****
"I must have been dreaming," Alana said confused, looking at the wagon.
"No dream," Meifen told her as he handed her another cup of Kaliton. "Look closer."
"It's different," Rhoswen stared at the wagon. "The wood actually looks less fragile, but there's no paint."
"It put itself back together," Doug told them with a grin. "Julie and I watched it. It was all hot and glowy. The pieces started moving into place fast and faster. I bet it put itself back together faster than your father built it in the first place."
"Yes, but their father had to create all those spells," Julie told him. "That had to take some time, too."
"True," he said with a grin.
"Let's go find some bird eggs, Vevila," Davy called. "There are some nests over by the water."
Meifen and Davy had been exploring the area while the girls slept. Davy chatted on to Meifen. It didn't bother him that Meifen couldn't return his words. Only Vevila could do that.
"I feel tired," Vevila complained, "and I didn't even do anything, but sit on a rock."
"What did the boy say?" Meifen asked her.
"He wants to collect the bird eggs over there by the water," Vevila told him.
"How did you know that?" Meifen asked her expectantly.
"He just said so," Vevila answered irritably.
Kane and Rhoswen looked at her surprised, Alana just nodded. She had suspected that Vevila had picked up on the boy's language.
"Oh!" Vevila said as she realized what Meifen was implying.
"Later," Meifen told her. "When we have time, I would like for you to learn my own language."
"Okay," Vevila answered with surprise.
She hadn't realized how lonely a person could get with no one else around to speak his or hers own language. Meifen spoke English so well, she had just not thought about it.
"Kellan is still sleeping," Alana frowned.
"She is depleted," Meifen told them. "Look inside yourselves and to your link. You will see that you also need to refill your energies. We will be staying here today."
"Here?" Alana looked around. There was nothing but bog!
Meifen nodded. He nodded towards Davy and invited him to go egg hunting. Vevila looked down with disgust. Great, more weird eggs! She looked towards the baskets and frowned when she realized that Meifen had locked them.
"I guess our survival training is about to begin," Kane told her. "I'm going to find that spring—I stink!"
"I'll join you," Vevila started to walk with her.
"Okay," Kane waited.
"What?" Vevila asked.
"You have to get your shoes," Kane told her with a frown. "You can't go traipsing around here barefoot. You can get bog fever."
"I don't have them," Vevila told her sheepishly. "I left them at Celeste's."
"You what?" Kane asked angrily. "Those were good shoes. I would have wanted them if they were bigger, and you just left them there? That's pathetic!"
Vevila looked on forlornly as Kane stomped off towards the stream. She didn't know what else to do with herself so she sat down—again—on the rock.
"What's wrong with you?" Rhoswen asked her.
"Kane's mad because I left some shoes at Celeste's," Vevila told her feeling foolish. "I didn't know we would be stopping in a bog."
"How could you know what we would be doing?" Rhoswen rolled her eyes. "That's why you were just supposed to bring them."
"I understood why you tossed your old ones," Alana told her, overhearing the conversation, "they were too small anyway, but what's this about some at Celeste's."
"They were really nice," Vevila said feeling ashamed. "I just didn't want them because I like my feet bare."
"I bet you wish you had them now," Rhoswen sighed.
"I do," Vevila whimpered. "I don't want to be stuck just sitting on a rock all day."
"Did they look like these?" Alana held up a pair of girl's shoes with sturdy buckles.
"Those are them!" Vevila said with surprise reaching for the shoes.
Alana held them away. "Not until you promise to think about things—at least a little more."
"I promise," Vevila told them.
"Kane saw you put them back into the bin," Rhoswen laughed. "She thought it would be better to just grab them out, rather than argue with you. I'd say she was right."
"You better go thank her," Alana told her, "or you would be just sitting on that silly rock all day."
Vevila found Kane trying to scrub the mud off her feet.
"It went everywhere," she complained.
"Thank you for getting out those shoes for me," Vevila said to her. "I don't know why I fight so much about wearing them. I know I sometimes have to."
"Do you want to know what I think?" Kane asked her.
"Yes," Vevila told her sincerely. "I do."
"I think it's your pride," Kane told her. "You have tougher feet than any of the rest of us. I think you're proud of that. It's okay to feel pride, but not okay to let it get you to do foolish things."
"Oh," Vevila paused. "That might be partly true—but I also don't like the feel of shoes confining my toes. I like to wiggle them a lot, and they get sore when I wear shoes."
"Truly?" Kane asked surprised.
"Actually, yes," Vevila responded.
"Maybe we can create a spell to allow you to have wiggle toe shoes," Kane studied her feet.
"Not another pocket?" Vevila frowned.
"Maybe a sort-of pocket," Kane confirmed, "I'll think on it."
"Breakfast is ready," Rhoswen told them, "and Kellan is awake."
"Bird eggs?" Vevila asked.
"Bird eggs," Rhoswen agreed. "Meifen is scrambling them this time. They look really good."
"A little bit of this," Kane teased, "and a little bit of that, top it off with cheese and you have Meifen eggs."
Doug and Julie joined them by the fire. It had burned down to a nice little crackle, perfect for a mild summer evening.
Meifen seemed to have a strong opinion of how much each person would eat. There weren't any two plates alike. Vevila was relieved to see that she only had a small portion of the eggs and a bun. She picked at her eggs. They seemed to be okay.
