The Nymphs

Mezzo stirred her cup of herbal gray. The other members of the house hold and the elf were sitting at the dining room table waiting for Mezzo to join them. She was the one who had called this assembly, so the assumed she would be the one starting it.

Smiling, Mezzo sat down at the head of the table still stirring her tea. Once she had finished the laborious task she looked at each of the members sitting at the table. Ashureii was nervously batting at the fruit that was supposed to be her breakfast. Eris looked like a paranoid woman on the edge of insanity while sipping her coffee.  The elf.... he looked perfectly clam, in fact he was probably sleeping. 

Mezzo just sighed and rolled her eyes. "All right people. It's time to talk. First we'll start with Eris."

"Oh? Did I do something wrong?"

"No and yes."

Eris' eyebrows lifted in surprise. "That sounds strange."

"Heh. You've been acting strange, and I want to tell you that Ashureii and Dole are, without a doubt, real. Accept it. That's final." Mezzo took a sip of her tea as Eris protested. "If I can see them too, then what makes you think that they're a figment of YOUR imagination."

The redhead went silent.

"That's what I thought. Now, Dole. I need to ask you a few questions concerning the little mission I've been told to do." 

"Why is it that you sound like impending doom?" The young elf boy asked.

"Because there will be some if you don't give me straight answers." 

"I see. Ask away then."

She pulled out the comb and the mirror. Careful she placed both on the table so everyone could see them clearly. "The first item," she gesture towards the comb, "Was found near a cherry tree with an attitude problem. Quite frankly I thought the tree was out to get me. Now, why did it seem that that tree was from our old forest, and why was it so creepy?"

"Mmmm. You were probably dealing with a nymph and a grave yard for them. I'm going to take a wild guess and say that the nymph owned that comb in the first place, and she had bitter feeling towards everyone."  The elf yawned.

Mezzo could not help herself. This was utterly shocking. "You mean to tell me that they were dead!"

"Yes."

"Hungh..." Mezzo huffed a bit before taking a large swig of scolding hot tea. It would at least get her mind off of being in a plant grave yard. She decided that she would hand things over to Ashureii, she needed to assert herself a bit more.

"Ashureii could you tell Dole where you found the mirror."

*Oh!* Ashureii's apple bounced off the table and landed on the floor with a soft thud. *Uh.... sorry about that. What d-did you say?*

"Could you please tell Dole where you found that mirror," Mezzo sipped some more tea and went to pick up the apple. 

*Um... well. I was digging in my very old garden and I hit something metallic. It was kind of odd since I've never found anything that strange in the garden before.*

"Well. It appears to be one of the forgotten, and it seems to hold quite a bit of power." Dole had pulled the mirror to him and was examining it. It was still covered in real vines, and the glass part was still splotched by dirt. It was an unusual piece when you got past all of that. It had words of a lost language craved into its rim and back. "You were very lucky to find this."

*I was?*

"Yes. This is something to be treasured and it's a shame that someone would forget about something so beautiful. Many would pay a fortune if they found out this exist." 

Ashureii blinked a few extra times. *Wow, I had no idea.*

"Not many people would, Any more questions?"

"Yes!" Mezzo called from the kitchen. She had made her way there when Ashureii and Dole at been talking to each other. "Do you have any idea how many forgotten there are?"

"Not the slightest."

*I have a question. What are the forgotten anyway.*

Mezzo groaned from the kitchen as Dole did his best to explain that he had no idea.

*I wonder if the Nymphs things are the forgotten.* Ashureii said as she dug a hole for a new plant.* Dole had left, and Eris was off at work. This gave Mezzo time to spend with Ashureii in the garden. This way they could get used to each others presence.

"I'm not sure. Would fate make something that easy to solve? I think not." Mezzo was trimming a few of her hopeful prize winning violets.

*You do have a good point, but I can't help to think that they have a big part in this.*

"They probably do have a big part in this mess. They are spirits of plants or so all the mythology lessons said."

Suddenly Ashureii froze.*Someone's coming!*

"Quick! Under the butterfly bushes!" Mezzo whispered and pointed to a bush filled with flowers shaped like butterflies. Ashureii swiftly ran and comfortably fit into the small space. Mezzo let the bushes fall and spun around. 

"Hello? Miss Linaeve?" A man with a mail bag was barely able to peak over the fence.

"Oh! Mister Alfred! It's nice to see you, you must have something important if you didn't leave the mail at the door." Mezzo held back a sigh of relief. He would never be able to see Ashureii with his bad eye sight. 

"Yes. It's marked urgent in big red letters. I thought I should hand deliver it to you so Eris wouldn't open it."

Mezzo ran up to the fence. "How sweet  of you!" He handed it over the fence carefully.

"Good day to you ma'am!" He tipped his hat and headed back towards the road.

Now Mezzo gave a huge sigh of relief. "You can come out now."

Ashureii's head popped out of the think bush. *What is it?*

A look of curiosity spread across Mezzo's face. She hadn't order anything and all of her relatives hated her. She inspected the package closely, and nearly dropped it. "It's from the Realm!"

*Oh!* Ashurei bounced out of the bushes. *I forgot to tell you that I might get a second magical object.*

Mezzo blinked. She had barely got used to the idea of the first one. "Okay then. Hand me that spade so I can cut through all the tape."

Ashureii careful picked up the garden tool with her mouth and trotted over to Mezzo. *Here. I hope it's sharp enough."

"Thank you. It should be," She took the spade from Ashureii's mouth and began to carve at the tape. It open easily and something green fell from the box. Thankfully Ashureii caught it in her mouth.

"I'm sorry about that. Is it safe?" Mezzo's eyebrows were arched downward in worry. She always had trouble opening boxes with tape.

*It's fine.* Ashureii said as she placed the object on the ground. *Is there something in there that explains what it is?*

Mezzo dug through the box. "Here!" She produced a hand written paper and knelt on the ground with Ashureii to read it.

*The Sharman's charm sounds powerful.* Ashureii admired the green pendent. 

"Yes, and it sounds like the perfect power for you to have."

*Really? I've never tried to heal anyone before.*

"There's a first time for everything dear." Mezzo smiled and then stood up. "Shall we go inside for some lunch. You didn't seem to have much breakfast."

*If it's all right with you... could I stay out in the garden and do some more planting.... I mean...*

"Go right ahead. My garden is now your garden." Mezzo smiled. As she turned to leave she felt something tug on the back of her coat. 

*Please stay with me. I want you to plant things with me.*

"Of course."

Mezzo counted to ten. This was some serious business. They had barely had time to rest and get used to the settings when Dole came to them with another assignment. Why? Couldn't they just live in peace for more than an hour at a time? Apparently not. 

"So the Nymphs are what now?" Mezzo said while holding Dole on the shoulders. He was in great distress and was babbling mostly. Something about an infection that had spread through something.

"Are in great danger! Along with the elves! We need your help... you're a chemistry and we think your science can solve what our magic can't!"

"Should we go Ashureii?"

*It seems like the only thing we can do. Let's leave Eris a note so she doesn't have to deal with Mr. Dole when he's hysterical like this.*

"Right. Dole. We'll come with you but let us get ready. We'll be with you in a moment." Mezzo slowly let go of the elves shoulders. When he nodded that he was all right self swept off to her room along with Ashureii.

To find the forgotten would be difficult, but the challenge that was about to face them was much more dangerous.

Background, buttons and bars came from KAGARIBIGENTOH. The storyline (as bad as it is) and characters (>_> shut up you.) created and copyright © by Geraldine (Kari Muffin) Nonnewitz. The Bishen is copyright © to Indy and comes from the Bishen Realm.