Shadows of the Redwood

After breakfast, they walked to Heartwood to open up shop. Dad smoothed his hand over the counter as if greeting an old friend. Keelie knew he was sourcing the wood. Somewhere around here, Lord Elianard was in a meeting with the redwood elves, having a serious discussion about the use of magic and the aftermath of the goblin’s taint. The appearance of goblins in the forest complicated the Lore Master’s job. He’d have to update parts of the Compendium. Keelie groaned at the thought of all the studying she had yet to do.

“I heard you were doing well with the shop,” Dad said. “I took a look at the books this morning. Very impressive.” His hair was loosely tied in a ponytail now, out of the way, but still covering his pointed ear tips.

Keelie beamed as she tallied the sales numbers. She’d been wanting to demonstrate her efficiency at handling the business. “So am I good enough to get a bigger clothes allowance? They don’t have a Francesca outlet here, but when we get to the High Mountain Faire, I’d love a new outfit. It’s not too expensive.”

“I know your definition of ‘not too expensive’ and I shudder at the thought, but we’ll see.”

“How was your meeting with Kalix?” Keelie looked up from the yellow pad. The elf ranger had defended his half-goblin nephew, saying that he’d only been thinking of the welfare of the trees. His aunt had done the same.

“Not good.” Dad arched his eyebrow in irritation. “I have issued a warning to all elves around the world about Tavyn and the re-emergence of the goblins. Things are going to be different,” he added sadly. “It’s as if we’ve lost our innocence now that we know they are back. We’re always going to have to be on guard. Always wondering if the goblins are planning something.”

“Maybe it won’t be as bad as you think,” Keelie said. “At least the other elves are aware, and the clans are now communicating with one another.”

Dad shrugged. “I don’t know.” He patted the counter with his right hand. “I have another meeting in an hour. I’m flummoxed by the way the redwood elves think about the world in general, but they like your grandmother. In fact, they love her as their new tree shepherd. Mother seems content, but I’m not so sure.”

“Kalix and Sariela said that she could stay with them as long as she wants, but she’s decided to build a new place for herself, closer to the Grove.” Keelie wondered how Kalix and Sariela were going to live with the truth of what their nephew had done.

“She will adapt,” Dad said. He sounded more hopeful than certain.

“I think the way a tree or a person thinks is related to where their roots are first planted.” Keelie knew it was a lame saying, but she hoped Dad would get the general idea. Grandmother was happy being in the Redwood Forest. She was walking and talking with the Ancients and having a good time doing it. Keelie returned her attention to her yellow note pad and her numbers.

Dad kept hanging around, as if he had something to say but didn’t know how to express it. Never a good sign. She ignored him until he cleared his throat. “Keelie.”

“Yes, Dad?”

“It’s going to take a while to straighten things out in the redwoods. It’s good we have another week at the festival. You’re going to need to continue to run Heartwood.” He looked kind of worried about what her possible reaction might be to his next words. “By yourself.”

That was it? She thought she was going to get a lecture about Sean.

“No problem, Dad. I’ve been doing it by myself all along. However, you’re going to need to make some more baby blocks and dollhouses. We’re out of stock.”

He stared, open-mouthed, as if he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “I’m proud of you. I don’t have time to make more blocks, though.”

“They’re our biggest impulse-seller. We need more.”

“Maybe later.” He looked outside, as if searching for a way to make an escape.

“Quit whining and get to work. I’ve got customers asking for the blocks, and my supplier is slacking.”

He brushed a kiss across her forehead. “You are a hard taskmistress.” Keelie grinned as he vanished into the rear of the shop to look for tools and scrap wood.

She put away her account book and pad and walked over to Tudor Turnings. Sean wouldn’t be free until the evening because he was taking Earth magic classes with Sir Davey. All the jousters were taking emergency Earth magic lessons, to use when dealing with the goblins.

Keelie thought again of Tavyn, which in turn reminded her of Peascod. She shivered. She truly wished she’d never see them again.

Tudor Turnings was empty. The shop was crammed with fun furniture, the type of stuff that children loved, with odd knobs and painted faces inside of drawers. Scott was nowhere to be seen. A strange smacky noise was coming from behind the counter. She hoped it wasn’t a rat.

Keelie leaned over to investigate, then pulled quickly back.

Scott and Laurie were kissing, mouths glued to one another in an intense lip-lock. It looked as if Laurie was going to suck all of Scott’s teeth out of his face.

Keelie backed away, then ran out of the shop.

As she rushed past Risa’s Green Goddess cart, the elf girl called out, “Hey Keelie, do you think your friend Janice could ship me some herbs? Like real fast?”

Keelie stopped. Risa was holding two empty tea mugs in her hands.

“What herbs?” She looked at the jars of bath products, bottles of tinctures, and tins of salves in the cart. It was packed to the brim with Risa’s fragrant herbal creations.

“What do you possibly need that you can’t get from your father back home?”

“Some lovewort flowers,” Risa grinned mischievously and glanced over in the direction of Tudor Turnings.

“Lovewort flowers?” Keelie turned back and thought she heard more noisy kissing. She stared at the empty mugs. No wonder love was in the air.

Inside Heartwood, Dad was sorting through tools on the counter. He’d set out a saw and an old-fashioned drill bit. “Leave these here, Keelie. I have to be at a meeting in five minutes, but I’ll return.”

“Lord Zekeliel, may I prepare you a cup of tea? You can drink it on your way to the meeting.” Risa batted her eyelashes and smiled coyly.

“No tea for Dad. He’s allergic.” Keelie grabbed Dad by the elbow and nudged him along.

Dad laughed as Keelie guided him along the path to the Globe. “That was rude and unlike you, Keelie. I thought you liked Risa now.”

