Quest for the Lyre of Orphaeo

[Breaker]

"I am honored to meet you all," Josh said, bowing to the faun and her companions. His eyes twinkled in the moonlight. "I know of Drys. Suravani told me a tale from Althanas' earliest years, when the Gods were still fickle and young." He chuckled at the idea that the gods were no longer fickle, and beckoned for Philomel to follow as he returned to the Fealotë patch. "When Suravani brushed her hair with a sandstone comb by the light of the moon, Creator called her the most beautiful of his children." Josh turned and held his palms at chest height, facing one another.

Water sprang forth from the very air they breathed and took the shape of a beautiful woman, no larger than the hands that formed her. The moonlight made the liquid figure sparkle like diamonds.

"Am'aleh the ocean deity rose up in jealousy and cut several locks from the desert goddess' head with a salted knife of ice."

The woman of water vanished, leaving only her hair which floated and shimmered in the moonlight like a friendly ghost.

"The two nearly came to blows in a battle which might have ended the world, but then Drys came between them. She spoke of their sisterhood, of the many trials they would face in eons to come. In the end all three parted as allies, and Suravani gave Drys the severed locks in thanks."

Josh spread his hands and the ghost of Suravani's hair floated to the ground like a leaf on the breeze, settling amidst the roots of the soul blossoms and soaking into the soil.

"Drys planted her sister's hair, and from there grew the roots of the first trees. And life on Althanas continued as it has and will." Cronen's smile grew until it stretched the corners of his mouth and showed his pearly teeth, "or so the fable says."

Breaker knelt and plucked a soul blossom from the patch he had drained of wickedness. Its rich blue leaves and elegant purple stigma shone in Suravani's silver light, as if celebrating their separation from the rest of the forest. He offered the flower to Philomel with eyebrows raised, wondering if she would trust him enough to take it.

"The poison has departed from these, daughter of Drys," he said, "tell me what you know of Suravani. The night will be long, and we'd be wisest not to travel forth until morning."