Hadassah read her letter again, pondering it.
My Dearest Daughter, We all hope and pray that you do well. It was such a relief to hear that the Schip had arrived. I must hurry to send this letter to you. My agent in the capital city has orders to send you whatever letters we have already sent, but I hope that this letter will arrive before the next Schip sails.
The political situation here has quieted down. Your Husband did not take, could not take, many people with him on the Schip, but even those few have convinced many others that they could be next. So young Plowlads now have hope that they could become rich Dukes! I hope and pray as well that you have settled in your mind the question that thou asked me in that interview at the estate. How do you at supporting your Husband in his new work…?
--
“Sir!” came a voice. Hadassah sat up in bed, pulling the blanket up around her. Seth climbed out of bed and pulled back the flap. Hadassah saw a soldier standing in the doorway.
“What? What is it?” Seth asked the soldier.
“Sionr, Sir, he’s back.”
“Sionr? Sionr?! Where is he?”
“Down at the bottom, with Sean.”
“Send them up here, please.” Seth said.
Seth turned to look at Hadassah, then he poked his head outside of the tent, “You there, get me the General and Tristan and the chief Captain, if he is available. Oh, and Wynforr.”
“Get dressed, Love,” he said, “if you wish to come.”
“Oh, I do,” she said, hastily pulling on a shift and a woolen dress. She was so grateful to her Mother-in-law for packing her this kind of clothing.
Simple, easy to put on, and warm. The wind and rain at this cliff top were incredible! And every morning, like now, there was a mist, a cold mist.
“What’s up?” the General asked, as Seth and Hadassah walked into the command tent.
“Sionr is back,” Seth said.
“Sionr? Who is − that Fashgen who went missing in the middle of the voyage? How can he be back? What did he do, swim?”
“I don’t know. That is why I have called this meeting.”
“He became a Dolphin.”
Everyone turned as Wynforr and Tristan walked in.
“A Dolphin? An actual Dolphin?” the General repeated, staring at Wynforr.
“Yes. That is all we have heard so far,” Wynforr replied.
Everyone pondered this news, remembering the Dolphins that had paced their Schip the entire voyage, begging for fish and doing flips and other tricks. Beautiful animals, graceful − but were they animals?
“Sionr,” Seth said, rushing forward to embrace the lad, now dressed with some spare pants from Sean’s Mother.
“Your Highness,” Sionr said, embracing him back, and then spent the next few minutes greeting and hugging everyone.
“Sit down,” Seth said, when the greetings were finished, “and tell us what happened.”
“Well, Highness, I was at the top, the top of the mast. Sean will tell you, since I became a Visserknaap I had always loved being up there. It was my favorite spot,” Seth nodded.
“And the wind came up, all of a sudden. I had seen the clouds, but I had no idea they would do what they did. When the wind hit, it was like everything exploded, and the mast just whipped over. I might have been in Knaap form, but I didn’t know anything about being a Visserknaap, so I panicked. It was like the world was turning upside down. I grabbed at a rope which at least seemed sort of right side up. But then it whipped back and forth and I slid down. Down and down and then I was whipped up against the water.
I − I let go. The water seemed safe compared to the rest of what was going on.”
“And I was scared, Sir, and didn’t see the Schip, so I kept going under, to hide, you see.”
Hadassah watched Sionr. Something dramatic had happened to him.
He was again in Visserknaap form, but this time he wasn’t talking anything like a Fashgen.
“I was like that a long time, or at least it seemed like a long time, when suddenly something bumped against me. It scared me, and I rushed to the surface, but what good did that do? It just kept bumping me. So eventually, I dove back down and took a look.”
“It was a Dolphin, as I imagine you know by now. And it wasn’t alone.
There were two other Dolphins with it. The one bumping me was younger than the other two.”
“When it saw me looking at it, it darted off, and caught a fish − even easier than Sean does, and brought it back to me. The young Dolphin, she had the fish, and her Father − the other Dolphin was her Father − he grabbed it too, and they ripped it in half and she − she pushed it at my mouth with her beak.”
“I − at first I resisted, but there were three of them, and she was persistent, so I ended up taking a small bite. I hoped that that was enough, but it wasn’t, and she pushed it back at me.”
