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“This doesn’t belong to us. The earth is not something for us to claim. We
belong to it, and let it guide us. I forgot how for too long. Thank you for helping
me to understand.”
Apanie smiled. Ed gave a squawk.
The land’s heart was beating again, blood was coursing through its veins.
Things were as they should be.
epilogue
The stars above were not the only sacred things glistening that night. As beloved
Aunt Apanie recalled her tale, happy tears did roll down the children's cheeks.
Gemstones, like emeralds but blue like water, she thought, her smile warm like
the fire in the branches and in her bones. Perhaps one day they would follow in
her footsteps, along the dusty desert dunes and slumbering mammoth
mountains, to reach their own oasis. She felt the dirt beneath her, and could feel
the ancient heart, beating still. And she was happy.