Winter Solstice

Two sisters and their party in the woods.

Winter Solstice

By Dutch Love

Two large rivers flow softly into a delta.  The morning fog hangs heavy. On either side of two lades, the wide rivers flow gently merging into each other. The two girls sit on a log that has fallen some time ago. Their seat doesn’t show signs of aging, other than where they sit. Whereas other fallen trees show signs of decay. This one, however, seems special. The sun hasn't quite peeked over the mountain in the distance but they can see the faint glow giving the girls a glimpse of the calm waters.  

“The fog is heavy this morning,” one says to the other as she looks out across the vast delta.

“Yes, it’s pretty.” The other says back as she opens her eyes and tracks a crane disturbing the fog in a swirl with its wings as it flies across her view. “I’m ready for this. How about you?” She says as she looks at her sister and stands up.

They face each other, rub their feet into the ground to get a firm connection, then start to move their arms in a circular motion. Once they get into the rhythm, the leg moves from side to side. Acting as a pump to extract energy from the earth. They focused the energy flowing through their bodies and form balls that they make bigger with every movement. When big enough they mix the two into one massive ball of energy. they push it out to the waterline and back into the earth.  When the last bit of energy is submerged they stop and focus on each other. They hug and turn their heads to see a house come up slowly from where they placed the ball of energy. The peeks of the roof come up and are tall like a floor, just on their own. splitting the water as the building rises. The two-story house has muddy bank water coming off its roof shingles as it breaks free from the watery setting. Once it’s out and the wrap around porch is dry enough for them, they grab their packs from behind the fallen tree and head in. They enter through the front door, which is big and oak, it has carvings and designs that seem to move about changing. The living room is big and has an open design. There are several windows, that show the landscape of the forest and delta. One lady, Dawn snaps her fingers and points at the fireplace, and a fire starts right up worming the place almost instantly. She places her pack on a sofa that faces the center of the room and leaves it for later. She is the older of the two although you couldn’t tell as they both look to be in their mid-twenties. She is five foot eight slender with brown hair that drops just below her shoulders. Her eyes are golden brown that has a few golden flacks beaded in the iris. Her smile is almost as perfect as her jawline. Ridicules amount of magic went into these ladies to keep up with their maintenance.  

Now Tempist, She is six foot two with a small amount of chub to show off her curvy figure. Her hair is short blond and wild. Her hat is tall, pointy, and wide-brimmed. She tosses it on a chair as she beelines to the kitchen.

“Ya hungry Sis? I'm famished,” she says with a southern drawl.

“Are you are making one of your boils? I’m in.” Dawn says. Her voice tone is less drawl slang and more precise sharp sophisticated.

Tempist opens a cupboard door “Nope” closes it and reopens it. “Yep”. She grabs what she needs and places it on the counter. Grabs a pot from out of the wall and opens the fridge. It's stalked full, magically delicious.  She throws in an ear of corn and a few other veggies, into the pot they go. She slides to the counter and dumps the content. The pot slides over to the range,  a small fire starts under it, and she pours water into it from the delta as she streams it through an open window. She walks out of the sliding doors and grabs the net. She then walks off the porch and floats above the water, and drops it. The net opens as it settles on the bottom her fingers are splayed open. A mass of craw-fish moves to the middle of the net along with a few crabs. She closes her fingers to a point as the net closes around their breakfast. The fog is lifting as the sun clears the mountain. She floats back to the porch lifting her arm and keeping the net out of the water. The net stays hovering above the water, open enough to keep in the catch, she makes a line of live craw-fish float from the net to the pot of boiling water, she keeps three crabs and sends the rest back once she has enough. Heading back into the kitchen she passes a table and slides her pack onto it. She grabs her knife and gets to work on the pile of veggies cutting them into manageable sizes. With a wave of her hand, there are three times as many. They lift with a finger twitch and float into the pot. 

She walks through the house where her sister is. The outside wall is gone, well just a section of it. Dawn is sitting in an old wooden rocker. One of her legs is under her while the other is tapping the porch, rocking her slightly. She is looking out at the water-scape that’s their view, lost in her thoughts. Tempist rubs her shoulder as she sits in a chair next to her. There is a table in front of them that is set and ready to go. There is a drink within reach that will change their consciousness in some way and they have time before guests start to arrive so Tempist has a few sips. 

“Ooh, this is a good one!..” Tempist said as she gets up to get breakfast.

