When the Spirit of the Forest spoke, other children were in the joy of learning the first blend.
“Guys, I have to meditate to remember other recipes. You go over the first one again!”
Mel walked under the waterfall at a calm pace. His inner distress was reflected on his face.
“I’m listening, Spirit of the Forest.”
His voice was neither hard nor soft, but it had a tone indicating that he could make a move at any moment.
“How long this game of yours will continue?”
Spirit of the Forest spoke pedantically. Mel’s reply was in the same fashion.
“Everyone here is trying to be a Botanist. If you don’t impede us, we’ll leave here in the morning!”
Mel heard a hoot of laughter. Spirit of the Forest unexpectedly said, “They cannot memorize thirty recipes until morning.”
Mel responded with an attitude of anger and resentment typical to those who heard the bad news they already knew.
“So what if they can’t memorize those recipes! They have dared to come this far! They are working without damaging the forest. You need to learn how to respect!”
A moment of silence reigned after this harsh speech. The sound of those ten kids’ arguments over the first recipe struck the water and spread into the forest.
Somewhat later, the Spirit of the Forest came up with an interesting suggestion.
“Human, tell your kinsmen to pick a leaf from the trees around and put it on their heads!”
This time the Spirit of the Forest spoke in a gentle and fatherly manner. Mel did not make him repeat his words.
“Guys, everybody picks a leaf from the tree he wants and puts it on his head. We’ll try a ritual!”
It was not a big issue to comply with this request for the young people who trusted Mel and entered the outer forest with him at night. They did what they were told without asking any questions and Mel began to explain the second recipe. When he finished his words, he asked if they understood it, just like he asked after the first recipe. But the scene was different than he expected.
After the first recipe, Mel had to explain it again. But now, this was not the case. Mel saw that those ten people had already begun to prepare the second recipe without asking him to repeat his words.
“Are you surprised, Human? Do you think only you know some tricks?”
The young boy’s lips did not move. But inside his mind, he asked himselfwhat is going on here’.
“This is called the Blessing of the Forest! For a period of one day, these children will remember whatever is said, learn whatever is told, and will not forget whatever they did!”
Mel softly said ‘thank you’! The Spirit of the Forest had intervened and assisted in the most critical moment.
That night, eleven people worked until the first lights of the morning. Sometimes they laughed, sometimes they sweated in distress, but an hour before the exam, they finished learning all those recipes.
“We have to hit the road or we’ll be late!”
They returned without any trouble, just like they left the settlement. Mel addressed his friends for the last time when they came out of the forest.
“Do not try again what we did tonight! The outer forest has pitied us tonight, but we don’t know what will happen tomorrow!”
When they came to the gate on the natural walls that surrounded the settlement, a guard ordered them to stop.
“Sir, we are the participants of the Plant Department, and these are our badges.”
The guard began to shout when the children showed their badges that were used to get in and out of the settlement.
“Hey, run! The kids who went to the forest yesterday are back!”
A dozen guards rushed towards them. They had angry gazes.
“We heard from your friends. How can you do such a reckless act?”
The guard, who stepped forward, raised his voice. Obviously, they were planning to look for the kids in the morning.
“Brother Guard, you are right to be angry. But we did not enter the forest!”
Mel took the initiative to speak while the others were watching.
“Well, what have you done for so many hours?”
The man seemed not to give this issue up as a bad job. But meanwhile, time was running.
“We dared to do this at first, but when we came to the entrance of the forest, we got afraid and came back. We couldn’t get into the settlement because we were afraid of our friends’ teasing. In a place close to the walls, we snuggled up to each other until the morning!”
The man looked at Mel first and then the others. The possibility of Mel’s words made more sense than the possibility of these kids spending the night in the forest.
“Come in quickly! But I don’t want to hear you doing such silly things again.”
When the words they expected had come, the children started running at full speed.
Meanwhile, the atmosphere in the place where the Plant Department Exam was going to be held was tense.
“Last five minutes. Lock the doors when the time is up!”
When Young Master Louise gave orders to the guards waiting at the entrance of the building, Grumpy Hanry jumped from his seat.
“There is always ten minutes of delay margin for extreme conditions! The doors won’t be closed before fifteen minutes!”
An outside voice rose as the two Masters came face to face.
“We have come!”
Mel in the front and ten other children following him burst into the building in a cold sweat. Their hair was messy, their eyes were swollen with insomnia, but their faces were smiling.
“Where have you been, brat? Will you make me have a heart attack?”
As Mel took his place, he glanced at those more than thirty children who didn’t come with them. They had missed so many things. But there was not much to do about it. Sometimes life takes us to the exit, pretending like dragging us down a dead end. It is important not to resist the current, but to leave yourself into it.
Today, there were radical changes in the way they were going to sit. Tables were removed and cabin-like structures were put.
“Everybody should take their place!”
Louise Gloove shouted at the children who were still standing!
“Your cabins include all the items written on the list! We want you to process these items and turn them into a blend!”
Mel understood why the other children were upset. The ingredients had to be processed, and for those who had read the recipes only from the book, it was very difficult to achieve.
“1 point will be given for all three recipes and those who complete 30 recipes will get 10 full points. Your time is two hours, you can start!”
Following the order of Young Master Louise Gloove, Mel glanced around before starting to make the recipes. It was such a coincidence that another pair of eyes was doing exactly what he was doing.
