Chapter Sixty-nine

THE ANDERCHRONICLES

By Me, Ellee

[WARNING: The following story has been rated FNF*]
*Fiction NOT Fact

"Running Deer and Gentle Lily"

As my hand slipped slowly over the skirt of my white buckskin wedding dress, I couldn’t help but admire its beauty and exceptional workmanship when I felt its velvet-like smoothness, and noticed how its softness yielded to the curves of my body with no effort at all. The fringe at the bottom, laced with fine-crafted beads of silver, blue opal, turquoise and delicate pink muscle shell, tickled my knees as I walked, making sweet little jingling sounds with each step. The beads matched the ones I had woven into selected strands of my dark hair, which I had also adorned with white feathers. The contrast was stunning! Satisfied with my dress, I reached for the fringed, white deerskin leggings and moccasins embroidered with the same silver and blue beads, pulling them on with ease. Everything fit perfectly.

Wanting to see the complete visual effect, I approached the mirror, but wasn’t prepared when, expecting to see me, I was a little unnerved to discover Gentle Lily staring back. I blinked my eyes to clear the confusion. She blinked, too. My hands automatically flew up in an attempt to connect with the unfamiliar face, but were stopped suddenly when the only contact made was with the unyielding glass. A little gasp of surprise escaped my lips then, and my hands recoiled instantly as they darted to find my own face, frantically fingering each feature— nose, lips, chin, cheeks, hair. This was me, all me . . . wasn’t it? I glanced in the mirror again . . . but . . . but . . . no . . . it wasn’t . . . it was Gentle Lily!

I became so spooked at that point, I felt like I had to flee. So turning, I ran from my bedroom and tore down the stairs and out the front door, not stopping until I had reached the beach, where the fresh air seemed to clear my mind. I finally concluded, as I rested against a large, vertical rock thrust up during some cataclysmic geologic event in the past, that this was only another hallucination in a very long list of them. But this particular hallucination had caused a cataclysmic event in me, and I felt it right to my very core. After a few minutes, I was able to settle down enough to start some therapeutic deep breathing.

It was during these breathing exercises that I heard Andy calling.

“Elleeeee . . . Elleeeee . . .” I looked up to see him coming down the beach. I stood up and the exact moment I did, he stopped dead in his tracks, raising his hand immediately to shade his eyes from the brightness of the day. I then saw him tilt his head slightly, as if trying to bring his view into better focus. After a couple of seconds he glanced toward the pounding surf coming ashore, but a brief moment later his eyes flashed back to me, and I watched as his face registered first complete surprise, and then utter jubilation, at which point he screamed out,

“GENTLE LILY! GENTLE LILY ! MY HEART, MY ESSENCE, MY SOUL! YOU’VE COME BACK TO ME!”

His cry echoed throughout the forest and the Silver tails picked up on it immediately and began warbling excitedly. At that second he began sprinting, arms outstretched, desperately trying to reach me. As each step brought him nearer, I was more than stunned to see that it wasn’t Andy—it . . . it was Running Deer ! . . .Yes . . .YES! Running Deer, my Life, my Love, my Sunrises, my Sunsets, my Stars—my Everything. I had finally found him after a million moons. The longing, the pain, the despair, the anguish could now be banished from our existence forever! I would be his!

“Running Deer” I yelled out all at once, “RUNNING DEER!”

Where once a universe had separated us, now only a few meters stood between us, but my feet had already begun to close the remaining expanse as they literally flew toward him. We would be in each other’s arms in a matter of seconds; we had waited the eons of time, and now it was almost over.

Had there been anyone on the beach that day, they would have seen us running toward each other— in slow motion—with open arms, wind at our backs, Silver tails cheering us on while waves marked cadence. They would have seen my long, dark hair being tossed and billowed by the whirling air currents, and noticed how it rippled and flowed out behind me, also in slow motion of course, and . . . and how Running Deer’s was doing the exact same thing—yes, his long, black hair was being whipped by the breeze as he made his way toward me. (Andy’s could have never done that). They would have seen the fringe on my wedding dress and leggings dancing about excitedly with each step, and noticed how Running Deer’s moccasins were pounding the sand mercilessly, not even caring if any sand crabs were under foot. They would have seen all that and more, much, much more. (I know what you're thinking. People can't run in slow motion, but trust me, they can. Sometimes it happens. Besides, two lovers running to each other on a sandy beach always run in slow motion—with their hair billowing behind them)

When the distance between us had closed sufficiently, I was surprised to discover that Running Deer was even more handsome than I had remembered him from so long ago. Chiseled features gave an aura of power while soft brown eyes spoke of gentleness. Bulging bronzed biceps strained against a red armband which looked as if it's knot would burst at any moment, given the intense pressure being exerted against it. Blue-black hair was flying in the wind—I could almost see the wings of a raven swooping down to carry me away. My heart leapt at the thought—my Love was coming for me, at last! I was remembering our youth together and how much we loved each other and how that love had transcended time and space.

I was astonished how exact my memories were after all those centuries of separation. And then it struck me! These weren’t my memories at all! They couldn’t be— I wasn’t Gentle Lily! But why were they swirling around my mind like they belonged there? I was so confused and wondered if Andy was . . . I mean Running Deer . . . I mean Andy . . . I mean . . . what did I mean? Who was this coming toward me . . . only a few feet away?

But before I could sort it all out, suddenly Running Deer launched himself into the air, his magnificent black wings spreading wide, and with one gliding movement, literally soared over the remaining space separating us, landing squarely in front of me. It was like he had just dropped out of the sky and into my life once again after all this millennia of time. Strong, muscled arms immediately flew around me, cinching me tightly to him, like I was part of him—the part that had been lost and was now found. And I knew at that moment, more surely than I had ever known anything before, we would never be separated again.

Moments later, the Great Sky Spirit verified all this by splashing vivid hues across whispy white clouds left over from the morning rain, painting a magnificent fire rainbow.


Now you know and I know that this fire rainbow is nothing more than an optical phenomenon known as a circumhorizontal arc caused by light passing through cirrus clouds, the hexagonal ice crystals of which are aligned horizontally and are shaped like thick plates with their faces parallel to the ground, allowing the light to enter through the vertical side causing a refraction as it leaves the bottom face, the same way as light passing through a prism, but only if the cirrus crystals are aligned just right, at a 90 degree angle, which, of course, doesn’t happen all that often, and when it does, is considered a rare event, making the whole cloud light up in a spectrum of colors to look like the entire rainbow is on fire.

BUT, and this is important, Running Deer and Gentle Lily didn’t know all this scientific stuff. All they knew was, this was the sign given by the Great Sky Spirit that they would never be apart again. And who’s to say, maybe they were right.

Bye for now,
Love,
Ellee