Cave and Candle

A single candle flame danced in the damp cave. The shadows wiggled and jumped around on the walls. The characters painted on the same wall whirled and spun as the light bounced off a small wick on the ever-burning candle. There is no sound except the hissing of the candle and my feet dragging when I walk. Sweet jasmine incense burned in the corner, filling the musty cave.

I would often stare at the flickering energy and wonder who lit it and how long had it been burning. My elder and mentor Amethyst Moonglow said that the Goddess Mother had lit it and it's been burning since man first walked upright. I would laugh at her and ask her if she changed the candle everyday, for it never got any smaller. She shook her head sadly at me. It’s not the answer I wanted.

I wanted her to admit to me that when the glow of the flame grows weak that she lends it her energy and she replaces the candle everyday when the Father opens his arms and the daystar slowly peaks out from behind his coat. A coat of soil and foliage, where animals frolic and the fish swim.

But she only shook her weathered head, swinging her white shoulder length hair. I watch as she shuffles stooped shouldered out the entrance, getting swallowed by the darkness. I should believe her for she is our oldest, but doubt clouds my judgment.

So I go back to staring. The flame grows longer then flickers twice and is a tiny round ball. The rhythm is never the same, no matter how long I watch.

I’m really suppose to be studying the pictures on the cave walls, but after running my fingers over the first two my lilac eyes wander to the dancing ball of energy swaying to its own private music.

I’m here to study our past. The past that brought us to our glorious present. We are Energy Spinners. An interesting term, yes? Let me explain to the best of my three-month knowledge. We take energy from living entities, whether it’s human or not. Anything that gives off energy is up for grabs. At least that’s what I’ve gotten so far, but as I’ve stated before it’s only been three months. With that energy, which we take into ourselves, we help our community, the land, the water, well you get the picture.

The pictures are portraits of our most extraordinary leaders and some of the remarkable accomplishments we’ve made in the last 500 years. The only two pictures I’ve been studying are Elder Jewel Sunwater and her speech to the masses.

I think I look like Elder Jewel Sunwater. We both have long red hair with blond highlights. Lilac pupils stare out from our slightly upturned eyes, which are covered by sun-bleached eyebrows. Although she didn’t have freckles, at least in the painting she doesn’t, I do. They are sprinkled everywhere, arms, nose, cheeks, legs, etc. I have a fairly straight nose and she did also but she has a slight bump on the ridge. Our lips are full and red. A pointed chin finishes off our faces. I’m not sure what the rest of her was like because it’s only a picture of her head, but I’m slight, thin, petite you get the picture.

The speech she made to the masses was one of equal rights. The men of the tribe were being used as slaves. They did the farming, the cleaning, the cooking and the raising of the children. The women were the fighters and hunters. It had been that way for many generations. Elder Jewel Sunwater watched as the men’s spirit dwindled and they started to shrink physically. She had enough and took the women by the ears and taught them it wasn’t the way. Many fought against her, but in the end she won.

Nowdays men think they run the show, but the women snicker behind their hands and shake their heads. Elder Jewel taught the women to let man think he was superior, for this would feed their energies and they would grow. This has been passed down from mother to daughter since then. And the men have grown and become strong warriors. They hunt and build houses and we plant and take care of the villages. All-important decisions are thought to go through the elder men, but the men talk to their wives and decisions are made in the kitchen. It actually works out well for both parties.

After that painting, my mind starts to wander and I find myself looking at the flame. It bounced and jumped casting distorted shadows on the bumpy wall. Willow says the light enchants me. Willow’s my closest friend. She says, “Aqua, you’ve got to stop staring at the flame and start working on the pictures. I’ve already studied six of them. You are way behind the rest of us.”

On and on she goes, shaking her sun-bleached head at me, finger waging. It seems everyone is shaking their heads at me. I must be a big disappointment to everyone. But I feel it’s not true. I’m bound for greatness. Just about then I puffed up my chest and I strut around. It doesn’t last because becoming a hero doesn’t happen to ordinary girls like me.

I just shrug my thin shoulders at her and continue planting the moonstone seeds in the soft newly turned ground. The conversation most always comes up when we are working in the fields and the day has grown long and Willow has flirted with all the boys she thinks worthy of her.

As always I’m staring at the flame when a solid shadow appears beside it. I know solid shouldn’t be used to describe a shadow but that’s what it was, solid. As the other shadows hop on the rough walls around it it grew darker. A dim glow outlined the darker shadow as part of it split from floor to middle giving it an illusion of legs. Up top a round shape took root, a head I suppose. As you can well see it started to look human.

