poemtry and prose

Once again, when the sun rose and met the small round window in Kaylee's cottage, it warmed the room up so much that she could no longer sleep. She sat up in bed and wondered exactly how long she was resting and what time it really was. Of course, she did not have a watch with her, only the weather and the sun and the sky to tell her in approximate values. She rubbed the sands of sleep from her eyes and stretched out long. Her legs were a bit sore from all the hiking and climbing that she did yesterday.

On the table sat another bowl. Once again it was steaming and full of the same half cream of wheat and half oatmeal porridge that she had first experienced just the other day. This time a hearty and welcome addition of raisons had been added to the mix, making it a bit chewier than yesterday's fare. She attempted to eat it slow so she could savior it but the mix was just too good and tasting that she found it hard not to slurp it down in one bite. She leaned back in the chair when she was done and listened to the faint sounds of her stomach digesting the food.

Images of what she had done all day yesterday filled her head and the short talk that she had with Weasel. It was a curious sensation, to have talked to the animals and one ethat she found herself even more eager to repeat again. It was not exactly communication in the traditional sense of the idea, where the two spoke with words that came out of their mouth. No, instead it was more one sided where she spoke outloud and the animal spirit replied in her head. Living in Port Riverbend taught her that there were many things, like psychics, that attempted to prey on the innocence of others. But she never really believed in any of it. And here was proof that at least telepathy and speaking to animals could happen. She wondered if it was possible for her to talk to other creatures, not of Vellum Hollow. "Hmm, probably not," she said wondering if she should just get an early start for the day and see what and where the divination stones would take her.

She carefully removed the bundle from her neck again and undid the bundle. This time she carefully removed each stone from the bag with her slim fingers. She did not want to break the new addition to the bag, of the acorn. The stones felt warm this morning, as if heated by all her body warmth during the night.

Kaylee carefully cupped the stones next to her heart and then shook them. She let them fall on the table and several bounced with clinking sounds against the hard wood. Three faced up and one faced down. Fire, Earth and Water faced up while the sign for Air hid.

"Hmm," Kaylee said feeling a bit challenged from what this reading could mean. She was not sure she liked what it meant. "Hmm, fire burns the earth and then the water puts this all out. This does not look like a good thing. I wonder what I will meet with today. I think it is trying to tell me to proceed with caution and to watch out and keep my eyes and ears open. Something nasty is coming and I want to be able to be alert and mindful. Maybe I should not be so eager to meet the spirits and accept them into my life. Maybe they might try and trick me? I am so confused and am not sure this is really the right thing."

She laid her head down on the table and doubted her Gran's decision to choose her for tihs task. But she had started, what did Weasel call it, the akalam, and now she needed to at least finish it; at the very least, to figure out how she would get home.

She stood up and pushed the chair back so that it made a scraping sound along the floor. She had to finish this, and fast. She worried about what her gran was doing, how she was feeling and whether or not it was such a good idea to leave her gran all along with Daniel. Something about him she did not trust one hundred percent. He was nice and all but seemed to eager for her to leave. she clenched her fists and decided that it was time to head out to the south, the direction the Ser'lapham believed was closely connected to the element of Fire.

She stepped out onto the porch of the cottage and took a deep breath of air into her lungs. The sun, while still visible outside, was partially covered today with many clouds. Kaylee looked high and far into the sky, trying to identify any signs that a harsh change in the weather, like rain or even snow, could suddenly come to put a damper on her travel plans for the day.

Thankfully it just seemed like an ordinary, warm but cloudy autumn day. Shrugging, she set forth in the direction of fire and started her hike. The grass made wooshing sounds as she pressed forward and made her way to the southern edge of the grassy clearing where her new home sat.

A mile into her hike, the terrain decided to start climbing higher. She slowed down as the steep incline caused her to lose her breath. She looked around her and ahead. she had a long climb to go, it seemed like it would take her hours to reach the top of the hill she was wandering up. Her shoes were not ready for a long climb and Kaylee had to take it slow because her moccasins could feel every small rock and stump that seemed to be in her path. Nothing stood out to her that she thought was a gift of the land so she pressed onward.

