Dan'enda Struggle

Chapter Five: The Dance

That same night, it was late and I was restless, going from my bed to my plants, then back to my bed multiple times. As I looked out the window, I heard something like a woman's voice. I was in the process of tending to all of my plants around the room yet again when she called to me once more. I stared outside, into the darkness barely lit up by the sliver of the waning moon, and I saw nothing. I turned back to my plants and plucked a berry. I looked at Ivy and tossed the berry in her direction. She flew up and caught it before landing on the bed again. I smiled and finished up with the plants. I went to my bed and laid my head down next to Ivy, feeling very sleepy.

"Nydia, come to me."

I jumped up. "Ivy? Did you hear that?"

Ivy looked at me, and nodded.

"Who is it?" I called out. I did not get a response. I sat for a while before getting up and heading to my window.

The soft, feminine, melodious voice sounded again. "Nydia, open your heart again to me. I will lead you to a place lost long ago."

I listened with interest to this woman's voice. Open my heart again? I looked at Ivy. "Are you coming with me?"

She jumped up, always ready for an adventure. We stretched out our wings as I opened the large set of doors near the window leading to a balcony. We jumped out and glided for a moment before flapping towards the forests to the southwest, following the moon. We easily bypassed the guards on the wall, as we have done many times when we wanted to get away, as they didn't always look to the skies for anyone leaving.

As we approached the forest, we stopped and landed on a high branch of one of the trees. I heard the woman's voice call to me, louder and clearer than before. I knew we were heading in the right direction, but I couldn't quite understand. Flying along, I touched the trees as we went and each one resonated with life, urging me forward.

After some time, Ivy and I flew up high again. What we saw left us breathless. We were seeing lights in the sky, and the lights were coming from a very large tree. We took off towards it, never having come across it before.

When we landed on the ground in front of the tree, the lights grew more powerful and bright. There was a voice behind us speaking, "Welcome, Nydia. I am Dhana. I have been watching you."

Startled, we turned and looked at her, the celestial being with long, almost white, blonde hair tucked over her shoulder in a braid and fair skin. "Dhana? As in the Mother?" She nodded in response and I continued, "You have been watching?"

"Yes. I am sorry about your sister. I am not sure what has overcome her, but she doesn't have much strength to resist. I fear for the consequences."

"So, you don't know what could happen to her? Why did you bring me here?"

"Because you and Ivy are the descendents of the first dan'enda and Spark. Though your family lines have been lost to the knowledge, do you know their story?"

"Yes. Diana Dragha and Eva brought the war between humans and dragons to an end. They started the dan'enda people. Diana became the first Queen of the dan'enda, and her husband, Richard, was king. They were your children, forged by your magic of earth and Borrum's magic of the sky and wind."

"Yes. And what are you two very good at? Nature. You tend to plants, correct? You have the best fruits in Dragha and you are among the top flyers."

"I guess so. I never thought of us being strong or powerful. At least not until recently."

"Oh, but you are." She came closer to us, and put her hands on our heads. "There is a reason for that. Along with being their descendents, you are the closest person to be able to call upon me. Not even Diana could call me like you can."

"I called you?" That didn't make much sense to me, since we had never known thegods be particularly active in the mortal realm since the ancient war.

"Yes, well your soul did. I believe a part of me lives in your soul, though to what extent I am not sure." She took her hands away and walked to the large tree. "Do you know where you are?" I shook my head and she explained, "It is my garden. This tree is where Diana and Eva started. In commemoration, they planted this tree. Since they were so attached to my magic, the tree flourished. This is one of the few times and places I can walk on the earth again. I am glad it is to finally meet you. However, I cannot stay in your dreams for long before I alter your being. I will see you tomorrow night if you decide to come." She kissed Ivy's head, and then mine. I closed my eyes, perplexed by her statement, then I was jolted awake, lying in bed.

Ivy was next to me, excited. "What is going on?" she asked me.

"I do not know, but we will find out." I watched her, then returned my gaze towards the balcony door. I got up and opened the door, walking out onto the balcony and looking in the direction of the tree. Ivy flew to my shoulder to join me. Determined to figure out more, we agreed that we would figure it out in the morning.

We didn't dream about any negativity again, just of forests and flowers, and we were relieved when we woke up. We got dressed and ready for the day before going down for breakfast.

"Good morning, father," I said as I walked past his study. I also saw Commander Dranovan, Rose and Sevrin's father. He and my father were talking.

My father stopped to look at me. "Good morning, sweetie. Did you see the lights last night?"

"What lights?" I asked. In an instant, I remembered. "It wasn't just a dream!" I got really excited, so did Ivy. "Bye, father. We have to go now! Love you!" Ivy and I took off, running down the hall, ignoring my father's call behind us, but we stopped by the kitchen to grab a small breakfast.

My father caught up to us as we waited. "Where are you going?" He almost demanded to know, but it wasn't in my father's nature to sound overbearing towards me.

I looked at him. "Ivy and I had a dream with Dhana. We have to figure out what is going on. We have to meet her again."

"Dhana? No one has been shown where her garden is. It is impossible to know where she hides herself without being shown or led there. It's just a myth that's only in some texts."

"I know where it is. She showed us in our dreams last night. We were at the lights. We have to see her again. She said she would see us tonight if we went back to her."

