When she opened her eyes again she felt as if she was a completely new person. She inhaled deeply and let the waves of knowledge flow over her as she recalled what the colors of the auras surrounding all living things meant. “Red is the color of passion and fire,” her mind repeated to herself, “Green is the color of life and giving.”
She smiled and looked aronud to all the guardians and spirits of the council that stood and awaiting the knowledge that she was safe. Her smile spread wide across her face and she stretched her arms out long with her palms up to the sky in a traditional greeting that recognized all life and all living things.
“Thank you my friends. I am sorry about my temper tantrum earlier, but I was scared and so very afraid of picking the wrong one. I now know, thanks to Mouse here, that you were within me always. I regret that I did not realize this earlier and had to make you all go this mess of a ritual so that I could learn and understand what the true power of a shaman lies in. I look forward to serving you and the consolidated tribes of the Ser’lapham in providing comfort and spiritual knowledge in addition to helping to cure those who have illnesses using old, traditional remedies as well as what I do know about modern medicines.”
The words sounded strange and yet so familiar coming out of her own very mouth. They were not english, they were the words of the original Ser’lapham, that her peoples had created so very long ago in order to communicated with one another and the world around them and the spirits.
“Wow,” she thought to herself, “this is really very cool and a bit overwhelming. But at the same time it also feels so very natural as if I have lived here for all the lifetimes I have ever had. I wonder if this is what gran felt when she started out on this path. Actually, I know this is what she feels every day. The power of being connected and hardwired into something so ancient and so primordial makes me feel weird and twitchy. I can feel every part of my being as it is alive. And I can also feel the life force within everything else as well. I hope I can control this so that it does not control or mangle what I am and stand for.”
Mouse blinked at her and spoke in Ser’lapham, “That is what I am here for. I will help you on this path. I can act as your advisor and judge for those times when you are not sure if you are acting in accordance to the rules of both your heart and the tennants of our relationship. There will always be times when you want to do your best and show your peoples what you know. However, sometimes it is best to let them down than expose yourself to the world. I know this does not make much sense at this moment but I promise you that it will once we begin exploring your new path as shaman.”
“Thank you Mouse,” she said, “I had no idea that you could hear my thoughts. I guess there is no hiding things from you is there?”
“Acutally you can hide your thoughts to me but this is something you will learn on your own. I believe it is what Daniel did to hide from Bobcat. He deceived us all in trying to usurp the balance of things as that we have always done. I think, however, that you are now strong enough to find your way back home and deal with his tretchery and plans for you and your tribe. You now have the full power and the blessing of the council here to expose him and bring justice to him once and for all.”
Anger flared in her eyes and she bowed her head at the Council, “I shall do what you say. I knew there was something sneeky about him when I met him. I had no idea that he would stoop so low as to try and sell off the heritage of my people and the beliefs that make us all unique. I also promise to allow the tribal council to deal with him in a fair and just manner, and one that I will not be a part of because right now there is no fair and just in my head.”
The council of spirit guardians opened a small opening in their circle. It cut a path towards the direction of the exit to Vellum Hollow. Kaylee waved to the council members a final time, “Thank you all for the lessons you have taught me here in Vellum Hollow. It has been an amazing experience and one that I will never forget. I hope that we all get to work once again soon and that someday I can return to visit this wonderful place.”
She then started down the path that had been so clear in her mind the moment she put on her charged Medicine Bundle. She looked up at the sky and saw all the tribal constellations appear. Each one had its own color and almost took on comic sketching appearances. She pointed to each one and named not only the name she knew them by but the Ser’lapham term as well. The trees all around her seemed to bend or bow when she walked by as if they knew that she was their caretaker and would honor and heal and nuture them when they and their real world counterparts grew sick and weak.
Kaylee watched as tthe colors swirled and ebbed with the air and flow of life all around her. She steaded her breath and tried to control the small surges of power that she felt within her body. A small flickering globe of white light jostled out of the corner of her left eye and Kaylee smiled.
“Hello there my little flashlight,” she said to the will o wisp as it darted out from the darkness and into her path, giving her some light to guide her home by, “I see you are here to guide and be my buddy once more?”
The will o wisp bounced up and down in acknowledgement. The gesture made Kaylee giggle.
“Awesome. I totally welcome your companionship and wished that I had more time to hang out and dance with you here among the redwoods. I am sorry that we did not get to know each other more while I was here but maybe one day soon I can come back and we can dance in between the trees and maybe play a game of tag as well.”
The will o wisp hovered and danced around her as they walked down the long path that took them deep into the Redwood forest of Vellum Hollow. Kaylee yawned and stretched as the walk went on for more than an hour. Finally, the two figures stood at the veil of the mists that seperated her world from Vellum Hollow.
