On the third day, Kaylee woke up earlier. No sun met her rising. Instead she awoke to the howling snarl of a blustery windstorm smashing up against her cottage. It was loud and she wondered whether or not it was going to send the small sphere cottage spiraling down the slightly sloping gassy landscape that it was on. The wind rattled against the door and knocked at the windows and Kaylee knew she was going to be in for a rough day.
She slowly crawled out of bed and shivered. Large and foreboding clouds loomed low in the sky, blocking any chance for a decent glimpse of the sun. The fireplace was dark and black and occasionally small plumes of smoke and ash rose and hovered when small pufts of wind gust their way down the chimmney of the domicle. Kaylee frowned and wished that there had been a nice warming fire to help shake away some of the wind that she knew she was going to have to deal with that day.
Just as if the house had a mind of its own and read hers, a nice warm blaze appeared in the fireplace. The strong scent of burning wood and moss wafted through the air to where Kaylee was lounging.
“Huh,” she said out loud, “that was easy enough. I do not suppose that I can take the day off today with the wind and the weather so bad outside?”
Her response came in the form of another gust of wind spattering against the window nearest her loft. It almost was saying that she had to get out and deal or else.
“Okay, okay, I get the point,” she laughed and crawled out of bed and pulled on her pants. They were cold but slipped on easily. She also picked up her medicine pouch from its position on her pillow. After she put the sage into it, she decided that she did not want to crush the delicate sage leaves, so instead of wearing it when she slept, she put it next to her against the pillow. It was the combination of the smells of leather and sage that lulled her to a deep sleep the other night.
“Ugh,” she said again. Her body was sore all over from yesterday’s climb up the plateau. She had never done this much exercise in so many consecutive days. She hoped that it was doing wonderful things for her body, whipping it back into shape. She did not think she was overly fat but just like any other city dweller from Port Riverbend, she felt that she could stand to lose a few extra pounds.
Just like the two days before her, she began her ritual by checking the bowl that had been carefully laid out. And again, it was the same mixture with raisons. She sighed and pulled out the chair and then plopped down in it. Her gaze moved from the bowl, to the cabinent that sat on the opposite side of her table and then to the windows that showed her what to expect outside. On her third pass, she stared deep down at the almost empty bowl and wondered who or what exactly prepared the food that she was eating. She thought that it could be one of the ancients, a long lost relative of hers from the old Ser’lapham tribe. Someone who was stealthy enough to slip into her cottage and set the mixture down on the table and disappear all before she woke up.
She wondered if her unseen attendants ever took the time to sneek up to the top of the loft and gaze down upon her. Kaylee felt her stomach sink, she wondered if they saw her as a loser of her tribe, a shame or stain on them. Part of her wished that she had been more attentive to her Gran and stayed all those years. But the larger part of her won out in those days, the part of her that wanted to explore and be young and free. To experience life away from being indian, a Ser’lapham.
She slid the empty bowl back to the other side of the table and looked down at her pouch. She fingered the leather and smelled the sweat of her body mixing in with the leather. It was such a fundamental piece of her tribal history. Everyone living on the reservation got one at their coming of age and guardian rite. Of course, had she stayed on the reservation for another six months, she would have had fifteen years of experience and items to carefully tuck into it, making her magic all that much more special and powerful.
Kaylee opened the bundle and pulled out the four elemental stones. It was time to do her daily reading. She cupped the stones in both hands and closed her eyes and held her breath. She thought about all that she had done the past two days and all the things she learned. She focused on hoping to find more items quickly today as well as her totem for the next direction.
She tossed the stones onto the table and bent foward for a closer look. Only two runes faced up today. Kaylee saw that the runes for water and earth faced up. The other two, fire and air faced down. “Water flows over the earth,” she thought. “It nourishes and protects it and gives everything balance and life. Hmm, so this means that I am going to proceed and nuture new ideas into fruitation. My goals, this akalam experience, will be successful and I will do well abiding by my Gran’s side as her prodigy.”
She smiled and turned her attention outside again, while she liked what the omen was saying, she was not so sure about the weather and its coorperation. She wondered about the absense of air in her reading and wondered if the wind outside correlated to the reading.
Shrugging, she seperated the runes, removing both the Earth and Fire stones from the grouping and picking up the Air and Water ones. She then mixed them up behind her back and dropped one behind her. The remaining one was the direction she decided to venture out in on this windy day.
She opened her right palm and almost laughed. She had drawn air which also meant east to her people. “How appropriate,” she thought. “As if there is not already enough of that going on already.”
She bent down to retreive the rune that she had dropped on the floor and then stood up from the table. This time, she thanked the unseen servents for their help in keeping her fed and hydrated during her stay there. Then she turned and walked out the door, attemping to keep leaves and debris from entering her home.
It was definitely a autumn windy day out. The wind was cold and bit into her cheeks and lungs when she inhaled.
“Oh gawds. It is really cold out. Okay, here is to getting this all done really quick so I can get back inside before I get sick. That would not be a good thing at this stage. There is no doctor here in Vellum Hollow and I really am not as good as my Gran is with herbs and potions.”
She took a step out into the cold and moved to the East. The wind pressed hard against her and she fought it with every step she took. The wind made it hard to clear her head and walk around without wanting to close her eyes. But she needed to keep them open, to find the item that would become her totem of the air.
She made her way to the edge of the grassy field and blew into her hands. They were chilled to the bone and she was ready to give up and whine her way back home. She bent low to the ground and sat down amongst a tall clump of grass.
