Conversations from the glen

I am falling into nothingness and land softly in a familiar place.  I feel the fire’s heat warming my bones which seem to stay cold as I travel between.  I can smell the herbs on the fire filling me with their peace and overwhelming sense of home.  I feel Brin’s presence nearby. It makes me smile, then frown as I sit up and survey the private glen that gives us refuge when I just want some alone time.  Why am I here?  I know things have been little over the top at times, but haven’t felt the need to come here or go to the swamp as of yet.  Seeing my confusion Brin smooths back my hair, and hums softly.  She tells me that I will be having a visitor arrive soon and he requested a private place to meet that would not draw undo attention. A visitor?  Jebus! who would dare have the balls to invade what is a private sanctuary? Then I smell the unmistakable smell of cigar and spiced rum. WTF!?! Here? He would come here? Shit! What in the hell have I done now? “Nothing” he tells me with a laugh.  “Sit”, he said motioning back to the log where I had been perched.  It is only then that I realize I had stood up as he came through the entryway.  I sit back down.  “To what do I owe the honor”? I ask.  It is a time before I hear an answer.  My visitor lights his pipe, pours himself a drink which seems to have materialized from thin air.  I wait. And I wait.  It seems like an eternity passes and my patience is wearing thin.  I want to yell at him “Out with it!” Finally when it seems as if I can’t stand it any longer, he smiles and winks.  “Patience is a virtue I have heard”, he says chuckling.  I roll my eyes, and shake my head at his little joke.  “Since when have you known me to be patient about anything where you are concerned,” I retort.  Throwing his head back, he roars with laughter.  “Agreed”.  “But you are learning to stay quiet on the outside even if inside you are screaming for those to speak”.  Now it’s my turn to laugh and agree with his statement.  Again I wait.  Surely he didn’t come to just hang out with me.  “Why could I not ma petit”? he asks.  I shake my head smiling.  He laughs.  “I came to speak about your traveling plans”.  Traveling plans?  I don’t have those, although to be honest, I often don’t make a plan when I drift in the in between..I just show up.  “There are things happening that you are aware of on the peripheral, but now will be asked to join en force , so I came to make sure you understand what is being asked of you and the need to protect yourself even more”.  I understand the protection part.  I’ve been feeling the pull of the spiders.  Another layer of webs are indeed to be in the works.I nod slowly.  So…am I to travel soon I wonder.  “We are patient”, he says.  “You will begin work soon on the protections: he says as he looks over at Brin who nods.  Great I think..Another trip to the otherworld among snarky spiders.  My visitor laughs, “You should get along amazingly well with snarky spiders” he says.  I grin.  Well perhaps, but I think one in particular has me beat in that department.  So…he has come here to tell me protect myself and get ready to work.  Lawd…what DO I get myself into at times.  Again he laughs loudly.  “Cher, you are so easy to read, and your comments make me smile, but you know and have always known what is required.  “.  I sigh and cup my hands around the glass that seems to have just appeared.  “You know drinking with you gets me into a lot of shit”, I tell him laughing, but I bring the glass to my lips anyway.  To hell with playing it safe..well as safe as some would like me to walk.  So we sit and talk of things that was, things to come and those that might be.  I feel energized and awake as I realize that I really have been dragging my feet.  “Thanks for being patient”, I tell him with a rueful smile.  “Things happen as they are meant to and in their own timing.” he tells me.  He drains his glass and stands to leave.  “I will see you again soon” he tells me, reaches out to brush my face.  And then as quickly as he arrived, he is gone.  I sit quietly, drinking the rum, feeling its smooth spiciness warm me from the inside out.  I look at Brin.  “You knew he was coming”? I ask.  She nods.  Well of course she did,  I tell myself.  NOBODY gets near without her consent.  “You could have warned me”, I tell her gently.  She laughs.  “Ma petit, what would you have done..panicked? Non.  He comes as he does, so you can speak to him as an equal, not as a child who is afraid of  spooky tales or putting yourself out on the edge for others”.  Oh. Well, there is that.  He has already spoken about the equal part which boggles my mind.  It’s hard to wrap my head around really, but I’m learning.  So Brin and I sit staring into the fire, and I find myself becoming drowsy.  No wonder really since the alcohol combined with the energy of my visitor, I feel like I’ve been awake for days.  I find myself being held closely and hear the familiar song that reassures me that the world is as it should be.  I’ll check with the spiders later I think.  “Indeed” says Brin who pauses only momentarily in her soothing me into a restful sleep.  I drift off to sleep, thinking as I do that I have work to do….later.

tempête parfaite