Written for Steemit: Purgatory - Life is an adventure and no one is ever certain what it is about or what will be faced, or in this case learned ©Jeff Kubitz 2017 - All Rights Reserved.

Vestas, Chapter 1.6 of Purgatory

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Carol and Vestas stood next to the pool on top of the mountain that would be their new home for awhile, when after drinking the water from the pool, Vestas changed, shape shifted.

"Ha ha, you are being very funny!" Carol laughed.

"What has happened?" Vestas asked calmly.

"This is quite a lesson, how did you do that?"

"I did not do anything. I am still standing waiting to see if something happens."

"Are you being serious? This is not a lesson?"

"No we haven't started a lesson yet, has something happened?"

Carol screamed, "Oh my God! I don't know what you are, one of those reptile horses maybe? Look at yourself in the pool."

Vestas looked at himself in the pool, "Oh shit. I wonder how long this will last, hopefully not forever."

"My hand, it is changing!" Carol screamed horrified.

"No, all of you changed and it seems you are now one of those Kror and I am your reptile horse."

"I can't breathe!" Carol exclaimed. "It is like I am out of breath. I can't stand up."

"Get on my back before you fall asleep." Vestas walked over to Carol and placed his side next to her and kneeled down, so she could mount him.

"You are so chivalrous. I have always wanted to mount my lover." She said climbing onto Vestas' back. "I...yawn."

Vestas felt her collapse asleep on his back. "I am going to step on a bird. Where is that Cawra? Wonder if I can just slip right up next to her? No, I had better not. I think I know how that host got down there and where they came from." Vestas decided to walk over to the tree he saw Cawra fly into. Because Carol was asleep on his back, he had to walk carefully to keep her balanced so she would not fall off. He was not used to walking on all fours so he had to walk very slowly. Eventually, he made it to the tree Cawra flew into. "Cawra!" Vestas yelled and it was the strangest noise that came out of his mouth when he yelled, very high pitched and warbled like a dog whistle maybe.

"Yes, who is there?" Cawra asked.

"You know very well who it is." Vestas said loudly.

"Oh so you did drink the water, how nice."

"Nice? Why is it so nice?" Vestas asked loudly.

"I can hear you fine but I like people who are very nice and polite." Cawra said from her tree, very high up in the branches of a mighty hemlock.

"You said the water was safe to drink," Vestas stated.

"It is safe for me and you do feel fine after drinking it don't you? So, the water is safe for you, too. I told no lies." Cawra then laughed loudly or it was more like a witch's heinous cackle.

"But we said we would obey all the rules and we did, so why not help us instead of turning us into this, you could have warned us, been nice?"

"People say and promise all sorts of things to birds and animals and their word is about as good as...do you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Vestas listened. He heard what sounded like the distant crashing of something moving through the brush on the forest floor.

"Yelling with your shrill voice, the lions, the wolves, and the bears are very much angered by that! You should have been nice and polite. By yelling while you are a Groot, you broke one of the rules." Cawra answered then cackled again with laughter. "You had better flee before the lions, the wolves, and the bears arrive or they will...eat you and your friend. A path lies that way." Cawra pointed with her right wing in a direction to the left of Vestas. "It will safely take you off the mountain and out of my forest. Good day!"

"I will apologize to the lions, wolves, and bears and be very nice and polite once they arrive, our dear friend, Mrs. Cawra." Vestas continued, "And I will tell them we were unawares my lovely blue jay and had no intention of angering them or violating a rule."

"It won't help. They are not forgiving. They heard your voice from far away. Hear them come? When they are close, anything you say will have the same effect on them. I am doing you a favor by showing you a safe way out before they arrive." Cawra laughed. "You will be gone soon, one way or the other."

"How long does this last my beautiful, lovely, dear friend Mrs. Cawra?"

"I must admit, for what has occurred you are still very kind and quite complimentary, completely unusual behavior."

"Dear sweet, tree angel, with a voice like honey, plumage of the brightest pristine blue, Mrs. Cawra, how long does it last?"

"I know you are trying to trick me Vestas."

"No, I am making the attempt to ascend out of here like I have witnessed so many do after living here for so very long and am not tricking you, Mrs. Cawra, as for my friend, now a Kror, I shall order her to behave and act nicely if she awakes."

The hemlock spoke, "Adela, don't you say another word to him nor to her."

"Yes dear," Cawra addressed the tree and the focused on
Vestas, "You see, my husband has forbid me to say anything to you and so you must be on your way."

"Yes, and if we leave, we will be like the others who have never, or perhaps can never change back. My what a handsome full, robust husband you have Mrs. Cawra and you are indeed a perfect match, much like Carol and myself, new to a relationship because she just arrived a little bit ago. We had hoped for a long, loving relationship but...it is so sad."

"Why you can still love each other." Mr. Cawra said. The sound of the approaching predators grew louder. Vestas estimated they were no more than a mile away and that there must be a whole army of them. "The effect of a pool doesn't change a thing for true love." Again, Mrs. Cawra cackled.

"Yes, oh beautiful ornament of a stately, staunch, loving protective tree, Mr. Cawra?"

"Yes?" Mr. Cawra answered.

"You are one of the most protective spouses I have ever met." Vestas said.

"Why thank you, but even so, you had better move along, every time you say something the lions, the wolves, and the bears become angrier and should they arrive to find a Groot, like yourself." Mr. Cawra paused, "Neither my loving wife nor I should be forced to watch something like that. We do not like gruesome entertainment, do we Adela?"

"Of course not, we prefer our peaceful life alone and untouched here in the forest, now shoo! Or you will be ripped to pieces."

"If you loved that woman you should run away and save her, otherwise - horrible to watch indeed." Mr. Cawra advised.

"You like it an untouched existence?" Vestas asked.

"I never said that, I touch my husband all day long and he touches me all day long, except when I drink."

"Now run along, hurry."

Vestas thought to himself, the predators were ever so close, maybe he should bolt in the direction Mrs. Cawra showed, and then she had lied to him all along. He might come to the edge of a cliff and be trapped but there was no other sure, safe way with the lions, wolves, and bears approaching from all directions opposite the pool. Before he would leave though Vestas decided to try one thing.

He walked forward to the tree, Mr. Cawra, and both the husband and wife began to scream,
"Get back! Don't you dare come any closer! Run away and save your love. Go away and leave us now!" The jay and the hemlock screamed, ranted, yelled.

Vestas reached the trunk of the tree and touched the bark with his nose. Immediately, the gigantic hemlock roared with a huge bellow of anger!

"What have you done to my husband?!" Mrs. Cawra screamed over and over as she flew toward the ground, toward Vestas and Carol.

The hemlock ceased its shout, "Adela No!"

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