Chapter 6

Now that I am alone with the panther I can ask questions, I’ll be surprised if I get any answers. "Now then, what shall I call you? There must be something that you like being called. I know that you are my familiar, just what is it that you represent for me? How may I be of service for you? I am very curious, there is not much that I remember about my abilities or myself. If you can be of any assistance in helping my memory I will be very grateful."

"Well," purrs the panther, "I’ve always liked the name Samantha. You may call me Samantha." I almost fell off my seat when she started talking." Part of what I am for you is strength. I am here because you were successful in casting a rather large spell. Counter-acting the anger, hate, and fear could have seriously injured you had the spell gone the wrong way. Because you stuck to your convictions had the entire village help, even those that were skeptical, you earned my strength of mind and heart. There is more that you will need from me, and you will earn those as the time comes. I am not the only familiar that you have gotten back, just the first one that will speak directly to you. You were right in telling Aleatha that even plants can be familiars as well, you have plants and small animals that are yours already. Those that had captured you never understood that they had to earn the single familiar that they did have, nor would they be able to understand why you were destined to have several. Who you are, what your abilities are, and how you are to serve the people you will learn in time. For now though you can get me a large bowl of milk, something I haven’t had in ages."

"Here you go, fresh milk. I need to go through this stuff that I brought back from the cave, decide what needs to be read now and what can be left to a later time." I start by putting all the crystals on the selves, and the maps on the large table. As I go through the trunks I notice that I can tell by how the book feels which ones need to be gone through now and which ones can be left for later. Thankfully there are only a few of the journals that need to read right away. In glancing through them I notice that they pertain mostly to what the individual sisters are trying to learn from me. Sometimes it’s how I happen to find different familiars, sometimes it’s the location of something, and sometimes they want to know about a specific familiar. I believe that Samantha is right, familiars are not found by the person but chosen by the familiar according to their own need and abilities, why I have so many I will learn as my memory returns. Hopefully with the maps I will be better able to find what is mine or what needs my attention. As for a specific familiar, that I’m not sure about, it could very well have been Samantha that they were looking for, yet even as special as she is I don’t think she is who they were looking for.

"You are right," purrs Samantha, "I am not what they were hoping to find. Yet I would have been a step for them to get more information from you if they could have found a way to make you talk. They could trap your mind but could not take down your internal barriers to get what they wanted from you. As we spend more time together you will be able to converse with me without speaking. You will only be able to hear what I want you to hear, that goes both ways."

"There are some that think it strange that I have you as a familiar, they would think it even stranger if they heard us talking to each other. I am glad that you will be staying for a while. Now to move onto the maps."
As I spread out the maps I notice that there are odd marks on the edges. Some have marks on the top or bottom, some in the corners, and some have a combination of marks in different places. I know that this must mean something. All the maps have red dots or a place circled. Maybe I should start with the map of this valley and the outlying village to try and figure out what the marks mean. There has to be some order to these maps. Did each sister at different times go in different directions? If so, did they keep some uniformity to the marks? Maybe the marks are how the maps connect to each other, kind of like page numbers in a book.
The map of this valley is the only one that has marks in each corner and on all four edges. It’s going to be like putting a puzzle together. I will need to match mark to mark. This is going to take a while.

After a few hours Aleatha opens the door enough to poke her head in. "Is it alright if I come in? I have brought you something to eat." She looks frightened.

"Yes, of course, I need something to eat. Are you afraid of something?"

"I am afraid of the panther, will it hurt me?"

"No, she will not hurt you. Her name is Samantha. She is one of my familiars. It seems I’m able to have more than one familiar, and that I have already collected a couple including Samantha. Come in, say hello to her, and I need your help. I will need three or four others to help go through some of the journals. I am trying to put these maps together. I need someone to go through those journals that are on the desks and look for passages that are about places, directions on how to get there, and what might be found there. If there are any clues on how to find what they thought was there.

"Thank you for the food, it is delicious. I have a few more parts of the map to put together. Then I have to figure out what the dots and circles mean. It looks like I will be doing some travelling. I have to find out who I am and what my abilities are. There is only so much that I will be able to remember while here in this valley."
"I will go get a few people that can help with the journals and the maps." After Aleatha leaves, I finish putting the maps together. As I walk around the table looking at the maps, the table seems to have expanded so that the map fits perfectly on the top. The lights are all lit and so is the fireplace, yet I don’t remember lighting them or of anyone else coming in to light them.

"Well," this time I hear Samantha’s voice in my head, "do you ever remember light a lamp or fire since you have awakened?"

I think about this for a moment, then think my answer back to her, seeing if I can do that. "As a matter of fact I can’t remember ever lighting any lamps or fires. I thought that maybe someone had come in and lit them when I wasn’t paying any attention."

"Not so, this is one of your abilities. You can, without consciously thinking about it, light lamps and fires. There are other things that you will be able to do without really applying any thought."

"So that’s how I managed to bring back spring to the valley, along with the stream and the pond. I really should pay more attention to what is going on around me."

Aleatha returns after a little with a half-dozen young people, everyone is young compared to me, all of them around the same age as Aleatha anyway. None of them seem afraid of Samantha anyway, which is good, she gives them a cursory glance and goes to lay down by the fireplace. Aleatha and four of the people go to work on the journals that are on the desks, looking for any clues that they can find. The other two people and I start studying the maps on the table. I walk around to the other side of the table to get a fresh perspective on the maps. I look up to say something and notice that several of the crystals are glowing. I point this out to the other two, and then I remember that one of the crystals had glowed when I had brought it close to the map of the valley. I wonder if there is any correlation between the maps and the crystals that are glowing. Could these crystals hold the key to where to look? "Each of the two of you grab one of the glowing crystals and see if they start to glow brighter as you get closer to any part of the maps." I take the one that had been glowing earlier in the cave, and slowly move it over the map of the valley. It starts to glow brighter at the village outside the valley. I wonder what is there? As we go through the ones that glow, only a few are brighter in spots, and then only on maps close to the valley. Aleatha and the others have found some clues to those areas and towns that the crystals have highlighted. "I want to thank everyone, and ask that you all stay here. There will be more to study and plans to make."

Something grand is coming, and very soon. The people of this valley will have to adapt quickly to the changes, and accept that I will be travelling for quite some time. I need to do this in order to regain myself. And to find out what it is that remains just beyond recognition.