The White Druid moved gracefully, gliding across the flattened ground of the small clearing that was home. The White Druid, Madeline thought, mother. "We will let your friends sleep while we talk," the elder woman said, her voice radiating calm and peace. "They will be safe here within the shell of the Tortoise. We will go to a place where we can talk."
The edge of the camp was marked by a sudden switch from cleared ground to jungle, with the roots and vines winding themselves into a low wall, a natural replacement for the man-made walls she had noted on the villages along the way here. One of the light globes followed her, a few feet behind her right shoulder, as they plunged through a narrow gap in the wall and into the dark jungle. There was a sound of movement behind her; Madeline turned to see the gap in the wall was no longer there. She turned back to her, her, mother, and saw the woman continuing at her same stately pace into the jungle. She had to jog a pace to catch up. The corset, as usual lately when she changed her pace, slipped and dug into her hip; she'd probably lost a bit of weight during this quest, she thought.
They stopped not long after in a place where the little stream fell over a rock, not more than a two foot drop, but one that made a soft splashing sound that could just be heard against the sounds of the insects in the jungle. Four huge trees grew here, two on each side of the stream, forming almost a room. "This is one of the places I like to come to sit and be, Silvermoon. You will feel its peace." From a small hollow in the roots of one tree she pulled out an object that glinted in the light. Madeline had to blink twice to recognize it. Her mind finally resolved it as a silvery teapot that would not have looked out of place in an Anglish parlor. The Druid bent to fill the pot with water from the stream, and set it on a small set of rocks. In a moment some spell caused a fire beneath the pot, and she had set on a stone, gesturing for Madeline to rest on another.
The word struggled with her lips. "M-mother? This is so very strange. I - You - you look _so_ much like Emily, uh, Sunshine. Please forgive me; I didn't know you existed. I didn't know that I was searching for you." The doctor swallowed. "Do you know -- why I wasn't told? Why I was taught to call -- that other woman 'mother'? Did Emily know?"
Mother Moon's face twitched into the slightest trace of a frown. "Why do you keep calling her by her mundane name? Did something happen to Sunshine that she did not become a druid?" She caught Madeline's shake of her head and interrupted the words she was trying to form. "As for why." She nodded solemnly. "Then it must have worked. After seeing your horoscope, your father and I agreed that we would raise you separately and keep you from learning to read the stars. Otherwise," she shook her head. "No one could mistake Venus and Mars in ascension in Taurus, with a new moon in the first part of Gemini. And Jupiter retrograde in Aquarius! By the gods, Jupiter retrograde in Aquarius!"
[My guess now is that Mother Housekeeper wasn't a druidic type and encouraged the use of "mundane" names. I don't believe she was around long enough to encourage Maddy in her wish for higher education or rebelling against her father. Dr. Davis is simply a product of the times.]
She was silent for a moment, looking at her daughter. "But I forgot. We agreed you would know nothing of this. Though how he was able to raise a druid without being asked about the stars I have no idea. I was not able to." The last was said quieter, and she shook off the moment and continued seriously. "Suffice it to say, the stars were quite clear. You twins were complements, as the moon is equally light and dark. You would struggle with one another, and be part of the Great Fight. Both of you had the capacity to work great ill against the gods of Anglia, both of you would be formidable druids. And you would have destroyed each other before you grew to be adults." Her voice was steady, solid with a purpose drawn of years of believing. "We had to separate you, keep you in the dark to each other, until you were grown. So I moved to Africa with your sister." She looked out into the darkness beyond the glow bulb. "Sunshine was quite precocious, she understood."
The steady sound of the insects in the jungle prevented silence. Madeline licked her lips, coaxing her dry mouth into speech. "Papa did teach me to pick out the patterns of the constellations and where to look for the planets. I liked all the old Greek myths about them. But.." she licked her lips again, "Please tell me about your life all this time. It's like 20 years of catching up I'd like to do."
Moon smiled. "The Elder Ones will not accept you as simply as that. You know this, of course. But your studies here will not take as long as twenty years."
