Rill Finds Her Way
It was a warm afternoon in the Grove, and Leo had found the perfect place to tend his flame. He had chosen a patch of soft, green moss beneath the shade of an old oak. The moss was cool and damp beneath him, and a little stream burbled nearby. Leo liked fire, but he was careful with it. He knew what fire could do if it got out of hand. He settled himself comfortably into the moss and held his flame low.
“There.”
He smiled.
“Safe.”
It was late summer, and the Lightlings were lazily enjoying the warm afternoon. The sky was blue. Nearby, larks sang their fanciful songs, and a slight breeze had begun to pick up from the south.
Liora had found an elm tree she could perch in and rest among its shady leaves.
Rill skipped down a winding path toward her favorite wading spot in a bubbling brook.
Fenn and Ellie were skipping rocks in the pond, surrounded by thick ferns beneath the very tall aspen trees.
Acantha was picking plump purple berries from a sprawling shrub while a small brown squirrel sat on a nearby limb and watched her intently. She was murmuring something under her breath, but nobody could understand what.
And Alden had climbed to the top of a large boulder sitting sturdily atop an earthen mound. From there, he could see beyond the clearing and all the way to the tips of some far-off mountains.
Everything in the Grove seemed peaceful.
Leo watched the little flame dance at the end of one of his petals.
It was beautiful.
Leo smiled.
Suddenly—
A loud whoosh and then a thunk came from the bushes beside him. A branch had broken from the old oak and fallen into the undergrowth. It happened so suddenly, and the sound was so loud, that Leo jumped. His flame flickered and a tiny spark flew from his petal.
Leo watched it arc through the air.
“What?”
The spark landed on a few dry tendrils of fern poking out from beneath a fallen log.
For a moment, nothing happened.
Leo stared.
Then—
whoof.
A tiny orange flame appeared.
Leo scrambled to his feet.
“Oh, no.”
He reached toward it, then stopped.
The little flame had already crept onto the log. Leo wanted desperately to remedy his terrible mishap, but he wasn’t sure how. He knew how to keep a fire burning. He had never had to put one out. He cried out to his friends.
“Help! Help!”
Fenn came running from the pond.
“What’s the matter?”
“Fire.”
Fenn looked at the familiar glowing light in the center of Leo’s petals.
“Yeah, and…?”
“No, I mean—fire!”
Leo pointed toward the flames on the log.
Fenn’s petals jittered. He gasped and ran toward the woods.
“Where are you going?” Leo called.
“To get something!”
Alden heard the commotion, slid down the boulder, and got there right away. He took one look at the fire and immediately went into Guardian mode.
“Everyone stay calm. I know what to do. Everyone do as I say, and we’ll all be okay.”
Liora came running.
“What happened?”
“Leo started a fire.”
Leo’s petals drooped sadly.
“Nobody panic,” Alden said quickly.
Fenn came charging back carrying three mushrooms.
Alden stared at him.
“What are those for?”
“I don’t know.”
“Then why did you bring them?”
“I was in a hurry, they were all I could find.”
Fenn dropped the mushrooms.
At the same time, Liora was calling for everyone’s attention.
“Everyone listen to Alden! Everyone listen to Alden!”
Alden took a deep breath.
“All right. We need a plan.”
The fire crackled louder.
“Water,” Alden said, pointing toward the stream. “We need water.”
“I’ll get it!” Fenn shouted.
He took off running.
“Fenn, how are you going to carry the wa—”
But Fenn had already disappeared between the trees.
Alden turned back toward the fire.
“Leo, stay away from the flames.”
“I just want to help.”
“You can help by backing away from the flames,” Alden ordered.
Leo hung his petals low and stepped back.
A shower of sparks suddenly burst from the burning log and landed on a patch of dry twigs and moss. The flames leapt higher.
“Everyone stay away from the—”
“Fire!” Ellie exclaimed as she came running to the others. She stopped. She looked at the flames and gasped. Then she looked at the dry leaves scattered around the burning log. Then she remembered something.
“You’re supposed to smother a fire!”
“Ellie, don’t—”
Too late.
Ellie had scooped up a great armful of dry leaves and threw them onto the flames.
The fire leapt.
Everyone jumped back.
Ellie stared.
“Oops.”
Alden squished up his petals.