My heart beat very loudly in my throat and my palms were sweaty. I tried swallowing hoping my heart would go back where it belonged but it was stubborn and my swallow wasn’t very strong. I wiped my hands on my beige cotton weave skirt but immediately they were moist again. I’m sure if I could see my face my eyes would have been wide and my mouth would have been hanging open. I’d say I was scared but also curious had taken root. What was this strange shadow? And what did it want from me?

A long thin piece of the shadow wiggled and snaked as it swept out to its side pointing to a painting. I stood staring at the solid shadow, for I have no other way to describe it. As I stared it dropped its arm, I guess and stood swaying, waiting. I couldn’t take my eyes from the figure. Little by little it was forming other features. I could now see two legs, two arms, a couple of fingers and on its head a nose and eyes had formed. They weren’t color but darker or lighter version of the solid shadow, all strange and alien to me.

Impatiently the figure pointed again. If it had feet I’m sure it would have been tapping one. A hollow thump, thump sound echoed off the cavern ceiling. I hesitated before taking my first step. Yes I was still scared, shaking and petrified more like it. It hadn’t threatened me or harmed me yet, but it gave off such a commanding aura that is made me think twice before moving.

I circled wide around it, stopping in front of the picture I thought she had pointed to. Yes, I did say she. I said she because I just had a feeling it was female.

I looked over my shoulder at her and she slowly pointed again. The portrait was unfamiliar to me. And I gazed back again with a questioning look.

She had opened her mouth as if to speak, but no sound emerged. Inside of her mouth was darker than the rest of her. I shuttered and closed my eyes briefly. When I opened them she was gone. And the jasmine incense had burnt itself out. I hadn’t noticed how cold the cave was but now I had goose bumps so I rubbed my arms.

I walked closer to the rough wall moving slightly to my left so I could see the picture without my shadow blocking it. It was a blur of greens and blues with no ending of one color or the other. A blending of hues with swirls and whirls of frothy white scattered throughout. The image seemed to dance and sway, but that was probably from the candle flame. Because the walls were rough and bumpy it was hard for me to see what shape this mass of blues and greens was. I thought it was an abstract shape but when I followed the edge down with my finger it took the shape of a circle.

The whirls of foamy white swirled around and around itself looking like the whirlpools down at the pond. The ones near the waterfall where Willow and I sneak off the swim on hot afternoons.

Again I glance back at the ever burning candle but this time I’m not memorized by the flickering dance. The hypnotizing flickering light didn’t cause me to pause but did light my path as I paced. I was distracted by my experience with the dark shadow. I had no idea what this image painted on the wall has to do with the shadow. What had the floating shade wanted from me? And was that normal? I needed to talk to Elder Amethyst but I was forbidden to leave the cave until I had at least moved on to one more cave drawing.

So even though the other picture demanded my attention I knew I needed to get another portrait under my belt. Not that I really had a belt. It’s just an old saying.

I walked past the candle to the other side of the room. Its flame wavered from the slight breeze I created and again I could smell jasmine in the air. The floor is even from many students pacing from one side to another. Past the speech to the masses that Elder Jewel gave sits another portrait. The portrait is of a plain woman with dull mousy brown hair. Her eyes also brown were too close together and were squinted adding a stern look to her plain features.

I needed to get a feel of her so I reached out with me hand. I laid my palm on her forehead and focused like I’d been taught. I calmed my breath and listened to the steady beat of my blood pump.

Slowly an image of a small blond male child raced towards my minds eyes. Shivering with fear and crouching down as small as possible trying to hide his head. I felt pity and I wanted to reach out to him, to soothe him. The door opposite of the child opened and he tried to scrunch further into the corner. I could see the bamboo stalks pressing into his back. There was nowhere for him to go. The dirt floor crumbled as he pushed his bare heels into it, rapidly.

The woman in the portrait walked quickly into the room. Her flowing brown floor length skirt whipped around her pale ankles. She paused at the door and checked to see that none had seen her.

“Quickly child, come with me,” she said softly reaching her hand out to him.

The child still hid his disheveled head under his stick thin arms and refused to move one inch.

She gracefully walked over and squatted down in front of him gathering her skirt around her. “I know you must be scared,” she said softly and calmly, “but you must come with me at once.”

Still he wouldn’t move from the safety of his corner. His shivering lessened and his blue eyes, clearly full of unshed tears, were peaking out from behind dirty arms.

She tried something new. “My name's Wind Whisper.” She smiled and when she smiled, it changed her stern face into a pretty one.

The boy opened his arms wider still scared and finally put them in his lap. His fingers intertwined with other as he gazed at her innocently. Tears slide down dirty cheeks leaving clean lines running from eye to chin.

