Uzekamanzi

Uzekamanzi: Luck Loves Lions

Lions was definitely on his own now. He had been diverted from his first task which was to stay with the group. He had been hot and wanted to swim so he jumped into the river. The others were afraid to swim in moving water. It is true that he was pulled through some rapids by the pounding on-rush. Then he was swept back up, grateful for air, down around the other side. It is true that he had been shot downstream so quickly that he had felt disoriented. So maybe it wasn't safe enough for the other children but Lions was a strong swimmer. He had fallen into the ocean from a sailboat at three years old and his mother had made him practice swimming every day after that. He knew he wasn't supposed to swim alone but there had been others there when he had jumped in. He was too far away to see them and they definitely could not help him now, even if they had been brave enough to try.

So Lions floated down the river like his mother had taught him, head upstream, feet downstream. He watched for a calm area in the rippling water where he could test the depths to see if he could stand. He was moving too fast so he thought about the mud gushing up between his toes when he finally found a place where he could touch the bottom. He wasn't afraid. He understood that he had just embarked upon an adventure. His new tasks were to explore and to survive. His mother would expect him to be brave and calm so he could use his brain. He also remembered that the adult in charge had instructed the children that there was nothing in this river that could gobble them up. Lions had no idea that Luck was waiting just down and around the next river bend.

In those days, Luckvalon still possessed corporeal form. It was before the Great Migration. Before the Ancients felt crowded and bored and gathered the Fold to perform the Shift. Luck spent most of his time away from the Uzekes. He preferred to focus on his studies. Right now he was lying very still at the bottom of the deep waters above the massive falls. He loved to watch the streaks of light drifting down through the layers like sparkling sediment. He blew air bubbles at the rainbow fishes who turned silver and darted to avoid them. He watched mosaic turtles nibbling in the moss gardens and what appeared to be disembodied bird feet paddling senselessly about on the surface. He was lulled by the familiar sights and the cool of the beautifully colored stones beneath his scales. Then his sensory tail twitched causing him to blink up again through the emerald haze where he focused all 150 visual opsins of his compound eyes upon something new.

This new focal point, bathed in thermal light, appeared to be another type of splashing feet. Strange, soft, fleshy feet. They did seem important somehow because they were so pale and poorly designed for agility in the water. Initially, Luck felt the predator's urge to snap at them but he let it roll off his ridges. He found too much joy in studying the wonders of nature to taste test every new curiosity. Curiosity had always been his primal driving force. He loved to watch and learn. What was it bobbing towards him? It was stretching out its little length now. It was pointing its limbs towards the bottom as if it wanted to stand. It wouldn't be able to stand here. Still waters may be shallow or very, very deep. Luckvalon waited, musing, for this new bauble to approach.

Lions was in still water. He was grateful because his arms and legs were getting tired. He knew he needed to get to shore and the river was wide here. He stretched his legs as far as he could reach. He even bobbed up and down as he had been taught in his swimming class to ascertain the depth of unclear waters. He couldn't touch the bottom at all. He would have to swim for it. He was so far away from the shore. His arms felt like lead. He was sinking. He started to slip beneath the surface when a massive wave came up from behind him and washed him into the outstretched arms of a tree. He was confused by the wave. He had been in still water but it didn't matter, he was holding onto something solid now. He pulled himself along the tree until he reached the brambly banks.

Safe on the embankment, Lions wanted to cry. He was out of the water but he was cold and soggy and worrying about how far away from the group he had traveled. They would be making camp for the night now. Someone would have to tell his mother that he was lost and she would be worried. Thinking of his mother reminded him that he still had food from the lunch she had packed him earlier that day. He had several sandwiches and some granola with M&M's, each in Ziploc baggies. There was even a Snickers. He drank a bottle of water and ate the Snickers. He dumped the river from his boots and wrung out his socks. He laid back on the sandy bank and looked at the clouds. “What can you see in the clouds, my son?” He imagined that he could hear his mother's voice now. “I see an eagle, Mama, and a Siren Head, also a kind and beautiful dragon”. His eyes closed as the dragon's force field moved nearer. He felt happy and sleepy and he imagined his mother had wrapped him up in a warm towel right out of the dryer and was hugging him in her arms.