“About that time I wanted to breathe, but the third Dolphin, the Mother, wouldn’t let me go up. I started to panic, and figured they weren’t letting me up until I ate, so I grabbed the fish and ate it, what I could anyway.”
“They let me breathe then, but just a couple of breaths and then they forced me back down, and fed me the other half of the fish. I noticed, then, that they were making noises at me the entire time, but I didn’t really put it down to anything.”
“I finished more of the fish, they let me breathe again and then − then the girl ripped my shorts off.”
“That was sort of it for a while. They let me breathe, although not nearly as often as I would like, and they kept making noises at me, and bumping me. The bumping drove me crazy. First one of them and then the other, the young girl mostly − bumping and bumping.”
“We were swimming the whole time, you understand, and I began to get tired. But of course I had no way to sleep. About an hour later they fed me another fish, which this time I ate and ate quickly. I was hungry and thirsty, and it seemed to help some with both.”
“I think you all see where this was going. Two hours later I was eating almost constantly, and I hurt like nothing I have ever felt. Transforming into Farmer was nothing compared to it. I was starving, and I was hurting, and I was very, very tired.”
“Eventually I slept, sort of. My eyes closed, anyway, and I stopped swimming. One after another, but mostly the girl, they would take me to the surface to breathe. And then, I would eat, pretty much in my sleep. Eat and Eat and sleep and sleep...”
“After a while I could breathe without opening my mouth. It seemed natural at the time. And I could eat a whole fish in one bite, bones and all. And the noise became − not a talking, but a singing. And then…”
//Awake, awake…// she sang at me. //And I awoke, and the world was pleasant. I could swim, and she could swim, and we swam together. Fish were, and we ate them. Others were, and we greeted them. But mostly she was, and we swam together.//
//I was young, and she knew that, but she was young too, and we were young together…// “Sionr!” Sean said, shaking him, “Sionr − you are talking Dolphin talk again.”
“Oh,” said Sionr, his eyes returning to the world around him, “I’m sorry.
Anyway, so I woke up a Dolphin, eventually. And I learned that the young girl 111 was a young girl, and of her Father and Mother. And I swam around, and enjoyed myself greatly.”
“But more and more I felt guilty. I had agreed to do something for my Father, and with Sean, and with the Prince, and I wasn’t doing it. So…So I told them I had to come back to you, and, eventually, they showed me where you had gone.”
Wynforr began asking Sionr a series of technical questions about Dolphins, and Dolphin life; and Sionr began eating and changing back to his Elflad form. But Hadassah, watching him, looked at his eyes and saw that there was much, very much, that he was not saying and could not say; much that he could not change. He looked at her, once, and she saw deep pain in his eyes.
--
“Wow,” Sionr said, an hour later, as he and Sean stood at the top of the wall looking at the compound, “you all have done a lot here.”
“The Dwarves, mostly,” Sean said. “You should see their caves down below, and of course we have them to thank for these walls.”
“The Farmers seem busy, too,” Sionr said, pointing to where fields stretched along the edge of the cliff.
“Oh, those,” Sean laughed, “I think that was just a bunch of Farmers with nothing to do, while they wait for the stones to be ready for the new fort.
They begged Seth to let them dig there. It took quite an argument, but in the end everyone was pretty convinced that, by putting the crops on the edge like that, the Beasts won’t come near them. You should have seen how they worked once they got permission.”
“How are they watering it?”
“Oh, that is the Dwarves. They put a waterwheel down below, which brings up water from the waterfall. It runs all the time, and brings up far more than we can use for drinking or bathing, so they just use the rest. Actually, they use the bathing water too.”
“Oh?”
“Yes. Do you want to come and see?”
Sean led Sionr over to a curtained area near the cliff edge, from which were coming shouts and splashes. He paused in the entryway to remove his shorts, which Sionr emulated, and the two boys then went around the corner naked.
“Wow!” Sionr exclaimed, at the sight of half a dozen men and lads standing under a spray of water. “See!” said Sean, as they took their place under the water, “the water runs off that way, where they dug a cistern on the other side of the wall to water the plants.”