Madeline was puzzled, finally catching on. "Ah, I didn't make myself clear. I don't want you to think better of me than I am, Mother. I am not a druid. I am a physician and a mesmerist, using my skills to heal people. Though I learned herbs and animal lore and started healing under Papa's tutelage, the gods of Anglia never spoke to me the way Emily, forgive me, Sunshine -- always said they talked to her. I know I haven't learned how to listen to them; I just don't know how. Papa always says I don't know how to listen." She looked even more embarrassed by her confession, "Well, after a while we couldn't really communicate anymore so, of course, he's right. It is at least half-way my fault." She paused. "Still, talking to ones father is not the same, I'd think, as talking to gods."
Moon sat, back straight, sharp white against the blackness behind. "I see," she finally said. The kettle started to whistle and with what might have been a touch of relief she turned to the making of the tea. The silence stretched as she splashed a little hot water in the pot, and out onto the ground, before dropping some leaves in the pot and pouring hot water over them. She poured the hot liquid into two cups, moving one to Madeline. "It is an herbal tea. It will not keep you awake, I find it relaxing." She set the pot down and produced one final surprise, a tea cozy in some soft gingham to cover it. Her hand lingered on it, stroking it slightly. In the light she could see it was worn and often mended. "It is made of your baby blanket," she said softly, voice catching. "All of yours that I could allow to come with me."
Moon looked up into the distance, beyond her daughter. "And you are not a druid. You, like Dark Moon, chose a different path." A tear glinted as it ran down her cheek. "I had been so sure you must have been the one to take the Path. That I would introduce you to the Elders here." She shook herself out of it and turned to Madeline. "So, a doctor and a, a mesmerist. What is that?"
Madeline took a deep breath. "It's a new science, Mother. A mesmerist is one who can organize their own energy to help organize another person's energy. In medicine, we use mesmerism to put a patient to sleep, to link with his mind to control his pain during an operation, to show his body how to heal by using our own energy to start and guide the healing process. Otherwise... I - have - when circumstances have forced it - tried to use mesmeric control to stop one creature from hurting another, but I have little practise in that and fear that I might cause harm as well. By using my mind as a shield I can sometimes pass unnoticed; as a tool, I can sometimes move or hold something without physically touching it. It can all be done with a strong will by using the energies each of us generates."
Moon's shoulders sagged ever so slightly. "Vundun. Witchcraft, most Anglians would call it. What Dark Moon learned rather than be taught the way of the Turtle and Snake. Twins." She stared at her daughter. "You and your sister are so very alike. I suppose you fought with your father incessantly, as well."
"Yes, m-mother. Papa and I disagreed on many things. I do try to not make our every meeting a fight nowadays. I hope I have grown up that much. I know it wasn't easy on Papa to raise two teenage girls by himself. And Sunshine is a very well respected druid now. So he can be proud of her." Madeline took another deep breath. "I don't think that most Anglians think of mesmerism as witchcraft anymore, though. It has been studied regularly at University College Medical School for almost 50 years. There are, of course, people who claim to be mesmerists in order to prey on credulous people. They make many people think that mesmerism is mostly a parlour trick. But that does not make the serious practise of mesmerism invalid; just more difficult." Quietly, "Just about as difficult as being a lady doctor." Deep breath. "Hopefully it will be easier for other girls after me to learn what they need to be useful in the world. I can't help but hope that my" she choked for a moment, "children's children - boy or girl - will be able to choose any profession they have talent and will to achieve."
"Why would Dark Moon have sought out my fiancé? Why would she let him think she was me?"
Moon was puzzled. "Fiancé? You are getting married? Tell, tell me of this young man."
"Ex-fiancé. He's dead."
Moon shook her head. "Oh, my poor dear." She looked like she wanted to reach across, for a hand or a hug or something. "Dark Moon knew as little of you as you did of her. If she met your fiancé, and wanted something from him, she would use her powers of vundun to read what was uppermost in his mind. I have seen her use that trick before, to find out something she wanted from someone." She sighed. "She would have considered herself fortunate to have looked enough alike his fiancé to fool him. She was always convinced she was smarter than those around her."
