A Small Battle

"No Twiggle, we gather the light blue petals, not the yellow ones." Meggit scolded.

"But Sir Zeet said to pick the softest petals for the magic elixir!" Twiggle argued. He pulled down the long green stem and buried his brown face into the center of a Black-Eyed Susan . "The yellow ones are so beautiful. And they smell so sweet!"

Meggit rolled his jewel-like green eyes. It was Twiggle's first time assisting Meggit, Sir Zeet's apprentice, gather the Magi's ingredients. "Yes, Sir Zeet said the softest but he meant the softest light blue petals. Not just any petal colour will do." Twiggle let go of the Black-Eyed Susan's stem. It popped back up into standing straight and tall but not without leaving a dusting of pollen on the gatherers.

"Ah-ah-achoo!" Twiggle sneezed, wiping his nose on his tan shirtsleeve. The tips of his pointy ears drooped. He ducked his head and pulled his wide-brimmed nut cap lower on his forehead. Meggit was annoyed. He would have to listen better if he wanted to keep this job. Twiggle did not want to be an Acorn Warrior like the rest of his brothers. He was much more interested in plants and flowers than carrying a stinger to protect the village from the Mushroom Kin.

The Acorn Folk and Mushroom Kin had been at odds for many years now. Although neither side could remember why they didn't like each other, it was common knowledge among the Acorn Folk that Mushroom Kin were greedy, wasteful and vicious creatures. The Mushroom Kin, having a different opinion of themselves altogether, knew for a fact that the Acorn Folk were mean, selfish and merciless.

Although no battles had occurred, each side was certain that the other was preparing to invade their village. Sir Zeet, ordered by King Nutter, was hard at work developing a magical protective elixir for the Acorn Warriors that would give them incredible strength. The Mushroom Kin's sorceress, Madam Schram, had been given orders from Queen Fergie to create a spell or potion that would make the Mushroom Warriors invisible. Spies had been sent out from both peoples to determine how close the other was to being ready to attack. On this day, one Mushroom Kin had sneaked out of the village to decide the level of threat herself.

Peering out from behind a patch of fire weed, Princess Isa and her handmaiden, Piney, watched the two Acorn Folk as they worked. "Look at what they are doing to those poor flowers" Piney's brown eyes watered. "They are destroying them! What beasts!" Princess Isa was equally upset. "What mother said about the Acorn folk is true - they are merciless!"

Piney was beside herself, "We must stop them..but how?" A determined gleam appeared in Princess Isa's golden eyes. "I have an idea." As she whispered, the tips of Piney's ears glowed pink. It was a good plan.

Princess Isa and Piney gathered as many of the maple seeds as they could, breaking off the wings that would carry the seeds in the air, and stuffed them into their pockets. Princess Isa would use her hemp slingshot and pummel the Acorn gatherers until they ran away. That would teach them a lesson.

"Don't take every petal from the plant Twiggle," Meggit cautioned. "They need to keep most of their flowers to attract the hummers. If we take them all, the plant will suffer and die." he explained. Twiggle bobbed his head, quoting Sir Zeet "We gather what we need, only take a little away. Leave most of the plant behind, so we can harvest another day." Meggit patted Twiggle on the shoulder, "Good remembering Twiggle." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a handful of dark dirt. "And we always give the plant something in return." Meggit closed his eyes in reverence and sprinkled the compost at the base of the plant "Thank you Forget-me-Nots. Please accept this offering."

A dry brown projectile bonked into the back of Meggit's head. "Owch!" he yelped. Rubbing the sore spot, he turned to Twiggle. "What did you do that for?" he said grumpily. At that moment, another maple seed, devoid of its wings, flew straight at Twiggle, striking him in the back and sending him flying into Meggit, knocking them both over and causing them to drop their satchels. "We are under attack!" Meggit's big green eyes started to glow.

Scrambling across the ground, the two Acorn Folk took cover under the leaves of a large fern. When he could catch his breath, Twiggle asked "Did you see who attacked us?" Meggit shook his head. "No, I didn't. But who else than a Mushroom Battler would break off the wings of a maple seed?" Twiggle shivered with fear. "What do we do?" Meggit, older and feeling much wiser than Twiggle on the worst of days, said determinedly, "We must defend ourselves and retrieve the petals we gathered. All the Acorn Folk are counting on us." His brain worked hard for a moment to come up with a plan. "They have attacked us with maple seeds, the most sacred of all the seeds. They are truly barbarians." Twiggle nodded his head in agreement. "We have no stingers," he said, refering to the sharp sticks the Acorn people used as weapons and pot stirrers. "And we don't know how many Battlers are out there. Let's confuse them, snatch our satchels and run home for reinforcements." Twiggle thought this was a very wise plan. "What shall we confuse them with?" Meggit carefully peeked between two fern leaves, searching the small meadow for something. He spotted just the thing. "Look, Twiggle! Over there, by the old rock path - dandelions!"

