a map of the past ...

[This is an ongoing chapter a week story that began with the first Words for Wednesday for 2025 on 1 January. I'm hoping to continue it through 31 December, the last Wednesday of the year. To start from the beginning, click on the Words for Wednesday 2025 label to the right and it will pull up all of the weekly posts, beginning with the most recent.  To start from the beginning, continue to click "Older Posts" at the bottom of the page until you get to 1 January 2025, then click "Newer Posts" to read the next date.  You can thank Blogger for the inability to list them by chronological order under the labels.]

  Elder Elowin told the four to wait by the fire while she went into her cottage to find something which would help them on their quest.

  It was Kael who spoke first after she had gone.  "I owe each of you an apology for my past behavior.  I never knew what I must have looked and acted like until I was confronted with it at the stone house.  I'm sorry for how I've treated each of you.  Very sorry.  Since I've been back, you've been nothing but kind to me, and I know I did nothing to deserve that from you."  He blushed deeply, and a tear fell from his eye.

  Lyri reached over and put a hand on his arm.  "Apology accepted.  By me at least," she looked at Thal and Eldrin, "and I'm certain they also accept it."  Both boys nodded in agreement, and she continued speaking. "We've sort of come to see you in a different light the last several days, without all the pollution of what was clouding our vision before.  And we all have occasionally followed a crooked path once in a while and have learned the hard way how to get back onto a straight and narrow."

  Elowin returned to the four young elves with a rolled-up parchment under her arm, and a basket filled with jars and herbs.  She motioned to them to gather near her by the fire as she unrolled the parchment onto the ground.  "You'll be wanting to memorize this map, as it will be too risky to take with you.  If it falls into the wrong hands, it could be the end of all of us."

  Pointing to an area of the map with the end of her pipe, "This is where we are now.  And around here are all of the woods and sigils that you marked, Thal.  They will hold for a while, but once you leave these woods they will begin to weaken until you return.  So, it is imperative that you not dilly dally when you go."

  Lyri, Eldrin, and Kael looked at Thal questioningly, and he shook his head slightly and mouthed "later."  They could talk about the voices in his head when they were away from all of this, right now he needed to focus on what Elder Elowin was telling them.

  Pointing to a purple section of the map, Elowin continued, "This is where I think Kael was being held.  It is all human industry now, but at one time it was King Oom's land.  You won't want to go in that direction."  Kael nodded enthusiastically at that.

  "This is where you need to be," Elowin indicated the farthest point away from where they were on the map.

  Eldrin sighed.  "Of course, it had to be there."

  "Do you know that area?" Elowin asked.

  "Unfortunately, yes.  I've had the pleasure.  I got quite the education there once.  Wood nymphs, and hermits, witches, and trolls, tree-beards of every size and color.  It was enlightening, but not dangerous.  There are just so many courtesies one must abide by to avoid offending one or the other.  I suppose it is too late for me to withdraw from this adventure?"

  Lyri slugged him in the arm.  "You cannot back out now!  Since you know so much about those woods, you will have to coach us on how to behave around each of them!"

  Rubbing his arm where Lyri hit him, Eldrin laughed, "I was just kidding!  The only thing we really have to watch out for is going to be BellowCat who runs the ferry across the river to enter those woods.  We will need to be prepared to answer his questions in writing, and they can be very difficult."

This week's Words for Wednesday prompts can be found here.

the weekend ...

 ... in no particular order.

Volunteered this past weekend at one of the local art galleries.
Successfully (barely) resisted the temptation to buy one of everything.

I finally finished (at 230a) the first cabinet door for my neighbor.
Four more to go, and this was the smallest.

Found Orange Jewelweed growing in the backyard.
It is a member of the Impatiens family.

Calliope and ... (drumroll...) Oliver!

  

Slightly out of focus because he does NOT slow down when he is awake!
They broke themselves out of quarantine after a week by climbing the fence.
Gracie and Lucy still hiss but are getting used to them.
The babies just ignore them and now ignore Charlie also.
He is curious but no longer growls.
Oliver loves cuddles and kisses.
Calliope is starting to like the idea of cuddles.

sunday morning ...

cicadas buzzing

solar fountain in the bird bath bubbling

siren in the distance

somewhere around the alley bend, geese are honking

a car engine revs and a man yells

blue jays

cardinals

bees buzzing

yesterday's reheated coffee has gone lukewarm

a slight breeze blows the porch curtains

the groundhog perches on his rock silently watching charlie

there are chores to do, but for now i sit

away from news and social media, and the anxiety it propagates

my stomach growls reminding me i need to eat

and move back into the coolness of the house

i give in to its need reluctantly and begin the day

a quest for peace begins ...

