As I write to you now, dear reader, I am sitting at my desk watching one of my beeswax candles burning low. It is well into the wee hours of the night, but I wanted to finish this new remedy and tell you of all that has happened since my last journal entry. Goodness, we were finally able to open the stone door, but not at all in the way I had imagined! It took some creativity and the help of many, unexpected friends.
This time when we went to the Well of the Green Sister, Alexander brought a ladder. It was rather funny, seeing him and Lorenz carry it through the woods. I wasn’t even sure if it would fit into the hollow tree, but somehow we made it through. When we were once again in the chamber with the door, Lorenz climbed the ladder and started trying the keyholes on the upper half. We watched. After sometime he confessed that he was beginning to grow nervous. What if none of them worked? I suggested he rested for a while and maybe have something to eat, as I had packed a basket of food for us all to share.
It was a simple meal: cucumber sandwiches, berries, a loaf of bread and cheese, and a jar of honey. I begged my companion’s pardon for certainly it was nothing as fine as they were accustomed to at the manor house, but they both said it looked delicious. I gave a little smile as I opened the honey. A bee buzzed over to inspect it… perhaps it was thirsty? I put a drop to the side for it to drink.
Thinking on what Alexander had said from before, I noted how bees were themselves rather creative creatures. By some magic they were able to turn the stuff of flowers into precious wax and honey for their hives. Lorenz said he was glad we got to enjoy their “creativity” too, as he took a bite of honey-covered bread. I offered some to Alexander, but he was gazing intently at the bee and didn’t seem to hear me.
Quite a few of the bee’s companions had joined in and were enthusiastically drinking up the sugary drop. Finally Alexander looked up at me. “Sonya,” he said “may I have your jar? …all of it, please?” Goodness, he’d get sick if he ate that much! But he said he didn’t want to eat it; he had an idea. I gave him the jar and watched in confusion as he stood and began making his way up the stairs. Lorenz and I wondered what he could be doing. After a moment he peered down at us through the six-sided opening in the ceiling. “Who is it that is carved on the door?” he called to us, “The Green Sister, correct? And I think the tree behind her is supposed to be the giant oak with white leaves. There are the vines and flowers too. And who is it that keeps buzzing down to all the flowers?”
He disappeared from view for a few minutes more, then rushed back down the stairs with the jar completely empty. We asked what he’d done, but Alexander only said to look at the door. We watched… nothing... It took some time, but slowly, we began to see something clear and golden dripping out of the holes. A few bees flew over to the door, then a few more, then with a great buzzing, a whole swarm flew down through the opening above and landed on the door! They must have been drinking the stuff up, for hundreds of them came and crawled into the keyholes of the flowers, climbing their way into the very door itself. There was a deep, resonant boom; we stood back, and the great stone door swung open. Alexander whooped with glee, as the swarm reappeared in the open sky above our chamber before rapidly fling out of sight.
Oh goodness, I stood quite still for a moment, then began to laugh! It had all been so fast and strange and astounding. Alexander explained that he’d finally recognized the sweet smell from the jars we’d found in the room above. It was honey. And the opening in the ceiling, it had six sides, like a honeycomb. When he had gone up the stairs, he’d poured the honey from my jar into the little hole of the carved stone flower that was alone. It matched the ones on the door but sat directly above it; it was a channel! “We’d been thinking that the flowers were keyholes, and in a way they were, but the keys were really hundreds of tiny bees.” Alexander continued, “Mrs. Algar always says bees are the servants of the Green Sister. It only made sense to me that we would need their help to open her door.” Lorenz gave his student such a look of pride and amazement that I thought he might burst. I told Alexander that it had truly been inspired thinking, and he seemed to beam.
So, with the mystery solved, we were finally able to go through the door and into the hallway beyond. It spiraled gradually as we descended. There were other, smaller doors and chamber, which we promised each other to explore later, but what we really wanted to see was waiting for us at the bottom. Once reached, it appeared more like a cave than the rest of the ornately carved edifice above us. We stood at the bank of the magic waters, shifting colors of light swirling and mixing together. The light played on the trunk of the giant oak, off the many vines and cavern walls, and cast a dancing glow upon our faces. Oh, it was just amazing! Alexander reached his hand towards it, but Lorenz held him back. “We don’t know what it might do... yet,” He winked and Alexander nodded. I took an empty vial from my bandolier, and carefully filled it with the liquid, stopping it with a cork. I passed the vial over to Alexander —something for him to enjoy in the meantime.
After we left the Well of the Green Sister, I took a moment to speak with Lorenz alone. I wondered what he thought the water might do. Would it turn a person green like the strange fruit of the vines? Or make them glow like the mushrooms? Or goodness, even become enormous like the giant water lilies!? Lorenz said we would likely have to do many experiments before we truly grasped the nature of its magic. Certainly none of us should touch it or drink it, without a thorough understanding of what it could do. I nodded my head as he spoke, but then noticed a bee sitting on his shoulder. Goodness, the bees really seem drawn to him this spring. I gently shooed it away before saying goodbye to him and to Alexander, who was standing a short distance away, examining his vial with an expression of awe and wonder.
So dear reader, after all this I found myself gripped by a sudden spark of inspiration. Seeing Alexander puzzle out how to open the door with such wit, such cleverness, I wanted to craft a new remedy. I’ve worked hard on it over the past few days and now have finally finished it: Creativity. I don’t believe that imagination is just a thing that only a few are born with. I think everyone has it. All of us are always either making new things, or solving problems, or learning to see the world through fresh eyes. It’s about being curious… discovering the new and unexpected. I hope Alexander realizes that. He figured out the door by thinking in a most creative way. But just in case, I made this remedy to remind him. And thus, my dear reader, I say goodbye to spring. It’s been full of surprises and sweetness, and now I await summer, ready to embrace it with all its new possibilities.