Zelana spent many happy hours teaching Eleria how to create poetry and how to sing. Zelanas poetry was stately and formal, and her songs were complex. Elerias poetry was still antique but much more passionate, and her songs were simple and pure. Zelana was painfully aware that the childs voice was more beautiful than her own, clear and reaching upward without effort.
Eleria eventually came to realize that the language she had come to know as the language of poetry had a more colloquial form which they could use for everyday communication. She still insisted on calling Zelana Beloved, however.
It was in the spring of Elerias seventh year when the child went out to play with her pink friends again. Zelana had suggested that Eleria had been neglecting them of late, and it was not polite to do that.
Late that day Eleria returned to the grotto with a strange glowing object.
What is that pretty thing, child? Zelana asked.
Its called a pearl, Beloved, Eleria replied, and a very old friend of the dolphins gave it to me well, she didnt exactly give it to me. She showed me where it was, though.
I didnt know that pearls could grow so large, Zelana marveled. It must have been an enormous oyster.
It was huge, Beloved.
Who is this friend of the dolphins?
A whale, Eleria replied. Shes very old, and she lives near that islet off the south coast. She joined us this morning and told me that she wanted to show me something. Then she led me to the islet and took me down to where this enormous oyster was attached to a reef. The oysters shell was almost as wide across as I am tall.
How did you pry it open if it was that big?
I didnt have to, Beloved. The old whale touched the shell with her fin, and the oyster opened its shell for us.
How very peculiar, Zelana said.
The old whale told me that the oyster wanted me to have the pearl, so I took it. I did thank the oyster, but Im not sure it could understand me. It was a little hard to swim and hold my pearl at the same time, but the old whale offered to carry me back home.
Carry?
Well, not exactly. I rode on her back. That is so much fun. Eleria held the pearl up. See how it glows pink. Beloved? Its even prettier than the ceiling of our grotto. She nestled her pearl, which was about the size of an apple, against her cheek. I love it! she declared.
Did you eat today? Zelana asked.
I had plenty earlier today, Beloved. My friends and I found a school of herring and ate our fill.
Did the whale have a name, by any chance?
The dolphins just called her mother. She isnt really their mother, of course. I think its more like a way to let her know that they love her.
She speaks the same language as the dolphins?
Sort of. Her voice isnt as squeaky, though. Eleria crossed to her bed of moss. Im very tired, Beloved, she said, sinking down onto her bed. It was a long swim out to the islet, and mother whale swims faster than I do. I had trouble keeping up with her.
Why dont you go to sleep, then, Eleria? Im sure youll feel much better in the morning.
That sounds like a terribly good idea, Beloved, Eleria said. Im really having trouble keeping my eyes open. She lay back on her bed of moss with the glowing pink pearl cradled to her heart.
Zelana was puzzled, and just a trifle concerned. It wasnt natural for whales and dolphins to associate with each other in the way Eleria had just described, and Zelana was almost positive that they wouldnt be able to speak to each other and be understood. Something very peculiar had happened today.
Eleria appeared to be sound asleep now, and her limbs had relaxed. Then, to Zelanas astonishment, the glowing pink pearl rose up into the air above the sleeping child. Its pink glow grew steadily stronger and the glow seemed to enclose Eleria.
Dont interfere. Zelana, a very familiar voice echoed in Zelanas mind. This is necessary, and I dont need any help from you.
Eleria awoke somewhat later than usual the following morning, and she had a puzzled look on her face as she sat cross-legged on her bed of moss with her pearl in her hand. Why do we sleep, Beloved? she asked.
I dont, Zelana replied, and Im not sure exactly why other creatures seem to need to sleep every so often.
I thought you and I were of the same kind, Eleria said. We look very much alike except that your hair is dark and glossy and mine is sort of yellow.
Ive wondered about that myself. Maybe Ive just outgrown the need for sleep. I am quite a bit older than you are, after all. It was a simplified answer, but Zelana was quite certain that Eleria wasnt ready for the real one just yet.
Since you dont sleep, you wouldnt know about the strange things I seem to see happening while Im sleeping, would you?
Theyre called dreams, Eleria, Zelana told her, and I dont think any other creature has the same kind of dreams you do. My brother Dahlaine told me that your dreams would be very special, and much more important than the dreams of the ordinaries. Did you have a dream last night that frightened you?
It didnt particularly frighten me, Beloved. It just seemed very strange, for some reason.
Why dont you tell me about it? Zelana suggested.
Well, I seemed to be floating except that I wasnt floating in Mother Sea the way I do sometimes when I want to rest and catch my breath. I was floating way up in the air instead, and all sorts of strange things were happening far below. Father Earth seemed to be all on fire, and his mountains were rising and falling the way Mother Seas waves do. Rocks were melting and running down the sides of some of Father Earths mountains into Mother Sea, and some of his other mountains were spouting liquid fire way up into the sky. Could something like that really happen?
Yes, child, Zelana said in a troubled voice, and it happened in exactly the way you just described it. I was there watching while it happened. It was at the very beginning of the world. What happened next?
Well, the fires kept burning for a long, long time, and then the land below me started to break apart, and the pieces floated off in different directions. Then trees began to sprout on the face of Father Earth, and Mother Sea started having children. It was about then that I seemed to know that I wasnt alone. Others were having the same dream only maybe for them it wasnt really a dream.
Zelana smiled. No, dear, it wasnt. I was one of those others, and I certainly wasnt dreaming, and neither were my brothers or my sister.
Then it was your family that was sort of hiding around the edges of my dream? Eleria asked. I thought you only had two brothers and one sister. There seemed to be two more brothers and a sister watching with me.
Theyre another branch of the family, Eleria, Zelana told her. We dont get together very often. We can talk about them some other time. Why dont you tell me what happened next in your dream. Dreams fade, I guess, and Id like to hear your whole dream before you forget.