Chapter 2 scene 8 The conversation between Lilith and Mike (and the history of Lilith)

As Lilith and Mike continue to converse to each other about their own pasts and the future of their people, Mike then learns of Lilith’s past and her views of life and of the world as a whole.

"So what do you hope for for the future of your newfound people and the world of Ashena, and what of your past may I ask?" asked Mike as he relaxed again by the fire, allowing its warmth to warm his body against the evening's coming chile.

    

     "Well, I was born in the city of Toronto to parents that were both architects, and being architects meant that they only believed and lived in a world of concrete and skyscrapers. They believed in the world of the modern, and had no real place for the world  and beliefs of the past. As I grew and I, like the rest of the group, became well versed through the realm of dreamscape, I learned of Wicca and of that religion's belief in the preservation of both life and of nature." Lilith then paused a moment to ruffle (with a right hand) the fur atop her wolf's head a moment, and as she did this Spirit raised his head and licked the left hand of Lilith that she had extend to it.

    

     "It must have been hard to live with parents that did not share such a connection to the world of nature as you did." said Mike as he thought of how it must have felt for Lilith to think that her parents would want to live in one such world as she chose another.

    

     "It was. But my parents were also loving ones, for they allowed me, even at an early age, to choose my own path and beliefs." she said as she paused a moment, this time to gently stroke the bill of Starling (all the while still ruffling the fur atop Spirit's head with her right hand).

    

     "As I grew in my knowledge of Wicca, I also grew stronger in my ability to both use and summon magic. Though the magic I had kept from my parents as they would of the world of concrete and the modern life, they believe solely in science and would except nothing else. They would not, sadly I fear, understood the powers I had and maybe even would have feared them. At the age of eighteen I left home, in a positive way. For my parents knew that I wanted to both explore and experience the world that was around me. I left then at the age of eighteen for the deep forests of the north. I would, every month call my parents when I would walk into a small town near to where I had made my dwelling," said Lilith as she smiled a pleasant and content smile at the thought of her former nature dwelling.

    

    "It must have been something to live off of the land like that, since for me when I lived off of the land I always had a modern home to return home to when the weather got real bad. But for you, living off of the land with nothing else to fall back upon must have been something else." said Mike with a warm smile showing (one that he had hoped would show her that he admired what she did and how she lived her life).

    

     "It was, and still is." said Lilith as she blushed at what his smile meant, she knew that he admired her for her beliefs and way of living, and this new found admiration flattered her. As a rosy colour flushed through her cheeks, she tried to hide the blush by placing a right hand over her right cheek as she slightly turned her head to the left. Living the past four years alone, save for her animal companions meant that she was not accustomed to flattery or admiration of others for the way she lived and for the beliefs she held most dear.

    

     "I lived in my forested sanctuary for over four years, and that's where I meet for the first time my two animal companions here." finished Lilith as she paused to smile at her two animal companions that rested with here, with the one (namely Starling) sitting upon her left shoulder and the other (namely Spirit) resting just by her right leg and side.

    

     "In my time there, I learned to harness my powers of magic to control the elements. And it was there that I learned to harness the elements to bring upon the Earth the much needed rains when the land became to parched to bear, and to call upon a sunny day by parting the clouds to let in the sunshine with which to let the green grass and the flowers and trees to grow. I even learned how to make the harsh winters a little less harsh, by bringing less snow fall, or even less bitterly cold wind and weather."

    

     "The first of my two animal companions that I met was that of Spirit." Lilith paused again a moment as she smiled again at Spirit and then she returned to ruffling the fur atop his head, as she did so she then continued saying,"I had found him close to my woodland sanctuary, he had been wounded by a hunter's crossbow bolt" Lilith then pausing a moment only to show a look of disgust on her face as she frowned (no doubt at the thought of what kind of pain her companion Spirit must have went through with such a wounding as he must have received. As that look of disgust came to her face and the frown showed on her lips, she continued by saying,"Barbarians! When I found him, I found the bolt protruding an inch outside of the wound. No doubt poor Spirit had gnawed through the bolt some, but could not truly remove it and as such an infection I could easily see was there in the wound. I was graced by mother earth, even before the magic came to me, to be able to converse with animals in a way that very few could ever know. I let Spirit know that he need not fear me and that I would gladly remove the bolt if he would but allow me to do it. And he did." Lilith then paused a moment to wipe the tears from her eyes (the tears no doubt coming for the pain that she must have caused him with the removal of the bolt from his body).

