Book1, Volume 6

Chapter 58

“Tootle-tu-oo-too-tu!” Ceri sang out in agreement as Wylla took her first step up towards the small wooden door porch which grew out from the bottom of the wagon; The soft blueish white lights from the Lampryn flowers on each side near the top of the red door creating an inviting atmosphere.

Just as Wylla's hand was about to wrap around the door's golden-green handle she heard the soft sounds of rustling coming from above causing her to pause and look up.

A cute but odd silvery wooden mask with crystal blue watery eyes emerged from out of the flowery shrubs hanging over the edge up top. The mask tilted down to look at Wylla; She could feel the warmth and happiness flowing into her as Tundri called out to her in his trombone voice “Wah Waah Wah wah Wah?”

Looking up and smiling at Tundri's tilting face, Wylla placed her hand on the warm silky wall to the right side of the door, and gently stroked the smooth light honey brown surface that carried a hint of rose-red... a bloodrose red that reminded her of the petal-like essences that flowed out of the cauldron during Tundri's summoning ritual.

“Mmm,” Wylla said, nodding her head. “I think your Sylgarden Wagon form is not only beautiful (Wylla paused to breathe in deeply through her small button nose) but also wonderfully fragrant.”

“Tootle-tu-too!” Ceri sang out in agreement from atop Wylla's shoulders.

And surprisingly soft, but firm... strong... Wylla thought to herself as she felt a connection through her hand into the wooden wall she was touching, giving her insight into the wall's essences and lattice-like cell structures. Ah, I see... so the cauldron did help in strengthening your body. Yes! The gamble paid off. Wylla gave a small fist pump into the air.

She looked down for a moment to rest her neck, the dark honey brown Syldrake scales that made up the bottom 3 feet of the wagon's outer walls attracting her eyes as they contrasted nicely with the upper 5 feet of the wagon. Ooh, I wonder if the bottom is also warm and silky...

Wylla bent down and touched the scales; They felt hard as steel, were a bit rounded, and very smooth to the touch.

She really liked the green moss and foliage that grew in between the scales here and there; Highlighting the scales, making them stand out... adding to the charm of Tundri's Sylgarden Wagon form. The green also went well with the green door frame made from the serpenvines of Tundri's tail.

“Wah Waah Wah Wah,” Tundri sang out.

Wylla stood, her head tilting up in response to Tundri, but stopping for a moment to gaze at the stained glass window adorning the red door; The stained glass window made of colorful non-stick sap depicting a picture of a beautiful Lunar Iris.

“They really are all artfully done... truly captivating,” Wylla said softly to herself, recalling the pair of rectangular stained glass windows adorning each side of the wagon.

The pair of windows on the left side of the wagon were of a beautiful flowery garden with jewel-toned butterflies fluttering about on a bright sunny day while the other one was of a silvery ice blue forest covered in snow on a magical starry night.

The right side had one of a reddish desert with cacti and small colorful reptiles basking under the hot sun and the other window of a forest with big sunset-hued leaves falling onto the leaf laden floor as small woodland animals searched for food.

Each stained glassed window, representing one of the four seasons, framed in dark honey brown wood with golden green etchings matching the hue of the Syldrake scales below.

“Wahh Wah Waah Wah?” Tundri asked, snapping Wylla out of her thoughts.

“Ah, yes! I'd love to see the garden up top before going inside.” Wylla said, looking up into Tundri's bright eyes with a smile on her face and a little nodding and tootling Ceri on her shoulders.

“Wah Waah Wah Wah,” Tundri sang as a series of branch rungs leading to the garden up top grew out of the outer wall to the right side of the door. A garden that spilled over the edges of the roof hiding the rounded edges of the sides of the wagon's roof as flowery ivy-like foliage grew down each outer corner making the wagon look like it had a garden canopy.

Wylla reached up, grabbed hold of the wooden rung, and began to climb up the branch ladder as Ceri lept off her shoulder and raced up top.

“Tootle-tu!” Ceri cried out, sending warm happy vibes to Wylla.

Wylla hurried up the last couple of rungs, her head rising over the green flowery flora, eyes glittering; “Amazing Tundri! Such a wonderful place to... to stargaze, and sunbathe... and have picnics on...”

Right in front of Wylla were grayish blue stepping stones with jewel-tone stardust patterns forming a short pathway through a field of soft greens to a crystal blue pond. There was a large flat stone by the edge of the right side of the pond perfect for sitting on.

