Welcome to Gaia! ::

She had heard stories as a child; can even recall them in her infancy, the words that spun into dreams before her eyes. Her dreams always saw many things. Swirling skies and tiny plants, the call of the wild birds and the howl of wolves. Her naming dream felt as though it lasted a lifetime, because it did, but the dream that stuck with her most was the Caiman.

Her parents had warned her early to stay wary around the Caiman. They are beasts and murderers; they will eat you in one gulp, Dreamer-of-Stars. But she hadn't listened. In her youth, she was foolish and drunk on the immortality of life. Her time was not spent worrying and hiding in the brush. She would burst forth instead, curious and impatient.

Her impatience and youthful stupidity was going to kill her. It happened quickly, one day, as she danced through the Swamp with her siblings. Suddenly, they were gone, and she was entirely alone. She called for them, even searched, to no avail. They had always been faster than she was, and she realized they had run ahead. Not wanting to be left behind, Dreamer-of-Stars ran faster, trying to catch up to them.

The root that stuck up was one of many, and yet, it was that one root that caught Dreamer by the hoof and sent her sprawling. The sickening snap was followed closely by sudden and acute pain. Dreamer wondered if this was what Death felt like. Fear, however, quickly replaced that. She had fallen into the thicker muck of the swamp, and there in wait lay the Caiman from her dreams.

They shared the same stars along their hides, and bright yellow eyes stared back at her. Dreamer's breath sunk to barely a whisper as she stared back at the jaws of her demise. It felt like days went by before the Caiman slipped over, snapping his jaws sharply. She cringed, waiting for pain, for Death, for everything to fade...

The Caiman moved smoothly to her front, staring at her evenly, before sinking into the muck and sliding beneath her.

Whether delirium or simply exhausted had overwhelmed her, Dreamer did not know. The Caiman carried her through the muck to the other side. For days, they were alone, she and the Caiman. They talked, then, as her leg was healed. When finally Dreamer could stand on it and feel only the twinges of pain, she made to run.

The Caiman simply watched, patience in every shred of its relaxed demeanor. Dreamer glanced back again, and saw, really saw her Companion. With a smile that seemed to mimic the Caiman's patience, Dreamer tipped her head. "Dreamer-of-Stars." She introduced, breaking their only rule in their tentative friendship. No names, the Caiman had demanded, and she had broken the rule. But it seemed necessary. Friendships were not made on wisps of shadows.

The Caiman regarded Dreamer evenly, jaw opening briefly, and then it rose and sunk into the muck. Dreamer, though, knew he'd be back.

She just needed to be patient.

She sunk wearily to the ground; trembling legs refusing to go any further. Again she had pushed herself to the limit. She strove to reach perfection, an impossible ideal that was cemented in her own mind. But it was never enough. No matter how hard she pushed her body, it was only flesh and blood. It ached.

The doe gave a weary sigh. A part of her wished to sink into the Swamp; to give up her body, to nourish the earth and let her soul run free. But she was held back by one single emotional cord.

A small face appeared before her, and she smiled. The Lemur gave a series of disapproving chitters. He disappeared and she was aware of nimble fingers pressing her sore body, here and there. When he had finished with his inspection he appeared again, pressing his nose against her cheek.

Her one single, powerful tie to this world.

She remembered him as the soft, lonely ball clinging to a tree. He had given her meaning. When her self-loathing grew too strong, his presence brought peace.

As he curled up against her chest, her eyes shut. “Yes, I know.” She answered in response to his continued unhappy noises. “I’ll try not to do it again. I won’t chase that which I cannot catch.” That contented him for the moment, and she felt a loving nibble to her neck.

“… thank you, my dear heart. Let us rest for a time, and perhaps I will dream and wake a better me.” She chuckled at his sudden, sharp bite. “No? At least one of us is not such a fool. What would I do without you?”

She continued to mutter meaningly things as she drifted into sleep, lulled by his soft sound and gentle touches, and she dreamt of climbing to the stars with her Lemur leading the way. Of course he knew the right way, she marvelled, he always had.

