Return to Radasam

A Storyteller Tale

Carol Holland March

Return to Radasam

A Storyteller Tale

Carol Holland March

Copyright © 2016 Carol Holland March

Published by Compass Rose Press

Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA

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All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by any means without the express permission of the author except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. Please share this book with your friends.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and events are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales are entirely coincidental.

Dedication

For the Dreamwalkers of Larreta

Table of Contents

From the Storyteller of Verdallon

Return to Radasam

The Cove

A Note from the Author

Click Here to get the first Storyteller Tale

CarolHollandMarch.com

From the Storyteller of Verdallon

Do you hear the voices from Larreta whispering when the full moon’s light dances on sea waves? Or calling from beneath the surface of a mountain lake at sundown?

Do you answer?

If not, I understand, for who could believe that Larreta, land of our shattered desire, could be so near?

If the voices are too insistent to ignore and meaning has revealed itself as the glue binding all things, then listen carefully. Even rational minds can turn and face themselves.

Valerie knows. She will tell you that desire is the crucial element in evolution. Listen to your desire. Follow it. Fight with it. Challenge it. Make love with it, if you can. Preferably outdoors, under moonlight.

Return to Radasam

Leo sat on the northern jetty and watched a school of porpoises cavort. Valerie stood in knee-deep water, facing the sea, her back and shoulders straight and stiff. Martin had called it when he described Valerie as intractable. Since Leo decided to stay at the Coast House to provide her orientation to Larreta, they had done little more than spar with each other.

Her initial voluntary silence had upset Keepers and dreamwalkers alike, and when Martin called for help, Leo responded. During his first meeting with Valerie, he convinced her to speak, so everyone took a breath and assumed her orientation to the land of the dreamwalkers could proceed on schedule.

There weren’t many choices, for the portal she had traveled from Earth was one-way. After arriving on Larreta, no one could return to Earth, which is why only humans contacted by a portal Guardian could make the trip.

After Leo’s initial breakthrough, Valerie talked all right, but only to argue. He had not convinced her that she had left Earth, and she remained certain she was the victim of an elaborate hoax. After a week of talking in circles, Leo was beginning to regret his decision to take her on.

Since he lost Bobby to the first time rift to strike Larreta, Leo had studiously avoided the responsibility of training a newcomer. He had loved Bobby, convinced she was his true partner, and not until he said to Valerie on an impulse, “I’ve been assigned to be your teacher” did he reconsider his decision. It wasn’t even true, although Martin looked relieved when Leo told him he had volunteered to work with the recalcitrant newcomer. Leo was more than a little swept away by Valerie’s beauty.

Valerie was lovely, with those eyes and dark hair and pale skin he longed to touch. The first time he saw her, warmth rippled through his chest, a surprise, since he thought his emotions had dried up and blown away when he lost Bobby.

Thoughts of Bobby caused the hollow spot in his chest to throb, the one behind his heart, the spot so empty it was as if a part of his anatomy was missing. Then he remembered how long it had been since he spent time with anyone not his student or another instructor. His pattern was to hide out at the Coast House between his classes, with Martin his only confidant, leaving messages from his other friends unanswered because he didn’t want their pity. Maybe it was time to cut himself a little slack.

After he convinced her to talk that first day, Valerie went downstairs with him and apologized to Martin for the inconvenience of her protracted silence.

“I’m glad you’re doing better,” Martin said to Valerie. “Would you like lunch? Or a swim?” Valerie opted for a walk on the beach, and after she left, Martin invited Leo to join him on his private deck for a drink.

“Good work,” he said as he poured amber liquid from a decanter into two glasses. “She is lovely, isn’t she?”

“Don’t start,” Leo said. “I like being alone, but yes, she is. And smart. Still scared, but I think she’ll do fine.”

“I’m not starting anything. I’m reminding you that not everything has to be so serious. Valerie needs a friend, and you could use someone to talk to besides me. My range of experience in what you’re dealing with is limited.”

He meant Leo’s grief, which after four years still percolated under the surface, a constant reminder that, with Bobby gone, he had lost his chance to move on from Larreta.

“You found what you were missing in no time, I bet,” Leo said. “How long were you a dreamwalker? A few months?”

Martin raised his eyebrows. Leo knew the Keeper would not divulge his personal history, but he enjoyed teasing him. Brian admitted that he had been a dreamwalker before he became a Keeper, but Martin never dropped a hint.

“You know, Leo,” Martin said. “No one has ever said you got only one chance to find your ah-min.”

Leo swirled the liquid in his glass. “I know, but I’m sure it was Bobby. I can’t change how I feel.”

“Of course not,” Martin said.

He did have a point about Valerie. She was lovely. And she intrigued him by not buying what he was selling. Most students put aside their fears and misconceptions when confronted with a senior dreamwalker. A newcomer who didn’t fall all over themselves to please him was refreshing. Was that why he had volunteered to stay for her orientation? He had figured, in a few days at most, he could start her formal training.

That was a week ago, and Leo had wearied of conversations that moved in circles, but what really bothered him was the question he couldn’t answer.

Why did she show up just when he was free? Why was she the first woman to intrigue him in four years? His initial attraction had grown stronger each day, and unless he was way off base, she felt it too, but that didn’t dissuade her from arguing with everything he said.

Leo told himself to get a grip. He jumped off the jetty and strode through the sand toward her. Might as well give it one more shot.

“Valerie.” He spoke softly, in case she hadn’t heard him approach.

HHHer shoulders tensed even more. “If all you want to talk about is your precious portals, find someone else to bother.”

“Look,” he said, “things here are more complicated than they appear. That’s all I’m saying.”

She turned. Her face was calm, but her eyes had gone icy.

He wanted to twist his fingers in that hair, bury his face in her white neck, and feel her arms tighten around him. Guilt twinged, deep in his belly. He contracted his abdominal muscles to shut off both feelings.

“You still think I’m lying, don’t you?” He allowed a hint of impatience to color his voice.

She nodded.

“What if I show you something that’s impossible on Earth? Would that make a difference?”

“Like what? Are you going to fly away?”

“No flying. I can show you how we handle deep communication.”

“I see.”

He moved closer. “I need your permission.”

“What are you going to do?”

“Communicate with you.”

“Fine. Get on with it.” She folded her arms across her chest. Leo tried not to notice how that movement deepened the swell of her breasts.

Leo closed his eyes and brought his attention inside himself. He formed the intention for the boundaries between them to dissolve. Then he waited.

The part of her that was not angry or frightened came forward, almost as if she had been waiting for his invitation. He steadied himself. The rushing sensation in Leo’s chest and legs told him that his essence was expanding into the first level of the fusion, the transmutation of flesh into light.

