A lesson
She woke to the sound of birds singing, she stretched luxuriously and with great contentment. As Dagmar opened her eyes and she could see that the sun had only just risen. She felt very rested and content with life, her day dreams were shattered by a knock on the door. She called for whoever it was to come in, whilst she found the cape she wore after her bath the afternoon before and placed it over her night dress. The door opened to reveal Rhiannon and Falcon walking in looking very relaxed and at home. “Good Morning sweetling. How did you sleep? Are you ready for the day?” asked Falcon rubbing his hands together. Just as he turned to close the door several faeries walked in with trays of food that were deposited on a large fold up table which another two faeries had carried in and set up. “I assume that we are all breaking fast together?” commented Falcon with a big grin and rubbing his tummy. “Well Falcon if you truly want to breakfast with us then you will have to leave us for a few minutes so that Dagmar can get dressed. Shoo! Go! Out!” she said and was literally shooing him out the door which had the girl holding her tummy because she was laughing so hard. “Now then sweetling to get you dressed. Let’s have a look what there is on offer.” Rhiannon went to the large wardrobe and opened the big doors “Mmmm let me see. We want something which is casual yet formal and wing space. Ahh now this is nice and ever so functional. Come and have a look sweetling” said the woman as she held out long light brown pants which looked like a wide skirt with a cream long loose top that could easily have been a dress with long puffy sleeves that could be adjusted with ribbon to the climate of the day which ended near the knee. It had splits form hem to waist and special slits sewn into the back for wings just as Rhiannon had said and the girl liked the concept of wearing a dress over pants. “I like that. I didn't see that last night when I had a look in here. Where did you find it Gentle Mother?” “Why on that shelf back here” the woman pointed to a shelf tucked against the left wall “you most likely did not see it because you were dazzled by the beauty of the dresses or because it was in the shadows and you didn't know it actually existed. Would you like to wear this today then?” “Yes thank you. I will just duck behind the screen and I will get dressed. You could ask Falcon to come back in, I AM behind the screen.” suggested the girl. With a wicked chuckle Rhiannon replied “Oh sweetling don't you worry about old Falcon. He will be happily wandering around annoying anyone who looks his way. He is like a bird, hopping from one new thing to another just like birds go from one shiny new thing to another. He will be happy just to flutter about, believe me sweetling. But I will call him to make you happy.” with that the woman turned and headed for the door to call her husband back into the room. Dagmar in the meantime went behind the screen and began to change into her day time clothing. As Falcon walked back into the room the girl was dressed and ready to break her fast.
They all sat down and waited for Rhiannon to say 'Thanks to the Mother' and once she completed the ritual they all attacked their food ravenously. With a choice of cereals, fresh bread and fruit and to wash down with either sweet cool water, chilled milk or fruit juice. Once their hunger had been satisfied they settled back and began to enjoy the day even more. “Well my sweetling” began Rhiannon “how have you adjusted to your gifts and I have heard you have also grown into your wings. How are you going with these adjustments?” “I have had wonderful help from Fawn and Fana and then when we bumped into Ripple, Sunna and Dusk I had even more help and many useful suggestions as well. I have learnt to control my wings and can even fly now. I have been communicating, well actually they start the conversation, with several trees. I am still figuring everything out. I do know that the bark buffer works well. As yet I have not had any conversations with any animals.” “To be able to communicate with animals, my little sweetling, you have to quieten your mind. You have to let everything go and send your mind out. The animals are usually very shy and won’t make first contact, although there are a few who are brave enough to touch your mind first but they are far and few between.” Rhiannon explained to the girl, who had been listening intently to every word “Gentle Mother, could you or Gentle Father help me to learn how to do it?” Dagmar asked looking at them alternatively. Both adults were silent for a short time, and then they both nodded. “I will help you in this endeavour sweetling. It is an honour to be so involved in your training.” Said Falcon “I must warn you though, I have more of an affinity with all manner of bird than any other creature. This could be interesting!” he said with enthusiasm. “May I ask a question?” asked the girl “Certainly!” both adults replied simultaneously. “We’’…. When you were both silent and then nodded your heads, umm were you doing ‘mind speak’?” both adults looked at each other and smiled “Yes sweetling we were. We have been together for a very, very long time and have developed a closeness which permits us to do that. I honestly didn’t think it was that that obvious.” Falcon said with a rueful chuckle.
After they had finished eating Falcon suggested that they go and have a try at communicating with animals. With that mission in mind they decided that a nice secluded place would be of use and they wandered off into the forest. Dagmar was only four steps into the forest when she was harassed by many voices in her head, she put her hand to her head and frowned deeply. Immediately concerned Falcon asked “Are you alright child?” “Yes umm No oh I don’t know. There are many voices in my head and I can’t shut them up!” replied the girl. Falcon knew what the problem was “Sweetling, I think it was a bad idea to go into the forest for the peace we crave. The trees all want your attention. In your mind just tell them politely that right now you need to learn another aspect of your gift and for them to be patient.” Dagmar did as was suggested and soon the voices all quietened down.
