She-Who-Brought-Fire

Tabby lifted her head as the dawn light rose above the horizon. She couldn’t hear any sounds except those of morning birds and frogs, so she knew some sort of water source was nearby. She could distinctly smell the smokey remains of fire drifting in the air and wondered what had burned. She couldn’t remember what had happened. It was as if she was coming anew into the world. She felt her body and realized that her body was sound. Nothing broken, and that was a good thing to know. Thirst was driving her to rise and seek water, so she pushed herself up and followed the song of the frogs until she came to a spring bursting out of rock and forming a stream that flowed into a small pond from whence came the frog song.  She drank from the spring quenching her thirst. On one side of the stream was charred evidence of a great burning and on the other greenness all around.

           Tabby sat down on the bank of the stream and gazed at the pond as if perhaps it might reveal to her what had happened. But, no answers came, only questions. She lost track of time until the realization came that daylight was fading, and she thought perhaps it would be wise to find shelter for the night. She surveyed the area on the green side and saw a tree set back a bit from the perimeter of the pond that looked promising. She approached the tree and studied it seeking to see if there were foot and hand holds that would allow her to ascend into its leafy shelter high above the ground. Then, satisfied with what she saw, she started to climb. She found her way to a place in the branches that provided shelter. She pulled her tie belt from around her waist and secured herself. She was tired.  Despite hunger, fatigue won and she fell asleep. She did not know that squirrels who lived in the tree and a nesting owl were keeping watch over her as she slept and dreamed.

She found herself swimming in a pool of crystal-clear water listening to the strains of stringed instrument music filling the air around her. She flipped herself onto her back and floated under an aquamarine sky studded with small puffy salmon pink clouds. She had no awareness of the passage of time.

Rays from the rising sun filtered through the leafy canopy where Tabby slept and dreamed. Morning birds twittered and sang with the dawn light gently awakening her from the world of her dream. She undid the tie that had held her secured to the welcoming tree all night and stretched her arms above her head tightening and releasing all her muscles as if saying, wake up my friends, we have much to explore today. From deep within her, cellular memory of survival in a wooded space kicked in, and she just knew the first order of the day was to establish a base near water with an easy food supply for at least a week. She didn’t know what had happened, but she acknowledged that the world where she now found herself was not the world as she had known it before awakening. She couldn’t help but wonder if she was alone. She couldn’t remember any specific other life forms, but there persisted vestiges of cellular memory of knowing others. She hoped with time that more specific memories would return that would provide her with clues to her past. But in that moment, she focused on the NOW. She summoned mental pictures of the stream and the spring from which she had slaked her thirst previously and found the path that led down to the stream and on to the spring where once again she drank deeply of the sweet water. What could have burned so much of the land across the stream, she again pondered, but no answers came.

Marking the spot on the path where it turned away from the stream and headed uphill through the wood to her tree, she turned and walked on down the path that meandered following the stream, keeping a look out for edibles that might be growing nearby. After a while, she came upon a row of lush, leafy bushes bent low with fat juicy black berries. She plucked one, washed it in the stream and popped it into her mouth extracting its juices first and then chewing the berry into pulp. She picked up a piece of curved bark from the ground and fashioned it deftly into a receptacle to gather berries while she walked along, stopping every little bit to wash and pop a black berry into her mouth as her hands sought, picked, and added more fruit into her bark receptacle.

She rounded a bend and saw a small animal trail veering off the main path. She felt it was important for her to leave the main path and follow this trail wherever it might lead. She had a good feeling about it and trusted that feeling. Tabby walked awhile following the wooded trail until she came to a stone overhang that she ducked under and noticed a cave tucked back into the embankment from which the stone protruded. It was almost obscured from the trail, but not quite. Light was beginning to fade, and she knew by nightfall she needed to establish a camp. There was no time to retrace her steps and return to her tree where she had spent the previous night.

She climbed up to the cave without spilling a single black berry. She shivered with the coming on of nightfall and in the waning light, gathered some kindling and larger wood as well and arranged it near the opening of the cave. Then, she sat down on moss near the arrangement. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply the breath of fire. As she did so, a glimmer of memory awakened showing her that she had learned the breath of fire as a child. When she was ready after several repetitions, she knelt so her mouth was level with the kindling and from her mouth gently blew sparks into the kindling. She leaned back on her bottom and grinned as the warmth of the fire penetrated her being. She began to sing of stars and wild things. Her song hung in the night air and rippled out away from her fire. Using moss as a pillow and the jacket she wore as a blanket, Tabby sank into a deep sleep beside her burning fire and dreamed.

She saw herself in a land all green and burgeoning with life. She was walking in a forest not unlike the one where she was now sleeping. Just as a spark of remembrance was dawning in her dream connecting her existence in the dream world and the waking world, a fog rolled into her dream and she awoke.

She did not know how long she slept and dreamed there beside the fire and under the stars, but the moon was high in the sky when she awoke and found she was no longer alone. Across from her, warming itself beside the fire was a large shaggy beast. Its presence didn’t frighten her, but instead, in some odd way she couldn’t name, the presence of the shaggy beast comforted her. It felt like she had known this beast in some before time. She smiled at the beast. He lowered his head in answer.