Sionr looked at the water running off, and heard the cries of girls just on the other side of the curtain. Sean saw his look, “The water from that side runs off in the other direction. They have planted on the other side too.”
Having changed back to Elven form, Sionr found this shower a bit bracing, and soon was out and toweling off. Sean took longer. Being a Visserknaap, he enjoyed cold water.
“So, they are going to build a fort? Where are they going to build it?”
Sionr asked, as Sean continued to gyrate under the water.
“They don’t know yet. That is one of the problems. They are thinking of sending some Horsemen out to check, but it is a bit of a problem, as all of the Horsemen have Wives, and they don’t want to take them on something so risky.”
“But they don’t want to leave them behind, either, I imagine,” Sionr added.
“Yeah, I suppose not. I don’t know much about Horsemen, but even I know that.”
—
Mgwan stirred his pot, thinking about the events of the last few days.
Everyone was excited about the return of Sionr. The Visser were ecstatic.
The idea that at least some of those who had fallen overboard were not actually dead but were indeed ‘swimming with the Dolphins,’ was heartening (to say the least).
But even the others were excited. The idea that there was yet another race, that of Dolphins, living with them, but in the oceans, was a change in the way everyone had thought about the world.
Sionr had said almost nothing about the change after his grilling by Wynforr, and Mgwan could understand that. The feelings that he had had when he had been turned into a Troll were almost beyond what he was able to talk about.
Other than Sionr, the talk was all about the next step. The Dwarves had made a special gate for the Horsemen to easily enter and exit the castle, but so far they weren’t allowed to go very far from the wall. No one was sure how the Beasts would react, seeing Horsemen ranging out into ‘their’ territory.
But someone needed to go scouting. It looked like they would have to send the Horsemen out anyway.
Mgwan was meditating on these things, when he became aware of someone coming up behind him. He turned. It was Sionr.
“Mgwan, are you busy?” Sionr asked, staring at the pot.
“Not particularly. You want to talk about something?” Mgwan called another Sjefen over to work on that pot, and the two went off together. “What’s up?”
“I had an idea, but I thought it best to come to you with it first.”
“Me? Why me?”
“Because it involves you.”
“Me!?” Mgwan was surprised. His role in the expedition so far had been fairly simple, and very appropriate to the Sjefen: cooking. There were a large number of people to be fed, and very few Sjefen. Of course, many of the Farmerwives and Visserfrauen helped, but everyone was much happier when the Sjefen cooked. Right now, while the leaders debated what to do next, only the Sjefen and Dwarves were all that busy. Even the Schippen were at a standstill, as it was thought wise for them to wait before doing any more scouting or bringing more people (at least until the next step was decided).
“Yes, you. You are the only person here who has the skill that I think is necessary for the next step. The leaders have pretty much decided that what they need to do next is throw out a small fort. The Dwarves have been working 29 Or, in the vernacular, ‘Troll’ on a backup stash of stones, and the Visser have provided enough wood (some came with the last trip, and some they can steal from their own Schippen) for some carts. But where are they to build it?”
“What they need is for someone to go out there and scout--to find a nice high place close to water where we can build the new fort. Then the Horsemen will have a place to retire if things get too hot for them out on the plains. Each fort will have an enclosure where the Horsemen can hide out. It will have soldiers manning the walls and supplies.”
“I have been thinking about it and I think you may be the answer.”
“Me?” responded Mgwan, feeling repetitive and stupid.
“Yes. You are the only one who has been a Troll before.”
Suddenly Mgwan saw where this conversation was going. While it seemed that anyone could turn into any of the various forms under the right conditions, it was very hard to do so unless you did have those right conditions.
This included speaking the language, eating the food, and having a need for that form. It made it much easier if you had already been in that form, and if you had practice changing. So the fact that Mgwan had been a Troll before definitely helped.
A Troll, moreover, would definitely be the best at this job. Virtually invisible, scent controlled, able to eat and drink several days worth at a time… the Troll form was perfect for this task.
But was Mgwan? Transforming into a Troll had been extremely difficult. Sjefen are very isolated people. They live their lives in small family groups in the middle of the jungle, sleeping together in a ‘bower’ as a family.
