by Jenna Kernan
“I’m not sure what gifts they have yet. But I know, whatever they are, that they will be wonderful.”
Such complete confidence she had, while he was still drowning in panic.
“What if they attack your family?”
“Don’t be silly. They’re infants.”
He knew better. The yearlings of his kind were as dangerous as hungry tigers. But then he recalled what his mother had said. They had never attacked her or their father. They never killed humans, either. How did they know?
“I could fly at birth,” he said absently, gazing entranced at the two little souls.
“I’ll keep the windows closed.” She giggled and looped an arm about his waist.
“They don’t look like me,” he said. But they smelled like him, he realized.
“Oh, no?” She lifted the closest baby, who woke with an irritated cry and blinked open its eyes. “This is Andrew.”
Samantha rested the infant on her shoulder and cradled the small, fuzzy head as she turned so Alon could see his son’s tiny face. The baby boy blinked open his eyes and stared at Alon.
“This is your papa, Andy.”
Alon gaped in astonishment at the haunting yellow eyes that were so familiar in his kind. But his eyes were that color only when he was in fighting form and never while in human form. The contrast of familiar and unfamiliar increased his anxiety.
“Take him.”
She didn’t give him time to refuse. Suddenly he had a little malleable lump of baby boy molded to his shoulder. He was warm and fragrant, with hair as soft as the belly of a rabbit. Alon’s heart squeezed with joy. He closed his eyes to savor the lightning bolt of emotion that left him full of hope and joy.
“It’s a miracle,” he whispered.
Samantha laughed. “I’m glad you think so. They need feeding every three hours.”
He wondered what they ate. Alon turned to grin at Samantha, still clasping the little bundle. “I love him already.”
Samantha blew out a breath as she nodded. Was that relief? Did she really think he could look at these babies and not want to keep them right here next to his heart?
“I still want to marry you,” he said.
She rested a hand on Andrew’s small back. “Then that is what we shall do.”
Alon swallowed past the lump in his throat. “I’m so sorry I wasn’t here for you. That I left you alone—”
He was about to say “alone to give birth,” but she cut him off. “No more of that now. My family was with me.”
You and I will build from here, from this moment and this love.
She never spoke the last part, but he knew her thoughts. How did she know what he was going to say? How had he known what she was going to answer?
And then he recalled what she had once told him about her parents and how they knew they were meant for each other. His parents, too, had this connection, this way of reading thoughts and emotions by a touch.
The soul mate bond, he thought and she nodded.
“Yes.”
Behind her came a tiny huffing sound. She turned and bent over the bedding.
“Let me introduce you to your second son, Ian.” She held up the boy, who kicked his tiny legs and frowned at Alon.
“Ian? But Ghostling twins are always a boy and a girl.”
“Are they? I didn’t get the memo. And these are not only Ghostlings, they are also one-quarter Skinwalker and one-quarter Spirit Child.”
It was so. His children were of all the Halfling races.
“What will they grow to be?” he asked, full of wonder and a hope that was as bright and unfamiliar as sunlight after months of darkness.
“Whatever they grow to be, they will be loved.”
Samantha clasped his waist with one hand and inclined her head for a kiss.
Alon pressed his mouth to hers, tasting again the familiar sweetness. She was his bride, the mother of his children and, as soon as possible, his wife. He drew back to stare down at her.
“I’m the luckiest man in the Living World.”
“And in the next,” she said, snuggling closer.
He could see it now, their future. Raising babies and walking together through the centuries, for he knew that his descendants truly held a place in the Living World. Because of her, Alon now anticipated the years and also the end of years when he and Samantha would walk the Ghost Road and into eternity together.
* * * * *
Terminology
DREAM WALKER*
A NIYANOKA with the ability to visit another person’s dreams and work mental and/or physical healing during the visitation. The human visited has no memory of the visit.
CIRCLE OF GHOSTS
The final home of all GHOSTS who once led evil lives and are punished when HIRHANKARA pushes them from the SPIRIT ROAD into the CIRCLE, where they drift for eternity in endless circles. This ghostly prison is presided over by NAGI. Some GHOSTS have been released from this prison by the prayers of those who live a pure life.
CLAIRVOYANTS*
A NIYANOKA who has the gift of sight. He can see all a person’s possible fates through touch. The number of possible outcomes can be vast and vary wildly depending on outside forces and personal decisions. In rare instances at least two or more outcomes conflict, making their advice sometimes contradictory and confusing.
GHOST
The remains of humans after they have left their earthly vessels.