 [This is an ongoing chapter a week story that began with the first Words for Wednesday for 2025 on 1 January. I'm hoping to continue it through 31 December, the last Wednesday of the year. To start from the beginning, click on the Words for Wednesday 2025 label to the right and it will pull up all of the weekly posts.]

  Thal sat quietly, considering all that Elder Elowin had told him.  "If sitting on the throne will stop The Grimma, will it also stop the gnolls and the human that Kael told us about?"

  "If the kingdom of Queen Legodia rises again, it will unite all of the kingdoms together, and that will defeat the gnolls, and protect us from the human."

  "Then what must I do?  Where must I go?"

  "You must take a ferry across the great river to ...." A rustling noise in the underbrush behind Thal and Elowin stopped her from finishing her sentence.  "Who is there?" she called.

  El, Lyri, and Kael slowly revealed themselves and came forward.  Lyri spoke determinedly for all of them, "Forgive us for eavesdropping, Elder Elowin, but Thal is our friend, and this involves all of us.  Wherever he goes, we go with him."

  Elowin nodded approvingly and waved the three of them to come closer.  "Child, I knew you were there all along.  I was waiting to see what kind of friends you truly were."

~*~*~

  Alexander took a box filled with small gold bars from where he had hidden it behind a loose brick in the fireplace hearth.  He knew the gnolls could care less about the gold, but it would help him convey to them the seriousness of his intention to find the wood elf and others of his kind.

  His appearance had taken on a pastey purple shade as his anger and blood pressure continued to rise the longer it took the gnolls to find the elf.  His heart worked overtime trying to keep up with the demand, growing larger and thicker with each passing day.  But he hadn't noticed.  Finding the elves was all he thought about.  Finding and destroying them.  He barely ate now, and his body had begun to show bones he hadn't seen since he was a much younger and healthier man.  Sleep evaded him, and when his mind was able to rest somewhat, he dreamed of Kael and what he would do with him first when he found him.

*~*~*

  Elder Elowin continued to speak.  "What will be required of each of you, will be to accept the fact that in spite of past differences, you are all connected.  You are not simply friends.  You are, and always have been, family.  All elves are uniquely related.  Not simply by blood, but by a connection to the forest, to the animals, birds and trees.  You are an extension of the earth by birth."

  Kael raised his eyebrows in astonishment but said nothing.  His childhood, or rather lack of one, had shaped much of his adulthood.  His parents had set the example for his own bad behavior of lying and obtaining things by taking advantage of others.  He'd never felt as though he belonged to the wood elf community because of it.  Overhearing what others said about his parents, he did all that he could at first to avoid becoming like them.  But their reputation was passed onto him undeservedly, and he soon fell into their patterns of talk and actions.

  Eldrin looked at the four of them, "Excellent!  When can we start on this magnificent adventure?!?!?"

This week's Words for Wednesday prompts can be found here.

sunday's selections ...

 ... brief and sweet ...

It always makes me smile when my security camera says it detects a pet.
A doe and her fawn early one morning.

This sweet boy (?) is a new addition.  His name will be decided upon once I confirm with the vet that he is indeed a boy.

Miss Calliope.

Unexpected Answers ...

[This is an ongoing chapter a week story that began with the first Words for Wednesday for 2025 on 1 January. I'm hoping to continue it through 31 December, the last Wednesday of the year. To start from the beginning, click on the Words for Wednesday 2025 label to the right and it will pull up all of the weekly posts.]

  "I'm sorry, who?  My what?  I thought you said she had no heirs.  And how am I related to Queen Legodia?"

  "Ahhh, Thalion, I was very purposeful in my choice of words.  I said she had no 'known' heirs.  Queen Legodia inherited the kingdom from her father.  She was the eldest of ten children.  At the time of her death, when her cousin, Oom, assumed the throne, eight of her younger siblings had been silently assassinated by his henchmen in neighboring kingdoms and communities."

  "Eight?  So, there was one still alive?"

  "Queen Legodia's mother died giving birth to her ninth child, a son.  He was raised by a young milk nurse, who had recently lost a child to stillbirth.  When her husband later died in battle, she became the king's concubine in order to support herself.

  After the boy was no longer nursing, she unexpectedly found herself pregnant by the king.  Fearing that the king would be angry, and that the baby would be ostracized as a bastard, she fled the kingdom during a solar eclipse."

  "Where did she go?"

  "She traveled on foot for several weeks.  At first only moving at night in case the king was searching for her.  She sought shelter that winter in a small village called Hog's Breath where she worked with a seamstress and was able to disguise her growing body for a time.  When her mistress questioned her about the father of her pending child, she told her that he had been an abusive drunk who had raped her one night.  Which was not far from the truth.

