46.5 Have Hope

General Summary

Days 1050 - 1056

We’ve settled in with Jian Ming and more people are heading towards the stump - it is becoming something of a pilgrimage for travellers in need of joy and healing. They walk peacefully into the golden mist and settle down to sleep and heal while the eddies swirl around them.   I have taken to wandering the perimeter of the phenomenon and watching the swirls and currents play around people. More and more, I’m hearing song snippets from deeper towards the stump.  

Day 1057

On the evening of the 7th day, the energy finally starts to coalesce. Everyone sleeping in the energy is gently lifted into the air and floated out of the haze, including Starfield being lifted up in her dragon form like a cat being cradled. When she comes to rest on her humanoid feet, she is fairly glimmering with energy, fleshed out and healthier, and exuding the majestic energy she ought to as a dragon. She feels better - it probably reduced her recovery time by years.   A phantom, radiant tree coalesces on top of the stump - a memory of what the tree once was. It’s enormous - the spiritual presence of an origin tree. Little motes of white-golden light drift out of it, gathering into a perimeter that forms into a towering wall surrounding the trunk.   In the midst of the wall there are 4 large gates - large enough for both Onyx and Starfield to walk through as dragons. To those of us who know the history, the meaning is plain: One for each of the cycles.   One is decorated with fae figures in relationship: Lovers locked in embrace, family standing together, teachers and students, friends and partners with their hands clasped. Another has dancing and celebration that nearly leaps out of the ethereal mist. The third shows healers and their patients, acts of gentle kindness and care. The fourth depicts people reaching out in both directions - those in need and those providing.  Each one resonates differently, but all are closed.   The gathered masses are collectively approaching and watching the magic, with some clearly trying to figure out the trick to getting past it and others just basking in the energy flowing out of the wall. Still others stand on the outskirts, trying not to intrude. Soon enough, Magdalena, Uncle Red, Mistress, and Lyssa come out to join me and Starfield.   Uncle Red and Magdalena are chuckling at the ostentatious show that Asphodeloideae is putting on - evidently their sister has always had a flair for the dramatic. But I am not so accustomed to Treeborn magic that I can ignore the display in front of me. I walk towards Hope, Mistress and Lyssa walk to Love, and Magdalena goes to Compassion while Uncle Red says he will stay and watch over everyone who remains behind.   The barrier preventing anyone from reaching the gates stops me as well, though I get very close. The feeling of hope radiating from my gate is overwhelming and I can see others falling to their knees before their chosen gate as they contend with the feelings. As I wander along the wall, I can approach Love and Compassion even more than Hope, but Joy remains the furthest.   The impulse to go before Hope was so strong and I feel confident in that connection even if it is not the one that draws me in the most. People already have love and compassion in them - those are not the things that I awaken when I leave my touch on the world. Nowadays, people need a bit of help seeing that the world could be different; they need a bit of inspiration, a bit of an example to follow. It's hope that does that.   So when I move between gates to feel the different energy, I play my music and dance through the air. How can anyone stay still under such a barrage of positive emotions? But on the outskirts of the crowd there are many people who are turning away, or who have tried to approach and realized that they simply can't. Amongst them I see Ying Ling, fairly cloaked in an aura of misery and unhappiness that says she has nothing to do with any of this. Of course, I set my song aside and float down to see her.   She is dark and stormy, determined that none of these beautiful things are for her despite my poking and prodding. Even with the plants she cares for, she tells them that people will be afraid of them and that they will grow up to be strong and potent.  

I don't think I'm a very good parent...

  She sounds like the Empress, but I tell her that elves are no less deadly just because we are loved and at rest now. Walking through one of these gates might heal some of her wounds and that in itself is scary - it means being vulnerable again because the calloused and scarred tissue is pink and fresh again. I can see the idea turning over in her head for what seems like minutes before she drops to a knee and asks me to just give her a command. I lean over and kiss her forehead.  

Ying Ling, have hope for yourself.

  And she stands and goes before the Hope gate. From where I stand, I can see a thread of energy extend from the gate to greet her. And now I see a thread between each person and the gate, cyclically feeding off one another. When I notice this, it becomes even more clear that everyone in the gathered crowd has a place before these gates and it is the people standing in front of Hope who should be acting on this. Jian Ming, also part of Hope, sets out to organize the others and bring people closer to the gates. Lyssa sets out to reach for those who feel unloveable, and Mistress sends out others to take up the mission. Magdalena encourages people towards Compassion, but her tone is still a little sharper than I'd like...   Just before dawn, when the fervour is highest and potential feels the strongest, all of the doors open. Through them, I see a shimmery white gossamer layer of magic energy within the gate itself. Past that, luminous trees and flitting figures of many phantom fae darting around. I step through the gate and suddenly, I am somewhere else.   It’s VERY hot, nearly as hot as Collective territory. I’m in a city with distinctly foreign architecture - sandstone, yellow brick, limestone. Vibrant, colourful mosaic tiles everywhere with depictions of radiant suns and blue skies. Around me are spirit folk, many with snakelike auras.   But the most notable (and truthfully, unsurprising) change is that I am...fae. Not elf-fae, but fae. My wing sare lighter and more delicate - large and billowy with silvery veins flecked with gold. The markings on my skin are the same, and I can feel my other legacies quiet and sleeping within me.    I am a fae of Hope.