8. The Traveling Flowers

When Behdo woke up, his belly held a deep imprint of the walking cane. He shivered in the cold and felt tense. Unsafe. He just lay there in an open field, a little sheep, a tasty bite for a leopard. How long had he been unconscious? No time to waste, no time to—

He heard another sheep. He knew every little sound his own herd made, from Barina’s croaky gossip to Behdiëls loud alarm.

He did not recognize this sheep’s bleating.

His head swiveled. Another herd? With another shepherd?

Oh, how he wanted to rub his fur against another again. How he wanted to walk in the center of the herd and not worry at all about an unexpected claw from the bushes.

He also wanted to reach the Council in time, of which he already spotted the entrance. It was a beautiful landscape where they’d collected all varieties of nature spread across Somnia. That was necessary, because if all Companions visited, then also all known animal species of Somnia visited.

A thin brook babbled next to Behdo now, but would become wider and wider, until it wound through the entire Council and gave sea animals complete access. A giraffe’s neck already appeared from inside, eating leaves from the highest tree. Birds arrived amidst sing-song.

He could neither see nor hear any other animals. Sunlight reflected from the Dolphin Pass, located behind the Council of Kame, and nearly blinded him. If you crossed the water there, preferably near the Holy Stones, you’d arrive in Origina.

Behdo immediately heard Himnib’s voice in his head again: how much he wanted to go there, how much he wanted to see Gallo the Giant, how much he wanted to experience sunset on the other side of the world.

They had to get there. And to do so, Himnib had to survive and stop all those silly laws.

Behdo scrambled to his feet, leaning on the walking cane. What kind of stick was this? Could he repeat the trick if he was attacked again?

“I must admit I’m becoming nearly as forgetful as cursed Himnib,” said a high-pitched voice nearby, “but you don’t belong to my herd, do you?”

“No. I am Himnib’s sheep. I was Himnib’s sheep. Maybe I am actually someone else’s sheep, because Himnib doesn’t even remember how I became his.”

“Himnib?” Her face brightened. She was a smaller gold-yellow bear, as if she were a mix between the black bear of Himnib and a red panda. She gave off the same energy as the walking cane, and the two seemed attracted to each other. “He is here?”

“I hope so.”

She wore a wrist bracelet—no—a Companion Necklace for Bears! The rope had been shortened, allowing the object to be glued to her arms. It was surely safer and more practical.

“You must hurry! They are about to accept a terrible law! And … and … who are you?”

There were three other Bear Companions: Jorib, Bellib, and—Solong! Himnib never talked about her, so he’d almost forgotten.

Solong playfully shook the long fur on her head. “Himnib’s mind might have pushed me aside. Sometimes it seems even I forget my own name. But I would never forget him.”

“Then where have you been? Why has Himnib never mentioned you?”

Her smile wavered. “Some love the magic that has flowed into our lands ever since the gods left. Some hate it because they fear it. And I must, unfortunately, admit they might be right to fear it. He … has never mentioned me yet?”

Behdo shook his head, though he wasn’t sure, because how else would he have known the name Solong in the first place?

She called Himnib cursed. That would explain a lot.

“Where have you been all this time?”

She smiled again. “Himnib might think the weight of the world is on his shoulders, that he had to do this alone. But he forgot the power of the herd.” Solong whistled a few of her sheep back in line. “The gods had given me a final mission. I am sorry, I should have returned more quickly, I just thought if I gave Himnib enough time …”

“Did you succeed? Were you and the gods friends?”

She smiled once more. She did that often, he’d learned by now.

“Such good friends … you would almost call them family.”

Behdo’s jaw dropped. So the rumors about the demigods were true. But of which god could she be the child? None of the six godchildren was a bear?

“I have many questions, but we must—”

“Hurry, yes. Why do you think I am here?”

Behdo lay down among the flowers, exhausted. Everything would be alright. He didn’t have to do this alone. Solong would vote for the Bears, convince the others, and … and then?

“Well, though,” Solong mumbled. “A second reason is that I’d like to chat with my good friend again, the Wise Owl.”

Singing. A beautiful melody rose across the field. Behdo made three circles, but didn’t see the animals producing the song. Or why they’d suddenly started singing in the middle of the day.

