When Jzurlea and Hokamki reached the cave, it was empty and dark. They sat there at it's
mouth staring deeply into each other's eyes. They beheld each other in the soft glow of moonlight.
"Where have you been all these years Hokami?" she said inquisitively. He looked at her
trying to explain. The words didn't come easily. He started many times and stopped before he could finish. He could
only utter fragments of thoughts. Finally he said,
"I can't say exactly. It's been illussion after illussion. I have been perhaps
pursuing the wind." He looked satisfied with his answer. "The clouds form and the wind moves us forward, moving
formlessly, forming new forms always...how can I tell you..where I've been? He provoked her imagination even more with
his nebulous answer.
She looked penetratingly at him trying to comprhend his mysteriousness. She wasn't sure
he was real at all, for when the moon faded behind a cloud, she lost sight of him for an instant. Wanting to be sure he was
flesh and blood and not an apparition, when he reappeared, she reached for him. As she did that, Hokami dissolved, and the
Shining Brother from long ago, stood before her again. What was happening?
She was sure she was awake. She could feel the ground...it was cool and moist. She could
feel the rays of the moon. It was warm and a slight breeze played with her hair. She felt alive, magnetized in
the pleasure of the moment. She could hardly breathe, her excitement in the moment was disorienting her.
"Where did he go," she blurted out. The Shining Brother smiled, but replied sternly "Rize
up" as he entered the cave.
The cave was lit now. It seemed the light was coming from the Shining Brother.
Jzurlea still sat at the mouth of the cave looking in in utter amazement. The light was warm and soft. More so
even than the moon. When she went into the cave, she could see ledges about the walls. They were very dusty and
spiders had made their home in every one. She could see that in some of the deeper ledges, small figurines stood.
She broke the web that covered the entrance to one of the smaller ledges. The spider moved graciously out of the way
for her. Jzurlea took the figure in her hand. It was made of stone. It was carved in the figure of a woman,
but to Jzurelea's surprize, it had no head. She looked on the ledge again, clearing out all the debris. There
were quite a number of heads there, all decapitated from their bodies. Not one of the heads fit the figure of the woman.
Jzurlea wondered why all these heads were on the ledge with this small carved figure of stone. Then she thought of the
stone head fragment her Grandmother kept hidden away in one of her baskets. As she examined the figure from the ledge,
she noticed markings that made her think the stone head fragment belonged with this head. "How very strange" she thought.
Both were made of the same type of stone. "Why" she kept asking herself as she turned the figure over and over. It was
well carved and highly polished. It felt good to touch it's surface. As she rubbed the dust of ages out of the
folds of the figure's garment, the stone became warm. She was beginning to hear a musical sound in the air, when the
Shining Brother came up behind her. He took the figure out of her hand and placed it back on the ledge,
restoring the silken web. "But I want to take it home with me" she said dismayed. "It fits with the head" she
sighed. The Shining Brother's eyes were luminous and he replied very kindly to her in a hooting fashion. It was
as though he were speaking to her in hyroglyphics. Her mind wrapped around his words in pictures. She clearly
understood the meanings of all that he said. Yet many questions remained unanswered. She couldn't
utter a sound though for a stillness came over the night absorbing every stray thought into a great resevoir, saved for another
time. Instead, the pulse of his mind parted the waters of her heart inputting answers before the questions were
realized. When the heart knows, the mind eventually will listen. She felt surges of energy, like she could whirl
right up into the sky through him....even as she had the Empress of the Owls, so so long ago.
She remembered the owl Hokami had given her when they were children. She had planted
it here in this cave. "Where is it?" she thought and began looking for it. The owl also was missing it's head.
It was all vague recollections now. The Shining Brother had made a small fire, and now
he sat looking mysteriously into the flames. From a sachel he removed a small package. He placed it upon his knee as he sat
cross-legged on the ground before the fire. He unwrapped the package. In the package were small rounds of flat
bread. He gave her one. It was moist and had a rich texture, was a delicate red color and had an exwquisite flavor.
She couldn't tell what it was made from. It was like eatting flowers.
They sat exchanging images silently as they ate the little rounds of bread. They stared
into the flames that danced brightly in the now cozy cave, adding images to their imaginations. Jzurlea felt she was
created with a purpose. She hadn't felt that before. She thought she was a mistake....a catastrophe.
But the Shining Brother's mind impregnated her with a knowing that she could and would do something significant with her life.