Even those that went outside the jungle still lived in isolation, often in the middle of lots of people.
Being a Troll had been different. Trolls were creatures of the wide open spaces. They lived out in the open most of their lives (Troll men and boys, that is). The task which Sionr was now asking Mgwan to do was the ultimate in ‘wide open spaces.’ These were wide open spaces with huge Beasts on them; huge Beasts whose behavioral habits were unknown, and which scared him when he merely looked at them over the walls.
Sionr was suggesting that Mgwan go out there, alone; far away from the walls, alone, to scout out a location for their new fort.
Mgwan pondered this. Boys being boys, with their unspoken rules of courage, he knew that he only had several seconds to agree, or risk being labeled a coward − “Ok, I’ll do it,” he said.
“Great!” Sionr said. “Boy I wish I could go with you. Let’s go talk with Seth and them.”
“Let’s − let’s take Sean with us,” Mgwan said. Sionr might be in Fashgen form, but he had obviously kept some things from the Visserknaap, or 115 even Farmer, form in his psyche. He was acting as if waltzing into the middle of a high ranking discussion was not just possible (as a Fashgen might think) but, in its way, fun.
—
“You want to what?” Sean said.
“To go out as a Troll, and search for a good spot for the new fort. As a Troll I should be safe from the Beasts, no?” Mgwan said, looking less than convinced himself.
“Well, that is an idea. You should do well at that, I would think,” Sean said. “How can I help?”
He thought that was what you said to Sjefen, but it didn’t sound quite right. Mgwan looked pleased though, and Sionr said, “We were on our way to see Tristan, and then tell Seth, if Tristan thinks…” He stopped talking, as Sean was already up and walking out of the tent.
“Come on,” he said.
They hadn’t long to search, as Tristan was in Seth’s tent; and he was not alone.
“Tristan?” Sionr called at the door of the tent and that individual emerged.
“Yes? Hello Mgwan, Sionr, Sean.”
“Hello Tristan, your Highness,” said Mgwan, nervously, as Seth came out behind Tristan. Mgwan had gotten much more formal with Seth since their time at the castle, as his ‘Princely’ duties had become so much more evident.
“What’s up?” Seth asked.
“Mgwan had this great idea,” Sean said. “He’s thinking he can go out as a Troll to scout. We heard as how you’re looking for a spot to build a fort, something up kind of high and near water. As a Troll, it will be easy for Mgwan to find just the right spot.”
Tristan stared at Mgwan. “That was a well thought out idea…” he began, when Seth interrupted, “But I won’t allow it. Not alone, anyway. I will come with you.”
“You!?” said Sionr.
“You?” said Tristan, more slowly, and
“You will!?” exclaimed Mgwan, far too relieved to keep it from his voice.
Sean grinned.
“Yes,” said Seth. “I have now transformed into everything else, I think I should be able to manage Troll, assuming I am fed a big enough dinner. And I don’t think it is at all feasible to send Mgwan out alone. Trolls may be invisible, but they aren’t omniscient, and he could use someone else to watch out for him. And two can cover more ground anyway. I would hate to pass a mile away from the perfect spot.”
“That would be great!” Sionr said, looking excited, and causing Tristan to look at him sharply.
“Have you finished your transformation?” Tristan asked him, “From Visserknaap to Fashgen?”
Sionr looked abashed. “No, actually. Not yet. The…” he straightened up, “I judged the emotional difference between Dolphin and Fashgen too great for me to successfully handle a complete transformation in such a short period of time.”
Tristan studied him, then said, “I think you were wise. Perhaps you should have just stayed fully a Visserknaap.”
“I thought of doing that. But this form is more convenient for this location, and it represents − some of who I need to be right now.”
“Ah,” Tristan replied, “I would enjoy talking with you more about it, later, if you are willing.”
“I would − I would enjoy that as well,” Sionr said, and the other boys suddenly realized that the two ‘Ellyll’ were making a very important word play on the word ‘enjoy’, one whose depths were lost on them but whose shallows were fascinating enough. As Ellyll they enjoyed learning, and as Visserknaapen they enjoyed deepening their relationship, and the proposed conversation promised a good deal of both.
