Are you ready to meditate with Cori?
Make sure that you're comfortable and warm and snug in your bed,
That the light is just right in your room,
And you're staying as still as you possibly can.
Try and get out all of your wiggles.
You're scratching,
You're sneezing,
Whatever you need to do so that you can be still and quiet as you listen to the story.
Veya was so tired that she went to bed earlier than her sisters.
She fell asleep very quickly and found herself standing by a fire,
Listening to the fireplace making its wonderful noises,
The crackling and the popping of the wood burning in the fire.
It was one of her favorite sounds.
And without looking around to see where she was,
She knew where she was.
She smelled bread baking in the oven.
She could hear it raining outside,
But yet the room was warm and cozy.
She heard a yawn in the background and turned around and saw Aronhardt.
Veya had had many dreams with Aronhardt,
One of her favorite teachers.
Aronhardt was a very majestic looking cat.
He was large in size.
His aura and energy was very regal and king-like.
He also felt like a wizard.
He reminded Veya of Merlin,
The wizard.
He was so smart and very,
Very clever.
Clever with magic.
Clever with anything that involved mystery,
Suspense,
The unknown.
Veya walked over to Aronhardt and said,
It's been a while,
Aronhardt said.
Take a seat.
Look at this.
Veya focused on where he was staring.
His gaze was deep.
He was just watching.
Calculating.
That what he could see in front of him.
What is it?
Said Veya.
I'd been staring at this for the last day.
I was expecting a visitor to come through the portal.
It's some kind of vortex.
Nothing has come through.
But now that you're here,
It's clear to me that you're involved.
You must have felt the calling to be here.
Subconsciously,
That is.
Veya said,
Well,
It's so interesting that I'm here.
I haven't had a dream with you in for the longest time.
I've missed you.
Aronhardt looked at her and said,
I've missed you too,
Child.
But I think we have some work to do.
Veya was staring at the vortex.
It looked like a spiral of golden light.
And it kept zooming in and out.
Over and over again.
As if it was just waiting for her to go through.
She started to feel a sense of anxiousness.
Urgency.
As if something wasn't right on the other side.
I can feel it,
She said.
I can feel its energy.
It's calling to me.
Do you trust me?
Aronhardt said.
Veya said,
More than any other teacher I've ever had.
You've taught me so much about myself.
Myself.
And the power of kindness.
How you can make things happen with compassion.
You've taught me to embrace every part of my princess self.
And you continue to teach me so much,
Aronhardt.
So yes,
I definitely trust you.
I feel like I have to go through this thing.
Is that what you're going to tell me?
Aronhardt took his gaze off the vortex.
He stared at Veya.
And smiled.
A sincere,
But very knowing smile.
Yes,
He said.
I think you need to go through.
I have a sense that there's something there that needs your attention.
Me too.
Said Veya.
Veya stood in front of the vortex.
Her fur started to pull towards it.
As if somehow,
In some way,
It had a suction or a magnetic pull.
She closed her eyes.
And surrendered and let herself be sucked into the vortex of light.
Her whole body spun around and around and around at a ridiculous speed.
At first she felt really nauseous.
She felt like she was being spun around in a washing machine over and over and over again.
And everything,
If she tried to open her eyes,
Just zoomed by really quickly.
Light flying all over in different directions.
She didn't know whether she was upside down,
The right way up,
Sideways or anything.
She was very confused.
Her journey through the vortex,
Through the portal of light,
Felt like hours.
It wasn't pleasant.
She was very uncomfortable.
But really,
It only took seconds.
It only took seconds before she landed and found herself in the middle of a field with a bunch of apple trees.
The apple trees were spread out here,
There and everywhere.
The second thing she noticed was the sound.
It sounded like lots of tiny animals crying out for help.
We're so hungry.
Oh,
I'm so hungry.
Oh,
My tummy.
Different noises coming from all around her.
At first,
Freya couldn't see what animals and where they were,
Who was making the noise.
The grass that she was stood on in the field was very long and it was blowing gently from side to side.
The really cool breeze.
If it wasn't for the distressed animals making noises and shouting out little sayings,
She would have just stood there and enjoyed the place.
It was beautiful.
The grass was so,
So green.
The breeze felt so nice on her fur.
