The Botanist and the Dianthus Root

Once upon a time in the land of Atheria, there was a Princess Nea and a Princess Lulu and they went on the most amazing adventures. Nea, Lulu, Darius, Rose & Flix had just saved Fiamma, but were ambushed by some unexpected visitors in an old abandon elven keep on the edge of Boxley Wild.

As they were packing up and heading out of Hummingwood they were approached by an old friend.

“Tuck!” the princesses said together. 

Darius smiled at the powerful lion.

“Princesses, I fear time is running out. Darius, did you find Fiamma?”

“We did.”

“And the wood?”

Darius shook his head. “We got a little sidetracked and ambushed by an elf, troll, ogre and a boy.”

“And how is Fiamma?”

“She’s quite shaken but recovering.”

Tuck paced around the travelers working through his next steps. 

“Flix of the Shattered Wood. I will need you to stay with Fiamma, until she is well. We need her well for the upcoming battle. You must find the Orgrown Wood. The rest of you, Princess Blu of Allaymia is in need of some magic Dianthus Roots for the Torturians. Jo knows how to find some on Mt. Willow and they will only be soft for a couple more days. You will need to gather at least a dozen and quickly.” 

Before they had time to agree, Tuck leapt past them in the opposite direction. 

They good-bye for now. Flix, headed back to Hummingwood to watch Fiamma, while Darius traveled back north with the princesses to Timberbrook, where Jo’s cottage was. When they got there they were surprised to find that she was gone, but instead the three dwarfs with the brown crystal were there - Elifonia, Potifonia and Jacob making themselves at home. 

“What are you three doing here? Shouldn’t you be out trying to heal Atheria?”

“We could ask you the same thing, missy.” Said Jacob looking at Nea, “And missy” now looking at Lulu. 

“We have been. Well, kind of. We found the other Terrainian Crystal.” Nea said.

Princess Lulu pulled the lifeless green crystal out of her pocket. 

“And we almost had the black crystal.” Added Darius. 

“Where’s Jo?” asked Lulu, looking around.

“Oh she’s not doing well.” Said Potifona, shaking his head. “Not well at all.” 

“She’s got a broken heart.” Added Elifonia.

“A big broken heart.” Continued Potifonia.

“No thanks to you four!” Jacob said, pointing at Nea, Lulu, Darius and Rose. 

“What did we do?” asked Nea.

“Well, uh. Everything, she’s lonely you see.” 

“That’s enough of all this.” Darius jumped in, “Where did she go? We need her help to find some Dianthus Root!” 

The dwarfs all looked at each other. 

“She goes to a meadow, on the far side of Drayson’s Basin.”

So the group set out for the meadow but not five minutes into their journey they started to hear the growling of someone’s stomach. Now this wasn’t just any old stomach growl, but an extremely loud one. After the third growl it became clear that it was Jacob. 

“Are you hungry?” asked Nea, a little frustrated that they had to stop so soon. 

Jacob nodded. 

Luckily they hadn’t ventured too far out of Moorenvale yet and stopped to get some food at a small cafe. When they entered the cafe though, there were people sitting down who gave Darius and Rose a bunch of funny looks. They didn’t like animals coming into places where humans ate. In some areas of Atheria there were animals that could talk - “uncommon animals” - they called them. The uncommon animals, to protect themselves made a point a long long time ago to avoid most humans and tried to avoid human affairs all together. They kept to themselves to stay safe. 

Rose was a common animal, meaning that she could not talk, but still, animals were not welcome in some establishments in general. It was a thing that most people didn’t talk about, they just quietly did. 

Darius, having no other option or way of walking into a cafe, didn’t follow this rule. And in certain parts of Atheria it didn’t matter. But in other parts, like Morrenvale, it still did. 

Well, they all walked into the cafe and grabbed a table in the corner. The dwarfs, upon realizing there was a rough crowd scowling at Darius and Rose decided to say something about it. 

“Is there something wrong with our friend here?” asked Jacob. 

The dwarfs were about half the size of the humans but had a lot of courage. Jacob was joined by Elifonia and Potifonia who stood beside him while Nea and Lulu also stood up but closer to Darius and Rose, just in case. 

“We don’t like animals in our cafes, here.” Said one of women sitting at the bar.

“Especially not bears.” Said another, sitting next to her. 

