Things had gotten so busy I nearly forgot the brief moment of wonder at Devokan last summer.  I’m still not sure it happened, but after talking with Dot today I don’t feel so much like I must have imagined it.

Last week, Jane and I spent some time with Dot discussing the upcoming GoH Ride for Joy on the 17th.  As we walked and talked, we passed by what looked like a natural stone wall.  The boulders were huge and rough — not weathered as if they’d been there a long time.  I didn’t think much of that until something triggered the memory of a fragrance I’d experienced last summer.  That itself was even a brief memory before I forgot about it as Jane and I walked on with Dot in search of suitable places for JoyRiders to gather before embarking on the ship and boat journeys.

Of course I couldn’t find the location of the flowers again.  And Jane wouldn’t remember — I had returned after she, I and LC had taken our own joyride on a sailboat around the rather bare island.  They were only there for a moment and I was so slow in remembering my camera…

I’ve never known a flower to bloom so beautifully for such a short time.  I might not actually have seen anything.  But today as Dot and I discussed the Ride for Joy yet again she did mention that the place where I remembered the fragrance had been affected by the land tremors.  Much of the land had been changed, and perhaps the flowers have been buried.

There was that deep pool… nearby…   I am certain I walked only a short distance from it before I spotted the blooming flowers.  The deep, rich, reddish, purple or blue hues amazed me because they seemed to be illuminated from within the petals themselves.  They were similar to Irises, but were not irises.  Akin to DayLilies, but not lilies of any kind.  The butterflies swarmed about them, landing, flitting, landing,settling, leaping… and suddenly they and the blooms had disappeared.  Dissolved, dissipated, vanished… I was stunned and saddened.  At least until the fragrance reached my nose.

I tried to sit and let the memory come to me, but couldn’t settle in one place.  I did finally sit on a wooden bench for a few moments, watching the sun come up. Then, again restless, I walked around the waterfall and turned around to watch it begin to sparkle and shimmer in the slow illumination of the morning. It was beautiful.  I sniffed, sniffed, hoping perhaps I could follow my nose to the flower patch of last summer?  I did follow the boulder wall around and back to the gate, chuckling at myself.  The yellow lilies were very pretty, but no fragrance there.

I’ve not smelled anything so heavenly before.  Not just a floral fragrance, but with a hint of fruit — exotic fruit I didn’t know?  Not just fruit, but a hint of earthiness that freshened the air around me?  I could not tell, but I knew it was something amazing.  I don’t know why I forgot, or why I finally remembered.  But now that I did remember, I am determined to find it again.

To:  Ghaelen D’Lareh

From:  Gr’noreth Solaken

Ghaelen,

We’d like to nominate your latest fragrance blend, “Nee Lehnah,” for a Creative Alchemy Award from the Revnekan Institute of the Healing Arts.  If you are interested in this award, there are a few items we need from you by SD March 13 at 5pm.

• A sample of the fragrance oil
• A description of the fragrance, what flora in an age or ages inspired the creative process, and anything about the contents you are willing to explain.
• Testimonies from three to five people about the positive or negative effects of the fragrance (preferably positive).  These do need to be signed by the author.

My apologies for the delay in notification; the time got away from me and I thought you were still on the surface.  Please respond with your decision.

Best of luck,

GS

I know I should not be frustrated.  This could be a great honor.  He invited me to the institute and introduced me to all of those great people.  This could be a way to spend more time there…. Maybe they would allow me to see the gardens.  But by tomorrow?  I’ll never get all of those materials together by tomorrow!

This is a test.  Of course it is.  The lesson I attended on patience and peace.  I know there are always tests.

But by tomorrow?  It can’t be done!  How am I going to find five people to test and comment on the fragrance?  They are scattered around the ages and on the surface.  Man, I’m sunk on this one.

It will be such a loss for the blend to lose this potential.  I have to try.

Doesn’t he understand it takes time?