“Ellie-e-e-e…”
“I’m sooorry,” she said, her voice small and pleading.
Alden spoke through clenched teeth. “All right, just…don’t throw anything else on it.”
Ellie nodded, but then picked up another handful of dry leaves.
Alden spread his petals almost straight out.
“No!”
She dropped them.
“I was only going to move them.”
The fire jumped again. Now everyone was moving.
Leo tried to pull a fallen branch away from the flames.
Fenn came running back from the stream carrying a hollow piece of bark full of water.
“I brought water!”
“Great, Fenn!” Alden called.
Then Fenn looked down. The bark was empty. The water had leaked out before he reached the fire.
“Aaah.”
Acantha stood very still, watching the flames.
“Acantha!” Alden called impatiently. “Can’t you help?”
“I am helping.”
“How is this helping?”
“I’m watching.”
Alden glared at her.
Acantha looked at the fire. Something inside her felt strange. Her gaze shifted toward the stream, then to the rocks along its edge. Before she knew why, she began moving them.
One rock.
Then another.
Fenn rushed back to the fire and began waving his petals at the flames.
“Fenn, what are you doing?” Alden shouted.
“I’m trying to put it out!”
The flames jumped higher.
“Stop waving!” Alden yelled.
“I’m trying!”
“Everybody move!” Liora suddenly shouted.
“Where?” someone asked.
“I don’t know!”
“Then why did you tell us to move?”
“I don’t know!”
“Stop!” Alden shouted.
Nobody stopped.
“Stop!” Alden shouted again.
Nobody stopped.
Leo was pulling at branches.
Ellie was jumping up and down.
Liora was shouting for help.
Fenn was flapping his petals.
Acantha was moving rocks.
Alden was trying to tell everyone what to do.
And the fire was spreading.
“EVERYONE…JUST…STOP!”
Alden’s voice rang through the clearing like a bell. It could probably have been heard clear across the great forest.
This time, everyone froze. For a moment, there was nothing but the crackle of the fire. Alden quickly looked around.
Leo had a branch clutched between two petals.
Fenn was holding another piece of bark.
Liora had leaves stuck in her moss.
Ellie was covered in dry fern.
Acantha was calmly holding a rock.
And the fire was spreading.
Alden looked at the flames.
Then back at his friends. They were all trying to help. They just didn’t know how. And suddenly, Alden understood. He didn’t need to tell everyone what to do. He needed to find out what everyone knew.
“This,” he said slowly, “is definitely not working.”
“This is definitely not working,” Liora echoed, in a strange little sing-song voice.
“No,” Alden said.
“It isn’t.”
Rill had been standing at the edge of the clearing. She had watched the whole thing unfold.
She watched Leo pull at branches.
She watched Fenn spill water then fan the flames.
She watched Ellie make the flames worse not better.
She watched Liora’s yelling confusing everybody.
She watched Alden try to organize everyone.
The fire was so big now. She was so frightened she could barely move. Everyone else was frightened too.
Rill felt helpless.
Alden was trying to think.
Leo was staring at the fire, his petals drooping with guilt.
Fenn was waiting for someone to tell him what to do.
Liora was yelling at everybody again.
Ellie looked very small.
Then Alden spoke.
“All right, listen.”
Everyone looked at him.
“We’re going to do this together.”
“What does everyone know?”
Rill looked at the stream.
The stream.
Her stream.
She stepped toward it, knelt down next to it, and dipped her petals into the cool water. For a moment she simply knelt there as if an idea was developing within her. Maybe she did know what to do. Maybe she was just confused because she was scared. Maybe she could do something, even though she was scared.
She knew water.
She knew how it moved.
She knew how it found the lowest place.
She knew its ability to squelch a raging fire.
She knew how a little trickle could become a rushing current if given a path.
She stood and looked back at her friends.
Alden turned to Rill standing beside the stream.
Rill took a breath.
“I know water,” she said reluctantly.
He straightened up, pointed to her, and said:
“Rill, what do you need?”
Rill hesitated, but just for a second. Somehow the fear started to leave her and her mind began to clear. She looked at the water again and suddenly she knew exactly what to do. She looked back at Alden and called to him.
“I need to change where the stream goes.”
Alden nodded.
“Tell us how.”
Rill pointed.
“That fallen log is blocking the water. If we move it, I can bring the stream through here.”