“Don’t you realize who this is?” asked Potifonia.

“We don’t care. And we don’t very much care for dwarfs either.” Said the woman at the bar.

Darius, sensing the anger and the pain in everyone’s voice had an idea. Wouldn’t it be nice if people could be more open to dwarfs and to animals. Why get angry about these things?

“Is it just because we’re different?” asked Darius. 

That seemed to stun everyone for a minute. But although they were stunned for a second, that didn’t stop them from getting angrier and louder. 

“Yes, yes it is! We remember what the uncommon did to this village. We don’t forget.” Said the man behind the table.

Darius, sensing that the temperature was getting hotter and hotter inside the cafe, started to stabilize himself on Rose in case things got rough. 

“Wait! Darius, your crystal!” Lulu whispered and pointed to his pocket.

Darius jolted Rose back who immediately jumped on the table behind them, by accident. In doing so she bumped Darius into the wall smashing part of his harness and leaving him wobbling awkwardly. 

The audience in the cafe all laughed.

Darius pulled out his white crystal and concentrated on all the feelings in the room. The crystal started to spread ribbons of light around the room, winding in and out and through everyone’s hearts. Slowly, the patrons of the cafe begun the settle down and nonchalantly go back to their own discussions. 

“Oh dwarf!” said Jacob. “That could’ve been fun!”

At that moment, Jo came barging through the door of the cafe. 

“Albert, where’s my Vika Juice?” she asked the bartender.

“I don’t know Jo.” 

She looked over and saw the princesses, Darius, Rose and the dwarfs. 

“Jo!” they exclaimed.

“Well, what are you all doing here?”

“Trying to find you! We need your help to find some Dianthus Root on Mt. Willow, but we went to your cottage, the dwarfs said you were heartbroken.”

She looked directly at the dwarfs. They looked to the ground and made circle with their toes. 

“Is everything okay?” asked Nea. 

“Yes, everything is fine. Sometimes, I just need a little alone time to think things through. Have you girls ever made a mistake before? One that hurt someone’s feelings, someone you loved. I made that mistake once. Unfortunately, it’s one I can’t take back.” 

“Yeah, I have.” Said Darius. “But that’s when you have to apologize and reconcile. You know, make amends.” 

Jo looked at him sadly. 

“Darius, you broke your harness!” Nea exclaimed.

She was right, he was barely hanging on with his harness. 

“We need to find someone who can fix it.” 

At that moment Nea and Lulu both looked at each other. “The inventor!” they both said at the same time. 

“The inventor?” Jo asked. “Of Sparland?” 

“You know him?” Lulu asked.

She sighed.

Darius realized he couldn’t jeopardize Nea and Lulu’s mission to protect Allaymia. “Princess Nea and Princess Lulu, you need to continue your journey. Go with Jo to Mt. Willow and find the roots. I’ll only slow you down.”

“Are you sure, Darius?” Nea asked. 

“Don’t be silly. We’ll go with Darius, we’ve spent plenty of time on Mt. Willow.” Jacob said, offering to help.

“Are you sure?” Nea asked, addressing the dwarfs

They all nodded their heads. 

“Okay, tell the inventor what’s going on and once Darius’s harness is fixed, meet us at Tortura Bay.”

The group split up, Nea, Lulu & Jo heading up Mt. Willow to find the Dianthus Root and Darius, Elifonia, Potifonia and Jacob to find the inventor who could fix Darius’ harness.  

When they reached the base of Mt. Willow, Lulu decided to ask Jo something, “How did you learn so much about plants?”

“Well, you might say that being good with plants just came to me.” 

At that moment Lulu slipped but caught herself before falling. When she slipped, her pocket opened and exposed a strong beam of green light. 

They all stopped and looked at Jo. 

“You’re a Keeper.” Lulu said, “Of a Terrainian Crystal.” 

Jo looked at the two princesses. “I have been before.”

“You knew?!” they asked. 

“I had a feeling.” She smiled, “It’s not the first time I’ve encountered that Terrainian Crystal.” 

They climbed the mountain and Jo explained that long ago Atheria had been in trouble before. Her along with Simon, and others, had helped save Atheria then. They needed the crystals to stop a powerful darkness. Just like today, there were others who wanted to use the crystals for evil. The two princesses told her about the tricky elf, the troll, the ogre and the boy they ran into at the elven keep. Jo was a great listener, and even though she was old enough to be their grandmother, she was an excellent adventurer. 