“Thanks, I had some and kind of got lost on a thought,” Dawn replied and smiled.

Tempist walked it to the side of the porch and dumped all the excess water back into the delta, The water splashed and swirled around the flavored sauce as it disappeared “ You liked that? Thank you for the help, see ya later tanight.” When she got to the table she dumped the pot over and the steamy contents piled up in the middle almost poring over. “Hope ya all hungry.”

“What do you mean, you all?” Dawn asked.

“Well thare’s just so many of ya right now, I just hope I made enough.” Tempist giggled.

Some of the wind instruments were tied to trees. Air was pushed through them and they started to play, making soft low tones. They slowly moved through their range then everything stopped. Earth Elementals found the drums.  There were all kinds on the forest floor. A second later a heavy beat rumbled through the forest followed by the orchestra that was in the trees 

Dawn thought to herself. “That is Elemental music. Sounds like they know their stuff.” She walks out into the woods where so the music envelops her. On the ground, are several baskets of colored chalk. She picks up a basket filled with pink and throws it into the air, making it cover the area. 

"I picked these up the last time I was at the Color Festival in  Goa India. I just love it there, and the colors are so vibrant. I hope you love them too.” Just as she finished that sentence dust devils form in every basket. She can see their body. Air circling from bottom to top and that is where the color spins up and out. Some of them keep their color by bringing it back down the center. Dawn steps into the middle of one. A blue one, just to feel the wind all around her. Her robe lifts and flies behind her like that's her cape and she is in flight. She steps out and is covered in blue. Her robe falls down and promptly finds its correct placement and adjusting itself accordingly. She walks away and a pile of blue chalk sits where she just stood. It was promptly wisped into the air and added to the scene that was forming. She was surrounded by colors circling in on her. Others were darting and seemingly dancing to the beat from the music.  

Tempist stood in a small clearing she was wearing the same robe as Dawn magenta with two wight strips one down each side of the opening. She lifts her arm and looks up to see a small gap in the trees. She focuses her energy on the surrounding trees and starts to move the branches creating a bigger gap. When she was done some of the trees were leaning unnaturally twisted and bent at the trunk. She levitated the wood from the woodpile next to the house and started the fire. A few minutes later, faces appear in the flames. A small log jumped out and a small figure that was in the flames kicked it over to Tempist as to walk. 

Haay, glad yall could make it. It means a lot. Tempist said respectfully.

The figure bowed and looked into her eyes. “It’s not every day we get to come together and socialize.  

It’s not every day one gets to see the twins at one of their parties either.”

Tempist Smiles and said. ”There are oak and a mish-mash of other hardwoods along with an abundance of fruit trees, all kinds. Honestly, I didn’t know what ya all liked.” 

The figure said. “That great we love fruit trees. Pair is my favorite, too bad it burns so quickly.”

There are some spells on them, they should last a while.” Tempist replied excitedly. “You’ll tell me what ya thank. I'm working on a new recipe.  I want it to last a good long time and still have that natural feel. Once ya fiddle with something ya get that fiddled feel to it. Ya know. And I don’t really like that.” 

A second later. “I’m sorry I just nerded out on ya.” She inserted leaning forward with her brows extended up, a smile, and a blink of her eyes.

“Yes, Yes, now that you say something.” Said the Elemental. “I can tell, it is ever so slight, but yes there is that, something special.”

Just then some of the air elementals rushed into the fire igniting and extending the flames. The heat blasts Tempist in the side knocking her off balance. It was more like a natural reflex than a response to the sudden burst of energy the fire was giving off. The robe tightens and the hood jumps up for a second then settles back and the robe slowly loosens back to normal. The elemental and her turn to watch as they see both the fire and air elementals mix, dance, and grind on each other in an acrobatic display of fun and affection for each other. The Bonfire has a second burst of air as it erupts above the tree canopy. The sight of this excites her heart as she watches the two different elements dance and rubs their bodies together. 

“You should join them,” Tempist said gesturing to the fire festivities. When she looks down there is just a small burnt log by her feet. She picks it up and gives it toss back in. 

On a path leading into their house, two people approach. Dawn greets them before they get too close. It is a young man and a lady. They have backpacks on their backs and seem to be hiking their way through.

“Hi, we heard the music and thought maybe we could camp close by and listen.” Asked the man.

Dawn replied, “Sure that is no problem. are you hungry?” she pointed towards the house. “You can come in and have some food and stick around if you like.”