Fenn immediately ran to the log.
“I’ll move it!”
“Wait,” Leo said. “It’s too heavy. I can help.” Leo ran to help Fenn.
Alden joined them, and together the three of them pushed.
The log moved.
But only a little.
“Again!” Rill called.
They pushed with all their might. The log rolled aside and water trickled through.
“Now the rocks,” Rill called to them.
Alden understood.
“Everyone, listen to Rill.”
And this time, everyone did. They moved rocks. They cleared branches. They scratched at the soft earth with their petal tips.
Ellie gathered little sticks and carried them away.
Fenn hauled a branch nearly twice his size.
Liora kept calling out where help was needed.
Acantha quietly moved stones into the places Rill indicated, now understanding why she had been moving rocks earlier.
And Rill stayed with the water. She watched its path. She moved one stone. Then another.
“Not there,” she said to herself.
She shifted a rock.
“Yes. There.”
The stream began to turn. A little more. Then more. Water slipped across the earth toward the fire.
Rill began to feel a sense of relief. The stream rushed forward. It spread beneath the burning branches. Steam rose into the air. The flames hissed.
Leo stepped back and shouted:
“Keep going, Rill!”
Rill did. The water flowed faster and the fire shrank. The smoke thinned. And then—nothing. Only wet leaves. Blackened earth. A few wisps of steam. The Grove became very quiet.
Everyone stood still. They were exhausted. They were muddy. They were wet. They were covered in leaves.
Ellie looked down at herself.
“I think I have ferns stuck in my petals.”
Fenn looked at her.
“You do.”
She looked back at Fenn.
“So do you.”
Fenn looked at himself.
“Ahh!” Fenn exclaimed as he shook himself.
Leo sat down in the moss. The very same moss where he had been sitting when it all began. He looked at his friends.
“I’m really sorry everyone.”
Alden sat beside him.
“Leo,” he said affectionately.
“I started it.” Leo looked down.
“Yes,” Alden said softly.
“But you didn’t mean to.”
Leo nodded.
“I was being so careful.”
“I know,” Alden said.
“I never knew I could throw sparks,” Leo realized. He’d discovered something new about himself.
They both paused. As if they both imagined perhaps Leo’s new ability could be useful someday. But that would be for another time. Not now.
Then Alden said gently, “Sometimes things happen that we don’t expect. That doesn’t mean you did something wrong.”
Leo looked toward the burned patch the fire had made.
“But we made it worse,” he moaned.
Ellie raised her hand.
“I made it worse.”
Everyone looked at her.
“I threw leaves on it,” she said.
Fenn nodded.
“That was not your best idea.”
“I know,” Ellie said as she looked down.
For a moment, nobody spoke.
Rill broke the silence.
“You know what I think?”
“What?” Liora asked.
“I think we all made it worse,” Rill said with a half-smile.
More silence.
Then Fenn laughed. A little laugh at first.
Then Leo laughed.
Liora laughed.
Acantha smiled.
Ellie started giggling.
Even Alden began to chuckle a bit.
“You brought mushrooms,” Liora reminded Fenn.
“I couldn’t find anything else!” Fenn said with a sheepish grin.
“And Ellie tried to put it out with leaves.”
“I was trying to smother it!” she exclaimed.
“And Alden spent half the time shouting instructions nobody followed,” Liora pointed out.
Alden shook his head in playful disgust.
“I was trying to protect us all.”
“You were herding cats,” Acantha exclaimed.
Everyone laughed harder.
Alden looked around at them. As he recalled the fiasco, he began roaring with laughter.
Rill sat beside the newly redirected stream. The water was flowing gently again. She watched it slip around the rocks they had all moved together. She had been afraid. She had wondered if she knew what to do. But when everyone trusted her, she had found the courage to trust herself.
She dipped her petals into the water. It curled around them. Quietly. Patiently. As it always had.
Rill smiled. Perhaps she hadn’t needed to become someone different to solve the problem. Maybe she only needed to remember who she already was.
The friends sat together in the moss as evening settled over the Grove.
The fire had been an accident.
The chaos had been spectacular.
But the Grove was safe.
And, as Ellie discovered when she sneezed and sent a little puff of fern dust into the air, the whole adventure was going to be much funnier once they had finished picking leaves out of each other’s moss.
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