by Lucia Ashta
He leaned most of his weight on her, and together they limped the fifty feet or so. There, he collapsed. She helped him lie down avoiding rocks and protruding roots. As she crouched low, she was relieved to feel the cooler temperatures at the base of the tree. She said a silent thank you to the juniper for its shade, and she was surprised to feel the tree respond to her. The tree was happy with this woman’s gratitude.
Lena retrieved the water bottles they left behind, and when she returned, Paolo seemed to be almost asleep. She leaned against the tree trunk, stretched out her legs, and closed her eyes. She felt comfortable under the tree. She thought her bark beautiful, her roots strong, her trunk stoic, and her limbs graceful in their swirling twists. She considered her shade marvelous and her subtle scent calming and filled with wisdom as it clung to the still air.
Juniper stood taller. Just like all divine creatures, Juniper reveled in feeling love. Even though Juniper enjoyed her life of stillness, of strength, and of tranquil growth that came with the passage of time, she also liked to share with other creatures. She enjoyed the raven that flew by, often coming down to rest on her branches. She appreciated the tickle of the ants crawling across her roots and up her trunk. The gliding motion of the worm piqued her interest, and the wasps that made their nest high up in her branches made music.
Juniper’s leaves shook and vibrated. Juniper delved into what the woman was offering her, eager to experience appreciation for the first time. Her movements may be small, but she started as a seedling, and look at her now! She beamed. She felt right then that she’d fulfilled her purpose for being.
As if in response, a warm, gentle breeze blew around her, embracing her, tickling her needles. She was happy! The very breeze that had accentuated her joy shook loose a single berry. It trailed downward on the wings of fate and landed squarely on Lena.
Lena woke, but didn’t open her eyes. She realized then that she’d drifted off from herself and connected with this wondrous juniper behind her. She didn’t break the spell. She couldn’t.
She scooted forward, and wrapped her arms around Juniper. She rested her right cheek against her striated trunk. A drop of sap landed on Lena’s outstretched leg.
Dusk was approaching when Lena finally tore herself away from the tree. The day began with her merging with Coyote and culminated in her connection with Juniper. A deep sense of beauty, calm, and wisdom filled her. Paolo blinked repeatedly when she gently motioned him awake. She was glowing. Even in his groggy state, he thanked Creator for sending him an angel.
Slowly, carefully, she helped him stand. He leaned his arm around her shoulder; she carried the bottles in her other hand. Like that, they made their way down the gradual slope of the mountain.
By the time they finally reached the car, it was dark, and they were tired. After she helped him into the passenger seat, she brought her hand to her heart center. There, tucked in her bosom, was the berry Juniper had gifted her. The berry dropped from Juniper’s branches, but it may as well have fallen from the heavens for the importance Lena gave this gift of love.
Then she buckled in and pulled away, leaving the pyramid behind—for now.
Chapter 10
Lena drove through small towns that had mostly shut down for the night. The town residents were farmers who rose early and slept when the sun did. The quiet of the exterior mirrored the inner stillness of the car passengers. Lena was in bliss from her connection with Juniper, and Paolo was exhausted and preserving his energy.
The landscapes were serene. Rows and rows of fields were silver lit by the moon. Farmhouses and dwellings interrupted the fields here and there, but their numbers were insufficient to disrupt the monotonous feeling of farmland. Lena liked it very much.
Before long, she turned down the dirt road that led to the campsite. Just a few minutes later, they’d arrive at their tent. There, a great surprise awaited them.
The fire crackled in a show of light and sound. Lena loved staring into fires, and after the magical day she’d lived, she appreciated this one especially. Of course, she hadn’t expected to have a fire that night. But then, nothing had been as she anticipated that day, and the night would be no different.