GHOST CHILDREN*
(See NAGINOKA)
GHOSTLING*
(See NAGINOKA)
GHOST ROAD
(See SPIRIT ROAD)
HALFLING*
Any creature with one SPIRIT and one human parent.
HANWI
THE MOON is a reflective female SPIRIT who warms MAKA when the WI (Sun) is absent.
HEYOKA
SPIRIT of chaos who is a double-faced SPIRIT with a split personality and emotions. He represents joy and sorrow, war and peace and all other opposites. Humans who see WAKINYAN (THUNDERBEINGS) become living HEYOKAS and do the opposite of what is expected.
HIHANKARA
The crone who guards the SPIRIT ROAD. If the soul has walked the RED ROAD and led a righteous life, he bears the proper tattoos and is allowed to pass. If he has led a wicked life, she pushes him from the road and allows him to fall into the CIRCLE OF GHOSTS.
HUMANS
Mortal creatures without firsthand knowledge of the SPIRIT WORLD or SPIRITS.
INANOKA*
Mortal beings born of a human female and the SPIRIT TOB TOB. They are SKINWALKERS who shape-shift into the animal of their mother’s tribe at will and maintain all attributes of that animal while in human form. They are called HALFLINGS and live an average of four hundred years. They are despised by NIYANOKA for being beasts and possibly because they live longer. They protect animals from capricious SUPERNATURALS. Each animal is gifted with a different power:
BEAR: Has the ability to heal all injuries and wounds.
BUFFALO: Is a creature of sacrifice that can absorb injuries, illness or grief into its body and then heal at a rapid rate. They are not healers and must feel all the pain they take from the ones they relieve. It is said they can raise the dead, but only at the expense of their own life.
HAWK: Receives messages from the SPIRITS and sees into the future. But they are helplessly blind to their own future or the future of those they love.
MOUNTAIN LION: Has the power of sight and can perceive things far beyond the realm of normal sight. This gift gives cats the appearance of telling the future, but they really see things as they occur in other locations. They are especially good at seeing what is happening to those they know well.
OWL: Has the ability to exorcise disembodied souls (GHOSTS) from their unwilling hosts but cannot send them for judgment on the WAY OF SOULS. They also can predict a human’s death. It is for this reason that seeing an owl is considered an omen of death.
RAVEN: The only creature that can travel the SPIRI
T ROAD and speak to the souls in the SPIRIT WORLD.
WOLF: Can track anyone on earth by their scent trail.
KANKA
OLD WOMAN SORCERESS. She travels in dreams and helps people purify themselves. She can see the past, present and future and is a SUPERNATURAL.
LIVING WORLD*
The world of all things alive, also known as the earth, distinguished from the SPIRIT WORLD and the Realm of Ghosts, where only Superior Spirits and the souls who have crossed can reside.
MAKA
MOTHER EARTH, who holds the female power of birth and is a sacred SPIRIT.
MEMORY WALKER*
A NIYANOKA with the power to make another forget a person or event. He cannot erase another’s memory, but only make slight alterations. This gift is helpful to reduce grief after a loss and to allow a person to go unnoticed by erasing the memory of an encounter.
MITAKUYE OYASIN
A closing for a blessing. It literally means “All my relations included” or “We are all related” and reminds us that humans are connected to everything of the earth.
NAGI
This shadow creature is the ghostly guardian of the CIRCLE OF GHOSTS and is a SPIRIT.
NAGINOKA*
Mortal beings born of the union between the SPIRIT NAGI, Ruler of Ghosts, and a human or children descended from these beings. They are the third HALFLING race and take three forms, an ethereal smoke capable of flight, a hideous but highly effective fighting form and their most human form noted for its otherworldly beauty. Also called GHOST CHILDREN and the derogatory TOE TAGGERS and Deathlings. Their purpose is to find evil GHOSTS who remain in the LIVING WORLD and send them to the SPIRIT ROAD for judgment. They have a life span of three hundred to four hundred years.
NIYAN
A SPIRIT BEING that teaches man to understand the cycle of life and death and the return of the body to MAKA (the earth) as the spirit returns to the SPIRIT WORLD. NIYAN is a SPIRIT.
NIYANOKA*
Mortal beings born of a union between NIYAN and a human. They are called SPIRIT CHILDREN and are charged with protecting humans from the interference of SUPERNATURALS and SKINWALKERS. In addition they consider themselves shepherds of Mankind, working for their benefit, helping them walk the RED ROAD and preparing them for the SPIRIT WORLD. They have a life span of three hundred to four hundred years.
