It seemed like Quincy had to go back and there was no hope of any other cure. Will didn't know how he would let him go.
While Will was mute with grief, Quincy voiced his own objection, "No. I stay with Papa and Papa and be the son."
"Well, your momma got something different to say about that," the witch told him flatly.
"No. I stay," Quincy said his little hands balled up into fists.
"A stubborn lad," Ula said and chuckled.
"How do we stop this slipping away?" Russ demanded.
Will adopted a milder tone. "Can't you help him? Give him medicine or a potion?"
The witch shook her head. "I can't cure what he is and I can't make him what he's not."
"But can't you think of some way to save him?" Will asked, desperate for any kind of aid at all.
"I can't, but I might know who can," she said. "The river."
"You said the river wants to take him back," Will said.
Quincy shook his head. "I don't go back. I stay dry. I stay with Papa and Papa." Quincy said a stubborn look coming over his face.
"If this young one is so determined, there is only one thing to do. You two and him must see his mother, the River Eleth, and beseech her. I don't know what she can do, but if she can't help this boy, no one can," Ula said with finality.
"How do we speak to a river?" Russ wondered.
"Shouting into the rushing waters will do you no good, I'd say." The old woman cackled at the thought. "It is the goddess of the river you seek, but her place of rest will not be easy to discover. I myself don't know it, but perhaps this child can guide you."
"And when we find her, what form will she take? How will we speak with her?" Russ asked.
Ula shook her head. "I cannot tell you that. You will have to depend on this boy."
"We seek a goddess we might not recognize and our success rests on his small shoulders," Russ said.
Will placed his hands on Quincy's shoulders to show him that he was not alone. Russ placed his own hand over one of his. They both looked down at Quincy who looked up at them and smiled.
"I can talk to Momma. She quiet like forest lady with pretty hair, but she listen," Quincy told him.
"You saw a lady in the forest?" Will said and wondered when he could have done so.
"Papa too. We sit with her," Quincy told him.
"I..." Will looked at Russ in confusion. "I don't recall any ladies in the forest."
"Which forest was this?" the witch wanted to know.
"We skirted the woods when we came here over the hills. We did go through the Forest of Fallen Trees, but there were no ladies there. The only other place I can think of is the wood west of Talisbury village where we spent the night," Will told her.
The witch had the answer. "I know that wood, and I know what lady he means. He means the ancient tree that grows there."
"The tree that glows in the night," Will realized. "We sat under it."
"Why does he call it a lady?" Russ asked.
"Because it suffered a fate much like his mother's. The forest goddess once dwelled in those parts. Much like other gods of the lands and waters, she has been stilled. She dwells there in quiet repose, no longer moving freely as gods of the lands and waters once did," Ula told them.
"Why have they all been stilled?" Russ wondered.
The old witch sighed sadly. "I suppose their time has passed."
"And we will find the goddess of the river in such a state?" Will said.
"Something like it, yes, but I don't know what form she might have chosen to take. The boy will recognize her though," the witch assured them.
Then Will thought of something. "When Russ gave him a small stone, Quincy looked at it and said grandmomma. I thought that meant the child had a grandmother somewhere at least at one time."
"Stones are things of the earth. The earth is the mother to all the lesser gods that once ruled every piece of land and water. So I suppose in that way, the earth would be the child's grandmother," she said. "But she will not be able to help you. The earth does not listen to small spirits. As for his mother, just because you beseech Eleth, does not mean that you will get your way with her. Many kingdoms have risen and fallen in this valley, but the river has always been there. It outlives all the forgotten kings and queens. The spirit of the River Eleth takes in the spirits of all those who find their end in her water and makes them her own. The spirits are unruly because of her absence. That's why strange things happen along the river in certain unlucky places. Something is amiss and has been for several lifetimes. As its waters still run and Eleth is not a dry and empty riverbed, then it must be that her spirit still lives at the source of the river. You must find her. Go up into Calder Mountain and follow the river back to its source. Go see Eleth, maybe she can do something for the boy. But beware her wrath. She might think you have stolen this child from her." With those words the witch had given them all the help she could.
Dismissed by the witch, Will and Russ stepped outside to talk. Will looked at Quincy where he played by the herb garden. He was watching a caterpillar eating a leaf right down to its ribs.
"It will be hard going, Calder Mountain is no hillock. The way is rocky and there'll be no dwellings up there," Russ said.
"But it must be done," Will said resolutely and took his hand. They went over to Quincy, and Will told him, "We'll have to go toward the river now and then you'll have to show us where its source lies. Can you do it?"
Quincy nodded and came over to stand with them. Taking each one of their hands in his, he said, "With Papa and Papa. Gonna go see the momma."
"We can do it all together," Russ told him and swung him up into a tight hug.
"Maybe we'll see some mountain goats and watch them jump," Will said to Quincy who nodded. He seemed excited to go. Will wondered if he yearned to find his mother and if he might wish to return to her.