“A Sheet in the Wind”
By: Carlos Santaella
Laifen has dreaded this day from the moment he was a
vacuole within his mother’s cellular structure.
To become a sheet, limp and torn, beaten by the elements and falling
from his home like a lost Leiven in the wind.
The Festival of Flight, as it is so aptly named, is said to be a
liberating and wonderful experience for some of his kind, the Leiven. But for others, such as Laifen, it is not
so. On the blisteringly windy eve of
every Autumnal Equinox, it is required that the leaves of the Great Tree within
the Forest of Wordein leap from their homes, to be guided by the wind. It is a sacred and honorable tradition that
has been passed down from each generation since the Dawn of the First Sprout. Only Laifen seemed to understand the
ridiculous celebration as being a form of mass suicide.
On the other hand, The Elder Bruaks—thin, flaky, brown
denizens that were once part of the Great Tree—proclaim to all of the Great
Tree that this mission is an honor. They say the Festival is a rite of passage
to the Ancient Garden, where all the Leiven who’ve participated in other
Festivals are said to reside on a colossal tree in perfect harmony. But Laifen seems to be the only one who
vehemently denies it. What’s worse to
him, all the other Leiven of the trees of Wordein seem to follow suit. Though Laifen would give anything to see his
parents and brothers again, there had to be another way than this. Being a rather small broad leaf, Laifen tried
to convince others to leave him behind in the festival, but no one seemed to listen
to him. Only Treivor, his best friend,
and a Bruak, sympathized for him.
On the Eve of the Festival, Treivor spoke in response to
Laifen’s usual rant, “Don’t you wish to honor our Great Tree? Think of all the others, even your family,
who’ve participated in the Great Flight for us.
Wouldn’t you want to follow in their footsteps?”
Laifen
retorted, “There is no honor in flinging headfirst off of this old tree,
letting the wind guide you to your death.
Most leaves never even make it past the branches of the Great Tree,
among all the others who participate in it for their own trees. Don’t you see the ridiculousness in it?”
Treivor sighed. He
then spoke, in a melancholy voice that Laifen never heard before. “You are right. Please meet me at The Great Tree’s Heartring
Center, by the Sapren Fountain. There is
something you need to know.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Laifen did as instructed, so late into the night that
every other Leiven was sound asleep, anticipating tomorrow’s Festival. What he saw as he closed in on the fountain
was the most shocking thing he had experienced, even more so than the
blistering long days of Sun’s Heat.
There before him were two large Bruaks dumping Treivor’s torn, limp body
into the fountain where it, oddly enough, disintegrated, leaving behind only
the milky secretions that were once part of Treivor.
The larger one spoke, “Humph. Another Bruak trying to reveal the secret of
the Festival. It’s a good thing the
Elder found out, and that this fountain can breaks us up and kill us like that,
but it still makes me nervous standing next to—.” The Bruak paused, and pointed
out Laifen while telling his buddy that Leiven is spying on them. Laifen knew there was no escape, but he tried
to sprint away. Within a few seconds,
the Bruaks slammed their hands into the tree, and using their Bond with the
Great Tree, manipulated the wood to form a cage around Laifen.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Laifen awoke groggily in the Elder Bruak’s quarters. The Elder—an old, tall Bruak already in need
of a bark cane—noticed Laifen awaken.
He began, “Do you honestly believe we could have a Leiven
know our secrets? Or surely, you were
naïve enough to assume that you and your friend Treivor could get away with
it?”
The Elder had imprisoned and began torturing the trapped
Laifen, inserting sharp pieces of bark to maim and tear him inside. Screaming and writhing in pain, Laifen cried,
“I swear I don’t know anything? Why did
you kill Treivor? Why? What secret is worth killing over?”
The Elder Bruak sighed lazily and continued, “It seems
you are telling the truth. Fine then,
you might as well, for not much time is left for you. Dawn approaches, and so does the Festival.” The Elder sighed again, as if the words he
was about to utter next were taboo that exhausted one in just speaking it. “You must understand this tree is very old,
and utilizes any nutrients it can acquire to survive, and that means any form
of nutrients, even itself.”
Laifen sputtered in pain, but asked, “What are you
saying?”
“The festival is a lie, my dear Leiven. Your kind falls to the ground for it is
necessary for the tree’s life. Your
community rarely travels any farther from the roots, where you become compost
and necessary nutrients for the tree.
And, during Sun’s Death and its accompanying bitter cold, your littered
bodies blanket the Great Tree in morbid, albeit necessary warmth. We do this not to purposefully kill you all
but to ensure the survival of the Great Tree.
You must understand.”
Laifen was in too much shock to feel any pain. “What?
Why? Why would you do this? Why not tell us?”
The Elder seemed
angered. “You ignorant Leiven! Who in their right mind would jump out of
this tree if they did not believe they were doing a noble act? We do this not for us Bruaks but for the good
of the whole tree. It is the way it must
be for us to survive. We have watched
you, my young Leiven, and understand that you are the most unruly of the crowd. Your whole family was the same, stubborn and
selfish. Why can you not just accept
fate, become one with the Tree again, acknowledge the purpose of your race
which you yourself are so similarly named.
Laifen, is it? Please understand
that we are blessed to keep on living compared to others. The wind carries its secrets to me. Most trees are destroyed by Others. They are eaten by parasites, distorted to
create homes for others, and, if that wasn’t enough, those closer to the
Monsters, these gargantuan beings, cut us down to use as materials for their
own use. Don’t you see? Being part of the Great Tree, we must set an
example for the others to live, thrive another day in the hopes that nothing
befalls us in turn.”
Laifen, back to his own audacious self, yelled, “If these
Monsters use us for resources, it’s only a matter of time until they destroy
this tree and all the others. If that’s
the case, why don’t you and your other Bruak friends plummet to the ground with
the Leiven? It would save you all from
such a terrible f--”
“Stop!” The Elder
screamed, “What you speak is heresy.
Enough of this, the secret uttered from me will die with you, as it is
meant to be.”
“No!” Laifen
screeched, louder than even the Elder so that the whole Tree could hopefully
hear. He was hoping for the right
chance, and now, with a slight breeze through the knot entering the Elder’s
chambers and exiting another, he said, “Your secret will die with us.”
Picking the wind from behind him, Laifen folded himself
to fit through the bars, leaving some parts of his body behind. Commanded by pain, but led on with seething
rage, he grabbed hold of the Elder and they both exited through the open
knothole.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And now, back to his
near-death reality, Laifen finished recollecting on his past journey. He only hoped that none of the other Leivens
would follow in his suit. However, just
with that thought, the sun’s rays stretched across the treetops of Wordein, and
thousands of Leiven leaped from the branches.
As Laifen closed his eyes, either from disappointment or of exhaustion
being inches from death and only that much from the ground, the final sound
that accompanied him was the great rustling that accompanies every Festival of
Flight.
Yet, perhaps that is the way,
to become a sheet, limp and torn, beaten by the elements, and falling from their
home like lost Leivens in the wind. This
is the way it has been and always will be.
..."Echo" *echo* *echo* *echo*... =[ lol.
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