In the little park

Woods and waterfall

---

Glorina

I stepped out of the car, and looked around. The parking lot was gravel, maybe large enough for four or six cars. The air was cooler than in town, a breeze ruffled my hair. The scent of water, growing things, reached my nose. Along with the scent of other things.

Tolly saw me wrinkling my nose, and took a whiff himself. "Fresh country air," he muttered. Then, to me, "Sorry about that. Can't keep the animals out, you see. Not that we'd want to."

"Not your fault." I smiled, 36, reassurance, at him. I continued looking around as I followed Tolly across the parking lot, to a well-worn dirt trail leading down into the woods.

I was unfamiliar with the type of trees around me, tall, smooth grey trunks with gold and brown veins running through them, and oval, pale green leaves.

"What kind of trees are these?" I asked, slightly breathless from my attempt to keep up with Tolly. "I don't think I've ever seen them before."

He turned back, and grinned at me. "You should have said something. I would have slowed down for you." He came back, and started walking beside me down the trail, hitting aside tree branches as he went. "I'm not entirely sure," he said. "They have some fancy scientific name, which I never can remember. As far as we know, this is the only place in the RingGelf Forest where they grow, and this particular glade has been here for centuries, possibly millennia, since before the unicorns left." He paused. "Possibly long before."

"How do you know that? Have you talked to the unicorns?"

"The unicorns and I converse frequently," he said, a touch of humor in his voice.

I reviewed the conversation mentally, and wondered what he found amusing.

We reached the edge of a small pond with a waterfall. I looked out at it, the waterfall scarcely taller than Tolly himself, but broad and shining, just a thin veil of water.

I clapped my hands in unfeigned delight. I glanced aside at Tolly, who was watching me with a shyly proud expression.

"You like it?" he asked.

"Tolly, it's beautiful!"

"I'm glad to hear it." He glanced down at the beach, which was more gravel and rocks than anything else, then went over to a picnic table, sat on it, and started pulling off his shoes. "Want to go wading?"

"In this weather?" I shivered. Not that it really was that cold, but definitely not wading weather. When I had a choice.

He looked disappointed, and continued pulling his socks off. "Are you sure?" he said. "Just for a few minutes?"

"Is this important?" I asked.

"No, not at all," he said, a little too quickly. "The water is just soothing to the feet." He walked to the edge, took a couple of steps in, turned back and held his hand out to me. "Are you sure you won't join me?"

I smiled, 45, indulging a whim, and put my hand on his. "Not now, maybe in another month or so, when it's warmer."

He looked disappointed again, but nodded, and walked a few more steps into the water.

"Would you mind if I walked into the wood a bit?" I said. Maybe I could look around for those sensors that my boss still insisted had to be there. Though, having looked around a bit, I agreed with what everyone else had said. There was nothing here worth having an elaborate alarm system for.

"Go right ahead," he said, his voice sounding a bit curt, maybe because of the cold.

"Thank you," I said, and took the path back into the woods. After a short walk, I found myself in a small clearing, and looked around. I could still hear the drone of the waterfall, but I didn't see anything but trees. Alone for the moment. I took a deep breath, and stretched. I could be myself, even if just for a moment.

I looked around again, and kept going. After another short walk, I reached the edge of the woods. A barbed wire fence stretched in front of me, separating me from the weed-filled ditch and the road. I looked out for a moment. I should walk around the edge for a bit, see if I could find those sensors. But I didn't want to. I felt a draw back to the clearing. It was calm there. I stood there, struggling against the pull, for a long moment, then slowly turned and walked back.

This time, when I reached the clearing, I saw a fallen tree I hadn't noticed before, with the bark knocked off the top, and the wood worn there as well, so it was almost level. I sat down; the trunk was surprisingly comfortable. I almost smiled at the sudden fancy I had that the solid wood had shifted slightly beneath me as I sat to be even more comfortable. The uneven way the wood was worn gave me another fancy, that it looked like it was done purposefully, for me, an outline of how I could lay, with my head there, torso, arms, legs. I laughed a little, and wondered where Tolly had gotten to. Then I laid down, intending to hop right back up as soon as I'd proven it wasn't comfortable. But it was. I had another odd sensation that the wood shifted beneath me, to be more comfortable than I had thought possible.

I hadn't realized I was sleepy, but almost as soon as I lay down, I found myself yawning, my eyes closing. I fought to keep them open, but I was so comfortable . . . Only for a moment . . .