It was good to let go, to relinquish the control required to maintain his physical shape. As his body melted into its energy form, he released his irritation with Valerie. He looked through a haze of deep rose pulsing in the same rhythm of his heartbeat and saw Valerie as if through a prism. He discerned the outlines of her body, but he also saw the bright green swirling energy of her essence.

“Leo, what’s happening?”

It’s all right, he said into her mind. You’re fine. Can you see me?

Yes.

They had never communicated without words, and she sounded surprised. I’m melting.

You’re fine. Just go with it.

Her green light swirled in a clockwise circle. He watched fear poured out of her as a stream of dark brown bubbles that splashed onto the sand between them and dissolved.

She moved toward him eagerly, but he allowed only a minimal penetration of their biofields before he stopped her. Can you see me? he asked.

Yes. You’re beautiful.

So are you. Her energetic biofield was even more striking than her physical form. As they vibrated together, some of Leo’s grief moved out of his lower body in a thick black stream that resembled oil. The sand welcomed it.

I love this, but what are you doing? Can we go back? Valerie’s voice was full of wonder.

Sure, we can. Just remember how your body normally feels. Hold that image in your mind.

She was reluctant, but under that surface cynicism was the consciousness of an enthusiastic dreamwalker. She remembered how to do this. He waited until she acquiesced to his suggestion and began to re-form her physical body.

Leo told himself to begin the process of re-forming. The heaviness in his legs meant he had begun to solidify. His legs solidified first, then his arms. His chest was still swirling when he regained speech.

“We call it fusion,” he said. “It’s the first level of communication dreamwalkers learn. There are four levels.”

Her eyes were wide. She opened her mouth to speak, then closed it. When they were both solid again, he stepped toward her. She stepped back.

“It’s a lot to take in. The first time can be startling.”

“I get it.” Her voice was hoarse.

The familiar fatigue swept over Leo like a soft wave. He forced his eyes to stay open.

Valerie tossed back her hair. She turned and walked the few steps to the jetty, stood there for a few moments and smoothed her shirt before she returned to him.

“All right. I get it. There’s no way we could have done that on Earth.”

“Not unless we were ancient shamans.” He smiled to show her he was joking. It was a struggle not to open his arms and embrace her.

“I don’t know about shamans, but that was amazing. Like I died and was reborn.”

“That was your first lesson. We use the fusion state to communicate with each other. The first level is the lowest, and we use it whenever language isn’t precise enough. Words can be misunderstood, but feelings are unerring. The higher stages of fusion are for more complex communication and education. I’m going to show you level three, that’s where I teach. Instruction moves along pretty fast when you bypass words. Now you see why lying doesn’t work. What did you get from me while we were together?”

She looked away. “You’ve been telling the truth. And you’re very sad.”

He sighed. “There’s the downside. Nothing is private.”

“What are you grieving for, Leo?”

He shook his head. “Just because we don’t lie doesn’t mean we have to answer every question. It’s nothing to do with you. I lost someone. Haven’t had much luck getting over it.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. It’s been a while.”

“How long have you been here?”

“Too long.”

She touched his arm. “Don’t you know?” Her sympathy flowed from her hand into him. Her touch made him vulnerable and angry, but for dreamwalkers, there was only truth.

“I’ve been on Larreta for sixteen years. Way longer than most. The woman I was with, her name was Bobby, she was lost…I lost her four years ago.”

Valerie’s face showed her surprise. She must have thought the loss more recent. She looked at her bare feet. “I was sure I died in that car crash.”

“Nope.”

“I’ve heard of etheric bodies. Astral bodies. Ghosts.”

“You’re not a ghost. You’ve got the same body you had on Earth.”

“It isn’t, though. I’m younger. I look better, as if the tunnel I came through washed away years.”

“That happens to most of us. We tend to look how we did when we thought we were at our best. You have more choice than you realize.”

“I’ve heard stories like that about people who die and wake up in the astral planes.”

He laughed. “You are really tough. I can show you…no, never mind, tomorrow is time enough.”

“What can you show me?”

He shrugged. “What happened in the cave. At the portal in the desert.”

“Show me now.”

He looked into her eyes, deep forest pools that might lead anywhere and wished he had met her before he got so tired. “We’ve done enough today.”

“Show me what happened in that cave.”

He raised one eyebrow. “That sounds like a dare.”

“What do you say?”

He glanced toward the house. He had pushed the envelope when he demonstrated the fusion without first telling the Keeper. Martin expected to supervise their first training session, even from a distance. Leo was one of the most senior dreamwalkers on Larreta; there was still protocol.

“What do you say, Mister Leo?”

The dark place behind his heart throbbed. Bobby had called him that, but affectionately. She had never mocked him. He turned from Valerie and again saw Bobby with her bright smile and gold-tipped hair running across the beach. Four years ago. Yesterday.

When Bobby did the unthinkable, when she saw the image of someone she had loved on Earth and turned toward the time rift on a bright spring day, Leo screamed and started to run. He ran and ran, but not fast enough. She disappeared. The rift swallowed her and vanished. Leo threw himself at the spot where she had been, but nothing remained to save. He was alone, still screaming her name, his face crushed into new spring grass.

Leo turned from his memories to Valerie, who had knelt to examine a purple stone.

She looked up. “Are you afraid?”

Heat rose into his neck. “All right,” he decided. He could handle Martin. “We’ll do it here.” He pointed to the jetty. “Go up the beach to those two rocks where we can sit opposite each other, so we won’t have to worry about our bodies falling over if we get distracted.”

She shot him a skeptical look, but obeyed. After a few minutes search, Valerie beckoned to Leo, who followed her up the beach. “Here?” She pointed to two flat-topped rocks a few feet apart.

He nodded. “Good.” He sat facing the sea.

She sat opposite. “What shall I do?”

“Nothing. Keep your eyes open. We’re going to join our energy fields again, but just observe. Relax. Don’t try to help.”

He settled himself, took two deep breaths and closed his eyes. At his intention, his body dissolved into light. Valerie followed his lead. Soon they were vibrating in synchrony.

When their fields linked in a stable pattern, Leo accelerated into the second level of the fusion. Valerie went right along with him, so he edged into the third, the one he needed to create the pantu passage so she could re-visit her own past on Earth. Without hesitation, she followed him. They rested there, vibrating together, until Leo was sure that she could maintain the vibration.

Leo asked for the image of Valerie’s arrival on Larreta to come forward from her memory. A rushing lightness filled his head. He put his attention on what she had experienced on her journey through the portal. A ripple moved through his body. He shifted his energy and formed the pantu perceptual passage. Around them appeared the image of a tunnel from the portal on Earth.

