Chapter 57 Noah
“Welcome to Banyan Land.” Tara Greenrose says to Knight and me.
“It’s expanding! It’s much more abundant than the last time I visited!” Knight exclaims.
“It’s been years since the last time we met,” Tara continues politely but I can sense her mild pride, “Over the years, we’ve collected the moon power from every corner of the world, trying to find any traces we could, leaving no stone unturned. Now, it’s finally starting to show!”
I’m completely and utterly astonished at the world in front of me. I’m confused, in my own bubble of amazement. It looks like I’m inside an enormous tree. But strangely enough, the tree itself is like a city, with air and sunshine galore! Each branch is rooted in the earth and stands as tall as a building. Numerous elves, who look like Tara, and other magical creatures with and without wings are busy carrying and lifting materials, building, and wandering around. They are tired, but manage to work. Mending the twisted pavement of the bending roads, shoveling luminous crystallized sand into piles, and cleaning each room located behind every window in the branches.
Speaking of the branches, the strangest thing of all, is that I can observe a different view from various angles, but with equally marvelous images! I just saw a strange florist’s shop, blanketed in plentiful colors with all kinds of flowers and plants, singing and snoring in their pots! But when I passed by, and turned to look at the store again, it became a sweets shop, with jelly snakes wiggling in bags and lollipops swirling in endless configurations! I quickly retreat back the way I came and observe again. The sweets shop becomes a florist again! This is way beyond my understanding of how things work!
Tara notices my confusion. “The moon power we collected is still not sufficient to operate as it should, like before,” she explains, as we come to the middle of the branch, thick and brown, looming between the two stores, “The power is transferred along each branch of the banyan tree. The energy is too rare to waste even a tiny drop, so creatures have to share it in order to survive.” Then, we walk back and forth between two stores. “Naturally, the owners of the flower shop and the sweets shop have to share the energy in order to stay open for business. They occupy each side of the branch. We even have four units that share one branch, so a quarter each. ”
She’s excited to see a bag of chocolate beans and congratulates to the owner of the sweets shop, a stout old fairy dressed in yellow-striped overalls. She wears thick, oversized glasses, a tall chef’s hat, and a marshmallow-colored apron. “Is this a new product, Ms. Sweet?”
Ms. Sweet is certainly in high spirits. “Oh yes! My lady!” She takes three of the sample beans in her hand and offers them to us to try. “This is my new wonderful invention, using the freshest and most recent moon power. I call them Wonderful Chocolate Beans.”
Knight kindly declines her offer, and says, “No offense. But no matter how wonderful they are, Ms. Sweet, chocolate is no good for cats.”
“My apologies,” Ms. Sweet curtseys and touches her chef’s cap.
I take the chocolate bean and put it in my mouth. Its wonderful sweetness just explodes on my tongue like fireworks. Not only can I taste the smooth, silky chocolate, but also an aroma of far-off cocoa beans growing on cacao trees! Fresh and earthy nuts, wild and pure, ripen under the setting sun and canvas full of stars. Yes, I’m pretty sure that a whole field of raw cacao trees are sprouting in my mouth, all of my senses can feel it. The image is vividly radiant, as if I swallowed it whole.
Then, Tara starts sobbing. “What a marvelous invention, Ms. Sweet!” She claps her hands as she praises her, “I truly believed that I was standing in our old homeland.”
Ms. Sweet clearly feels encouraged. She lifts up her chin with a proud smile, and gives us two small bags containing the chocolate beans. “The pleasure is all mine.”
We continue to march on after we say goodbye to Ms. Sweet. I think I’ll have to save the chocolate for my sister Isabella, she would be excited to try some. She and Mother must be worried by now, not knowing where I am. “I have to have a word with my family and let them know that I’m safe with you.” I pat Knight’s fur.
“Oh, yes, yes, of course. Look how silly I am.” He seems give Tara a meaningful look that I cannot comprehend, “We still have the post office? Do you mind taking the Prince there?”
Tara receives his look and follows along, “Of course! The post office is at the bottom of the very center of the Banyan Tree. It’s easy to find.” She looks down at me, “No matter where you are, you can see the center of this world. It’s intelligently designed, or else you’d get lost.”
Tara points at the shiniest pillar of all. I noticed it the second I entered. It reaches up to the sky and its bright sheen glows over the entire city. “That is the Spirit of the Woods, the sign of our belief and the life of our souls. We would be dust in the wind if she didn’t exist. But she is resting now. She hasn’t been awake in fifteen years.”
Knight stops next to an exquisite carriage shaped like a watermelon. We board it and ask the stableman to take us to the center of the city. Unsurprisingly, the stableman is an old centaur in a neat and clean double-breasted purple uniform, who claims this is the first day of his retirement from the army. He apologizes to us, as he’ll have to focus on the route instead of chatting with his customers.
“What happened? To the Spirit of the Woods?” My instinct tells me that the spirit’s slumber has something to do with the Great War.
“The War changed everything,” Tara’s expression saddens, “Her partner, the spirit of the Sacred Tree in the Old Mountains, was stolen away during the war. They simply cannot flourish without one another.”
Knight cuts in, “That’s why we are here,” he looks at me seriously, “That is the purpose of our journey, my prince.”
“What is it? What is the purpose of our journey?” My heart expects the answer, but hovers at the possible danger soon to be revealed.
“To find the spirit and steal it back! At all costs!” Knight exclaims as he firmly clenches his little chubby paw.