HOW TO EXPLAIN
“Reeb, glisten … listen to … me. See this string … ring?” I said, trusting the proper words to flow. “It will … coat us … float us in a … bubble.”
I tapped the lodestone patched in its white jade setting on the silver band, the upper ring on the third finger of my left hand. Reeb stopped shouting for her family, so such as I hoped she would.
“Bubble? How?” she asked, sounding again like as Kar and pushing her face close to the ring. “And what does this blue one next to it do? And that emerald? And that scaly gold one? And … Oh!”
My silent chant and circular rub of the lodestone had us floating, encased in a bubble. Reeb’s curiosity shifted snap crack from my rings to the bubble.
“It’s … Will it pop? Let’s go higher,” she said.
“I once was a … was a patch of … tar,” I began, after taking a deep breath.
“That’s nice. Can you make it go faster? Look at the Bigfoots running around waving their arms. And your best friend JarKar is doing the Dragon again! This is good! I knew it! Dreams are dreams, says Allie. No they aren’t! They’re real!”
I had a sudden thought. Perhaps I can quiet her long enough by conjuring a cottage cake for her to eat. I don’t want to scare her by spelling her silent with a ring twist. I glanced at the silencer ring on my thumb. I am Harick. The cake thought was a good one. When I made the cake appear and handed it to her, I explained how it looked just like as my cottage did and to nibble it, eat it slowly. Reeb fairly almost fainted in bliss when she test tasted with her tongue one of the window panes. Quietly, quietly, she carefully nibbled, eyes closed sometimes, sometimes dreamy open. I proceeded to explain about mischievous wands and patches of tar and waterwizards up the Well with certain powers of tar restoration. From time to time I held up a hand to the furious Kar, who circled madly around the bubble, glaring at me with crystal eyes and snaking her long green forked tongue out at me. I wasn’t sure to a fair certainty Reeb heard a word I spoke, so such caught up was she in eating the cottage. They are truly that tasty. Such is so.
“Do you … understand?” I asked her at the conclusion of my clumsy speech.
“You were a patch of tar. Some waterwizard restored you. I was made a patch of tar by the same wand. You restored me. My mom and dad and Allie are patches of tar that you can’t restore. Only waterwizards up the Well can. We’ll take ‘em up the Well and they’ll get restored. Can I have another cottage cake?”
I simply nodded and conjured another cake with extra icing on the sills. I floated the bubble down and popped it. Kar, at my side in a flash, shimmered to bendo dreen.
“Well?” she demanded.
“She thinks your frame … name … is JarKar,” I said.
“Tell me what she thinks of this then!” snapped Kar, and she shifted to Queen Jebb of the Acrotwist Clowns, red stars on white face, spiral of dark green hair curling up to a point on her otherwise bald white head, painted red smile, bright yellow eyes, red-spotted jumpsuit, floppy blue neck ruffle, long yellow slapshoes, yellow-gloved hands.
The jesterbeasts ceased romping in the meadow and hurried over to stare with pale blue goggle eyes.
“Tell ‘em who I am,” demanded Kar.
“Jarbots, here is … is Queen Jebb … of the … of the … silver hands … sands! Yoss! That’s it!” I announced.
So such a festive romping ensued that it shook the very ground. The meadow echoed with thunder rumbling hoots. Kar wore a satisfied Queen Jebb smile. She fingered her blue ruffle. I noticed Reeb pacing a slow circle around the three patches of tar.
“They’ll be … refloored … stored,” I said, stepping near.
“Oh, I know that. I just wonder what they’re dreaming. They’ll be surprised when they find out I was right all along. Especially Allie. Which one is she? Do you know? That one, I bet. Can the waterwizard do her last? Like maybe next month?”
I shrugged like we do.