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Emeryld's Tale:

Walking deep in the forest minding your own business you come across a clearing, sunlight shining down from the spaces in the trees.  A redheaded woman is sitting on an old tree stump, her eyes are closed and she seems perfectly at peace.  Taking in the rest of the clearing, you now notice many forest animals quietly grazing all around; rabbit's, squirrels, field mice and even a family of deer off to the side.

'Oh!’  exclaims the redhead, opening her bright amber eyes.  "Welcome ta ma glade, come, sit, talk wit ma.  Dinna worry 'bout de gentle souls of de forest, dey know there is na danger 'ere.”  She holds out her arms and gestures you to sit down at her feet.

'Let ma tell ye a short story ta pass de time, eh?' she smiles at you and you cannot deny her a thing....

My name is Emeryld Runne, I was born of Rhiannon and David of Luke.  They grew up together and had known each other for many, many years when they married.  I was their only child, and I was born the tenth year of their marriage.

Sadly however Rhiannon did not make it past my second breath.  She died during my birth, mere moments after I slipped from her loving womb.  Though I know she loved me dearly and would be very proud of me now...  But I am skipping much, let me begin again.

My Father David was a wonderful Farmer, but he knew very little of children.  It was a great fall of fortune when his half-sister Gammyde showed up, for she nurtured me though my difficult years.  Gammyde was my Mother for all the love she gave me, she always told me the truth and taught me all my lessons.  She showed me that it was not a weakness to be scared and cry at night, she told me stories of faeries and tiny imps that lived in knolls deep in the woods.  She gave a small child a life where there would not have been one.

One day 'Auntie Gammyde' and Pa had an argument, of what I did not understand as a child and was never told as a woman.  But even as a child of six, I knew Gammyde would not be telling stories to me any longer.  I was right, for she packed up and told me to be a good child, that she loved me and that I was to behave for Pa.   That I was not to cry and cause a fit, but to stand tall and brave for her, for her heart could not bear my sadness.  I made her proud as she walked away from us that day, but my soul will forever bear the marks that pain left on it.

With Pa always busy with the Farm - growing food and taking care of the livestock - I had a lot of time to wander.  And wander I did and listen too, for I had large ears!  Pa often hired farmhands to help him with the great load of work he had.  They had their own shack on the land, and usually there were at least three men working our farm at once.  My favorite place was in a copse of trees behind that shack.  Close enough to hear and far enough to never be seen.  Oh!  What those men talked about late at night...  Burns my ears to think of it.  That was also where I found the first love of my life....

There I was, sitting under my giant umbrella of the weeping willow trees and upon me came the oddest thoughts and feelings.  "Hunger, Weakness, So Tired, Smell humans, Safe!!”  And suddenly a Huge Black Bear came rumbling into my little covering!  He sniffed me up and down, then turned around in a circle and plopped his big behind right in front of me and as you please, he fell asleep penning me in!  I sat there a long time, shocked both at feeling this bears thoughts (which I continued to feel even through his sleep) and the fact he had trapped me where I was.  This is how I came to meet and fall in love with Tansy - my first love and animal bond.  He stayed with me for many years, till I was fourteen summers old...  then he met an unfortunate end...  But that is another story.

Now, not so long ago and still on the Farm, I became more useful.  No longer a child, newly a woman with my own experiences and dreams.  Pa and I got along real good.  (Unlike most other girls my age, who were evil to their parents and loose with the neighborhood boys.)  Most days Pa spent in the fields still, toiling on the land he loved best, growing with his heart and soul.  But it was one dreary day that he went out and did not return...  Worried I went out to find him.  Unhappily I did.  Pa, my Father, my Only, was lying in the garden patch on his back, a funny half smile on his face.  Dead as Ma was when she passed from this realm.  I cried for the first time in many, many years.  Then I dried my tears, stood up and took Pa back to the house we had shared for seventeen years....

...Where I burned it to the ground.

I sold the Farm to the highest bidder and left Luke for the rest of my life.  Harsh you say?  No, I think not.  I loved Pa and I worshipped the spirit of my Ma.  It was my time now, my time to bloom, my time to love and be loved.  My time to live my dreams.  

Now I am in Athens , for now I call it home.  It is where I have found the second love in my life and hopefully the only love I'll ever have with someone not of the animal kingdom.  Though I know there is another animal bond soon to be found...  I still hear the feeling/thoughts everywhere I am and they are stronger then ever......

Emeryld Runne of Athens .