Week Three - Task #09. - "Lithy Pool"

[Prof. Sindor Aloyarc]

Up in the sky there’s some kind of a winged dinosaur-type thing darting straight in your direction.

The witch’s pet!

Like those nightmares of being chased where you’re moving in slow motion, unable to run away, you frantically try kicking a path forward as quickly as possible, but there’s no point. Before you know it you’re being picked up in a large set of talons and flown through a frigid breaze to the very top of the mountain.

Trying to convince yourself this is a blessing in disguise, however terrified of where you’re going, it is quite a relief when you’re placed down inside the tallest tower of an unexpected castle.

The prehistoric looking beast flaps off and away into the distance, leaving you alone in an empty, circular stone room with no doors and no way to climb down outside the one large window.

Minutes pass into hours as you wait for what’s to come. It isn’t until the sun has completely set that you hear a familiar voice behind you.

Turning around, there’s the Witch of Many Colors, prettier than you'd imagined, grinning aggressively in her gleeful wickedness. Fear jolts into your soul at the sight of her wild, darting eyes.

“You’re too kind to make this so easy for me,” she says. “I was expecting more of a struggle in finding you.” Then, giggling, “But there you were, out in broad daylight.” The expression on her face snaps into an angry snarl, “Ruining my snow!”

The witch’s palms raise up, pointed in your direction. She’s spitting a low rumbling of curses under her breath.

“Wait!” you say without hesitation, concerned you’re about to be attacked. “I know where the ring of kings is!”

Immediately the witch lowers her hands, offering a suspicious look.

A brief moment of shock washes over your face as an image pops into your head along with the sense of a whisper from the mountain. It occurs to you that you do actually know where the ring is!

Formulating a plan, you compose yourself and continue on, “It’s in the Lithy Pool.”

It takes the witch one startling leap forward to reach out and grasp hold of you, yanking your body close to hers. You try not to gag on the smell of her foul breath as she spits out a few raspy threats.

“You lie!” she says.

“I saw it yesterday,” you hold firmly. “While visiting Old Croak. It was glittering right there at the bottom while the early evening sun came in through the window. I could get it for you. If you like?” you toss out, casually pushing a few strands of hair away from your eyes.

You've put on a fairly convincing version of your oldest brother’s best coaxing gaze and tone. As organically as he would, you boast inwardly. These have never failed to work on people. At least the ones who don't know him very well, at any rate.

A flash of light has you dazed. Blinking rapidly and giving a shake of your head. Looking around to see that you’re standing back in the frog’s cabin by the pool.

The room is relatively dark and Old Croak is nowhere to be seen. Likely cowering behind a plant, you imagine.

“The ring!” you hear the witch’s voice coming from the empty fireplace. “Get me the ring!”

“There isn’t enough light,” you inform her.

A murmuring of spell crafting comes rumbling from the throat of the witch as light begins to flicker out from her hands, sending a faint glow across the room.

“Grab it!” she demands.

You shake your head. “That still isn’t bright enough, and I won’t be able to see with you all the way over there.”

She makes her way a few steps closer. The light gets brighter as the witch barks incantations faster and louder.

You can tell this is difficult for her, being so close to the pool. She’s sweating and seems to be getting weaker, whether due to this proximity or from working her magic. Perhaps both.

“Hurry!” the witch pleads.

“If I can’t see down to the bottom, I won’t be able to find it.”

Sputtering and visibly frightened, she takes a few more steps toward you.

“Ah-hah!” you exclaim, peering past your reflection, beneath the surface of the water. “There it is!”

Distracted from excitement, the witch comes right up to the edge of the Lithy Pool, providing you with an opportunity to jump over, getting behind her and giving one sharp, forceful push.

Task:
Post a minimum of 100 words below reflecting on your own perspective of and/or experience with covetousness by 11:59pm (HOL-time) on Monday May 31st to receive 10 beans. The Lithy Pool award is also available for completing all three tasks in week three!

[Hannah Lovegood]

One Friday morning, I woke up and jumped out of my bed. I walked into my walk-in closet and changed into a shirt with 2 axes that are crossed, ripped up black jeans, and spiky sneakers. Then, I grabbed Willow and Windy from their bunk bed. Willow and Windy are the two girls I rescued from a basilisk. I got Willow in a spring dress and tie dye Converse sneakers. I gave her a tie dye backpack with a lunchbox that clips on to it. Then, I put her phone in her backpack so that in case of emergencies she can call me. Then I put Windy in a jean dress with a Harry Potter themed backpack and I gave her Luna Converse sneakers. Then, I helped put on her smart watch. I grabbed my spiky backpack and I put my phone in my backpack and put my smart watch on my wrist. Then, we walked out of my house and I locked up my house.

