StoryWinds: Hope

A story from before people could write, about two sisters separated by sleep, to never see each other again. Until one day, nothing changes...except the arrival of hope. Inspired by the millions of people separated indefinitely by the coronavirus. This is the fifth in the StoryWinds series, and can be heard individually.

Transcript

Long ago,

Before we knew how to write,

Our stories swirled in the winds.

Every blue moon and,

Sometimes sooner,

The winds would collide.

Stories long forgotten slid to the earth and slipped into the dreams of the sleepers below,

And for a moment they were remembered once more.

In the history of the island,

The people can think of no villagers as close as Chipeek and K'ilasa.

They were called New Moon Sisters,

For though they had no relation by blood,

They were sisters,

And were rumored to be able to find each other,

With the entire island between them,

Under a perfectly dark new moon.

To a stranger,

Or even one who knew the sisters almost as well as they knew each other,

There appeared to be no common traits between them.

They looked as different as a mountain lion and a sand dune,

And their kinship to each other was a perpetual mystery among the villagers.

They were inseparable,

Until one lovely,

Sunny day,

Nothing happened.

There was no disaster,

No spirit appeared with frightening portents,

And everyone on the island was well.

All that happened was Chipeek fell asleep,

And K'ilasa woke up.

Since it was morning,

K'ilasa went to Chipeek's home,

And was very surprised to find her asleep.

Fearing that Chipeek was ill,

She tried to wake her.

She called her name and then shook her,

And even gave her arm a hard pinch.

But Chipeek wouldn't wake.

K'ilasa ran to the medicine woman and brought her to Chipeek.

The medicine woman said that Chipeek was perfectly fine.

She was just sleeping.

But no matter what the medicine woman did,

She could not rouse Chipeek either.

K'ilasa was terrified.

She had never heard of something like this happening before,

And she spent the entire day by Chipeek's bed,

Waiting for her to wake up.

She prayed to every spirit she knew,

In case any of them were behind this,

Or could possibly help.

Nothing worked,

And out of exhaustion,

She finally fell asleep in the dark of night.

Chipeek was alarmed to wake up in the middle of the night instead of the morning,

And was equally concerned about why K'ilasa was holding her hand and sleeping next to her bed.

Chipeek asked K'ilasa what was going on,

But K'ilasa was fast asleep.

She tried waking her,

But was completely unable.

She quickly dressed and ran to the house of the medicine woman,

Whose mouth dropped when she opened the door.

Chipeek,

You're awake!

That's different,

She said.

Chipeek paid no attention to her words,

And rapidly spoke over her about K'ilasa being unable to wake.

Instead of bringing her bag of herbs and spices,

The medicine woman packed a travel bag.

What are you doing?

Asked Chipeek.

I believe I shall need to stay a while,

She replied.

She asked Chipeek when she found K'ilasa asleep.

I woke up and she was already that way,

She answered.

Chipeek was getting upset that the medicine woman was not doing more to wake K'ilasa or somehow cure her.

Instead,

The woman settled into a chair for a long wait,

And simply watched the New Moon Sisters.

While it was difficult,

She stayed awake through the long day,

Well past Chipeek,

Whose anxiety and exhaustion finally overtook her.

The moment she fell fully asleep,

K'ilasa awoke,

Just as the medicine woman had feared.

She began gathering her things and packing her bags just as K'ilasa noticed she was there.

What's going on?

Asked K'ilasa.

Why are you here?

I have no idea,

Said the medicine woman.

Chipeek came and got me to wake you up,

But you do not need a medicine woman.

Chipeek was awake,

Cried K'ilasa.

When?

What you need,

K'ilasa,

What you both need,

Is a wise woman,

Not a medicine woman.

There is no illness causing this,

She said.

What is happening?

K'ilasa asked,

Barely controlling her frustration.

You are being kept apart,

Said the medicine woman,

Almost certainly by a spirit.

When one of you falls asleep,

The other one wakes,

And this repeats.

You would do well to look for a kind spirit.

There are worse ways to be kept apart from those we love.

And with that,

The medicine woman took her leave and left the sisters.

K'ilasa sat silently,

Stunned by what the woman had said.

Her heart froze in fear,

Yet pounded in her chest like an avalanche.

Then she got to work.

The wise woman lived on the other end of the village,

And K'ilasa had to run in order to make it there before Chipeek awoke.

She arrived at the woman's door,

Just in time to crumple on the doorstep.

The wise woman had seen stranger things in her life,

But this was intriguing enough to investigate.

She pulled K'ilasa over the doorway and covered her with a blanket.

Then she gathered up her walking stick and made the trip across the island to find K'ilasa's other half.

She found Chipeek at the medicine woman's house,

Which is to say that she found the medicine woman sitting on top of Chipeek at her house.

Absolutely frantic that she had awoken and K'ilasa was gone,

Chipeek had gone to the medicine woman again.

In a relaxed position atop Chipeek,

The medicine woman calmly informed the wise woman about what had happened to the sisters.

The wise woman nodded and gave a sigh.

This is Eotas,

She said to the medicine woman,

Who replied,

Oh dear,

And the two of them came up with a plan for the sisters.

Chipeek followed the wise woman to her house with a sled,

And they brought K'ilasa back to the village.

The wise woman gave Chipeek instructions for how they could live now,

Never seeing each other again,

Except in sleeping form.

What the wise woman couldn't do was tell them how to fix their problem.

Her only suggestion was that this was caused by Eotas,

The spirit of knowledge.