“A kind and beautiful dragon”, Luck laughed, “Is that what I am? Is my presence like a warm hug?” He drew himself out of the water still smiling. He shook his oily feathers and heated his scales for evaporation. He kneeled down in the sand beside the mystery in order to watch it sleep. He liked the little helpless bundle already. He could see its heart heat shining blood red and golden like its hair. There was a white light vortex radiating off its skin. He had never seen anything like it up close before. It was like a little sun. He knew about humans, of course. Every dragon learned their languages from youth yet they vibrated on a different frequency so interactions were almost always avoided. In fact, the dragons were strongly encouraged to elude human entanglements. How had it tuned into Luck's frequency? Or had his own frequency been altered by his compassion for its plight? With this thought, the child's eyes opened. Luck had been distracted and inadvertently lifted the Dragon Sleep.

Lions opened his eyes and blinked, “You seem to be a dragon, Sir, am I dreaming?” It was such a brave little Sun-child He supposed someone must have loved it well, indeed. Luck was sure that he should agree that he himself was a dream. Hadn't the Dracha Kin always been veiled in mists and dreams? Luck lowered his head to whisper in the child's ear,

“I am the tail pushing the comet.

I am the whoosh behind the wind.

I am the pigment of the flowers

and the roar as waves descend.

I am the poetry of existence.

I am the terror in the night.

I am the joy of presence.

I need no earthly wings for flight.”

The Sun-child, looking ever more pleased, begged the dragon to stay and to tell more stories.

Luckvalon talked to it late into the night. He told it many of the beautiful things that he had learned about nature. He explained the life behind the Elementals. He gave it a vision of the universe as one beautiful interwoven web of life, all interdependence, delicate balance, and perfect timing. He showed it how stars were made. He introduced it to the spirit of a waterfall and he projected a fire for warmth into its plane. The child was laughing and smiling and making lightening fast connections in its malleable little brain. When it became too tired and its lashes fluttered to fend off sleep, Luck sang,

“Life is one bright mystery of wonderful things to learn.

Find beauty in every detail and your heart will be full.

Be kind and joyful, Sun-child, and never be afraid

For life is one bright mystery, ne'er the parts be twain.”

As the child slept, Luck wondered how to return it to its own kind and to linear time. He hadn't scented a pod of humans nearby but he hadn't actually been looking for them yet. He was pretty sure they wouldn't leave such a small one alone on purpose. It appeared to be entirely defenseless and Luck knew from centuries of observations about the earth that most mammals took precautions to protect their young. The Sun-child definitely could not go back to the Arach with him and it wouldn't be much longer before one of them, his oldest sister, most likely, noticed that he, himself, had been gone too long. He wouldn't leave it alone in the darkness, it might awaken and feel fear. He would wait with the Sun-child until morning, then see if he could find its kin.

This night was cool and sparkling. The sky was filled with dancing stars. Luck listened to the night birds call to each other. He heard their silent hunting, then rustling about in their nests. He wondered how it would feel to be so dainty. Birds were incredibly delicate and yet phenomenally fierce. To his knowledge, the only creature that rivaled a dragon for agility in flight weighed less than one of his scales. It could fly backward and forwards and even upside down. It could remember the location of a plot of sweet nectar flowers for a decade if it lived so long. Yet they were ephemeral like the Sun-child. He pictured it with tiny wings soaring about the sky and he wondered what the daytime held in store for the new friends. When sunlight finally warmed the banks of the River Jade, Luckvalon wrote a note in the sand for the child to find. It said, “I have gone to seek your pod. I will be back to help you home”.

Lions woke up thirsty. He opened his pack and found water. He ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich that was remarkably unsmooshed and not soggy, unlike everything else in his pack. Finally feeling full, he started looking around. Where was that big green dragon? Had it all been a dream? Had he gone all Dino-Dan for a day and invited some pre-historic dinosaur animation into his reality? If so, which dinosaur was it? He only knew of three dinosaurs that flew. Archaeopteryx was the first dino to bird crossover... but this Luck beast was massive and had enormous teeth, Archaeopteryx was much smaller and had what seemed a lot like a beak. The Pterodactyl had teeth but the Pteranodon was larger. Neither of them was as large as his dragon friend. Also, he knew that dinosaurs were extinct and Luck definitely didn't seem to be extinct.

Lions decided to get up and look around for clues as to where it might have gone. This is when he found the letters scratched neatly into the sand. He could not read all the words yet but he deciphered “ I gone. Help you home.” His mother would leave him notes sometimes when she left him asleep for a few minutes to check the mail or take a shower. Even though he wasn't ever exactly sure what the note said, it meant that she would be back soon and he should occupy himself without worrying why he couldn't call her to him immediately. He assumed the note meant that the Dragon was helping him somehow and would be back. This made him feel happy. So he set about drying his things in the sun.

