03. Sail
The Forest Through the Trees03 Sailby Assilsasta(¯·._.··¸.-~*´¨¯¨·~-.,-(Perception)-,.-~´¨¯¨`*·~-.¸··._.·´¯)Donovan stretched out in the comfy bed for the first time in almost a month. The springs and fluff cradled the lynx like never before, he thought he would be out in seconds. But, he found himself staring at the ceiling unable to clear his mind enough to sleep. He kept thinking of what had happened in only the past two days. A young doe husky hybrid had walked into his life and drawn him into a new word. The most frightening thing about her was the same thing the kept him there. She was beautiful, intelligent, and friendly like so many girls he had known before. What made her different was that she was sheltered from the very world he grew up in. She was oblivious to even to most simple technologies, frightened of things that she doesn't understand, but she is curious and wants to know. He snickered at the thought of her first experience with a phone only a few hours ago. His train of thought was derailed as the sound of her hoof steps clicked past his door. He got out of the bed and adjusted his shorts as he walked over and opened the door. As he leaned into the hall he caught sight of the young doe girl as she trotted down the stairs. He stepped out into to hall and followed her as quietly as he could. He managed to run, his bare paws making almost no sound against the hard floor as he caught the door before it closed behind her. He stopped on the porch as she pranced out into the moonlight. The lynx leaned against a post and closed his eyes as he listened to her sing. He let himself slide down and sit on the edge of the porch, his legs hanging off the edge. Her voice rang through the cool night air as the breeze ruffled the fur of his bare chest. The melodic sound played in his mind as images of fairies and pixies drifted in and out of the darkness behind his closed lids. The vision of a lush green, flower filled field gradually filled his mind as his limbs lost their feeling and weight. He felt as if he drifted, floated over the field as she watched the flowers bloom, the enchanting voice never leaving his ears. He watched and listened as the song slowly drifted from
the cheery, uplifting sounds to a slower, darker tune while the sounds drifted and flowed, the dreamlike scene before him darkened as the plants withered and die, the leaves browned and fell from the trees. He shivered as the chill of the air drifted through his fur while he watched the field become covered with snow and ice. He felt himself suddenly weighed down and warmed as something took hold of him. Donovan's dream slowly faded as the enchanting song drifted into the distance, getting ever quieter.(¯·._.··¸.-~*´¨¯¨·~-.,-(Contemplation)-,.-~´¨¯¨`*·~-.¸··._.·´¯)Sonet continued to sing as she watched the lynx walk slowly toward her, the song of the seasons slowly making its way to winter. She wrapped her arms around him as he nearly fell to the ground in his slumbered trek. She lowered them both to the ground as his weight overpowered her. The young doe sat the lynx's head in her lap as she ran her fingers through his hair as she watched him sleep. The cat boy had stumbled into her life out of the forest, as if dropped in by the Mother herself. She thought about how he must have left the comfort of his bed, a place he had seemed so happy to be offered as they stayed the night at the overabundant cabin of the older Bernese mountain dog, Mark. She had found the strange mattress uncomfortable and was unable to sleep on it. The blankets and sheets felt like more than she needed. She had spent hours as she rolled in the bed to only give up on the futile effort of sleeping in the unnatural environment. From the time she had entered the cabin she longed to be with the flowers and trees. The man made structure felt dead and lifeless around her. She marveled at the effort they had put into decorating the cabin with as much of nature as they could. It was filled with earth tones and wood, natural fibers. A tear came to her eye as she thought about all the life that was ripped from the forest to create that sanctuary of luxury and excess within a place of abundant life and energy. She didn't understand the world that the lynx came from, or that Mark teetered between. The thoughts were so confusing, and the strange magic that made their things work was so far beyond her understanding. The small glimpse of the world outside her forest frightened her, and they had said that this place was only a was a mild blight on the land. She shivered at the realization that her Grandfather had lived and traded with a world that was so destructive and draining on the earth. She looked down at Donovan as she thought through