None of that made sense to Chipeek,

Who figured that the two of them could hardly learn anything with the sleeping and waking of the sisters.

Chipeek planned on finding Eotas and asking what they needed to learn,

But the wise woman said the sisters were hardly likely to find Eotas,

Much less get an answer.

Knowledge only comes from learning.

You must learn first.

After the wise woman left,

Chipeek rushed to the neighbor and explained what was happening.

She asked the neighbor to be their messenger,

And the neighbor,

Who loved gossip,

Was delighted to agree.

The two sisters were happy to have found Eotas,

But the wise woman was not happy to see them.

The neighbor,

Who loved gossip,

Was delighted to agree.

She would find Kielasa as soon as she woke and tell her of the day's happenings,

But before Kielasa could awake and put Chipeek to sleep,

Chipeek drew a small scene in the sand,

Two sisters holding hands.

The gossip kept her promise,

And this practice continued for quite some time,

Until one day,

With clouds on the horizon,

Nothing happened.

Chipeek and Kielasa hadn't talked for many,

Many new moons,

And Kielasa felt like Chipeek had died.

Crying had not changed their situation,

And Kielasa felt that something clearly had to,

Or Eotas would never set them free.

For the first time,

Kielasa stood up,

Walked away from Chipeek,

And spent her day wandering the island.

She fell asleep while walking by the ocean,

But a kind villager must have brought her home,

For that is where she awoke next.

Chipeek had left her no message,

And was not by her when she did wake.

This was the lesson,

Then,

That Eotas needed them to learn,

How to no longer be the new moon sisters.

They would have to learn how to be alone.

Kielasa stayed in her house for days,

Not even looking out the window at the sun or the moon.

Chipeek must have given up as well.

Their lives became very different,

As they learned how to be solitary,

Do the things that interested only each of them,

And learn how to be alone.

Do the things that interested only each of them,

And never see each other.

They were learning about who they each were separately,

And finding talents they didn't know they had.

But each villager on the island,

And perhaps even the fishers out at sea,

Prayed that Eotas would appear and change their lives.

The sadness each of the sisters carried with them grew with each day,

And the entire island could feel how they mourned.

Without much ado,

Chipeek woke one morning and went to find Kielasa.

Chipeek grabbed Kielasa's hand in both of hers,

And said sincerely and solemnly,

I am changing my name,

Kielasa.

I have learned much about who I am and what is important to me,

And Chipeek will no longer be my name.

My name is now Toiva.

It means hope.

I am done with how we have been living,

And I now know that who I am is someone who won't give up what is so important to them.

I have no answers,

But I have hope.

Toiva had meant everything she said,

But she had secretly wished that saying those words would reverse things,

Or that Eotas would appear.

But Toiva's hope seemed to have come with determination,

And she began spending her waking hours with Kielasa.

She talked to her for hours a day,

Telling her about the things she had learned when they had been apart,

And the things she had discovered.

Kielasa,

In turn,

Was delighted and relieved in her soul to wake up every time with Chipeek by her side,

And had also started spending her waking hours with her sister.

Much of the grief had left the two,

But the separation was a haunting on the island.

One day,

Kielasa left Toiva—the gossip had told her about the new name—and walked down to the beach.

She looked up at the moon faintly visible over the setting sun,

And gave everything she had.

"'Eotas!

' she shouted.

"'Here is what I have learned.

Neither time nor space can kill love,

Even if the people wish to die from the pain.

A sister is anyone who will walk through fire with you.

Toiva may have more hope than me,

And believe more than me that things will change.

But I know of myself that I will live like this for the rest of my days,

If this is all you will give me,

Because I would hope that everyone could have what my sister and I have,

Even if they have to be asleep.

'" She did not fall or falter.

She stood her ground,

And when she turned around to go back to Toiva,

She found her sister standing behind her,

With Eotas at her side.

"'I will not apologize,

' said Eotas,

For separating you both.

You were so carefree in your lives that you did not know yourselves without the other,

And you did not know the value of what you have.

You have learned far more than I had expected.

I will not bother the two of you again.

'" With that,

Toiva and Kielasa were left alone on the beach.

"'You changed your name,

' said Kielasa.

"'I'm not changing mine.

' "'That's fine,

' said Toiva.

I've been calling you something different for months.

' "'What is that?

' asked Kielasa.

"'Pheeta,

' answered Toiva.

"'It means faith.

'" ❤ouble curtsy

Reviews

Your voice and the story are beautiful. Have to listen again to catch the ending.....

Thank you. Feeling grateful, hopeful, faithful. Sending good wishes.

Wow. Powerful story. I’m still wiping the tears away from the last 3 minutes. Beautiful lessons to be learned. I’ve got a lot of your work bookmarked and now I can’t wait to listen to more.
Thank you for this lovely story.
💖🐾🕊🙏🏽🦋✨🌿🪴💫🍁🪶

I felt the emotions in the story Liza
That was really powerful
Thank you

Such a great story!

What a beautiful and poignant story. Thank you

What a beautiful story! I was crying towards the end. Thank you much. Hope and Faith. 🌟

Thanks, very moving! 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
And thanks for inquiring. Because of your response, I clicked on this story again, and now it worked. Yay!🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

“What have you learned since we’ve been apart?”
A holy question to ask a spiritual friend upon seeing one another again.
Thank you for this beautiful story. 💜

Faith and Hope. Your Windstories are delightful! Thank you!