  By the spring she had saved enough coin to purchase a small donkey, and shortly after the baby, a boy, was born she felt it was time for her to move again in case the king had sent men to find her trail.  She couldn't have known that the king had died a week after the eclipse, and his eldest daughter was now on the throne."

  "How discouraging.  All of her efforts to flee, and she really didn't have to after all."

  "Oh, but she did.  It was well known that she had been the king's concubine, and her pregnancy would have started tongues wagging.  If she had stayed, it is likely her son would have been killed with the rest of Queen Legodia's siblings after her death.  In order for the prophecy to be fulfilled, it was imperative that he survive."

  "Prophecy?  What prophecy?"

  "Do you believe in luck, Thalion?  Or do you believe in fate?"

  "I'm not sure.  What's the difference?"

  "Imagine that the Universe has already charted your path.  You set out in life, believing that you are making all of your own choices, but in reality, the Universe has already chosen for you.  It simply puts options before you, like sending them down a chute, and no matter which one you chose, it will still lead you to the same destination they have chosen for you.  That is fate.

  Now imagine you pick up an acorn off the ground, and you punt kick it into the air, hoping it will land in a small oval you can't even see on the other side of the forest.  That is what you call luck."

  Thalion laughs, "Well, I'm still not sure I know which one I believe in.  Most of the time I'd like to think that fate has determined my life, but there are times when it feels like I've just gotten lucky."

  Chuckling in agreement and nodding her head, Elowin continued.  "As far back as the records of elf-kind go, there has been a story of an unknown king who will rise up from humble origins to save all of the forest folk from an unknown evil.  Even long before King Oom and the division of the land, and long before Queen Legodia and her father.  Each generation has patiently waited and wondered if he would come in their lifetime."

  "And of the evil?  What of it?"

  "The Grimma.  It has risen up every few generations, which only hinders the hope of the faithful and believers in fate."

  "You said that the origin of it came from a curse that a wizard advisor of King Oom put on the land?  Why would he do that?"

  "King Oom was a jealous, little man who only surrounded himself with those he believed would be loyal to him.  But in truth, they were only loyal to themselves and cared nothing for him, or the forest.  When the wizard placed the curse on the kingdom and the forest, he believed that he would one day be able to sit on a throne over the entire world.  But that was not the fate that the Universe had set out for him, and his plan backfired.

  Half a century later, when the battle over the kingdom had been forgotten, The Grimma rose up one evening while the wizard was camping in a different part of the forest to gather herbs.  His magic that created it the first time was unable to stop it, and he became just another victim of his own selfish greed."

  His forehead wrinkled with confusion, Thalion sat quietly for several moments.  "But if the wizard couldn't stop what he created, and the true heir to the kingdom is just a voice in my head, how can The Grimma be stopped?"

  Elder Elowin looked at him gently.  "The wizard's curse can only be broken when the true heir to the throne sits rightfully upon it.  And that, my innocent young sprout, is you."

This week's Words for Wednesday can be found here.

catching up ...

In reverse chronological order, since that seems to be the only way Blogger plays ... 

The heatwave coming across the country is beginning this week.  This screenshot was taken about an hour ago (at noon), and at the time I'm typing this now we are already at 91°F with a "feels like" 99°.  A friend in Nebraska said that their heat indexes last week were over 110°.  Pretty sure today's high will be above what is forecast.  I will be forever grateful to friends that bought me a window a/c unit because my mini splits were installed wrong and haven't worked to cool the house since I moved in.  They "cool" by freezing up, spitting out ice chunks, and creating small lakes in the rooms.  I suppose I could go swimming to cool off.

I've taken on a big project of beading five chicken wire kitchen cabinet doors for a friend's remodeling project in her house.  Should keep me busy for a while.

I have wanted to paint this rock since I saw it on the side of the porch when I first moved in.  My.most.favorite.word.ever.  Now the name of my house.

Bought some peonies at the grocery store last week and just love how they exploded after I opened up the stems.  I really need to plant some of my own this fall in the front yard.

This nasturtium terra cotta teapot was really ... scary flesh looking ... so I added some green paint, and some frogs.  Now it is a beautiful flower vase!

The whateverholiday cactus I repotted in the spring is apparently happy. 

This was a broken dragon that I upcycled with a red bead and paint into a ruby dragon for the front porch.

Creative spider on my side cam.  Another art project idea for later after the chicken wire beading project.

Happy Solstice weekend!  Stay cool out there (or warm depending on your hemisphere) and stay creative....  Hugs, Ci💚

A Hidden Ancestry ...