Something, someday, somewhere, somehow, someway...and it would benefit all people and all nations on this Earth and beyond
even. She had no idea what she could do to accomplish that, but she felt it was an indelible truth sequestered deep
inside her. She thought it was much like the pit within the fruit, that once cracked open, reveals the seed; the seed that
is the kernal truth regarding the unique potential with all the characteristics of the fruit's nature. She had something to
do, but had no idea of how to bring it forth. It was more than she could accomplish.
When the fire burned down, the Shining Brother placed another log upon it. Soon
the cave brightened again. The Shining Brother smiled at her knowingly, nodding his head as if to say, "You can..you
can..." Suddenly he spoke aloud, piercing the night. His voice was deep and resonant. It echoed in her head...every
word, every vowel vibrated within her. At first she didn't understand his words, so he spoke slowly for her.
"Why have you come here Jzurelea?"
She was stunned by his question and didn't know how to answer him at first. She was embarrassed
because she knew why..."Well, I just couldn't sleep" she replied finally. "I couldn't sleep and I didn't mean to disobey
Gongi. I just needed to walk....so I could finally rest." She hung her head and sobbed a little, trying
to hold her emotions hidden. She knew it was desire that made her restless. A desire to express something beautiful
about herself. She longed...for something.
The Shining Brother knew what was in her heart. He knew of her longings. For a long while,
they both stared silently into the flames. Then the Shining Brother spoke again.
"You deserve a life of your own Jzurlea. There's no shame in that. In you the bud
has formed. Now it's time for it to open. For you to understand who you are from time immemorial. Who you
have been and will be. All your lives must be resolved now, so the path to your Destiny will be clear and unobstructed."
As he was saying these things to Jzurlea, he removed a device from his sachel and began setting
it up before her in the cave. Jzurlea was becoming afraid now. She watched the Shining Brother assemble the device,
but was torn between watching him and thinking of Gongi. She really needed to get back home. Gongi might wake
up and need her. "I think I'll be going now," she said getting up to leave.
"Wait now..." said the Shining Brother,
"you are about to encounter your heart's desire."
"I am" she asked incredulously.
She felt slightly giddy when he seated her upon the little device. "Pull the lever now"
he instructed her with a warm smile, which she did hesitating at first. Instantly the machine began to whirr, and then
she felt it move beneath her.
"Wait" she exclaimed as the machine moved toward the mouth of the cave. "What is this?!
Where am I going?! How do I get back.....?!"
"Never mind about that" he called to her as the machine whirled out of the cave and into deep
space. "I'll meet you there" he added, but she didn't hear what he said because she was already far far away.
She was breathing differently than usual, and felt distinctly different all over. In fact,
she was no longer aware of her body. The contraption had lifted her high into the sky, and been vibrating intensely.
She was hanging on for dear life as the chair rocked and rolled uncontrollably.
She could see the earth tumbling before her, and she was naseaus. She must have lost
consciousness.
Now she was dreaming again...dreaming that she was being stretched until she was very very
long. She was like a ribbon now, rippling in deep space. She was holding on with her hands and toes to the ends
of the Universe. She could feel a marvelous tickly sensation throughout her body and limbs. At the tips of her
fingers and toes especially she felt this wonderful sensation. It made her laugh uncontrollably, (as though someone
were tickling her) shaking all the stars and planets, down to the very leaves of the trees. Oh she didn't want to do
that. But her laughter echoed thoughout time and space. Now she let go with her hands and toes, snapping back
into somewhere. She wasn't really sure where, but she had become very very small now. Smaller than the smallest
atomic particles. She had come apart...or was she being pressed together? Simultaniously she experienced these
extremes as she tumbled through space and time and dimension on the little machine. She didn't know how she'd gotten there,
where she was going....or why anything was.
She had forgotten Jzurlea now. All she could feel was the weight and pressure of space all
around her...crushing her into the endless void...the oblivion before her. In the dark, quiet, deep space within herself,
came spiraling a musical sound ringing softly like a bell. Through it she stretched out again across the Universe.
Though she would not always remember this experience consciously, nor be able to define it in words, the feeling of being
completely liberated from cells and dna would remain. The memory of the feeling was etched into the grooves of her soul,
and would be a refuge for her during the discouraging events that would transpire on the path of her migration before her
where her Destiny awaited her. Destiny though promiced, is not a given. One must learn from the lessons
to claim the right to have a Destiny. For now, all she knew was the moment...the now, in which she was again a brightly
coloured ribbon, rippling without form in and out of the currents of her deep inner space.
*************************
A girl resembling Jzurlea lays asleep
on the grass beneath a little palm tree
on one side of a wide bay.
