One evening, while Thom is away to see the King of the White Foam, Betula makes her umpteenth attempt to speak to Grandfather Oak. Tired, both from the repeated futile attempts and some sleepless nights with her baby, she is getting desperate and tries to try something new.
The others¹ are watching from the other side of the glade, as they look after the baby. Suddenly a breeze passes by with a heavy smell of birch pollen. As Betula hugs the bit Oak, it suddenly engulfs her. Getting to their feet to look, there is absolutely no sign of her at all. Only the big Oak.
Betula feels her magic getting out of control, and it must be provoking some ancient and hidden magic in the tree, but the big tree seems to return her embrace and ...
... she takes to warping points² and can start rolling twilight dice.
¹ ... whoever is available to play there character at this point, but possibly most likely Sionag
² as suggested on discord, this is fiat and responding to player wishes. It could be justified with an extra botch die due to fatigue, if not some yet undefined hidden magic trap. Point is, it does not matter.
[2 Warping points gained going into Twilight. Twilight Totals: Chose not to resist. Comprehension: 18 vs 3, Comprehended. Twilight Time: 15 vs 3, time reduced. Lasts but a moment. Additional warping Points gained: 5 (7 total)]
I am going to let the twilight, to the outer world, last long enough for the others to be concerned. To Betula, the twilight may stell feel like a life time, as it is independent of outside time.
Betula falls down through a hollow tree trunk. That's her first sensation anyway, but on second thought, tree trunks are not usually hundreds of paces long. She does not notice any landing, but suddenly she finds herself in a kind of cavern, with a strong smell of fermenting sap. Light is dim, like on rainful day, just without the rain.
A battle-scarred man steps out of the shadows. He carries a long-sword in his belt, and a golden sickle in his hand. «Who are you? And what are you doing in my dream?» asks he with a firm barytone voice.
"I am Betula of Criamon," she answers, "and I do not know how I got here. One moment I was embracing the Grandfather Oak, attempting to commune with it and the next I was falling and ended up here. Who are you, dreaming in a tree?" A hint of awe in her voice at the last phrase.
«Criamon,» he grunts. «You can call me Cumhall. In what year did you ... euh ... try to commune, as you put it.» Cumhall tilts his hand, looking concerned.
"It is the summer of the year one thousand and fourteen as The Christian Church counts the years. I am led to believe that you have been... Um, dreaming for quite some time?"
«Oh. I thought it was longer.» He smiles, and asks pensively, «are you still making war? Most of Criamon's house left the country as far as I understood.»
"Yes, I left with my Master, Vineus, before the fighting reached us and I returned to these lands just last year following a sign that I should return and help heal the lands of my childhood. The Diedne are defeated or nearly so... some of my sodales are still looking for those who might be left. You are much more well informed than I would suspect you would be, dreaming in this cave as you are."
«I-I was afraid so. By your account I have not been here more than a year and a half,» says Cumhall, «and I expect to sleep a lot longer, but I wonder what comes of you. You came by accident!? That's highly unprecedented, and I do not know what that may cause.
«Are you sure that all of the Diedne are dead, already? I know that there were few left the Winter before last, but some, I would have thought, have holed up in wait for better times. How would you know?»
"Perhaps... Perhaps there are some Diedne left alive, I do not know and I am unsure how long they might survive. Unless they mean to attack me or my goal of repairing this fractured land then it does not bother me much if there are Diedne left. Where are we Cumhall? You seem surprised that I entered 'accidentally.'" Betula begins examining their surroundings more closely while continuing to have this discussion with Cumhall.
«Time will tell, I suppose, and much may change when we return. I cannot say were we are. Some have spoken of a twilight void, and that could be it. I am pretty sure it is neither Heaven nor Hell, nor Arcadia for that matter, and it most certainly is not the mundane Earth. It is one of those mysteries of life. Where do spirits go when bodies are temporarily out of action? Criamon used to study this question, did you not?»
"We did. Some of us still do study those questions but it is not my path... at least it is not yet my path. I have heard no news though that those who study these questions have solved The Enigma though the asking may bear fruit. Fruit of knowledge... Did Lise help you get here?"
"I would not say that I know her but that I have become acquainted with her. Here in this grove in fact. Well, not this cave but the grove with Grandfather Oak, where I came from. Perhaps you can show me about this strange place. Where do you find food and water?"
«There is nothing here but what you see. Food and water ... or time ... means nothing. The Old Oak, Grandfather Oak I suppose, may be our only anchor to any physical world.» He pauses briefly before he excuses himself. «I should not speak for you. Not knowing how you got hear, I don't know what your link is ... if any.»
All she see is dim shadows. The view does not change going walk-about, and behind her shoulder, Cumhall is watching with curious surprise, standing perfectly still.
Comprehending the twilight, Betula realises that space is as meaningless as time, and she can walk, but movement is an illusion.