It was as if the goal of the day sat at the top of this hill. Finally, just after noon, Kaylee hit the top of what she thought was just a hill. However, when she hit the ridge, she gasped. The view was breath taking. It was not just any ordinary hill, it was a plateau. This one was small compared to the many other plateaus that seemed to streach out just beyond this first one. The tops of each tabular peak were barren, as if nothing could grow on top of the flat and wind torn peaks. Occasionally, to her left and to her right, a cluster of juniper trees and bushes grew. They were the only things sturdy enough to live up this high without having the weather tear it away as if it were just a twig.

A ravine ran deep below the opposite edge of the ground that Kaylee just climbed up on. She was very thankful that the climb up this peak did not mean she had to do some freeclimbing. Otherwise there was no way that she could have made it this far. Smiling, she closed her eyes as a gust of wind swept up behind her and rushed air and silt far down into the ravine below. She imagined herself flying against the wind, sweaping her arms that had become wings as she flew over each peak and down the vallies into the river depths below.

Another gust blew next to her and almost swept her off her feet. It caused her heart to beat a bit faster and jolted her eyes open.

"Gaaah," she cried out, regaining her balance. "Okay, no more of that. I guess it is time for me to do what I came here to do. And that is to find a totem item small enough for her pouch and then figure out who she was supposed to meet next.

She started wandering the peak of the plateau in a spiral format. She trained her eyes on the ground below and hoped that she was going to see a rock or something. The ground truly was barren and after a half hour of working her way in towards the center of the plateau, she did not see anything. Not one stone or fossil caught her eye. Kaylee grew a bit disheartened and was bummed that nothing was going easy for her today.

"Geez, you would think that this place would have had a LOT of rocks or fossils or bones considering that this is supposed to be the home of the ancestors," she said to herself as she kicked over another pile of dirt with her foot. It ploofed a small plume of red dirt high into the air, making Kaylee cough.

She moved over towards the Juniper tree to take a closer look at it. The trunk was firmly rooted into the ground and it almost looked as if it were a sumo wrestler hunkering down in a crouch. This tree had a few long branches coming out of the top of the stump. They started out fat and thick at the base of it all and then spidered out long and thin to the tips and ends. Loose bundles of needles shot out occasionally from the tips of each branch. Kaylee was entranced at the sight, for long scars and deep welts ran up and down and across the bark of the tree as if it had withstood many years of battles.

Smaller sprigs of younger juniper trees grew in a small clump next to the big tree. She was not sure, but always thought that juniper trees grew like aspen with a tunneling root system that grew far beneath the soil. She figured that that was how all the little trees had grown from just this single tree. She walked over to the bushes and inspected them. The smelt almost musky as if something had been there recently. She closed her eyes and tried to identify the smokey sound that came within it. Her mind wandered back towards her Gran's house and that is where she identified the smell, it was sage. Something her gran constantly burned in her home.

She knelt down at the base of the small trees and that is when she saw it. A small, tiny bush of silver leaves growing from the covered safety of the juniper bushes. It was silver sage, there was no mistaking that scent. She reached her hand deep into the bush and felt the cool, leathery and slick leaves of the sage bush. Mentally she said a few words to her ancestors, thanking them for allowing her to have the honor of placing the items in her pouch and for the gift of seeing such a beautiful place. She then reached down at the base of the bush and gave the small sprig that she touched a gentle tug. It came free with relatively little resistence and brought her hand back out from the ground.

The small sprig glowed in the sunlight. The sweet scent of earthy sage reached up to her nostrils and Kaylee thanked both the spirits and the bush for allowing her the opportunity to find the item herself and to see such beauty while being in this place. She was carefully tucking her new item into her pouch when she heard a rustling sound behind her.