Cold, aloof, secretive, that's how they all viewed her, but it didn't matter to the doe. Life had been hard from the day she emerged alone in the swamp. She survived the hardships walking alone and feeling no need to share her life with another. Then one day she found the strange half-grown feathered serpent among the snows of the hard winter. Dark beauty against the pale snow the young thing was near death and the doe considered if perhaps it could be dinner. But something in it's eyes, in the struggle as it hissed at her with it's remaining strength spoke to another instinct. Instead of finishing it off she picked it up and brought it to the relative warmth of her home among the roots of a great tree. As she nursed it back to health a bond was formed a friendship like family. She who had walked alone for so long had found a friend and a partner, one that also seemed cold, aloof, and secretive; Frozen Reflection and her Frosted Foundling.

Shamans. They were supposed to be revered, protecting, knowing. That's how people viewed Spiraling Shores in the small group of herds to which she traveled... Every night she would dream of the swamp, and every day she went through her people. Teaching them of the Kimeti way and showing each of them their true paths, warning them away from danger. Unwittingly she did not know her own true path, but to all she was respected and dedicated.

One evening she heard from the swamp in her dreams. It called to her in a voice that it never had before, speaking to her of a great task and a great destiny. It was a dream from Matope herself, a dream of amazing importance. A dream that offered power to those that claimed it's worth.
"For whom is this greatness to be bestowed?"
The swamp replied in it's own way. Spiraling Shores was the one for this greatness, but a task to be completed first.
With some surprise the doe humbled herself before Matope. "Any task you ask of me I shall gladly complete with the faith and guidance of our ancestors! You are our guidepost for all things!"

The swamp sent to her dream great thoughts, thoughts of a new group of creatures that did not know their way. A group of creatures that needed the guidance of the swamp to co-exist or the swamp may have to swallow them all. And Spiraling Shores was her chosen speaker.

"Oh yes! I shall visit these strange creatures you speak of and teach them the Truth of the Swamp! Who are they? Perhaps the Kiyokote? Or maybe the lighthearted Acha require some grounding in our ways?"
But then a shock came to the young doe, as Matope showed her images of the scaled and feathered hides. The serpents ate the young of others, even destroying Kimeti nests. The Kimeti often fought with the scaled beasts, with tooth and claw and bone, each protecting what they thought to be theirs. The serpents were evil. They were child-eaters and destroyers of the land. And like many of the Kimeti, Spiraling Shores felt they were better off simply being destroyed.
"Perhaps there has been a mistake, for you see, these are not your creatures. We, The Kin. We are your creatures. Perhaps we take in a wayward soul like an owlcat or a giant beetle... But these creatures are simply monsters! They are not your children the way WE are."
Again Matope insisted. Spiraling Shores knew what was asked. The images were clear. She was to go and spread the words of Matope to the serpents. But the doe could not do as the Swamp asked. She could not bring herself to face those evil creatures. How could she?


That morning when the doe awoke she announced that she was sent by Matope to travel to the beaches beyond the swamp on a quest. Two strong bucks offered to escort her on her noble quest. But it was a lie. She sought only to escape the swamp the only way she knew how... To head to the beaches she had seen in her Naming Dream... So distant and unlike the swamp she lived in, Matope could not tell her there to go see these evil creatures.
Herself and the two bucks began to travel through the swamp. The going was uneasy and each night Spiraling Shores dreamed of the serpents... And each day she denied the dreams and continued towards the shore.
One day they came across a vast expanse of open swamp. The bucks explained that Caiman lived in the swamp but never bothered the Kimeti. They honored and respected Matope the same way that the Kimeti did they explained. They then began to lead a careful path across the water-covered ground, noting the places where the earth would suddenly fall away into a deep swamp marsh.
As they reached the center of the swamp, a great disturbance in the water appeared. With much outcry and confusion from the bucks, the water began to churn with Caiman, creating great currents that threatened to sweep the Kimeti into the water.
But Spiraling Shores knew why the animals behaved as they did, and she stepped forward and spoke with much sorrow
"Great Matope, I have betrayed you! I sought to flee your ever-present force, but instead I have caused my own kin much peril and grief! Take me and allow them their peace for I would not speak to the serpents of your ways and truths!"
With shock and awe the two bucks carefully stepped back along the path, and just in time for a huge caiman rose out of the water in front of the doe. Its head was larger than the largest of bucks and its body was as long as ten Kimeti stretched out. With a massive and swift movement it swallowed Spiraling Shores, and much of the earth she was standing on, leaving the two bucks in shock.


