The Transition Keeper (short story #1)
Winter to Spring
For awhile now, I have wanted to include short stories in my newsletter but haven’t yet made it happen… until now! I was inspired recently, and had the time while waiting on edits for my current novel. Feeling the transition of the seasons inwardly as well as outside, I let the words flow… (disclosure: unedited)
The Transition Keeper #1
Coming out of the cold dark cave, the girl who had no name yawned and stretched her arms above her head. Every vertebrae cracked as her body unfurled from stagnant slumber. She had always been and always would be. Her purpose completed her, clothed her, and she wore it draped around her like a warm cloak. Pulling the once white-as-snow but now seasoned and faded-gray locks of hair away from her eyes, she squinted and turned her pale face toward the awakening sun still low in the sky. Her eyes were as flat and gray as a winter storm holding secrets of hidden memories. She surveyed her surroundings. Remnants of the long winter held on, grasping at branches and the nearby water’s edge. Dusting of a recently fallen snow on hardened ground remained where chilled air hid frost in the shadows.
Without regret, she took steps toward her destination. No matter how many times she walked the path, magic greeted her with something new. The sights and sounds refreshed her and renewed her purpose. The trees and foliage of the forest slowly awakened from their slumber. Creatures of winter awaited her, lining the path to her sanctuary. As her feet carried her along the path, each animal acknowledged her presence. The deer and foxes bowed. Rabbits, weasels, birds, and mice gave honor in their own way. Owls hooted from trees still heavy with snow amidst the pine needles, and birds twittered from trees still undressed from winter.
The girl, though young in appearance, existed throughout the ages. Her task would not take long, but her purpose would take all she had left though not for herself but for all others. Thus was the way of transition and she was the keeper. Always had been. Always would be.
Awaiting her in simplistic and magnificent splendor was her target and her intended end. In the middle of the enchanted forest–the birthplace of all nature–stood a magically engineered wooden structure. An open-air, arched cathedral of simplicity monumented itself against all else in the clearing. The heart of the forest and all else flowed out from it–Sanctuary.
One last look she offered to everything now behind her. She smiled, noting the yawning bears who crawled out from the cave she had also left. As she had walked, the ground softened to make ready for what was to come.
“It is time once again,” the girl said to no one in particular.
She stepped through the sanctuary doorway though there were no walls and no roofing to speak of. To some, Sanctuary would appear abandoned and in ruin. Some would never see the effects of her task though still be impacted by it. And others would see the potential and hope Sanctuary offered; they would see the necessity of the timing and her task.
The girl trailed her pale, delicate fingers across the edges of wooden pews. She knew not their purpose, nor was it hers to understand. Others used Sanctuary, this she knew, though only her purpose was known to her. Nothing else mattered. The transitions would keep or she would fade into stagnant nothingness.
At the front of the wooden arched structure, stood the Tree. The tree represented many things to many beings over many ages. At present, the tree resembled a mighty oak. All her leaves were gone and her branches clawed toward the sky desperate for every glimmer of sun the tree could absorb. The only dressings of comfort the oak wore were formed in shadow for future growth. The tree stood spooky in appearance but warm and inviting in energy. The girl stepped forward and examined the circular shape etched within the wide base of the trunk. It resembled a calendar and also a clock, though engraved with symbols that meant something only to her.
“This is for you,” she whispered. Out from under her cloak, she pulled a knife aged with time and use. Without hesitation, she slid it across her palm, first one then the other. Her essence flowed freely–liquid of silver and pearly white–before she placed her hands flat against the trunk of the tree.
“The time has come once more to remove the sacred stillness of the winter, to shed the comfort of the darkness. It is time to plant the dreams of what rested within our beings though thought dead in appearance, but only dormant in truth. Once more it is time to rise, nature of this realm, and birth that which you have stored and protected these long months. Your time has come to break free the hard ground and burst forth with life. Grow.”
Her words were a prayer, a meditation, a resolve, and a command. She then gripped the dial of the time-piece and manually moved it from the current segment indicating Winter to the beginning of the newly opened segment: Spring. Her essence, her purpose–the blood of all she was–filled the circular shape until she melted and was no more, becoming one with what was and what was yet to come.
Silence permeated the forest. A moment of stillness to honor the change.
The Tree was the first. Green leaves unfolded one at a time, slowly at first, but as soon as the great oak had emerged it transformed into a more slender and delicate tree. Its greenery morphed into a chorus of pink buds bursting into a blossoming cherry tree. Crocuses of purple and yellow pushed through the snow-dusted ground in and around Sanctuary. Mosses covered the ground, and tiny white flowerettes carpeted Sanctuary and spread outward to the forest beyond. Greens and florals of all colors swept out and away from the wooden structure, bringing color and life to all that slept. Vines slowly crawled up each of the wooden beams, creating a magical vision of Sanctuary. More animals emerged from their nesting places. All remnants of winter receded back into the shadows until called upon once more.
This was the transition. She was the keeper.
Such a gorgeous picture of spring! 💜