“Well, then,” Seth said finally, “let us go and announce our plan.”
The General, on being told, merely nodded and said, “Good. That should work better than what we have been discussing with the Horsemen.”
But Wynforr said, “I will come too,” and everyone turned to look at him.
“I believe,” he said in answer to their unspoken questions, “that I have observed enough of the process to be able to duplicate it. Indeed, I believe, as an Ellyll,” he looked at the boys, “and a more mature one, I will be able to use my gateway organ to, in effect, force the transformation; at least of the body. I see no reason to change my mental processes. Indeed, I know far too little of the mental process of a Troll to even attempt it.”
//We shall begin speaking Troll now, then. And eating// Seth announced, nodding.
Sean hurried from the tent to order “Food, food for the Prince and his party. Lot’s and lot’s of food.”
//I think// Mgwan said, //that I shall enjoy getting to be a Troll again, especially in such company.//
//It will be an interesting walk// Seth said, //Brothers walking together under the sky. Some food is here, let us eat as well as talk.//
The General sidled up to Sionr and Sean, who were standing to one side watching, “If you don’t mind my asking,” he said (an obvious formality to an Ellyll, who never minded being asked anything, although they might, in 118 Vonsbooks.com some circumstances, charge for the answer) “what are they doing?” Sean grinned, as he watched Sionr straighten up.
“In order to change form,” Sionr said, “one needs to convince one’s body of the need. For most people, such as the Farmerlasses who have become Visserfrau, this is done by their being thrown into a new society; and talking, eating, sleeping, and − bedding in the new culture. However these two,” he said, pointing at Seth and Mgwan, “have made transformations before, so it is more a matter of their just signaling their body to begin another one, and signaling which one.”
“Now Wynforr, on the other hand, he is trying a new trick. He is going to use his Ellyll brain to just ‘tell himself’ about transformations, and, I imagine, just set up some kind of thought loop where he describes what part of the transformation he wants, with all of the details.”
“And the food?” asked the General, as Seth and the others devoured an enormous quantity.
“Well, changing always takes a lot of energy, so you want to eat a lot.
But in this case…” he pointed at Mgwan, who had already grown a visible inch, “the Troll form is much bigger than the Farmer or even Ellyll forms… excuse me,”
He went to the door, “More food! Much more food! And now!”
“What − what a power!” the General said.
“Well, yes, but I don’t think most people will ever gain it. Most people don’t need it. They are happy, and useful, living their own lives in their own way. It is − confusing − changing. You lose part of who you are; although you gain much, much more. I am not sure most people would want that loss.”
“You sound sad,” the General said, studying the lad. “Oh, don’t act surprised. I act the rough ‘General’ person, but I am as Human as anyone else.
I have had a Wife, and sons. All killed in an accident, a carriage accident.
Drowned.”
“I, I am sorry,” Sionr said. Then, pausing momentarily, he added, “You should marry again.”
The General looked shocked, angry, and then, “You are right, of course. I have just…”
“Yes. You are right,” Sionr said, interrupting him. “I am sad. I am torn between two worlds. But I will speak to Seth, and he will get you a Wife. It is not for you to do so, not now in your position. It must be the right Wife; an important widow, perhaps.”
“Well, now,” the General said, but Sionr merely looked at him, with the look only an Ellyll could give one, as if to say, ‘I have told you what is true, now stop arguing.’ And so the General did, and turned his attention back to the three at the table, flushing not a little.
The servants had brought more food, and fled; for the three were an imposing sight. Mgwan was farthest along, and was already turning white with small hairs growing out all over his body. All three were noticeably taller, and they were talking to each other in the dull, booming voice of the Trolls, a sound one almost never heard, and which threatened to echo in your dreams.
Their faces were being pulled and stretched out of all proportion, the sight of which would give a delicate child nightmares for a week. But in spite of all of this, they continued to talk.
“Do you think they would mind if we went for a walk?” the General asked Sean. A veteran of dozens of battles, he hadn’t the nerve to face much more.