[This is an ongoing chapter a week story that began with the first Words for Wednesday for 2025 on 1 January. I'm hoping to continue it through 31 December, the last Wednesday of the year. To start from the beginning, click on the Words for Wednesday 2025 label to the right and it will pull up all of the weekly posts.]

  After supper, Elder Elowin and Thal sat outside by the fire as she smoked a pipe.  Occasionally, the smoke from the pipe formed rabbits, mice and birds that chased each other before dissipating into the air.  Thal watched, fascinated.

  "Many centuries ago, there was a tract of land ruled by Queen Legodia.  She was a kind and wise queen but had no known heirs.  When she died, her kingdom was assumed by a cousin, Oom, who became a king with a very cruel and satirical way of ruling.  The people hated him, and many of them moved away to other kingdoms.

  When word spread that even his army refused to follow his orders, a great war broke out for control of the kingdom."

  "What happened, Elder Elowin?"

  "The war spread and covered mountains and valleys.  There was nowhere safe to hide from the death and destruction.  In the breakup of Queen Legodia's kingdom after the assignation of King Oom, there was a curse put on her land and people by the king's advisor, a wizard of great power and evil."

  "A curse?  What sort of a curse?"

  "We called it The Grimma.  It was a death curse that killed without mercy nearly everything in the woods.  Elves, animals, and even the trees themselves."

  The sound of a violin being played and laughter wafted through the trees to where Elowin and Thal were sitting by the now smoldering fire.  Thal reached for a log to stoke the fire again, and Elowin stayed his hand.

  "Let it die, there are things we must talk about that are best said in the shadows.  I don't want anyone to see the flame and decide to join us just yet.  The Wheel of the Year is turning, and they deserve to be happy and celebrating.  There is too much of a risk right now of a nosey informer spying on our conversation and causing a panic among the forest."

  "Do you mean Kael?"

  "No, Thalion.  Others who act like busy bees to benefit the hive, but it is not our hive or mountains whose interest they have at heart."

  "Is it the voice I heard?"

  Elowin let out a puff of smoke that turned into an angry swarm of bees, buzzing around Thal's head before disappearing into the darkness.

  "No.  The voice belongs to the true heir of Queen Legodia's kingdom... your ancestor."

This week's Words for Wednesday can be found here.

hollandaise ...

[This is an ongoing chapter a week story that began with the first Words for Wednesday for 2025 on 1 January. I'm hoping to continue it through 31 December, the last Wednesday of the year. To start from the beginning, click here to be taken back to 1 January 2025, and then look for chapters to appear weekly between Tu-W-Th]

  "What do you know about tennis, Thal?"

  "Tennis?  I've never heard of it, Elder Elowin.  What is it?"

  "It was a word on a scrap of paper I found wrapped around a small bit of Turkish Delight.  Melon flavored I believe, down by the brook at the edge of the forest."

  "Turkish Delight?"

  "I think a type of sweets.  I was curious about something and thought I would see what was outside the forest.  Have you noticed a change in Kael since he returned?"

  "Yes.  He seems ... changed."

  "Indeed.  But that isn't why you came to see me, is it, Thal?"

  "No.  I heard something last night at the bonfire."

  "Mmm.  Yes.  I know."

  "You know?"

  "There isn't much that I don't know, Thal.  But it was something I suspected would happen sooner or later when you told me about the sigils.  

   Many generations ago, when I was still a young girl, the world was a much different place.  There were men, powerful men, who weren't satisfied with what they had and always wanted more.  They created wars and divided the countries.  Some even divided their own people into rights and wrongs.  They gave limited power to officers to act on their behalf, but they were just puppets, dancing on the steps of the government, pulled every which way by invisible strings.

   Eventually, the people realized that they were fools for believing in the lies of these men and came to the conclusion that the old ways were better and there was a great upheaval in the world."

  "What happened, Elder Elowin?  Is that what is going to happen again?"

  "It's too early to tell, but I suspect that we may be in the middle of a great change.  Now, can you reach that pan for me on the top shelf there?  I want to make some Hollandaise sauce to go with this fresh asparagus for supper."

This week's Words for Wednesday can be found here.

it's been a minute ...

 ... since I posted photos.

My front porch has become an extension of the house.
It's where I have my morning coffee, listening to the birds.

I hung these curtains recently for some privacy from the house next door.

Adding to my porch gallery wall.

The groundhogs had a little one!

A new planter for my succulents!
I ordered it on Etsy. [<link]

Found this at Goodwill!  I'm debating on repainting it.

Caught and released this moth. 
I wanted an up-close look at it for possible art projects later.

Wishing you a week of fun discoveries and adventures!  Hugs, Ci💚

an egg for supper...