his words earlier. He had talked of the balance with the world and how to maintain a balance with the life of a true druid would need to be balance with one of the opposite extremes. She thought about the Phone thing that has spoken to her and the GSP that told him where they were in the forest. The strange things scared her, but she knew now that Donovan wouldn't do anything to hurt her, not intentionally. She thought about the things her Grandfather had taught her. He had always told her to fear nothing for everything was in accordance with the Mother's wishes. She thought about how he had always done more than was needed when caring for the plants and the grove. He had often told her that he cared for the grove as he did for those who did not know the harm they wrought on the world. She needed to know the extent of the harm, how they ravaged and scarred the land, so that she could carry on her grandfather's quest to seek balance in everything, not just in herself. She looked at the lynx on her lap as she contemplated what he and Mark had told her about the town. She had agreed to go with them to the grove to trade with those her grandfather traded with, and to see the town from afar, but in her heart she knew she needed more. She needed to see it, to feel it, to sense the pain and anguish of the land. She brushed a tear from her eye as she leaned down to lay on the lynx. He was her only real connection to that world, even Mark and Ariel did not fully live in it like he did. If she wanted to see it for what is really is she needed Donovan to show her.(¯·._.··¸.-~*´¨¯¨·~-.,-(Conflict)-,.-~´¨¯¨`*·~-.¸··._.·´¯)The couple woke with a start as the Jeep Cherokee roared to life. Donovan felt Sonet hug him tight nearly motionless as he opened his eyes. He was unsure of how he had gotten out in the yard under a tree, or how he had managed to find better sleep there than in the comfortable bed he had been offered the night before. He reached his arm around the doe by his side and pulled her tight as he comforted her, "It's only the Jeep. They have lots of those kind of things in town, it can get really loud sometimes." As he held her he looked over to the cabin to see their host standing on the porch with a smile as he looked back at them. As he sat up with Sonet's nude body in his arms he added, "That was probably Ariel going to get you some clothes. Maybe we should see if they have any breakfast."Sonet looked at him with her golden brown eyes as she said, "There is plenty to eat here, and we can just stay here until she gets back." The young doe tried to rationalize her urge to avoid entering the cabin. Even at the distance she felt the shadows of sorrow and pain from both the occupant and the land on which it stood. She whispered to herself as she looked at that cabin."Huh?," Donovan started, "did you say something?"She looked up at him as she repeated the thought that she felt whispered into her, "It is like pruning a sick, dying limb of a tree, it may leave a scar but it is for the welfare of the tree. This place is the scar that stops the spread. Pain for the greater balance." Donovan smiled as he said, "That is an interesting way to look at it. It's more like a doorway or something that sits between places to me." He smiled as a quizzical look crossed Sonet's face and added, "See it's like standing in the door leading outside. You're not really inside or out, but you see things from both sides. You have, trees, grass, and untouched nature right along side, the cabin, cars and washing machines. A little bit of both places."Sonet smiled at his analogy as she thought about how fitting it was. She stood up and began to prance off into the trees as she said, "I'm going to find some food."He stood as he watched her vanish into the distance. The only thought running through his mind was her young nude form as she left. He soaked in the sight of her near dances as she moved farther away. He stopped and squeezed his eyes shut as he felt himself becoming aroused by the young doe once again. "Goddamit," the mumbled to himself, "why does she have to be so hot, and so young?" He turned to the cabin and began to approach with a slight stiffness in his walk as he fruitlessly tried to rid his mind of her image yet again. When he finally made it to the porch by their dog boy he looked as the floor and said, "Thank you again for letting us stay the night, Mark. I think that may have been the most comfortable bed I have ever laid in.""Thanks," the Bernese boy said as a grin spread across his muzzle. "Though I don't know how you could tell from out here in the field." As he sat
in one of the roughly hewn chairs he continued, "She has a voice that could charm the spirits doesn't she?"Donovan dropped his half dressed body into a chair as he responded, "It's the first thing that I knew about her. I was boiling some water for the next few hours when I heard her singing. It was the first voice I heard in almost a week, not counting my mom on the other side of the phone when I have a signal.""Well, at last we come to it, now I understand how you two met. In your travels across my land, you came close enough to her home for her to be out gathering and tending the forest. Don't get your shorts in a bunch, I'm not mad about you being on my property, that was a defensive reaction more than anything yesterday. You seemed to pose a threat to someone I gave my word to protect, and I reacted badly at the time. But I stand by what I said Donovan, don't presume to judge what is best for that girl. She has a right to live her life as she sees fit just as you do. Just because she chooses to remain as she is... it doesn't give anyone the right to try to force their ways or thinking on her. If she chooses to change, or to try to adapt to your world then I will support that, but only if it is her decision and not something she is forced or coerced into, are we clear on that?""No, I understand," the lynx said as he looked over at the other boy, "I... I didn't even think about any of that until you found us. When you started asking about