Then Leo was walking in a long gray cave with a rounded ceiling and sandy floor. The illusion of being physical was palpable. Valerie walked beside him. He knew that she perceived his physical image when she smiled as if he were an old friend. Her hand squeezed his arm.

They walked toward the light at the mouth of the cave. She showed him the minor harbingers with their tiny golden heads and bright blue wings fluttering above them, chattering their alarm. “I didn’t see them before,” she said. To the little creatures, she added, “It’s all right. This is an illusion.”

The harbingers flew out of the cave into the pale light of the desert and perched on the highest rock in the stone circle. They raised their heads and called the Guardian of the desert portal.

When Valerie and Leo emerged into the light, it was just past dawn. Holding hands, they walked around the concave circle of sand, bounded by upright rocks so old they had watched the inland sea that once flowed there evaporate into clouds.

“Look inside the circle,” Leo said. “But don’t step in. We need to stay on this side.”

She stopped and looked at the sand, remembering how it had shone silver in the moonlight. “Oh.”

“What?”

“I see past the sand and right into the ocean. There’s the whale that saved me.”

Leo gripped her shoulder with one hand and circled her waist with the other. “You were floating. Did you really think you’d drown?”

“I did. So much drama for nothing.”

“Well, you took the wrong turn in the cave, so you didn’t know that.” They walked around the rock circle until they came to the car, its bumper smashed against a boulder. She peered inside the car they had rented in Albuquerque. Her green scarf lay on the passenger seat, her leather bag on the floor.

“I felt so trapped with Peter. I felt bad about that, like I was an ungrateful brat. But this doesn’t prove I’m not dead.”

He pointed toward the west. “You were driving up that road from the highway, and he lost control of the car on the curve.”

She gasped. “I remember. Peter wouldn’t stop talking. He liked to chatter, and his voice felt like knives stabbing at me. Part of me sat there wanting him to shut up, and another part listened to the voice in my ear, the voice of that being who draped himself over the mountain.”

“You’d been talking to the Guardian for a while,” Leo said. “You two were pretty friendly.”

“I hear him now,” Valerie said as the scene replayed in her mind.

You’re certain you do not want to continue on this path, little sister?

I am, Valerie answered. I haven’t found what I need. This man is not the one I seek.

The male being with you is irrelevant, Radasam said.

Someone is calling me from somewhere else, but I’ve forgotten how to get there.

It is the nature of humans to forget what is important. Do you wish to try another path, human?

Can you help me?

Radasam laughed, a hollow sound. I assist humans who call me. I answer your call now. What is your will?

I wish to leave. Are we near the place?

Very near. Do you remember where you are going?

The Waystation. I won’t be there long.

As long as is needed. Choose carefully, little sister.

She sent the red spirit her final message in clear, blue tones. I choose to leave.

Peter reached for her.

“No,” she said. Her voice echoed.

Peter lost control of the car.

Valerie blinked at the memory that had unfolded before her like a movie. She looked up at Leo. “How can you be here when this is my memory?”

Leo rested one foot on the crushed bumper. “I’m not in your memory. We’re both revisiting the image. Did you see yourself?”

“Yes. How did you do that? This seems so real.”

“It is real, in a way. This is what we call a pantu passage. It shows new dreamwalkers the choices they made on Earth. Do you get it now?”

“I think so. It wasn’t an accident. I decided to go through the portal.” Her cheeks colored. “Which is what you’ve been telling me all week.”

“Don’t worry about it. Now, we have to go back.” He took her arm.

“Wait.” She pulled free. “How did I forget all this? It’s amazing. I did make the choice, but I forgot. How could I know this now, but not when it was happening?”

“We can talk about it as much as you want, but now we have to leave. There are limits to this kind of journey.”

“Why?”

“Not now. Just come.”

She turned from the car and followed him, past the rock where the harbingers sat staring down at them and back to the entrance of the cave where Radasam, Guardian of the portal, waited.

He had taken the form of a tall emaciated human male dressed in a voluminous black robe with silver chains around his neck and stringy black hair hanging to his shoulders. His eyes were dark, deep set and opaque. His hooked nose reminded Leo of a bird of prey. Around him, red energy vibrated in an erratic corona.

He stood in the center of the entrance to the cave. When they approached, he nodded.

“Step aside, Radasam,” Leo said.

The man in black smiled. “You are difficult to convince, I see,” he said to Valerie in a voice like wind thundering down a canyon. “But enter again, if you must.”

“I have another choice?”

“There is always choice.” Radasam leaned forward. The scent of burning wood emanating from him stung Leo’s eyes.

“What do you choose, Valerie?” Radasam purred. “To stay here on your beloved Earth with me or climb back to the heights with this one? Choose carefully, little sister. The heavens can grow wearying for an adventurous spirit.”

She rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand. “Can I go back to my life before the accident?”

Radasam smiled again, wide enough to reveal toothless white gums. “Not a worthy question. You have made that choice. You are here now only because he willed it.” He nodded at Leo. “And you, sir, are confident of your abilities.”

Leo lowered his voice to its most menacing. “Your job is done. Let us pass.”

Radasam turned back to Valerie. “There are more possibilities than your new friend has revealed. I offer you the whole world for your playground if you give up the form you have now. Would you like being as free as the wind, to recline on mountain ranges and soar through endless skies? Or do you prefer the limitations of a puny human body? What do you say, little sister? Will you join me?”

Radasam had used Leo’s own weariness with the perfection of Larreta to make his case. Leo gripped Valerie’s fingers, pressing hard on the bones, willing her his strength. Beside him, Valerie was poised as on a balance beam. She stared straight ahead.

They both hung suspended in the gaze of the fierce blank eyes of the Guardian.

“I go with Leo,” she said.

Leo exhaled. His hand relaxed.

Radasam breathed in. He inclined his head. With a low bow, he moved aside to let them pass.

Leo stepped into the cave first, Valerie right behind him, clinging to his fingers.

The harbingers flew over their heads, chattering to each other. When Valerie and Leo came to the fork, and the harbingers shouted, “turn right” as loudly as their little voices could manage, they walked into the tunnel on the right.

The tunnel did not change, but as they walked, Leo’s legs got heavier. He seemed to weigh twice as much. He staggered. He knew Valerie had opened her eyes and found herself still sitting on the rock on the beach. She was trying to get his attention, but he couldn’t speak. He was caught within himself.

He seemed to be walking under water against a tide threatening to drown him. He lifted one foot, set it down, and lifted the other. His legs were numb and cold. Iron bands squeezed his chest. He had to get out of the cave. Desperately, he looked around for what bound him.

Radasam stood motionless, dark brows knit in concentration.

Release me, Leo said. I don’t belong in your shadow world.

Yet you are here.

Your task is to direct humans to the portal. You overstep your bounds. I am a dreamwalker of Larreta. You have no business with me.