And the apple trees were pretty.
They were like the perfect looking apple trees.
Bright red apples in them.
Shiny,
Big,
Red apples.
She did notice,
Though,
That the apples were mostly at the top of all of the trees.
There wasn't any apples on the lower parts of the branches.
Interesting,
She thought.
But then her attention was pulled back to the little whining noises.
Oh,
Help,
Please help.
I'm so hungry.
Freya started to rummage around in the grass.
The voices were quite close.
They weren't far away.
They had to be around her somewhere.
Then one after another,
After ten,
After twenty,
After I don't know how many,
She lost count.
She found them.
The cutest bunny rabbits.
Some were white.
Some were brown.
Some were grey.
Some were patchy.
Some were black and white.
All different types of bunnies.
All over the field.
All in the same state.
Hungry.
She went over to a bunny rabbit that was black and white.
She picked it up and said,
What's going on?
Are you okay?
The bunny said,
Oh,
No,
No.
Hungry.
We're all so hungry.
We can't reach the rest of the apples.
Oh,
Said Freya.
How did you get the other apples?
Can you guys climb trees?
Oh,
No.
That's why.
We can't get the apples.
We need someone to get the apples for us.
We ate all the ones we could reach.
But we can't reach the ones at the top.
And we're so hungry.
And then,
From all the other bunnies around her,
Hungry.
So hungry.
So hungry.
Freya said,
Let me see what I can do.
Just a moment.
Freya happened to have a very poofy,
Frilly dress on in her dream.
It was bright purple.
And it had frills all over it.
She had purple princess shoes with heels.
Not the best shoes,
She thought,
To climb a tree.
She was good at climbing trees.
She climbed many trees before.
But not in that outfit.
Freya peeked down the front of her dress and saw that she was wearing a dance leotard underneath the dress.
The dance leotard was silver.
She must have chosen to wear that under the purple dress so that the little bits of silver on the straps and the back showed and made her dress look even prettier.
She kicked off her dress and kicked off her purple princess shoes.
She was stood there in a silver leotard,
She was stood there in a silver leotard,
Her white fur blowing in the wind.
She went over to the closest tree and looked at it and thought,
Hmm.
Methinks I can definitely climb this tree.
She started to climb the tree.
The bunnies,
Very slowly,
Very,
Very tired,
Very,
Very tired,
Made their way over to where she was climbing the tree.
There was about 30 or 40 of them all together,
Waiting at the bottom of the tree,
Hoping that she could knock the apples out of the top of the tree.
Freya did just that.
One after the other,
After the other.
Plop,
Plop,
Plop.
Plop,
Plop,
Plop.
Apples,
Big,
Juicy,
Red,
Shiny apples falling from the top of the tree.
Be careful down there,
She said.
I don't want to hit any of you on the head with an apple.
The bunnies that were very,
Very eager,
That had a bit more energy than some of the others,
Found themselves in the danger zone and quickly moved back further away from under the tree.
After Freya had knocked all the apples out of that tree,
She went to the next tree and did the same thing.
And then she went to the next tree and did the same thing.
There were a lot of apple trees in this field and she was concerned that she would get tired before she'd be able to get all the apples for the bunnies.
The bunnies just quickly ate as much of the apple as they possibly could.
Some of the bunnies had two apples,
They were so hungry.
After the fourth tree,
Freya climbed down,
Exhausted.
There's no way I'm going to be able to do all of these apples for you in this one visit.
But I do have an idea.
We need to build a ladder.
Aronhard,
My friend,
Showed me one time how to build a magical ladder.
I can show you guys and that way you can feed yourselves when I'm not here.
One of the rabbits said,
Oh,
That sounds great.
Thanks so much.
What do we have to do?
What do we have to do?
I need some kind of vine or rope or something that will tie these twigs together that are all over the ground.
Freya pointed to twigs that had over time fallen from the apple trees.
Some of them were quite thick,
Sturdy twigs that you would probably say were branches rather than twigs.
And they were the ones that she needed.
Now that the rabbits had been eating their apples and they got something in their tummy and they were full of energy again,
They all went on the hunt for the particular twigs.
The branches that she showed them were the right thickness and the right length.
They were exactly what she needed to make the magical ladder.