They found a small clearing and sat in the middle of it as Falcon began to explain how the girl could go about clearing her mind of everything and be open to receive messages. The girl sat cross legged and closed her eyes and began slowly to settle her mind and then to clear her mind completely. The effort could at times be seen on her face, as Falcon watched her closely. Then suddenly she stiffened “What is it sweetling?” “I think I am talking to a rabbit. A very busy little thing. Keeps saying ‘must find food, must find food’, what do I do now Falcon?” “Well sweetling this is when you ever so gently let it know you are listening. Sort of like clearing your throat to let someone know you are there. Try to just gently say ‘hello’.” The girl nodded and began to gently let the rabbit know she was there and then she burst out laughing “It just told me it knew I was there all along and was wondering when I was going to talk to it. Now it wants to know where there are some juicy carrots or other nice vegetables.” This made Falcon burst out laughing “Oh they can be cheeky. The birds I speak to, especially the sparrows ask me constantly it I could show them where the best worms are hiding or if I had any in my pocket.” That made the girl burst out laughing “Funny, that is exactly what the rabbit just then asked and I said no sorry and it said ‘well what good are you to me then!” Falcon suggested that the girl move away from that animals and try and feel other creatures that may have more to say then ‘where is the food’, both laughing uproariously at that.
They sat down near a large boulder and started the whole exercise again. It didn’t take long and Dagmar burst out giggling, which gave Falcon the idea that she was communicating again. “Gentle Father you will never guess what I am talking to now. Never in a million years will you guess. A hint though, it tickles in the head.” said the girl teasingly to the man. Falcon, who was always happy to play a game of guessing thought for a moment and then with a wicked grin her said “Is it an earth worm? They tickle in your hands and I suspect they would also tickle in the mind.” “YES! You guessed right. This little creature is very smart. We just spoke about how the soil here is some of the best and according to the worm there is a very tasty patch of soil just where our bottoms are and the
worms wants to know if we would like to join it for a meal. I have politely turned it down though, unless you would like to join it for a bite.” the girl said with a cheeky grin on her face which made Falcon burst out laughing heartily again. “So sweetling, do you think you now have the trick?” Falcon said when he finally managed to catch his breath.
They stayed a while longer enjoying the peace and the girl practiced her new found gift a little longer. Falcon then suggested that she try contacting a bird. “When wanting to talk to a bird you will have to let your mind grow wings. Do you think you can do that?” “I will try. How do you make your mind grow wings?” asked the girl as she wriggled into a more comfortable position. Falcon had to think about how he learnt to use his gift “In a way it’s like day dreaming but instead of mundane day dreams you imagine yourself flying or just being a bird and see if that works. Everyone has a different trigger so we may have to experiment a little. Try it and tell me how it works for you.” replied Falcon.
Once settled comfortably Dagmar tried to day dream her way into a birds mind but nothing happened. She tried again and had the same result, nothing apart from small tickles from some earth worms and a snail. Falcon could see that the girl was not getting anywhere with that strategy and he tried to work out another way when he suddenly made a decision “Sweetling, how would you feel about joining minds and then I can maybe take you to find a bird and introduce you?” Dagmar opened her eyes and looked into Falcons “Do you think that will work?” she asked. “Well, I actually don’t know. We can give it a try though. If you are willing.” The girl shrugged her shoulders and wriggled a little again to get some small rocks out from under her legs “Alright then, what do we do?” Falcon smiled at the determined set of Dagmar’s mouth “We will have to sit closer and I will have to touch your face. All you need to do is trust me and relax!”
They readjusted their seating arrangement and then settled down to focus. Falcon gently raised his hands and placed them on either side of the girls face. He then instructed her to close her eyes and free her mind. “Just imagine we are both birds, picture it, feel the feathers ruffled by the breeze and feel your arms become wings.” he instructed the girl. They sat in silence for a long while and then with a surprised gasp the girl burst out saying “I’m flying!” with much excitement in her voice. “Settle down sweetling. Let us fly with our brothers and sisters. Listen to them and learn from their wisdom.” said Falcon with a voice that sounded very far away. They sat like that for a long while and by the time they had finished flying with the birds Falcon had his hands resting in his knees as the girl noticed when she opened her eyes. She felt utter exhaustion yet very exhilarated by the whole experience. “Well sweetling, how was that? Did you notice that after you found your wings I did not lead you anymore? You have an extraordinarily strong gift my little darling.” The girl had not noticed but was very proud of that fact “I only knew I was flying with the birds, that I WAS a bird. Oh the feeling of freedom was just amazing. Thank you so much Gentle Father for taking the time to teach me such a wonderful new thing.” She said as she leaned over and gave the man a big kiss on the cheek, which made him blush a little.
They sat for a while enjoying the sunshine but a very loud rumble made them both look around. Another loud rumble had them both in stitches laughing because the rumble, they realised, came from both their hungry tummies. They decided it was time for them to go back and possibly find some food as well.