"I - I don't read people's mind, Mother. I can only link if my - someone - wants me to. Does -- Dark Moon know about me? Is she a doctor too? Tell me about her, please."
"No, not from me. Only what she learned from your fiancé, I suppose. Six years ago now, she left with a passing expedition, led by one of Lord Cardiff's sons. They were headed north into the badlands, searching out old bones of some sort. She has stopped back a few times since then, never particularly comfortable visits. Though I had hope, as sometimes she wanted to know more of the Snake and Turtle, but she was not turning toward the Path."
Madeline, hoping that lots of women 'look like her', described, "I've been in the mind of a man who saw a woman who looks just like me as a torturer. His torturer. She was having him bitten by snakes. A great many people involved in our quest have died of snakebite. My fiancé Francis was one of them. Can you help me protect my friends from such a death? My skills as a doctor are of little use against such poisons."
Moon's look was one of concern. "I am sorry, daughter, for you to have lost so many friends to snakebite. Death is a great power on this continent, and is sudden more often than not. It is best to prevent the snake from injecting its poison. Most travelers wear heavy boots to prevent this. Once it is injected though...for most people, if you can keep them alive through the fevers and other problems that come with being sick they will recover. Some react badly to even a single bite, and die before they can be brought to you." She sighed. "If you could speak with those of the Turtle, I could teach you more. But I do not know vundun or doctoring such as you have learned in Anglia." She seemed older.
"Kind mother, most of the people to whom I've referred as dying I have not known personally. Please don't distress yourself on my account." She waggled one booted foot and smiled. "And I did remembered my stout boots." Serious again, "Nonetheless, I'm sure the people I'm talking about all had parents, siblings, friends, people who loved them somewhere. And, knowing what I felt because Francis died, I want to do what I can to save others from such pain. I think I'd like to learn every type of healing there is if only I could. But somehow there never seems to be time. I wish I could speak to your Turtle; I know some druids know some healing rites. One of my companions, Mr. Blake, is a radiologist and has turned that science, in part, towards healing. But I still feel like I haven't completely learned even all that was taught me in college and the hospital. That being so, how could I do justice to trying to learn druidic or radiological healing as well?" She smiled. "I didn't mean to put my aspirations on you. I do apologize."
"My companions may have mentioned the pieces of stele that we are trying to understand. Brother Flametree, back in London, said, 'It may look like it is stone, but it is water, an Old One of Water. He wants to go home. He doesn't want to be caught by Yoruba.' Isa - Miss Courtney -- said that Yoruba is in part a belief about a battle between a light and a dark snake. Might this have anything to do with the Snake - and Turtle -- you have mentioned several times? I know I disappoint you in not being able to talk to them but - can you tell me about them?" Madeline hesitated for a moment then continued, "I - I don't know if it means anything, but I once was able to use the mesmeric mind link with the stele and - and it indicated that it wanted to go in a particular direction. Not in words - gods don't talk to me - but by its action. Could you help us understand more of what it wants and needs?"
The white druid uncovered the teapot and poured more of the fragrant but bitter liquid into Maddy's cup. "This is an old and patient land. You must learn to pace yourself. The many questions you ask, well, I could tell you a story for nights upon nights. As many as Far-li-mas himself." She covered the pot again and leaned back. "Flametree. A name from this continent, but not from here. He must have spent some time on the east side of this land. You don't happen to know any other name for him, do you?" Madeline shook her head. "Ah. It doesn't matter. I do not think he would have known the local Old Ones, to give such a general answer. If you have this stele I can listen to it." [The party was focused on the Karkalanza, and did not ask her to examine the stele.]
Moon turned over the piece of stone in her hands, tracing out the lines carved into it. She held one finger to her lips, shushing Madeline's question, and closed her eyes. For a moment there was stillness; even the steady background drone of the insects had vanished.