“I am known as Basquel,” the beast’s smooth, deep voice came into her mind.

“Ah, you know mindspeak, how delightful,” responded Tabby.

The shaggy beast nodded his assent, and murmured, “Likewise.”

Tabby continued, “You are welcome to share this fire, friend, if I may call you so, I do not remember my past, but I am calling myself Tabby.”

The shaggy beast nodded. They shared the warmth of the fire in companionable silence until the night sky lightened, the moon set, and the fire burned low with the coming of dawn.

Tabby’s natural curiosity was welling up inside her as the sun was rising. She blurted out in mindspeak, “I have to ask, do you know what happened in this world, are there other sentient species, did all life burn up in the lands across the stream, how far does the burn stretch on the other side away from the stream…” her questions trailed off.

Basquel laughed a deep throaty laugh and answered her, “Slow down, little friend, slow down, too many questions before breakfast. Come with me, let’s go fishing. I can eat my fish raw or cooked. How about you?”

Tabby paused seeking some inner stomach knowledge when Basquel interrupted her thought search by politely asking, “Can you start fire whenever it is needed?”

She replied simply, “Yes,”

He laughed again and said, “Then cooked fish it shall be. Follow me.”

Basquel sauntered off down the path back toward the main trail with Tabby following behind. They arrived at the main path, and Basquel started walking until he came to a place where frothy rushing water poured over some rocks and pooled below. Basquel waded into the water and began snapping at shadows in the water.  Soon he flipped a large fish up onto the bank and directed Tabby in mindspeak to cut off its head and lay it in the shade. He repeated this action three more times, and she continued beheading and stacking the fish.

           Basquel came back to shore and shook himself splattering water around him. They laughed together. She tied the fish with vines and threw the line of fish laden vines over Basquel’s back. It felt oddly familiar to do so.

           When they arrived back at their camp, Tabby started a fire in her way and gutted and spitted the fish per Basquel’s directions. They sat near the fire waiting in companionable silence and then feasted. Hunger satisfied, Basquel addressed Tabby, “Let me tell you what I know about what happened.”

           Tabby stirred the fire and waited.

           “The burned land on the other side of the stream was once green and life supporting just like this side. There were some habitats of sentient species here and there but mostly it was forest with lots of wild things living in it. My clan was one of the sentients who lived there.”

           Tabby started to interrupt, but Basquel held up a paw and shook his shaggy head. He continued, “All the living things of the forest respected each other and generally harmony prevailed. There was enough to sustain everyone as long as no one got greedy. One day a group of becloaked strangers came into one of the village habitats and took over the village. It wasn’t long before the strangers had convinced villagers to follow them in their quest for power and control of the forest. Observing this from an undetectable location, our clan leader told us we must cross the stream and move eastward because life threatening trouble was coming. Neither he nor any of our elders knew what form that trouble would take, but they all agreed it was time to seek new territory. We made our crossing and traveled three days and nights until we came to a lush part of the forest with no sign of any other sentient occupants. That night as we were resting, we were aroused by great fireballs falling from the sky over the land we had just left. The clan leader asked for a volunteer to stealthily go back to find out whatever he could by observations from a safe distance. I answered that call.” Basquel paused to stoke the fire. Then, he continued, “As I worked my way back, I could smell the burn long before I saw it. I reached a clearing and climbed a low hill which afforded me a view of the land across the stream. It was still smoking from the fiery destruction that had rained down upon it. There were no signs of life. I was making my way back to my clan leader when night fell, and I smelled your fire and found you sleeping peacefully. And here we are,” Basquel finished and fixed his bright blue eyes upon her and waited for her response.

Tabby, feeling deeply moved, stared into the fire ordering her thoughts before she spoke,

 “I do not know if I was part of this land until now. I do not know how I arrived here, but I believe that whatever my life was and wherever I came from being here with you feels right and is my chance to forge another life, if you will have me as companion. I do not even yet know if I have other powers beyond fire-starter but perhaps that is enough. Only time will tell.  I am sure I have a lot to learn. Gaining knowledge can bring both sorrow and joy. May I travel with you and learn?”

“You may. There are no accidents. You are meant to be here with me now,” Basquel answered. “We will sleep here and leave at dawn.”

They traveled deeper into the forest until they arrived at the place called home by Basquel’s clan whereupon Tabby was welcomed like a long-lost clan member finally coming home. Basquel’s clan became her family. She embraced her life with the clan and was devoted to them as her new family. She was honored as one of their own.

It came to pass over the years that she learned much living with the clan. She was grateful for her new life and family.  Although no other powers revealed themselves to her, the power as fire-starter was indeed enough. It gave her place and purpose within the clan. She trained acolytes in the art of the breath of fire, and when she drew her last breath in her one hundredth year with the clan, she was laid to rest in the forest where she and Basquel had first shared the warmth of her fire. Basquel outlived her as members of his clan were known to live hundreds of years. Tabby passed into legend among the clan as She-Who-Brought-Fire, and is remembered so to this day.