A group of the rabbits ran around looking for vines or string or something that they could use that would be able to tie the twigs together.
Now that the rabbits weren't starving,
They were funny little things.
They were laughing and jumping and hopping all over the place.
This made Freya very happy.
It made her heart swell thinking that she'd helped these animals and possibly stopped them from starving.
Freya put back on her purple princess dress and her purple princess shoes and started to get to work.
The group of rabbits that had gone looking for vines or string or something,
Rope,
Had found reeves that were next to the lake close by.
The reeves were thick and strong and they were perfect.
Freya used four twigs,
That was it.
She tied the four twigs together as if she was starting to make a ladder.
And then,
Freya mumbled something under her breath and all of the sticks on the ground lifted up by themselves and started to form the rest of the ladder.
Just a little bit of magic,
She said.
All the rabbits wooed and awed.
All the rabbits wooed and awed.
Wow!
How do you do that?
Freya said.
Oh,
This is just one of the tricks that Aaron Hart,
My very special cat friend,
Has taught me over the many years of working with him in my dreams.
One of the rabbits said,
What do you mean in your dreams?
Freya said.
Oh,
I'm dreaming right now.
The rabbit said.
How do you know?
Freya said.
Well,
I assume I am because Aaron Hart is only ever in my dreams.
So,
Yes,
I'm definitely dreaming.
She carried on mumbling under her breath.
Doing whatever she was doing that Aaron Hart taught her to make the magical ladder form into a magical ladder right in front of everyone's eyes.
When the ladder was complete,
She clapped her hands and the ladder leaned against an apple tree close by.
Oh,
Wow!
So cool!
The bunny rabbits were all saying different things.
Who wants to give it a try?
Me thinks you should.
She pointed down to a white fluffy rabbit that looked just like her.
But there was a rabbit rather than a kitty.
The rabbit jumped onto the ladder and hopped up the ladder until it reached the top of the tree and started to throw down the big,
Red,
Shiny,
Juicy,
Perfect apples.
One by one,
The rabbit threw down the apples for everyone below and everyone cheered and nibbled on the apples and hopped all over the place full of energy.
The rabbits could now feed themselves.
They didn't need Veya to climb the tree and get the rabbits,
The apples from the tops of the tree anymore.
They could do it themselves.
Veya stayed with the rabbits there for a while.
She chatted with them about all sorts of things.
She told them some of the tales about her and Aronhardt and some of the magic that they'd gotten up to in her dreams over the years.
She told the bunnies all about Cherry and Heidi,
Her sisters.
They all thought Cherry was pretty funny and Heidi sounded very,
Very smart.
The bunnies asked if they could meet them one day.
And Veya said that she wasn't sure.
This is my dreams,
You see.
Maybe,
Maybe I could have a dream with my sisters in it and all of my other friends.
We'll see.
But in the meantime,
It's time for me to go.
Veya,
As quickly as she got there,
Jumped back into the golden vortex.
They'd been waiting there for her the whole time.
Once again,
It spun her all over the place.
Upside down,
Side to side,
Around and around.
Once again,
She felt nauseous at first,
But then she got used to it.
And after being tumbled and dried and washed and scrubbed,
She fell out of the vortex back in Aaron Hart's home.
She sat down on a chair next to him and said,
Wow,
You wouldn't believe what I've just done.
Veya told Aaron Hart all about her adventure.
She told him how she'd helped the bunnies eat the apples.
They were all starving.
That must have been the emergency that he could sense.
She told Aaron Hart about her magical ladder.
He was very pleased with her about that.
Well done,
Veya,
Well done.
I'm surprised you remembered that.
Oh yes,
I remember everything that you teach me.
Veya stayed with Aaron Hart.
She watched the fire in the fireplace.
Listened to it crackle and burn and make its wonderful noises.
She felt very relaxed and at peace there.
It was always such a beautiful place to visit.
His home was really calming,
Warm and cozy.
And she admired him and loved him so much.
It still was raining outside.
She sat and watched the rain through the window for quite some time.
Until eventually,
Veya,
The princess cat,
Had to wake up.
When she woke up it was the next morning.
She smiled and stretched.
She said good morning to Heidi and Cherry.
And started her day.
The end.
