I was feeling dirty from my days of walking and for the first time since I crossed the Plains I realised no one could walk up on me and catch me bathing, well not without me hearing them first and having time to get changed. I took off my clothes and slipped into the cool water, enjoying the light feeling it gave me as I was floating on it.

I got slightly bored and decided to explore under the water. I dipped down under it and came into contact with a huge new variety of life, there were thousands of brightly coloured fish that were swimming around in the water, small plants at the bottom that were moving with the current, looking as if they were actually breathing. It was amazing what was at the bottom of this simple pool.

I swam further away from the grass area and found that it got a lot deeper, the surface was a couple of meters above my head and to my confusion I could see a rock wall in front of me. I came to the surface and realised that it was by the waterfall; the pool sloped down to the rock face like a basin underneath and the flat water on the surface then seeped over the edge slowly. I put my arms on the to of the wall, creating a light barrier around myself, just to make sure that the water did not push me too hard into the wall as it fell over the top.

The view from the wall was even more spectacular, the whole forest stretched out in front of me, a thousand shades of greens and other vibrant colours which I could not have named dotted themselves around in a way that made the whole scene look like a fictional painting. The aspect that made it feel the most surreal was that fact that I could touch the top of trees from where I was floating in the water.

After a while I swam back to the shallower water, had a wash and then I dried myself off and pulled my tunic back on. When I was feeling fresher I took my sword out of it’s sheath and decided I wanted to try an experiment; I went through the Tingure a couple of times on the ground and then I lifted myself up about a half a meter off the ground, it felt so good not to have to worry when I was practising my magic, when I was in the air I tried to run though it again, but much slower. I managed to get to the fifteenth stance when I lost focus with my levitation so I came back down again, unable to stop myself smiling; it had worked.

This way I was able to practise my levitation and my sword skills together and it would push my strength at the same time. I sat down at the side of the pool and ate a couple of the bread rolls, there were a few fruits in the trees around me, but I did not recognise them and I knew that not all fruits were edible, some could kill you. I decided to buy some fruit when I went back to the village tomorrow, then I would be able to compare the edible fruit to the ones in the trees around me. I bit into the roll and had a bit of a surprise, from the outside I thought they would be light and fluffy but they were very doughy and chewy, but it was a nice surprise and the rolls were very satisfying.

After I had eaten I practised my water bending, scooping a large ball of water out of the pool and shaping it into a leaf, whilst still keeping it as a liquid, once it was a leaf, I changed the shape to a bird, then to a butterfly, then to a horse, then I tried for a tree but half way through I lost concentration and it fell back into the pool with a splash. I was slightly disappointed with my concentration levels; I had all the power I needed, but my focus was what kept letting me down, without concentrating I could not do anything.

After that I tried a couple of deep breathing exercises, closing my eyes and opening out my other senses, trying to feel my surroundings, when an hour had passed I got bored. The sun was just dipping behind the horizon so I found a comfortable place to lie down and fell to sleep. No screaming children entered my dreams that night.

I woke up the next morning fully refreshed, the first thing I did was take another wash in the clear pool to wake myself up, it was so nice being able to do that; not having to worry if there was time before I had to get going, not having to worry about anyone hiding in the bushes, not having to worry about anything at all.  After I had washed and sorted out my hair, I dried off and pulled back on my tunic, it was a bit worn now after all the things I had done in it so I decided that when I went down to the village I would see if there was a place I could buy clothes or some sort of cloth.

When I was dressed I ate another couple of rolls and then checked that no-one was at the bottom of the waterfall; there was not, so I levitated down and then enjoyed the walk to the village, I was in no rush so I took it slowly. I realised that the stream I was following was very windy, but still followed it religiously; I would have plenty of time to find a different route on the way back.

When I arrived at the village the sun was just about reaching the high point in the sky, nearly midday. I went straight to the bakers and when I walked in he rush over with the armful of rolls, “Oh, I’m so glad you came back, I was worried that you wouldn’t” I laughed at him amicably.

“Well, you are the first shop keeper that has been honest with me so far; the first one I ever went into tried to get me to give him fourteen of those pieces of gold for two loaves of bread.” I laughed and the man shook his head in astonishment.

“What a bad man.” He said and I laughed and agreed with him.

“Do you know anyone or anywhere in your village where I can buy some clothes or cloth?” He gave me directions to a small house and I thanked him, telling him that I would be back in a couple of days to buy some more bread. I followed his instructions and it led me to a house with an old woman sitting outside.

“Yes my child, what can I do for you?”

“I am looking to buy some clothes or cloth to make cloths, have I come to the right place?”

