out one paw and
waving another to find something to cling to for dear life. Listillo felt a
tear escape one eye and he tried to swim to her, but he was powerless, and so
was she as they both went down… down…
***
"Oh…" Lijalana the Water Faerie looked up to see that her patients were awaking
from consciousness and groaning in pain.
"Hush now…it will be all right," sang Lijalana, going over to them and gently
stroking them to relieve them of pain.
Her two patients were none other than Listillo and La_Estrella_de_Sol. Lijalana
had left Faerieland to go for a short swim, but she had enjoyed the freedom
so much she had strayed a little too far and had seen the two pets crying and
screaming and desperately trying to escape the swirling power of the whirlpool.
Lijalana, angered by the water, had rescued the pets by calming the waters and
carrying the small pets to the Healing Springs, where she worked every day to
help the Uber Water Faerie heal each pet that needed healing. As soon as Lijalana
had gone, the waters were no longer under her spell and had begun to rage again.
The Uber Faerie had done what she could to help Listillo and La_Estrella_de_Sol,
but there was a long line of pets at that time and she only had time to cast
a small spell to restore some of their energy. Thus Lijalana took them under
her wing, carrying them to her very small cloud a few yards off from the Healing
Springs.
"Now, I know my own water hurt you," said Lijalana, flitting about the cloud
room, putting things in order, "but I beg you to hold no grudge against it.
It's really quite good most of the time, you know. Most of the time its forces
are used for good, but it can get quite evil sometimes, like sweeping you away
and tucking you inside itself to release you at the whirlpool, where it would
keep you forever, and all of the water magic used in the Battledome…"she sighed
and shook her head. "I don't approve of fighting. Not like all the other faeries
do. That is why I heal; I heal each pet of all kinds of horrible things. I heal
them of my own force's power and the power of each other element."
Listillo and La_Estrella_de_Sol were only half-awake and could not comprehend
what the faerie was saying.
Finally, when Listillo was awake, he asked, "Where are we and who are you?"
"You are in Faerieland, on my little cloud near the Healing Springs, where
I work. I am Lijalana the Water Faerie."
"So…I'm alive?" he asked uncertainly. "And what about my sister?"
"You're both alive and you will soon be well," said Lijalana, humming a little
as she gently touched both pets slightly to release some magic. "Get your rest
now. I can tell you the story later." Kissing each pet on the forehead, Lijalana
smiled at the two pets.
"I will starve," Krent mumbled. "No food has come by here. All the berries
are poisonous. And I'm still under that darn Dark Faerie's spell…"
That moment, he saw something move out of the corner of his eye. His immediate
thought fled to food, and as he lifted a bush, he saw a tiny creature hovering
there, obviously frightened. She was a light faerie.
"Hello, my dear," Krent said softly. "Thee needn't be afraid. Thee must cometh
out."
The light faerie stepped out cautiously, then took to the air and floated.
"Hello," she said, her voice high and musical, like the sound of a bluebird.
Krent immediately, at the sound of her voice and the full sight of her, forgot
about Jilmarah's enchantment on him and bowed to her deeply.
"What hath thee, such a delicate and beautiful, good-hearted creature, been
doing out in mine filthy, evil wood?" Krent asked, bowing again.
"I'm running," the faerie said. "I'm being chased by a Dark Faerie. I had
lost my temper and I yelled at her for what she had been doing to all the pets,
giving them dark powers and such…and then, she got mad and she is trying to
enchant me and make me her slave. Oh! I'm sorry!"
She said this last remark because she had just noticed the air of magic around
the man, the air of magic that told her he was under a Dark Faerie's spell.
"What for?" he asked, as he had completely forgotten about Jilmarah. "Thou
haven't a thing to be sorry about. Ah-wait, now I do see what thou arest sorry
about. A moment, please."
He took the faerie's small hand and led her to his cabin.
"Is this where you live?" the faerie asked, obviously a little uncomfortable.
"Aye," said Krent, making some tea and handing a tiny cup to her. "I am forced
to liveth here, in mine filthy wood. Now, my dear faerie-"
"Lanaea, if you will, please," smiled the light faerie, looking up at Krent
and then down into her teacup.
"Aye, Lanaea. I wisheth for thou to do me a favour, if you would liketh. I
'm sure that thou hast noticed I looketh dreadful and I talketh funny. However,
I do not wisheth to be an evil man. Alas, alas, I am, I am evil, yet 'tis not
my fault. 'Tis that cursed Dark Faerie's fault, Jilmarah-"
Lanaea looked up immediately from her teacup at Jilmarah's name.
"Jilmarah-she is the one chasing me-"
Lanaea was interrupted by a swirl of purple smoke clouding the cabin. When
it cleared, Jilmarah the Dark Faerie stood there, and Lanaea, hoping that Jilmarah
would not sense her with dark magic, had ducked under a crude-looking bed.
"Hello, my dear Krent," Jilmarah said, stroking Krent's cheek softly. "I am
here."
"Hello, mine mistress," said Krent, standing up quickly and knocking over
his chair. "Hello mine dear queen."
He bowed.
Jilmarah chuckled and sat at the table.
"I was wondering, Krent, if you have seen a creature flit by here recently,"
the Dark Faerie said, dragging Lanaea's teacup over to her and sipping it herself.
"She's not big-not the size of you or me, really. She' s very small. She's a
light faerie, with long blonde hair and blue eyes. Her name is Lanaea… oh! Never
mind it, slave. I know where she is. I can feel it."
Jilmarah got up from the table and looked under the crude table. She saw the
ball of light that flickered, but then, the light faerie was gone.
To be continued... | 