PEACEMAKER*
A NIYANOKA with the power to influence the moods and emotions of those nearby. They are highly persuasive and sought after for their ability to assist in all forms of negotiation. Since their suggestions are difficult to defy and their proposals hold such influence, their ethics must be above reproach.
RED ROAD
The RED ROAD is a metaphor for the correct way to live. One who walks the RED ROAD exists in balance with all things of the earth, behaving in a manner that is both proper and blessed. Walking the RED ROAD allows for entrance into the SPIRIT WORLD, while ignoring the proper way might lead to being cast from the WAY OF SOULS and into the CIRCLE OF GHOSTS.
SEER OF SOULS*
A NIYANKOKA member of the Ghost Clan, thought to be extinct. Such a HALFLING has the ability to see not only SPIRITS, but earthbound souls in the form of disembodied GHOSTS. They have the power to speak to GHOSTS and to send them to the SPIRIT ROAD for judgment. (See: HIHANKARA)
SKY ROAD
(See SPIRIT ROAD)
SOUL WHISPERER*
A NIYANOKA of the Spirit Clan with the power to bear witness to a death by touching the corpse. The WHISPERER sees exactly what the departed saw in the moments prior to his death and also experiences his thoughts. This makes WHISPERERS essential for solving crimes such as murder, but also makes them unclean in the minds of their kind, making them outcasts. None will touch them for they are believed to be unclean.
SKINWALKERS
Another word for INANOKA, the HALFLING children of TOB TOB the SPIRIT BEAR. Legend says these are animals who remove their skin to masquerade as humans, but their ineptitude often reveals them.
SPIRITS
All of these creatures are immortal.
SPIRIT CHILD
Another name for NIYANOKA, a HALFLING child of NIYAN and a human parent.
SPIRIT ROAD
(SKY ROAD, SPIRIT ROAD, WAY OF SOULS, GHOST ROAD) The milky way that is the path leading to the SPIRIT WORLD. Those without the proper tattoos are pushed off the trail and wander endlessly in the CIRCLE OF GHOSTS. Souls without the proper markings have led an evil life on earth and do not merit entrance to the SPIRIT WORLD.
SPIRIT WORLD
The home of all souls that have successfully crossed the SPIRIT ROAD because they walked the RED ROAD while in the LIVING WORLD. Also the home of Superior Spirits, such as TOB TOB and NIYAN.
SUPERNATURALS
There are eight SUPERNATURALS, including KANKA. They are immortal but less powerful than SPIRITS. They live on earth.
THE BALANCE*
This refers to the balance of nature, the fragile connection that the IANOKA protect from careless or malevolent damage by supernatural creatures, NIYANOKA and humans, who all tend to feel a certain entitlement to the earth.
TIME TURNER*
NIYANOKA with the power to move forward and backward in time. But while traveling they use time twice as quickly and so cannot be seen by others.
TOE TAGGERS*
Derogatory term for GHOST CHILDREN, who are the HALFLING children of the SPIRIT NAGI and a human female. They are also called NAGINOKA.
TOB TOB
Translates as “Four by Four,” meaning a creature that goes on four legs. This great SPIRIT BEAR has wisdom and healing powers. TOB TOB is a SPIRIT.
TRUTH SEEKER*
A NIYANOKA who can divine the truth to any spoken question, merely by touching the one he questions. TRUTH SEEKERS are hard to deceive and make excellent judges in the NIYANOKA community.
WANAGI
The soul of a dead person, a GHOST.
WAKAN TANKA
THE GREAT SPIRIT, THE GREAT MYSTERY, Creator of all. A holy immortal entity who is more than SPIRIT.
WAKINYAN
THUNDERBEINGS (THUNDERBIRD, THUNDERHORSE). The power of electric energy on earth. Thunder comes from the opening of the THUNDERBIRD’s eye and from the drumming of the THUNDERHORSE’s hooves. WAKINYA are SPIRITS. They also cause clouds, hurricanes, tornadoes and storms. They are known to strike dead any human foolish enough to lie while holding a sacred pipe.
WAY OF SOULS
(See SPIRIT ROAD)
WI
The Sun. WI represents power and sustains life. He is a great teacher and a SPIRIT.
WONIYA
The soul of a living person.
*These terms/beings are fictional and do not exist in Lakota legend.
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ISBN: 9781460310380
Copyright © 2013 by Jeannette H. Monaco
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