They both replied at the same time kind of surprised that they were asked, “Really, that would be great. everyone else we encountered around hears keeps to themselves. We don’t want to put you guys out.”

“Nonsense come put your packs on the porch and stay awhile eat and drink.” Dawn hands them a glass of red wine and escorts them to the house. She guides them through the maze of elementals. She stops, touches their glasses, and they fill back up. “This is just a dream,” She says low and slow smiles and continues towards the house. Their eyes are lifted and can see the short red, and white blue long figures dance up and down the bonfire.  As they approach the house they see the wall is open exposing the inside which has that old Gothic look about it. On the porch the boil from this morning is right where they left it, still hot. There are bread and cheeses, the table is full.  Looking around the earth elementals, that are brownish red with green stripes are banging on the humongous kettle and conga drums.  Some of them have ferns and flowers where humans would have hair. 

They get to the steps and Dawn points to a spot near the door and says, “place your packs there. There is food at the table, enjoy. “Here.” She hands them a crystal wine bottle with runes running down the side. She looks at them both and says softly “this is just a dream.”And the gold flack in her eyes flashes brightly for a second. She turns and walks away. The two guests stand by the table tasting what is offered and sip on their drink it tastes like strawberries with a hint of mint. They get light headed and colors become very clear and vivid. They feel a little drunk with something else they can’t explain. It’s a new experience for them. 

“Ya two havin fun?” a voice came from behind them. Startled, they turn to face a tall blond lady with a huge smile. “I’m Tempist.” She reaches out her hand to shack theirs.

The lady says. “Wow, you're tall. Oops sorry didn’t mean to say that out loud. You just startled me and I might be a bit tipsy.”

“Honey Don't fret any about lill-oh-me. Ooh, what’ ya think about the drink?” she asked while looking at the crystal bottle. “That’s all Dawn, She can brew up some of the finest cocktails.” She says all the while slurping down some of the craw-fish. She picked up the bottle and topped off the guests' glasses and poured herself some. She looked them in the eyes and said: “This is just a dream". The silver streaks in her blue eyes flashed. She walked into the house to where her hat was and put it on. “ There, now I'm pretty.” As she adjusts it.

The man and woman walked around the trees listening to the music and watching the trees swaying to the rhythm. An air elemental comes in front of them and asks if they wanted to fly. The man said yes. He was lifted. They maneuvered around branches as they climbed above the tree canopy. Once up there, he was passed between a few different air elementals. At first, it was just a few inches, but the distance grew farther and farther as they got more comfortable with each other. They hurled the human across the delta and back again. It seems like they had a game of it, how high can they toss the human. Air elementals would rub all over him, toss him and fallow after catching up and grind on him as they flew effortlessly across the water.

In the distance, there are red and blue lights coming down the dirt road. A ranger in his forties wearing one of those fun ranger hats with the stiff bill that goes all around the top. It’s tilted down just a bit. He has on some mirrored sunglasses and is heading to a fire that just blew above the tree canopy for no reason, and that’s odd. He slowed down when he approached the fire. He slammed on the breaks when a tall blond lady wearing a robe and a tall pointy hat just appear in front of the truck. The truck stopped just missing the lady. Their eyes met and he was greeted with the biggest smile coming from the strange lady. He stepped out and approached her and smiled back. She played a little coy. He looked past her then back to her.

“You start this.” He said sounding serious. Measuring the lady up.

“Why yes sir.” Tempist replyed. “Is it too big?”

“I’d say, I saw it blast through the canopy, and had to investigate. What's your name?” he reaches into his pocket and pulls out a tablet. He hears the music. “Is this a party?”

She reaches up and pulls down his glasses to expose his eyes. “There, now that’s better. I can see your eyes. Their pretty, This is just a dream.” She says as she takes the tablet from him and puts it in his front breast pocket. “Yes, this is a party, see every things' fine.”

He looks around and sees strange elongated bluish-white bodies and stubby red ones intermixing in the flames. “You seeing this?”

“Ya, they’re havin fun.” She replies.

He looks up. There’s movement above the water high in the air, he sees a body tossed even higher, it reminds him of when Orka’s toss seals into the air as to play with their food.

“He’s enjoying himself up there. He’s not food.” She says and giggles. “Your funny!”

She slides her hand to the inner crook of his arm and guides him towards his truck. She slides her arm in a bit more and he instinctively brings his arm up.

