To soar

         
She had a dream.
One she'd been born with because of the smallest taste that grew into a hunger, a want, a dream; to fly.
But she knew not how to.
She had everything she needed-namely the wings. They were tall, strong and firm and were covered with bleach white feathers. The wings were nearly as long as her body was and came straight out of narrow slights in her back.
As always, Orchid stood with her eyes closed, arms raised up high as she stood on the edge of the cliff, trying to
bring the knowledge of flying to her. She counted to three then threw her body off the cliff. She could feel the wind whooshing by-could see the water looming closer and closer…
When she hit the surface with an enormous, aching, splash, she knew that once again, it hadn't come.
Then, cold, wet and disappointed, Orchid, walked home, till having not fulfilled her wish to fly.
Her mother saw how unhappy her daughter was and knew that if she was ever going to see her smile again, it would only be if she knew the secret to have to the nature of flight. So she pondered for the rest of the day until she finally came up with a solution.
She went through the house and found everything of value and packed it in a leather sack. Then she went outside where the girl was, sadly gazing at the night sky and laid the bag in front of her.
“What’s this?” the girl asked taking the bag. She peered inside and saw that the bag was filled with all her mother's jewelry and all the silver and gold in the house. "What is this, Mother?" she asked again.
"In the deeper part of the land there is a temple," she explained as she sat next to Orchid on the steps. "And there is a goddess who the temple was built for who visits it every fore moon. If your offering pleases her, she will grant you a wish."
So the girl took the bag and started out the next day to the
temple. She travelled for four days and three nights but finally, on the fourth night she reached it.
The air around the temple seemed to tingle and vibrate with energy. The surrounding trees and grass that circled the place were a dark, healthy green and scattered here and there were numerous variations of flowers. But the temple in its self was breath taking. It was made of a smooth tan stone with pillars that were at least five times Orchid's height. In awe, she walked up the dozens upon dozens of steps and inside the temple where a tall golden statue of a beautiful woman stood.
She knelt in front of the statue and let her words trickle past her lips like the tiniest of streams as she began pulling things from the bag and laying them in front of the woman's feet. "O, goddess, all my life I've only ever wanted one thing. Please, I beg of you, grant my wish."
Suddenly, as she placed the last piece of silver on the floor the floor began shaking and the wind angrily blew through the temple surrounding the statue. Orchid ran and wrapped her arms around a pillar until the wind stopped and the floor ceased to move. The woman's eyes turned the color of red-hot metal and after seeing what Orchid had offered her, then turned, her eyes seeming to focus on the girl herself.
Trembling in fear, Orchid ran and fell to her feet before the goddess. "Orchid," spoke the Goddess in a soft-spoken tone that sounded like the wind on its gentlest of days and yet reminded her of her mother. "You have pleased me and so I will grant you a wish. Anything you want; everything you want."
She waited for the Goddess to work her magic. She waited for the wind to reappear, lighting to strike or something that signified that her wish had been granted to happen. Only nothing did.
As if she sensed her doubt, the goddess went on, "The world is full of magic, my child. You just have to believe in it. So make your wish. Do you have it?"
Orchid nodded.
"Good-now believe it it-with all your heart."
She closed her eyes and tried to believe she could fly but in the end only felt like a child and therefore silly and stopped trying. "Thank you, O, Goddess." she said respectfully as she curtsied, her eyes fixed to the floor and brimming with tears.
The Goddess nodded once before the wind reappeared, whipping her sprit away as the statue's eyes returned once more to cold, lifeless, gold. Orchid picked up the empty sack and started back home.
"What happened?" her mother asked worriedly when she caught sight of her daughter's face. It was without smile, devoid of all happiness and laughter. In fact, it was almost sadder then before.
"Nothing," the girl answered solemnly.
"Tell me all that happened," her mother insisted seeing that obviously there was more to the story. So reluctantly, the girl and told what had happened when she reached the temple and all that the goddess had said. "But I don't fell any different." she concluded sadly.
Shaking her head, her mother replied, "You didn't listen to her words carefully enough, Orchid." Then she got up and went back inside the house.
Mindlessly, she walked around and eventually found that she was at the cliff. She thought of what her mother said
and tried to think of the goddess' words again. Then she gasped as the realized that the answer had been there, had been with her all along. She knew the key to the knowledge of her dreams.
So she closed her eyes and thought of her wish. Then opened her arms and embraced it before placing it in her heart. The flame of the belief was small at first but it grew until the wish, the dream and the want of flying became one and the knowledge hers.
Once more the girl closed her eyes, then with the faith in her blood and dream in her heart she once again threw herself off the cliff; the world whooshing by so fast the greens of nature and blues of the sea and grays of the
melted and merged together like paint. She was halfway to the the looming water when she remembered the last line
of the goddess' words, "Now believe in it. With all your heart." So she lifted her arms and wings.
And she began to soar.