Now when morning came, Lali found herself alone.
Hokami was gone. The sharp rays of the sun pierced
the dark cave and Lali awoke. She was feeling
somewhat better now, but her whole leg was swollen
and very sore. She lay there listening to the birds calling
back and forth through the trees. They seemed to have
their own language. She thought they were talking
about her. They were laughing at her. Birds
see and understand things we humans
are not aware of. They feel our hearts,
even when we try to hide inside them.
The wind had died down from the night before,
and a gentle breeze replaced it bringing sweet
fragrances into the waking Peaciwawala.
Her head was pounding and she felt like throwing up.
She pulled herself closer to the mouth of the cave.
The fresh air made her feel better instantly.
The sun was sparkling. It traced a golden lace
border of light around everything
in the moist morning air. She smiled with glee.
She felt so free.
"Gee, this is a nice place to be," she thought.
"I could live here, so close to the stream.
She examined her leg. "Ouchie. Ohh," she cried.
"Where did Hokami go?" she sighed, looking around.
"Why did that nasty snake have to bite me anyway!"
she pouted, beginning to cry.
Finally she got up and started limping down
toward the stream. It was Spring, and new growth
was everywhere. Even she was growing.
The two brown nipples on her chest
were sore and hard and had begun to swell.
She was growing into a young woman at last!
Lali could feel the rumbling of something
moving, way deep inside herself,
like a great body of water,
rushing toward a gate at great speed.
She had to catch her breath, for the feeling
frightened her. But she liked feeling too.
It made her dizzy and tingly.
She likened the feeling to loosing one of her baby teeth.
It felt good to wiggle it, even though it hurt
and made her gum bleed. It was a strange pleasure
to be sure. She felt like flowing out into life...
even as the fragrance of the blossoms flowing
thru the air and into her heart...awakened the trees
and flowers to make nectar, it also awakened Lali
to a new sense of herself, and a new level
of growing sensuality.
As she went on, she noticed beetles and flying bugs
she hadn't seen for a while, and some,
she'd never seen. "Why you were in my grandmother's
garden eatting all the squash last summer," she scolded
one bug. "And you...hmmmm, I don't remember you."
She caught and stroked each one curiously,
cupping them gently in her palms. "What marvelous
creations you are, we all are," she exclaimed,
exalting in the newness of her "feelings".
"It's so pretty here," she thought. "I feel pretty too!"
Her mind exuded fragrance, the blossoms of
consciousness wanting so much to be ready to open...
to bestow it's nectar everywhere. She was looking all
around, but not where she was going and
stubbed her big toe on a rock hidden in the tall grass.
This brought her back very quickly and she
shrieked in pain, hobbling faster to the stream,
where she immediately thrust her whole leg into
the cold rushing waters.
When the pain began to subside, she began
day-dreaming again. She pulled her leg out of
the water and sat on a large flat rock beside the
steam, laying her leg upon it also. As the hot sun
beat down upon her, she again felt full of joy
and beauty. Lali thought she would burst
from this feeling. Her heart pounded happily.
"Why did I come to this world," she mused.
"Who am I? and what is this life supposed to be about?!"
Lali pondered deeper than she had before.
But soon tears came to her eyes when she thought
about her mother and father. She had never known them.
"Why did they leave me?" she thought sadly.
"Aren't they ever coming back?...ever???"
But Lali couldn't stay unhappy for long in the forest.
She watched the chipmonks and birds fight and play.
They made her laugh and forget her sorrow.
She felt such a surge of energy within.
Did she have some destiny to fulfill?
Was she ever going to be special?
What was the riddle's answer.
She had to break through the illusion of time,
and find the answer to her existance.
But she didn't know how.
Now Lali thought she saw something in the bushes
reflecting the Sun. It was pointed and looked something
like a teepee. But it had a square base.
It was very hard to see through the thick growth,
so she crossed the stream. There was no trail
through the matted tangle of branches and vines,
so she limped further downstream and followed
around the curve, taking the right bank
when the stream forked at the huge boulder
that forced the split. Earth and rocks
had built up behind the boulder, forming
a small island between the banks.
Colorful flowers and unusual plants grew there.
"After I find out what's shining back in the brush,
I'll come back and explore the little island" she thought.
Lali found what seemed to be an old path finally,
though it was almost completely overgrown. She
followed with some difficulty, but that made the
adventure, more exciting to her. She could
hardly wait to see what it was in there, and
she tore her way through, jumping over fallen logs
and crawling thru the vines, that tried to hold her back.
A low rumbling in the earth, became a chorus of sounds.
The closer she got to the shining hut, she recognized
it distinctly as sounding like the hooting of owls.
The closer she got, the louder the hooting became,
although still muffled. She strained to hear it.
Though the path had not been maintained for some time,
the trees still kept their archlike posture approaching
the clearing where the hut was situated.
Her growing excitement heightened to disbelief
on arriving. All her senses were alive.
She felt electified. No longer afraid, she realized,
she had dreamed of this place.
Now the hooting chant was so loud the earth was shaking
from the sound. The hooting seemed to be coming
from below the hut which was a small pyramid.
The pyramid was made of a material unlike anything
Lali had seen before. She thought at first it must be
made of seashells, but the surface was continuous
and smooth. It was so brilliant and reflected the Sun
as if it were the Sun itself.
The surface looked smooth and glassy like water.
She could see the sky and clouds moving on it's surface.
Then she saw someone looking at her,
copying her moves. But it was only her reflection.
She was confused, but marveled at this structure,
not knowing what it could be...and why it was
hidden here so far from her village in the depth of the forest.
Amazed, she ventured further out into the clearing
and approached the pyramid, touching the
smooth surface with her palm. The earth
trembled beneath her feet as the hooting
continued from below. The rhythm of it made her
sway, and she began dancing without realizing she
was moving. She watched her reflection, and
giggled, twirling again. When she finished
her spin, she was horrified to see,
her reflection turn into a hideous beast with blood
dripping from it's teeth. One eye bulged in the center
of her forehead. Shrieking, she drew back in horror.
When she called for her grandmother, and stood
perfectly still, her lovely image returned. "What a
fun hut," she thought delightedly, and continued
to play with her image reflected on the
walls of the pyramid.
While she was playing thus, Lali became distracted
by the flapping of huge wings beating the air as
they decended. Suddenly a shadow fell across her body.
As she looked up into the great beak of a mother owl,
sharp claws wrapped tightly around her body,
immobilizing her on the ground. In the tree,
the little owls chirped hungrily as they peered
over the rim of their nest, watching Mother,
hunt down their lunch.
The mother owl was enormous, and Lali was unable
to move as the claws encircled her torso,
pinning her arms down. Then before she knew what
was happening, the mother owl tore through Lali's
buckskin dress with her sharp beak, and
was about to disembowel her immediately,
when a piercing hoot startled them both.
Please go to Chapter 4, page 6
