Hope in Deep Waters (an AtE story) Ch 11

“Oh, it's been a few days now since it happened! But after dark on the night you restored your brother and all the former fangs and cloven, Artham and your brother paid me a visit in which they filled me in and urged me to come along with them back to Anniera on a dragon.” Using two fingers, Oskar slid his glasses back up the bridge of his nose. “You can imagine my initial hesitation about the mode of transportation, but it was important to me that I paid your family a visit. So, I wriggled my way up onto that slippery dragon's neck and tried not to tumble into the sea the whole way back to the Shining Isle. There's not much to hold on to, you know. By the time we reached the shore, I, like the queasy Captain Oarsmell Jiminy, 'was very much prepared to appreciate the ground with a kiss.’”

“Did you?” Janner asked, trying very hard to conceal a laugh.

“Most indibnibly! I did so immediately upon my arrival. Though I did approach the ground a bit faster than I intended.”

At this, Janner found it impossible to restrain his laughter, and with a snort, nearly doubled over.

Oskar chuckled along with him. “Thankfully, flying provided a more comfortable position when we traveled to the Blackwood, and resulted in a much less eventful landing.”

“That's good to hear!”

“But enough about my adventures and misadventures! What I was going to tell you is that I have something for you in my pack. Something I have been meaning to give you for a long time.” Oskar patted his pockets and looked at his hands. “And it seems that I've forgotten to bring it over here…”

His mind whirring with curiosity, Janner hurried after his old friend and mentor as he returned his tent to rummage around in his pack.

Withdrawing a small rectangular object wrapped in slightly battered paper, Oskar placed it in Janner's hands. “This was supposed to be a birthday present, but I didn't have a chance to give it to you before you ate the honeymuffins, and then things got so dreadfully perilous that I couldn't find the right moment, and then…” He paused, then shook his head and continued, “Anyway, now I can finally give it to you! Best birthday wishes, Janner!”

The faded paper rustled as Janner turned the small package over in his hands and rubbed his fingers along its smooth edges and pointy corners. Oskar had been waiting so long to give it to him. What could it be?

“Go ahead, open it!”

Janner slid his thumb under the edge of the paper and tore it off, revealing a small book with an emerald green cover embossed in gold with dragon scale patterns and a title he had not laid eyes on in months.

Janner looked up at Oskar wonderingly. “It's Pembrick's Creaturepedia! Thank you so much, Mr. Reteep!”

Janner cracked open the little tome, and as he fanned through the pages, savoring the familiar sensation of worn, printed paper running through his fingers, something fluttered to the ground.

As he bent down to pick it up off the forest floor, Oskar added “That's not just any Creaturepedia, you know. It's the very copy you borrowed from me back in Glipwood. I wanted you to have it.”

Lo and behold, the thing that had fluttered down from the Creaturepedia was the pressed leaf of a Glipwood tree, its late summer colors preserved forever by its time spent shut tight between the pages.

Had it really only been a few months since he had sat outside the Igiby cottage in that unassuming little town, marveling at the strange and wonderful creatures drawn on the pages and wishing that his own life was more exciting? He hadn't had the slightest idea then about his family history or the way in which life as he and many others knew it would be turned upside down.

Now that he thought about it, he realized that he had grown in more ways than just knowledge about his family history. Adventure and battles were much more painful and difficult than he had imagined them to be. Grief and loss and his own poor decisions had scarred both his body and his heart. However, try as evil might, the Maker never allowed it to achieve its goal of total destruction. Though it was often hard to see until afterward, the Maker had always brought about something good through the trials.

Yes, he had messed up at times, but the Maker loved him and was able to work through him anyway. Though his family had gone through so much sorrow and desperation, the Maker had made them stronger and closer for it and strengthened their love and loyalty to one another. When the odds had seemed impossible and all hope seemed lost, the Maker had opened a way and proved Himself trustworthy.

Janner carefully turned the leaf over in his hand. It's amazing what has happened in less than a year. It seems like it has been so long, yet it somehow feels like it was only yesterday that I was sorting crates at Books and Crannies and longing for Dragon Day.

As he emerged from his thoughts, he noticed that his whole family had gathered around to see the gift from Oskar. Janner smiled at them and let them pass around his book. When it reached Kalmar, he flipped it open and traced the illustrations with his finger, which gave Janner an idea.

“Hey Kal, did you see that giant creature that was standing with me in the Well?”

“Yeah, I've never seen anything like it! It was HUGE!

“Would you sketch a picture of it in my Creaturepedia for me?”

Kalmar was speechless for a moment. “You want me to draw in your new book?”

“That's what I said. Pembrick never got to see one of those, but we did!”

Kalmar's face lit up and he ran off to his tent to retrieve a pencil. When he returned, he asked his brother “what should we name it?”

“Hmm… we saw it in the Well, so maybe that could be in its name,” suggested Leeli. “Janner, you're good with words, do you have any ideas?”

“Um… it kind of looks like a creature called an elephant that I read about in a funny poem once. How about… a Welliphant?”

Leeli and Kalmar both agreed that this was an excellent name, so Kalmar labeled the page “Welliphant” and began scratching away with his pencil, with the tip of his tongue poking out the side of his mouth in concentration.

“Leeli,” inquired Sara, “how did you get your crutch back? It was at least ten feet away from where you were sitting, and I didn't pick it up for you.”