Solong’s face brightened further, her eyes closed and her ears perked up.

“Ah. The Singing Flowers of Eeris. The third reason I am here.”

The flowers around her swayed back and forth to the rhythm of the song. They were far larger and more colorful than any other flowers Behdo had seen. In his hurry, he hadn’t noticed at first. He’d even flattened a large patch of Heavenly Flowers with his body, after his initial landing.

“The Heavenmatter they never managed to steal. However often they moved the flowers, they always just traveled back to Origina, and that’s why you can find them all around the world in small patches now.” She giggled. “Not just Singing Flowers, also Traveling Flowers.”

Solong opened her eyes again and continued. “Better this way. Otherwise those mean Pricecats and other creatures would have won the First Conflict, imagine that!”

“They have won the conflict,” Behdo mumbled sadly. “The gods are gone.”

Solong crouched before him. “Look around you. See the green nature. See the busy bees that buzz from flower to flower. See the shadow our long-necked friend the giraffe makes across the landscape. Feel the sunlight and hear the birds sing. Would you not say … the gods are still all around?”

Behdo looked all around. All this time, he’d just wanted to keep walking, angry at Himnib for taking breaks and just sitting and watching. Now he saw. The nature was filled with places, so simply beautiful, that you could stand still for days and enjoy it. The gods were gone, but they’d left their beautiful pawprints over all of Somnia. He wanted to join Himnib and explore all these beautiful locations for the rest of this life.

But first, a vote had to be won. “Leopards are always ba-all around, apparently.”

The snow leopards that remained after the explosion, ran towards them. They wanted to flatten the flowers too, but when they got close they stopped singing and suddenly became tough as steel. Two leopards fell down from the painful impact; the others decided to take a detour.

“Oh give up,” Lazpard said. “We can delay you all day. We’ve told the other species what a virus the Shepherds are for months now. How unfair it is that they have multiple Companions. How they eat our lands and then leave. How all Companions should surely not mention these upcoming laws if they are ever unfortunate enough to meet a Shepherd.”

Lazpard’s paws pointed every which way. “They will all vote in agreement.”

Solong stepped forward. She had no walking cane, surely not a magical one, but walked with the same confidence as Himnib. “Hate, hate, hate. Always hate. The only thing that doesn’t change, unfortunately, whatever corner of the world you visit.”

This was not the right climate for snow leopards. They were far from the mountains now, in a warm country with warm soil. They panted, drooling on the flowers.

“I am a Companion and I will continue walking. Do not stand in my way.”

The leopards didn’t budge. Not when Solong was only a tree’s length away. Not when she repeated herself. Not when she could touch them.

Not when she suddenly whistled a melody and her entire herd stormed the leopards.

Two of them went down instantly. Lazpard raised his paw rapidly to meet Solong’s attack. Sheep after sheep received a large bite to their side, legs, or face, and had to stop the fight. Solong kept Lazpard busy, but lacked the power to win.

The sun set. The day was almost over—how long would the Council wait before counting the final vote?

Behdo was small. Very small.

That could be useful too.

He snuck away from the battlefield. Paw before paw, bit by bit, he made a large arc around the outermost leopards.

Solong saw it immediately. Not a single sheep escaped her eye, and after several had died, she whistled for the fight to end and to talk and negotiate with Lazpard again.

The distraction proved just enough. Behdo already stood behind the line of leopards before they noticed.

Solong ripped the Companion Necklace off her arm and threw it at Behdo. Lazpard made a giant leap, tapped the necklace with his nail and made it twist and turn in the air, but didn’t manage to grab it.

Behdo quickly threw the walking cane in return to catch the necklace between his teeth. He now had two Companion Necklaces: one from the snow leopards and one from the bears.

At this moment, he was the most important sheep in the world.

The ground shook below his feet as he entered the beautifully decorated gate to Kame. Vines curled around the wooden skeleton of the dome, mixed with gemstones from the Diamond Path on top of the Impossible Wall. Soon after, he heard crackling, and purple flashes of light were reflected on the gate.

A bell sounded from within the Council, no, from within the Wise Owl’s throne. It was located in the center, easy to reach for all different biomes around it.

Behdo hurried inside.

“Wait! Ba-wait! There is another vote!”