Chapter 27: 27: Moonflower Seeds

The oil production was the first time that Danika saw the witch move away from her little brazier.

The olives were washed in a large basin where the water formed itself into tiny scrub brushes that thoroughly washed each olive under the witch's supervision. Then, to all appearances, the olives obediently rolled themselves into a basket that was definitely too small to hold them. It must have been enchanted, because they fit neatly. 

The witch hefted the small basket and an empty jug, and carried them out of her house to the town mill. There, the olives were ground beneath a large stone wheel until they turned into a paste. The mushy paste gathered itself up into a ball, and the witch moved it into a large stone press.

The witch cast another spell that made a yellowy green liquid almost instantly begin to pour out of the press and into the waiting jug. When the jug was full the witch informed Danika, "It must rest for a couple of days now. When the olive oil has risen, I can craft the slippery oil for you."

Danika spent an anxious moment before remembering that a day was only 6 hours long and that the witch would be able to start crafting after about twelve hours. She said, "Thank you," and asked, "is there anything else I should prepare before setting out for the moonflowers?"

The old woman tilted her head back, so that the enormous wicker and flower construction of her hat tilted dangerously, and her wide smile was revealed. "Get plenty of rest and grow as much as you can," the witch suggested kindly.

Danika nodded, and took her advice. She logged out of "Living Jade Empire" and worked on catching up a bit on the little household chores that she sometimes let slide when she got busy. Her house plants were watered and her little apartment was satisfactorily tidy by the time her shift started a couple of hours later. 

--

Instead of logging in on her phone when she had time, Danika posted a bit more about her adventures as a fairy dragon so far, and what her experience as an egg had been like. When her shift was finished, she ate a quick supper and hurried back into the VR-medi pod. 

The witch greeted her cheerfully, saying, "You've grown well." 

Danika tried to examine her reflection on one of the shiner trinkets. She couldn't see much difference, but she was surprised to discover that the porcelain cat that she'd hid behind a few days ago was now barely half her size. She checked her quest list to verify that "Growth Phase" was still active, and it was. 

The witch gave her a small green bottle with a cork stopper and warned her, "This is all the slippery oil that I could make. It would be best if you don't get caught by the grasping aspens very often, but you shouldn't need more than a fraction of the bottle to make yourself slippery enough to escape."

--

 

Danika set her alarm early on her day off, so that she would have plenty of time to reach the meadow in "Living Jade Empire" before the moonflowers bloomed. 

She found the frog swamp, that lay just beyond the town and below the mountain, fascinating and dangerously distracting. She darted across it with much the same technique she'd used in the olive tree. She zipped invisibly from spot to spot, and used her color cantrip to blend wherever she landed. 

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Brilliant butterflies, dragonflies, and other insects danced in the muggy air. A few of the butterflies were even larger than ZipZing. The water was mirror smooth except when the occasional splash sent rings spilling out to dissipate against the reeds and marsh plants that clung to every small hillock. 

Enormous lilies bloomed and crowded the surface everywhere a larger pool of water had formed. And then there were the frogs. Their skins were shiny and colorfully streaked in blue and teal. The smallest seemed to be about the same size as ZipZing, the largest she mistook for a small island, which was a nearly fatal mistake. 

If the frog hadn't been almost as startled as she was, when she landed between its eyes and they opened, she'd never have evaded it. Instead she flicked her invisibility spell again and zipped across its back. It turned quickly and its tongue seemed to stretch impossibly far, but it missed.

When she finally reached the border of the forest she landed on a black spruce, that conveniently trailed dark branches toward the swamp, and took a moment to rest. The forest ahead rose sharply as the steep ground turned mountainous. Danika hunted for the cliff that had been described as her next landmark, its even folds laying like a paper fan. 

As she flew higher, the softer conifers turned to bristly pines interspersed with maples, and eventually the maples gave way to aspens. The aspens looked pretty and harmless enough. Their rounded leaves, with little points tipping each one, trembled in the cool breeze that swept along the mountain creating a million tiny clatters that blended into a soft, almost tidal, noise. 

Even though she'd been warned, Danika felt like her heart stopped the first time an aspen branch stretched out and the leaves began to flatten themselves against her. The edges of the leaves suddenly seemed dangerously sharp, and Danika hastily slapped her wrist before her arms were immobilized and pulled the slippery oil from her inventory.  

She used more than necessary that first time, in her anxious haste, but it worked perfectly. As the oil spread across her skin, the leaves lost all purchase and she flew out of their grasp as easily as brushing past an ordinary tree branch. Unfortunately the oil vanished from the surface of her skin a few moments later, the way moisturizing creams always advertised that they would, but never did.

When the aspens began to give way, Danika tensed up instead of relaxing. The witch had been a little too detailed in her description of how the silver wolverine would hunt animals much larger than itself, and store the extra meat high on the mountain in the snow. She'd told ZipZing how the dangerous animal would even crunch up its prey's bones and teeth when it was especially hungry.

Danika was very, very careful, to give each of the landmarks the witch had described as bordering the wolverine territory a wide berth. She also sniffed the air often, hoping not to detect any strong musky scents, and kept a careful watch for any movement among the tough scrubby shrubbery that clung to the mountain this high up.

Despite her worries and close calls, Danika reached the moonflower meadow in plenty of time. It occupied a small cupped plateau just below the snowline, and the view from the edge that spilled down the mountain side was breathtaking. The meadow appeared to be covered in tightly furled morning glory vines, but her identify plant skill informed her reassuringly that they were indeed moonflowers. 

Danika looked down at the little town that seemed impossibly far below her, and wondered if the game had cheated and exaggerated the perspective. Beyond the town the landscape rolled in a tumble of wild forests and open fields, that gave way in the farthest distance to a more familiar patchwork landscape of farms and roads. So tiny and distant that she wasn't certain it wasn't imagination, a city thrust towers up against the horizon. 

She watched a brilliant sunset give way to more stars than she'd ever seen in her lifetime before the moon finally rose and the moonflowers opened. The dark meadow transformed into an enchanted garden as the pale flowers unfolded their softly glowing petals.

Each flower lasted for only one bell beneath the moon and then, faster than any earthly flower, would coil its petals up and shrivel away into a pea-like pod that held a few treasured moonflower seeds. The witch had warned her that although the pods would remain after the moon set, the seeds energy would soon be reabsorbed by the vines, and they would go dormant.

Danika gathered seed pods as quickly as possible as the moon slid too quickly along its arc across the sky. She zipped back and forth across the meadow as she stuffed them into the elaborately embroidered silken pouch of holding that the witch had provided for them. Her concentration was so fierce that at first she didn't notice as the soft blue lights of the flowers scattered across meadow were stained purple by the red glow growing in the sky.

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