When he started sorting the items from his pack, Lions found some very interesting things. He found the compass that he had yet to learn how to read. He found a plastic baggie with some dry socks. He found an orange cylinder of waterproof matches. He found a square yellow box decorated with a snake and a bee. There was a bright red rain poncho that he had worn a few times after soccer practice, a tiny silver heat blanket still folded in its packaging, a waterlogged flashlight, and his favorite kite. The kite seemed important. So Lions set about putting the crossbars in place and reattaching the ever-tangly string.

Luck had not flown far before he found the search party. The other human children had been set up in tents. Their chaperone was entertaining them around a campfire while a Search and Rescue team combed the area. Two big black and brown dogs were leading the way. The humans were traveling slowly through the gnarled trees and blackberry bushes lining the river banks. The swathe they were checking was difficult and wide. It would take them days to find the child without a beacon. As Luck pondered how to bring the child closer to them, he felt a gentle summoning in his mind.

“Luckvalon, I call you. Where have you been?

Your sister is seeking your scent on the wind.

There will be no hiding in Alternate Vibes

When hunting a brother, Serendipity will find.”

Luckvalon had to respond. She could feel him even when she could not see him, especially if he resisted her call.

“Serendipity, I salute you. I am well and occupied”.

Serendipity countered, “There is an anomaly, brother, a disturbance in the frequencies. You wouldn't know anything about that, would you, Small Fry?” Luckvalon laughed that she thought of him as small. Then he thought of the tiny bundle on the riverbank and worried that he had been gone too long. He realized his mistake too late. “ What was that, Green Gallant? I saw some soft mystery in your mind's eye. Is it research?” She heard him mumble words to minimize its import even as she felt him wrap the image within the reflective scales of his mind. “Ok, my Lovey Luck, I shall leave you to your precious anomaly but be careful not to draw the attention of the Enforcer. Whatever it is, will be safer with you within the laws of its own reality. Don't go stirring up too many waves.” Her laughter was silvery as she broke the contact.

Luck flew directly back to the riverbank hoping the child had not been lost again. There he found it, his Sun-child, running back and forth across the embankment dragging something on a string. It was made of green and white fabric with sticks to support its shape. It was a toy painted like a dragon and the Sun-child insisted that it would take flight if only there were enough wind. Luckvalon was unsure. As much magic as he had witnessed and as many marvelous wonders of nature he had beheld, he had never seen an inanimate object without an engine take flight.

Lions was persistent, “Didn't you tell me yesterday that you were the 'whoosh behind the wind'?” Luck nodded. Wondering why he had told it such a silly thing. After all, he could make wind but if he started messing with the weather in the human frequencies, his intervention would reverberate. “Make the wind, Green Dragon, please, help my kite to fly.” Wishing to indulge the child in order to distract it from its predicament until he could figure out what to do next, Luckvalon stirred up a minor wind with his wings. He flew backward, forcing the air before him with his powerful wings until he started the air molecules rotating in a powerful uprising ring.

“Run with the wind, Sun-child”, he roared above the whistling din, and the little boy did. Soon the kite was off the ground, caught up in his whirling. It flew up and up in great circles above their beach. The string broke. The kite was free. The Sun-child danced with glee. The kite was flying on its own now. Around and around it went. They watched the kite soar in circles. They laughed and sang and radiated joy until they heard the first dogs barking. At first, Luckvalon thought it was some internal watchdog warning him of the imminent approach of the Enforcer but Lions recognized the sound of earthly dogs. “They have found us! The search party found us! Lions drew close to Luckvalon feeling sad. “You cannot go home with me. Can you? My mother's heart will be broken if I do not go home.”

Luckvalon drew the little bundle up next to his chest where their heart heats mingled. “We belong to different realities, you know, yet they are not so far between. I will always watch over you and we can sing and play in dreams.” The dogs were fast approaching now so Luck withdrew into the lake. He submerged the entirety of his great magical existence. As the Emerald waters closed over him, only his eyes remained above. Luckvalon watched as the Sun-child was reunited with the rescuers of its world who would return it to its mom. Above the dogs barking and the whispering of the waters, Luck overheard them tell the Sun-child, “We followed the dragon”. Then their frequency drifted away.

All Rights Reserved

C.B. Elliott, November 2022