“She’s okay. But Dad, promise me, whatever you do, don’t drink anything she gives you.”

The last thing Keelie needed was a stepmother.





The following week, Keelie packed up the last remaining items in the shop. She looked forward to returning to her home forest—even if it was only for a couple of days. She��d been summoned to the Northwoods, and Sean would be going with her.

Knot was sleeping on an empty shelf, using the Compendium as a pillow. He smelled like mead, probably because he spent all of his spare time at the Queen’s Alehouse. Keelie yanked the book out from underneath him and smiled as his head hit the board with a loud thud. He rolled over with a snort.

It took two hands to hold the Compendium. Keelie had to admit she liked the old book. Lord Elianard had been right. She had learned a lot from it. The hay-fever and calm charms had come in handy, and the information about goblins would be useful. If she had to be totally honest, she must admit she liked reading it. It made her feel magically nerdy.

Grandmother and Risa entered the shop.

“Is he here?” Risa asked, tossing her curls.

Keelie knew she meant Knot. She pointed beneath the shelf. “He’s sleeping. He had a few meads with the jousters.”

“He’ll be down at the stables at all hours now that he’s hanging out with them,” Risa said in a disapproving tone.

“We need to build up the Dread in the Redwood Forest to protect the new treelings,” Grandmother announced. A few days as the Redwood Tree Shepherd and she was already barking out orders.

“There’s no way I’m exposing myself to the redwoods like that,” Keelie said. And she didn’t have Alora to help her this time, either.

“Actually, I had another idea for protecting the forest,” Risa said. She exchanged a look with Grandmother, who motioned for her to continue. Keelie didn’t like the idea of these two in cahoots together.

“I think maybe a charm will do, instead.”

“A charm?” Keelie stared at the elf girl.

“Yes,” Grandmother said. “I would tap into the ‘nature’ around here and you would create that calm charm, like you did for Laurie.” Risa nodded in agreement.

“Are you kidding me?” Keelie said. “I can’t put a calm charm on the entire Redwood Forest.”

“No, we’d just do it at the park entrance.”

Then Keelie understood. If she tied the charm to the park entrance sign, then people would feel calm and happy entering the park. Happy people love redwoods. Happy redwoods would mean happy treelings, growing up without ever plotting evil deeds.

She lifted the Compendium. “Ladies, let’s get to work.”

At the Redwood Park entrance sign, Keelie held up the elven charm book. Risa stood to the left, and Grandmother stood to the right. Beams of sunlight shone down through storm clouds onto the sign, and the tall Ancients around them made the afternoon silence seem almost holy.

Knot balanced atop the wooden sign like a tourist kitty waiting for someone to take his picture. The only thing missing was Smokey the Bear to pose with him.

“Get off of there.” Keelie gestured at him. He ignored her and washed his tail.

“Leave him, he looks cute,” Risa insisted. Keelie wondered if the elf girl would ever be totally rid of the love potion in her system.

Grandmother lifted her hands in exasperation. “Just get on with it.”

Pulling on a thread of Earth magic, Keelie summoned the fairy power that lay beneath their feet. She held the magics until she felt Grandmother’s power surround them, then wove the three magics together. Risa added her green garden magic, as well.

Keelie closed her eyes and spoke the elven words to the calm charm. She thought about families coming to the forest, filled with love and reverence for the redwoods and wanting to protect them. “People will love the redwoods,” she said aloud. “They will protect them. “

The strands of their magical energies glowed strongly as they surrounded the sign. Gold, silver, dark green, bright green, and—pumpkin orange?

A loud purring interrupted them. Keelie opened her eyes.

Orange cat hair floated in a shaft of sunlight. Grandmother swatted it away from her nose. “Cats!”

“I wonder if it’s going to work,” Risa said.

Grandmother looked pensive. “Of course it will.”

Keelie stared at Knot, who stared back impassively. Had no one else seen the pumpkin-orange energy?

A hybrid minivan pulled up in front of the sign and parked. A family of five jumped out. The mom and dad and their three kids looked stressed. They rushed to the sign.

“These are some big trees, Doris. I’ll bet they’d make a lot of patio furniture.” Dad looked at the two boys and the three of them laughed.

Grandmother groaned. “Let’s go. I can’t stand it.”

Risa looked shocked. “Do they really think of furniture when first they see these trees?”

The mother motioned for the kids and husband to hurry. “Come on, let’s get a picture and get a move on. I want to get to the All You Can Eat buffet in Juliet City.”

By the time they reached the sign, Grandmother had spoken a hiding spell to make the three of them invisible. Handy, thought Keelie. Gotta learn to do that one.

She turned to look at the family, which had suddenly grown quiet. Smiles draped their faces. Everyone was gazing up at the tall redwoods. The dad looked at the mom. “I thought it would be good for the kids to see these ancient trees.”

“They’re so beautiful,” the mother said, with awe in her voice. “Majestic. They should be protected, always.”

The kids were smiling. “Can we hike? I want a book that identifies all the trees.”

“I want to be a forest ranger when I grow up,” the little girl said. “I want to take care of these trees forever.”

The dad nodded. “What a great idea. Come on, kids.”

As the family walked away, pointing out the wonders in the forest, Grandmother nodded with satisfaction. “Job well done, ladies.”

Only Keelie overhead the dad say, “I think we need to get a cat.”

“Cats are wonderful creatures,” the mother said dreamily.

“Let’s get two,” the little boy said.

“Of course,” their father agreed.

The kids shouted with happiness.

Grandmother led the way through the forest, with Risa and Keelie behind her. Bounding back and forth through the ferns in front of them was a very self-satisfied Knot.