today? What did it mean? Why are they coming for me? So many
questions that I, myself just couldn't answer; so much confusion
bothered me to the point where my head hurt.
It seemed like the more I tried to stop worrying about it the
more it bothered me. Grandma got up and went over to dad.
Jon
sat beside me in her place.
I guess tomorrow will be a long day; I
thought quietly to myself while Jon caressed my back, trying his
best to comfort my troubled mind. I put my head on his shoulder in
hopes that my confusion and despair would subside, if only for just
a little.
Soon the pain went away as I began to fall asleep leaning
on Jon's shoulders.
Jon helped me up and took me to my tent.
He helped me into bed and gently kissed my forehead before
tucking me in and retreating back to his own tent.
8 THE GREAT SADNESS
I woke to the bliss full chirps of the birds and the rustling of the
tree branches rubbing against each other stretching it's limbs
higher into the sky. The wind blew softly pushing the door to my
tent back and forth, letting in the cool mountain air. I just laid there
for a bit, just breathing in the fresh new air. I looked around and
saw that I was the only person in the tent. Grandma wasn't there. I
felt worn down, like all the energy was sucked right out of me.
I slowly got up and stretched my legs out along the soft floor,
reaching my arms high up feeling all the mussels in my body
pulling itself straight. I rotated my neck feeling every bit of
stiffness. As I sat there, the questions began to come rushing
back to me, making my head hurt. Oh my god, I thought to myself
as I put my head in my hands rubbing my temples with my cold
fingers. Wow, last night was quite a heavy night, I thought; slowly
standing up, trying my best to shake off the light headedness. I felt
weak and tired, I felt slow and a little saddened by what happened
last night.
I slowly pushed open the door to the tent, the elders sat
around the fire. Grandma and grandpa was busy cooking. Jon,
Steve and Jim sat at the creeks edge. Dad and Tucker sat in the
shade of a small tree talking. "Was I the last to wake up." I said
softly, unsure if anyone would hear me. "After last night, you
deserved to rest. I bet that took a lot out of you, huh?" Elder Wolf
said looking at me, with is wide eyes.
I just smiled at him, hoping
that it was answer enough.
"How are you feeling Elder Wing?" I asked, walking slowly
over to him, placing my hand on his shoulder. "I'm alright, thanks
to you, Mia." He replied with a smile, putting his hand on mine.
"Mia that was a very brave thing you did last night." Elder Wolf
said, with a smile of approval. "Well, he did the same for me." I
replied, tapping elder Wing on the shoulder, before I let my hand
fall off to the side.
I looked over at Tucker whose eyes were fixed on me; but this
time I knew that it was my brother that I was looking at.
"Mia, can
you come here please." Dad called out. Jon, Steve, and Jim
quickly shifted their glance over toward us. Jon stood up quickly,
but just stood there. I slowly walked over to dad and Tucker with a
small smile on my face as I kept looking at Tucker.
Tucker quickly looked down and didn't say anything at first.
"How are you this morning? I can see that I'm talking to you
though." I said, reaching my hand out to touch my brother. He
kind of backed away from me at first and looked over at dad. "It's
ok Tucker you no longer possess the evil, she pushed it out of
you. You really should just be grateful that it's over; and you're not
stuck in that nightmare anymore." Dad said, softly hitting his arm
with his fist.
Tucker smiled and looked at me with my hand still stretched
out reaching for my brother. He reached out and slid his fingers
through mine until we connected our fingers and grabbed each
other tightly. "I love you Mia, I wouldn't deliberately try to hurt you,
you know that don't you." He said, pulling me close for a hug. "I
know, and you should know that I wouldn't hurt you either." I
replied, hugging him back.
I looked over at grandma and grandpa who stood there off to
the side smiling at the sight of the two of us embraced in a hug;
dad smiled too.
"Come and eat everyone, it's finally done."
Grandpa said, putting a big pot on the small wooden table. "Yeah;
I think I need some food." Tucker said, hurrying over to the table.
"Dad, is he really alright." I asked as Tucker hurried to be first in
line, followed by Steve and Jim. "Yes he is Mia; what ever that
was, it's gone now and I don't think it has any power over your
brother anymore. You're a very powerful person Mia. I don't recall
ever seeing that kind of power."
He said, with one hand on my
shoulder and the other on the side of my face.
"I think you've got an invitation for breakfast." He said with a
smile, nodding to someone behind me. I turned around and found
Jon stand right in the back of me. "Good morning; how are you
feeling?" He asked, grabbing my hands in his, my arms tingled
with his warmth. "Good morning; I'm fine." I replied, leaning over
giving him a hug. He hugged me back, tightly.
"We're glad that Tuckers feeling better." He said, looking over
at Tucker who was already feeding his face, while sitting at the fire
with the elders. Elder Wing sat close to Tucker whispering
something to him, then he hugged Tucker, and Tucker hugged
him back.
Jon and I made us a plate of the fresh eggs and a bowl
of rice mixed in a pot of hot herbal soup. "This smells good." He
said smelling the steam that came out of the bowl.
"Yeah; my grandpa always had a way with food." I smiled. We
walked over to the creek. "Wait." Jon said handing me his bowl of
soup. He put his opened palms out in front of him and drew a
circle in the air, suddenly a thick circle heap of earth pulled out of
the ground. He did it again this time beside the one he already
made. "You made us chairs?" I said, with a silly smirk on my face.
