by Kate Everson
Chapter 3: The Dragons of the Dunes
The Dunes called.
I had to obey.
For there she was, the goddess, compelling me to return.
Oh, I had been there before, and expected nothing less than the peace that had left me speechless, unable to comprehend what was happening to me. I was hers.
There was no doubt in my mind that this was a willing submission. I submitted. She controlled. It was that simple.
I loved it.
It took me beyond my mind, out of my body, into a spaciousness that was beyond explanation.
So here I was again. And the goddess was waiting.
She looked different somehow. I wasn’t sure at first what it was.
She had the same limbs, thrusting into the welcoming sky. But her face was different. I looked, and looked again.
What was it?
I walked around her, silently, watching that face. Its features were exactly as before, but somehow they had softened. It was more a feeling than anything. I felt like she was loving me.
This was a first for me. The goddess, anyone, really, loving me? I was so unready. I felt so surprised. It was so unexpected.
Yet, there it was.
I stepped softly through the Dunes, walking barefoot around her, looking for a clue of what this was. Could it be? Could she really be looking at me that way?
From the time I was born, I had never felt loved. And now, there it was. Unmistakable. And from a goddess.
It had nothing to do with being deserving. I deserved nothing.
It was more about who she was than what I was or ever could be. Her look, her gaze at me, was overwhelmingly, unconditionally love. A softening of the heart. A cadence, like a song in the heart that keeps soothing the soul, over and over, like waves on the shore.
I smiled. Yes!
She was all I had ever dreamed her to be. A love, so sweet, so delicate, yet so powerful.
She leaned across the Dunes like she knew she owned them. And everything beneath her was loved and cherished. Every blade of grass, every tiny flower, every grain of sand, was known, nurtured and guided.
I saw the Dunes a completely different way now. It wasn’t just her domain. We were not just subjects. We were her children.
This was a softening I had never felt before. But it was so obvious now I wondered how I could have missed it. And then I realized what had happened. She hadn’t changed. I had.
Now I could see. What veil had been over my world weary eyes was now lifted. I could see clearly. And there she was.
Soft like a goddess. Yet powerful like a Dragon.
She was the Dragon of the Dunes.
I loved her for that. Being soft and powerful had never seemed possible to me. How can you be both? Doesn’t one betray the other?
But no, she had it all.
As I walked through the Dragon’s kingdom I saw it even more.
There were tiny plants swept by the wind, making wide circles in the sand. Each one seemed to share a message. What was it?
There was a Dragonfly, quickly snatching up bugs in the air. A bright blue one darted after a seed blowing in the breeze and it went Poof! as she attacked. Not everything is as it appears.
I walked further through the sand and saw things I had never seen before. At least not with these eyes. We were not alone.
There were more Dragons in her kingdom. She had friends. Sisters?
They reached out of clusters of bushes, pushing their stark gray wood into the sky, limbs flaying desperately for light and more light, like they couldn’t get enough.
These Dragons saw me now. And I saw them.
We were in the same place at the same time. And this was a Time beyond any other. This was the only Time to be.
It was a comfort for me to see that my Dragon was not alone. She had parts of her everywhere. That same intensity. That same intention. We were all on a mission, part of one vast, mighty conspiracy, a plot, a plan.
But it was not to destroy the world … or even save it. We could not save the world. We could only save the One.
We were the One. We had to save Ourselves.
I realized this with every fresh face I saw in the Dunes that day.
Lying in the sand at the roots of my Dragon goddess, I turned and saw the most beautiful plant coming right out of the dry land. Its broad, green leaves reflected the sunshine. Its bright new leaves formed perfect shapes, like newborns, innocent, faultless, pure. I longed to be like them. Again.
Everywhere I walked was another joy, a gift from Her.
Her sisters watched me. From the bushes, a mourning dove rushed out and flew to a high branch, cooing at me. Did she think I would steal from her nest? I smiled. New life. Protect. Cherish.
I had no problem with that. I felt like a newborn myself.
It was all so new to me. Yet, it was also old. I had been here before. This was more of a remembering than something just learned.
But what was I remembering? And from where? From when?
It must have been a time when Life was not so difficult. When people were kind to each other. When there were no wars. Only peace, inside and out.
But now… well, these were harder times. That’s why we were being called.
The Dragons were gathering power. We had to join them.
Join and be a part of the process of healing. Bringing the One back into existence.
Making it known inside the hardest of hearts. There was no other way.
I walked barefoot in the Dunes. I felt the sand between my toes, and luxuriated in its softness. The sun made this a welcome place to be on a day like today, when everything, like springtime, was so new.
I found a place where the sand had caved in and made a small hole. Standing inside it, my toes dug in, relishing the coolness.
The sky, the trees, the sand, the flowers, the creatures of the Dunes were all like heaven to me. The Dragons’ heaven. I laughed at that. It sounded so bizarre.
But was it?
Powerful, yet quietly inconspicuous. No one would ever suspect them. No one would ever realize their power until they fell into the sandy hole. And were immersed.
For that’s what it had to be. A complete immersion. Nothing else would do.
The plants knew that when the wind moved, they moved too.
They made markings on the sand to let others know. The wind had been there.
The wind would come again.
I walked away from the Dunes a happier person. There was a peace in my soul that had not been there for a long time, if ever.
I knew what the Dragons knew. It might not be described in words. There may be no explanation to suit the mind. But that is just as well.
I know what the wind knows. I welcomed it.
As I walked out of the Dunes, a tiny blue butterfly flitted in front of me. I smiled. Yes, there it was again. My perfect, dear friend. Reminding me of all things beautiful. Right in front of me.