Planteria

As I put my ear to the door, the voices inside got louder.

“The only other thing you can do for her now is make her comfortable, or somehow find an Angel Dew,” I heard the doctor saying.

“But, those are a myth!” My father protested, his voice, so deep it was more vibration than actual sound.

“Some think so, and some don’t. It’s up to you to decide what risks you are willing to take,” the doctor replied. After a long pause, I heard my father speak.

“Say the Angel Dew did exist. How and where would I find it?”

“That is difficult to answer. The Angel Dew is said to grow by a mountain top stream, but only those worthy of its power can find them and bring them back safely.”

“How does it, or people, know who’s worthy?”

“People don’t. As for the flower, that is one secret I don’t think Mother Nature will ever share with us.”

“Then maybe I need to talk with Mother Nature,” I heard Father grumble.

I tuned the rest of their conversation out as I tried to remember what my mother always described an Angel Dew as. She said that it is a star-shaped, pink flower, with black edges. One drop of its dew can cure any illness, but it has to be directly from the flower; you can’t just collect the dew and bring it home for later. One of the families in the village learned that the hard way. Mother also said that they only grew in the Skydreamer’s part of the Never Mountains. From what I’ve heard about them, they aren’t very friendly to the other races. The only other race they treat as their own is the Saph, mainly because you never want to get on the wrong side of the Saph. I yanked myself out of my thoughts, away from the door, and around the corner when I heard the doorknob rattle.

“How is she?” I asked Father when he came into the room. I decided pretending to be oblivious to what the doctor said was the best way to go.

“She’s getting better!” Father told me, a fake smile plastered onto his face. “Though I may need to take a trip soon for work, I’ll know the details by the end of the week.”

The doctor gave my Father an odd look, but took his payment and left without saying anything.

“Good!” I said, “It’s about time Mother started getting better.”

I could see the pain and guilt my father hid from me on his face. Even a blind illiterate could read his face like a book. After a few minutes of awkward silence, I couldn’t take it anymore.

“I’m going for a walk; I don’t know when I’ll be back,” I told Father. He looked like he was about to protest, but all he said was, “have fun.”

As I quickly went outside, I breathed in the crisp air. We were right next to a mountain, so the air is colder here than it is anywhere else in the world, not that I’ve been anywhere other than Planteria. I didn’t know where I was going, but apparently, my feet did because I ended up in front of Old Man Wilson’s house. He’s the town storyteller, and he always has the best stories, whether they are true or not. I walked up to the door and was about to knock when it opened.

“Ah, I knew you’d be coming,” Old Man Wilson said. “Come in, I have a pot of water brewing for hot chocolate.”

Old Man Wilson is a Foz, one of the three main races. The other two are the Saph and the Skydreamers. The Foz are the most friendly and social of the races. My family and I are Foz, and we always had lots of people over before mother got sick. The Saph mostly keep to themselves, but there are always a few in town, either trading goods or just visiting a friend. The Skydreamers are kind of stuck up, but they are the main inventors of our world, so we try to ignore it. The Skydreamers main village is about midway up the Never Mountains, and it’s about a 5 day journey from Foz Forest to Kyanos. Foz Forest is where most of the Foz live, including me and my family, though as the same as the other races, we are scattered throughout a variety of places.

I followed Old Man Wilson into the house and sat down in a giant fluffy chair in the living room.

“So, what do you want to know?” he asked. He has a way of doing that, knowing you want something before you even do.

“What do you know about the Angel Dew?” I asked him.

“It heals all things,” He said. “It grows by a mountain stream. Only people who truly need its power, and will only use it for good are allowed to find it.”

“How do you know if you are worthy or not?” I asked him.

“You don’t. You just have to trust.” I thought about this while he got up and made us hot chocolate. When he came back, I had my next question.

“How long does it take to find it?” I asked, leaning forward in my chair.

“Usually about a week,” he told me.

“Is there any specific gear you need to find it?”

“Just the basic climbing gear, faith, trust, a lot of food and water, and warm clothes.”

I sat back in my chair and contemplated. Everyone in Planteria knows how to mountain climb, we lived right next to a mountain, so why not?

“Is there any specific season or time of day you have to find it in?” I asked. I knew from a couple of his stories that some magical items are picky like that.

“Nope,” he told me. “The Angel Dew is so specific in who it let’s find it, that it doesn’t need those extra precautions.”

“Last question,” I said. I took a deep breath and asked, “how long does my mom have?”

“No more than three weeks,” he told me quietly.

“Thank you for the information,” I said as I got up. “And for the hot chocolate.”

“Be careful,” Old Man Wilson told me. “Remember always to trust your gut.”

I thanked him again and left. As I walked home, I wondered if my father would try and find the Angel Dew and if he’s worthy or not. I decided that I shouldn’t wait for him to come to a conclusion. I would pack tonight, and leave tomorrow morning. I also decided that Alexa, my little sister, was rubbing off on me. I had called mother mom. Only my ten-year-old, rather annoying sister, did that. I could picture her, white green-skinned arms crossed, platinum blonde hair falling in her face as usual since she refused to clip it back, and that annoying smirk she would always give me right before she said ‘I told you so’ when she was right about something and I wasn’t.

“How was your walk?” father asked when I walked into the house.

“Enlightening,” I told him. He hates it when I use big words, so I use them as often as possible. “Do you know if you have to go on that work trip yet?”

“Work trip?” he said, looking a bit puzzled. It took all my willpower not to roll my eyes at him. “Oh! That work trip!” he said, “They are sending someone else, I don’t have to go.”

“Cool,” I told him.

“Dinner guys! Hurry up and get it before I package it up!” Alexa called from the kitchen. Father and I walked into the kitchen to a pot of broccoli cheese soup waiting for us on the table along with bowls. As annoying as Alexa could be, I had to give her credit for her cooking. Alexa stood there with a ladle in her hand and a gleam of pride in her ice-blue eyes. My sister knew her cooking was good, and she could tell we knew it too.

“Catch, Kaia,” she said, throwing the ladle to me so I could dish myself up. I almost caught the ladle without fumbling it like I usually do. Almost. The tip of it was just out of reach, and I fumbled with it a bit before finally catching it and holding onto it with two hands. Alexa sighed.

“You’re hopeless,” she said. Alexa walked over to the table, light pink dress swishing with every footstep, white flats making a soft clicking noise on the floor as she walked. She took the ladle from me and dished us all some soup. She was annoyed enough that I decided not to point out the speck of soup on her light blue sweater. I ate dinner and went to my room. I closed my door and put a sign on it that said ‘Do not wake the bear.’ My mom gave it to me three Christmases ago, since I’m so grumpy in the mornings. I’m kind of hopeless when it comes to things around the house and gardening, really the only thing I’m good at is carving, but I’d prove them all wrong and find the Angel Dew and cure mother. Then I wouldn’t be hopeless. I got out my duffle bag and started packing. I loved my bag because as long as you can fit something through the opening, you can fit anything in it without the bag getting really heavy. I packed my mountain gear, a week’s worth of clothes, and my warmest pair of boots. I figured it was too risky to get the food and water from the kitchen while my father was still up, so I waited until he was asleep and snoring to do so. I packed some awful crackers that never go bad, a couple of bottles of water, two marshmallow filled mini cakes, (you never know when you might need them), and enough MREs to last a week. Father is paranoid about running out of food, so he always makes sure we have enough MREs to last a month. I took one last good look around the house and left.