Journey to The Tower of the Winds

 

January 8th, 2004

According to the calendar today is a good day to visit Corcra, the land of the east wind.  According to me it's always a good place to visit so I went with the intention of discussing the concept of Sovereignty with Cardea but as usual that isn't how things turned out.

Cardea and I sat companionably in her solar with our feet up and a cup of tea chatting about nothing in particular.  I was sitting in a chair that faced the door so I was able to fully observe Njord's entrance into the room.  He's a big man, well built and with an aura of masculinity about him that will simply reduce any woman in the world to water. 

"Good eve to you, ladies." he said as he leaned over to kiss the top of Cardea's head.

"Cardea, have I told you lately that I'm in love with your husband." I asked looking at the picture the two of them made.

"Frequently, but you can't have him.  Besides Wren would be inconsolable." 

Njord pulled up another chair to join us as Cardea poured him a cup of tea, and I was struck by how lucky I was to have such good friends. 

"So, what news from the other side?" Njord asked.

"Worlds still about the same.  We've had a bout of lousy weather, ice and snow and I've been housebound for days."

"You should have Leoithne talk to the Sylphs for you.  There's usually a reason for that much activity in the area."  Njord responded.

"How is she, by the way?  She seems to be gone most of the time I come to visit."

"She's taking her duties working with the Sylphs quite seriously.  To her, the title "Princess of the Rushing Winds"  means she has to make the winds rush herself. In fact I'm sure she's at the tower now"  Cardea added.

"I think I might stop in to see her, especially since I just visited with Paralda last night.  He wanted to give me a lesson on the power of ice and warm wind, and time and heaven only knows what else.  All in honor of a cancer full moon." I said as I set my cup of tea down.  The solar serves as the family portal so I knew that finding Leoithne at the tower of the winds was but a moment's journey using finger magic.  Of course I could have found her directly without knowing where she was.  I was pledged as one of her guardians at her birth and was given what amounted to a locator code to be sure of always finding her, but that would drop me a few paces away from her and it is rude to invade another's privacy.

"Ask her to come home before dawn, will you?" Njord said as he handed me my cape.  "She's become a night owl"

Literally as well as figuratively. I thought. Leoithne shares my owl totem though her owl is a Screech owl and not a Snowy, and Screech owls are definitely nocturnal.  Bidding Cardea and Njord farewell, I stepped through the portal making the sign of the tower to get me to my destination.  The tower is at the western edge of the land of Corcra, at a mid-point on the journey up to the peaks of the mountains.

The portal enters the tower at the base so I climbed the staircases in search of Leoithne. 

When I reached the top I found her in front of a telescope.  Not quite as modern as the big ones in my world but respectable none the less.  "It takes a telescope to work with the Sylphs?" I asked by way of announcing myself.

"Aunt Freya" she said as she climbed down from her seat on the platform.  "Truly its been too long.  I feared you were angry with me."

"Never.  Just too busy contemplating my own navel. So enough of me. Tell me how things fare with you."

"Busy."  Don't people on your plain know that all their violent thoughts and emotions show up in the weather?  I nudge things where I can but still the Sylphs do what must be done."

"It's a two edged sword, Leoithne.  If the energy is focused we have killings and wars.  If its just unfocused anger and excess emotion it comes out in the weather.  People don't really understand on my plane what the myth of the fall from the Garden of Eden is all about.  When we became separate and self aware we became capable of so much but there is always a price to paid for everything.  One of the prices is storms, tornadoes, earthquakes..."

"Earthquakes belong to the Land of Earth" she interrupted.  "I can't do anything about them.  But enough of that.  I'm glad you're here because I need to talk to you.  Let me get you a glass of mulled wine and we can get things worked out."

I was surprised at the urgency in her voice.  Obviously something important was going on and I didn't have a clue. We walked down the stairs to a small apartment she kept on a lower level.  The fire flared up in the fireplace as soon as we walked in and she took a poker off the wall and began heating it.

Once the fire had started the room took on a warm friendly, almost cozy feeling even though a moment before it had appeared cold and sterile.  Remembering my manners I said. "My greetings to the flame dragon who warms this space." 

"Thank you Daighear." Leoithne added.  The flames in the fireplace leaped in response.  "It really would be dismal here without you." 

Turning away from the fireplace she asked me to pour the wine setting on the sideboard and to bring her our glasses so she could warm them up.  I have to admit there's something very basic to the sizzle of a hot poker in wine.  The principle of heat transfer is obvious, and I saluted my glass toward the fireplace and Daighear for his assistance. I took a sip of my wine and waited for Leoithne to speak.

She sat down in a chair and cupped her steaming cup in her hands.  "Why haven't you told anyone about me?  If people on your plane want to work air magic I'm the one who can help them.  After all the Ladies of the four winds are my court, not my mother's."

Do adults always fail to see when children have grown up?  She was right of course. My only excuse was that when I was learning she was a child and hadn't yet come into her power.  I have a feeling there's a deeper soul lesson here than I might first have thought.  I wonder where else in the real world I have failed to acknowledge someone's rightful place and power.  "Mea Culpa.  All I can say is I'll fix it.  You grew up and I simply didn't notice at the most fundamental level.  Forgive me?"

"Of course,  Aunt Freya."  She smiled.  "But I want bold Headlines and a page of my own."