Labyrinth of Stars: Dreamrealm Mysteries 2 by Iris Beaglehole

Author:Iris Beaglehole [Beaglehole, Iris]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-02-28T00:00:00+00:00

I repeated the song after her and heard a rumbling behind the door. “It’s working!” I said. “Is there any more?”

“Any more, what?” Veila asked. Her eyes were closed. Her light was fading.

“Song!” I asked. “Does it talk about a bird?”

“What, how did you know?” Veila asked.

“I think it’s what these images on the door are about – the bird, the rock, and the apple,” I said. “They are the same things the Priestess Tree has been trying to show me for ages, but I didn’t know what they meant.”

“Are you serious?” Veila asked.

“What? Why?” I asked.

“It’s from an old Dreamrealm proverb – ‘Befriend the sparrows we cannot chase and pluck the apple when it is ripe, just as the seed must be left to sprout alone.’”

The door rumbled even more and then stopped.

Is that all?

I tried singing it again, but there was no more movement. I slumped over, feeling defeated, but as I sat there in the dark, something whispered to me from the back of my mind.

Maybe it doesn’t just need the words; maybe it needs the understanding.

“What does it mean…the proverb…the song?” I asked.

Veila came to rest beside me, deep in thought, and after a while she began to speak. “Some things that you want in life are like plucking an apple from a tree – you just reach up and take it…but…”

“But only when it’s right,” I said. “Yeah I get that part, patience, blah blah blah…”

“Do you really get it?” Veila asked. “You don’t sound patient.”

I sighed. “I’m trying. What about the sparrow?”

The door continued to rumble. I wondered whether it would move enough that the stones above would fall and we’d be trapped here.

We’ve got this far…We have to try.

“Other things are more like a sparrow,” Veila continued, after a pause.

“Sure they are,” I said. “Sparrows are kind of a pest.”

“Not like that,” Veila said, sternly. “Have you ever tried to pick up a sparrow?”

“That would be impossible,” I said. “Unless it was wounded or something.”

I felt like I was on the edge of understanding the proverb, and every time I figured out more, the door started rumbling again.

“These are the things we can’t easily control – unlike plucking the apple, where you can just reach out for one,” Veila said.

“– or get a ladder for the higher branches,” I suggested. “But yeah, I get it. You have to wait until the fruit is ripe. There’s no point in trying to force something that isn’t ready…So it’s like these are different types of things – different metaphors for achieving outcomes.”

Veila nodded.

The door continued rumbling.

“A sparrow will hop away if you chase it – if you make any sudden movements,” I said, still feeling confused, but the door continued to rumble beside us, so I figured I was still on the right track.

“So what do you do?” Veila asked me.

“Please tell me you don’t hit the sparrow with the rock,” I said. “Like killing one bird with one stone.”

“What?!” Veila asked.

“It’s a waking-life proverb,” I

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