“Yes, yes this is the right place, come inside.” I followed the old woman inside, surprised at how agile she was, she had to be near eighty by the look of her. “Right, here’s what we have.” She showed me a few rolls of cloth, the material was fine, but I could tell that it would wear well and last a long time. She showed me colours of bright greens, flame reds, sun yellows and all the colours in between, telling me eventually that she thought the midnight and lavender blues would suit me the best.

“How much are they?”

“Eight disks.” I still was not sure about the currency so I tried to use something that I would understand as well.

“How many loaves of bread can you get for eight disks?”

“Erm, about four.”

“Okay, and how much would it cost me to have you make the items for me?”

“Another eight disks.”

“Okay then,” I took two of the golden blobs out of my pouch, “If I give you both of these will you call it even?” I handed her one of the blobs to look at and she inspected it closely.

“Yes, that would be more than even!”

“In that case, can you make me five items?”

“Yes, what would you like?”

“I need a new corset like item made out of a good wearing material, a shot skirt made from the same material that ties at the side, a short tunic from the same material, like this one, a long skirt made of thin material and a long robe made out of the same material as the skirt, with a tie waist.”

“Of course, they’re simple enough, do you want them all the same shade?”

“No, if you have the same material in varying shades of blue then that would be better.”

“Yes, I can do that for you.”

“Thank you, is it acceptable if I give you one piece of gold now and one when I come back tomorrow?”

“Yes, are you sure you don’t want to just give them me both tomorrow?”

“No, this way, you now that I will definitely be coming back for the items because I have already paid for half of them.” I smiled at her and handed her a small blob of gold.

After buying the cloth I walked down through the village trying to find somewhere that sold fruit, but nowhere did. I ended up going back to the bakery and asking the man there, apparently, no one sold fruit because there was so much around the forest, which he called a jungle.

I asked him which types of fruit were edible and he told me that the easiest one to recognise was bright red in colour and had a soft, sweet inside that was a golden yellow. I thanked him and started to make my way back to the waterfall, looking out for the style of fruit that he had mentioned.

I found two or three hanging in the trees and was quite happy with them. When I got back to the waterfall I floated up it and landed on the grassy area. I had a quick look round at the trees around the pool and saw that there was one whose branches touched the water that was covered in fruit that looked the same as the ones I had found lower down in the jungle. It was near the deep part of the pool so I stripped down to my underwear and slipped into the water, swimming over to the tree. I went under its branches and found a small ledge that the tree was growing on, I pulled myself up onto the ledge and picked one of the fruits; opening it I saw the golden inside and took a bite out of it. The skin of the fruit was tart and chewy, a lot thicker than a nectarine’s but the same sort of texture, the flesh was juicy and soft; it had a sweet flavour that made my tongue tingle with every bite. It was extremely refreshing.

I sat on the ledge and ate the fruit, dipping my toes into the water, the sunlight was shining brightly outside, but the branches had created a green leafy curtain so it turned the light to a greenish hue. I heard birdsong overhead and saw a bright green, red and yellow bird sitting amongst the fruit, cocking its head slightly and looking at me with curious black eyes. I held my hand out to it and it flew down into my arm, its claws gripping softly on my skin, I looked into its eyes and saw a spark of intelligence that surprised me. I tried to look deeper into them but it cawed and flew off through the green curtain and back outside into the real world.

I finished my fruit and picked a few more, and then I swam back to the grass area with them. I put them on the floor next to the bread and ate a roll, looking at the scenery all around me. When I had finished I took out my sword and ran through the Tingure up to the twentieth stance, but something was wrong, I still could not seem make the twentieth and the first stance run smoothly together, it was as if there was a jump from the end back to the beginning.

I stopped for a moment and tried to think through what I could do with stances that had not already been done, I thought of ways to move my body and thought of a few stances that I had never done before. I put down my sword and tried to go though them, they were hard to hold, but they seemed to run into each other like water down a stream. I moved through them and was nearly in a stance that would run into the next, but I needed one more, I moved my right wrist and transferred my balance onto my left foot, pointing my the other foot so only the ball of my right was touching the floor, then I moved straight into the first stance.

I stood there for a moment and then tried to do it again slowly, holding each stance for a count of five, and then moving slowly into the next without stopping or even pausing. When it got to the last five stances that I had put in I held them all for a count of ten and then tried to move to the next in the same way that I had with the others. I went through the entire Tingure about twenty times, holding each stance rigid and strong until my muscles were screaming with pain and exhaustion. When my muscles would not let me do anymore I belted my sword and walked down to the water and took a deep drink.

I sat by the pool and looked up into the sky, the sun was just beginning to set and a pink, purple blanket was stretching over the blue of the day, changing it to night. I sat there staring at the twilight sky and sighed, unable to remember when I had ever felt this contented and at home. I fell asleep by the side of the pool that night, just listening to the water lapping at the pebbles, calming my mind and protecting me from the thoughts and memories in it.