Kel often wondered what would happen to the group if a misfortune befell the Story Teller, as there was no one else to take his place and his knowledge would die with him. He didn’t like to mention this to him in case it somehow brought about the feared disaster, and he had a sneaky feeling that he would be offered the job if he did, and that wasn’t what he wanted to do with his life.
The branch on which Kel now stood had broadened out where it joined the vast main trunk as it soared ever upwards to the sky above.
It was here that the Story Teller grew his little garden of special plants which were used to treat the ills of the group, not that they were taken ill very often, but when they did, it was usually fatal unless treated quickly.
He remembered once as a child being brought here by an elder, and being made to drink some foul concoction to cure a fever, not that he could remember the fever itself, but the memory of the medicine remained.
Stepping carefully on the narrow clearway between the plants, Kel made his way to the entrance of the cave and called Mec by name, being one of very few in his group who had that honour.
‘Come in young man,’ the Story Teller replied, ‘I thought you might be along soon, so I’ve made some food ready, and I have a little surprise for you as well.’
Kel stepped into the gloom of the tree cave, careful not to tread on a series of little pots which littered the floor and made his way over to Mec, the Story Teller, who was bent over a bench against the far wall of the cave.
‘What’s the surprise you have for me?’ asked Kel, always eager to learn of anything new.
‘That, you will have to wait for. We will eat first while I tell you what I’ve been doing, and why.’
Mec lead the way into one of the smaller side caves, and motioned Kel to sit down on a stool made from a large gourd. Before him was an array of fruits which he knew well, some of which were quite rare and considered a great delicacy among the group, and here they were in plenty, together with some he had never seen before.
‘I’ve laid on a little feast for you to celebrate my latest discovery, which one day you will find of great use, no doubt.’ Mec sat himself down opposite Kel, and began passing the bowls of delicacies to him, Kel taking one each of those which took his fancy, but avoiding the ones he wasn’t familiar with out of sheer habit.
‘When you have had your fill of those you have chosen, I would like you to try one of these.’ said Mec, showing Kel a wizened black-coloured berry.
‘It may not look much, but it may save your life one day. I have lived the whole of one cycle of the lesser sun on one of these berries per day, together with a little water, and I feel well and full of energy, as usual. If you were thinking of making a long journey, and were not sure of what food to eat, then a few of these may well save you from losing your strength, or even starving.’
Was this the surprise Mec said he had in store? Kel didn’t think much of it, and was a little disappointed. He was eager to get on with the story telling, as he had a lot of questions to ask, and each of them would need a story to provide the full answer he thought.
‘All right Mec, I’ll try your new black fruit now.’ said Kel, a little impatiently, having eaten his fill and eager to get it done with and on to more important things. After all, it was the wonderful stories he had come to hear, not mess about tasting some ugly black fruit-like thing which probably tasted foul anyway.
‘First, watch this.’ said Mec, picking up one of the black berries and dropping it into a small gourd of water. The black wrinkled sphere swelled up the instant it hit the water, and very soon filled the little gourd, all the water having been absorbed into the fruit which was now like a firm skinned deep purple ball.
‘Take it out and taste it,’ invited Mec, ‘it’s quite harmless and you’ll be surprised at what you find.’
Kel did as he was bid, and took a tentative bite out of the purple sphere. His eyes opened wide as the sweet thick juice trickled down from the corners of his mouth and the flavours exploded on his palette. Flavours? Yes, there were many of them, running one into the other as the juice ran back down his throat, touching the different areas of his taste buds.
‘Well, that’s a pleasant surprise.’ said Kel, eagerly taking another bite out of the glistening sphere.
‘You will notice that you could carry quite a lot of them in a small bag hung from your waist belt, and yet they would provide you with many days worth of good nourishing food, that’s if you can find the water to go with them, and that’s usually possible.’ Mec sat back on his stool with a pleased smile on his face.
‘Now that’s only one of the surprises I have in store for you, the other one will take a little explaining. Do you remember the tale of the forest floor, and how dark it is?’
‘Yes,’ said Kel, ‘that’s one of the stories I wanted you to tell me about again.’
‘Well, you don’t know why we need to go down there at the moment, so I’ll have to explain that, but down there we have to go, sometimes. We have to wait at the lowest level for some little while to get