I fancy the woman.

Let me go!

You brought her back.

She chose to leave. Stop it now!

Radasam raised his hands upward. As you wish.

The restraints fell away. Leo turned. He staggered forward, one hand touching the wall of the cave for support. He had to keep going, but he was so tired. Gritting his teeth, Leo took another step.

Leo Hwilled himself to keep moving. Valerie called him, but he couldn’t make out her words. His private channel to Martin buzzed, but he heard only static and the sound of his labored breathing as he staggered along the gray corridor. Almost there. Unable to draw another breath, unable to see where he was, he took a final step forward, and lunged.

He fell sideways onto the sand.

Valerie screamed. “Leo!”

Sand coated his tongue, and he wondered how it had gotten there. He tried to tell her to stop, but his mouth was so dry nothing came out. He was on his back. He took a breath and forced his eyes open. As he grasped that he was solid again, and safe on Larreta, saliva started to flow.

“You’re alive.” She leaned over him, her hair brushing his forehead. “You stupid ass.” She punched his thigh.

With an effort, Leo pushed onto his right side and spat out sand. He rubbed his face with the bottom of his shirt. “Sorry.”

“Are you all right?”

“Yeah. What about you?”

“Fine.”

He sank back.

“Can you sit? Here.” She put her arm under his neck. He let her help him and found himself leaning against her chest, her face inches from his.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “This never happens to me.”

Her lips almost touched his forehead. “I thought you were dead.”

“It’s hard to die here, but we can get into trouble, as you’ve just seen. Damn, I am slipping.”

“Sit here and rest. I’m going back to the house to get Martin.”

“No!” He grasped her arm. “I’m fine. Don’t call Martin. This is embarrassing enough.”

“Did I do something wrong?”

“No. I got cocky. I’m sorry you saw that, but it is one of the dangers in this work.” When she frowned, he added, “We can lose ourselves.”

“What work? What goes on here?”

“We’re dreamwalkers,” he said and enjoyed it when she punched his thigh again. “We can walk into other dimensions, but you have to know what you’re doing.”

“Who is that red spirit? What did you call him?”

“Radasam, the portal Guardian.”

“He’s the one who talked to me in my dreams, but he turned into a man. He wanted me to stay with him.”

“And you considered it.”

She lowered her gaze. “I was attracted and repelled. He was so ugly, I was afraid of him, but I’d dreamed about him so often, he felt like an old friend too.”

“It’s good repelled won out. Radasam is responsible for the North American continent down to Panama. The cave you came through is the only portal to Larreta in that whole area. He communicates with any dreamwalker who’s started to remember their identity and wants to come here. Apparently, he was interested in you. I didn’t know that.”

“Neither did I. He’s been talking to me for a year, but always about escaping from my life. I thought he was my subconscious.”

Leo grinned. He loved a sophisticated woman. “That’s why we conduct these sessions under supervision. Most of the time.” He shrugged. “It came out all right, but if I had known he was trying to recruit you as one of his assistants, I would have thought twice about going back.”

“If I were his assistant, then what? I wouldn’t be here?”

“Nope. You’d be a disembodied gust of wind, floating over the desert and hoping somebody comes along looking for the cave.”

Her eyes widened. “How often does that happen?”

“You could wait a hundred years.”

“I’d be bored.”

“So is he.”

“If I had stayed, you’d have reported me missing?”

“More or less. Would have been damned awkward.”

“Martin would punish you?”

He laughed. “It doesn’t work like that. Everyone has a choice. Even when you’re brand new, you have choice. You’ll never have to do something you’re afraid of. Of course, you can’t do everything you want either, but not because it’s forbidden. Some things just don’t work. Violence, for example.”

“Really?”

“Yup. In the beginning, newcomers get a lot of rope, but you couldn’t come through the portal if you had issues with violence or couldn’t be honest.”

His face and neck itched from the sand. “I need to wash this junk off me. He grasped a rock to pull himself to his feet. “I’ll just be a minute.”

He walked into the water to his knees and knelt to splash water over his face and arms. It felt so good, he leaned over and submerged his head. He came out of the surf dripping.

When he returned, Valerie said, “Well, you proved your point. I’m alive, and I’m here, and you’re here, and that’s all I know for sure.”

“It’s a start. Go ahead. Ask your questions. You have questions, right?”

“Of course. Where did we go? Our bodies didn’t move, but we went to my past. I relived it, only I knew more than I did the first time. How did you do that?”

“It takes practice, but lots of dreamwalkers can do it. It’s called the pantu passage. I give classes to newcomers and their instructors on how to use it to investigate their own pasts, so I have experience with it. You know everything is composed of energy?”

She nodded.

“Well, energy vibrates. Time doesn’t move past you as it seems to. You move past the events of your life, and that makes it appear as if time is moving, but really, everything is still there in the form of vibrations. If you know how to tune into them, you can re-experience even the distant past. It’s a skill dreamwalkers have, although for most, it stays latent until they get here. I teach the technique to my students. The key is desire.”

She looked startled. “My desire?”

“Well, all you’ve talked about since you got here is how you thought you were still on Earth. You weren’t ready to let your last lifetime go, and your desire to go back kept those images so viable we both saw them as if we were re-experiencing them together.”

Valerie picked up a white clamshell the size of a quarter and rubbed it against her knee. “You mean I could revisit any part of my life? I could go back to it?”

“Theoretically, yes, once you’ve learned how to handle yourself. But once you do that, most likely you won’t want to.”

“Because this beach is so much more interesting than my life?”

He grinned at her. “There’s more to Larreta than the Coast House. Here, you can be whatever you want. Study any subject that interests you. No limitations except what keeps you safe. I think you’ll like it.”

She reached out and touched his knee. “I’m glad we went back. I didn’t like leaving Peter the way I did, but it was my choice. Amazing to see it so clearly.”

Valerie was sitting cross-legged on the sand, and when he moved to sit next to her, she said, “You’re still wet.”

But his denims were perfectly dry. She shot him one of those “wouldn’t you know it” looks and moved over to make room. He put his right arm around her shoulders and smiled when she curved her body against his chest, nestling her face into the hollow of his shoulder.

“You’ll get the hang of it.”

“I’m getting you were right,” she said against his chest. “I did choose this.”

“And you’re not dead.”

“And I’m not dead.”

“We agree then.” His lips brushed her hair.

“It looks like it.” She raised her face. He bent to kiss her. She kissed him back. With her left hand, she found his neck and massaged the tender place where his scalp met his spine. Her fingers moved into his hair. He vibrated faster. Reluctantly, Leo pulled away.

Valerie nuzzled him. “You said you’re my teacher. Will you teach me to do what you did today?”

