Everything still smelled wrong. Almost three moons he’d been there, and it still didn’t feel like home. He longed to return to the forest, but Master Gorkle insisted it would “impede the progress” they’d been making. He wasn’t allowed in the castle all the time to see Oshal, and he wasn’t allowed to return to the forest to see his family. Nourd did not care for it here.

He sat up. Some of the other druids were stirring. They slept in a special part of the gardens, sectioned off from the rest of the area. While Nourd liked the feel of grass beneath his feet, it felt wrong. The air wasn’t abound with energy like it was in the forest. It was too organized.

Master Gorkle had told him that he needed time to adjust to being in the court before he could start spending more time in the castle. Nourd hadn’t been in the castle yet, nor did he think he wanted to. Until he thought about Oshal again, and then he wanted to be wherever Oshal was.

Nourd wondered what Oshal was doing. Was he with his sister again? She gave him a feeling as though a nest of spiders were crawling over him, but saying anything about it upset Oshal, so he focused on anything else when he was with them. So long as Oshal was happy, Nourd could tolerate Roshil.

Something caught his attention. Some sound coming from another part of the gardens. Nourd stretched his arms, then his legs, in the way that Elder Wolf had taught him, then crept toward the noise.

He walked through rows of tall bushes. There were trees around the area, hiding the speaker from sight. She smelled like an apprentice, the same sort of earthy smell that all apprentices had. And her words were strange. They didn’t make any sense to Nourd.

Water trickles over a creek Sustaining the earth and creatures Giving life to all it touches Echoes of birds chirping Tossed around between trees By the cool wind Green sparkles in the sky Twinkling with the sunlight of a clear day When night falls glittering stars shine and moonlight illuminates a brand new world

Her words sent Nourd back home. He heard the calls of the birds, the howl of wolves, and grumbles of bears. The wind shook the leaves, speaking to all who could hear. And the smells. Bark and pine, fresh water on grass, and fruit growing for those who knew where to look. The smell of wolves and bears, of apes and deer. The smells of home.

“Excuse me?”

Nourd opened his eyes and found a girl staring at him. Her skin was a pale peachy color, like Master Gorkle’s and Roshil’s. Her thick black hair hung to one side over her shoulder. She held a book with both arms, as though to protect it from him.

“What are you doing here?” she asked.

“I heard a noise, and I came to hunt it.”

“Um… what?”

The girl didn’t understand him. That happened a lot. When it did, Oshal had told him to try being nice. That’s what Oshal did, and it always worked.

“I liked the words you spoke,” Nourd said. “They made me think of home.”

“Thank you? It’s supposed to be about the forest.”

“That is where I lived until I was forced to come live here.”

The girl stared at him, smelling of confusion and a hint of fear. She reminded him of a time he’d tried being nice to a rabbit.

“Does the court know you’re here?”

“Yes. I am Master Gorkle’s apprentice.”

Rabbit Girl nodded. She clearly wanted to escape to her warren before he ate her.

“I will not eat you,” Nourd said to assure her.

“Okay.”

His words had not assured her. This was one part about humans he didn’t understand. Even when you insisted you wouldn’t eat, hunt, or kill them, they still believed that you would. If anything, they seemed to believe it more when you told them that.

“Um… I have to go now,” she said, pointing toward the rest of the gardens. She sidled away.

“What do the humans call you?” Nourd asked, remembering something Master Gorkle had taught him called “manners”.

Rabbit Girl froze. What little relief that she had started to feel disappeared.

“Um… Apprentice Anej?”

“I am Nourd.” He thought for a moment, then added, “Apprentice Nourd.”

“Sure. It was… nice to meet you, I guess.”

Anej turned around and walked off, keeping her head down.

Nourd watched her go, still thinking about her words. What were they? Had she been in the forest? Whatever they were, he liked them. He tried to remember them, but he couldn’t. How had it gone? Water, and life, and birds. Leaves were part of it too, he was pretty sure.

He took a deep breath, getting an idea of her scent. Master Gorkle had told him he wasn’t supposed to track people by their scents. It related to the thing called “manners”, which didn’t make sense to Nourd. It sounded like some sort of mating ritual, but he didn’t want to mate with Anej, he wanted to hear her words again.

He began to follow her trail, but then he caught another, more familiar scent.

Master Gorkle walked through the gardens, hir sight set on Nourd. That meant zie wanted Nourd for something. Maybe it was time to go back to the forest.

“Apprentice Nourd.”

Nourd turned to face zie.

“You’re supposed to stand attention when a master approaches you,” Master Gorkle said.

Nourd stood up straighter.

“Much better. Today we’re going to go to the castle. It’s not time for you to stay there full-time yet, but we’re going to try just walking around today.”

“I want to see Oshal. Will he be there?”

Master Gorkle nodded. “Apprentice Oshal will be there, yes. He and Lady Durwey will accompany us.”

Nourd smiled and followed Master Gorkle, Anej’s words still drifting through his head. For a moment, he’d been back in the forest without being there. He didn’t know if it was some other form of human magic, but he’d liked it. He wanted to know more about it. Perhaps Oshal would know.

#VolumeTwo #TheRightWords