I walked the girls to their school where I dropped Windy off outside with the rest of her class. Then, I walked Willow to the high school and I walked her to their advanced math classroom where I dropped her off. Then, I ran back to my muggle summer school. I went to retro class. When I was in the hallway, I heard one of the girls saying, “I want to be the most popular girl at school so I get the trophy and decide what my grade gets to be. Plus then everybody likes me. Plus the school would also buy me free clothes.” Then I went to lunch and Windy called me. She said, “I love you. I just arrived at the Harry Potter World. It's so cool.” Then, Willow called and said, “I'm done with my class. Can you come pick me up?” I said, “Yes.”

I finished up my lunch and walked down to the high school and picked her up. Then, I drove us to the Harry Potter World. We had a lot of fun. I found Windy and she was really glad to see me. Then, at 5:00, I said, “It's time to go home.” I got them in the car and drove them home.

When we got home, I put the girls in bed. First, I put Windy in a pink and blue 2-piece pajamas. I put Willow in white 2-piece pajamas with little pink hearts. I tucked them into bed. Then, I changed into a blue shirt with black leggings and black low Converse sneakers. Then, I ate some dinner. Then, I went up to my room and curled up in my bed and fell asleep.

[Maeve Madden]

As much as I don’t want to admit to it, I often have feelings of covetousness. I’ll see someone on the street that is prettier than I am or wearing better clothes, and I’ll be washed with feelings of envy. Or, I’ll be in school and overhear someone talking about their grades, better than mine, and I’ll want so badly to be them. I don’t want to feel this way; I want to be content with who I am and what I have. So, when I have feelings of covetousness, I do my best to turn that into motivation. Someone has better grades than I do? Work hard at school and get those grades for myself. Someone looks nicer than I do? Get a job and save money to buy nicer clothes. Instead of ruminating over jealousy and envy, I try to take these negative feelings and turn them into something positive in order to better myself. So far, it’s worked, and I feel less and less envious of others every day.

[Emily Spencer]

As much as I would love to take the high road and say that I've never coveted anything, that would be a blatant lie. I am human and prone to human fallibilities. While I would not go so far as to say that it's one of my major traits, there have definitely been times that I have fallen prey to the vice of covetousness. This is one such time...

I am, by nature, a rather shy person. I've been told that I come off 'cold', that I'm stuck-up, aloof, and hard to know. So needless to say, I don't tend to make friends easily at all, and even those I do have claim that I put them at arm's length (which is probably true).

My mom is the total opposite. She is outgoing, witty, and has never met a stranger. Within minutes of talking to someone, it's like they're best friends for life. She has countless stories about how popular she was in school, how she was part of the 'in' crowd, and how she was the life of the party. All things, mind you, that I have never known and will never be.

Most times, I can laugh at her stories and enjoy the time spent with her as she is telling them. But I will a dmit, that, at times, a feeling of strong envy bubbles up inside of me. I covet the personality she has and the ease that she has at being sociable. It almost chokes me as I try to hold back bitter words that I really don't ever want to say to her. The logical part of me knows she isn't doing it to rub it in my face, but my heart is all too aware of my own shortcomings, so it feels that way.

And there you have it; probably more about me than you ever wanted to know. But you did ask!

[Silvana Mandeville]

I think everyone has experienced covetousness in their life? Coming from an artistic family sometimes makes me envy my family who is better than me. I often envy my sister who can draw as good as a Mangaka since she was a kid, or my brother who is so imaginative with many things, especially with art and music. Apart from that, I also envy them for their personality. They are outgoing while I am kinda shy and awkward. But, it was years ago A talk with my sister made me realized that it wasn't only me but she was also envy me for my smart brain and how fast I can solve things Then, later I realized that humans are different and we shouldn't feel that way when we can't have what they have. Everyone has their own uniqueness. And despite what they have and what they can do, they also have certain things that they can't as well and I'm sure they also envy other people

[Aurelia West]

I think my main experiences with covetousness have been surrounding my own personality. As a child I was never outgoing enough to make friends easily and I didn't really share many interests with others my age. While I find it a little easier to start a conversation now, I definitely used to wish that I had more friends and could talk to others more easily. Even though I had a pretty steady group of friends most of my school years, as their interests came and went oftentimes I didn't feel very invested in them and to me it felt like the end of our friendship or that I was an outsider in the group. During those times, I even coveted the interests of others and wished that they meant more to me. Now I am pleased to say that I am able to disconnect a shared interest with the entirety of a friendship, and I am still friends with most of these folks, even if we may be more distant now.