    

     Mike noticed that Lilith's eyes had a look of softness to them then, like it would be for a person when they had heard for the first time that a dear loved one had passed away or was ill. Truly, thought Mike then, Lilith cared more deeply for the animals and land about her than most would ever in a lifetime. Where a saint would undoubtedly care deeply for the well-being of human life, Lilith cared deeply for all life, may it be human or otherwise. She cared for the lives of both human and animal, though in someways it seemed that she cared for the lives of animals a bit more as they had no real way to defend themselves against those humans that would do them harm.

    

     "It was not your fault that you brought pain to Spirit, for it was not you that had harmed him with that bolt, but a hunter with no sense of concern for the life of another. Even if that life is an animal and a wolf." said Mike with the smile he held earlier on his face now turning into a frown at the thought that she would be the one feeling the pain for what had happened to poor Spirit and not the one who had truly done the damage.

    

     "Thank you, and I know it was not my fault. But to cause any pain to an animal, or to bring pain to any life to me is unnecessary." said Lilith as the tears finally stopped flowing and she sniffed a few times as she finished wiping away the remainder of the tears. She drew in a deep breath in an attempt to calm herself before those that she cared deeply about. As composer settled back across her face and in her manner and in her eyes, as she looked up and into Mike's eyes, Lilith then continued by saying,"He was trusting of me, even after what had been done to him. He graciously allowed me to remove the bolt from his body, and barely flinched in me doing so, though I know I still must have caused him a great deal of discomfort and pain in doing so. Afterwards I cleaned his wound in a nearby stream, and used my magic as best I could to help heal his wound quicker. It was then, when I could heal him no more with my magic, that I turned once again to mother earth for help. Drawing from my knowledge of herbs and nature's medicine, I created a poultice out of the herbs I needed and then over many week dressed and redressed his wound to allow the poultice to draw out the infection and poisons from the wound until the wound was finally completely healed. And as you can see, he is all better now and no worse for ware." finished Lilith as she looked lovingly at her companion Spirit, while at the same time an appreciative looking Spirit gazed back at her.

    

     As she looked back in the direction of Mike, she smiled a warm smile again which raised Mike's own mood then. With the look on Mike's face showing that he was once again at ease and in a good mood once more, Lilith continued with her own story about her own past by saying,"The second of my companions left for me to have meet was my dear friend Starling" Lilith then paused again to allow herself to gently stroke the bill of Starling once more before continuing,"With her, I met with the use of my magic. For I summoned her by casting out my will by spell to whomever would answer my call for an animal companion. The answer to my summons was quick and forthcoming. For within a single day Starling appeared before my dwelling, when I had asked her, and I did ask her, she told me she had answered my calling and that she would most welcome a friendship with me."

    

     "So the Starling I thought was a he is actually a she." interrupted Mike at the surprise that the bird was not a male after all, when he had just assumed that she was.

    

     "Yes. Sometimes it can be difficult to tell between the sexes, and tell between species." replied Lilith as she smiled at the obvious surprise of Mike about her companion Starling.

    

     "And you said that you had asked her if she had responded to your summons and that she said that she had and would welcome a friendship with you." asked Mike of Lilith with a look of slight confusion registering on his face then.

    

      "Yes I did. When they speak to me in the tongues of an animal, I can hear their words in human speech in the place of the animal tongues. I believe its because I remain so close to the animal world that mother earth has given me this gift with which I can converse with them." she said while at the same time showing a look about her that quite easily showed the gratitude and humility that she had for the gift that mother earth had bestowed upon her, showing humility and gratitude when most others would have only showed a deep arrogance and pride for having such an ability.

    

     "We have been together for four years now, the three of us. And our bond has only grown stronger over the years." said Lilith with a look of deep satisfaction showing on her face and in her eyes.

    

     "And I'm sure it will only get stronger." said Mike as he smiled at the thought that the three of them (Lilith, Spirit, and Starling) had remained such great friends over the four years that they had been together, and Mike was certain that they would remain friends for many more years to come.

    

     "Thank you. And I agree. The nine of us, the whole group included, will remain fast friends for a lifetime to come, and then beyond." said Lilith as she smiled at the words she knew had a  strong tone of truth to them.
  
     "And as for the hopes I have for my future, in fact the future of all of us and our newfound peoples." said Lilith as she lifted into her hands once more the homemade paper to which the whole known world of Ashena had been painstakingly drawn upon,"The thought that I will no longer be a member of an minority, that I will be part of a great collection of Wiccans in the land of those who believe in the preservation of all life, not just the lives of sentient beings. I can't wait to witness this world and those lands for myself someday soon."

    

     As she finished those words, her emerald green eyes gazed at the paper to which the whole known world of Ashena had been drawn upon. As she held the paper with her left hand and with her emerald green eyes scanning the page with great interest, the fingertips of her right hand touched within the borders of those that Mike could only assume were the borders of those of the Wiccan's.

