Islands in the Sky
an excerpt

Islands in the Sky

The day of the gathering dawned with a primeval burst of colors. One second the sky was dark blue, the next was a spectacular burst of reds, yellows, purples and blues framed by the receding curtain of night. To the children watching the sky, it seemed as if the sky itself was excited about the fun time to follow.

One child was gently reminded to be still when a hand was laid on his shoulder. He contained his excitement with a quick shake of his head, eyes trained on the sky. Many of the words he wanted to say were stuck in his throat. The second he tried to swallow, his eyes moved a fraction from the spot he was looking at in time to see a star shaped burst of light coming from the side of the moon.

At his sharp intake of breathe, a cry came from behind him. The moon disappeared into the burst of colors when the sun showed on the horizon. His eyes were dazzled by the brilliant flare of light and then the sky went dark. He waited for his eyes to readjust. When the People burst into song and his sight still had not returned, he felt for his mother’s hand. He was unable to find her hand. The song faded into the distance. Just when he felt the first tremor of the ground shaking, his sight returned.

He looked down at the People and saw the Earth around them open it’s arms and the land the People stood on grew legs and started dancing. The People raised their arms to the sky and the song they were singing became clear. His eyes were drawn to the middle of the crowd where he had been standing. He was no longer there. “Of course. I am here.” He giggled to himself. “I wonder what Mae will think when I tell her about this.”

Curiosity was his middle name. He was told several times a day to be careful, some of his questions had no answers. He often wondered about that when he lay awake at night. How could you have questions with no answers?

His thoughts sent his eyes in the direction of the sun. He could not turn his head. His eyes swiveled back to the People. The Song had risen in volume. The People were swaying back and one by one they fell to the ground. When the last had fallen, the land leaped towards him. He blinked his eyes and the darkness returned. His hand connected with his mother’s hand at last and he too fell asleep.

At the very edge of sleep, he felt a feather touch on his forehead. He smiled and nestled closer to his mother.

“Be quiet. I’m trying to think.”

Curiosity forced the next question out of his mind. Others had quit trying to hurry the Leader. All felt the edges of the terror they all tried so hard to ignore. A couple people had had to be Sung to sleep. No one wanted to be the next to go to sleep. All wanted to know where they were and to know how they got where they were. The most important was to find out if they were stuck where they were. No one wanted to wake up in a different place, if they woke up at all. This was the unvoiced terror no one wanted to make real with Speaking out loud.

The day was pretty much taken up with calming people down. A few had come forward with supplies. Elders had begun chanting their calming songs to any children and babies who cried. Older children went to collect any wood that they could find. Young adults had gathered behind their Clan heads. Some of the women had begun clearing and setting up space for sleeping. A party of men had gathered into parties to scout. Everyone waited for them to return.

By the time the first of the men returned, With the Dawning had double checked his calculations. Now he was examining the stars that he could see. They were mirror images and he was not sure how to proceed from this point. Nothing in his studies had prepared him for this.

A faint rustling in the grass sounded loud to his sensitized ears. He dared not look until he was sure that his face projected none of the terror he felt. When he turned, he grinned at his nephew standing there. He was grateful that it was Curiosity and not one of the adults. He changed his mind at the questioning look in those dark honey colored eyes. Children were harder to brush off with platitudes.