It would take me several days to make it to where the fire spirit had settled down. She was much closer to the ocean (only a few hours walk from there). The speed of a fire spirit really put me to shame. Even Faun would not be able to keep up with her. If the fire spirit kept running I would never be able to catch up with her. 

It was nearly a day after I left the pond that I felt something else that should not have been in my woods. Mother Sea was rushing toward the fire spirit. Why did she have to come? I sighed to myself. I did feel a little sorry for the fire spirit, but it looked like now I would have to deal with salt damage instead of putting out fires. Maybe I could convince Mother Sea that I needed her to make it rain. I am sure that she would complain that she was a water spirit and not an air spirit and then go on to all the different ways I could fix it. I knew I could fix it, but if she made the mess, why should I have to fix it? 

But when Mother Sea got to the fire spirit I felt a flare of plant energy. “Cocoa!” I could not understand why she was here and what she was doing between Mother Sea and the fire spirit. Much less where she came from. But there was no doubt in my mind that it was Cocoa. 

As I continued to walk I ‘watched’ the three greater spirits closely. Despite all my expectations nothing seemed to happen. What on earth could a fire spirit, water spirit and plant spirit be doing together? This reminded me of some of the bad jokes I had heard at the inns when I traveled with Leafia. Why was I getting sad that I could not come up with a punchline? 

It was on the second day that I was close enough to send out my emotions with any clarity. I did my best to send out a puzzled greeting to Cocoa. I obviously could not stop Mother Sea from noticing this message from this distance. No surprise, it was Mother Sea that responded fastest. I had a hard time understanding all that she was trying to say to me so I focused on Cocoa as I felt her respond in what I could only call happy.  

Without being able to really talk with them I would not be able to get much more out of them. It was frustrating not knowing what on earth was going on in my home. I guess it was enough to know that things were not escalating even more out of my control. But I did not hope for too much. Things could change quickly when Mother Sea was involved. 

The walk over the next day and a half to reach them was frustrating. I knew something was going on. But even I was not strong enough to listen in on what was happening from that distance. I wanted to know why Mother Sea was in my woods. 

Once I made it a few hours away from the trio I finally had a chance to listen in. The first thing I heard was Cocoa’s voice. “My woods do not take up as much land as Laurel’s, however I do have many more types of trees.”

“Why would a smaller place have more trees?” I could hear the fire spirit was puzzled.

“Part of it is because my woods are much warmer all year long.”

“That sounds wonderful,” the fire spirit said.

“I agree. I was not planning to show up here until spring, but Tide wanted to hurry,” Cocoa said.

“And I was right,” I could hear Mother Sea respond rather cheerfully. I was shocked at the casual conversation that I was listening in on. Even more so at how amicable Mother Sea was. Since when did she know how to be cheerful?

“Do you think I could come live with you?” the fire spirit asked, I assumed towards Cocoa. “You’re so much more fun. I promise I will keep things under control. I really don’t think I am welcome here anyway.”

Cocoa seemed to hesitate, giving Mother Sea all the chance she needed to butt back into the conversation “I would not recommend it. I think the rainy season would be worse for you than winter.”

“Rainy season. I don’t like the sound of that.” There was an obvious shudder to the fire spirit’s voice. 

“Instead of winter, we have a few months where it is raining almost all the time,” Cocoa said.

Why are they just sitting there talking about the weather? After a few more minutes of idle conversation I started to get frustrated at not figuring out why they were in my home. I decided to speak up. “What is going on?” I asked through the trees. 

“What was that?” the fire spirit cried.

“I see that an old tree can learn new tricks,” Cocoa said playfully. “You will have to teach me that later.”

“Who are you calling old,” I said again. Though this time I spoke only through the younger trees in the woods. Funnily they were more flexible and made my voice sound lower so I don’t think it worked well. 

“You should not be eavesdropping on others' conversations.” Mother Sea’s words grated on me. What right does she have to say that to me? “It is inaprop-OWW- Why did you hit me?”

“I am trying to help you,” I heard Cocoa whisper. 

“Cocoa, you of all people should know that you are nowhere near quiet enough to keep me from hearing you.” I said, wishing that I could roll my eyes at her.

“It is all for the show.” I could practically hear her winking at me. “Just hurry up and get here. It will work much better to talk in person.”

“It is still going to be several hours before I get there, can’t we just talk now?” I complained. I really wanted to be back at the pond to check on Mist. I was now too far out to feel her energy with any clarity. I was getting more and more anxious the longer I was away. And another heavy feeling dragged at me. I really needed to find Faun. How was I going to do that while I looked over Mist?

“Since when does a few hours matter to you?” Cocoa said, refusing to give me any details. 

“As you might be able to tell, I have had a lot to deal with lately. Could you at least start moving closer to me?” I begged. 

“Do you really want Fume walking through your woods?” Cocoa questioned me. I could only assume that Fume was the fire spirit that had taken up residence in my woods without asking.

“If I burn any more of her woods…” the fire spirit started to say and trailed off. 

“Don’t worry, we can just wait here a few hours for Laurel,” Mother Sea said. Cocoa was friendly and could get along with most people so I could see her befriending the fire spirit despite their contrary natures. But why was Mother Sea getting so friendly with her? She is just bossy and overbearing. It felt like I was losing my mind. What was going on in my woods?

I tried a few more times to get them to talk more but they would only respond with trivial information.