And then Madeline realized that it wasn't that the insects had stopped, it was that the burbling of the stream had grown louder to cover it. She jumped, startled, as cold water poured off of the tree behind her down the back of her neck. She looked up in time to see the little bits of water that had collected on the higher leaves of the trees cascading down. The stream was exploding in geysers, shooting water six feet into the air and back down again. The teacups started rattling, as the tea inside sloshed one way and then another, tiny spouts mimicking the stream. The glowing ball of light went suddenly dark, immediately followed by a brilliant flash of lightning above the trees and an instantaneous thunderclap that rattled her to her boots. The glowing ball lighted again, and she could see rain falling, growing quickly heavy, drenching her. The light blinked out again, to be replaced by another lightning bolt in the sky and another bone jarring clap of thunder. The light returned, and in the torrent of rain she could see her mother, still sitting with finger pressed to her lips and the stone to one ear. Somehow, she was shaded from the rain by the broad leaves of the trees above, and the light went out again as the lightning and thunder rolled for what seemed like forever, as Madeline rolled into a ball to escape the pounding noise.
She came back to her senses, the sound of insects loud again. There were a few droplets still falling from the trees, and she was soaked. Her tea was ruined. Her mother had opened her eyes and, perfectly dry, was holding the piece of stele out to her. "Tuan. Indeed, one of the Old Ones of this place." Feeling like a drowned rat, Maddy moved a wet strand of hair out of her face and took the piece back. "Trying to get home before he is destroyed. Servants of the Snake have a piece of him, and He sees Yoruba, preparing to destroy him." She shook her head, and with a slight frown noticed the mess. As she spoke she poured out Maddy's ruined tea and replaced it with fresh tea from the teapot. "This is quite unusual. In the battle of Snake and Turtle, neither can destroy the other. Where one grows it pushes the other out, which moves and pushes the other somewhere else. A long time ago, Tuan passed by here, leaving an area where the Snake had grown strong, residing elsewhere. But, now," and her voice grew quiet and worried, "He fears his destruction."
She passed the tea to her daughter. "Here, drink this. You should stay out of the rain, you'll catch your death of cold. I asked him if you had indeed managed to speak to him by witch, er, mesmerism. I do not think you spoke to him, rather, I think he heard you. The Old Ones sense what is around them, though the passing of days are like seconds to them. He wants to head north, back to his home, and he wants to survive whatever the Snake is doing. He has searched, calling to others to help him find those who might have the power to aid him. That is why he has selected you and your companions, you have the greatest power of those he has been able to find in the time allotted. He wants to live, nothing more or less than that."
Madeline smiled ruefully. "I hope we haven't m-mistreated - Tuan. It seems he wanted m-me wet. He is the Turtle? C-could you tell what it will take t-to allow him to live? Besides going north, which is our intent." Madeline sipped the tea, surprised to find it hot after all that. I must try to moderate my questions, she thought, letting the warmth still her shivering.
Moon looked puzzled. "Mistreated him? I don't see how you could have mistreated him. As for allowing him to live, you must simply prevent him from being destroyed. He is an Old One, and, yes, he is one of those of the Turtle." She spoke as if explaining the obvious, slowly, to a child. "And he did not get you wet, the rain did that. The rain follows him."
Madeline nodded, suddenly understanding the weather, at least.
"It is possible - likely from what you say about our destinies - that Dark Moon and I may be working at cross-purposes. Just how and why, I've no clue. I can't imagine wanting to harm the gods of Anglia or - or destroying anyone. A doctor, a healer, is supposed to help, not hurt. So... I - must hope that Dark Moon made my Francis happy in the time before he died. Knowing that I have another sister, I cannot think that she is the villain that some have made her out to be. Perhaps there have been some great misunderstandings or perhaps she is being constrained." Madeline shook her head. "It is all so - sinister that I don't know what to think. I must hope for good. It might help if I knew more about the questions Dark Moon has asked about the Snake and the Turtle and such like. Will you tell me what she has asked?"