Plucking two stems from their refuge, Meggit and Twiggle crawled their way under the cover of fern to the dandelion patch. In amongst the sunny yellow faces of freshly opened flowers were the mature heads Meggit sought. Hundreds of seeds were attached to fluffy white whispies, the perfect distraction. "It will look like a blizzard of snow to the Mushroom Kin", Meggit explained on their short trek. Twiggle broke the stem, its white liquid oozing out. "Careful Twiggle!" Meggit urged. "We must not let the seeds fly away until we find the Battlers. Then we will blow with all our breath." "And then run like the wind itself!" Twiggle added. He was afraid but he knew he could trust Meggit. Armed beneath the fern leaves, they hastily made their way to the patch of forget-me-nots.

The white milk of the dandelion dripped down the stem like candle wax. It pooled at the base of the plant before being absorbed into the earth. What Meggit and Twiggle didn't know was that this particular patch of flowers was the birthplace of the first Dandelion and precious to the Goddess Davinia, Caretaker of the Flowers and All Things That Grow Wild.

The plant, awoken by the fear in the Acorn Folk, cried out to the Goddess. "Goddess Davinia, our seeds have been stolen! Help us!" The Goddess could hear the despair in the Dandelion and appeared before the plant. "Hello my beauty, what has happened?" The Dandelion wept as it told the Goddess what the Acorn gatherers had done. Wise beyond time, Goddess Davinia listened attentively and, when the Dandelion was through, said reassuringly "Golden Face, my happy friend, your seeds will be restored."

Princess Isa and Piney, armed with maple seeds, hid among the stems of the forget-me-nots. "Don't worry little flowers, we won't let them hurt you any longer." Piney reassured the plant. Princess Isa reminded Piney, "Keep your peepers open Piney. The Offenders are sure to return for their satchels. While we cannot undo what they did to the flowers, they cannot be permitted to use these precious petals." "Why would they steal the petals anyway?" Piney questioned. Princess Isa answered "Mother says she was told that the Acorn Folk use the petals to create a magical elixir that will make their Warriors stronger than our Battlers. As soon as their Magi has it perfected Mother suspects that they will invade our peaceful village, destroy all the flowers and make us their slaves." Princess Isa shivered. "Have you ever heard anything so terrifying?" The fine hair on Piney's arms raised in horror as she shook her head. She did not want to be a slave and the destruction of flowers was unthinkable. Without the flowers, the hummers would starve. Without the hummers, there would be no sweet sap. Without sweet sap, there would be no cake!

Concealed by fern leaves, Twiggle and Meggit approached the forget-me-not patch. Meggit held up his four fingers, signaling Twiggle to pause. Meggit could see shadowy figures of the Mushroom Kin standing over their full satchels of blue petals. The light played between the flower stems, disguising the exact number of Warriors waiting to attack. Fear grew in Meggit's heart. "There could be thousands!" he thought anxiously. He whispered to Twiggle, sounding much more confident than he felt. "We must get our satchels. Follow me" Tossing the fern leaf to the side, Meggit took a deep breath and hollered "BLOW!"

White whispies danced in the air between the two warring parties. With their opponents vision obscured, Twiggle and Meggit scampered towards their satchels. Startled and distracted by the whispies, Princess Isa and Piney began throwing maple seeds in every direction, narrowly missing each other in their fear-filled state. Twiggle and Meggit could not see where they were going either and ran straight into the flower patch. Princess Isa and Piney were unprepared for the two bodies that crashed into them. They all fell to the ground in a heap of flailing arms and legs. The delicate forget-me-nots were battered and bruised.

Frightened beyond words, the little people scrambled away from each other. Princess Isa recovered the quickest, scolding "Look at what you've done! The flowers are ruined!" Meggit, feeling righteously angry, retorted "You started it! You hit us with maple seeds!" Each side grew more and more enraged as they argued over whose fault it was that the flower patch was destroyed.

Twiggle was the first to notice the glowing figure gliding toward them. He patted Meggit's arm. "Not now Twiggle. I'm still -" he ceased talking when he saw the Goddess. Princess Isa, her face red from shouting at the Acorn Kin, paused and felt chagrined when she realized the Goddess was standing before them.

