Goodness dear reader, how incredible it is! My companions and I have done something I never would have thought possible. Lorenz, and Alexander, and I finally went back to the Well of the Green Sister. We had all been very eager to take a look at the scroll and strange stones again, so at the beginning of this week, we set out early in the morning. The two of them had been able to make out a bit more from my notes, and they found something about a certain marking on the mirror. I wondered if it might be important for filling the stones with a memory, but it turned out to be even more!
When we arrived in the chamber, I showed them the scroll I’d been translating. Lorenz poured over it for quite some time. “It is vital,” he murmured with his brow furrowed in concentration, “that we are certain we haven’t made any mistakes…” Alexander could hardly contain his excitement. “Does that mean we’re really going to try!? Are we going to put a memory in a stone?!” Slowly, Lorenz straightened up, and with determination said, “I think so.” He placed one of the white-ringed stones on the edge of the glowing fountain. Alexander recited the words from memory: ‘Pour over water of Aumbra light…’ “That means we’ll need something to pour with,” I thought aloud, and began looking about the tables and shelves until I found a long wooden spoon. It was rather simple, save for the knotted vine design I now knew well. It was always the same, with three loops and three leaves. It had been on the stone giants, the key, my little mirror… everything that had led us here. I was encouraged to see it again, and noticing it was also on the fountain; it filled me with a strange sense of destiny.
I gave the spoon to Lorenz, who cautiously dipped it into the swirling water and poured some of the liquid onto the stone. Dear reader, the water did not run off. Indeed, the white ring around the rock’s middle seemed to pull everything in, absorbing liquid, color, and light all together! The stone glowed, and it grew transparent as clear glass. “It’s working!” Alexander cried. Lorenz scooped up the glowing form with the spoon, and offered it to Alexander. The lad took hold of the handle and carefully brought it to the magic mirror. He placed it in the small hollow so that it touched the golden unicorn horn.
Lorenz moved to stand beside me and spoke. “The text says ‘Touch the mirror at the vine of three magics’. Do you know what that means?” The words struck something inside me, and in that moment I did know: the design of knotted vines! It was always the same, with three loops and three leaves... three magics... I looked tremulously over the silvery frame of the magic mirror, and there it was. “Sonya,” Alexander began, and he spoke in quite a serious voice that surprised me. “I think you should be the one to speak, to fill the stone. It’s because of you we’re all here.” He nodded at Lorenz, who nodded back. Oh goodness, but I didn’t know what to say! It seemed such a responsibility! “Tell your story,” Alexander suggested. I looked at him. My nerves made my throat tight, but the young man that I had come to know just smiled at me, and Lorenz squeezed my hand. I looked at the mirror, my eyes fell on the symbol of the twisting vines, and… I knew what to say. I stepped forward, touched the mark; the mirror glowed, and I began.
I spoke of how and why I had moved to Greenwood, of exploring the forest and witnessing its magic. I talked about the key in the stone giant, and what it was like to find the vine that turned those who ate its fruit green. I told of how we followed the river to this ancient place and how in this very magic mirror, we had seen the memory of a person, green like me. “And it’s funny,” I mused, “how all along the way was the same symbol… the ‘vine of three magics’. I came here already knowing Impressional magic, and Healing magic I learned from one who lives in the forest. But I have a feeling that these arts —recorded in the scrolls and jars in this room— well, I have a feeling that all the magic began here. Now I give my account, a moment held in time, by this… Memory magic. I have come to learn them all, and I hope to keep learning, to keep sharing, and to keep helping others with these three magics.”
I sighed. Then for a moment I didn’t know what to do; the mirror was still glowing. So I touched the symbol on the mirror again, and the enchantment stopped. The mirror grew dark, but the stone began to turn a different color, a deep forest green, before it too faded. Trembling, I reached out; my hand touched the now green stone. It was like looking in a mirror, if instead you could feel a reflection. There were all my own emotions echoing back at me, and with a little tear in my eye, I laughed. It had worked! I held the stone out for my dear friends and I to behold together.
As we made our way back towards the cottage, Alexander and Lorenz spoke enthusiastically about all that we had been able to accomplish. We might be the only ones in the whole of the kingdom, maybe even the whole world to have practiced this magic since who knew when. Dear reader, now as I reflect back on this very full spring, I am overcome with a warm sense of contentment… and fulfillment. We have done so much, exploring ancient knowledge and rediscovering lost magics! …I feel very proud, and I’m so glad I have been able to do it together with my friends.