“Now, now there’s a good boy. Wipe your eyes,” and she handed him a handkerchief that she produced out of the air in front of him.

His eyes got large but still he said nothing as he wiped the tears from his cheeks. A small scar the shape of a horseshoe showed clearly through the dirt on his right cheek near his eye. He did not take his eyes from her smile the whole time.

“I’ve told you my name so why don’t you tell me yours.”

Slowly he opened his mouth but no sound emerged. He licked his lips and tried again. “D-David,” he croaked.

“Well hello David. It is nice to meet you,” said Wind Whisper still smiling. “Now you must come with me. Do you think you can walk?”

David sniffed a couple of times, wiped his nose with the back of his dirty arm instead of the handkerchief and nodded his head. His bangs fell into his eyes and he pushed them back hurriedly. He pushed off the wall and stood wobbly on legs that looked like sticks. David started to lean to one side but Wind caught him and they staggered to the door together.

At the bamboo leaf door Wind peeked out, then motioned to David to follow close. They had no trouble getting out of the jungle.

Suddenly my minds eye went dark and I started to panic. The visions had never done that before. I quickly moved my palm down to her lips and a new image appeared.

A medal gleamed in the late afternoon light. All around, enormous trees reached towards the daystar as though trying to capture the life giving warmth with their branches.

The medal flickered, as it was set around a man’s thick neck. His broad shoulders straightened as he puffed out his chest proudly. A mischievous smile played on his lips and his eyes sparkled a clear blue. On his cheek, a light horseshoe shaped scar shown clearly for those who chose to see. David had been raised up to be Leader of the Hunt.

I’d remember Amethyst Moonglow lecturing me on our history and the name David suddenly had meaning for me. David Longsight had been on a four-daystar hunt when he spotted a growth of BurrowRot. He ran back and the villagers set about sprinkling crushed seashells throughout the fields and villages. The devastation brought on by the BurrowRot to the surrounding areas had been terrible and it had been many generations before the evidence had completely disappeared. It buried itself below the ground causing the vegetation to wither and died if not prevented.

I wonder if Elder Wind Whisper had known the boy David would grow up to be 'Savior'. No one in our village could see the future and I had never heard of any other village having a Future Spinner either.


* * *


A Whisper of sound broke my concentration and I turned towards the threshold. Elder Amethyst shambled into the room. It was then that I wondered how they would paint her portrait on the wall. For I was sure they would. She was the wisest Energy Spinner I knew and she did chose to teach me, did she not?

Would they paint her as she was when she was young? I had heard that she was quite regal and held herself as though she were six feet tall instead of the four foot eight she really was. Once she stood straight, but now time and the burdens of leadership had stooped her shoulders. She had white hair that still looked like silk and hung to her shoulder, but in the past it had been a deep chocolate brown running to her slender calves. He face had become careworn and deep rivers of wrinkles lined her tanned skin. One thing that hasn’t changed was her eyes.

When she spoke, her clear brown eyes held yours and pulled you in. Intelligent but playful were her eyes. But flashes of temper played under the surface from time to time. The Goddess Mother only knows how many daystars I have tested that temper. I’d once pushed Willow into the Celestial Enchanted Garden. No one under the portraits were allowed there. We had dared each other and Willow had chickened out. So we got into a shoving match. I lost control of my anger and shoved Willow Greentree, my best friend into forbidden meadow.

“Aqua Bluewater and Willow Greentree, what do you think you two are doing?” Elder Moonglow yelled at us.

We looked up at her blue eyes flashing lightening. “Nothing,” I stammered.

We were punished overly harsh in my opinion. I think rolling stones up a hill for a new wall was men’s work but that was what we did for a week. So as you can see her temper is fierce.

I watched her now, wondering how best to approach my volatile mentor with the question that had plagued my thoughts for the past hour. I waited to see what kind of mood she was in.

The silence hung thick in the jasmine scented air. The hiss of the candle became my only indication that I had not become deaf since Elder Moonglow had entered the cave. I watched her study me. Her piecing eyes never wavered. All at once she glanced from me to the portrait I stood in front of.

Sweat began to roll down my back between my shoulder blades slipping down the curve of my lower back only to be absorbed by the waistband of my skirt. My heart, as before, was in my throat. Again it was as stubborn as when I saw the dark vision. I clenched my fingers into a ball and unclenched them. Again and again I did as I waited.

“Why was I so nervous?” I asked myself after I had caught myself biting my bottom lip. I think because I had an important question to ask about a portrait I had no right to be looking at yet.

Finally the silence got to be too much to handle and I started to speak, while I gestured with my left hand.

But before I could get my first word out she broke the silence. “I see you have finally gotten to Elder Wind Whisper,” she croaked out of ancient lips.