My father thought for a moment before speaking. "What about right now? Aren't you anxious to train today?"

I had forgotten about training completely. "I am training today?"

"Yes. I have arranged for them to come every day. We could make it two hours a day, every morning, if you would like."

"Yes!" I was very excited, even though it meant I had to wait to go on my adventure.

"They will be here shortly, if they aren't downstairs already."

"Okay. I will go meet them." I grabbed our food, which had just been given to us, and we headed out with a nod from my father.

We ate our breakfast along the way. Rose and Sevrin were just arriving when I got to the rack of staves. I picked my stave out of the container and we started in. The training went by quickly before Rose said we were done for the day. They were summoned to other matters by their father when both he and my father came down the stairs and joined us.

I looked at my father as I stood behind Rose and Sevrin. I didn't say anything because I didn't want them to know about Dhana, yet.

My father looked back at me, nodded, knowing I was anxious, and said, "Just grab food before you go and I will see you tonight."

"Okay. Bye." Rose and Sevrin gave me quizzical looks, but Ivy and I quickly went back to the kitchens. The cooks gave us a basket that had been prepared, probably at the advice of my father, and we were soon on our way back to the forest. I saw my father watching me from his study window.

Dhana's tree was waiting for us, looking different in the sunlight than it had in the dream the night before. When we landed, the flowers opened and bloomed.

Ivy and I explored the area for a while. We found an old cottage that had added parts built on it to make it into a bigger home many centuries ago. "This must have been where Diana lived away from the castle," I pointed out to Ivy. "It's so close to the tree that it would have been perfect for her family to pay their respects to Dhana."

Ivy agreed.

We went inside and spent the rest of the day sorting through it, taking a break to eat our late lunch. There were chairs and an old table sitting in the main room where we ate. In one of the rooms, there was a bed. It was dusty and obviously hadn't been touched in many generations of dan'enda, encouraging the idea that it has been too long since anyone has touched the place, probably since the last well-known descendent of Diana tried to preserve her legacy. We walked around another room and found dragon bones sitting on a desk.

It started to become dark outside, so we went back to the tree. We sat there and meditated. Dhana's voice called to us, and we listened. She thanked us for coming back. She told us to sit down and meditate. She would show us something magical. We closed our eyes and we were transported to what I could only describe as the Midrealm, a place separated by a sort of window of magic. We could see ourselves sitting in front of the tree. Dhana approached us in this realm of magic.

"Strange, isn't it? To be able to watch yourselves is something that not many have the chance to do. This is what happens when your souls are awakened to your abilities. Now, watch your bodies."

We did as she instructed. Clouds began to cover the area and it began to rain. My body got up, and began to dance around the tree. With every step, with Ivy's body on my shoulder and moving along, the plants grew and blossomed, absorbing our energy.

"Your souls are awakening. You will be stronger now that your souls have made contact with the tree here. Both of you will have new abilities, but you will have to find out exactly what they are."

After a few minutes of watching the dance, I looked around. "Dhana, is this the Midrealm, governed by Dhilyrra?"

She smiled and nodded. "Yes, well part of it. Your realm is actually what we consider to be Midrealm. This is just another fraction of it. Dhilyrra controls how much influence we can have upon the mortal realm. This is one of the few times she'll allow me to interact with you."

"And because this is your garden, you're allowed here more frequently than in other places?"

"Yes, essentially. The more influence possible, the less I'm allowed to interact."

"If you're the queen of the gods, why does she control what you can do?"

"It's to keep a balance between the realms, just like how Morgana controls the balance of life versus death. In all other matters, she has no control but input alone on our council."

I nodded, starting to understand what was said.

The dance went on for about twenty minutes before we returned to the spot in front of the tree and opened our eyes back into our realm. Ivy and I looked at each other, and we smiled.

"Thank you, Mother Dhana. We will live to encourage this place to grow." The plants began to bloom and the sky filled with light. We danced with Dhana before bidding her good night.

It was really late into the night when we got home. Dropping off the empty basket in the kitchen, we made our way through the castle to our room. Passing my father's study, we found him in his chair, trying to stay awake and looking over what seemed to be reports or plans. He looked up as I gently tapped my foot against the door. "You look tired, father." I entered, my voice soft with concern for him.

He nodded and then got up and walked around his desk to me, embracing me. "I wanted to make sure you came home safe. I don't want to lose you, but I know I can't forbid you from doing what you want. I will always be here to guide you. Enough, though. How was your adventure?"

"It was," I paused. "Magical. It was like nothing I've ever read about."

"Most of the texts are old and faded. Almost nothing from their time remains. Did you enjoy yourself?"

"Yes, I did. The tree is massive and I'm not sure how it hasn't been found before."

"You don't have to tell me more. There is a reason the garden has been hidden. Probably thanks to Dhilyrra." He had many questions, mostly pertaining to how we were. We answered as much as we could, but we did not say where the tree was located. Though deep down I know he wanted to know, he didn't want that knowledge to be known by others.

After a while, my father and I were heading out of his study and toward the chamber hall. He didn't press for more, instead merely embraced me again outside my room and bade Ivy and me goodnight. We went to bed and rested, sleeping as though we hadn't slept in a very long time.