“Ouch.”
She put her right hand underneath her butt and felt around, moving her body into a contorted yoga position. When her hand came up from under her body it was holding stone about two inches in diameter. She looked at the stone. It shimmererd and glistened in the light of the windy day. Steaks of gold and green and brown criss-crossed against the length of the stone. It was triangular shaped and had a soft but pointy tip at the narrowest edge. She rocked the stone back and forth and each time she moved it the colors tumbled and blended back into one another.
“Huh,” she thought as her body shivered, “I guess I can call it a day today. Looks like I found what I was looking for.”
She stood up and rushed back to the cottage. When she got there, she saw a small, furry figure sitting on the porch.
“Hello,” it greated her when Kaylee got close enough to be heard over the wind.
“Hi, I am Kaylee,” she replied to the animal. It was cat shaped and had long mangy fur on its belly. Its coat was spotted with black and had blonde and brown and grey fur. Small grey tufts of fur peeked out along its ears and it had no real tail to curl up around its feet.
“I see. You are the one performing the akalam,” Bobcat replied, cleaning hir long wiskers with hir front paw. “I am Bobcat. I see you have been outside braving the wind today.”
“Yes, I have. I really did not want to go outside but I thought of my Gran and how she was counting on me.”
“I see,” Bobcat said. Hir sat still and made no attempt to move away from the door. “And I also see that you found a Sphene. Those are rather rare on this side of the Hollow. You must feel very blessed.”
Kaylee stared down at the small stone wedge in her hand. She flipped it over and watched the colors blend into each other, “I guess so. To be honest I am not really sure I understand what it all means.”
Bobcat licked hir paw and drew it over hir ear. “That is a bit disappointing. A shaman must always know hir elements and what the meaning behind the gifts are. Are you sure you are not ready for this task?”
“Well, I am not certain,” Kaylee responded feeling a bit defensive. “I know my gran thinks I have what it takes to be her successor and I am a quick learner. I know I cut out from her lessons years ago but I am hoping, and trying to make up for it by doing this quest now. Surely that must count for something?”
Bobcat nodded, “Yes, it does. However, it does make things a bit harder for you as you know. The Sphene you found is a powerful gift. It is said to help improve the mind and the ability to process information. You should keep it around your neck in your medicine bundle at all times. It will be the focus of your knowledge and can be used to help guide you through many tough situations in your career.”
Kaylee flipped the stone over again in her hand. She was impressed at the gift she had literally stumbled upon. The knowledge that this spirit was telling her was very potent.
“Of course, you still need to perform the final rite and select one of us that you have met to help guide you throughout the rest of your life. I am a seeker and secret keeper. I can guide your intuition into uncovering what is best. If you pick me I can also give you the gift of clairaudience. I know that you are scared and right now I think the best course of action is for you to give a lot of thought into whether you are ready to become that which hir shaman wants you to become. Doubt only brings misfortune and cause many issues for you to come. You need many more years of study and it will be a long and hard journey for you to take.
“However, it can be most rewarding if you do decide to press forward and meet the final remaining guide and receive the final gift from Vellum Hollow. Are you ready for this? As I said, you still have to perform the final rite and actually decide on which one of us to guide you. At that moment you will physically bond with the knowlege that the council has to offer you and that you will become apart of it. Of course, you must also choose wisely… for if you pick the wrong one you may end up being a tool for that guardian. Not all of us want to work together in harmony with you two-leggeds. Many of my bretheren want to capture and recontrol what was lost to us. They are angry at what death and destruction has befallen your world and they feel that by converting shaman to their whim, they can deceive and covertly swing things back into their favor.
“Are you sure you can handle the choice? Have you even listened to what your mind and heart have been thinking since you got here? I think not. You need to move cautiously and prepare yourself so that you choose wisely.”
Kaylee listened carefully to what Bobcat was telling her. She had been taking things very seriously however, his advice, and warnings were correct. She really did not spent much time in reflection on what she was doing and why. Only that she wanted to get it done as fast as she could and return back to the reservation to attend to her gran and learn what little more she could with her dying relative.
She figured that she would spend more time that day studying each and every one of the gifts she had been given so far and trying to figure out how their medicines could be used to help benefit her and her tribe.
“Thank you Bobcat. You have been very right and very wise. I am ashamed that I have not been paying more attention to what is going on inside me. I though that this was easy and so far it has been. But I guess I need to sit down and think more about what I need to do and what I want, and WHO I want to become when all this is over,” Kaylee stammered.
Bobcat nodded and stood up and moved away from the door. “Take care young one and I hope to see you soon. For if you choose me, I can help and guide you through many a tough spot.”
She nodded and entered the sphere, shutting it tightly behind her.
A smile crossed the lips of Bobcat. And in that instant it knew that hir apprentice would be very pleased to know.
“That went well,” Bobcat thought. “Sewing the seeds of doubt was far easier than I expected. Her wounds go deep into her and it was so very easy to tap into and remind her that she was in a world deep over her head. Of course, whatever she does next is all up to her but I believe that her will is faltering and that she may back out during the final rites. She worries too much for her bretheren.”
Bobcat trotted out into the grass and headed towards hir home located high in the southern plateaus. The wind rippled against hir fur as hir legs sprinted long and far. The winds died down a bit as hir neared the edge of the grass and plateaus. And once Bobcat reached the Southern lands, the figure dissapated into the winds returing back to the deepest part of Vellum Hollow awaiting to be called when the young seeker called back the four remaining guardians.