“No, not at all. They probably won’t even notice. Let’s go to the wall,”
Sean said, and the three moved off through the tent flap.
“How long will it take?” the General yelled. The wind at the wall was blowing fiercely, in their faces, whipping them with a light drizzle.
“Oh, they will be done by tomorrow morning,” Sionr said. “Tonight will be agony for them though. The long bone changes are very painful. Not for Wynforr though, the Ellyll brain can block pain. And, for all I know, Seth can still do that, too. I wouldn’t want to be Mgwan tonight, though.”
--
And it was painful. But it was also joyful, Mgwan thought. Before he had changed alone; and a Troll is never happy alone, not really alone. Troll are always born in litters of six − three boys and three girls. And they marry in the same way, Brothers of one family marrying Sisters of another, and vice versa.
So one kept his Brothers, and his Sisters, his whole life; gaining a Wife and Brothers-in-law and Sisters-in-law.
So to be changing along with two other boys/men was very comfortable; even though they weren’t, actually, Brothers, and even though Wynforr maintained some of the abstract and distant ways of the Ellyll. They were Brothers-in-the-change, and Brothers-in-a-task.
And now that the change was almost done, as he lay, sleeping but not sleeping next to the other two, he could contemplate the task not with fear, but with joy. He flexed his color adaptors, and his fur rippled and changed, making him blend in perfectly with the blankets he lay on and in. What Beast, however large, could compete with this? He knew his body was doing the same thing with his scent, in a bizarre sort of dance, giving off the scents of his companions even as they imitated him.
That would change on the prairie. There, outside of this confined area, his body would accept the scent of the prairie and shift to that. He glanced at his companions, but they were still asleep, moaning, so he decided to get up alone.
He pushed aside the door of the tent, causing a Guard to start. “Halt!”
the Guard said, leveling his spear.
“It is I, Mgwan,” Mgwan said, turning himself that neutral white which was the Troll’s normal coloring, and holding out his hands, palms up, to show that he had no weapon. As he had no clothes, either, there was no way for him to hide anything, and the Guard relaxed.
“I’m sorry, Sir,” he said. “I didn’t recognize you − like that.”
“Of course not,” Mgwan said. “It is no problem. Be careful though, for the Prince and Wynforr will also come out soon, even as I am, Troll.”
“Yes, Sir,” the Guard said, glancing back toward the tent nervously.
“We will look out for that.”
“Very well, I am going to the wall now,” Mgwan said, and ambled off.
Farmers could be so nervous.
--
“I thought you would come,” Sionr said. The morning mist was still thick, the view of the prairie more of a promise than a reality.
“Where else would one be, this morning?”
“You changed before the others.”
“Yes. Seth, I think, could have changed faster, except that Hadassah is not changing with him. Indeed she was − most taken aback when she came to the tent last night.”
“We should have told her.”
“Yes. But hopefully she will recover in a few days.”
Sionr looked at Mgwan, suddenly realizing the other had made a joke.
But there seemed nothing to say, and so he looked back out at the mist.
Thank you for reading Von’s Substack. I would love it if you commented! I love hearing from readers, especially critical comments. I would love to start more letter exchanges, so if there’s a subject you’re interested in, get writing and tag me!
Being ‘restacked’ and mentioned in ‘notes’ is very important for lesser-known stacks so… feel free! I’m semi-retired and write as a ministry (and for fun) so you don’t need to feel guilty you aren’t paying for anything, but if you enjoy my writing (even if you dramatically disagree with it), then restack, please! Or mention me in one of your own posts.
If I don’t write you back it is almost certain that I didn’t see it, so please feel free to comment and link to your post. Or if you just think I would be interested in your post!
If you get lost, check out my ‘Table of Contents’ which I try to keep up to date.
Thanks again, God Bless, Soli Deo gloria,
Von
Links
Island People
Island People is a young adult fantasy book centring on a young prince. The book starts with his kidnapping and follows his adventures as he not only escapes from his kidnapper but gains critical allies and friends.
The entire book is scheduled on Substack, and there are several sequels. This is a book I wrote years ago, so it is in a bit of a rough form. Critiques and comments are more than welcome, they are requested.