“We’re almost to the summit, where the roots are.” She said. “You both must stay here. Trust me, I must go this last part alone. The dianthus roots are powerful and kept safe by a very special gardener up here.”

The princesses looked in front of them on the path and were confused. Ahead of them, the path completely stopped. They had arrived at a dead end, the edge of a cliff. A part of the path where they couldn’t cross or get to the other side on foot. There was really nowhere to go without ...

And that’s when Jo pulled out a magic Skyrabian Feather.

“You’re Skyrabian?” asked Nea. 

“Not quite,” she smiled. Then held the feather to her breast. Immediately, she started to grow the most beautiful white wings. Before the girls could say a word, she leapt from the cliff and soared into the sky - wings flapping back and forth. 

From Mr. Willow, the princesses could see the Boxley Wild, Sparland, the Scattered Woods and Mt. Boulderhorn. It was truly beautiful. They could even see islands off in the Torturian Sea they’ve never seen. 

“Do you think we’d ever get to explore those areas?” Nea asked.

“I hope so!” Lulu said.

And they both smiled.

***

“Twelve roots?” Jo asked, once she returned. When she landed she removed the feather from around her chest and put it back in her pocket. When she did, her wings slowly shrunk, then disappeared entirely. 

“Yeah - twelve.” 

“I grabbed a few extra, just in case. Jewel could probably use a few extra.”

“Jewel?” 

“Excuse me, Lady Jewel of Allaymia.” Jo corrected herself. “You need these for the Torturians, right?”

“That’s what Tuck said.” Nea answered.

“Well, she’s the only one I know who knows how to use these.” 

They walked down the mountain and trekked to Tortura Bay. The princesses were surprised to learn that Jo had been on quite a few adventures over the years. She may have been older but could still climb up and down a mountain and knew so much about plants and the land. 

***

When they got close to Tortura Bay, they were excited to see that Darius, Rose & the dwarfs there. Luckily enough for them, the inventor was also there with his walking stick and metal orb ready to summon the Torturians. When he looked over and saw the two princesses walking closer, his face turned pale at the sight of Jo.

“Hickory?!” she said, confused. 

Hickory didn’t respond. Instead he took his metal key and knocked the orb of his walking stick and stuck it in the water, summoning the Torturians. As they waited for an answer no one spoke a word. Jo looked one direction. Hickory looked another. 

Slowly the water started to move closer and closer up the beach. And eventually Princess Blu and the older merman showed up along with another mermaid and merman. 

“Greetings, King Darracudon of Allaymia.” Jo said, bowing before his majesty. 

“Greetings Jo of Timberbrook,” he responded back politely and with a smile.

“I presume, these are for the Lady Jewel?” asked Jo, motioning to the mermaid. 

He smiled and allowed Jo to pass. Jo walked into the waves and handed the roots to the mermaid. 

The beautiful mermaid bowed slightly, then smiled large and gave Jo a huge hug, quite out of character. Jo laughed, a large belly laugh that was so contagious that before long everyone was laughing too. She laughed so hard she started to cry a little. After their embrace, Jewel took the roots, stuffed them into her knapsack and gave the king a thumbs up. 

“It has been too long!” Jewel said to her old friend. “You know you ... and Clara are always welcome to visit Allaymia.” 

“Maybe once this new adventure slows down. I think you are going to have your hands full.” Jo said, tapping the knapsack full of roots.

“So when do we get to put this crystal to work again?” asked Jacob, holding out the brown glowing crystal. 

“Once we find the other Terrainian Keeper.” Spoke Hickory, looking at Jo. 

Both Jewel and Darracudon looked at Jo too. Lulu decided now would be a good time to pull out the green glowing crystal. 

Jo sighed, looked at the dwarfs, Lady Jewel, King Darracudon, Princess Blu and princesses, then gave a nervous smile. “Ok. Ok. Are you dwarfs ready to find the Land Ruins?”

And with that the princesses had successfully found both of the Terrainian Crystals and their Keepers. Now all they needed to do was bring these keepers to the Land Ruins. What they didn’t know was that there was a second Terrainian keeper there in Tortura Bay with them as well. 

The end.