Edited by PennLady
This is a copyrighted work of fiction. All rights reserved.
*
I watched spellbound as the moon rose. It seemed to me to rise faster then it should have. Before I knew it, she was riding high in the sky and her light was everywhere. I had been out in the full moon before, but the light seemed different to me. More mystical, and wonderful, and just more beautiful than I'd ever realized. The air seemed infused with the light and I wondered how I'd missed this beauty all my life.
As I watched, lanky rabbits began to congregate in the meadow, all staring upward. It was one of the weirdest things I'd ever seen. I looked back to Chang and he indicated I should continue to watch. I turned back and saw that they were now all sitting up on their haunches, faces aimed at the sky. I felt something brush over me, causing a thrill that made my scales shudder. I could almost pass it off as a breeze, but I felt it in my pearl. Then things shifted.
For a moment everything dimmed, like a filter was drawn across my senses. Before I could react everything was back and even though I appeared to be in the same place it was all very different. The light was different. My eye-sight as a dragon was better than as a human, but things were heightened. The interplay of light and shadows were softened as normally happens in moon light, but somehow the light itself seemed sharper and brighter. The sounds were clearer and more pleasant. The smell of the air was distinct, and with each breath I could smell and taste the magic of this place. Or this version of the spot, since where I was hadn't physically changed. It was the same spot on the river.
The feel of the grass and water against my body was more intense. The river's energy washed over me where my legs and tail were still in the water, and I could sense the energy of the grass as a tickle against my scales. I could feel the moonlight on my body. It was the most exquisite feeling, sublime and ineffable. The moonlight worked under my skin and scales, coursing throughout and settling in my pearl. And, oh yeah, I wanted more.
I looked back again at Chang, and even he looked different. The moonlight glistened off his dark scales and his golden eyes took on a silvery sheen. But again, the biggest change was hard to quantify. Chang always had a natural majesty to him, even when he was relaxed or joking, but now it was more pronounced, and he was even more imposing. The air danced around him as if just waiting for his command. I could see the energy of the river interact with the moonlight where it reflected off the water.
"Um, what just happened?" I managed to squeak out.
"Reality has two sides to it, the physical and the spiritual. You have spent the entirety of your time in the physical. This is the spiritual."
"And they are linked," I said, trying to get the rules straight in my head. "But if that's so, how can you be in one then in the other, like they're different places?"
"They are interlinked and interwoven, flip sides of the same coin. But same as there is a width between the two sides of the coin, there is a very fine...." He paused here, searching for a word. "Barrier, I suppose, between them. Most stand on one side of the barrier or the other. However, though very few are aware of it anymore, most beings are capable of traveling through. Some are able to stand in both at once, but I find that experience gives me a headache."
I was about to comment on being certain someone produces a pain medication for just that particular ailment, when Chang again indicated the field I had turned away from. He wore a knowing smile.
"I believe she would like to speak with you."
I turned back to the meadow and saw a figure that nearly stopped my heart. A woman stood perhaps a couple of yards away from me. She was statuesque and stunning, her pale skin was luminous and her silver-white hair fell in a radiant cascade down her back. Her clothes seemed to be made out of the moonlight and flowed gracefully around her. She had a gentleness to her, and a stillness that instantly put me at ease. She sat, though on what I couldn't see, and gestured for me to join her. The rabbits gathered at her feet.
I hesitated a moment, overwhelmed. Then with an insistent
GO
the river forcibly pushed me towards her. It was the first time I could remember the river doing something like that. I walked over, feeling shy.
When I reached her, the rabbits made room for me. Caught up in the peacefulness of her presence, I laid my head in her lap. There was a strange Wonderlandesque nature to the perspective. The rabbits seemed to be proportionate to me as a dragon, and to her as a human. But I was able to lay my head in her lap as though she were roughly the same size as me. I was beginning to see how this could give someone a headache. Not that it really mattered. She ran her hand through my mane and I sighed.
"So you are Chang's newest fledgling and protégé." She smiled down at me. Her voice was lilting and pleasant.
"It is very nice to meet you."
"It's very nice to meet you too, ma'am." I nodded.
She gave a delicate laugh. "You certainly are polite."
I heard Chang's laughter. "Perhaps he is to you, my lady."
She regarded my face as she continued stroking my fur. I soaked it up, her attention and her energy. "Oh, come, he can't be that bad."
"As you say, my lady." I wasn't looking at Chang, but I could hear the smile in his voice.
She continued studying me. She raised my head up and looked into my eyes. Her eyes were the night sky, and I became lost in their depths. I felt her look through me, into my soul.
"You have a very gentle nature, and a true heart. You will make a very fine addition to this clan."
She arranged my head in her lap and traced something on my forehead with her finger. I trembled at her touch. When she was finished, I felt infused with the moonlight. There was an intense high as the energy flowed through my body. It was ethereal and felt like a breeze blowing inside. It also tickled a bit, like the river. While the sensations seemed contradictory they melded seamlessly. As the energy settled in my pearl, my head lolled in her lap and my body lazed bonelessly at her feet. The coalesced energy ensconced inside me felt like a piece of the moon itself and I couldn't have been happier to have her favor.
She observed my state with quiet amusement. "I had originally planned on acquainting you with some of the lore regarding your clan. But looking at you, you are clearly a fledgling barely able to keep your eyes open."
I wanted to dispute the statement, but she was right. I was coming down from the high fast. I was still carrying a comfortable buzz, but sleep was not very far away. "I'm afraid you may be right, ma'am," I slurred, then remembered what Chang called her. "My lady," I corrected.
"Then I think I'll leave that instruction to Chang. Do you have any questions, Sebastian?"
"Why do oysters make pearls from moonlight? And why are all these rabbits here?" I was allowed to ask the closest thing to a deity I've ever seen a question and what do I come up with? Rabbits and oysters. Oh, the banality of it all.
I heard Chang chuckle. But to her credit, the moon took my questions seriously.
"Oysters make pearls so that humans may have a bit of the moon at all times. The human race was meant to live with magic, and in earlier times the people made good use of it. It may now seem that people have moved past their need for magic, but they haven't. They have simply buried it under distractions. So these little reminders are still left to be found."
I nodded and did my best to assimilate what she was saying, but sleep was closing in fast.
"And these are not rabbits." She bent and picked one up. She laid it along her forearm with the animal's chest resting in her hand while stroking it's fur with the other hand. Up close I could see the build was longer than a rabbit, and the ears and legs were bigger. "They are hares, and they are sacred to me."
"Right, bunnies are sacred. Don't hurt the bunnies or anything bunny-like," I muttered as sleep overtook me.