[This is an ongoing chapter a week story that began with the first Words for Wednesday for 2025 on 1 January. I'm hoping to continue it through 31 December, the last Wednesday of the year. To start from the beginning, click here to be taken back to 1 January 2025, and then look for chapters to appear weekly between Tu-W-Th]

  After hearing the voice in his head at the bonfire, Thal had gone to see Elowin the next day.  He found her sitting in her garden, writing notes in a worn almanac and sorting piles of seeds for various vegetables.  Every few moments, she would mumble to herself and wave smoke from an incense candle over the seeds as if she was blessing them.

  Worried that he would frighten her if he tapped her shoulder or spoke loudly, Thal sat on a rocky outcrop where he would watch for her to notice him.  He was not eager to start a conversation about hearing voices since he'd heard that elders who began that pursuit were often sent away into the forest and never heard from again.

  His mind strayed to what Kael had told them about being held prisoner at the end of the Earth, where the ocean tides rose up to the edge of the forest, and how a human, Alexander, had been planning on selling him to others.  

  He'd been unable to give them any data about the location of where he had been held, only that he had arrived there after the attack of the gnolls when he had been running for his life and then escaped the same way without any sense of direction or plans.

  But there had been something different about Kael when he returned, something that Thal couldn't quite put his finger on.  He seemed smaller, but without having changed in height.  As if he had shrunk into himself.  Lyri had even been surprised when Kael complimented her on her pearly opalescent dress that she had worn to the bonfire, but she'd only raised her eyebrows and looked at Kael.  He had shrugged but said nothing, his mind still wondering where the voice had come from.

  Elowin raised her head and waved at Thal, and he went over to where she was standing on a block of stone, reaching deep into a hedge.

  "Help me here, boy.  Can you reach that nest that is deep in the hedge?  I need one of those eggs for my supper."

This week's Words for Wednesday can be found here.

generations ...

[This is an ongoing chapter a week story that began with the first Words for Wednesday for 2025 on 1 January. I'm hoping to continue it through 31 December, the last Wednesday of the year. To start from the beginning, click here to be taken back to 1 January 2025, and then look for chapters to appear weekly between Tu-W-Th]

  It was easy to see Alexander as the self-serving, narcissist villain that he was when Kael encountered him.  But he hadn't been born that way.  In a classic nurture vs nature argument, Alexander's evil ways might have been changed if he'd been allowed to grow up under his mother's care, and if he'd never known his father.

  It wasn't by chance that Dakra was found in the forest around his estate.  She was after all, his great- grandmother.  One of her sons had raped and impregnated a human girl.  That child, Alexander's grandfather, was left to die in the forest by the girl's parents after he was born.  Dakra found him and raised him as her own child, later encouraging him to rape and impregnate another young girl, who gave birth to Alexander's father.  Each generation looking more and more human but still carrying the genetic code and temperament of a gnoll.

  Alexander's father had been raised as an only child by one of the wealthiest families in the area who hid his paternal lineage.  His mother had died in childbirth because of his size, and her parents were so devastated by her death that they clung to the baby as the last heir to their fortune and the last bit of their daughter that they had left.  They raised him as their own, never telling him of his mother or how he was conceived.

  When he was still a young man, he followed the "generational curse" of his parental lineage and raped a young woman, resulting in her pregnancy with Alexander.  Upon learning that she was going to have his child, Alexander's father paid her parents a great deal of money to "sell" her to him and save her family's honor.  She would live at the estate until after she gave birth so that he could ensure the lineage of the child.  After the baby was born, she was free to leave if she wanted but the child would stay with him.  If she agreed to stay for the first three years of the child's life, she would be compensated for her time that she helped to raise him, but then she would have to leave.  She would not be allowed to ever visit or even see him from a distance after he turned three.

  Reluctantly, his mother had agreed after learning that her parents had sold her to him and realizing that she had nowhere else to go.

Image Source: Pixabay.com

  The first three years of Alexander's life were filled with love and laughter.  His mother doted on him every minute of the day, even sleeping with him wrapped in her protective embrace.  She taught him about all of the woodland creatures, all the trees and flowers, and the songs of the birds.  She showed him how to dissect owl pellets and identify the tiny bones within.  She showed him where the storks would nest on top of the chimneys, and how to catch tadpoles to watch them turn into frogs. ...

  ... Those years were just faded memories that Alexander sometimes dreamt about.  His father had imprinted different memories once his fully human mother had vanished from his life.  Dark things that came out when the sun went down.  Kinks in his psyche that his father both beat in and tried to beat out of him.  There was no more crying for his mother when fresh tears would spring to his eyes after waking from a dream.  Now his heart was only faithful to one person.