They pulled up to yet another unknown man within their camping area. Just as the native man seemingly appeared out of nowhere, so did this man. He had no car, and he had no backpack. He carried nothing but a light jacket to guard against the oncoming chill that nights in the desert brought. He dug into the ground to create a fire pit, surrounded it with stones to prevent the fire from spreading, and collected fallen branches as firewood.
When Lena pulled up, the unknown man stood in front of the blazing fire as if he belonged there. After talking with him into the night, Lena would begin to think that perhaps he did.
Although isolated out in the desert with no other campers around, both Lena and Paolo instantly felt at ease with their surprise visitor. They recognized the man as a fellow light warrior. Their encounter could be no coincidence.
Upon first meeting, the light warriors embraced. Lena pulled away from hugging the man with a distracted chuckle. She’d completely forgotten about the juniper sap, which she’d transferred from her leg to his. Now the man smelled wonderful, but he’d have quite a time removing the sticky sap from his leg hair.
Lena pulled back, still smiling. She felt too joyful to see the situation in any other light.
“I’m sorry. I totally forgot I had sap on me.” She would have continued explaining, but the man was already waving her explanation away. He didn’t need to know.
“Nah. It’s no problem. Just a little sticky tree love. I think I’m gonna like it. For sure it’s gonna be stuck on me for a while.
“I’m Kel,” he told them, hands stuffed in his short pockets. He was from the east coast of the United States, that much was clear from his accent. “I’m glad you guys are here. I’ve been looking for you.”
“You have?” Paolo asked from where he sat on the ground. He was too weak to remain standing.
“Yup. I have.” Kel rolled back and forth on his heels. He looked happy with himself under a mop of red hair, the fire throwing color onto his normally pale skin.
“Well, I guess we’re happy to have you then. My name’s Paolo.”
“And mine’s Lena.”
“Awesome to meet you both. Now why don’t you take care of him while I put up protection?” Kel said, turning to Lena for the last part.
Lena smiled. She didn’t question how Kel knew about them. It was nice to have someone look out for them. In fact, it was a relief.
“Thank you. That’d be good.”
She turned to Paolo. “What do you want to do? Do you want me to help you into the tent so you can sleep?”
At the promise of rest and healing, Paolo let it all go. He nodded eagerly with sad, puppy-dog eyes. He really didn’t feel well. They hobbled into the tent, with Paolo leaning his weight on her. She helped him get comfortable and drink water, then lay next to him for a while. Her comfort and companionship were just the sedative he needed and, before long, he was sleeping soundly.
When Paolo awakened the next morning, he was back to himself. Whatever had taken hold of him left during the healing night sleep. He felt weaker than usual from the intensity of his illness the day before, but he was otherwise well once more. Paolo held Lena close as they stood watching the sun rise above the mountains that surrounded them.
“Where did our new friend go?” Paolo asked.
“I don’t know. We talked for a while, and then he just got up and walked off into the desert.”
“Did he tell you what he was doing here?”
“Not really. He didn’t tell me much about why or how he came to be here. And I have no idea where he went last night. I hope he had somewhere safe and warm to sleep. I would have offered him to stay with us, but he surprised me when he just walked off. So I let him go. He seemed to know what he was doing.
“He did tell me some interesting things about h
imself though. He said that when he was eleven he got really sick—physically ill. And that it was up to him to heal himself. He knew doctors wouldn’t be able to help him and if he didn’t work on healing himself on his own, he’d die.
“So he healed himself. He said he ‘went out there’. That’s how he put it. He learned to connect with the angels and his other spirit guides, and he’d leave his body all the time. And while he was away from his body, it could heal without interference. He said he ate little, letting his body focus on healing instead of digestion.
“He said he changed. He started feeling things he hadn’t felt before. He started seeing things he couldn’t see before. He saw angels.” She paused. “And demons.”
An involuntary shiver ran down the length of her body. “I don’t know if I could handle that. It must be intense to see demons all the time. They must be everywhere.”
When she asked Kel the night before how it was for him to see demons, he just shrugged. It wasn’t his choice whether he saw them or not, so he made the best of it.
