New Dawn

They sparred until Mira was bloody and bruised, but she really wouldn’t have had it any other way; she had learned a lot from Grayson and she wanted to continue to learn until she was just as good, if not better than him. There was a small pond near where Mira had first entered the glade where Grayson took her to wash her face. The water was as clear as a Caribbean ocean, full of strange fish floating along the bottom, some of them were in shapes and colors that she had never seen before, but most of them were beautiful. The water itself was brisk, but completely soothing and after she put some on her already forming bruises, they almost completely stopped hurting, and one sip was all it took for her to feel completely revived.

Before Mira had time for questions Grayson was whisking her through the forest to go meet with Anriel. Mira was slightly heartened by how much she had already learned today, she just wished that she had met Grayson when she was younger, maybe her mom wouldn’t have died if she had just been able to defend theme.

“What are you thinking about?” Grayson asked, he had seen her solemn expression and just couldn’t help but have it tug at his heartstrings a little bit. She looked up at him and smiled, but it was one of those well-rehearsed smiles that didn’t reach her beautiful green eyes.

“Oh, nothing really, I was just thinking about my mom and what she would say if she could see me now; she always did want big things for me.” She had too, Mira’s mom was one of the kindest ladies anyone could ever hope to meet, and how she had ended up with Mira’s father was a total mystery.
Grayson felt like it wasn’t his place to ask more, Mira would tell her what she wanted him to know, when she wanted him to know it. They walked on in silence through the dusky forest for another couple of minutes, just listening to those fantastic birds and other sounds of nature. At one point Mira thought that she had heard a child’s laugh but she couldn’t be sure.

“Grayson. Can I ask you a question?”

“Go for it.”

“How did you become such a great fighter?”

“My dad taught me, and I just had a natural talent for it I guess. My dad was one of the highest ranking officials for our military, and in our society, everyone gets what they deserve, no better no worse. Anyway, he sparred with me every day for countless hours. He taught me to use almost every weapon, and he told me that it was my job to protect those that I love.” Grayson looked down for a moment, with a fleeting look of sadness on his face, but as quickly as it had come, it had gone.

“So you basically spent your childhood fighting?”

“Yes and no, I hung out with friends a lot but the older I got, the more dangerous the world seemed to become, so I spent more and more time training, trying to become the best I could be so I could try and singlehandedly rid my world of all that was going wrong. Of course it never really works out like that.”

“I understand that, heck, I applaud it. There are so many things wrong with Earth right now that I couldn’t even summarize it for you, and the fact that you tried to do it by yourself, is inspiring. I wish that I could have had as much courage as you when I was younger. Having no friends though kind of sucks… I would know.”

Before Mira could say more, they had arrived at the smaller meadow where Anriel was waiting.
“Thanks for the talk Mira. I’ll stop by with more food later tonight.” And before Mira could say thank you, he was already moving away back into the shade of the forest.

One of the first things that Mira noticed about this meadow was the sky, the purple hues were magnificent and towards the west the sun hung forty times larger than Earth’s sun, it really took her breath away. This meadow, while still gorgeous, had nothing on the Guardian’s meadow. Anriel was standing in the middle of the glade her graceful hands clasped in front of her. Today she was wearing a simple dress, yet she pulled it off like it was the most elegant thing.

“Hello child, how was your first lesson with Grayson?”

“Well, I learned a lot.” Anriel cracked a small smile before she seemed to remember something that caused the smile to fade.

“Okay!” Anriel said, clapping her hands, “we’re going to meditate today, and we are going to meditate until you learn something. But first, we eat.” For the first time she noticed a small table set up in a small space directly to Mira’s left. On the table was some of the salad that she had had the night before, along with some apples and water. As they sat down, Mira watched Anriel and how she seemed to float over the ground. There was such an easy grace about her that made Mira slightly jealous.

Anriel studied Mira as well, barely taking note of Mira’s flaws, she instead focused on the way that she carried herself. Mira was fidgety, always looking at something new, and barely able to sit still for more than a minute at a time. She also noticed how Mira put on the show of being tough and unafraid, and yet when she thought no one was looking, Mira had this expression and demeanor of someone who has been lost for a very long time, and still has yet to find a way out, with her only defense being her strength of mind.

They ate in silence, both of them enjoying the sounds of nature and how peaceful everything was. It was the first time that Mira could ever remember being so relaxed, even if she was still scared. As Mira finished the last bite of her apple, Anriel rose up and motioned for Mira to follow. They took a turn around the meadow while Anriel described various species of the flora. Each flower had its’ own unique backstory, that was never too trivial to recount. Mira didn’t just here Anriels’ passion, she felt it, and even to an extent shared in it.

“This flower is my particular favorite, I planted it when I was but a child, and I have been taking care of it ever since. It is called an Orid, and it lives all year long, it never gets cold here. Do you see the way the petals curve, almost becoming a letter C? The longer the plant lives the more pronounced the curve becomes which is why this flowers petals have turned into long spirals. It has lived for over 250 years, and could continue to live another 250 more if I am lucky, and diligent enough.” The flower was about a quarter of the size of sunflowers and the petals we almost halfway down the plant. The stem was a deep purple while the petals were a vivid teal. It was the strangest combination of colors that Mira had ever seen on a flower.

“How is it that one flower can live for over 250 years and not die?”

“My species is a descendant of the trees of this forest, because one day a young tree decided that she did not just want to sit around in the same spot until she died, she wanted to roam other parts of the forest and play with the creatures of the forest, so she sang. She sang of movement and freedom, she also sang of hope and longing; she sang for many years until her song came true. One morning she found that she had eyes, and a nose, and a mouth, and that her limbs had become arms and that her sturdy immovable trunk had separated and become two legs. She could move, she was free, she danced and sang with the woodland creatures and she made other trees that had grown up with her into movable creatures, and they rejoiced at their newfound freedom. Each of us starts out as one of these trees and twice a year a tree is selected to be reborn into one of us. It took the first of us, Mitala, ten years to sing herself into what she is now, and it took her ten years to change her friend, Benshu, as well. The more of us that sing, the quicker the change happens, the last one we changed only took two weeks, and we very rarely die.
“I was given this seed as a gift, to show my affinity for nature. My singing out only took two days, which is the shortest time it has ever taken. I am considered a leader amongst my people because of my gift, and I take great pride in it.”

Mira was astounded, this was one of the most amazing things that she had ever heard, and she found hope in the story as well. If a tree could sing for ten years to give herself a second life, then why couldn’t she make her life better as well? Mira was still speechless when Anriel said, “now I want you to sit in the middle of the meadow and meditate until you have learned something about your surroundings.”

Mira just nodded and did what she asked, which was not as easy as it seemed, because the only thing that she could think of was Anriels story and how fantastic it was, it felt like a dream.