  Himself.

This week's Words for Wednesday can be found here.

friday ...

Monday

Friday

  It was a busy day of driving two hours round trip for a 5-minute doctor's appointment.  But the good news was that he didn't feel I needed a biopsy done of the area in my nose that is still healing after more than two months from a staph infection.  It had actually gone down to the cartlidge in my nose.  He said he did see skin regrowing and that doing a biopsy would be a setback in that progress.

  To not make the trip entirely wasted, I went to a department store, Kohl's, that I hadn't shopped at since I lived in Florida 13 years ago and walked around looking for good clearance deals.  The only thing I found was a hoodie sweatshirt for Charlie to wear this fall when we are sitting on the front porch in the mornings.  But I walked a mile, which is what I've been striving for since I started my physical therapy.

   My knee looks worse today, with much more bruising than it did before I had the stitches removed Tuesday.  I watched two videos on YouTube last night to see how the surgery is actually done and feel like I understand the pain a little better than I did last week.  One of the videos was animated, and the other was of an actual live patient surgery.   The animated video showed how they inject water between the joint behind the kneecap to make space for the surgical camera and tools.  But the live surgery looked like a kid playing a video game the way he operated the equipment inside the knee.  While I understand now why it hurts as bad as it does, I'm more concerned now with how recovery will go after a full replacement of the right knee.  

  Across the road from where I sit on my front porch having my morning coffee is a rather large honeysuckle vine growing on several old trees.  When the wind blows just right, I get that scent of honeysuckles, with a few of the wild roses still blooming.

  The weather has been chilly the last few mornings, and very windy with some rain and severe thunderstorms during the day.  I don't think it got above the high 60s today.  But we've been blessed to have missed the tornados the central states and Kentucky have been hit with.

  These are the roots of a tree that fell a few years ago, just up the alley from me.  It looks like an old Green Man ... or perhaps The Mother of All Mandrakes.  Either way, I love it and will have to take some seasonal photos of it going forward.

  Wishing you a safe and memorable weekend ... Hugs, Ci 💚

once upon a time ...

[This is an ongoing chapter a week story that began with the first Words for Wednesday for 2025 on 1 January. I'm hoping to continue it through 31 December, the last Wednesday of the year. To start from the beginning, click here to be taken back to 1 January 2025, and then look for chapters to appear weekly between Tu-W-Th]

Gnoll Witherling
Image Source YouTube

  Like so many origin stories, there are often three versions of where someone came from.  The truth, the rumors, and the gray areas between the lines.  The rumors were that gnolls evolved from a humanoid people on a distant planet and resembled something between a hyena and a man.  Carnivorous, cruel, even cannibalistic and carrion-eaters at times, they were known for their savage, warrior ways, their unnatural height, and lean muscular frame.  When they died, their bones were sometimes gathered and reanimated through rituals, adding a little truth to the rumors about them being warriors that could not be killed.  

  Over the centuries, Gnolls evolved into two sub-races:  Flinds, who were short and stout, but much stronger than their taller cousins; and half-gnolls born of one human parent and a gnoll parent.  There were even those who believed that some of the gnoll bloodlines were mixed with demonic bloodlines.

  Gnoll tribes vary depending on the environment they live in, with the largest, strongest and fiercest in the tribe becoming leaders.  They are most often the females, who are difficult to distinguish from the males.

👹👹👹

  Alexander had been sitting in his garden contemplating his next money-making scheme when he'd heard a noise in the trees.  Getting up to investigate, he had discovered an injured gnoll.  Repulsed by the appearance and smell of the gnoll, he nearly left it for dead.  However, when it moved, he realized that it was a pregnant female, and apart from her injuries, was also most likely in labor.

  Instantly, the cash register in his mind began to ring as he thought about what he could charge for tickets to see the freak and her child.  Fools would be more likely to pay to see a live freak, than a dead body of one that could be dismissed as being fake.  Without hesitating further, he picked her up and gently carried her to a small guest house on the property that would be out of view of his staff and servants.

  He tended to her injuries as best he could, and had been overjoyed when she delivered a single, healthy child.  A basic form of pictures and drawing between the two of them was established to communicate, and Alexander began to learn some of the gnoll language.  He learned her name was Dakra, and that she had chosen the name of Rahak for her son.   She referred to Alexander as Helaur, which he believed was because she couldn't say Alexander, but he later realized it was a word for healer because he had saved her from death.

  As she became stronger, Alexander also realized that she had developed feelings for him.  Not wanting to encourage her, he often made excuses of having chores to do in town when she tried to become intimate with him.  He would have left the continent completely if he thought she would still be there when he returned but was too worried that someone else would find her and he would lose the side-show attraction that he was banking on.