    

     "The land of Forestgrove" said Lilith with the indisputable tone of reverence showing in her voice to the lands to whom he faith and loyalty truly belonged (a faith and loyalty only matched with regards to the faith and loyalty that she had in and felt towards her friends)."And the forests of Breadth." said Lilith with more reverence showing in her tone of voice.

    
     "To be there now and to learn more of their ways and customs," said Lilith further, with a look of deep longing and with such faith and pride showing for her newfound people. As her hand traced over the borders of the Wiccan homeland (her fingertips gliding over the brown paper) she said with a softer voice and with the distinct tone of one just wanting to be accepted for herself and her beliefs "To be there now, and to be part of a whole, not just an minority that can sometimes be looked down upon for whom they worship and what their beliefs are connected to."

    

    "You are accepted by those who care about you, and by those that you seek to protect." said Mike with a loving and reassuring smile showing on his face, for he was trying to show her that though she may have not been accepted for her beliefs and who she was before, she more than was now.

    

     "Thank you, sir Mike." replied Lilith with a grateful tone to her voice and a thankful smile on her face as she looked up from the paper in her hands and then straight at him.

    

     "I just hope that I will be a good leader and worthy of the place of trust given to me." finished Lilith with a look of humility and gratitude that showed she was thankful for those kind words given to her by Mike, but even more so for the acceptance of the others she knew that they had towards her.

    

     "You are one of us, and we have all been chosen because those that had prophesied our coming thought that we could be of some help to them and their world, as well as a help to our world. And I'm sure that we will have strong advisors to help guide us along the way, just as we had strong tutors to help guide us this far." said Mike as he attempted to ease the mind and worries of Lilith as best as he could.
    
     "You are right Mike. And I know we will need the help and guidance as well. If we are to do this right and help guide and strengthen the world of Ashena and its people for the battle and war to come, then we will need all the help and guidance that they can give us, and then we will come to a decision as one. And then we will stand as one, one front against an evil that threatens to enslave both our old world and our new world." said Lilith as a look of determination showed on her face by a firm set of her jaw and a look that showed in her eyes that told Mike that she would do all that she could for their new world not yet visited yet, and for their old world despite not always being accepted for herself and her beliefs.

    

     As Mike smiled at the thought that Lilith's mind and worries were now at ease, he poked yet again with his still unsheathed knife at the fire once more."Well" said Mike to Lilith as he thought of their other friends not yet with them, but still to come,"I wonder when the others will arrive." Expecting then that Lilith would employ a use of magic to answer his question as she had done so before, he was somewhat disappointed when she did not as he had been hoping to see more magic from her since magic was still new to him after all.

    

     "I sense that the spell, that of the sphere of light, I had sent to them is drawing near. They will be here within ten minutes or so milord Mike." said Lilith with a playful smile upon her lips telling Mike that she was growing rather fond of calling him Sir Mike and Milord Mike and as such she might find herself calling him that from time to time.
    
     "Good!" Then we will be able to eat then when they arrive." said Mike as he rose from his sitting position on the ground before the fire, and while he did so he picked up one of the hand sized bowls and he then lifted the pot's lid off of the pot and as he placed it on the ground as he then said further,"When they arrive they can have a wholesome meal. When I was waiting for you and the others to arrive I had remembered that I had brought with me some herbs for our meals which were wrapped in parchment paper. When I remembered I had them I unwrapped the parcels and put some of each into the pot for seasoning. I had basil leaves, sage, thyme, and some sea salt for flavouring. All perfectly blinded, and I'm sure its flavoured the food well." and as Mike placed the lid of the pot down on the ground, he picked up the ladle and started to pour out the pot's contents into each of the bowls.

    

     As Mike finished pouring some of the contents of the pot into the first of the bowls, he handed it to Lilith while saying,"It's good. I always carry eight bowls such as these with me when I go camping with others. Although I guess this isn't a normal camping trip now, is it. But at least we will have an extra bowl or two for our unexpected guest. We'll even have one for Spirit. To note all of the stock from the cans of vegetables and the cans of tuna, and the small amount of mineral water I put into the pot gave the food enough of a brooth to make a soup, so we can have a soup with our meal too." and as Lilith took her bowl of soup mixed with a meal (for both soup and meal was all in the same bowl for each of them) he started the process anew with the next bowl intending for his bowl to be the last one to be filled.

    

     Soon the others would arrive and the whole group could eat a meal with one another for the first time, then it would be just a matter of waiting for the portal to their new world to appear and then they could pass through to the other world of theirs and then have their shared adventure begin. Until then all they had to do was wait.

Author's Note

Please tell me what you think of this scene. Thank you.