"What are these?" She asked Meifen.
"Eat," was his only reply.
She glanced around the circle and noticed that Rhoswen and Kellan were digging in with obvious enjoyment. She was scrutinizing her eggs when she heard a giggle. She looked up to see Kane laughing at her. She quickly looked away when she realized that Kane was about to do her famous—see food—joke. She didn't think her stomach would take it at the moment. She ignored Kane and Alana giggling from the other side of the fire.
Vevila tested a small amount of egg. It was actually quite tasty. She finished her eggs and was thankfully eating the bun—having survived the Meifen eggs.
"So what's up?" Kellan asked Doug noticing his deepening frown.
"The bog," he said simply.
"That's where we were going to build our lodge," Julie added.
"The grove by the Flanagan's is nice," Alana mentioned.
Doug blinked with surprise. He hadn't thought about building somewhere other than where Keegan had suggested.
"Why not?" Kellan agreed. "Nothing else is going on there and it's nice. Jay and Briana would make good neighbors, and I think they would appreciate someone close by."
"Could we?" Julie said hopefully.
"Who's going to say otherwise," Kellan argued, "if us sisters agree. I can't see Uncle Stefan being against it, and we don't care what Aunt Caryn thinks."
"We've already decided that she's not going to be living with us at the house," Alana told them. "We don't care where else she will live—but not there."
Doug nodded. Stefan had told him about the stunt she had pulled with the hammer. No telling what else that woman was capable of. The girls would be better off on their own, and Kellan and the twins were old enough to pull the other sisters in line. Besides
, with Celeste and Stefan as mentors, where could they go wrong?
"If the crew agrees," Doug told them. "I would like to claim the grove."
"We like to be involved with important decisions, too," Julie told them when she noticed their expressions. "We are like family, and a happy family—well—is a happy family!"
Doug laughed about her rattled happiness. They watched with interest as she smacked him in the head, which made him laugh all the harder.
"You knew what I was saying," she said scathingly.
"Sure do," he told her. "Bonnie and Art want to settle in and start a family. That's why the lodge is important. I don't want to lose them from the crew."
"As you know," Julie reminded them, "many of our folk rent plots from your family when they want to start a family. Now, they can have the stability of a home, but keep working with us. I'm all for that!"
"So you think they will agree to the grove?" Kellan asked.
"Oh yes," Julie smiled happily.
"In fact," Doug stood up, dragging Julie up with him. "I think we will head back now, and let them know what that explosion was. We'll take all of five minutes to talk about building in the grove, and then start building tomorrow."
"Why talk about it at all?" Vevila asked, "if you're going to do it anyway?"
"It's a life decision," Julie answered. "We all need to have a say. With that many people, there might just be one who will have a very good reason not to move there. It would save a lot of time and resentment to just take the five minutes and get buy-in before we start."
"That's like what we started doing," Alana told her. "Celeste has been showing us how."
"Good woman, Celeste," Doug nodded, "much better than that aunt of yours."
Kellan noticed the look Julie gave Doug. She didn't need to be concerned about him wanting Celeste. There weren't any affections going on from either direction. Besides, Celeste was falling for Uncle Stefan—again.
"We found out that Celeste is our aunt," Rhoswen told him. "Grandmother Sadie was um—."
"Indiscrete," Alana piped in.
"Oh," Doug sighed, "that's too bad. I mean for Stefan, not you. That's good for you."
"It's okay for Stefan too," Kellan laughed. "Grandmother wasn't the only indiscrete one. They aren't related. Stefan isn't an O'Byrne!"
"Wow," Julie was surprised. "Who would guess? He's so vital, and well—magic."
Kellan laughed to herself upon seeing Doug giving Julie the look she had just been giving him. She figured there would be a handfasting coming their way soon.
Doug and Julie made their way out of Meifen's impromptu camp, and made their way back to their people. Julie was excited about the grove. She had always loved it there. While the girls were busy getting cleaned up, Meifen had told them about the off season zone. What a wonderful idea! She kind of wished they would have had that zone. Silly—she thought—be happy with the blessings they had just received.
"So little wagon tosser," Meifen said to Kellan. "What did you do?"
"I was pulling really hard," she explained, "when I felt my vision shift the way it does with Dara and Celeste. I could see these—strings—a massive amount of strings. They were connecting the wagon to the ground. Every little area of the wagon had these strings. I pushed energy at them and cut them loose. The wagon went sailing."
Kellan had been thinking about what had happened. She knew that her description wasn't quite accurate, but couldn't figure out how to describe the experience any better.
"Possibly Kinematics," Meifen stated. "It is a study of objects and motion. I think you are describing gravity pull. I have never heard of another with this type of magic. We will investigate it—later. For now, you all need to be the tree, good night."
They stared after Meifen as he snagged up his own bedding and made a nest just in front of the fire.
:I think he means for us to replenish our magic the way Celeste showed us at the tree,: Rhoswen suggested. :I don't know if you noticed, but our link looks a little thin.:
:Thin,: Alana agreed. :It is hard to hear you and you are right here. I can barely hear Dara and it feels too hard to knock.:
:Yes indeed,: they heard Meifen, :and to block one's thoughts—now—be the tree.:
Kellan didn't know how successful she was at being the tree. The next thing she remembered was having some wild ride dreams. She kept finding coins everywhere—only to lose them again.
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