"My destiny is different, Vrenli. The journey you have embarked on together with your friends must not be interfered with. Things must take their course, just as it is written in the Book of Books. I am not allowed to change history. My purpose is to bring you a little closer to yours," he replied, taking a puff.
Vrenli did not understand what the dark-skinned old man was trying to tell him. His thoughts revolved around his friends, whom he thought he had gotten into trouble for the second time through his carelessness. I hope that the blossoms of the moonflower will help the princess so that the long journey was not in vain, he thought, looking questioningly into Nagulaj's eyes.
Nagulaj offered him the smoking pipe.
"What should I do with it?" Vrenli shyly asked. "I don't smoke."
But Nagulaj only made a hand gesture, indicating that Vrenli should pull on the mouthpiece of the pipe. "Your journey to me was not without reason, Vrenli from Abketh," Nagulaj explained.
Hesitantly, Vrenli put the piece to his lips and looked at the bull-headed bowl of the pipe as he drew on it. With every puff he took, the two red rubies began to glow brighter and finally in a fiery red light. After a few strokes, Vrenli felt a pleasant warmth relaxing his muscles. All his worries and fears seemed to have left him. As he listened to the song that Nagulaj began to sing, he noticed a feeling of lightness spreading through him.
"I feel so weightless. As light as if I could fly," said Vrenli, slowly stretching out his arms and beginning to make wing-flapping movements. To his surprise, he found himself floating above the ground in a sitting position.
"Fly home. Fly to the Glorious Valley!" Nagulaj called to him, whereupon Vrenli flew higher and higher, towards the sky, and finally flew over the vast Desert of DeShadin, gazing at the stars before him, to Thir, where he could see the lights of the port city of Irkaar below him. He flew towards the east, where, after a while, he saw a vast meadow landscape below him.
Before him lay the mighty mountain ranges that surrounded the Glorious Valley. He headed higher towards the mountain peaks and when he had almost reached them, he was caught by a gust of wind that whirled him through the air. He was afraid of crashing and panic and despair broke out in him. He tried with all his might to fight the force. He felt that he had strayed from his predetermined path and was no longer flying towards the Glorious Valley, but over the northern mountains to the east, beyond the border of Wetherid.
"Help, Nagulaj!" he had lost control of his flying body.