"Well, it might be just dirt, but at least we have somewhere to
sit. " He laughed. I just smiled and handed him the two bowls, and
walked over to a bunch of small shrubs that grew alongside the
creek and broke off a few branches. "Here this should help." I
chuckled. I placed the broken branches on top of the chair that
Jon made, and he smiled back. We both sat down and ate,
watching and listening to the water in the creek flow downstream.
I could hear the birds chirping around us, the tree branches
rustled around reaching as high as they could into the mid
morning sky.
As I sat there I could feel the power that pulsated
throughout the forest, throughout the mountains. It made me feel
cold.
I listened quietly to the different animals that were around
us; the insects, the birds, even the little ones that scurried in the
tree tops.
"Hey, you want more?" Jon asked, reaching out for my bowl.
"Um; yeah sure. I guess I'm really hungry today." I chuckled. "Ah,
we all are." He laughed back, nodding his head over toward the
rest of the guys, scarfing down their bowls of food. We both
looked at each other laughing. Jon walked off toward the table
leaving me sitting there quietly. I looked around taking in
everything that I saw, everything that I felt from the things around
me.
The air started to grow warmer around me as the sun slowly
lifted higher into the sky, but still I felt a little cold as I continued to
absorbed the energy that flowed around me. The energy from the
water, from the wind, from the ground. I allowed the energy to flow
through me, taking in deep breaths and slowly releasing it, letting
the energy fill my blood with every breath I took. "Here you go."
Jon said, passing me another bowl of soup.
"You know sometimes it's so easy to forget how beautiful this
place really is." I said with a smile, looking around taking in the
breath taking views that surrounded us. "You know; this place
could be a real romantic place if you asked me." I said, stirring my
bowl of soup. "I know, I've been thinking about that lately. You
know if we aren't busy tonight we should go for a walk to the lake
or something."
He said, with his soft, gentle smile. "That sounds
like a good idea; I surely could use the break." I smiled back.
"Jon, come on we need to make some preparations." Dad
called out. "I'll see you tonight I guess." Jon said, with his smile
still on his face as he leaned in for a kiss. "Can't wait." I replied,
kissing him back. "Oh come on, you guys can kiss all you want
later." Tucker called out with his usual laugh. "Glad to know your
back to your normal self." I called back, as they all disappeared
into the forest.
I stayed near the creek for a while taking in my surroundings.
"Hi Mia." I heard a small squeaky voice say. I looked around
startled, and noticed a small brown shape hopping from one
branch to another then landing on a branch right above me. "Hi
there." I said, looking at this small squirrel looking back at me.
"I'm Lina." The squirrel said.
"I'm a friend of Wing, I too have been sent by the gods to help
you, in fact a lot of us have been sent to help you." She said.
"Really; so you mean there's more of you?" I asked. "Yes; there
are a lot more of us." She replied, with her squeaky voice.
"Is that Elder Wing?" She asked, twitching her little nose to sniff
the air.
"Why yes it is." I said; turning to see him sitting there, staring into
the fire.
She jumped down off the tree branch onto my shoulder. I
jerked a little, feeling awkward about the situation. "Don't worry I
won't bite you." She giggled, with her whisker's tickling my ear.
“Can you take me to him.”
She asked softly.
“Um; I sure can.”
I
said, as I walked over to Elder Wing who looked up at the sound
of my approach.
"Mia; ah you've found Lina." He said, lifting his palm allowing
her to jump into it. "Yeah, well more like she found me." I smiled.
"I've become an old man my little friend. I know it's been a while
since I last saw you." He said softly. "I'm just glad to see you after
so many years." She replied. "I'll leave you two to catch up." I said,
turning toward grandma and grandpa who were cleaning up the
mess from this mornings breakfast. "No Mia; I have something to
tell you."
She said. "Come sit Mia, you must learn that the animals
here are your friends, and they want to help you. Sometimes they
are the only one's who can." Elder Wing insisted. I sat next to
them on a log of my own.
"Yesterday, I saw you and the one who can move the earth
talking." She said. "Ok." I replied. "But then I saw a dark figure
step closer to you both, but this was no ordinary darkness, Wing.”
She said turning her little head toward his. “This was a darkness
that hasn't been seen in these parts for a real long time, since the
time of Great Tricloud." She said; looking at both of us, twisting
her little head back and forth. "Then we watched a battle between
the three of you; you two and the darkness." She continued.
"But Mia; the power that we saw in you, also hasn't been seen
in these parts for decades." She said, twitching her little nose
around. "My thoughts exactly my little friend." Elder Wing agreed
looking at me as well. "I'll bet that she can shape shift without a
problem." She squeaked. "Yeah, I haven't learned any of that, but
I did hear about it."
I said with a cringe.
"Don't you believe that it's possible." She asked.
"It's not that
I don't believe; it's more of a why me kind of thing." I chuckled,
back with a raised brow.
From the distance we could hear loud
crashing sounds, followed by low rumbling that we could
eventually feel under our feet.
"Wow, what's that?" I said looking
into the direction of the noise.
I scanned the tree tops and noticed that some, were moving
violently. "They must create barricades; so that if anyone tries to
come here again we'll know far before they get here." Elder Wing
replied, looking into the same direction as I was.
The rumbling