“Now who’s escorting who?” he asks

“Why you are silly.” As she brushes against him.

He gets into the truck and she shuts the door and leans in a bit. “Ya have a good rest of your night officer.”

“You be safe Miss,” he says looking her in the eyes.

“Now what’s the fun in that?” she says kinda giggly and walks away.

He turns his truck around and drives off.

The backpacker was brought back to the ground. He stands next to the bonfire, mesmerized by what’s going on in the flames. Dawn approaches him “how was your flight?” 

“Great!” He replied, I just never felt so alive, free, and out of control.”

“Kind of addicting,” Dawn interjected nodding her head.

“He smiled and continued. “At first it felt a little clumsy, they would toss me from one to another. That was like going from one air turbine to another. Then once I got the hang of it, they would spread out and I would have a moment of free flight? I don’t know what to call it, they weren’t supporting me. Flying from one side of the delta to the other. That was a Superman moment. I mean not at first, at first It was a flailing body. They hit me with tuns of air. Massive hurricane amount of air, but controlled.” His eyebrows shot down, his head tilted just a bit, as to think upon that moment. Was it controlled? Then he snapped back from that thought. “After the fourth time, they started flying with me. I am not going to lie, that totally helped me from losing my balance. Having a little air supporting me made me go further. " 

Dawn’s robe slipped off exposing her curves and fit body. Surprised he stopped with his story and thought to himself “This is unexpected. What is going on? Is Beth seeing this?” Dawn’s hands came up, palms facing him. Unsure whats' going on, he placed his hands in hers. Warmth moved up his arms and settled in his core. He looked into her eyes and thought he could see the universe with all the Galaxy's in it. The heat intensified and he tried to pull away. “I’m stuck, am I going to die? He thought to himself. The heat was almost unbearable when he felt Dawn suddenly push her hands forward and an intense wave of heat rush over his body starting at his core moving outward. Then in a flash, he saw blood dripping off Dawn, she was soaked in it. The robe crawled back up her body and settled on her shoulders. The gold in her eyes glowing softly now, she says, “You are free. You can go anywhere you choose."

He looked down at himself and sees he is transparent. It then clicked, the mess he was standing in, the carnage was his. “Am I dead?”

Dawn turned and walked towards the house. “Safe travels.” After a few steps, the robe did a little shimmy and a puddle of blood splashed the ground and she was clean of the event.

Tempist walks up to Beth who is looking at a big puddle that has what seems to be bodies moving around in it.

“You can go in,” Tempist says, as she slips off her robe.

 She takes a step out onto the mud pit and Hovers above turns and takes Beth’s hands.  “It’s fine as long as you don’t go in above your head. Here, I’ll guide ya in.”

Beth takes a step to meet up with her. They stand there slowly moving down into the watery mud pit. There is a  place for Beth to sit on the edge. The ledge moves down to cover up to her neck. They feel movement all around in the pool as the elementals dance and swim all around. Tempist moves out to leave Beth alone and sinks further down and under the mud. All that's above her hat that sits hovering just above the waterline. A moment later she reappears next to Beth. They recline back as the puddle gets bigger. The slick mud covers them then is cleaned off by the water moving all around them. Tempist slips under swims with them. She reappears on the other side sometime later and sees Dawn stepping down into the pool. No Beth insight she swims under and searches for her. Down towards the bottom is a limp body. She grabs and pulls her close. She has no life signs, no thoughts, nothing to bring her back. Beth was placed on the bottom of the pit. Tempist floated back to the top interacting with the elementals until she broke the surface, right under her hat. She slowly came out and hovered to the edge where Dawn sits. 

“I wasn’t done with her.” Tempist said somberly.

“I didn’t do anything.” Dawn flatly said.

 In the morning all the enchantments wore off. They sit at the table drinking hot tea. Going over the nights' events. The only thing that needed cleaning up was the untimely arrival of the Ranger. The fireball might have been caught by more than him and it needed to be forgotten about. Tempist was in charge of making sure it was.

The Ranger woke up in the morning with an unsettling dream in his thoughts. Something he had to check out for himself. He jumped into the cruiser and headed out into the forest. On the way out of town, he passed a woman. She had blond hair and was wearing a white dress that blew in the wind. He stared at her as he passed by. When looking in the rearview mirror there wasn’t anyone there. He arrived at the place that was in his dream he looked around and didn’t see anything not the house, any signs of a fire, nothing.