Silver Rose

Re-Awakening

Tara slipped on the the soft jade slippers. They completed her outfit of a white smock trimmed in gold, with a jade dress that stopped mid-shin to show off the smock. She wore a dark green belt beautifully embroidered in gold thread. She felt like royalty as she put on the jade green robe trimmed in forest green and gold.

Gommoths were a humble people and never dressed up. She felt awkward as she stared at herself in the mirror. But she reminded herself that the Madids had invited her as their guest to their granddaughter's re-awakening. Tara had no idea what that meant, but she was extremely curious to find out.

"We are prepared to leave, Tara," Trevon said.

Tara jumped at the sound of his voice. She had been there for nearly a month and the ways of the Fauyes still surprised her.

"I am ready," Tara said. She walked to the wall on the far side of the room. At her request the Madids put a real door there. Before there had been opening that had to be sensed with the mind to go through. Tara usually couldn't find it and would run into the wall instead.

Tara, Trevon, and his wife, Vira, walked outside. There was a group of people waiting for them at their gate.

"This is our family," Trevon said. "Our parents and grandparents, aunts and uncles."

One almond-skinned woman with long white hair walked up to Tara.
"You are the Gommoth," she said.

"Yes," Tara answered.

"I am Cherra," the woman said.

"Cherra is our daughter," Vira said. "As our guest you will walk with Cherra."

Tara nodded. Trevon took Vira's hand and they walked to the head of the group. Then Cherra followed them with Tara. Looking behind her Tara saw everyone move about. Then they all walked when Trevon and Vira started.

"Is there an order to this procession?" Tara asked Cherra.

Cherra nodded.
"We are going to see my niece," she said. "Her father's parents are the closest relatives to her. I, her father's sister, is next. Then are my parents' parents and their parents and so forth. Afterwards, are anyone else in the family who wishes to come, including my children."

"Why am I not in the back?" Tara asked, embarrassed that one so unrelated to the family should have a higher place than the others.

"You are my parents' honored guest. It is only right that you have the best place." Cherra smiled at Tara's unconvinced face. "When we go into the Great Hall, you will get one of the front seats because you are to be treated like the daughter of my parents. It is an honor."

"I appeciate the gesture, but--"

"The best way to show your appreciation would be to accept it. Besides," she added, "one seat will not make much of a difference in the seating arrangements."

Tara nodded in compliance. They walked on in silence for a long time. As they passed through a large forest, Tara saw what appeared to be houses that seemed to turn into trees when she looked straight at them. Sometimes laughter rang out in the air, other times it was weeping, but its source could be not seen. Birds and squirrels followed them and chattered amongst themselves. And Tara could have sworn some of the people in their group talked back to the animals.

The group came to the end of the forest. Before them flat land stretched out for miles. They walked out into knee length grass. The blue-green grass seemed to turn silver and wave like the sea when the wind blew across it. In the middle of this, Tara noticed a giant arch to the far left. The gray arch rose high into the sky. But there was nothing beyond it and nothing beside it; it stood alone in that huge field of grass.

"What is that arch doing there?" Tara asked Cherra. "Is the rest of the building not finished yet?"

"That is a door to another realm," Cherra said.

There was no actual door or knob. It was just an arch. Tara saw nothing but sky and grass on the other side of it and all around it.

"Another realm?" Tara said.

"Yes. There are many of them. There's one for each of the races of elves and charmints. And one that goes to the human world. That one goes to the Yuris."

"I've never heard of the Yuris."

"There are other completely separate worlds. Some of these doors lead to them. The Yuris are from one of them."

"It must be wonderful to be able to go into these other realms."

"We rarely do. You see, the Yuris, for instance, are a warrior race. The charmints, on the other hand, a peace loving people. Neither know about the other, but if we went into their realms often, they would want to come often into ours. Then they might accidently go into one another's realms. That could be disaster."

"Just because they are different doesn't automatically mean they won't get along."

"No. But worse things have happened between those who are alike."