“I did ask him if he’d seen something that made him believe we needed protection, and he told me he saw demons and spirits swarming around the periphery of the campsite once we arrived. They were watching us, monitoring us. I suppose that’s a good reminder of how important it is to keep our vibration high.” Lena trailed off in thought.
“Anyway, he put up protection around the area. The demons and spirits were forced to retreat to the outer edge of the protective bubble of light. They can’t enter it.”
And then it hit her. Kel had done almost exactly what Area and Arien did in her visions of Arnaka. They created protective bubbles of light, first around the campsite and then around Asara and Anak individually.
At times, the parallels were unnerving to Lena. How could she be seeing another lifetime so vividly and have aspects of it overlap with her present lifetime? It was truly mind-boggling. She could barely compare the life she led now to the one she had in Michigan only a few months earlier. She’d been born anew.
Then Lena realized she hadn’t told Paolo about her incredible experience with the juniper tree near the pyramid. Once she had, Paolo turned to look at her. To him, Lena was magnificent. She was childlike in her way of wonder, and that allowed her to touch the magical world with greater ease than he could, even though he’d been awake to the spiritual world much longer.
Paolo pulled Lena closer. Everything about their coming together was truly magical. He nestled his nose under her hair and kissed her neck. “So Kel just got up and left?”
She nodded. “Yes. He walked off into the distance, a mysterious man, just like the native man this morning. They both headed in the same direction, carrying nothing, and disappeared into the mountains.
“That’s quite a way to begin and end a day, wouldn’t you say? I wonder what today holds.” Lena was excited.
“I don’t know what today will bring, but I have an excellent idea of where it could start,” Paolo said, already letting his mind race ahead of him. “Why don’t I take you into the tent and show you my idea?”
The mischievous smile Lena loved played across his face. He nudged her along, kissing her neckline, pressing his body against hers, until he’d backed her up against the tent. They fumbled with the tent zipper and crouched inside. Within moments, Paolo was inside Lena, and all thoughts of mysterious men coming and going were gone. There was only he, and there was only she, all over again.
Chapter 11
The sun was low in the sky when Asara and Anak finally reached the point where they’d cross the River Haakal. They’d chosen this spot because here the river was narrowest between their island and the neighboring mainland. Just like last time, the twins sat cross-legged on the earth as if they had nowhere to go.
They didn’t rush. Instead, they closed their eyes and stilled themselves. They focused on the beauty of the breath and how it nourished their bodies. They felt the calm of the earth. Perfection was already everywhere.
The twins had known they had to leave the island to help their friends and to find Kaanra. Now, their spirit guides confirmed their decision and urged them to cross to the other land mass. This was all the twins needed; the rest would come later. As it often happened with them, Asara and Anak felt fulfilled in their guidance at the same time. Their eyes popped open in unison, and they stood.
Just as before, aligned with the ease of the universe, the twins spotted a small canoe to carry them across the water. It looked as if it were waiting for them, tied to a tree, bobbing in the water’s current. Without pause, Anak jumped in and moved to the rope, ready to untie it.
But Asara delayed. She turned to look, once more, at the land she loved deeply, and wondered how long it would be until they could return. “Gahla, Arnaka. Gahla. Goodbye, Arnaka. Goodbye.” A slight breeze kicked up, causing the trees and reeds to sway melodically. The breeze indulged her, blowing the aromas of water, dirt, and blooming flowers toward her all at once. It was a combination unlike any other, and Asara loved the unique fragrance that marked her home.
Reluctantly, she prepared to depart. She felt for the ruby she always wore at her neck. It too was a reminder of home. It carried the essence of Arnaka and of its waters. The sweet waters of the Hosuul Sea gifted Asara the ruby. It was an inescapable conclusion when the water orchestrated to place it exactly in her hand.