  After several months, with her child maturing at four times the rate human babies do, Dakra was healed enough to return to her tribe but was unwilling to leave Alexander.   Realizing that she expected him to leave his home and join her, Alexander made it clear that they could not have a life together in the forest because of their physical differences.  But when she began to draw him pictures of the spoils of war that she could bring him, in exchange for providing her tribe with shelter and food, Alexander's greed became stronger than his revulsion at the thought of having sex with her.

  It was Rahak's two-year birthday, yet he stood as tall and muscular as an adult male 20 years older than him.  Alexander was tired of the one-sided affair with Dakra, and the dangerous plight he now found himself in.  He had grown fond of Rahak, but trying to juggle life as a clueless human uncle to a man-boy who could rip him apart in an instant, and the sex-toy of a vicious, insatiable, warrior matriarch was becoming more than his mind could handle.  Alexander wondered if getting Rahak a dog to play with was a suitable birthday gift for gnoll, but in the end decided upon a spear he had picked up on an African safari decades before.

  With Dakra's tribe now taking up residence in and around Alexander's estate, and the gnolls bringing him treasures to sell to the highest bidder, his greed continued to grow.  Believing that the greatest gain would be in exposing the existence of the gnolls to the world, he expressed one evening to one of the chiefs under Dakra that he was frustrated that they were not bringing him enough to continue their agreement.   His hope was that they would tire of his demands and leave, but a part of him knew that ending this relationship with Dakra and the gnolls would likely mean his death unless he could convince them to bring something more valuable to him than putting the gnolls in a carnival freak show.

  When the chief indicated that there was something else that they could bring to him, the gift of a wood elf, that might be a better money-maker than a repulsive gnoll, Alexander started making plans for the kidnapping and auction of Kael before he ever laid eyes on him.

Words for Wednesday ~ read the prompts and stories here

sunday selections ...

Upper Peninsula, Michigan.

A robin chose to build a nest by the front door of the house in Ewen.  We didn't use that door at all, so she stayed undisturbed, but it gave me a "bird's eye" view to the growth of her babies.

Jack in the Pulpit. 
I may look into finding some of the corms to plant in the boggier areas of my backyard at the base of the mountain.  It is toxic to humans and dogs, so I will need to fence the area off if I get a puppy at some point in the future.  Rabbits and deer avoid it, but birds can eat the red berries that it will produce after flowering.

Pink Lady Slipper Orchid and Yellow Trout Lily.
I already have some of the lilies in the backyard that are growing in the boggy area (not many tho) and would love to be able to get some of the Pink Ladies to grow there as well.
Gardening goals!

This was a robin that had gotten trapped in a roll of chicken wire the mom decided to nest in.  I heard his cries and got him freed without any harm before setting him in a tree where mom could find and feed.

Wishing you wonderful memories of happy discoveries ... Hugs, Ci💚

friday finds ...

Genie

  Wednesday evening while doing my Day 1 PT exercises on the recliner, I found a 2023 Christmas movie "Genie" with Melissa McCarthy that was really quite touching and enjoyable.  I don't know how I missed it before.

  Although, in retrospect, Christmas 2023 was part of the year with the six roommates in White Sulphur Springs, and I was not watching much television at all that year.  I wonder what other movies I missed.  I mostly kept up with my show series via Hulu on my laptop but wasn't looking for any movies to watch.

  Thursday I was finally able to take off the wrap around my knee and shower (which felt amazing to be able to wash my hair since I had overslept on Tuesday morning and only had time for a quick 3-minute shower).  It looks pretty good considering.  Monday the sutures come out and I'll be cleared to drive again.  Yay!

https://www.reathlete.com/
 

  One of the recovery nurses on Tuesday told me of a portable cold therapy wrap that would be helpful, so I ordered one as soon as I got home.  It arrived Thursday morning and is just amazing feeling!

  It does kind of look like an Alien wrapped around my knee, but the pulsating cold really helped to relieve some of my pain.  I would highly recommend to anyone who has joint issues.  It can be used on shoulders, back, neck, probably even hips.  I got mine from Walmart, though I'm certain you can get them direct or via Amazon.

  Lucy was snuggling with me last night while I was working on ankle flex exercises.  I think both girls enjoy time with me when Charlie is with his besties because they don't have to worry about him growling at them and being jealous.

  This morning, I saw this male cardinal on the front porch cam.  It prompted me to do some rearranging of the bird feeders, so I have moved two to the far end across the driveway by the trees.