The glow surrounding the Goddess Davinia dimmed as she surveyed the scene before her. Dandelion seeds, their white whispies crumpled, littered the ground among broken maple seeds. The light green leaves of the forget-me-nots hung limp on bent stems and the blue flowers sagged, their faces no longer basking in the sunshine. The Piddling Kindred of the Forest stood among the debris. Long pointy ears blushed pink from under nut and grass-woven caps. Their long earth-hued tunics, cinched tight with grass woven belts, were dirty and stained. Four sets of jewel-toned eyes stared remorsefully at the meadow floor. Piney and Princess Isa held each other's small hands while Twiggle wringed his own. Meggit crossed and uncrossed his arms, unsure of what to do with them. Their furry bare feet shifted uncomfortably as they silently bore the scrutiny of the Flower Goddess.

One lonely blue petal, knocked from its safe place, floated down to land in front of the solemn offenders. "What has happened here?" the Goddess' melodic voice was sad. Princess Isa, her lip quivering, answered "The Acorn Kin were stealing petals. We threw maple seeds to stop them." The Goddess turned to Meggit and Twiggle, and asked "And then what happened?" Meggit's shoulders shrugged up to his ears as he answered in a small voice, "We took a dandelion seed head and blew it at them." Piney added sheepishly "Then we threw more seeds at them." Twiggle finished the tale, explaining "and then we crashed into each other."

The Goddess hid an amused smile behind her next words. "For small creatures, you did quite a bit of damage." The four heads ducked even lower as their shame grew. Merciful and Gentle, the Goddess bent down to pick up the blue petal and a maple seed. "All plants and creatures of this world are sacred. Each tree, flower, bird, fish and four-legged creature has a special place in the cycle of life." She looked down at Princess Isa and Piney. "For the Mushroom Kin, flowers are highly valued." Princess Isa and Piney nodded solemnly. She turned to Twiggle and Meggit. "For the Acorn Folk, Maple seeds are highly valued." Twiggle and Meggit nodded. Goddess Davinia explained "Flowers and Maple seeds are equally sacred. Hummers make the sweet sap that the Mushroom Kin love from the flowers. Maple seeds grow into the trees from which the Acorn Folk harvest sugar syrup. Sweet sap and sugar syrup are important for making sweet cakes."

Twiggle's mouth dropped open. "The Mushroom Kin like sweet cakes?" Princess Isa looked sharply at Twiggle. "Of course we do!" adding thoughtfully, "but I didn't think Acorn Folk did." Curiously, Meggit wondered aloud "I wonder what else we both like?" The Goddess smiled. "I think you may find that you have more in common than you have differences." The Acorn Folk and Mushroom Kin were stunned. Could it be so?

The Goddess was not finished with the Piddling Kindred yet. Once more, she bent down, this time picking up a crushed dandelion seed. She placed the dandelion seed in one palm and the maple seed in the other. Palms up, she showed the kindred the ruined seeds. Her voice somber, the Goddess Davinia cautioned the little people. "These seeds are small and can float far distances. The dandelion can grow almost anywhere and the maple tree can live for hundreds of years. Just like these seeds, fear and anger can be spread almost anywhere and can flourish for hundreds of years." The Goddess looked at each Kindred in turn and her voice grew stern "These seeds, whose purpose is to create life, have been used from a place of fear and anger." She swept her hand to the patch of forget-me-nots. "See how fear and anger can destroy something beautiful?"

Remorse filled their hearts as the little people looked at the flower patch and saw what their fear of each other had created. Piney began to cry, asking the Goddess "How do we fix this?" The others nodded, desperate to repair the damage they had done. The Goddess smiled and told them "Be curious. Open your hearts. Learn about and from each other. Find joy in your similarities and differences."

The Kindred, feeling hopeful, turned to each other. "Would you like to come to the village for sweet cakes?" Twiggle asked Princess Isa. She smiled broadly, "I would like that." The Goddess Davinia watched as the first step toward harmony between the two peoples was taken. The newly-formed friends made their way out of the meadow toward the Acorn Kin's home.

The Goddess swept her hand over the forget-me-not plant and restored the flowers, stems and leaves to their previous glory. The maple seed wings found their seeds and with a gentle exhale from the Goddess were swept high in the sky on their way to a new home. The Goddess picked up the discarded dandelion stems and cradled them in her hand. In a blizzard like the one Meggit and Twiggle created, the dandelion seeds were risen from the ground and reattached themselves to the stems. The meadow healed from the small battle, the Goddess returned the seed head to the Dandelion patch where they would find their own way into the great world when they were ready.