We'll detail things a bit more here....

From Tom's memories, I recall that the language barrier was a challenge, at least with the pixie he conversed with.  I use my telepathy, along with tapping into their language centers, to converse as necessary.  And even for those without a language barrier, I use telepathy to ask :: 'Peace be unto you', friend.  Do you prefer to converse by thought, or by speech? ::, and use telepathy to hear their replies.  (That way, I get to experience, at least briefly, touching minds with these creatures. :)

Do I recognize any of the creatures from Tom's memories?  Do I meet with the pixie Tom met, who needed a particular gem to wed his dearest heart?  Do I meet Stefan, or any of the other brownies Tom met?  If so, I tell them I am a friend of his.  I don't recall Tom meeting any sylphs, so I get to know them from scratch.

Are there any in need of any type of aid or gift?

I gladly exchange songs and/or stories and/or speech and/or thoughts with any of goodwill who are interested, and would be most happy to make some new friends.

If there are items available for sale or barter (or as gifts :), I am particularly interested in:

(*) a water container that can supply its own water
(*) a food container that can supply its own food
(*) musical instruments (such as a celtic harp which always stays in tune, with strings that never break :)
(*) items that enable the user to shapeshift
(*) a container (backpack?) that has any/all of the following properties
(**) externally small, but large internal space/capacity
(**) externally light, even if full of heavy items
(**) able to stow or retrieve objects instantly by thought, somewhat like Tom's scabbard

And for all the different groups I meet, I share the tale of Tom's Quest, using the same parameters that I have understood from Tom regarding the need, the risks, the potential, and the requirements, and see if there are any who wish to join...

On the fourth day, you saw sylphs...

...snip...

You see the sylph floating in the air, a vaguely human-like shape. What do you do?

Brownies...well, you find your shoes one morning are more than perfectly repaired, and a cute fellow about the size of a basketball darts out from under your bed, and is out the door in a jif.

On the fourth day, you saw sylphs, and your shoe got repaired better than average by a basketball sized brownie.

Did you leave a gift for the brownie the next day?

At Lady Morrigan's on the fourth morn, you wake and stretch your thoughts out toward the brownie.  This is the first time you've seen a brownie as so far you haven't left Morrigan's garden or house yet.

It stops, and turns to you.

"Whisperer."

You speak of Stefan, and he allows that he, Mack, is a third cousin.

In his thoughts is a worry about a rabid badger.  He plans on going to talk to the Elven Forester responsible for the area for help later today.

Later that day you mindspeak a sylph.

*It is hard for us to shape the magic to make the air sing.* It replies. *For what purpose do you detain me, Human?*

PT

An hour further on, you come to a collection of four, no ten, no twenty, you're not really sure, how many little houses tucked around the roots of the trees, dangling from branches, tucked in little ripples of ground. A tiny little man with dark blue breeches, bright green shirt, pointed ears, and pointed hair sticking out all over opens the nearest door and walks up to you.

"Well met, trader. I'm Stefan of the Brownies, and since the road led you to us, it must mean you have herbs for sale. I assume you're Human from your looks. If you're not I apologize. We have some very good root we make into a tasty drink here, and some medicinal fungi and mushroom. And of course, the best crocheting this side of Auriador. Come share some cheese and strawberry juice with me."

You speak of Stefan, and he allows that he, Mack, is a third cousin.

You've offended the brownie.

"We do not trade." Stefan snaps, and vanishes from your sight. Either he moved very fast, or he simply vanished.

You met the sylph walking through the forrest at a sunlit wide spot on the trail.

It begins to speak in your mind, and after a while you realize it is no story, no hero. It is simply a description of a place.  So finely detailed, so lovingly phrased, so lyrical the words that you can see the morning robin, the bending willow trees, hear the tinkling of the fish leaping in the pool....and then there is another word picture of another place...and another...until finally your mind is surfeit with poetic images.

*We do not Quest. We See. The World is as the World is. It is not our place to change it.*

You stare in shock. This makes little sense from them being willing to trade with Tom. But then it occurs to you that they might be willing to trade in some things, but in the things more important to them, they do not trade, or at least not openly.

Tom had discussed how he offered to help, but he had not made a trade with his help with the dam. Instead, it had been the passing of mutual gifts.

OOC: In myths, the one sure way to get rid of brownies helping you was to offer to pay them.

*Of course.* The sylph replies, and begins to speak again of watching the moon rise over the trees, of the sound of the first raindrops hitting the hot ground, of what a branch looks like as it tumbles from a tree...

Soon your mind is full again.

*We see the World and how it changes. You do not change. Even Terracuyl changes. Explain.*

"To trade, or to offer payment for something truly important to a Brownie is to say that you value the coin above the heart. Now in truth, the Brownies are not as idealistic as all that, but they want to be that way, and sometimes they manage, and other times they indulge in a little hypocrisy." The Lady Morrigan says. "I can't really tell you what to do because if I do it might lend a note of falseness and thats the last thing you want at this moment."

*You have given us more than we gave you.* Suddenly there are dozens of sylphs floating around you. *We too worship the Creator, and the Guardians He sent to watch over us. Your world has much of beauty, but it also has much of surpassing ugliness. We fear that no one in this forrest can find your home. The Multiverse is vast beyond your realizing.*

Suddenly you see in your mind a billion billion worlds, and all of them look like home.

*We are sorrowful to show you this, but it is the truth that we have.*