Asara cherished this gift of her beloved waters. Now, poignantly, she put her hand over it, pressing the ruby into her heart center. She couldn’t make herself leave yet; her feet sunk deeper into the earth.
Anak watched his twin from the boat. The sun backlit her hair so that it looked like a fiery lion’s mane. Her body glowed faintly with the sun’s light. She spread her free arm out toward the heavens, and the wind whipped up, as if Asara had called on the power of magic.
Whatever energies she summoned through her connection to the land, Anak knew they were powerful. The energy intensified in an instant. The wind swirled in a frenzy. The water became suddenly choppy. His hair whipped in tempestuous currents of air.
Anak continued to observe her while he held the rope tightly. The river rocked the boat violently, threatening to break the rope, the only connection to shore. Whatever Asara was doing was potent. Sand kicked up further inland, a few paces ahead of where she stood, where moisture didn’t weigh the sand down. Anak watched the sand whirl and begin to form small cyclones.
The birds in the trees gripped their branches, surprised at the sudden change in forecast they hadn’t anticipated. Normally, the animals identified shifts in the weather long before they arrived. But nature didn’t cause this change; nature was responding to her. The birds looked on in surprise, waiting to see what would come. It was all they could do. The wind was too strong for them to fly away. They’d have to brave the storm.
Then Asara deepened her breathing. Her breath became a slow, deliberate pull—in and out, in and out. Each time, the breath grew stronger, more powerful and, in response, so did everything around her. The winds now lashed ferociously. The sand scattered in continual motion, obscuring the sun’s light. Her hair extended to its full length in undulating movements around her head; it looked alive. The water licked above the rim of the boat, splashing Anak as he stood his ground.
And yet, Asara stood still, the core of her body unmoving. It was everything around her that wouldn’t stay still. Even when the usually subtle sounds of nature mounted, swelling into a roar, she didn’t flinch. It was, in fact, the faintest of cries that would break the spell.
Barely audible above nature’s heaving and groaning, a chick chirped in fear in his nest, disturbed by the unexpected movement of his warm and cozy surroundings. It was this one cry that pulled Asara out of the spell she’d woven unaware. She’d never hurt anything intentionally. She didn’t realize she was causing this commotion; she was entranced.
And just like that, it all stopped. When she heard the chirp, she dropped her hand from the ruby and opened her eyes. She bro
ught her other hand down from its gesture to the heavens.
Her hair fell in immediate limpness, all of its usual bounce gone for the moment in stark contrast to the wild movement of just moments before. The sand fell, grain by grain, as if suspended in time. The waters began to calm, taking more time to settle since the waves continued to instigate each other with their reactive motions. The birds loosened their grips, and the rustling of reeds quieted into hushed tones.
Asara, only vaguely aware of her actions, didn’t notice the strong glow of the ruby any more than she noticed the change in her surroundings. By the time she was firmly within her body again, the glow was too muted to draw attention from beneath her shirt. She bent down to place her hands on the earth, and then she turned to face Anak.
He was ready to meet her gaze. She mesmerized him. Her eyes reflected the intensity of life. She was the beloved he was destined to find. He felt more vibrant because he knew her as deeply as he did. He felt more alive for having witnessed what she just called into this world. They were so intimately connected that he felt the power that had just coursed through her almost as vividly as if it had been his own.
Asara walked toward the canoe with purpose. She was spectacularly alive. She felt the power of creation vibrating tangibly through her. All parts of her came together harmoniously, culminating in a pristine example of Creator’s design. She knew then that nothing was out of their reach. There was no such thing as the impossible anymore—not for them—because there was no such thing for Creator. The twins, like all human beings, carried the spark of Creator’s divinity within them.
Still holding Anak’s stare, Asara crouched down to the earth. The fire of passion awoke within Anak as he looked at his twin. There, bent down over the ground, coiled like an animal in its prime, she looked fiercely attractive. She was fully in her power, and she could be no more beautiful to Anak.