part 13

When Mary was finding a place in the basket on Regn's arm to fit a purple mushroom like a small frisbee, Regn moved at last, "PERFECT".

They went back to the hot, glowing hole in the floor, where Wong was still asleep. Regn put the basket down and swirled her hand in the air. The circle of mist she made became solid, a wide silvery plate. Mary helped cut the cool, firm mushrooms up on it, till they were like tiles ready to be made into a mosaic. Wong was still asleep. Yordi came then with a big pot, like a witch's cauldron but shiny as if it had just been made. Mary looked in, and saw some green stuff, but no meat. Regn tipped in the mushrooms, then took Mary's knife and it smoothed back into her hand as if it had never been. Then she made a lid which started dripping as soon as it went on the pot. Mary wondered what they were going to eat with if everything Regn made melted, but when there was a splash as the lid fell in, Yordi pushed  his hand deep into the floor and pulled out a big spoon, like the one Mary's Mum used for cooking, only this one was metal, new as the pot. He breathed on it then polished it on his mossy jumper, then he held it out to Mary, "YOU'RE IN CHARGE OF STIRRING, EARWIG" She had to hold  it in both hands to push it round the stew mixture. Soon a yummy smell uncurled.

A low down bit of wall crumbled and Kony's face poked out, her nose twitching, "Stew's ready, Mum!"  Another, bigger rabbit looked out, saw Mary and was gone again. "It's ok Mum, she's not a real Hoom" 

"Yes, I am" 

Kony frowned, "No, you're not, real Hooms are bad. They took Bramble and Dawn and Dyllon" Kony's mum peeked out to look at Mary again. Her eyes were so sad, and scared of her. Mary didn't want to make anyone else feel like that and smiled, trying to look as friendly as she could. Kony's Mum's nose twitched, then she hopped slowly into the cave to sit beside Yordi, who stroked her gently with one great finger. Kony jumped out, too "Yay!" and raced round and round before settling with her Mum 

Wong sighed and rolled over but didn't wake up. Yordi took her spoon and tasted the stew. Mary went all stiff but, "MMMMMM, GOOD JOB! I'LL GET THE SPOONS,  SEE IF YOU CAN FIND SOME BOWLS" She watched him pull the first silver spoon out of the floor, the dry sand running off till it was shiney clean, then she sunk her hands deep into the soft, warm grains. It was strange not being able to see what she wanted, she had to weave her hands about inside the golden floor, then she felt an edge, her fingers slipped into a curve, she gripped, pulled out her first bowl. It was copper, with silver mushrooms pictures sparkling round the edge. Wong was still asleep. Mary proudly tipped out the sand and set it down carefully to look for another. There were six, all different sizes, the last one was the biggest and deep down so she had to dig with both hands to find it, and fell backwards heaving it out in a big wave of sand. 

Wong woke up, yawned and stretched and padded over to the steaming stew pot, "Hurry up, I'm hungry!"

"THANK YOU MARY!" Regn picked up the smallest bowl, and filled it with stew. The wonderful smell got stronger. Mary wanted to see what her cooking looked like but as soon as Regn put the bowl on the ground beside Konya the rabbit bent over it huffing and puffing to cool her food down.

Wong sniffed, standing on his back legs, trying to see into the stew pot, then trotted over to the bowls and stood by the biggest one, "Me now!"  Regn smiled and picked up the biggest bowl, but when she'd filled it, gave it to Yordi who didn't eat, waiting for everyone to be ready.   Wong put his front paws up on Yordi's lap, and looked up hopefully, but Yord's hand was too high for him to reach, or Mary to see the stew. Regn filled another bowl. "Me now?" Wong asked hopefully, but Regn came towards Mary. Wong's eyes grew so big and dark and sad that without thinking when Regn got close Mary pointed at Wong, so Regn put the bowl down infront of him and at once it was hidden by his furry head. Mary smiled as he lapped and purred at the same time

Kony looked up, "My Mum next!" Regn looked at Mary with her eyebrows up, and Mary nodded. Though she hadn't even eaten anything yet, this was the best meal she had had for a long long time, this was not her family, but she felt welcome, part of it.