“Yes.” He noticed the change in her, the relaxing of inner tension. “That’s why I’m here.”

“Will we start tomorrow?”

“If you’re ready. And Martin agrees.”

Leo thought he saw a fleeting shadow running across the beach toward the house, but when he turned his head, there was nothing there. Maybe it was time to let go of the past.

“Val, I want to make love to you,” he said abruptly. “If you want to.”

She smiled. “I may be sorry later, but right now, I do want to.”

“There’s something I have to tell you first.”

“About making love?”

“About making love on Larreta.”

“What? No, let me guess. We can only do it underwater on every other Tuesday night.”

He laughed. “Nothing like that.”

“What then?”

“Well, it’s not that easy to say. It would be better if I showed you.”

“I see,” Valerie said.

“Not exactly,” Leo whispered against her hair.

The Cove

Leo’s dark eyes made Valerie feel like she was snow melting at noon, but she was ready for him. She had left Earth. The cave had been a portal and soon she would learn about lovemaking in this new world. She settled against Leo’s chest and kissed the hollow of his throat.

Leo lifted her chin and started to kiss her again, then froze. He pulled away and cocked his head as if he were listening to something.

“What is it?”

“Martin calling to see if we’re all right. He saw what we did, and he’s concerned. That little exercise was not a normal first session. I have to report in, but it won’t take long.”

She knew she must be frowning, because he laughed. “I told you about the communication channels we share with people we work with. They’re telepathic and very clear. You can only hear the person you’re connected to on that channel, and no one else hears anything.”

“Oh, right.” She had forgotten. “But I don’t get it.”

“You will. When we develop a schedule for your training, I’ll give you a private channel to me and another with Martin. I like to teach newcomers here, so he’ll be the Keeper in charge. As you move forward, you can have channels with anyone you want. Now, Martin wants me to check in. After he lectures me on my arrogance and I promise not to have another session with you without supervision, we’ll come back. I want to show you something. If you want to see it.”

He looked uncertain, almost vulnerable.

“I do,” she said and squeezed his hand.

They walked back along the water’s edge, her hand resting lightly inside his. Martin was waiting for them at the railing, arms crossed, and eyes hidden behind dark glasses. He didn’t greet them when they reached the deck, he just opened the door so they could enter. Inside, he pulled open his office door and nodded to Leo, who followed him inside. Over his shoulder, Leo said to Valerie, “Wait for me.”

Valerie went upstairs to her room, showered and changed into a bathing suit. After consideration, she added a pink sarong that clung to her hips. She slung a canvas bag containing a water bottle over her shoulder and returned to the common room. The house was quiet, Martin’s door still shut. She stood beside it, but heard nothing from inside. Maybe the room was soundproofed. Or they were speaking so softly, the sound of their voices didn’t carry through the thick oak door.

She folded herself into the most comfortable seat in the room, a big soft chair that embraced her as if it were an old friend, and settled down to wait.

Valerie closed her eyes and recalled everything Leo had shown her today. As strange as it had been, it was also as if an old memory poked at her, waiting to unfold. She sat quietly, opening to it, but she experienced only flowing colors moving across her field of vision.

Valerie opened her eyes and willed Martin’s door to open, for the interview to be over, for Leo to come out and smile at her. Now that she understood she had chosen to come to Larreta, she was bursting with frenetic energy that had built up during her days of self-imposed isolation. She was ready for anything, and her body tingled pleasantly at the memory of Leo’s kiss.

She got up and wandered around the room, trailing her fingertips along the backs of chairs, enjoying the rough luxury of thick cotton, the luster of silk, the warm polished wood under her bare feet. At the floor-to-ceiling window, she stopped and looked over the empty deck to the beach.

As she stood there, two people she had seen in passing came down the stairs and waved as they crossed the common room on their way outside. The man who looked no more than twenty was listening to an older woman who carried herself with authority. An instructor with a newcomer, she assumed, and waved back. They didn’t stop but took the steps to the beach. She watched them leave their towels on the sand and run into the surf.

She noticed again that no seabirds flew overhead or scurried in the shallows. No clumps of seaweed disturbed the pristine expanse of sand. Leo mentioned that the Coast House never changed, but surely that didn’t include flotsam from the sea, and she had never seen a beach that wasn’t home to seagulls and terns.

While she stood there wondering about seabirds, the door to Martin’s office opened. Valerie turned. Martin emerged first. She wasn’t sure, but thought he looked relieved.

“Well, Valerie,” Martin said. “Congratulations on completing your first training session. I understand you managed to tax your teacher on your first day.”

“Not my intention.”

Leo appeared and moved past Martin to stand at her side. “This one is hard to convince.” He draped his arm around her shoulders. “But it was worth the risk. We can start our regular sessions tomorrow, if that works for you.”

“A day’s recuperation might be in order,” Martin said. “We’ll begin the day after tomorrow. Right after breakfast, in the training room. Does that suit?”

“Of course,” Valerie said. “And, Martin, again I’m sorry for the inconvenience I’ve caused. I really thought this was a hoax.” Now that she knew it wasn’t, she felt silly.

“You need not apologize. In its own way, every transition is difficult.” For a moment, she thought he would smile. “I’m glad you and Leo reached an understanding. And welcome to Larreta, Valerie. I have looked forward to meeting you, and I’ve no doubt you will make an excellent dreamwalker. Leo is my most senior instructor, so you’ll be in good hands.”

She liked Leo’s light touch on her back and leaned into it. “I believe that. So I’m going to learn what it means to be a dreamwalker, right?”

“You’ll start orientation the day after tomorrow. Leo will be in charge of your activities while you’re in training. I’ll supervise, but will not intrude unless necessary. All I ask is that you try not to further endanger your instructor.”

Her face warmed. “Of course.”

“Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have duties.”

“Thanks, Martin,” Leo said.

Martin returned to his office. The door clicked shut.

“He is so odd,” Valerie said. “Is that door never open?”

“Rarely. It closes automatically, but the room is nothing special. Just an office. And he’s not that odd. He has a tough job, and he’s always been a good friend. Martin has more to handle than you notice from the outside.”

“I didn’t say I disliked him. He’s hard to get to know.”

“Well, so were you.”

“I’m embarrassed. I acted like an idiot.”

Leo laughed. “Let’s go back to the beach. You can swim, can’t you?”

“Of course. I lived in California.”

“That’s right.” He turned and headed for the hallway.

“Where are you going?”

“Towels.” He opened a closet door and removed two oversized white cotton bath sheets. “Are you hungry? There’s food in the kitchen.”

“No. I’m getting used to not eating as much.”

“Okay, let’s go. The cove on the other side of the jetty is the only place where you can get privacy without hiking up the mountain.”

