Etudie Perpetuity

“And so the water vapor rises into the air and condenses into water droplets that form clouds which…”

“Stop, stop! You’re going too fast!”

Noel and I crouched over the dirt like usual. Who needs blackboards when you have some good ol’ dirt, right? It wasn’t easy making diagrams with a stick, but my rough doodles were good enough to explain the water cycle. I tried not to use too many tough words, like cumulonimbus clouds or biogeochemical process, but it seemed like the entire thing was more complicated to explain than I remembered.

It wasn’t like Noel didn’t understand the basics. It was easy to accept that the water in the oceans was the same as the water in the rivers. And the elves used steam or water vapor to treat clogged noses, so Noel was quick to accept that rain and water vapor were tied together. The part that was hard to explain was the formation of clouds. Noel knew about condensation, since she could feel steam turn back into water vapor if she put her hand over boiling water. But why didn’t that water fall right back down to the Earth as rain instead of forming clouds?

And so I had to explain things like density, volume, and mass. I mean, I didn’t have to explain those things. Noel wouldn’t complain if I told her clouds formed and that was it. I could do what a bunch of teachers in my old high school did, and teach simple but incorrect concepts that could be fixed later. But I didn’t want to do that. That type of teaching wouldn’t encourage critical thinking and research. I wanted Noel and the other elves to be able to look at things and try to understand them on their own, rather than lecturing them all day and night.

“So clouds don’t fall on us even though they can be heavy, because they have low density?” asked Noel.

“Right, they float in the air the same way a whole bunch of grass will sink in water if you pressed them together and tied them together, but will float if you spread them out over a large area,” I said.

After a few more questions, I told Noel to think about other things related to the water table when she had more time. Things like how do people swim? Why is river water not salty like the sea? And so on. For now, we needed to figure out a magic spell that would put out the forest fire. It was pretty clear that we needed to make it rain. But would we be able to figure out how to do that in time? Rain magic required more complicated ‘knowledge’ than any other magic we’d created so far. We would need a lot of experience or ‘wisdom’ to cast any spells that made use of that knowledge, and gathering that much experience would take time. Lots of time.

Noel and I found a place further away from the fire and got to work.

---

“Over here, elder Vell!” yelled a young elf, his face black with soot.

“Coming,” said Vell as she coughed and raced to his side.

“We need help to the East,” cried another elf.

“On my way,” shouted elder Starry.

The fire had raced across the plains faster than Noel and I had expected. The Jora tribe decided to fight the fire near the banks of the river nearest their camp. Rows of elves stood a few feet in front of the river with their arms outstretched. Water gushed from their hands, arcing over the plains to fall onto the raging fires, sometimes creating rainbows within the smoke. Sweat plastered every elf’s forehead, but they cast elemental water magic for as long as they could. When they were too tired to stand, another row of elves took over, giving their tribesmen a chance to rest.

We weren’t able to reach out to any other tribe. We could only assume they had seen the fires and retreated to the highlands. The Jora tribe would have done the same if it wasn’t for their belief in the Oracle. If she said there was going to be a miracle, the Jora tribe was willing to believe her!

Vell and Starry raced back and forth among the elves. Whenever the flames got too intense on one side, they rushed over to help fight them back. The elves had won the entire riverbank from the fire, but they wouldn’t be able to hold on for long. They’d been trying to fight the fire at different locations for a couple of days, but they always had to give up once they ran out of stamina. The limitations of classical elemental magic were starting to show. But they elves had done their job. They had bought Noel and I the precious time we needed.

“Look out!” yelled an elf.

Sharun dashed forward and grabbed a tired elf, just as a large burning branch collapsed on top of her. There were a lot of trees near the riverbank, but most of them were catching fire too quickly to save. The elves were panting and brushing sweat off of their faces. They weren’t able to keep rotating their forces anymore. One elf fell to his knees and planted his face to the ground. Sharun grabbed him and looked at the elders. The elders nodded and began calling for a general retreat. Wading across the river, the elves saw the fire lunge across the patch of land they had fought so hard to protect. Wet, sore, and mentally exhausted, the elves didn’t even notice that Noel and I had been standing on the other side of the river, staring intently above the flaming forest.

Eventually, elder Starry saw us. He was about to call over to us but stopped. When Vell followed his gaze, she also began to call out to us, but elder Starry covered her mouth. He whispered something in her ear, probably something about not disturbing us because we were clearly trying to cast some sort of magic spell. Honestly, he could have called out to me if he wanted to. After all, I’d been observing everything that the elves were doing on the other side of the river.

I looked to my side. Noel’s lips were moving like crazy. I couldn’t tell what she was murmuring, or if what she was saying even made any sense, but I could guess it had something to do with the water cycle. At some point, Noel realized she could make up for her lack of understanding by repeating the things she’d learned from me over and over again. Now I was waiting for her to give the signal. Noel clicked her tongue. I raised my hands as she raised hers. We breathed in. Exhale.

Thunder rumbled in the clouds. The red sea of fire was dampened with the grayness of a dark sky. The elves looked up, some of them pointing, others still gasping for air. The clouds roiled and rumbled, and blotted out the sky as the flames finally burst up to the edge of the river.

A single drop of water fell on my forehead. Then another. Then another. Soon, there was a light drizzle on both sides of the river. And then the drizzle grew stronger, and stronger, and even stronger than that. The winds began to howl. The sparks and embers began to flit about, as if caught in a tornado, as the downpour began to quieten the red rage of the forest.

The rain kept pouring for a couple of hours. Noel and I were soaked through with rainwater and sweat by the time we let our arms fall to the side and slumped to the ground. The elves ran up to us, smiling from pointy ear to pointy ear. They hugged and kissed us, thanking us for our wonderful magic. The fire on the other side of the river was all gone. There was still a lot of forest fire left to fight, but Noel and I could keep going for hours as long as we rested for a few minutes in between. We didn’t need to use a lot of energy to cast rain magic, since we let nature do most of the work.

Thunder rumbled overhead. Storm clouds gathered all over the sky. The rain began again and the elves yelled and cheered. Noel and I wouldn’t need to fight the rest of the fire on our own after all! I laughed, stumbling into the rain with my arms wide open. Noel grabbed my hand and laughed as well. We were soaked through. We saw the fire retreat.

“You can’t beat mother nature after all,” I mused to myself.

Thump. Thump. Thump. The sound of a wood striking stone. “Children of Jora,” came a familiar voice. “Heed my call.”

I turned around. A short figure stood in the middle of the Jora tribe. I snuck a glance at Sharun, but his eyes were as wide as mine. The best hunter in the tribe hadn’t noticed the figure walk right into the crowd of elves. I looked at the elders, but their eyes were even wider.

“Great Oracle,” said elder Starry as he bowed his head lightly. “The children of Jora are grateful for your presence. If you would like, I will show you to our—”

The Oracle slammed her staff to cut off Starry. “I am not here for pleasantries, child. I came for them.” She lifted her staff and pointed it at Noel and me.