“Yes Elder Moonglow,” I said respectfully and I clasped my hands in front of me.

“And did you learn of the rescue of David Longsight?” She asked.

“Yes, Elder Moonglow,” I repeated.

“Good, good. Lets move on the shall we?”

“Elder Moonglow I’ve a question.” I stopped and waited for approval. She nodded and I went on, “was Elder Wind Whisper a Future Spinner?” I was avoiding my real question.

“Ahhh, I’m glad you asked. You are the first to ask in quite a few seasons.” She paused to tap one bony finger against her dried lips. “I believe she was, but there is no mention in the old legends. It is told that she just happened upon a slavers camp where they only had one child left. She took him and the rest is history.” She stopped and stared hard at me then asked, “What do you think?”

I glanced from her to my freckled hands that were still held before my waist. I knew she was looking for a certain answer and I didn’t want to disappoint her. So I choose my words carefully.

“In my opinion and from what I’ve seen here,” I pointed to the drawing, “I believe she was. All indications show she was. How did she happen upon David’s slavers? I think she saw it.”

Elder Amethyst Moonglow clapped her hands in delight. “What a brilliant child you are. I feel the same.” And here she dropped her voice, “but the others still believe it was by chance.”

“Does the Goddess Mother do things by chance?” I asked carefully.

“I don’t think so,” she replied solemnly.

“Me either.” I hesitated, opening my mouth then shutting it. Twice this happened. Each time I just couldn’t get my voice to ask the question I needed to ask.

“Out with it child,” Amethyst demanded in a clear deep voice, no longer raspy.

My eyes darted to the green and blue sphere to my mentor. I opened my mouth licked my lips that had suddenly gone dry and tried again. Only a squeak issued forth.

“What is it child?” She asked impatiently.

“I-I was wondering about t-this other portrait,” I started, “The one with all the green and blues.”

Elder Moonglow whipped her head from where I was indicating to me. Suspicously she narrowed her eyes and asked, “Why have you gone beyond Elder Wind Whisper? You should have never even seen this one. Why have you broken tradition and sought out one that is beyond your training and understanding?” She demanded, eyes blazing.

“I-I-I was shown!” I blurted out. I was shocked at the anger she had revealed at my question. I backed away from her until I was up against the rock wall. I could feel the hard edges of the boulder bruising my lower back.

“What do you mean you were shown,” she spit out. Her shoulders shook as she clenched her fist hard enough for the knuckles to turn white.

I took a deep breath to calm myself and the tried to explain what had happened earlier. As I spoke of my experience, I watched Elder Moonglow’s face loosen up. The muscles around her eyes and mouth relaxed. She looked as if she bit through her teeth when I started, but as I got to where the dark shadow had pointed at the drawing, her whole stance had calmed.

After I had finished recounting the vision to the best of my ability, she hobbled to the portrait and studied it for a short time.

Again the silence was uncomfortable. I shifted from one foot to the other as the minutes dragged on. I waited for her to speak. I hoped she would explain to me why this picture was so important. I whished she would take over this task that had been placed upon my head. For I felt that the shade had asked me to do something I was not ready for. I just couldn’t figure out what. It is forbidden to touch the pictures out of order until you’ve studied them all. So I hadn’t even tried to study it with my fingers anymore then I already had.

Elder Amethyst cleared her throat and I looked up from the candle I’d been gazing at.

“You say the shadow tried to speak?” She asked softly. It had seemed that the fire of anger had been drenched.

“Yes Elder Moonglow,” I answered.

“But made no sound?”

“No Elder Moonglow,” again I answered.

“Hmmm…” Now she gazed at the ever-burning candle. “This drawing was here before Elder Jewel Sunwater’s speech to the masses. Very little is known about it. When our people first came upon this cave the candle was already burning, she smiled at me lovingly and then back to candle. Her eyes glazed over, lost in thought, “and the blue and green colors were blazing against the dull gray of the wall. Over the years many have tried to touch it. Not much information was learned. A few have even tried to erase it. But as you can see it is still here.”

“What did the other’s learn Elder Moonglow?” I asked her.

“That, my young Energy Spinner, is another Soilorb. One that is still growing today. It was a baby when the first Energy Spinner touched it. Fern Firesure was the last one to find anything out about it. She only learned that it now held life. That was 200 turns of our three moonstars.”

I was shocked. I had never dreamed that there could be other Soilorbs. The daystar circled our Soilorb, so how could it circle others? “And nothing more has been learned Elder Moonglow?” I had taken a couple of steps toward her.

A small shake of her head was my answer. Again she fell silent and I waited anxiously.