her grandfather I just thought..." he trailed off for a moment before he continued, "I don't know what I would have done if I lost my parents at her age. I could barely survive on my own if they died. I couldn't get a job, pay the bills, or even have the ability to rent a place or anything. It's just that you have to be eighteen or emancipated to get anything done anymore. It took like a week to get my emancipation through so that I could get and have everything I needed for this stupid trip. And now I don't even know why I started. I wanted to get away from it all and when I have a chance to see something without it I feel like I need to fix it. But she... she's fine without it. You're right, she's better off at fourteen than I am at seventeen. I feel like I've wasted my life, but when I go home, everything I learn out here won't do me any good.""No, not better off, just better adjusted, Donovan. It sounds to me though that this journey of yours started out as a way to find yourself. Not the you that everyone else thinks you should be, but the you that you
want to be. The only question I haven't heard you answer is what that is, that's going to make it hard to know when you've found it. For once, don't study one it, or analyze it to death. Just ask yourself, tigh there and right now what kind of a person does Donovan Hunter want to be?"Donovan rolled his head back and looked at the porch overhang as he sighed and said, "That almost sounds like my dad. 'If you haven't found yourself in seventeen years, how are you going to find it in one?' God I wanted to slap him.""I know people that are far older that still have no clue who or what they truly are Donovan, because they don't think to ask the right questions of themselves. It's not nuclear physics, it's life, way more complex and more simple at the same time. Oh I know most people say 'It's easy just figure out where you want to be in ten years', but that's just bullshit. This isn't a career path, it's your life. That's the point it's your life, what do you want to do with it? Not what job do you want to have, what kind of a life do you want?" Mark said as he watched the lynx turning his words over in his mind.The feline squeezed his eyes shut as he thought about what Mark was saying. "God, I hated when they gave you those papers in school, 'Where do you see yourself in ten years?, twenty?' I always want to to write 'Fuck if I know,' or 'jacking off for quarters on the corner.' And all my mom could say was, 'I support you in any choice you make.' what a copout. As I was leaving they both said to think about my future and what colleges or potential employers will think when they see a year long gap in my record. I'm just sitting here like, What The Fuck. I don't even know what I want to study let alone where. How can I plan for a future that is so up in the air? The country and economy are going to shit. The dumb fucks only elect retards who sound like they are going to give you a new home and weekly check in the mail, Both parties are doing nothing but making more useless laws that cost the taxpayer in an effort of regulating the other side out of options... And now look at me, just yesterday I was all, 'Lets get DCS involved so that the government can help this girl out.' What fucking kind of loser am I?""A common, every day, well educated one," Mark said, his face as expressionless as a stone. "If you're done with the 'poor me, I don't know what I want to do with my life, I'm such a loser,' pity party now, you can try answering my simple question. There isn't a right or wrong answer, only one that
matters a damn to you Donovan. The moment you walked out of your parents door you knew, you went to the trouble to emancipate yourself beforehand so you would be free to follow what your heart was telling you. Why are you suddenly deaf to it now? Does Sonet scare you so badly that your brain has crawled to your paws and been stomped into ignorance?"The lynx looked over at the Bernese boy with a smile, "I got the emancipation to get access to my trust without my parents getting in the way. I had ... have no clue what I am doing or where I was planning on going. After meeting her... Fuck it I'm even more lost than when I started. I look at her and think... hell I can't even think. Shes... I don't know its like a big slap in the face. Everything I know to be true is just turned on it's head. I'm out here dreaming about fairies and shit following around a girl with no clothes that I thought I was helping. It kind of makes me long for the carefree days of sitting in my friends garage smoking weed and talking about shit that is too stupid to work in real life. Then again that was more of a waste than anything." He paused for a moment before he asked, "How old are you nineteen, twenty? Living all the way out here with your wife, It must be great. None of the hassles of day to day life, nice and quiet., no fucking loud ass drunken parties next door.""I'm glad you're sitting down, you're in for quite a surprise Donovan. I, and my wife, are only seventeen. We've been married just over a month now," Mark said as he watched the lynx's eyes fly wide as plates at his answer. "But you're right about the cabin, I love it out here and wouldn't move back into Winter Creek for much of anything.""Okay, now I know I'm a failure at life." Donovan said, "I can't find a girlfriend my own age let alone a hot one that who would marry me. I seem to only be attracted to jail bait nudists and have no idea where I am going to be in the next ten days let alone ten years. But, I'll tell ya what, this would have bade a great 'What I did this Summer' paper." He paused and smiled, "I ran away from home, met the most beautiful girl I've seen, who just happens to refuse to wear clothes when she's around me. Then we stumbled on a cabin in the woods with two married teenage witches. It sounds like a bad sitcom.""Then I guess it will really blow your mind when I tell you she's not jailbait in this state. Colorado law has a three year age difference clause for not criminalizing consensual sex. Now what's your excuse kitten?" Mark