And a small big leafed bonsai tree on the other side of the pond; The tree stood a bit taller than herself. It had a dark hole in the trunk from which water poured out flowing down into the pond; The left side of the tree reminded Wylla of a moonlit night while the right side was like a bright sunny day.

Wylla took her time exploring the garden, smelling the flowers, and dipping her hand in the cool water as Tundri's masked face followed along, wending through the foliage on the sides of the garden.

“Eeeek!” Wylla yelped out, rising to her feet, heart beating fast, water drops falling through the air as she quickly pulled back her hand.

Little Ceri rushed over the pond, stopping in the air in front of her, a look of concern on her cute face.

“What was that? Somethings started to... to nibble on my fingers!” Wylla gulped, looking down into the pond; Little Ceri following her line of sight as Tundri's masked face tilted to the side.

“Wah waah Wah...” Tundri began to sing out as three shadowy figures with long flowing lotus petaled fins innocently swam about within the cool blue water.

“Ah! I forgot about them. So this is where they went...” Wylla said, her eyes following the trio of swimming royal lotus fishes.

“Tu-too-tu-too-tee-tu...” Little Ceri sang out.

“Not funny Ceri...”

“Tootle-too-tu?”

“They didn't scare me...” Wylla replied, face slightly red and cheeks puffed out. “They just... just startled me a little is all... there's a difference.”

“Tootle-tu-too!” Ceri flew up to Wylla, nuzzled her cheek to cheek, and then returned to having fun playing around in the garden, rustling the tree's leaves and swimming in the pond with the fishes as the moon shone down on their happy family outing.

“Ah, this is all so very, very wonderful Tundri! Thank you for letting me up here,” Wylla said smiling, putting the little nibbling fish scare behind her, as she walked up to Tundri's masked face, knelt down, and gently gave him a pat.

“Tootle-too-tu!” Ceri sang out in agreement as she flew up to Tundri's masked face and nuzzled him... forehead to forehead.

Rising up, Wylla yawned and stretched, gave the garden one last look before heading back to the ladder, ready to go down.

Carefully stepping down back onto the ladder she called out to her nuzzling cuties, “It's late now... time to go inside and have a quick 'looksy' before (YAAWWNNN) getting some sleeps...”

Not waiting for their response, Wylla made her way down the ladder and stepped back onto the small porch in front of the red door as little Ceri once again landed across her shoulders and Tundri's masked face appeared from above looking down.

Wylla grabbed the vertical door handle and slowly pushed the door open with a click. “Oh my,” Wylla said, standing on the outside staring in with eyes wide open. Even Ceri was looking in with a cute little 'pokan' face. “I never expected... this! I mean... I hoped it would be something livable and comfortable like in those gypsy wagons I saw images of... but this is... is just so, so much more... Amazing!”

“Tootle-too-Tu!” Little Ceri happily tootled as she jumped off Wylla's shoulders and flew inside to explore.

“Wah Wah Waah Wah!” Tundri sang out.

“Okay Tundri, I'll go in and have a look around.” Wylla looked up, smiled at Tundri, and then took her first step inside her new wagon home.

Or rather her new studio apartment-sized wagon home.

The room was as wide as two and a half wagons and nearly as long as four; The ceiling looked to be almost a dozen feet high with beautiful wood beams of dark honey brown (slightly arching across the width of the room) matching the hues of the wooden floor and bottom third of the walls.

Between each wooden beam was lush leafy green foliage sprouting softly glowing starlyng flowers.

She wiped her feet on the soft floral welcoming matt beneath her, took a step to the side and closed the door. There were rows of long full-sized wooden cubbies built into the walls on both sides of the door for guests to place their muddy shoes and hang their coats.

The long rectangular room was broken up into three basic sections.

She walked up to and around the two-person couch that was in the front section of the room; the living room.

There was a large area rug of golds, maroons, navy blues, and deep purples on the ground. Atop the rug was a warm comfortable looking set of earth-toned wood and flora made furniture consisting of a long three-person sofa, a two-person sofa, and a pair of rocker sofa chairs placed around a large dark wood coffee table.

Above the coffee table, sending a gentle breeze throughout the room and gently lighting the area in soft white light, was a large ceiling fan; A ceiling fan which Tundri seemed to have created by combining a large Lampryn Flower with an even larger Spinlyng Jade flower.

