The Scheme of All Things: Part I

25

     The sun's yellow morning glow broke the horizon amid a tittering of birds. Le'adida had been awake watching the horizon as the sky lightened and the night crawled away, awoken by her cubs nuzzling for milk. The smallest, who Le'adida named first, was only now waking and crying, desperate to find breakfast. She tore her attention away from the horizon and with her nose pushed Sigfuss in among his other siblings. Her husband had made it to the makeshift den just as she was giving birth and had only just left to hunt hare for breakfast.

Once all her children were feeding, she looked back up at the rising sun, following the long shadows of trees and hills to their origin far away across the field. In the center of the sunrise, a small shadow appeared and as she watched, approached. At first, she felt alarm as all vulnerable mother's do, but as she watched she saw that the shadow was moving towards her, open and apparent, allowing for anyone who cared to see its approach, whatever it was.

It was bipedal she thought, probably human. On the spirit plane, many creatures came to explore, to search, to hunt, to play and some came to stay. They were angels and spirits and humans and ghosts, and you were never completely sure, even after talking to them, until you sat with them, listened to their story, heard them laugh (if they laugh) broke bread with them and offered pleasantries. It was then that you could sense their purpose, their design here and react accordingly. Some thought it was man that was the most difficult to read and Le'adida agreed- it wasn't distrust, not entirely, it was more that men did not understand their own path themselves. They typically were oblivious to their own desires and wishes and often the effect those ambitions had. So it was she thought, but they were also to intriguing, so mysterious and funny. Her husband would balk, but she always enjoyed listening to men speak even small talk. She remembered the young sorcerer (or wizard or shaman, she could never tell the difference) who had visited her looking for this gem or that herb or some lost secret left here in Allathian eons ago. A curious creature always on the move and behind his eyes the mind always grinding away. When he came, a dozen times or more, she was young only a child and she would assume the form of man, a female, and sit with tea ready. Her mother would have scolded her if she knew how often she met the brash sorcerer, but she was careful. He wasn't strikingly handsome, no but not plane either; typical of the specious she surmised, but she enjoyed his company and his flirtations, as awkward as they were and would offer her advice and aid in finding whatever it was he searched for, whatever he desired.

Then one day he stopped coming. She always kept an eye open for him, intentionally wandering into the golden fields, near the swamp, but he never returned. She knew it wasn't her, but she never found out what finally drove him elsewhere and she guessed it was some human girl- such is the way of man.

And so here, now again, she thought of that young man, as this new figure appeared, a man she believed as the image grew nearer to her. It was almost assuredly a man, carrying something and he deliberately making his way to her. She wondered when her husband would return and hoped he would not spring on the visitor if he found him here.

To be safe, she scuttled her young ones into the cave she had found, well more of a nook, but well hidden. She had lain dry grass along the bottom so it was soft and dry, with their bellies full the cubs should fall off to sleep. She chose to change her form so that she appeared as a woman with a lioness head with a soft layer of fur covering most of her skin, she wrapped a deer skin her husband had given her as a gift around her and stood waiting for the strange man to arrive.

He stood looking at her for a long moment and she cocked her head hoping to discern his intent. The sun, now fully above the horizon, was behind him which left his cloaked face completely dark as if it hood were empty. He had a bag slung over his back and in his arms was a man-child struggling it seemed to break free. The child made a sound like a whimper which seemed to prompt the man and he finally spoke.