said with a grin spreading across his muzzle. "Not that it would matter to that girl that refuses to wear clothes around you if she were interested in you. But I guess that just scares the living shit out of you even more doesn't it Donovan?""I'm going to just go crawl under that rock over there before I make an even bigger ass of myself," Donovan said as he pointed to one side. "God, why does Life have to throw all the curve balls at me at once. Couldn't this be spread over a few states or something?" He sighed as he said, "I am desperately trying to not be a perv and I am slowly running out of half ass excuses, and you're not helping. I swear to God she tried to fuck me in the woods yesterday, and now you tell me that there was nothing wrong with it. But... it still feels so wrong. Shes so young and... innocent... but then it's like one of those babysitter porn flix were the boy gets seduced by the slightly older girl... and there my fucking mind goes, right into the gutter."As Donovan slumped down in the chair with his paw covering his face, the young doe came prancing out from the treeline with an armload of assorted berries and nuts, a small smear of colored juice and pulp in the corner of her mouth. "These are better than the ones in the patch out back," she said as she looked over at the bernese boy, "You've neglected them, for a month or more from the looks. They are recovering but you should be ashamed." She sat on the dirt just off the porch as she laid the collection of fruits and nuts on the ground. "I have, and I am Sonet, but I have not been home for a while and haven't caught up on the things I need to take care of since my return," Mark answered, a slight smirk on his face as he watched the young doe."I have raspberries, pine cherries, Some peppermint and some Pecans. they are a bit young but look like they filled out enough to eat," the young doe said as she picked through the collection in front of her. "I left the onions out there, I figured this would be plenty. come on, I still need to go back and give back. I saw the compost heap, do you mind if I use some?"Slightly confused by the sight, Donovan glanced over at Mark, then back to the doe. He watched as she brushed the bits of dirt off the berries as she popped them into her mouth. He cringed slightly at the thought of what might be in the dirt as he offered, "Why don't we get a bowl or something and wash
them off first?"Grinning slightly Mark said softly under his breath, "city boy." As he watched the young doe enjoying her breakfast the Bernese boy turned to the lynx as he said, "it just a little soil Donovan, not toxic waste, you would be surprised how much dirt you eat in a single day. That little pile of berries she has there is as 'organic' as you'll ever see, and honestly far safer than most of the things you shove in your face and call food." Turning back to the young doe he answered her question, "No I don't mind at all if you use from the compost pile Sonet, that's part of why it's there."Donovan sat back as he said, "Sure it's just dirt, but how much of that dirt there is tracked back in from the city with who knows what in it?"Sonet's eyes shot open as she gathered the stuff off the ground. She glanced up at the two on the porch, a look of sheer terror in her eyes. "Wh... what do they have in the city?"Guilt ran through Donovan as he saw the fear in her brown eyes. He stammered as he tried to backpedal from his comment, "It.. um.. there really shouldn't.... With how far out we are it should be okay, I'm use ... um... we always washed our fruits and vegetables even when we got them from the store so..." He trailed of in is vain effort to calm the girl from the panic he caused."The fruit is fine Sonet, in the city people wash their fruit because of the things that are used to grow more food than they normally would be able to in an area. I don't use anything like that here, and I never will. There is no need to because the mother takes care of this ground," the Bernese boy said as he turned to the lynx and added, "You really do need to start thinking before you open your mouth. I see more to you than the sum total of what you have learned so far in your life Donovan, not all of it applies to every situation though and you need to think about what you say. You spend more time apologizing for the things you say then you do actually teaching her anything about the world you come from.""I was thinking," Donovan said as he sat back in the chair with a sight, "I think that might be the problem. I think one way because thats the way things always were. Like explaining to my little sister why she shouldn't eat a sucker after its been dropped on the floor at a store.
