(HAVE TO REWRITE THE EARLIER PART, TO SHOW MORE TIME GOING PAST- SKOVY SHOULD KEEP FOLLOWING THE LILY PAD FOR A FULL DAY, NOT JUST HOURS: FAR, FAR OVER-SHOOTING WHERE ELISA IS STOLEN.)
Sometime during my short sleep, clouds had rolled across the sky, and now that the sun was up it felt low and sullen, heavy with the threat of rain. I had a spell that would hold it at bay, if need be- but then, did I really need to worry about traces being washed away?
I pulled the leaf-wrapped butterfly out of my pocket, fed it another bit of fruit, and let it fly about at the end of its tether. While it stretched its wings, I crafted yet another spell for Understanding, this one more complex still, to allow me to speak with any cockchafers we might find. I had to drain the life force of a small tree to charge it, and it took no small amount of my own power, as well. I was quickly coming to realize that, if I did not find Elisa soon, I would need to figure out a way to cast a more permanent, all-encompassing spell of Understanding. I had met no people on my journey, only animals and insects- and when it came to noticing the passage of a girl less than two inches tall, it made sense that they would be my primary witnesses. I would need quite a bit of life force to charge that one, and quite a bit of power. I had the power- but once I crafted the spell I would be depleted for a long, long time.
Well, hopefully it won’t come to that, I thought grimly, and rang the bell once more.
As the tinkle of the bell faded, I realized that the butterfly was singing- and singing a song it had learned from my daughter, no doubt. I ignored the stab of pain that pierced my heart, picked the lilypad up.
“Alright, butterfly- help me find the place where my daughter was stolen, and I’ll release you.”
“Well it’s very difficult to tell from up here,” it said reproachfully. “It’s not at all the proper angle.”
I clenched my jaw, but had to admit that the butterfly had a fair point. “Alright,” I said stiffly, “Give me a moment and I’ll remedy that.” So saying, I descended to the water- here it came only to my ankles- tied the lilpad with a bit of string, and gently placed it on the water. Once I was satisfied that the string would hold, I began to walk slowly upstream, trailing the lilypad behind me.
“Call out if anything looks familiar,” I instructed the butterly.
“It all looks familiar!” it laughed. “Except backwards. I say, what fun! I’ve never flown backwards before!”
“Focus, butterfly, or I’ll release you downstream once more,” I threatened. The butterfly made a huffy sort of noise, but did settle down a bit. I walked on, eyeing the world around us for any sign of cockchafers. After half an hour of this, a great grumble of thunder rolled across the sky.
“Stop!” shrieked the butterfly, and I sighed with exasperation.
“It’s just thunder, butterfly. It can’t hurt you-”
“No!” said the butterfly. “Here! This is where I heard his horrible buzzing wings! So vulgar.” He turned around so that he was facing upstream. “There! He flew off that way!”
I followed the direction of his gaze. “Towards that clump of trees?” I asked.
“I suppose that’s what they are. Cockchafers don’t eat nectar like civilized creatures, you know,” it sniffed. “They chew on the plants themselves. Can you imagine?”
I refrained from answering, but instead pulled the knife from my boot.
“Thank you, butterfly, for your friendship to my daughter.” I severed the thread as close to its body as I could. “I’m sorry I cannot remove the girdle entirely.”
The little creature immediately began to flutter this way and that about my head. “That’s alright- it was a gift, and a lovely gift at that, and anyway won’t all the others be jealous over how dashing I look and how I heroically saved the little maiden?” Before I could reply it had darted off, winging a meandering path this way and that towards a patch of clover.
I turned back towards the clump of trees. My Elisa had never been in a forest before, could not know of the dangers it held, even if she did manage to escape the cockchafer. Please, I prayed to the Triple-Faced Goddess, please let me find her.
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