A man of about 40 comes out of the water
with his spear gun in hand. He's caught
a good sized fish (Tlapia) and carries
it (still on the hook) with the water bottles
he's filled (at the Grotto). He puts them
down on the grass near to where the girl is sleeping. Then he goes to a crop of rocks, and stashes his spear gun behind it.
He brings his backpack from behind the
same rocks and carries it over
to the sleeping girl. "Harmony"
he says warmly and brings
his lips to her cheek with a kiss.
"Wake up honey...I'm back."
As Jzurlea begins regaining awareness of
herself, she hears Hokami's voice calling someone, and awakens, abruptly opening her eyes. She's
startled to see a handsome well-built man resembling Hokami, holding her head in his hands
She saw she was laying on a colorful towel on the ground beneath a palm tree. But she had no idea where she
was. It wasn't any place she'd ever been. Before her the Shining Big Sea water frothed and foamed
and crashed not so far from her little palm.
"Harmony! Harmony! Wake up" the person before her was saying. She openned
her eyes wider, and rubbed them. There, before her was the ocean, just as her Grandmother and others had described it.
She looked up. The man before her looked familiar. Was it Hokami? She couldn't be sure. She was so
delighted to see him, she hugged him spontaneously. "Where are we" she gasped looking at the splendid view of jungle
and sea all around her. "What are you talking about" he replied. We're down Halehaku Bay. You slept like
a log. How do you feel?
"Wow!" she remarked in surprize. "Look at this place Hokami! How did we get here?"
"What do you mean? We drove in my stationwagon...and who's Hokami? Were you
dreaming of an old boyfriend again?" he laughed.
Confused, she really didn't know. She knew she was Harmony, but she had dull memories
of other lives and times. Sometimes she was in and out of them without realizing it. "Aren't you Hokami? she asked
hoping he'd say that yes he was. But he seemed annoyed with her for some reason..
"My name is Maji, just for the record," he said sourly. But his voice became squeekey
when he added "Don't you remember me?"
She laughed and thought of Mickey Mouse. Mickey Mouse, Harmony, Maji..."Gee" she thought,
"this language is very different."
"We're on Maui" he said in his normal voice, seeing her disorientation. "Maui, Hawaii!
Does that ring a bell?" She wasn't sure.
She could see the Village now, but she was also on Maui. It was like she was coming in
and out of consciousness.
"Gee, you're a little shakey" said Maji. "Did you have a bad dream?" She looked
at him strangely.
"Maybe that's it Hokami.." she said trying to turn the page in her brain.
"My name is not Hokami. My name is Maji!" he said sounding annoyed again.
"Okay... Maji. Be whoever you want to be. I thought you were right behind me.
You didn't come, so I fell asleep."
He brushed the hair from her face, and kissed her lightly. "I can be whoever you want
me to be" he said flirtatiously. Her head was still spinning, but she laughed. She felt so grown up with
him. It was alright to show her feelings now. She squinted at the sun. "Same sun," she thought. "Am
I really still alive?"
Maji got up and was ready to get back to their camp. He looked strong and his skin was
bronzed by the sun. He smelled good too. She knew he really was Hokami even if he didn't remember.
Maybe he was just playing a game with her. She didn't know. But someone inside of her had fallen asleep under
that tree...but it was Harmony who woke up. She was beginning to remember being Harmony now. Maji observed
her as he waited on the path leading into the forest and their campsite.
She got up and wrapped her towel around her waist. She stretched and yawned, sighing
deeply as she looked around for that horrid little machine the Shining Brother had sent her out on. But she didn't see
it. "Hmm, maybe I was just dreaming" she thought. "But it seemed so real! Oh well, it was a great dream
anyways. But it's a greater reality being here! Maybe this is the dream." She sighed again grabbing her
backpack. She walked with a bounce in her step toward Maji.
"You look rested" he said.
"I feel great!" she assured him
"I had a dream" she told him as they walked on the path into the forest. "I dreamed
I was someone from another time. I was pulled and stretched from my own time to be here now. But I am of
this time also."
He laughed heartily. "Well, that's nice to know. You can tell me all about it tonight by
the fire. Let's get a move on now though before we loose the sun"
Before entering into the dense rain forest, she turned back to look at the ocean, and marveled
at it. She looked one more time for the transporter device. It had to be there...somewhere. But it wasn't.
She turned to follow Maji. He was already aways ahead of her. She felt so happy her heart overflowed with joy.
She knew her heart's desire was being fulfilled and she could hardly believe it. She was a woman now and could drink
from the cup of love finally. At last the bud she had been forming would open, and she could be the flower she had always
dreamed of being.