“I don’t like to hike,” Valerie said as she followed him onto the deck.

“I figured,” Leo said.

As they walked back toward the jetty, Leo put his left arm around her shoulders. “Did you meet the kid who came last week?”

“I saw him. He and his teacher just went for a swim. He seemed awfully young.”

Leo glanced at the water. Two heads floated over gentle waves. “He is. I’ve noticed that’s a new trend. Dreamwalkers are waking up to their identities younger and younger. They won’t bother us.”

“I didn’t mean to cause trouble with Martin,” she said.

“I know. It doesn’t matter. He’s just being a mother hen.”

“He likes you.”

“I’ve grown on him. I’ve been here so long, if there were an award for longevity, I’d be a contender.”

“This place seems so idyllic; I’d think it would be popular. People really want to leave. Where do they go?”

His hand drifted to her waist. “That’s what you’re going to learn. The point of Larreta is not to stay forever, although there are places where people have settled into permanent communities. Most have returned to Larreta to study or become Keepers. Keepers are trained at the Center.”

She stopped. “So there are other places beside this beach?”

“Oh, yeah. This is a Waystation, one of six. Each has a different environment. One is in a mountain, one by a lake, another near a desert, so no matter what conditions you prefer, there’re accommodations. We use the Waystations for training and for dreamwalkers who want a break from whatever they’re doing.”

“Brian told me that my first day.”

“But were you listening?”

She jabbed her elbow into his ribs. “I am now.”

“Okay. We have towns, villages, farms, even a city, Tyrid. When I’m not working, I stay in my loft in Tyrid. We can live wherever we like while we’re figuring things out. A lot of people choose to learn new skills, hone their crafts, make art, do science, whatever they’re interested in. Some get so involved in study, they stay for years before looking for their partner. Of course, the learning goes on no matter what you do, just like on Earth, so ah-min can appear in the classroom or the village market just as easily as anywhere else.”

“What can appear?”

“Ah-min. The word refers to a true partner, a soul identity. Some dreamwalkers get here knowing what they’re missing. Others don’t recognize it consciously until they find it in another person. If the two have a heart connection and want to explore their relationship, there are rituals to figure out if they are ah-min. In essence, that means they incarnated on Earth from the same spiritual family. The metaphor is a door, and it’s only visible when they join their fields at the highest level of vibration. That’s called the tantra. We use it only for the most intimate communication, by the way. In the tantra, when two people are ah-min, doors appear in their biofields. If both doors open, that’s the test. The two can apply for joining, and if the joining is successful, they leave Larreta together.”

“Like a marriage.”

“More. A lot more. It’s not reversible. That’s why there’s a test to be sure. Nara makes the final decision after the two apply for joining. What happens during and after, I don’t know. No one does until they go through it, but no one leaves Larreta alone. We got here on our own, but we move on with someone else. That’s what we’re looking for, even when we’re studying at the Center or doing whatever else appeals.”

“Wow. That’s intense.”

“Yeah. It is.”

“So what is this Center? Can we go there?”

“Sure. I work out of there when I give classes to instructors working with newcomers. It’s a fascinating place and literally in the middle of the inhabited part of Larreta. The main building is spectacular. It looks like a gigantic teardrop pointed upward, and it houses the training facility for Keepers, a huge library, a healing center, educational facilities, and a temple where the Keepers hold ceremonies and dances. They’re quite the spectacle. I’ll take you to the next ceremony.”

The thought of meeting people after her long isolation was more exciting than Valerie wanted to admit. “I’d like to meet others.”

“You will,” Leo said. “They’re no different from us, people from all kinds of backgrounds who walked away from Earth because they wanted to move on. Every dreamwalker on Larreta spent time on Earth, so we have the human experience in common. Beings from other systems study at the Center, but we’re not likely to meet them. The people we’ll meet are dreamwalkers, so we all have similar abilities.”

“What kind of abilities? I don’t have any special talents.”

He laughed. “Except you heard the call. And you attracted the attention of Radasam, long before you got here. Dreamwalkers are intuitive, some to the point of clairvoyance, but you don’t have to have developed your abilities in your last life on Earth. They’re encoded in your genes. You’re either a dreamwalker or you’re not. No one comes here by accident, and I’ve never heard a newcomer say they were not dissatisfied with their last life on Earth. Even the ones who led ordinary lives on the outside. The restlessness is a symptom of being ready to move on. Some are acutely aware of the dimensions beyond Earth, others not at all. A lot are teachers, or were. Some are artists, scientists. Even for those barely aware of their higher abilities, when it’s time, it’s time. All calls are answered.”

Valerie remembered her discontent with Peter and with her easy, luxurious life. How she never understood how her friends were content with the minor challenges their pampered lives offered. It had seemed so unimportant, somehow. Yet she had never figured out what was important.

“What about you?” she asked. “What did you do in your last life?”

Leo sighed. “Nothing special. I built ships in the Boston area.”

“Ships? You mean yachts?”

“Big yachts. Ocean going. It was a while ago. Time runs differently here.”

“How differently?”

“Well, roughly twelve years of Earth time pass for every year of Larreta time. Our frequency is higher.”

Valerie stopped. “Wow. I’ve been here three weeks, so that means …”

“Yeah. Way more time on Earth. Try not to dwell. It doesn’t really matter, except when you meet a newcomer and realize what year it was on Earth for them.”

“Nineteen seventy-eight,” she said. “What about you?”

Leo sighed. “Nineteen thirty.”

“Wow.”

“Yeah. Different. Makes me feel even older.”

“You’re not old.”

He laughed. “Inside, I am. I’ve watched a lot of newcomers come and go, while I sit here twiddling my thumbs.”

Valerie sensed they were on shaky ground. “So you liked to build things?”

“I did then. I was restless, though, always, and after I retired from my business, I went on a trek to the Himalayas. They had just opened the lower mountain trails to tourists, and I signed up. I found the portal in the mountains there. In a cave, like your desert portal.” He shrugged. “I had the same trouble adjusting to Larreta that you did, which is why Nara sent me here to work with you.”

“Good choice,” she said and stopped so she could kiss him.

When he released her, she said, “Tell me more about Larreta.”

“Well, most of Larreta looks like Earth, and that’s to accommodate our need for stability. It looks as stable as Earth, but it’s also different. More malleable.”

“What does that mean?”

“It can be changed pretty easily. Even in the permanent communities, you can’t be sure they’ll be the same every time. The buildings might be different. The layout. A town square might turn into a circle. One time I went to visit a friend in a town by the big lake to the east of here, and the whole town had migrated to the other shore. Things like that. The people who stay in permanent locations are working on manifestation. They practice their lessons with the physical landscape.”

“They build things?”