I mean how do you explain germs and chemicals to a five year old?""Hmmm, that may be your problem indeed, you see Sonet as a five year old that you have to teach about everything?" Mark asked, continuing before the lynx could answer. "She is younger than you, but she is wiser than you will ever be if you insist on remaining so closed minded to what is right before your eyes. Look around you, no longer than you have been here do you think I would use chemicals and poisons on this land?""No," Donovan sighed, "I wasn't saying Sonet was like a five year old, My sister is five and I had to... Shit, I'm really need to just stop talking here, I'm starting to taste shoe leather." He glanced down to the young Doe as he tried again to apologize, "I'm sorry, its just that back home everyone used harsh chemicals to clean everything and for weed control. My parents try to use the eco friendly stuff, but they treat it the same way so I'm not sure it is any better. I'm Sorry I keep thinking about my little sister when I try to tell you thing, its just what I've always done. I know you're not stupid, you're probably a lot smarter than I am. It's just when I try to explain why I think and do things it just comes out all wrong." He stood up and started to walk to the cabin door as she said, "I should just get my stuff and go before I cause more damage."Sonet watched as he went into the cabin, a sudden new look of fear in her eyes as she looked back to Mark. She stood up and dropped her arm load of fruits and nuts as she started toward the cabin herself, only to stop and look at the planks of the porch before she stepped on to them. She took several steps back before she turned and ran into the woods."Damn fool lynx," the Bernese boy said as he sprang from his chair. seeing the feline boy bent over his pack he screamed out as he entered the doorway to the cabin, "you're an insufferable ass and if I do what I should I would slap you back to the stone age. When will you figure it out? How many more times do you have to scare that poor girl half to death before you get it? Damn it boy you're more dense than a ton of lead, Goddess do you have any idea... no you don't that's the whole damn problem in a nutshell you have no idea what you've gotten yourself into and continue to think it's all about you. I would tell you but right now there isn't time, you scared her this time, you have to go find her and stop her before anything can happen to her. You and I will deal with the many things that are wrong with you later
right now," Mark said as he grabbed the boy by the shoulders, shoving him towards the open doorway, get your foolish ass in gear and go find her, NOW!"Donovan turned and looked at the bernese boy a slight snarl on his muzzle, "What's wrong with me? What the fuck is wrong with you? Every five seconds your telling me what the fuck I'm doing wrong, and how I don't fucking belong here and don't understand shit. You tell me shes better off in the woods without me, now that she's out there it's my problem to go find her before something happens. You belittle every fucking word that comes out of my mouth. Talk about my 'High and Mighty" thinking. What about yours? You talk about my closed mindedness then turnaround and close your own mind to what I've lived and know. You're as much of a fucking hypocrite as the rest of them. It's Assholes like you... The ones that know how things work and how they should be that piss me the fuck off." He reached down and flung the loaded pack onto his back, as he continued, "No matter what I do, what I say, or what you see in me, its not going to be right. Nothing ever is. If you want to help the girl you have at. I'm going to continue to fuck up my own life alone so I don't fuck up anyone elses." As he turned towards the door to run after Sonet, Mark said, "It's too late for that, you've already fucked up hers, I only hope you haven't driven her to do something foolish," as he bolted out the doorway in search of the young doe.(¯·._.··¸.-~*´¨¯¨·~-.,-(Pursue)-,.-~´¨¯¨`*·~-.¸··._.·´¯)Sonet watched from the trees as the bernese mountain dog ran in the direction she had and the lynx walked out in the direction that the jeep had gone earlier. She followed Donovan at a distance as she thought about what had happened. He had tried to warn her of what he thought was dangerous, something that was from where he came from. She knew he was only trying to take care of her, she saw it in his aura as his shifted between the compassion and caring of turquoise and the confusion and contemplating of yellow as he had spoken with Mark. She saw how Donovan fought against the pure dark red of Marks aura as the bernese boys pressed forward with his overbearing willpower. Mark worked more for what he thought was right and a sense of obligation to her grandfather and out of compassion when he dealt with Donovan. She suppressed her own anger at the bernese boy's actions pushing the lynx away as she tried to think of how to bring him back. For the first time in her life she knew she