There was a long dark farmer style wooden cabinet on the right wall centered underneath the autumn stain glass window above while up against the left wall stood a very tall and long farmer style wooden cabinet that nearly touched the spring stain glass window above.

“Ooh, so soft and comfy,” Wylla said, patting the green floral cushions of the large sofa. “Looks like I won't have to sleep out on the grassy ground tonight!”

Wylla was very tempted to just lay down now and call it a night but there was still so much more to see so she walked past the living room section and stepped into the middle section of the room; the dining room.

There in the middle of the room, atop the beautiful dark hardwood floors was a simple but charming long wooden farmer style table. There were three big solid wooden chairs with leafy cushioned seating on each side of the table and a deluxe chair with armrests on each end.

The center of the table was adorned with a long wooden planter's box filled with sweet-scented flowers. The flowery scents were spread throughout the room by the gently spinning ceiling fan above which matched the one in the living room... and the one in the center of the last section of the wagon.

There were chest tall wooden cabinets standing up against each wall underneath the summer and winter stain glass windows.

“Ah, this is just perfect...” Wylla said, running her hand over the dark stained tabletop, a smile on her face as she imagined sharing food and drinks here with her friends and family.

“Tootle-tu!” Little Ceri called out in agreement, flying in circles underneath the large lighted ceiling fan.

“Mmm... and if this isn't enough sitting room for them,” Wylla said, pausing as she made her way to the last section of the wagon: the kitchen. “Then they can sit on one of these five comfortable swivel bar chairs and eat off the butcher block countertop of this splendid kitchen island.”

The farmer style wooden kitchen island was not only large but had two different levels. The dining side was raised while the other side had the cooking station complete with 8 Solfire Flower burners, stove, and a copper-hued range hood.

Behind the kitchen island, along the back wall, were the cabinets with butcher block countertops, a Wynbella flower-powered refrigerator, and a deep farmer style sink. Above the sink was a waterfall window that magically gave a clear view of the outside.

Little Ceri nodded her head and then flew to one of two doors that were on the left side of the room; one between the dining room and kitchen. And the other in the kitchen section. “Tootle-tu-too?” Ceri asked.

“Hmm... I'm not sure what's behind these doors... but there's two and each side. Let's see... then call it a night...”

Wylla spent the next 10 minutes looking behind each of the four doors and was very happy to discover that the right side had a storage room and a very nice pantry with shelves, storage baskets, and cubby boxes perfect for holding herbs, spices, and seeds; While the left side held a walk-in closet and a full bath with shower.

“Oh Tundri, your Sylgarden Wagon form is much more than I could have ever hoped for,” Wylla said, smiling as she wended her way back to the living room where her sofa bed awaited.

Stretching and yawning once more by the front of the large sofa, she prepared to lie down when she heard loud rustling sounds from above. Looking up, she saw Tundri's masked face coming down on a leafy giraffe-like neck “Wah Waah Wah?”

“Yup,” Wylla said, nodding her head while looking up into Turndri's eyes. “Sleepy... time for bed.”

“Wah Wah Waah,” Tundri called out.

“Really? Then please do.” Wylla replied, smiling as she stepped out of the living room and waited by the red door.

“Wah Wah Wah...” Serpenvines ending in three to four-fingered hands sprouted down from the ceiling and grabbed hold of the living room furniture, moving them aside, and clearing a space on the left side of the room.

With the area cleared, a 'helping serpenvine hand' then grabbed hold of the large farmer cabinet standing against the wall and pulled down; Revealing an impossible to resist king-sized murphy bed with flora silk blankets and fluffy pillows.

Wylla's face brightened with happiness as she quickly made her way to her new bed and jumped on, wrapping herself in the soft cool blankets as her head sank into her pillow.

“Tootle-tu-too!” Little Ceri cried out, not wanting to be left out as she flew to lie down next to Wylla, nuzzling up against her like a body pillow.

“Ahahaha... that tickles Ceri...”

“Tootle-tu-oo...”

“Mmm... nights Ceri... nights Tundri... love you both... can't wait to see what tomorrow brings...”

Wylla and Ceri drifted off to sleep as Tunri turned down the lighting in each section and then disappeared into the foliage in the ceiling above... only to reappear on the outside of the wagon above to keep watch.