Oh goodness, it is so incredible! We have found another part of the story that is true. Lettie asked me to take her out into the forest and we found the most amazing…well, goodness, there I go again…let’s start from the beginning. But, oh, it is so extraordinary, like something from a dream!
A few days ago my sister asked me to show her the forest. She said she wanted to see all the places I had discovered over the past year. I warned her, the forest has a mind of its own and it may not show her what she expected. She just laughed and said all she wanted was to see my forest and share it with me. So we got up early in the morning, a packed basket in hand, and entered the wood. I showed her the ruins of the witch’s cabin and the grove of dead trees where the flowers had been housed that winter. Neither looked very special. They might have been overlooked, with just the stones and branches for markers. But Lettie beheld every spot with as much care as if she had seen the wonders that had taken place there herself. When the day grew hot, I took her to the stone giant and we splashed around in the river. It was so cool and refreshing; we ate our lunch there. I may not need to eat so much food, but the meal was very welcome and it gave me new energy.
We decided to delve even further into the forest, far beyond where I had ever been before. There the trees grew closer and their trunks were covered in large, pale mushrooms of a kind I had never seen. Then, what seemed all at once, the shadows were long and the sun was setting. I had not realized how late it was because we were having such a good time. I said we should hurry back, but Lettie smiled at me mischievously and asked why we should not sleep there. Goodness, the thought made me nervous for a moment, but I had been in the forest alone at night and the air was still warm from the summer sun. I agreed and we lay down between the roots of an old oak, the sounds of the woodland as our lullaby.
When I awoke it was still night, but all was not dark. I shook Lettie awake for there, all about us, was a greenish glow. Oh, we gazed in amazement and found that the soft light was coming from the pale mushrooms. They shone like little lanterns, like stars on every trunk and fallen limb, and in the undergrowth and, goodness, around us in a faery circle. We stood and looked around. It was like the light I had seen on Solmar, but these mushrooms did not move. I was puzzled… until I saw it, that is. On the top of the hill looking down at us with wide eyes was a fox.
What should have been the white fur of the cheeks and belly glowed just as the mushrooms did! We jumped back when the fox started to trot toward us, but I noticed how the tail bounced behind it as it did. Surely here was the source of the light I had seen before. The fox seemed unbothered by our company, even friendly, rolling around in the grass and rubbing against our legs like an overgrown kitten. Lettie warned me to be careful; it was after all a wild animal. But when I saw it gazing up at me with its little foxy grin, I could not help but laugh out loud. Goodness, what kind of a creature was this? Slowly and carefully I offered my hand, palm down as one does with a cat or a dog, and after a few sniffs it rubbed its soft cheek against my fingers. Lettie whispered in a quiet voice the line from the Green Children of Woolden, “a land of the faeries where all the plants and animals sparkle and glow”. I think now she must be right.
The fox ran off, so we lay back down, but in the morning, there it was again curled between the two of us with its white belly in the air. By daylight, neither it nor the mushrooms glowed, but oh goodness, and this part is so exciting too, mixed in with the orange, and black, and white fur, the fox has patches of green! I thought at first maybe it was just stained from moss or some other plant, but no, the hairs are truly green… green, like me. I do not think it can be pure coincidence, not in this forest. When we began to walk back to the cottage the animal followed along, and three days now he has come back to visit, playing with our feet under the table or hunting the grasshoppers in the yard. He even slept at the foot of the bed one night. And oh, he is so curious and quick; he tries to speak with us by making cute little yips and squeaking noises. Lettie and I have decided to call him Flame, for he is so bright in both day and night.
And I, dear reader, have decided to make something special for Lettie before she goes home: a remedy of Adventure. Though, I am not really sure I can call it a remedy. This will be something completely new, something more, for it will have many feelings wrapped up in it. And with all the remarkable Impressions I was able to draw from our magical night in the woods, I cannot wait to see how it turns out. Oh, it has been so wonderful to uncover all these new things, and to share them with my sister. It certainly has been an adventure, and with this new remedy, she will have a little piece of it to hold on to.