Page 21 of Moon Chosen

They had lost much—but this, this they could not bear to lose.

So, they went from the others and traveled deeper into the forest

Farther from the ruins of the chaos and death of the past.

And climb they did, the first Tribe and their canines—up and up.”

Still kneeling before her Companion, Ralina began moving her hands in delicate, grace-filled motions.

“Winter came with sleet and cold and darkness.

The first Tribe was naked against winter relentless.

They wept with despair, they cried it is hopeless!”

Ralina’s hands changed movement, turning from snow to the softest, sweetest of caresses as she smoothed Bear’s muzzle and followed the swirls of his thick, shining coat.

“It was the Tribe’s canine that found their salvation.

Among the boughs of six sentinel pines, grown together to form a heart,

a Shepherd pup discovered a fern that opened its fronds to him as if he was the sun.

The pup nested within its fronds, warm and dry and safe.

The Tribe made nest with the pup, covered by thick, loving fronds divine.

And as the winter passed the first Tribe understood what that Shepherd had discovered.”

Ralina stood and faced the Tribe once more, her entire body alight with joy.

“They discovered safety in the verdant boughs.

They discovered beauty in the verdant boughs.

They discovered power in the verdant boughs.

They discovered the Mother Plant in their loving, verdant boughs!”

The Tribe, unable to contain themselves, cheered. “They discovered the Mother Plant!”

Ralina lifted her arms, extending gracefully posed hands upward. The trees above her swayed with a whisper of night wind, allowing the lambent light of the newly risen full moon to flicker across her body so that to Nik the Storyteller took on the appearance of a beautiful young pine tree stretching up to capture a caress of moonlight.

“As Spring awoke the first Tribe and dark days turned light and bright they understood the depth of the miracle the Sun had provided for them and their canines.” Ralina traced a graceful dance to the Mother Trees and the Mother Plants that rested within their boughs, heavy with huge fronds silvered by the delicate dusting of hairs that covered every inch of the thick, supple leafs. She crooned to a Mother Plant as she caressed a fat frond, much as she had so recently caressed her Companion.

“You had become one with the Tribe.

Your spores entered us.

Forever changing us.

Forever bonding us.

As Companions, as beloved of the Sun, as the Tribe of the Trees!”

The Tribe was shouting, repeating the familiar line when O’Bryan nudged Nik and whispered, “Hey, what’s up with the male pup?”

Nik’s gaze immediately found the young canine, who had woken and was padding directly toward him! Nik felt the small hairs at the nape of his neck lift and a shiver of anticipation skittered over his skin as the pup reached him, sat right in front of him, and stared up expectantly.