Spiraling Shores found herself still alive, deep inside this gargantuan beast, but knew she was under the swamp, deep where this caiman dwelled for dozens of years growing to mammoth sizes by feeding off anything that came it's way.
Her first day inside the beast she searched for a way to escape. There was none.
Her second day she cried for her plight and pleaded. She spent the day wallowing in her own sorrow for that which had been brought upon her.
On the third day Spiraling Shores had finished trying to escape. She had finished feeling sorry for herself. On the third day she felt sorry for the trouble she had caused. And that night as she fell asleep she dreamed of Matope once again. Once again she was shown the serpents. And when she awoke it was with a jarring motion. She found herself on the shores of a swamp she knew quite well. She had seen it every night in her dreams for weeks now. It was the swamp of the serpents.
This time the shaman did as Matope had spoken for her to do. She walked openly amongst the Serpents... She told them stories of the Kimeti and of the ways of the swamp. She told then to respect the lives of other beings and to not kill needlessly or to take those who were young and helpless. And she taught them how to renew the swamp so that they might flourish with Matope instead of take from it needlessly. And she left her warning with them that if they did not respect the swamp that Matope would swallow them and all their kin... Like the Caiman had swallowed her.

Spiraling Shores then left the village of serpents. She walked up a near-by rise and watched down upon the creatures. Creatures with scales and feathers.... So different and savage compared to the Kimeti. And she found herself quite alone. Her own tribe was some distance away... It was very likely that the bucks had made it back to tell their tale of her betrayal to her Kin. She felt unworthy of her own people... But perhaps Matope would see the truth with some small time and she could be justified. The serpents would not change. They would continue to destroy the swamp, she felt. They could not possibly become one with it. So she sat, and waited, quite alone, for the rivers or perhaps the caiman to come and swallow the dreadful creatures as promised.
Then a voice rose out of the swamp, smooth and melodic. The doe knew not whence it came but she was grateful for it all the same. Waiting was dull and lonely. Perhaps Matope had sent her the voice as a blessing.

"Hello..."
"Hello, dear voice. Have you come to keep me company?"
"Perhaps I have. Why is it that you speak to that which you cannot see?"
"Because I sit upon this hill and look down with sadness and anger.... And I find myself alone."
"Why do you look upon them so sadly? Do they cause you so much grief?"
"They do! They have caused my people much grief and destroy all they touch!"
"But perhaps they have simply not known any better in their years?"
"Perhaps they have not but there is no chance for them to learn now. Matope has promised me that they would be swallowed by the swamp if they do not recant!"
"But what if they do recant? Is that what you wait here to see?"
"No. They will not recant. They are evil at heart and they will die in the waters of the swamp!"

Then the voice fell silent. Spiraling Shores looked, searching for the voice but found nothing. With much bitterness she spoke into the air; "Why, Matope, do you grant me such blessings of a good home and a great purpose only to take them away.... Even the company, which you have provided in my time of greatest triumph, is gone! And now you leave me alone and forsaken in your circle..."

Then before her eyes, a great serpent rose from the shadows. It wore many strange decorations and hissed at Spiraling Shores, snapping it's mighty jaws. It was nothing like any creature she had seen before, with glowing eyes and a powerful aura. And when it spoke to her she knew it to be the voice that had been keeping her company during her vigil, and she was filled with great shame for the words she had spoken to it.

"You are a selfish child, spoiled by Matope! Matope does not favor just one of her children.... No one creature can maintain the swamp on it's own. Matope's power calls to ALL of us... Not just to the Kimeti or the Acha... But to the wild boar, the beetle and even the serpent. She needs all of us to live." The serpent circled the doe quickly and growled at her. "When a shaman is given a dream... A dream of such great importance that Matope herself speaks of them... Completion of the quest results in great power and requires much humility. You become another being, an elder, a legend..."
"But you have failed your quest!" The serpent snapped, pointing at the group of scaled creatures below and in the distance with it's wing. Each of them were recanting and singing in their own strange language of the glories of Matope and making vows of peace. "Serpents belong in the swamp and rather than understanding this and working to save them, working to save the lives in that tribe below, you have instead wished for nothing but the destruction of Matope's children. And for that you receive nothing but shame."

Spiraling Shores lowered her head with much sorrow and shame. She knew she had done wrong, and now she could never serve Matope and it's powerful dreams this way again.
The serpent frowned and slid next to her. "Matope grants you one last gift, shaman. Instead of cursing you and casting out your powers.... The swamp has tasked me to stay by your side and watch. To watch so you do not falter again... For I, too, am a servant of Matope."

