Hewy, Sprout and the Petal Post

Hewy pondered about all that he had heard from Nemmer as they had shared a meal at one of the local pubs.  "A Dragon on the loose," he mumbled to himself.  "It has been a very long time since one of them have been seen."  Nemmer had left to continue the search telling Hewy as he departed that if Hewy was still hungry, and if THE CAT showed up, he could eat him if he wished.  "UGH!  How revolting..." Hewy thought, but since Nemmer was smiling as he said it, decided that he must have just been kidding.

Again, realizing that he still did not have any music for the festival written, Hewy continued wandering around the village for an inspiration.  Occasionally he just stopped and listened to youngsters singing or the sounds being made by those still preparing for the celebration.  Normally the sounds of each day would inspire his melodies, but for some reason, today it was not.

​As he was about to leave the village and see if that elusive inspiration was hiding somewhere else, a large magpie swooped from the sky and landed near his feet.  As Hewy looked at the bird, it appeared to be staring back at him!  "How strange," Hewy thought.  "It is carrying something in it's beak.  It looks like a big flower."

The magpie appeared to Hewy to have decided something as it hopped closer to Hewy's feet and dropped the flower before flying away.  Picking up the flower, Hewy noticed that it had strange markings on it's petals.  "I have never seen that before," he thought.  "I wonder what they are for?"  Not knowing what to do with it, he decided to take it with him.  "Maybe," he decided, "it will help me to find my musical inspiration today since it certainly is hiding."

Again, Hewy started on his way out of the village on one of the many well used pathways, when he saw Sprout carrying one of the biggest muffins he had ever seen.  "Good afternoon Sprout.  What's with the giant muffin?"

Sprout smiled at Hewy, telling him that for the May Fair the bakers at the Sugar Plum Bakery had made a special muffin just for him.  "I just need to eat it before going home to mom," he laughed,  "or she won't think I will be hungry for dinner."

Hewy just shook his head, wondering how this young stripling kept so slim with all of the food he ate.

​"Oh, I see that you got a Petal Post.  My mom gets those too," Sprout said as he broke off a piece of the muffin and stuffed it into his mouth.

"You know what this is?"

Having to swallow before he could answer Hewy's question, Sprout continued, "It's a Petal Post from the Sleeping Sisters.  Mom, Efem, and Cornelia talk about them all of the time.  Must be about something important cause that seems to be the only time a petal post shows up."

Now Hewy was really intrigued.  Could it be a note from Awena?  She did leave to become a Sleeping Sister after all.  "Do you think your mother can read the strange markings?" Sprout only nodded because he had another large chunk of muffin already in his mouth.

And with a nod, Hewy decided that today's music writing would have wait.  He had to know what the Petal Post said and if the message was truly for him.  "Will you take me to your mother?" he asked Sprout.

"Sure.  I should be able to have the muffin gone long before we get there and if we start now, we could be in time for dinner!" Sprout replied as he started to eat another piece of the rapidly shrinking muffin.