Mother Moon smiled. "Ah, good, you have learned that much of what we had to teach. I am sure that Dark Moon made your Francis quite happy, you may rest at ease on that." She seemed to relax a little. Madeline, on the other hand, felt hot tears sting her eyes and she turned away, realizing what her mother had meant. And that she no longer could think those things she'd just said about - her sister. She almost missed the druid's next words. "I had been afraid you had brought with you too many of the mores of secular Anglia. The way you are dressed, well, not appropriate for Africa, is it? As for what she asked, I am not sure I remember all of the details. They are tales I had told her, trying to teach her, so she had heard them since childhood. We do not have time for me to tell you all the tales properly, so I will summarize them for you." Madeline tried to quiet her trembling and fasten her attention to her mother's words.
She stared at her daughter a moment. "I should assume you know nothing, shouldn't I?" Madeline nodded. "What do you know of the Old Ones?" Madeline shrugged her ignorance, feeling very old herself. The druid spoke, "They are called Old Ones because they are Old. Older than Man; not older than a man, but older than Man. There are many areas where you can find the bones of those ancients who did not become Old Ones, and the bones are so old they have become the very rock of the land. In those places Death is strongest. Here in these lands they tell a story, that in the dawn of the world the Sun called all the creatures of the world to him. Only the snake and the turtle answered his call, and so they were given eternal life. The turtle moves slowly to stretch each day out, the snake moves quickly but must shed its skin with each new life. The turtle cannot catch the snake, nor can the snake harm the turtle. The snake is the clever and deadly hunter; the turtle the steady and wise tender of that which grows."
Moon shook her head. "But without the stories, none of this will mean anything to you. Sigh. Most people prefer the turtle, the placid and steady life among the plants. Some prefer the adventure of the snake." Her eyes narrowed. "There are tales of the dark and light snakes. Poisonous versus non-poisonous, I suppose, but the power of the snakes appeals to people: they would prefer to renew their skins, living eternally in youth, than in learning to take each day as it comes. Some kings of old achieved this shedding of their skin by use of taduki, but none have done that since."
Youth seems a good thing when you have someone to spend it with, Madeline thought to herself. The darkness of the time before coming to Africa seemed to have come back. She shuddered slightly and asked, "Taduki? What is that?"
"Releaser of Spirit is perhaps its direct translation. The Flower of Memory is how the locals would translate it. It is a plant that used to grow when Tuan resided north of here. Its fragrance brings back pleasant memories. Chewed, in its simplest form, it frees the spirit from the body to wander the halls of memory. The wanderer can relive any moment they choose, see it in detail, or wall off an unpleasant memory forever. The shamans used it on patients to remove the memory of a traumatic wound. But it could be used, as well, to replace memories with false ones, or force one to forget something important, and so the kings of the lands kept the cultivation of it controlled. It is said that there is a preparation, using the flower with the blood of a king and another, to allow the king to leave his old body and enter a younger one. That is said to be how the kings of old could reign for nine hundred ninety years."
The druid added, "The tales Dark Moon was most interested in were those of the contests of the turtle and the snake. And the tales of light and dark snakes."
Madeline, worried, asked, "You said there isn't time to teach me all I should know on this, but... Would any of those stories help us to understand what - Tuan said to you, about the Snake trying to destroy him?"
Mother Moon gave an exasperated sigh. "Yes, all of what I have to teach would help you understand Tuan and the Turtle and Snake. If you were willing to take the time to learn it. To study for more than just a part of one night. Of how the Snake gave the Twins the mango and breadfruit and the flesh of the antelope, and how the Turtle taught them to plant the seeds to grow more and to cook with fire. Of how the Snake tried to fool the Twins by moving the Sun in the sky to foil their planting, and the Turtle showed them how to count the stars to grow their crops." Her shoulders sagged. "And a hundred, no, a hundred hundred more stories. And if you wish to know how an Old One can be destroyed, then go to the Plain of the Bones in Rock to the north, and ask there of the Old Ones who have died." She shook her head. "No, you don't have to do that. That is where the karaal came from, that is its home."
