One of my favourite things is tromping around in the wilderness. The place in this photo is part of the reason why. At the end of a narrow and winding path a short walk off the main road through Eskdale you will find this little grotto. Well, once upon a time. Since the first time we visited the area the path leading to the falls has been closed. Given the scramble at the end to reach the pool I’ve never tried pushing my luck to see if we could actually make it through. I choose life.
I will make it back one day. It’s a beautiful spot and my picture doesn’t do it justice. To compensate for not being able to get there, I’ll make up some fanciful nonsense instead. If the path was open, I’d probably write something else. No amount of made up magic can stand up to the peaceful seclusion of the real thing. Still: beggars and choosers.
I nearly stumbled, climbing on to the rock that would allow me to see over the scree slope before me. Fool that I am, I glanced down, back the way I’d come. Falling from here would be painful at best. At worst, let’s just say I wouldn’t be in a position to complain about it.
In my life, risk is something I’ve always avoided if at all possible. Finding myself in this precarious position would have seemed highly unlikely just a few short weeks ago. It’s amazing how fast things can change.
As I straightened up fatigue nearly finished the job that my stumble had failed. It had been a long hike to get this far. Despite the lightness of my depleted pack its mass cut into my weary shoulders. I was glad of that, in a way. I’m not much of a forager. The last time I ate wild food I was sick for a week. By my reckoning there was easily enough food in my bag to get me home. By the feel of its weight on my shoulders it must have held a year’s supply of meals.
At last I turned my gaze past the latest obstacle and saw my goal. A stream of water tumbled brightly down a cliff splashing into the pool below forming iridescent ripples that sparkled in the sunlight. The impact raised a fine mist that cast a rainbow over the water like a magic gateway into another world. But it was not another world that drew me here. No, it was the consequences of living in this one that held my interest.
I scrambled down the far side of the rock-heap, barking both shins several times before I made it to the pool’s edge. From there I could feel its power. Even I, the person least sensitive to magic that I’d ever known. An electric tension in the air that promised change. It was then that my nerves deserted me, though only for a moment. The silent stillness seemed somehow sacred. Within the ring of cliffs even birdsong had fallen silent, although the forest had resounded with it at the top of the rocks where I’d climbed down. Disturbing anything seemed sacrilege.
My hand trembled a finger’s span above the pool’s surface. In that moment I almost left without my prize. But there was no turning back. It wasn’t a matter of ‘after what I’ve been through’. Had this all been merely for my own benefit I would have abandoned my path days ago. Legend held that these waters could cure any ill and I needed that now. Oh how desperately did I need that. If the legends were true.
If! Though doubt had been my companion every step of the way, she had deserted me now. In that place there was no question. I dipped my hand then placed a single drop of water on my tongue. The tight electric sensation flooded through me drowning every other sense.
When I could see again the scrapes and cuts and bruises on my legs were gone. Not healed. Not exactly. Rather as if they had never been there at all.
My fingers shook as I fumbled my bag open. I pulled out a set of small glass bottles and unwrapped their felt coverings. One after another I filled them from the pool. I hesitated after the fourth. Not knowing the power here I’d brought eight bottles – all I could muster before I set out. I saw now that filling them all would be a vile disrespect. That would be healing enough for two lifetimes of everyone I knew. What could I do with all that? Profit, one way or the other. Either in money or influence. It was a necessary consequence of holding such power. No. Even if I tried to do only good with it: give it all away to the neediest cases. Who was I to decide such things as who else should benefit? I would take no more than I needed and not deplete this magical place with my greed.
I stoppered my bottles and carefully stored them in my bag. Without another look I turned my back on that most enchanted place and returned to the people I loved.
Brandon Lim 