Hazel's 13th birthday gift

In this teaser episode which falls between Series One and Two we learn the story of the Hexton Widgets

Feb 09, 2024

In the last episode of Series One: Hazel / Zhael (The Benevolent Spirit) shared the origins of The Drifting Expanse World.

In this in-between episode, we hear another story from Zhael and Crox in which Kriliah and Jalisse learn that the Hexton Widgets are items that Hazel added to The Drifting Expanse when she was “stocking” it with beings. But why?

The birthday gift

The yellow sun sits high in the pink sky on To’Boam. The routine of working out what their ambassadorship might entail, is absorbing but undemanding. Kriliah is emptying out their coat pockets and idly asks “Zhael can I dispose of the ‘unused’ widgets we collected in Hexton?”

“No!!” Zhael and Crox shout simultaneously.

Kriliah glances at Zhael. “Okaay. Why ever not? I thought they were only to help us on our quest to find you?”

Crox and Zhael exchange a look, and sighing, Zhael says “I’ve been putting this off since the day you ‘rescued’ me. Get Jalisse and let us tell you another story. Will you tell the story for me, Crox?”

When Jalisse arrives slightly wobbly in her flying trajectory, Kriliah gives her a hard look which effectively says: “Have you been on the hooch?”. She avoids their eyes and settles down on a mossy piece of tree trunk.

Crox settles into a space between two large roots resting his back against the ancient, gnarled tree known as Old Twego, clears his throat and begins.

“Only once in her human life did Hazel get a special gift. On the morning of her 13th birthday, she found a small claret-red velvet bag on the kitchen table. Her parents had already gone to work, but there was a note with her name on it. Not accustomed to gifts, she hesitantly caressed the soft velvety texture and loosened the knotted threads.

A circular wooden box slipped onto the palm of her hand. The lid was made of a translucent violet material and spiralled around and around into a sharp pinnacle. It took her a while to work out how to get the lid off. She knew there was something inside the box because it was heavy. Twisting the lid anticlockwise after applying pressure to the tip, the lid came off to reveal a tiny yellow pyramid made from some kind of yellow coloured stone. The planes were smooth, the vertices well defined and this too culminated in a sharp point. An almost indecipherable label on the bottom of the pyramid read “Citrine - The Vitamin D Stone”. She put it to one side - a puzzle to solve later. Unbelievably, there was more in the box, even though it didn’t look big enough to hold more than the stone.

A scrap of soft, moss green fabric nestled in the bottom. She recognised this as coming from her baby blanket which had gone missing when she was 5. The tears rolled down Hazel’s cheeks. Somehow, she knew this present wasn’t from her parents. It was from someone she had an unknown connection with, someone who wanted her to know she wasn’t as alone as she felt.

She dabbed her eyes with the fabric. Underneath, another surprise. A folded origami envelope no bigger than a matchbox. “Pull here” was written on a folded tab. Inside, a handwritten letter in indigo ink and an elaborate old fashioned script.

The Letter

‘Your home may seem boring to you, but when you came here as a wee babe, we hid some things for you to find. On this occasion of your 13th birthday, we’re telling you what they are so you can gather them together. When you’ve got them all (8 in total, including the 4 in this package), find a way to hide them and keep them safe ~ for one day, they’ll save your life. Be courageous, be yourself. Anything is possible.
You need to search for: A white gilded cage; a carved orange calcite figurine; a single link of green metallic chain; a vial of indigo liquid
With special love and support, your Guardians from beyond Earth’

The widgets

Hazel hugged the tiny letter to her chest, crying and laughing at the same time. She’d known she was different, not entirely human. Now she understood her “parents”' ambivalence towards her. And, she had a mission to find the items listed in the letter and perhaps many puzzles to solve.

It was time to leave for school. Carefully, she replaced everything into the trinket box. As she closed the lid, a jolt of energy shot up her arm and a tower of sparkles arose from the box. As she slid the box back inside the velvet bag, she could’ve sworn she heard something say “Stay optimistic. With magic, anything is possible”.

Crox pauses taking a deep breath. Jalisse has forgotten all about her hooch and leans forward. "How did the items get into the model and become part of The Drifting Expanse?”

Zhael picks up the story.

“Over the next few months, I turned the house upside down and located all the objects. I was lucky that I had so much time on my own because they weren’t easy to find and I made lots of mess looking for them. The spells I’d learnt to help me keep my bedroom tidy really helped.” Zhael grins.

“Once I had them all together, I used a spell to make them small enough to hide in the model. I chose the hexagonal city that I created, because there were lots of walls and bridges there - good hiding places unbeknownst to me. Although I had a nagging feeling this wasn’t the safest place to hide them, I went ahead anyway. I pretty much forgot they were there, so they were there the day the model became a real planet. In fact, they were hidden there in what became known as Hexton for centuries until you found them.”

A hush has fallen over the group. So many things are beginning to make sense. Then, Kriliah frowns, scratching their head. “But how does Crox know this story? Wait, you were one of the items, I forgot! How did you become one of the items? And how did you survive for all this time?”

“Whoa, we’ll get there. Let’s take a break.”

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Series One

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Behind the scenes stories