Sunlit Grove

 

The little clearing was lit with bright sunbeams that filtered through the spruce canopy. The golden light illuminated mossy terrain and small rock outcroppings. It dappled the simple cairn at the side of the clearing, itself grown over with reaching lichens. Caught in their finite world of the beams were dancing mites, barely there but for movement. A pair of large yellow butterflies lazily flapped their way across the open woods, to all appearances aimless in their flight. There, on the gently-warmed rock and moss, Telon and his apprentice sat in meditation. The day had proved clear and beautiful, if not as hot as might be expected for such bright sun. The two traveling scholars felt totally refreshed, having left the manipulations of Angelica well behind.

They had paid thanks to their driver near the summit of Mt. Etan, as he had business in the local township and planned to remain in the summitlands for the day. The larger glen township of Mont-Clair was near enough, and Telon figured they could hire passage onward from there, so they took a moment to sit and regroup. The two had still not had a chance to talk properly since reuniting, and Ayleah could tell Telon had something important to share with her. They found a quiet open space on the north peak and sat in the pleasant air to discuss more details of their separate adventures. Ayleah told Telon of the attack at the trailhead and her interaction with the man in black and his mirrors. She told him about Kae-ri and the various strange occurrences in her life over the past eight or ten moons. Telon listened with great interest, and told her in his turn of what he had been practicing at Burnt Rock. He spoke of how he had been transported there, and what he had gotten out of being able to study in such a power-saturated place. He seemed to start to say something else, but then suggested they both meditate for a short while and regather their energies.

-

Ayleah was the first to break the silence.

“What made you first take an interest in me?” she asked the blue-robed one across the rock from her.

Telon's mind flashed back to the marketplace at Silver Shores. He thought of how Davai had seemed to already know much of this would happen. “We shared a dream the night after I arrived at your village. We saw each other in the market square, and I think marked each other at that time. There is an innate automatic power people have in their gaze, and when two who have heightened sensibilities make contact...”

“But I wasn't very aware of all that at the time, I only learned most of the energetic stuff at the Sanctuary.” Ayleah cut in. “What is it about me that makes people see me as special?”

Telon glanced away, and looked back again with a faint smile. “You're exceptionally well-connected to, and perceptive of the energetic realm.”

Ayleah looked skeptical. “There are scholars that are far more in tune than I am though. Just by their capabilities, if nothing else. Whatever 'prodigious' power I might have, it still pales in comparison to someone like you or the head sages at the Dome. I've never been to the Queen Cities, but I'm sure there are powerful people there as well.”

“There is a difference.” the blue-robed scholar explained. “I am skilled, yes, at working with the world. I, and many of my colleagues are very good at working with reality, and knowing how to flow alongside and through its patterns. You though, are more powerful than I think you realize. In your efforts to understand and work with reality, you are actually actively shaping it to fit your energies.” He paused here for a breath, and began again with a new tone. “Remember a through-line in all your teachings: we are not separate from the world, but an integral piece of it. It is important for the scholars to understand that we are a part of reality so that we can direct and steer our intentions harmoniously. For us, learning to work with reality is like learning to control a boat on a river. You though, act as a nexus upon that river, pulling the surrounding currents in to support your direction. It's actually quite incredible, and I have yet to meet another with that innate sort of connection and power.”

“What are you saying? I'm not an elemental, like Kae-ri though. I'm...human...-solid-whatever!”

Telon's voice became gentle, but his faint smile had returned. “True, true, but you're not not an elemental.”

Ayleah had the strange sensation of her world collapsing into the space of her consciousness and at the same time her awareness expanding to fill the whole world. It was a fragile but strangely liberating feeling.

“How...how have I been shaping my reality?” she asked, when she was finally able.

“Have you ever heard of the literary device called the Hero's Journey?” Telon replied. “It can be found in uncountable works of mythology and fiction as a basic framework for the story. Some main character embarks on a journey of symbolic self-discovery. Along the way they meet with a mentor, they engage in a series of ordeals in a special world, or one different from their own. Eventually, they gain a certain mastery and ascend back into their “ordinary world” as a sort of glorious homecoming. The story has roots in reality, but it is not intended to perfectly mirror reality. Real lives do not work out as tidily as those of our fictional stories.

Ayleah had the sense of a burgeoning realization. An idea was just now sparked by Telon's description of the literary device. “Wait, do you mean you think I've been creating my own destiny?” she asked.

“Well, we all create our own destiny,” Telon said, “but you seem to do so in a more literal sense. It is subtle, but so are all the ways of energy until they come down right upon our heads. I, Jaen, and most of the others in your life have unwittingly played a role in your story. Your energy is powerful enough that it has pulled their flows around yours at key moments for the service of the destiny you sought. Whether or not you knew it consciously, you placed yourself on this path and the world complied. Your power Ayleah, is in your story. It is an overlooked fact that stories are life; stories create life. Your curiosity has given birth to a story which has actually shaped a bit of the world. That is a direct power that the scholars of the Queen Cities would do anything to possess.”

The feelings of destruction and expansion increased in Ayleah. The more she wrapped her mind around the concept, the more incredible it seemed, and yet it explained every decision she had made since she could remember. Times when she had acted seemingly against the character of her being, times when she had acted impulsively, with no thought except a feeling that the action needed doing. She struggled with the idea that her life could be so pre-programmed and yet be decided by her own intentions. How could she be free and as powerful as he was saying if she was tied to a destiny that pulled everyone else in to its current? She felt pulled and pushed at the same time, boxed in and exploded all over the mountainside. Everything felt resolved, but dispersed into chaos at the same time. She felt lost, and a tear wet the top of her cheek. She blinked, and shook her head slightly. “It doesn't...make sense.” she managed.

Telon's reply held the utmost compassion. “The most profound parts of life often remain paradoxes even when we reach a full understanding of them. I tell you these things only so that you have a fair chance. Knowing the truth of how you are is the only way of having a chance to decide differently. I believe in you Ayleah, especially after what you've told me about your travels. I believe you can use your power for whatever destiny you want. And if you see this story out to the end, I think you'll do well too.”

Ayleah looked back at him, feeling bolstered by the peacefulness of her surroundings. Telon continued: “The question put before you now, before us, is this: What do we wish to do, now that we have this knowledge?”

Ayleah shut her eyes, listening to the forest and the sounds of the mountain township wafting through the trees. She felt the breeze, and noted for not the first time its curious lack of warmth. A minute passed in silence, maybe more, but when she opened her eyes she saw Telon had been meditating as well. She looked at him and he opened his eyes. “There's somewhere I have to be, some moment I'm needed for, isn't there?”

Telon softly nodded.

After the two had left the clearing and begun their way down the mountain to the village glen, a large yellow butterfly landed on the mossy cairn. It slowly waved its wings a couple times before taking off and continuing on its way. The golden sunlight shone on the cairn and its lichen as it had for many days since, and as it would for many days to come.