[Prof. Maxim Trevelyan]

When it comes to innocuous things that I covet, I am not very good at resisting temptation and usually go for them. Surprising no one close to me, I am a sucker for some good sugary delights. I will eat anything within my reach that I adore to bits.

My SO usually had those Scottish shortbread cookies and the authentic ones too. However, I also love them and can down a box full of them in a day if I am allowed. Therefore, they learned how to keep them hidden where I could not get to them. But I knew they were in the house and coveted them really bad.

One afternoon, when the temptation got too great, I went to sniff them out. I managed to find them after an hour of looking and promptly ate half (of what was already a small amount of them). You know that feeling when you do something you know (or think) is bad, the shame? Yeah, that came in full force.

I came clean and replaced the cookies, but it was not my proudest moment.

[Iverian Gnash]

Covetousness is something that everyone experiences, and I definitely have too. It's that feeling when you see something you really want and end up wishing you could have it instead of being happy for the person that does have it. For me, I'm pretty big into fashion and technology so it's usually centered around clothing or the latest electronic device. As I've grown, it's not too much fashion anymore as I tend to fight the feeling by simply complimenting the person on whatever it is that they have. If someone's wearing a pair of shoes I love or a skirt I just think is beautiful, I always tell them and it replaces that feeling of want with joy that someone else is feeling better. It's more difficult with tech because it's weird to tell someone you love their newest iPhone or AirPods, so I definitely still struggle with the 'ooo shiny, wish I had that feeling'

[February Fortescue]

Oh, I do covet! And as strange as this sounds, I covet Energy.

I remember back in the good ole days, I had a career I loved. My degree is in Social Work, and I could spend hours counseling people, holding their hands at the hospital, counseling them after they made a difficult choice, standing in front of a judge with the person on one side of me and the person they wanted to be away from on the other. I used to be on call, and it would be nothing for me to leave my warm, cozy bed and drive to a residential home and calm down a resident and a staff person who were coming to blows.

And then I got Pleurisy, which seems to be the catalyst for autoimmune, at least in my case. Lupus and Antiphospolipid Antibody Syndrome. I nearly died from blood clots and am now on a lifetime supply of blood thinners, but the worst by far is a complete lack of energy. I wake up most mornings feeling as if I'm rundown and exhausted, and I want to go right back to sleep, even though I know sleep won't help. There are some days every month I wake up feeling the lethargy of someone who has the flu, and I know I probably won't get much accomplished.

There's no cure, and the only medication which makes me feel even close to normal has some really wicked side effects. So I do what I can. I avoid sugar (despite the Fortescue name, the actual joke is that I rarely get to indulge in sweets), do whatever exercise I'm able to do that day, and push through. I'm grateful for my dogs. They have needs, which requires I don't stay in bed.

I covet people who have the energy I once had. The last time I was in a courtroom, it was to serve on a jury trial. When the witness began explaining how cell phones worked, I nodded off. I fought it so hard, but I lost. I was so embarrassed.

Yup. Energy.

[Mia Fountain]

I am covetous of sweets, much like Maxim. If someone has sweets lying around, I generally have to fight with myself not to eat them or ask if I can have one. Many of the people in my household seem to have the same covetousness of sweets.

As a child, I used to be covetous of those who were able to go one vacations every year. But as I've grown older I've come to understand that I prefer being at home and I probably would've done many of the same things I would do at home anyways. Now that I could afford to go on vacations if I wanted to there are things that I would enjoy spending my savings on instead.

[Elysia Guerin]

I think my experience with covetousness is when I was in school or anywhere else I was always jealous of people who can mingle with their peers quickly. I like to make friends, but sometimes I'm confused about how to start. There I feel jealous of people. Then there was another time at school when my friends got higher grades than me. I really want to be like them, have many friends, great value, and many things that I can be proud of. but when I get a feeling like that, I always brush it away. I instill motivation in myself to study harder to get bigger grades and get rid of feelings of shame to start friendships or conversation first. because if I keep having feelings like that, I won't go through it all right?