---

Interlude

Tolly sat on the table, wiggling his toes, and wishing he'd brought something to dry his feet with.

"Let me do that, Tolly," came a voice from the water.

He smiled fondly as Jelana knelt at his feet and took first one foot and then the other in her hands. Her hands briefly turned to water as they cradled each foot, then back into hands.

"Thanks," he said, putting his socks and shoes back on his now dry feet. "And thank you for warming them as well." He glanced at the path Glorina had wandered down. "She'll see you," he said.

"No, she won't." Jelana said, helping him to stand. "Daved put her to sleep."

"Did he now?" Tolly muttered, as he started to walk down the path himself, with Jelana beside him. "Already? How did you manage that?"

"She's fine, Tolly," Jelana said, stretching to keep pace with him. "She wanted it, at some level. And now we can talk."

"Talk?" Tolly stopped walking to look at her. "About what? She didn't go into the water. What could you find out?"

"That she obviously has more sense than you do, brother dear," Jelana said tartly.

He just grunted at that, as they entered the clearing. Tolly looked down at Glorina's small still form, lying precariously on the tree trunk. "She can't be comfortable like that," he muttered.

"Daved is cradling her," Jelana told him. "She's more secure now than in her own bed. And she won't wake up until Daved lets her."

"Daved," Tolly muttered. Then, a bit louder, "Will Daved be coming out to join us?"

"He'll be here in a moment."

Tolly continued to look down at the sleeping figure.

A man stepped out of the woods behind them, moving stiffly, and not quite naturally. His face, though reasonably attractive, was also stiff, and seemingly unanimated.

"I told you, Daved," Jelana said severely, "you need to move more slowly, gently. Don't just knock someone out like that."

"She did not complain," Daved said, his voice slow and deliberate.

Tolly snorted.

"How could she?" Jelana said. "She's still sleeping.

"But she will not," Daved said. "Even when she awakens."

"Only because she does not know we are here," Jelana said.

"Enough," Tolly growled at both of them. "You don't have to bicker for my benefit. Did you discover anything?"

Jelana looked down at the young sleeping woman. "When she touched your hand, Tolly," Jelana said thoughtfully, "while you were wading, I got an echo from her. Not enough to actually tell anything about her, but, I usually don't get anything secondhand."

"And now?"

"Daved's not as sensitive as I am," she said. "He can only tell that she has many layers of wall up. He can't get through them. And we're not even sure that he should try."

"Walls?" Tolly said, then shook his head. "Never mind. But couldn't you try to reach her again now? She's asleep, she'd never know."

"No, Tolly," Jelana said. "Her stepping into me, into my pond, that's one thing. Even without knowing I was there. But me touching her now, without her knowledge, that's entirely different."

"I don't see how," Tolly grumbled.

"Trust me, it is. I won't do it, brother-dear."

"Fine, then. She has walls. What does that mean?"

"To keep such strong walls up when she's sleeping?" Jelana said. "She has herself under tight control."

"She is frightened," Daved said bluntly.

"Of what? Of me?" Tolly said.

Jelana shook her head, and put her hand on Tolly's arm. "It takes a long time to build walls like that. Years." She frowned again, looking down at Glorina. "And I'm not entirely convinced they are all hers."

"Many walls, by many people, for many purposes," Daved said, his face not changing.

Jelana shivered. "If that's true . . . It's not good, Tolly."

"I didn't think it was."

Daved looked at Glorina steadily. "I like her."

Jelana laughed, as she stretched up to kiss him on the cheek. "You would."

"I am going to give her a gift," he said.

Tolly stirred. "Do you think that's wise?"

"I'd like to see you stop him, brother-dear," Jelana said tartly.

"I guess not," Tolly said. "I wish we could have discovered more. Wake her up when you're hidden again."

Jelana and Daved exchanged glances. "We will let her wake on her own," Jelana said after a moment. "It won't take long. Better for her, and Daved might be able to catch something more as she awakens.

"Fine, fine," Tolly said, throwing up his hands. He shook his head, and then smiled down at Jelana. "You're probably right."

"We usually are, brother-dear," she said tartly. Then she laughed and hugged him. "We'll slip back into our places then. Daved will let her go. I doubt it'll be more than half an hour before she awakens. Probably less."

"That should be fine," he agreed. He walked with Jelana back to the shore of the pond. She gave him one last hug, then slipped into the water, vanishing beneath the surface.

---

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