A River Birthday

 

            “It’s hard at this time of year, but if you are very brave and determined, it can be done. And when it is done, you will be in two worlds, not between them,” continued Ralph.
            “How can this be?” said Marge.

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             “Is it very hard? What must I do, Sir?” said Marge.
            “Not do. Be. You must be willing to open unseen doors,” Ralph said. “Brave because it’s a cold time of year for your body.” He tipped his head, seeing how she reacted to that statement. She just waited.
            “Being is harder than doing,” said Marge. “I have done many things, but don’t know what I am.”
            “Harder to be taught, but in a way it’s very simple. To be willing is the beginning,” said Ralph. “It’s like a song you can’t hear. But you will. Colors which don’t exist for you, but will. All we Forest Keepers are waits in you too, but unborn.”
            “How can it be born in me?” cried Marge.
            While Marge and Ralph had been talking, Ramona had slipped inside the cave to fetch her drum. She sat with eyes closed by the fire patting it softly with her hands, singing softly in her own language, the language of her mother and the forest.
            “River birth is a Firekeeper’s work, Marge. Not mine,” said Ralph. “I must not intrude.
            “Ramona knows the words, Firekeeper words. I do not.”
            Cherry sat on his knee and looked from person to person without speaking.
            Ramona opened her eyes and smiled. She lay the drum aside and laced her fingers.
            “Are you ready? Now? Are you very sure that you want to see with our eyes, and hear with our ears?” asked Ramona.
            “I want with all my heart to belong in your world, Mother Ramona,” said Marge.
            “Then we must go to the river. Cherry will come because she must learn all the Firekeeper songs and words,” said Ramona.
            “I prayed for an easy birth,” she added. “That was the drum song you heard me singing a moment ago.”
            As she spoke the clouds parted, and the sun shone brilliantly on all below. The air softened a bit. Snow began to slip off of branches, plopping to the ground. A soft breath of wind blew through the Home Clearing. It passed over towards the river.
            Ramona rose and picked up her drum. Cherry floated to her usual position at her mother's left shoulder. Marge stood too, then followed Ramona as she walked through the shallow snow, heading past the rabbit warren, up over a slight ridge and down to the riverside. Ramona sang words unknown to Marge.
            When they got out into the open, near the water, the sun struck them directly. It dazzled Marge. She came willingly, not knowing, but ready.
            Ramona looked down at Marge and smiled. “No one is born covered in cloth are they, Daughter?” she said. “You must take it all off. Put the clothing well up away from the water. You will need it to be dry when we are done.” She put her drum on a rock also, well away from the water.
            Obediently, Marge disrobed. She placed her boots, hat, and Carhartts, and the whole collection on a river boulder. She was cold then, but it could have been worse. The sun did its bit to help her out.
            Ramona had been singing the whole time. Taking Marge by her hand she led her out into the cold running stream. And it was hard for Marge. She felt naked in several ways, and the cold water was numbing her quickly, as it was waist deep where she stood with Ramona and Cherry who didn’t get into the river herself.
            “We will go under the surface together, and when we come up, I will give you a new name,” said Ramona. Marge nodded.
            She clung to the Mother’s hand, and together they dipped down under the shining silver surface, only for a second of time. Then they stood together.
            “In our language I name you Leely. It means “little one” as we speak among ourselves,” said Ramona. “What do you see?”
            Leely was dumbstruck. Openmouthed she looked around herself. First she saw her Mother as she truly was, and her Sister. The air was full of sound. She gasped.
            Ramona brought her out of the river, holding her hand still, in case she was too overcome to make the little walk alone.
            “Leely, put your clothing back on quickly, we don’t want you to suffer,” said Ramona. She spoke in Forest language and Leely understood her.
            “Yes,” said the river born. She hurried to the boulder and dressed herself even though she was damp. The sun continued to shine brightly, which did help.
            “What do you see,” asked Ramona for a second time.
            “I see two worlds together. I didn’t know. Both are close,” she said. “They talk about portals, but it’s not like that, is it. I see as if I could turn a corner and be in another place.”
            “Yes. People who live in your old world say that, because that’s how they see it, like a hole,” said Ramona. She picked up her drum and began patting out a joyful rhythm.
            “Let’s go back to the fire, Leely! Come on Cherry!” laughed Ramona. “You need that fire, and I wouldn’t mind getting dry myself, girls!”
            “I see colors with no names,” cried the girl, Leely. “How can this be?”
            “It just is. They were there all along,” said Ramona, still drumming softly. The Raven design on her skin drumhead winked in and out in sharp relief, as her hand patted.
            “I feel vibrations, all separately!” said Leely, following Ramona back to the forest.
            “You will, yes,” said Ramona. “Each thing has its own song, its own vibration.”
            At the fire, Ralph was chatting with Maeve. He picked up his head expectantly when he saw the women returning. Another word was in his mind, a Saslingua word.
            “Come sit by the fire,” he said. “You will need to warm up quickly.”
            Cherry went back to her father’s knee. Blue settled down by Ralph’s feet. She had been asleep when the three went to the river.
            Ramona brought Leely to the fire, holding her hand, and they both took a seat.
            “She is riverborn as Leely, Ralph,” said Ramona.
            “What do you think about all of this, Leely,” asked Ralph. “What do you hear?”
            “I hear the mountains sigh. I hear the river singing. I hear the silence of the snow. Each thing is distinct. I had no idea,” she said. “I see that there is this place, as always, and another place beyond it and with it.
            “When I look down at myself, I see that I look as I always did. Will that change too?”
            “What I believe is that you will grow somewhat taller, but not as tall as we who are born Forest Keepers. You may well become stronger. But not as strong as Mona. Your hair will grow faster, but I don’t think it will cover all of you. You will be able to be among the people of the land, but you will also be of us.
            “Are you happy, little Leely?” he spoke softly.
            “Yes. I am happy. What shall I do?” said Leely.
            “You must go home to your mother and be Marge with her for a time. It won’t be forever, Leely,” said Ramona.
            “But, when you can, come to us, and I will teach you my songs, and the songs of my mother, and my grandmother before her,” said Ramona.
            “I’m surprised she hasn’t called me. I’ve been gone a long time. I should go, so she isn’t frightened,” said Leely.
            “I’ll go with her, Ramona. Just to make sure,” said Maeve.
            And so Maeve flew along with Leely as she walked the path back through the snowy meadow, past Thaga’s cottage, and out to the end of the dirt road where Enid’s house stood.
            When she saw Leely go in and shut the door behind herself, Maeve flew back to the Home Clearing and the fire.

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