And as Spiraling Shores looked between the serpents in the distance and the one next to her she felt grateful for the serpent... For the serpent would keep her company when no others would, and the serpent would pursue the path of Matope as well. And in that moment Spiraling Shores came to know al things in the swamp to have two sides, one of love and faithfulness and one of hate and destruction. And she learned that appreciation of all creatures was important... Especially the serpent she would keep by her side forever.

One step, two steps, the doe closed her eyes and listened to the soft footfalls of her closest companion as she moved through the thick air of the swamp. Her own steps were stately, slow, measured to the pace of the thick-shelled reptile that was like a shadow to the cooly-colored kimeti. It was their own way of moving, their own way of being, a beautiful symbiosis of the doe working her way through the swamp and dutifully following her path was her turtle.

Her family had always thought it quite remarkable that someone so in-tune with the swamp, someone so interested in how things lived, how things simply were in the great Swamp that was their home, would choose such a slow-moving, happily stationary creature such as this for her pet. What they never understood was like the dreams that made their names, she had been given little choice in who her companion would be; he simply was. He had walked straight up to the doe when she was barely old enough to wander on her own, sleeping in a patch of sunlight, their noses had touched and eyes met.

In that moment she had understood so much about this reptilian being. That he moved slowly because he savored every moment of the journey, that he could feel the ground beneath his feet, the water flowing past him as he moved through it. It was not about the destination it was about the journey, a profound thing for a creature so young to learn. The turtle was her guide, her teacher, her best friend, her confidante. His body was slow deliberately but his mind was not and could easily keep up with her observations, her questions, and never judged.

Why would she want anything else?

One would have assumed from the way they travelled and how they moved together that she was the leader and he the follower but it was only true in the most surface of glimpses. What they didn't understand from a single glance and assumption was that she moved through the world looking for questions, looking for new things to discover and when she did, he would help her understand them. He did not need to look -- he was an old being and the curiosity of youth was tempered by the wisdom of the aged. But he was content to listen, to help her reason, to open her mind to the world.

The best days were the days when they did not move, did not discover, and simply took in the world around them. The days that they simply were, in-tune with everything around them, hearing every sound, realizing every presence. Few things were more sacred than the relationship of teacher and student.

Few things were as strong as the bond of best friends, united in finding the truth of the world.

They spend most of their days like this: her jaws are clamped around one end of a branch fallen from a lightning-struck tree. At the other end is a wolf, all lean limb and pricked ears and bared teeth. It growls at her as it tugs the branch some steps back, every bit as strong as she is. Today the wind is bracing and cold, even up here in the plentiful northern reaches: it is the kind of day that begs some sort of action to keep the blood hot and pumping. Her hair patters against her sides as she tosses her head back, letting go: momentarily allowing the wolf a few steps backwards with the wood before she lunges forward with a grin and snatches it up again. It snarls at her and she laughs, wildly, the sound muffled around a mouthful of branch.

Even though it is cold and other kimeti huddle together in clusters near the trees, where the wind is not so sharp, she continues playing, tugging back and forth. Perhaps the kimeti near the trees are afraid of the wolf, but she can't be: not when she found the tiny thing as an abandoned puppy. It weighed less than an apple. She remembers encouraging it home with nudges of her muzzle. Since then it is as if they act as of one mind, and she prefers its simple loyalty (and inability to speak, perhaps) to the company of anyone else.

She has all she needs in front of her: jaws, wolf, and future.

She woke with a start from under the willow tree. A noise that was not part of her slumber drew her out from the tree and she watched what was making the noise. Slithering up with a large boar, came her closes and almost most loyal friend. Stepping towards it, she nods in greeting. Vocalization has not been needed for some time between them, they knew each other well enough to find food and areas that appealed for either of them.

It had been a strange day when she found the serpent. The wind had been blowing hard and fast when she came across a fallen tree. As she went to step over it, a small, angry sound caught her attention. Underneath some of the branches was the serpent, with its tail smashed between earth and tree. At first she was going to step past it, the Swamp took and gave when it wanted to, but looking into the face that was hissing at her...It tugged at her heart and she knew it was meant to be saved. It took time, but finally they reached a point where they understood each other well enough.

A quick hiss at her, brought the doe back to the present time. Looking at the serpent, one could see where the tree smashed the tail. It hissed at her again, sensing what she was thinking, and then moved up to lay across her back so she could eat and both would be warm.