  I spend more time on the front porch than the backyard anyway.  Next, when I feel comfortable with climbing the step ladder in a week or two, I'm going to add another security camera that will overlook the feeder and where the groundhog lives.  I think I also have rabbits nesting under the front porch area but haven't been able to bend down or get on my knees to see yet.

  While moving a shepherd's hook for the feeders from back to front, I found a hatched robin's eggshell, which I always love to find.  They are such a pretty color, and so hard to believe that such a tiny egg can hold what becomes a much larger bird!  Which reminds me that I should pull out some old Upper Peninsula photos to post on Sunday.

  There are honeysuckle vines getting ready to blossom across the alleyway, so my front porch sitting will soon be beautifully fragrant as well.

Wishing you a weekend of beautiful discoveries!  Hugs, Ci💚

recovery ...

Tuesday's knee surgery went well.  The wrap comes off tomorrow.

This was a moth I saw on the front porch on Monday.  I love the little feathery wings.

The front yard is partially in bloom. 
You can kind of see Charlie on his throne.

This morning, I added a new bird to my life list.
While I didn't actually see it, I heard it and can now identify it by song.
I read an article while living in the Northwoods of Wisconsin about birding hikes for blind students at a wildlife sanctuary there and was fascinated by how they identified by songs and calls only.
It's now my favorite way to have coffee in the morning on the front porch.
Altho, if I was a Worm-eating Warbler, I think I would demand a new name.
It sounds like one of the insults that Robin Williams created when he played Peter Pan for the movie Hook.

true colors ...

[This is an ongoing chapter a week story that began with the first Words for Wednesday for 2025 on 1 January. I'm hoping to continue it through 31 December, the last Wednesday of the year. To start from the beginning, click here to be taken back to 1 January 2025, and then look for chapters to appear weekly between Tu-W-Th]

  Shoving the other wood elves out of his way with his elbows Thal rushed to where Kael was standing with a stunned look on his face, staring into the bonfire.  He appeared to be talking to himself, and when Thal finally reached him, he leaned forward to hear what Kael was whispering.

  "I never imagined.  I never knew.  I didn't think.  What if we hadn't been attacked?  They all would have been killed."

  Thal shook him harshly until Kael finally focused on him.  Bursting into tears, Kael threw his arms around him in a hard hug.  Lyri and El joined them, and shielding him as much as possible, they took him to Thal's cottage where they waited for Kael to compose himself enough to talk.

  He filled in what Thal couldn't remember about the attack on the gnolls, and the human that controlled the ones that had attacked.  He talked about the house he woke up outside of, his encounter with Alexander, and his eventual escape.  He had been forced to swim across a murky canal, heavily filled with a population of wicked water nymphs that grabbed his legs and tried to pull him under.  Nights spent in total darkness where ghosts and evil spirits mocked his cries for help.  He'd been gone for almost three months, but in his mind, it felt like a decade.

🙈🙉🙊

  Alexander hated being made to look like a fool.  More than he hated being cheated out of cheating someone else.  Kael had made him look like not only a fool, but a liar, a trickster, and someone trying to cheat the bidders who had come to see the wood elf.

$£€

  Finding the gnolls had been a one-off happenstance that he didn't expect to ever happen again.  Getting them under his control was simply achieved for the price of a few cheap pounds of raw meat occasionally.  Understanding them and keeping them contained was a different story.  They knew he wanted to exchange the meat for what they could bring him, or do for him, but exactly what he wanted was not translatable.  So, they brought him values found in their raids.  Gold.  Jewels.  Precious stones.  Pure silver.

  One evening the chief gnoll that Alexander had been dealing with drew an image in the sand that they used as a way to communicate an image that was distinctly humanoid, and different from the gnolls.  Alexander pointed to himself with a questioning look on his face, that the gnoll shook his head no.  He then drew an image of a gnoll larger than the figure and pointed to himself, followed by a much larger image of a human and pointed to Alexander.  

  The meaning was clear.  Something else lived in the forest besides the gnolls.  Something smaller, something humanoid.  Something that his business associates at the annex might be willing to bid on.  Dollars, pounds, and Euros danced in his head as he tried to calculate how much just a find could contribute to supporting the lifestyle that he wanted to become accustomed to.  Would it be enough to fly him to Monaco to spend a year playing in the casinos?  Or perhaps to buy his own island casino?

  Alexander pointed to the smaller figure, then gestured with his hands to "bring to me" and nodded fiercely.  The gnoll nodded once to show he understood, then disappeared into the darkness.

Image Source:
Pixabay.com

$£€

  Now, that priceless commodity had vanished and he was a laughingstock.  This would not do.  No longer seeing money signs, Alexander's true face began to reveal itself.

The Words for Wednesday can be found here.