Then it was Mary's turn. She took the pretty copper bowl carefully from Regn's long grey fingers. "Thankyou"  It was hot, but not too hot, heavy and smooth, and there was a silver spoon handle sticking out of the stew. The mushrooms had gone darker and mixed together but it smelled of all the colours she had made with her sounds, as if they had gone into that instead.

Regn sat beside Yordi, with her own bowlful, she smiled at Mary, and Yordi smiled at her, too, "YOUR FRIEND IS RIGHT, YOU ARE NOT LIKE OTHER HOOMS. NOW, WE ARE FRIENDS TOO"

Mary's heart went boom boom. She didn't know what to say. Wong looked up, there was gravy on his whiskers, "Can I have your stew?"

Quickly she picked up her spoon and tasted the stew. Rich, intense, meaty, earthy, nutty,savoury, a tiny bit lemony? a tiny bit sweet, warm, peppery, like the sea but not too salty, cinnamon? satisfying, wild taste! FIRM, CHEWY, SILKY, SMOOTH, CREAMY, COATING TONGUE, JUICY, She hadn't known so many flavours could be in one mouthful one after the other and all at the same time. She had another spoonful, and another, felt stronger, taller,  braver. "IF YOU WANT SOME MORE, THERE'S PLENTY IN THE POT" Yordi carried it round and everyone had another helping, some (Wong) had another three. 

Kony asked Yordi for a story, but he turned to Mary and Wong, "MMMM, HOW ABOUT YOUR STORY?" Kony cuddled up ready, but Mary's eyes kept shutting, and without knowing she was, she sank down till her head rested beside the rabbit's soft fur. "AH!" Yordi smiled and patted the floor, and a  cushion of moss grew up under them all. He looked at Wong "WOULD YOU TELL IT?"

Mary went to sleep hearing "This is a story about a very brave cat..." Wong's shadow waving shadow paws and jumping on the cave wall behind.

She woke up hearing a raspy noise. There was something heavy and warm on Mary's legs. Wong, like a bridge, getting higher and lower as he breathed. In the cave's purple light she looked round sleepily and saw Yordi making a doorway in the rock wall as if he was rubbing it out. . Much brighter, sunshine poured in and the sound of a robin,singing. Regn shimmered  with rainbows as she went through, then the light was blocked as Yordi followed. 

Mary wriggled and Wong did a very loud snore and opened his eyes,"You're quite a good cushion, but a bit boney". He poked something sticking up with his paw. Mary didn't think it was her, and felt under her clothes, pulling out the wand, "That's better!" Wong settled back down and started snoring again at once.

Koney called "We're going to look for breakfast!" and she and her Mum hopped out, too.

Wong opened his eyes, "You know when you're asleep and it's like a message is trying to get through?  Must be important, we can't lie about here all day" He rolled over and fell off, got up, stretched out his front legs very straight one way, then his back legs, then his tail, and twiddled all his toes, "I wonder what it was?" He moved towards the door and tripped over, "OOf! What did you leave your legs there for?" He got back up, shifted from paw to paw, in a hurry for Mary to get up, "Come on!" Mary followed as he trotted into the sunlight

It took a while to get used to the brightness.

On the other side of the door was a garden. In the garden were no neat rows, but like a crowd at a fair, vegetable plants and fruit and flowers grew all mixed together. It was a  tangle of shapes and colours and squiggly tendrils . Round orangey red tomatoes; long dark green stripey courgettes; tall stalks bobbly with brussel sprouts, climbing, clinging, curling arches dangling with green french bean fringes; towering sunflowers turned to the light with bright yellow petals round their black middles; leeks straight as exclamation marks and  strawberries everywhere, glowing rich ripe red. There were apple trees trees with branches arcing down, heavy with round fruit; red currants with light shining through hung like clusters of jewels, and raspberries' warm pinks hid among white backed leaves. There were dark, dark purple blackberries on arching brambles and a tree hanging with golden plums, and one with pears

And there were so many smells! Blue star shaped borage flowers and purple sage, feathery fennel smelled so strong Mary thought she could almost see it, furry mint leaves, crinkly bright green parsley, spikey chives with frizzy purple pom pom tops.

