‘Would it heal us if we hurt our wings and could not fly?’asked another.
‘Yes I think it would.’ replied Glammer.
‘Then we would help it if we could.’ said another.
‘I have heard that if it was not ill it would cover its woundswith shaggy moss to heal itself.’ stated Glammercunningly.
‘We could do that.’ replied the collective. ‘There is much ofthat near our bush and off they all flew to collect the moss knownin Mudrun as ‘healer’s friend.’
While they weregone Glammer flew up into the crown of the tree under which Mirandawas lying.
She used one ofher Collector Powers and said.
‘Awaken tall friend of the land.’
Slowly theconsciousness of the tree awoke.
‘What do you wish to know Collector?’ said the tree slowlyusing an ancient form of mindspeak.
‘I have little new knowledge for you.’
‘Is that a druid lying ill at the base of your trunk?’ askedGlammer.
The old treeconcentrated. ‘Why yes I believe it is.’
‘I have heard that druids help trees. Do trees ever helpdruids?
‘Why yes they do if asked.’ replied the tree.
‘And what if they can’t ask? queried Glammer.
‘Then we trees can’t help because we don’t know what theyneed.’ replied the tree.
‘If one told you it was weak and ill with a strange diseaseand had no food or water what would you do?
‘Then I would lend it my strength.’ said the tree.
‘The one below looks weak and ill and has no food or water anddoesn’t seem to be able to talk to you.’ stated Glammer.
‘That is not good.’ replied the tree.
‘I will lend it my strength but it might take a day ortwo.’
‘That is very generous of you.’ replied Glammer
‘I will reward you for your generosity by giving you a smallgrowth spurt.’
‘Why that is very kind of you.’ replied the tree.
Glammer used apower to stimulate plant growth on the tree and some fine rootsgrew up towards the surface underneath Miranda they pricked intoher skin and spread into her body and began pumping a watery sugarsolution into her together with some curative chemicals known onlyto the trees.
A little whilelater the mothra came back laden with little pieces of shaggy mossand placed it over Miranda’s abdomen, pelvic area, spine and jointswhere the disease was causing patches of black oozing sores.
Miranda’sthirst and pain began to ease as she drifted off into a deepsleep.
‘You have not found a Newman but you have helped a druid whowill help others. This is worth a reward. Let’s go to yourfireberry bush and I will ask it to reward you.’ saidGlammer.
With squeals ofdelight the mothra cloud flew off with Glammer to their bushshouting
‘Hooray! Rewards! We love rewards.’
A short timelater Miranda entered a dream. She dreamed that she was a littleMudrun girl awakening in a lovely grassy field. Sitting beside herwas an old man dressed like a farmer with a huge white beard and awonderfully friendly face.
‘Hello. Are you my father? I never knew him but you look likewhat I think he would look like.’
‘No. I am not your father child but I am your friend. I amhere to care for you for a while.’
‘What’s your name said the little girl. My mother always saidthat you can tell a lot from a person’s name.’
‘I have no name.’ replied the old man.
‘Then I will give you a name.’ said the littlegirl.
‘Let me see. I shall call you Ironwood.’
‘Why did you call me that little one? asked the oldman.
‘Because ironwood stands strong and withstands the test oftime.’ replied the little girl, ‘and that is how I envisage myfather.’
‘You honour me.’ said the old man. ‘And what is yourname?’
The little girlthought for a while and said ‘I don’t know.’
Then Ironwoodsaid ‘Then I shall call you Moonbeam.’
‘Why do you wish to call me that?’ said Moonbeam.
‘Because you are the brightest thing that has come into mylife in half an age.’
‘That is very kind.’ replied Moonbeam.
‘I think we shall have fun together.’
‘I’m sure you are right.’ replied Ironwood.
‘Where are we?’ asked Moonbeam.
‘We are in the land of dreams. I spend most of my timehere.’
‘What are we going to do today?’ asked Moonbeam.
‘Anything you wish child.’ replied Ironwood. ‘We have plentyof time.’
‘Good.’ said Moonbeam. ‘I want to do some skipping, then we’llplay chasings and then I want to do some drawings.’
‘Lead on.’ said Ironwood pleasantly surprised at Moonbeam’senthusiasm for life.
After severalhours Ironwood was becoming mentally worn out.
‘Will you ever slow down child?’ asked Ironwood.
‘No.’ replied Moonbeam.
‘Why am I here, Ironwood? Did I do something bad?’
‘No! Moonbeam. You have done nothing wrong. You have twoparts, your body and your spirit. Your body has been badly injuredand is healing while your spirit is here.’
‘How can I be in two places at the same time?’
‘I don’t know the answer to that question but I do know thattime itself seems different here.’
‘Why can’t I remember anything Ironwood?’
‘I don’t know child. I was asked by a very wise person, aCollector, to help you recover. She said you were a Preserver, fromanother world.’
‘What is a Preserver, Ironwood?’
‘You will wear me out child with all your questions, however,soon we will have to return and you will need to try and find outwho you are as it seems your memories have been stolen. Maybe I canhelp a little by telling you a story about another who lost hermemories.’
‘A long time ago the Creator of all things lost some memoriesthat were very important to her. To find them she created our worldand filled it with creatures of all types to find her lostmemories. She created the plants and the trees to cover the land tosearch for her memories within the ground. She named theseGatherers.’
‘She created all the small creatures that moved around theland, the water and the air to search for her memories in all thenooks and crannies of the world and called theseSearchers.’
‘She created all the smart creatures that moved around theworld and charged them with discovering how all things worked andinteracted for hidden amongst that knowledge were her lostmemories. These she called Seekers.’
‘Unfortunately she discovered that the seekers were greedy andcoveted her memories for themselves. They were also destructive andused the knowledge to damage and destroy other