needed someone that was strong yet caring. Mark was strong, but all his caring and compassion was directed toward others as he saw her as an obligation and a need to protect and shelter. He had his reason to do what he did, they did not fit into what her heart told her she neededSonet assumed that Donovan followed the trail that would take him to town, where he had intended to go before he had met her. She watched as his aura shifted through the gambit of emotions as he moved through the forest trail undaunted by each stumble it bump that caught him by surprise, until he let himself fall the the ground and roll onto his back as he screamed into the air. She hid behind a tree as he removed the heavy pack from his back and sat it on the ground. As he sat there leaned against the pack his face buried in his paws she saw his aura shift to a bright vibrant pink. Her ears twitched as the unfamiliar sound approached from down the path. She crouched low against the thick pine as she watched the blue cart that Ariel had left in pull to a stop by Donovan. She smiled as the Collie got out and started to talk to the boy. She suddenly hope that the other girl would bring him back.(¯·._.··¸.-~*´¨¯¨·~-.,-(Affinity)-,.-~´¨¯¨`*·~-.¸··._.·´¯)Donovan looked up as the blue jeep came to a stop in front of him. He dropped his arms to the ground as he waited for another lecture about how foolish he was and how he didn't belong and didn't understand what was going one. He knew he didn't understand. He was well aware that he was farther out of his element than he had ever imagined. Yet the two people he had met insisted on reminding him every chance they got. Steeling himself for the questions and onslaught that was sure to come he looked up at the Collie girl in the driver seat and said, "I've already heard it once, But hearing it all again won't hurt a damned thing. I'm just going to get the fuck out of this shit before I make it worse than it already is."Looking at the lynx boy as he leaned against his pack Ariel said simply, "Your life, your choice. Do what ever you want Donovan, whether you believe it or not I could care less, but Mark is only doing what he promised, protecting Sonet, even if it's from herself. Stay or go, no one can make you do what you don't want to. As much as I care for Sonet, it's not my place to meddle in her affairs, or yours." As she walked back around the jeep she seemed to be
in deep thought about something. Stopping just before she climbed back into the vehicle she looked at Donovan again and said, "She's more than old enough to take care of herself without your help, I guess she's old enough to know how it feels to have the first person she's ever felt that she needed turn their back on her and run." As she finished her comment the collie got back into the jeep and drove away towards the cabin.As she drove away Donovan shouted, "Fuck You!" at the dust cloud left by the jeep. "Fuck you, She doesn't need me, that asshole's has already told me as much," he said aloud as he kicked at the dirt. "All I've done is scared her half to death with my backward city boy way of thinking." He rolled his pack to the side and reached in a pocket to pull out a small thumbdrive MP3 player and earbuds sas he said, "A little thrash should clear the mind. No one here to bitch about me playing it too loud either."As he pluged himself in, before he could start the music, he felt a paw on his shoulder. He nearly jumped out of his fur as he turned to see the young doe kneeling behind him. "Shit, You scared the living daylights out of me. What are you doing here?" "Looking for you," Sonet said with a look of concern on her face, "Like you came looking for me last night."He sighed as he looked away from her nude body and said, "Look, Sonet, Mark's right. All I do is make things worse. Everything I say is just... it comes out shit and I have no idea how to stop it. Everything seemed fine until we met up with Mark and his wife, and that fuck, no older than I am, thinks he knows what's best for everyone just like my dad."She picked his chin up in her paw as she looked into his ice blue eyes, "He doesn't know me. We have not seen each other for close to nine years. He does not know how I live or what I need. He has only an idea of my world, the way he lives tells me that. His Grandfather has passed through to the other side, yet he holds on to his memories with that cabin, that scar on the earth. He holds it for respect to a man that does not walk this plane any more. You've seen the way I live, I have never seen him in my grove. He has the knowledge and ability to make that home of his blend, be part of the land and not just on it. He has no place to tell me what I need or where I should or should not go. He is part of your world, whether he admits it or not." She paused for a