Everywhere she looked there were plants growing as if they were excited to be alive. Though it was early there were stripey golden and black bumblebees buzzing greedily.on flowers sparkliing with dew, and butterflies danced about in the air, with colourful wings flickering.. Over to one side of pale blue sky pink clouds like rose petals  and the sun was only just peeping up over the hedge  They were high up because there was nothing after the hedge till some tree tops much further away.

The robin stood on Yordi's head and watched Mary with bright, clever eyes, and Regn! Mary gasped, there were so many butterflies round her head it was as if she wore a flying crown of brown, orange, pale yellow, clear sky blue, emperor purple splodges, pale speckles, peacock blue shimmers.

Kony was sticking her head out of Yordi's trouser pocket, chomping happily on a clean, orange carrot with a frizz of green leaves brushing Wong's head, but he didn't seem to mind, and was turning round slowly, sniffing, then he bounded off along a thin stone path through the plants. Mary followed, her legs getting wet with dew which made the leaves look like they were sprinkled with shining diamonds. Everywhere sparkled.

Mary heard him before she reached where he was, rolling about in a plant with white flowers. "What is this? It smells so good! Ah! Ooooh! Oh, that bit, yes!" He looked like he was having a lovely time. Mary bent to smell it, but got out of the way quickly as Wong got up only to throw himself back into the clump, like a wrestler. 

Mary wondered what she should do, till Regn called, "EAT WHATEVER YOU LIKE, MARY!" There was a cool green wave of squiggly plants flopping over the path with pods like green lips. Mary twisted one off a curly stem and squeezed the edges, pop splitting it open on one side to show a row of peas, small ones at the corners and green pearls in the middle. She pulled the biggest one off its tiny stalk; smooth and firm,  and bit crunch, sweet juice burst out. It was fun pulling the peas out one by one,  and each tasted fresh and sugary. Not sure what to do with the empty pod she thought the plant should keep it and tucked it under the lowest leaves.

When she'd had enough of those, Mary remembered there were strawberries, and pushed through the different shaped leaves and stalks, some much  taller than she was with what ooked like tight wrapped green parcels with yellow hair coming out of the tops. When she saw big red berries by the path Mary knelt down. This part of the garden was much warmer now and the smell of strawberries came up to meet her. But when she picked the nearest strawberry, it was half eaten! She heard a rustling in the strawberry leaves and a blackbird poked their head up, with big shining round brown eyes looking surprised to find company, then nodded and chirrupped a welcoming "Hullooo". Mary smiled and held out the red fruit as far as she could and the blackbird bounced forwards and grabbed it with their bright orange beak and flew off. Maybe there was a nest of baby blackbirds who liked strawberries, nearby, Mary thought, as she bit into a strawberry of her own, whole and warm and dark red. The best one she had ever tasted. She had another one, so yummy!  wiping juice off her chin.

The garden had lots of sounds, bees and chirping of birds she hadn't seen yet, Wong rustling and tumbling just over there, Kony talking a bit further away. The air beside her tingled and got brighter and Mary had to shut her eyes, and when she opened them again, Regn was there, sparkling with rainbows from dew drops all over her green dress and hair. She touched the nearest leaves with her fingers and they grew bigger, bright green, buds swelled, some burst open into glowing orange flowers. Regn looked  over where Wong was. She didn't seem to walk but somehow  was beside him. Mary rushed after, worrying, "Um, I'm sorry, I think one of your plants might be a bit squashed" They looked down at Wong lying on his back smiling on a flattened green mush where stalks and leaves and flowers had been.

Instead of being cross, the tall, grey lady laughed, "IT IS CALLED CATARIA BECAUSE IT GROWS SPECIALLY FOR CATS"

Wong wriggled happily, "I am a specialicat"

Something changed. Was it colder? Regn was different. Mary looked round, all the bees and butterflies had gone. There was no sound. Then from the hedge, the blackbird's scared "CHING, CHING, CHING, CHING" Regn scooped Wong up in one hand, "COME!" and reached out her arm, Mary held on and was swung up onto Regn's shoulder. The plants whizzed by and they were at the hedge, with Yordi, looking out