“With their minds.”

“Not sure I get it.”

“You will. After we finish your orientation, I’ll take you around. They don’t mind if we visit.”

When they reached the northern jetty, Valerie looked up at the wall of black rocks that stretched from the side of the mountain and disappeared underwater several hundred feet out to sea. “These look like lava rocks.”

“They are and sharp, so be careful if you climb on them.”

“Have you climbed over?”

Sure.” Leo placed the towels in a crevice at eye level. “The cove is on the other side. You can climb over, but I always impale myself on something. Swimming is more fun.”

Valerie shaded her eyes. “We’re going to swim around these rocks to a cove?”

“It’s not far. There’s a little beach and a shallow cave where the sand is always dry. There’s a pool at the base with warm water. Very pleasant.”

“Okay.” Valerie stepped out of her sarong, stuffed it into her bag and placed it in the crevice. She walked into the water. Warmer than the ocean in California, but still refreshing. Waist deep, she eased herself in and stroked toward the deep water. She was getting her rhythm when Leo swam up beside her in a fast crawl. He passed her, churning the water into waves. When he was parallel to the end of the rock jetty, he stopped, tread water and waved at her.

She kicked harder and caught up. They floated near the end of the jetty. Wind pushed the waves into foam that crashed against rocks. They had to maneuver around them without being caught in the waves.

“Farther,” Valerie said and made for deeper water. Well past the rocks, she turned right and swam parallel to the beach. Leo swam at her side, so when the beach came into sight, they saw it at the same time.

“Head in,” he said between strokes. She increased her pace. The beach was no more than a few hundred feet wide. The mountain rose high and steep with a rocky overhang that formed a shallow cave. Her feet hit the sand. She stood up in waist-deep water and surveyed the cove as waves undulated around her hips.

A stream of clear water streamed over the mountain’s granite slopes and into a pool bounded with smooth stones.

“You didn’t tell me there was a waterfall. It’s perfect.”

“Didn’t I?” Leo took her hand. “Let’s sit in the pool and wash off the salt.”

She followed him and stepped into the sun-warmed pool. The cool water from the mountain washed over her.

“Oh, yes.” She faced Leo, who turned her around and pulled her against his chest so they both faced the mountain. Water splashed over their heads. He held her waist, and she rested her head under his chin. “This is perfect,” she said again.

He kissed her neck. “Sometimes that happens.”

With his arms around her, she felt safe and something else too, something indefinable that she had sought, hopelessly, from Peter. “Leo?”

“Yeah?”

“I’m starting to like Larreta.”

He released her waist. “Let’s sit down. Here.” He pointed to two spots in the boundary wall where rocks had been removed so necks could rest comfortably. They sat on the sandy floor of the pool, facing the sea and leaned back. As she relaxed, Valerie realized she could float and stay anchored in one spot. It was more comfortable than she imagined lying in a sandy pool could be.

“Do you bring all your students here?”

“No. This is my hideaway.”

She closed her eyes. Sunlight shone on her legs as they floated in the warm clear water. The waterfall on her right sprayed a fine mist over her body. She opened her eyes. A rainbow glistened. Leo’s body emitted a faint heat that made her left side warmer than her right. They weren’t touching, but she was aware of his every motion. The heat inside her was building. There was so much to think about, but all she wanted was the warmth of his skin against hers.

He stirred. She held her breath. His arm brushed her shoulder. She rested her fingertips on his thigh. Water rushed over her. Movement. He was moving. Blocking the sun. His heat was above her, his lips on her neck. She lifted her head, raised her arms and gripped his shoulders.

She waited for his weight to descend on her. His arms brushed her shoulders. His legs straddled her hips, but no weight. Nothing but lightness. Lightness and fullness. She strained upward to meet him, but the muscles in her pelvis had melted. She kept her eyes closed, afraid to look. His lips touched hers. Heat sparked. Her mouth and his formed a single source of heat. She was dissolving.

It was already familiar, the sensation of flesh becoming light. The rush moved through her, the lightness of her body dissolving into formlessness. Her muscles had gone. She was light and color, more shades than she knew existed as she saw them reflected in her inner vision. They showed her who she was.

The colors mixed, formed patterns that broke apart and reformed. Leo was a mass of color, greens and blues. His light joined with hers and fire erupted. They made patterns together, and her joy at how they combined and separated and merged into coils of meaning was so great she knew her love for him was deep and old.

There was no way to hide, no refuge from her emotions. It was so different, she didn’t realize at first they were making love, that they were two masses of whirling color enfolding each other, entering and moving through each other as they danced into unity.

As she recognized herself as a formless being, Valerie’s ancient eyes opened. With them, she saw only beauty. He was her lover, torn from her eons ago and light years away. They were meant to be together. Myriad times they had joined, separated, and joined again for the sheer joy of loving each other.

She wanted to stay entwined with him forever, to dwell on every nuance of feeling she possessed and present it to him so he would understand everything about her. She wanted him to tell her every story he had lived or heard or imagined so she could set them to music and serenade the whales and the rocks and the people who lived beyond the mountains.

Singing, dancing, they splashed rainbows from the sea over each other’s heads and laughed at how they sparkled. The rocks sang to them. Waves competed to be the first to break at their feet. They shone like a beacon illuminating the darkness of space; still, she wanted to shine even brighter so no creature anywhere would miss the sight of their coming together.

When they tired, they floated over gentle waves. The tide ebbed. His colors withdrew from her, slow and reluctant. She tried to hold on, but it was like trying to capture moonlight. As they slowed, their colors darkened. Their bodies re-formed, first an outline of a human shape, then appendages. Their heads solidified last.

Sand in her hair and a knee scraping against rock surprised her. They were still in the pool. Leo was beside her, shifting his body to her left. Their arms and hands touched. She looked up at the cloudless sky and smiled. “We’ve done this before. I don’t know where or when, but I’ve known you before.”

He kissed her hand. “Remember what I said about why we’re here?”

“To find what we’ve lost. We lost each other, didn’t we? Did you feel it too?”

“I thought I never would again.”

It struck her that Radasam was not the only one who had called her from Earth. And something else too. “You told me you lost someone.”

He closed his eyes. “A long time ago. It doesn’t matter.”

“I’m here now,” she said.

He leaned over and kissed her forehead. “Let’s get out of this water.”

He left her standing by the pool while he entered the cave and came out with a blue blanket. He spread it on the soft sand, and positioned it so they could lie with their heads shaded by the overhang.

“You must come here often,” she said as they settled themselves next to each other. “What else is in there?”

He pulled her closer, and she nestled her face under his chin. “Nothing else. I come here to be alone.”

“Until now.”

“Yes.”

“So that was making love on Larreta. I have a lot to learn.”