moment as the lynx looked at her in silence before she continued, "It is like you said, he stands in a doorway without choosing which side to live on. He talks of how your way of life is wrong for me, and how it differs, but he can not walk away from it himself. I have lived on one side and just had that door opened to me, as it has been for you. I know nothing about the way you live or what might be right or wrong, just as you know nothing of my way of life. I don't need his help, because he will do what he feels is right in his mind and protect me from what he thinks will harm me. You don't know the half way world like he does, you only know what was on your side. I need someone who does not know what is wrong according to my life so that they show me it all. My Grandfather spent his life atoning for the actions of others, maintaining as much of the balance as he could. Now that he is gone, that falls to me. Not to honor him the way Mark holds onto that cabin, but honor the Mother and nature as is the way I was brought up." Sonet let go of the lynx as she turned as sat against his pack on the opposite side. "Sonet," he spoke softly as he twisted his body to look over his pack at her, "I don't know what you want from me, or if I can even give it to you. Like everyone has been telling me for the past two days, we live in different worlds and I can't survive in yours any more than Mark says you can survive in my..." He paused for a moment as he thought through what he was going to say next."It's simple," the young doe said before he could begin again, "I want you to stay with me."His eyes wide as she turned to look at him, "It's... it's not that easy Sonet. You're fourteen and not emancipated, by law they can take you away, put you in places that are far worse than Mark's cabin. Places that lock you away from daylight and nature, places that even I'm scared to think of. I'm only seventeen. Sure I am emancipated but that only gives me the right to make my own legal choices without my parents getting in the way. I don't know if I can protect you from that. I don't even know if Mark could if it really came down to it. The rules of my world just don't work like they do in yours." He thought for a moment as he tried to add more fear to the young doe, "They could come and take you off that land, Mark's land, and lock you away because of the way you think. A lot of people would call you crazy for thinking that natural disasters are mother natures way of getting revenge for the things we do...."Sonet
broke in before he could continue and asked, "Do you think that?'The lynx looked down at his pack as he answered, "I... I don't know any more. I did, The way you went after me for talking about gathering some wood off the trees... I was crazy, those are the things that people call crazy. But not everyone is like that. The world is full of people that believe different things. Some of them are like you and think we need to save the earth and nature, and a lot of people call them eco nuts because of the things they do to try and save the environment. But you... you're different, you really believe that stuff and act on it and live by it. You've been completely separated from the world and... I don't know."She watched him for a moment as his aura shifted through the spectrum of emotions only to come back to the solid pink as they looked into eachothers eyes. She asked softly, "Why did you come find me last night?"Donovan broke eye contact with her as he thought about the answer, "I don't know... I... I needed to know you were okay.""Why... Why did you leave today?" She asked as she picked his chin back up to look him in the eyes."I didn't want to hurt you any more," he said a small tear in his eye, "everything I've said and done has scared you, pulled you out of your comfort zone and when I see that look in your eyes... I can't stand it, and the fact that I'm the one that put it there just makes it worse." Sonet smiled as she said, "And that is why I want you to stay with me. forget about the rules of your world, look in your heart and tell me you want to leave, to never see me again, and I will let you go forever, and never look back.""I...' Donovan stammered as he thought through the idea, he pushed to think of a reason besides what he had always been told, other than the law and common thinking on the welfare of minors. He became lost in the deep golden brown pools of her eyes. the only words that swam around in his head made no sense to him in the situation, they neither answered the question or fit the situation in his mind as he let them roll off his tongue. "I Love you."With a wide smile Sonet said, "Then you have to stay. The Mother brought you to me, and brought me to you. We are supposed to be together. If you do not stay, I will have to go with you.""I..." Donovan struggled with what to say as he gave in to the urges that had been gnawing at him since she first looked into his eyes, and pressed his lips to hers in a passionate kiss as he pulled her nude body over the pack to him.