Kaylee looked around, trying to identify where the sound was coming from. She spun around a few times before her eyes finally settled on a triangular form perched high in one of the more sturdier and barer limbs of the juniper tree. It was a medium sized owl, with redish brown feathers and a white chest. It had a mask of white, framed by a small and thin black outline and it blinked as it looked down upon her. From what little Kaylee could recall of her raptor knowledge, she figured the owl to be a barn owl. Mostly due to the coloring that it had around the face and chest.

"Hello there," Kaylee said while tilting her head to one side, "you sure are a pretty looking bird now are you not?"

"Thank you," Barn Owl replied, blinking hir eyes down on the two-legged. "I see that you have found what you were looking for?"

Kaylee finished pressing the sage leaves gently into her pouch, "Yes I have. Thank you. I hope the small blessing I said was alright for me to take the sage?"

Barn Owl flapped hir wings and fluttered down towards the two-legged, "It came from hir heart and therefore it was well said. Although I will say that it was a bit terse. Next time you could try and embellish and say a few more things before you just reach into the sacred clutch and remove something."

"Thank you, I will do that. I did not know and I hope I did not damage or disturb anything," Kaylee replied, her head hung a bit down in shame and dishonor. "I meant nothing by it, I hope you know that."

"The council knows. Which is why they sent me to answer hir call."

"Oh, okay," she said.

"Yes. We felt how you wanted to fly deep down into the ravine and see the world that lies beyond the two-legged plateau. Only those with wings can survey and explore the world below. Or so I have been told. For no one such as a two-legged like yourself has dared to climb down. I think it be too steep. However, for those of us with wings, we soar and use the natural elements of the wind to carry us thru the firetorn landscape. That is why you did not find anything on your trek up to this peak, the lands have all but been burned. The realm you come from destroys much in this times. It burns the lands and wipes them clean.

If you choose me as your guide, I can teach you how to listen to the sickness of the world and how to heal her. You will no longer live in fear, instead you will use the gits of sight and sound to divine whether or not things are lying to you, burning the walls of honesty down."

"Hmm," Kaylee said looking around and at the blackened dirt, "I guess it all makes sense. It is because of the destruction to the earth from the white man and their ways that causes this realm to dye and heal, right?"

"Yes," Barn Owl nodded and then pecked a bit at an itch under hir wing. "Learning how to walk the walk and talk the talk is not easy. But it can be a start to heal both the earth and Vellum Hollow together."

"Thank you, I will keep that in mind."

Barn Owl took flight, hovering for a few seconds in front of Kaylee's face, "And now I must take my leave, for it grows dark and the fires will begin to burn one more. Follow the path down and to the North to return to the center of all things. I have the feeling that you will do just fine during the akalam. You have a open heart and will listen with great clarity to what it says. Choose wisely and I shall see you soon."

Kaylee nodded and waved to Barn Owl as it took flight. She wanted it flap its wings as it moved high into the sky and then as it stretched them out wide to glide down into the harsh and weathered cliffs below. She then looked over at the scarred juniper once more before starting down the side of the plateau. The sun had set a bit overhead and she was anxious to return to the cottage. She started descending the plateau carefully, for the side was slick. Her feet slid out from under her a few times because of the loose gravel and dirt. Her heart beat fast.

When she got to the bottom of the plateau, she heard a whoosing sound behind her, as if someone turned on a gas line to a fireplace. She turned around and saw the top of the plateau was ablaze. A great fire had errupted in the very spot that she once stood. Her heart wiltered and she cried out in pain, as it tore and ate at the bushes and trees that were standing up there. She felt powerless, and stood still and watched the great blaze take over the entire top of the plateau. There was nothing she could really do.

Many minutes went by and Kaylee turned to run back to the cottage. Her hand held the small, black leather pounch firmly as if it were the only thing that could protect the sage and acorn from dying inside. When she got back into the cottage, she quickly climbed the ladder and cried herself to sleep. Knowing that the world was ablaze and that it affected her world and home, upset her. She wanted more than anything to do something right with her life. Therefore she took Barn Owl's words to heart as the tears lulled her into a deep, dreamless sleep.