I'd been studying all the books that Halia provided, every day poring over tomes that were thicker than I was, resting, eating, sleeping, and reading. Hours turned to days, days turned to weeks.
It was only when I started to get into the practical application of knowledge, what was termed secondary studies, that I found the opportunity to see something in person.
The book described a Weave flower, a temporary fountain of active primal life energy that was summoned by a living thing, usually for reproduction. The concentration of energy was so dense that it could be easily manipulated by a rank beginner like myself.
An expert could do much more.
The book detailed several varieties of plants on Arboria that produced them at different points in the year. If I communed, I could find them. Unfortunately, I drew a blank each time.
The sun was low in the sky when I communed to search for the fungus called the sky ladder. This time it showed up bright in my mind. It was here and it was blooming. I could see its green glow in the dark.
My heart raced. I could hardly sleep and as soon as morning came, I told Halia.
She came with me down a long spiraling stairway under the big Elder tree's roots. The place was full of animals: dawngrazers, jabbits, flitterbugs, and splorg.
The cave was no exception. After our eyes adjusted to the dark, very faint lights became visible. The fungus and animals did not use the light to guide their movements. They were completely blind. But in the intense dark, they were so numerous that the mere presence of many little dim lights became an indicator of otherwise unseen walls and rocks.
Standing out among these were the different varieties of fungi that glowed green, bluish white, red and even purple. The smaller lights hung from the ceiling or crawled on the walls. It would be creepy if it weren't so beautiful.
It did not take us long to find what we were looking for.
The plate fungus, each spanning a width as long as a forearm, ascended up a huge crack that formed when the Elder tree's root punctured through the ceiling of the cave.
They glowed brightly as they spiralled up along the roots. Weave energy swirled from each in sparkling green powder.
I step forward gingerly. The bright light of the fungus and it's spores obliterated the dimmer lights around them, making them stand out even more against inky black.
My eyes burned with tears at the sight. I felt small, engulfed in blackness with my only light being that of the fungus. The weave energy was like a furnace.
I hold out my hand to draw some of the energy within. I watch the bright motes contact my skin and travel up my veins to the rhythm of my heart beat. I didn't need a vessel. I was the vessel.
Halia and I sat together marveling at the scene before us. She nuzzled me. It was an obvious sign of affection, and I immediately felt guilty for not returning it. I was taking so much of her time and energy.
"Halia. What do you want me to give you for your kindness?"
Halia admitted that she felt attracted to me, but all she wanted was for me to be me.
My heart sank. I didn't know what that would even look like. "I'll... Do my best to become someone you deserve, Halia. But if... I turn out some other way, I'm sorry."
She placed one finger on my chin and I stop talking. She wouldn't be happy if I crafted myself into someone I thought she would want.
"You don't know what I deserve."
She stood up and left me stunned. Once again she was right. For all the time we'd spent together, how much did I know her at all? I could not help but smile at her simple yet irrefutable logic.
Here I was so ready to give myself away to someone I barely knew.
I have to say for once I'm really lucky.
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