(¯·._.··¸.-~*´¨¯¨·~-.,-(Reasurance)-,.-~´¨¯¨`*·~-.¸··._.·´¯)As Ariel pulled up to the cabin she saw Mark standing on the porch, leaning against a pole gazing past her into the distance. As she drew closer she looked at him and said, "That boy is impossible. Sonet knows he was brought to her and he refuses to see it. Goddess help me I want to slap some sense into him but he has to learn the hard way."Mark only continued to gaze out across the open field behind her as a gentle smile began to spread across his muzzle as she spoke. Not moving as she continued."I know you're not clairvoyant, but somehow you see more than most. Is there any hope that he'll understand in time to not break her heart?" the collie asked as she came alongside her husband."There is always hope my love, sometimes hope is all we have in this world to get us through. I can't see what will come, only what is and has past, but in this case," he said as he nodded towards the path she had driven up to reach the cabin, two small figures barely visible in the distance as he said, "hope is all they need, I don't think Sonet will give him any choice but to see it for himself. Her Grandfather was right, he said one day she would be sent someone to teach her what he forbade me from teaching her. Whether Donovan is that someone or not is not for me to say, all I can do is what he asked of me. To watch over her and keep her as safe as I can without interfering more than absolute need dictates. I pushed the boy hard, maybe a little too hard. I only hope that someday he'll come to understand that it was what was best for Sonet."The pair watched as the Doe pranced circles around the lynx while he
hauled the heavy pack back up the trail. She was wearing what looked like a faded t-shirt as she danced and sang cheerfully. They stopped short of entering the clearing as Donovan shouted, "Okay, which way to this Grove meet place?""Seven miles east by northeast from where you stand," the Bernese boy shouted back, "keep the ridgeline to your left and you shouldn't get lost." As the two shouted back and forth Sonet ran up to the porch, pulled the hem of the shirt out away from her body and said, "It's a cotton paul-lee-ester blend." suddenly she pulled it over her head and tossed it to the ground, as she kicked dirt on it, "It feels horrible, worse than the dress Grandfather brought."Donovan ran as best he could under the weight as he shouted, "Wait, that is one of only seven shirts I have."Giggling softly Ariel held out the small, brown paper wrapped package in her paw to the young doe. "Here, something a bit more befitting a young druid, a simple robe, all cotton, it should fit you well enough." Sonet happily took the robe and pulled it over her head. She spun in place as it fell over her body. "It feels better, more attuned." She looked up at Ariel, then Mark, then to Donovan, before she added, "It doesn't look like what you are wearing, why?""Because these are the kinds of clothes we wear normally around town, but you will be fine Sonet," Mark said softly. "The others at the meeting grove will be wearing the same thing you are. We may not live in your world, but we haven't forgotten what we are trying to teach to the rest of the world, or where we come from or what our beliefs are. But to be able to try to help others that believe differently understand we have to get them to listen first. To do that, as much as it pains me to say or do so, we have to look and dress as they do. Otherwise they turn and walk away instead of listening for even a moment." "It doesn't matter if it looks the same," Donovan broke in, "It looks beautiful on you."Sonet ran and tossed her arms around the lynx as he staggered a few steps back from the impact.
Regaining his balance he hugged her back and sat her hooves on the ground, "Okay, if its seven miles we better get started.""The trail is marked Sonet, crescent moon and two stars, you'll know the marks when you see them, " Ariel said as she turned and walked into the cabin. As Mark looked at the pair as the lynx hugged the doe warmly, the bright pink glow surrounding them growing brighter he said softly, "and so the student begins to learn," before turning and following his wife into the cabin, closing the door behind him.As the two headed down the path toward the meeting grove Sonet looked up at Donovan and said, "I wonder if they will bring candy like they did when I was small."