Kaylee stopped at the veil and paused. A small lump of feelings swelled in her throat, quickly turning into a large lump. For the first time in a long time, she felt that this place had become her home and she did not want to leave.
Mouse appeared next to her on the ground, “I know how you feel. I know that you do not want to leave here now, as you have spent all this time searching and growing in this place. But you need to cross over. You can not spend the rest of your life here with us. It is not healthy. You need to make your own path and life. We will miss you but we will always be here. Do you know that?”
A small stream of tears fell down her cheek and she smirked, “Yes I know that you and the rest will always be here. I know that I can visit when ever I want but it still does not make anything any easier. I feel as if I belong here more than I do there. This has become more of a home than Port Riverbend or the reservation ever was. I am also scared. I wonder if they will be able to accept me as their new shaman. I mean, what if they reject me? They barely know me and those who do, probably will not forget that I abandoned them.”
“Yes that is true but you now have the same knowledge that your grandmother has. You know exactly what she can do and what she has done in any given situation to help your peoples. You can birth animals, and babies, you can proceed over the changing of the seasons and you can also give guidence to those who seek solace in the comfort of your beliefs. And you also know what life is like outside of the tribal lands. That is something no one else who has spent their entire life on those lands know. You know how hard and cold and different and alien those lands are. Let that be your strength and your calling. And remember that we are all here for you and we have faith. We are you and you are a part of us.”
Kaylee nodded and stooped down to pet the small animal. Mouse took one long glance at hir charge and felt a warm sense of pride and happiness wash over hir fur. This two legged was strong, and would do great things for the peoples of Ser’lapham. Mouse could tell that the spirits of her parents and her ancestors were pleased at the progress that she made in such a small time and that the power that now coursed through her body would never be taken for granted nor would it corrupt.
She then stood up as her knees made a soft but annoying creaking sound and walked towards the veil. She did not look back and choose to close her eyes so that Mouse could not see the tears that started falling. Tears of happiness and sadness and of victory.
And then, she found herself standing on the other side of the veil. She was home. Slowly, she re-opened her eyes and looked around her surroundings. “Please oh please oh please let the colors still be here,” she said. And they were.
Kaylee looked at the trees in the forest of the reservation lands. The colors that she saw on the other side where there but also a bit different and muted. They did not look as healthy or bright as their spirit counterparts. Instead of the nice bright and vivid red firey cores, these trees had pale and pastel reds and pinks. The colors showed the sickness that coursed through the bodies and branches of the trees as the pollution of the lands and airs entered into their bodies. It was a sickening sight that made Kaylee gasp and want to heal them. If only her magicks were strong enough to undo all the damange that the world’s pollutants had done. But she did not know anything strong enough other than the help of the entire world to undo all this.
The power she felt also continued to course through her body which helped her relax a bit. A small laugh escaped from her mouth as she felt how silly it was to think that all that she just gained was going to be lost to her when she crossed over. “I have a lot to learn about trust,” she thought to herself. “I hope that the guardians and my friends here can help me with this one.”
She then recalled her sick gran and hurried down the path, back to her gran’s cabin. “Oh my god, I almost forgot gran,” she thought, “I hope she is okay. She will want to know everything that I have done and learned. I hope she is proud of what I have accomplished.”
The night air was cold and Kaylee saw puffs of steam appear a few inches from her mouth as she breathed heavily. She was now jogging down the path as she hurried back to the cabin.
Finally, the trees broke into the familiar clearing and she saw smoke appear from the tips of the chimney of the old cabin owned by her gran and her family. This was her legacy and soon it would be her own home, from where her new practice and life would commence. Soon she broke through the forest and entered the ground that belonged to the cabin.
She paused to catch her breath and took a second to look at the cabin with her new sight. The cabin itself looked sturdy but a small, pale dust color sat all around it. It was as if the home aged along with her gran. Kaylee could also see the protective glyphs and barriers that had been errected over the years to protect the owners and the lands of the reservations from all the various magicks and rituals that went on in the homestead. A few flickering lights were on inside and Kaylee knew that her gran and maybe Daniel were awake and waiting for her arrival. She wondered if one of the spirit council members fore told them of her re-emergence from Vellum Hollow. She also wondered if Bobcat had warned Daniel of what was going to happen to him once she got back.
She ran up the steps and then knocked on the door to the cabin. She called out to Daniel and her gran as she opened the door to enter without having been invited, “Hello? Gran? Daniel? I am back. It is me Kaylee. I have returned. Is anyone here?”
She made her way from the foyer inside the house, closing the door as quietly as she could behind her. Kaylee looked around the darkened hallway. Her eyes adjusted to the darkness and she slowly made her way down the hallway and into the first level bedroom of her Gran. Firelight glowing in the fireplace flickered from behind the curtain and Kaylee reached out to push the curtain back to see her gran. Her heart beat quickly in her chest as to what she would see.
