It was late in the evening when Simon left his cabin. The rest of the camp was preparing to sleep and the light had not yet left the treetops. Tonight, he thought, he needed to spend in the cave. On the path to his special place, he felt an acute awareness of all that was around him. He heard insects buzzing, saw a peculiar shimmer in the green of the new spring grasses poking up. It was an odd gift given to him by Lenora when she passed—that all of his love for her would be transferred to a love of the small worlds of nature. He understood the language of birds, rabbits, squirrels—even the rodents. He thought of old wood trees as brothers.
As he approached the opening to the canyon, he saw the shadow of his cavern—far too roomy to be called a cave. The earth beneath his feet hummed a welcome and he smiled, tap tapping his feet in a little dance step to offer his own hello. The opening to his stone room was small and he had to duck and tuck his long frame into it. The stone room was nearly invisible from any direction, which Simon appreciated. Stray walkers seemed to pass right by without ever discovering it.
Simon had spent hundreds of years in this room. It is what the Old Ones required of him in exchange for his betrayal. Every hundred years he must retreat and spend another hundred years in this room before reemerging into the world. This respite prevents a mystery from growing around a man who never dies—and it protects the privacy of the Stone Family—his family.
There are others like Simon, males and females of the Stone Clan who have forsaken everlasting life to walk among the earth in a human body. Usually, this defection is caused by love. But it is rare. Simon has only met one other—Josia. Although a stone is sometimes allowed this passage into human life, the reverse is never allowed. A human cannot directly become stone although they often infuse their own enduring energies into a particular stand of granite, or a single needle-like outcropping. The energy of the spirit is not different between the races—only the form.
Lenora was generous enough to leave a bit of her spirit here, in this cavern. Simon knew this because he could feel her here. Sometimes he cannot resist greeting her with a gentle, “Hello, my love.” But today, he is on another mission.
A quiet reflection
What part of you has been required to disappear for a time in order to protect something larger?
What part of you has been required to disappear for a time in order to protect something larger?
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