Tara nervously watched the colossal arch-like "door" half expecting a Yuri army to jump out. Finally, they left that field and entered another forest. This one was a lot like the other. Once again she heard voices and saw some of the fairies talking to the animals as they walked along.

"Are they really talking to those animals?" Tara asked Cherra.

"Of course," she answered. "Don't you?"

"I've heard of it. I mean I know about it. But I've never beem able to do it."

"I thought Gommoths were very close to the animals."

Tara blushed in embarrassment. Many were, but not all. Her sisters Glenda and Jenna could. When they did it they spoke in each animal's own tonuge. These fairies were talking in their own language and the animals talked in theirs, yet both seemed to understand each other.

"It's something one is born with, I suppose."

Cherra smiled in amusement.
"I guess we do not know as much about Gommoths as we think. Later, I will show you a trick to speak with animals. But look, we approach the Great Hall."

High up on a hill was a beautiful white stone building. The stone was carved into twisted trunks of large trees. Their branches were filled with leaves of gold and blossoms of silver that met at the top. Tara marveled at its beauty as they walked into the building.

The inside was a very long with a very high ceiling. Two streams flowed by the two side walls. Next to these streams was a row of huge trees on either side. Their trunks shot straight up, then near the ceiling, the long branches arched over the hall.

Chairs were set up with a large aisle down the middle of them. People were already sitting in the ones at the back. As the Madids entered, the people stood up. Trevon and Vira walked to the front row. They took the two seats next to the aisle. Cherra sat next to them and Tara next to her. Everyone else took their places in the seats and rows behind them.

Then another group walked in. Everyone stood again.

"Who are they?" Tara asked.

"The Gnights and the Polantes," Cherra answered. "The other side of the family."

A dark haired couple headed the Gnights and the Polantes and took their place in the aisle seats across from Trevon and Vira. Then from a side door out came a man. Behind him, a red haired woman and another man helped another woman to her seat in front of the audience. Then they sat in chairs next to hers.

"Is that your niece?" Tara asked Cherra.

"Yes. Next to her is Udanni of the Polante, her great grandfather and Rafzen of the Gnight, her great great grandmother. Both are heads of the Council. The man speaking is Willem of the Orius, the third head of the Council. As he is not related, he will mediate."

"Thank you all for coming to the re-awakening of Mara of the Polante-Gnight," Willem said.

"Cherra," Tara whispered. "What is a re-awakening?"

"Mara was placed under a terrible spell that made her lose her memory. They have been working tireously to reverse it. Some spells that change a person are like putting the real person to sleep. If the spell is reversed and they are returned to normal, it is as if they have awaken from a long sleep. They once were awake, then put to sleep, and now they are re-awakened."


Mara sat in front of them looking like someone who was used to all this. Her dark brown hair fell below her shoulders and her dark green eyes matched the green gown she wore. Not that Tara met very people who had lost their memory, but she didn't look like one who had.

"... let us hear it from her own lips," Willem said. He sat down in chair next to Udanni's.

All eyes turned to Mara. Who nervously sat up straight.

"I, uh, I..." she began. Rafzen patted her hand. Mara gave an uncomfortable smile."I've been told that I was in the human world for about 40 years. I don't remember a lot of that time. Hopefully, the rest of my history in that world will come back to me." She suddenly became silent. For a long moment, all that was heard was the gentle flow of the streams.

"I do remember my life here though," she continued. "Grandmother Rafzen, Grandfather Udanni, and Willem have told me that the one who placed the spell on me, purposely made it so that everything before going into the human world could be recovered if part of the spell was reversed. But everything after is almost impossible to know, unless someone who knows what happened can tell me. Then my memory may come back on its own. But since the only ones who know anything might be humans or maybe no one but myself, I will probably never remember all those years in that world."

Mara wiped her eyes with the back of her hand.
"But I do remember some of what happened the day the spell was placed on me and a little of what happened afterwards. This story will grieve many of you, but I must tell it and maybe you can help me make sense of it all."

She took a deep breath.

"I went into the human realm to look for my mother, Kyrin of the Polante-Gnight," Mara said.
" And I found her."