"There is," she seemed to struggle with the words, "a...relationship between the Old Ones and those who worship them. Without your taking the Path you will not understand, but what you see as the power of the druid is the power of the Old One, and the sentience, the personality of the Old One the amalgam of those who serve it. Those in touch with the darkness within them will have darkness in their Old Ones. The Snake attracts both kinds. The dark snake, those who destroy and devour, who would tear down and kill until only their kind were left. Did you know some snakes even eat their young? If the young do not manage to kill the old in return."
"If those who have served the Old One have gone and forgotten him. If servants of the Dark Snake could find whatever the refuge of the Old One was, and destroy it, then the Old One would die. While that would benefit no one, really, such a death would allow one who worshipped Death to trade for great service. Far greater service, indeed, than even the karaal that pursues you now."
Madeline felt a chill within that had nothing to do with her soggy clothes. She wasn't sure just how much she believed in the karaal, but she certainly didn't want to meet something worse and more powerful. She drove her mind to something more tangible, some bit of information her companions might find useful.
"Did Dark Moon come visit you in the last month? Is she still with the expedition of Lord Cardiff's son? Do you know his name? His lordship in Victoria didn't mention that we might run across his son."
Moon shrugged. "I met him only the first time he passed through here. After that, he stayed outside the forest and only my daughter came in to shout or speak. I believe she still travels with him, as the stars have not shown a change for her for some time. As for him, he is not an acknowledged son of Lord Cardiff; that first time through I could see that he had great plans for finding a way to impress his father."
"People's fathers seem to be a thread that runs through this - adventure I'm on," Madeline muttered with a tinge of bitterness, thinking of Blake and Courtney, her own father and now Cardiff. She had rather liked Lord Cardiff. Now it was likely that her Party would have to bring him pain, if they were to bring his son to justice. Just as she would cause her own parents pain in bringing Dark Moon to justice. That or let more innocents suffer. To her mother, "Dark Moon has been with Lord Cardiff's son rather a while now -- six years, you said. That's as long as I've been at University College. Has she seemed - fond of Lord Cardiff's son or - or is he just her employer?"
Mother Moon smiled slightly. "It was clear she was fond of him when he first came through. And she was old enough, she needed company of those her own age; there are very few Anglic who come this way to visit a hermit. Wherever it is that they have journeyed, she has been learning as she could never do here with me. And, while there was much shouting the first time she came back, there was none this last time. I think she may finally be growing out of it."
Madeline still felt cold. It was clear her mother would never believe ill of Dark Moon. Was there any chance at all that she would want to care as much about - Madeline? "Do you look in the stars to learn about me, mother?"
Solemnly the older woman nodded. "I read the stars. And the wind and the stream and the flight of birds. But they did not tell me who you were. Or who you weren't."
"Would you mind telling me a little more about us, as a family, mother? Where did you grow up? Did you always want to be a druid?"
Moon stared, a look that was hard to hold and return. "That is not what you want to know, child. Those are the questions you think you should ask because you dare not confront the feelings you have." She stood up. "It is late. I do not need the stars to know you are leaving tomorrow." She looked up just a moment. "And they do not say whether or not we will ever meet again."
Will you want to meet me again after all? Madeline almost said. But the coldness held her. If she had expected to find something of herself in this mother - where it had not been in her father or - "Sunshine", this night was not enough to show it. The hole that Francis had filled yawned deep. Mother Moon would not fill it. Madeline was still an outsider in her family. And they had deliberately deceived her for years. Dr. Davis felt inexpressibly tired, cold, betrayed. She wanted to sleep and she wanted her flask. But she wouldn't show it. Her "Anglian mores" would simply have to do. Madeline tried to square her shoulders and lift her chin as she followed the White Druid away from the stream and into the dawn. The corset helped.
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