“This is why we came here. To learn who we are so we can continue our journey as dreamwalkers.”

“Why are we called that?”

He kissed her hand. “It’s the designation for a type of spirit. When we come to realize our full identity, we understand that all the realities we’ve lived in are dreams.”

“Like Earth?”

“Yes. Although Earth is pretty convincing. It’s one of the denser worlds. Dreamwalkers can experience many kinds of realities while they maintain the perspective of their larger spirit. That’s what we’re moving back to after we join with our ah-min. The larger memory of who we are.”

She was afraid to ask him if he thought they were ah-min, but she had the idea he was thinking about it too. “I don’t know if I want to move on. This feels like heaven.”

“There’s no heaven here,” he said. “Although I’ve heard the worlds after Larreta are lighter and lighter, until, when you get high enough, everything is formless, just energy moving.”

“That sounds pretty heavenly,” she said against his neck. A sweet heaviness radiated from the center of her chest. It enveloped her. Valerie slept in Leo’s arms.

As the sun descended into the sea, exploding rays of pink and purple across the sky, Valerie dreamed of the palm trees in the yard of her home in California, of sitting under them with Peter, having breakfast at a redwood table on a day when the smog lifted and the sky was clear.

Peter smiled at her. He touched her face with his long narrow fingers and moved his fingertips over her brow and down her nose as if he were memorizing her face with his hands.

I’m sorry, but I had to go, her dream self told him. Someone was waiting for me, and time was short.

He didn’t answer, just smiled again and cupped her chin in his hands.

I can’t come back. I hope you can forgive me.

He dropped his hands and stood, his blond hair ruffling in a sudden breeze. We agreed, his dream self told her. Before we started, we agreed. I knew this would happen. I love you, Valerie. I wish you well.

Will you be all right?

Yes. It was an honor to be with you for so long.

Good-bye, Peter.

She woke with a start and found herself lying on her right side, pinned to the blanket by Leo’s arm around her waist. She froze, not wanting to wake him while she got her bearings. In twilight, the beach was gray and white, the mountain darkening to black. The sea was quiet, the sky deep blue with a field of stars overhead. She was safe. On Larreta. With Leo.

She lifted Leo’s arm and rolled out from under it. He didn’t stir. She rose and went to the pool to wash the sand from her hair under the waterfall. Then she sat on the edge of the pool and dug her toes into the sandy bottom. It was getting so dark she could barely make out the rocks of the jetty.

She tried to recall the dream of Peter, but its contours had slipped away, leaving a comforting sense of warmth in her chest. That was over now. And this had begun.

A dark shape moved on her right. “Val?”

“In the pool.”

He towered over her. “Are you okay?”

“Better than okay, but how will we get back to the house? It’s too dark to see.”

He stepped into the pool and stood under the waterfall. Still dripping, he joined her at the pool’s edge.

“We’ll have plenty of light for the swim back.”

“I’ve never swum in an ocean at night. I’m afraid of the rocks.”

“The whales and dolphins and some of the fish emit light under water. All you have to do is call them, and they light your way. It’s quite a sight.”

“How do I call them?”

“Same way you called the whale when came through the portal.”

She could barely see him, but knew he was grinning. She leaned against his shoulder.

“Did you have a good dream?”

“I dreamed I was home in California. I talked to Peter. Can’t remember the details, but when I woke up, I felt peaceful. I think we said good-bye.”

“It’s going to be fine, babe. You’re supposed to be here. The only wild card was that you decided to come early.”

“What happens if we think we’ve found what we’ve lost, Leo? What’s the next step?”

He stroked her hair. “It’s like a courtship on Earth. You get to know each other. The couple practices joining their biofields so there’s no mistake. It’s impossible to join with someone who isn’t right for you. You can try, but the final joining can’t happen unless the two are ah-min, connected at the higher levels of identity.”

“No divorces.”

“No. If Nara approves the final joining, there’s a ceremony, but they’re private. Then the couple leaves Larreta. It’s not so much about leaving as evolving. The only way is to join with another, and since we came here because we were missing something, the motivation is pretty high.”

Valerie decided to take a chance. “What about you? Do you know what you’re missing?”

His wince made her regret the question. “I go back and forth,” he said. “Bobby was more open than I am. More accepting. That was how I saw it then.”

“You accepted me, even with my crazy ideas.”

He kissed her cheek. “Wasn’t hard.”

“What about Martin? Is he looking for someone to join with?”

“No. Keepers come here from somewhere else so they can be Keepers. Some started as dreamwalkers, like Brian did, but not all. Even they leave and come back later to start Keeper training. By the way, it’s impolite to question anyone about their history. If they want to tell you, they will. When I take you to the Center, you’ll see what a whole community of Keepers is like. It’s intense. Everyone studies.”

“I want to study you,” she said and kissed the hand caressing her shoulder.

“That won’t take long.”

“I don’t know. You seem pretty complicated.”

“An illusion.” He pulled her toward him so he could kiss her properly. She tasted salt in his mouth.

He was trying to nuzzle the soft skin under her chin, but swirls of phosphorescence shining in the water distracted her. “Is that light the whales?”

He glanced over his shoulder. “Yep. You must have called them. Now we can see to swim. Are you ready?”

“I guess. We can come back, can’t we?”

“Anytime.” He stepped out of the pool, picked up the blue blanket, refolded it and placed it in its crevice in the cave. Together they walked into the surf, the water no colder than it had been that afternoon.

The light from the whales illuminated the water so it was easy to swim around the rocks. When they rounded the point and headed back to the main beach, the moonlight was bright enough to see the house in the distance. They waded to shore. Valerie dropped onto the sand to catch her breath while Leo retrieved their towels from the jetty.

Sitting there with moonlight shining on her skin, Valerie knew this was her place. She wanted to know everything about it. It was as if a blanket had obscured her vision and now she could see and feel and hear for the first time.

In her mind, memories of her life with Peter mingled with images of events that would someday happen—though the pictures were blurry and moved too quickly to decipher. She was not tempted to hold onto them or strain to make them out. They flowed past and around her, and she smiled, knowing it was not her last chance to see them. Everything would change, evolve, revolve, transmute, until the pattern revealed itself.

Meanwhile, she wanted to learn about this place and about herself and this man who had absorbed her whole, whom she had entered and explored and changed, and who had separated from her without keeping anything for himself.

Leo handed her a towel. “Ready?”

Valerie wiped drops of water from her face and chest. “More than ready,” she said and took his arm.

As they walked back along the water’s edge, phosphorescent waves washed her feet. Valerie kept pace with Leo and twined her fingers in his.

Good-bye, Peter, she thought to him. Good-bye, Earth.

A Note from the Author

This is the second Storyteller Tale.

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