“Where are we going, Uncle?”

Ashevathallion didn’t answer Shane right away, taking instead a few steps out into the middle of a small clearing and turning about to examine it slowly. When he was done, he turned and looked at his grand-nephew. “We are here.”

Shane looked around, his expression one of puzzlement. They had been travelling most of the morning in these woods, an area called the Wyld. He recalled his father telling him stories of this place, and dim memories of a wolf that Da had told him was one aspect of its guardian. They’d seen no sign of anyone other than themselves, however, and no wolves, although there were plenty of other animals about. It was the deepest Shane had ever gone into the woods surrounding Camelot. “And why have we come here, then?”

Ashe smiled at the boy. “Do you trust me, Shane?”

“I trust you, Uncle Ashe, the same as I trust Da and Ma.”

“Then I ask you to trust me now. Come, stand here.” He held out a hand, and when Shane had taken it, he led him to the exact middle of the clearing. Then, setting both hands on Shane’s shoulders, he looked into the boy’s eyes. “You have been a good pupil, Shane. Now is the time for your next lesson, and if you do as I have taught you, its completion will be your reward. I will be here with you, so nothing will harm you, for if it did, your mother would pursue me to the end of time, heh?” Both of Them laughed, and Ashe roughed up Shane’s hair. “If all goes well, we will be home by nightfall. Now, center yourself as I taught you.”

Shane nodded, then stopped. “What of the Wyld’s guardian? Will our doing this anger it?”

“He’s not been seen near Camelot for some time now. The Wyld is a a big place; no doubt some other part of it holds his interest at present. And what you are about to do will cause no harm to these woods, I promise. So! Center, but do not sit.”

Shane closed his eyes, bright sunlight reflecting off the snow still shining through the eyelids. He took several deep breaths, letting his mind clear, his body relax.

“Good, good. Now, use your inner senses. Tell me what you feel in this place. Slowly, now, slowly.” Ashe took his hands from the boys shoulder, backing away without a sound. He watched the boy intently. Several minutes passed, then Shane began to speak.

“I feel…there is a rabbit…it looks for food.. so hungry. It finds a hawthorne bush…it’s eating…”

“Deer… four…no..five….they are looking for food also…they are eating buds off trees..”

He paused. “Wolf, not the one Da spoke of…this one hunts. He is stalking one of the deer. He has a mate, cubs, all hungry. There are others with him, they watch the deer.”

“What else can you feel, Shane?” Ashe kept his voice low, almost a whisper, not wanting to startle him, but knowing he must move Shane on before the wolves fed and the bloodlust distracted the boy. “Leave the wolf.”

After a few moments, Shane spoke again. “There is a flock of sparrows. They have found a bush with berries. A field mouse is below, eating the ones that fall to the ground. The birds squawk at him…”

“A squirrel. It wakes from its long sleep, It has had a kit while it slept.”

“A falcon. It soars!” Shane’s face lit with wonder. “It is so..free!”

Ashe smiled. He let the boy stay with the falcon a few more seconds before he spoke again. “Go deeper, Shane.”

The boy nodded slowly, his face placid as the trance deepened, his voice slower when he once more began to speak. “There is a stream, it sings to itself, the ice is melting, it flows swift and free towards the ocean. The rocks.. it flows by rocks, and they grow smaller, day by day.”

“A tree…no, all of them, they wake, so slowly, but the life quickens, they reach for the warmth. And beyond….the fields, the Earth ..waiting for the Spring” He fell silent, his face suddenly lighting up as he smiled.

“Shane?” Ashe stepped back towards the boy.

“I see it, Uncle. It’s all One! It’s all connected!” He opened his eyes, and laughed with joy. “We’re all connected!”

Ashe hugged Shane, then released him. “Now. What do you feel?”

His grandnephew looked at him with a smile. “It’s still there. I can still feel it there, sort of the way you can hear music playing when you are dancing.”

The older elf nodded. “Congratulations, Shane. You have reached the next phase of your lessons. Come, I have some cider and cheese. We’ll eat and then start home.”

Later, when they had left the Wyld, Shane asked a question he’d thought of as they had eaten. “Can Da do this? Does he feel this?”

“No, Shane. He doesn’t.”

“Why not?”

Ashevathallion thought of Ian at Shane’s age, and of one of his own greatest regrets. “He never learned how to do it.”

“He never got the chance”

2/2001