StoryWinds: Rise

This story was inspired by true events. When a horrible mistake is made, a young woman must live the wrong life. When the truth is revealed, she needs to find value and worth in the 5,000 lost days. This is the origin tale of the StoryWinds.

Transcript

Long ago,

Before we knew how to write,

Our stories swirled in the winds.

Every blue moon and sometime 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 remembered once more.

The story winds were not as old as other parts of the island,

And they were not nature spirits that watched over the islanders.

While they were ancient,

Their creation started one afternoon when a young woman needed a special kind of assistance.

Slanu,

A young villager,

Had collapsed coming home from the market.

The old,

Frail medicine woman came down from the other side of the island to sit with Slanu,

And she talked to her for hours.

She then rose and spoke to Slanu's parents.

The medicine woman watched them start to cry as she told them that Slanu had a rare sickness,

Not seen on the island since she herself was a child.

She would give them medicine to give to Slanu,

But they would do well to not have hope.

Slanu would do little in this lifetime.

The illness would see to that.

Slanu began taking the medicine woman's concoction,

Which made her even sicker.

She learned that there would be much she would miss in life,

And she shut herself away from the islanders.

With little to do and no one to talk to,

She swirled stories out of thin air,

Creating worlds different from hers that she could live in from time to time.

Late one afternoon,

Two men stopped not far from her window and had an argument.

Listening,

Even though Slanu knew it was rude to do so,

She could clearly see the solution to their problem.

Excuse me,

She said,

Interrupting the two men.

They came closer to her window,

And she told them one of her stories.

The story gave the men their answer.

Although still irritated with each other,

They stopped arguing and gruffly thanked Slanu for her assistance.

The men then spread the word about Slanu.

If you had a problem,

You would do well to go to Slanu's window and listen to her stories.

There you would find your answer.

Slanu began to cherish the days,

Few and far between,

When an islander would ask for her help.

She wasn't pleased that they had a problem,

But their issues meant she had value in her solitude and sickness.

Early one evening,

A young woman came to her window and asked to be invited in.

Slanu gave her a wary look,

And the young woman explained that the elderly medicine woman had just passed away.

Slanu quickly let the young woman in the house,

Her heart in a panic.

She had no idea what would happen if she wasn't able to have the medicine the old woman had given her for the past fifteen years.

The young woman sat with Slanu and introduced herself.

She had been the ancient medicine woman's apprentice and was now the island's only medicine woman.

She talked with Slanu until night had spread over the island and lamps were lit.

Slanu finally could not handle the fear any longer and asked about the medicine she needed.

The medicine woman said that it was,

Indeed,

A great and powerful medicine for the sickness,

But she would not be giving it to Slanu any longer.

Slanu's chest seized and tensed.

The new medicine woman continued,

You are different,

Slanu,

In ways that can be treated,

But you never had that sickness.

I am sorry that you have been ill for so many years from a medicine you shouldn't have taken.

Slanu was struck with several thoughts at once.

If she didn't have the sickness,

Her life would be better.

She would be free from the medicine.

And then.

.

.

Fifteen years.

She had lost fifteen years of her life,

Being sick every day because of nothing.

Slanu told her parents in the morning,

And they were delighted.

Her mother gathered her favorite foods from the island and held a feast.

Since Slanu was no longer getting sick,

She could eat the food and enjoy it.

But the happiness and joyful shock of others made Slanu feel worse.

By the end of the feast,

She was crying openly and left the villagers to shut herself up in her room.

The feast had reminded her that for over five thousand days,

Her life had been very different.

She cried so hard,

Her eyes blackened and swelled.

She stumbled back outside,

Heading toward the ocean,

When she was yanked straight up by her arms.

Slanu looked down to see her feet dangling beneath her,

At least twenty feet from the ground.

She tried to pull herself back down,

But she only moved sideways in the sky.

Abora,

The spirit of winds,

Appeared in front of her.

Abora,

Said Slanu,

What are you doing?

I am here to help,

She replied.

Put me down,

Demanded Slanu.

You will stay here a while,

Stated Abora.

You have lost much,

And I hope you will find it again in the skies.

Then Abora turned in a half circle and became a cloud.

Slanu tried everything to reach solid ground,

But she stayed stuck in one spot.

The villagers stacked logs,

Climbed trees,

And threw ropes to pull Slanu down.

But even ten men pulling on a rope did nothing to move her.

The new medicine woman came at once,

Treated the situation differently.

What did Abora say,

She asked.

Slanu repeated what had happened and watched as the medicine woman froze in contemplation.

Then,

Without a single word,

She left.

In the coming days,

The medicine woman talked to as many villagers as she could.

The islanders only remembered what Slanu told them for a story.

But when the medicine woman added together all that Slanu had said and done,

She was astonished.

Slanu had been a storyteller in the dark.

She spoke to Slanu's parents,

And a plan to rescue Slanu was quickly made.

The following evening,

Just before sunset,

The medicine woman,

Slanu's parents,

And some of the villagers gathered on the beach.

Slanu,

Said the medicine woman,

I am sorry for what you are feeling.

I am sorry for your loss.

Slanu cried harder and tried to turn away from her,

But was stuck.

Please,

Said the medicine woman,

We have a few things to say.

Then villagers began stepping forward from a line that stretched to the jungle.

You were alone in your dark room for many years.

I came to you when I was in trouble and you helped me.

I have always thought of you as a light in the darkness.

There are no words to describe your spirit.

Thank you,

Slanu.

Thank you.

May you be blessed.

You shared yourself and what you knew with me,

And I do not know what to say.

And the last person to step forward at the very end of the line was a bora.

The air is in charge of all speech,

Slanu,

As well as storytelling.

You suffered for too many years,

But you turned what you learned into stories that helped others.

I don't know how to help myself,

Said Slanu,

Sobbing.

I don't know what to do.

Tell your story,

Said a bora.

To yourself,

To others,

Or just to the winds.

There is healing in that for you.

The harder Slanu cried,

The closer she came to the ground.

She didn't want to think that anything good came from those five thousand days.

She was so miserable she didn't think how anything could.

But the villagers who spoke said that she helped them when she felt beyond help herself.

By telling silly,

Made-up stories that took place on an imaginary island.

Slanu eventually reached land.

Over the weeks and years,

She was helped by her parents and the islanders,

And slowly started to heal.

Many of the islanders would gather in the evenings to hear a new story,

And Slanu thought it was lovely that others found help in what she said.

But she truly told the stories to heal herself.

Slanu lived a long life and told uncountable stories,

And forgot what a bora had told her about air.

When she passed,

Her stories swirled in the winds.

Every blue moon,

And sometime 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 remembered once more.

Reviews

Your stories are so unique and heartbreaking and beautiful❤️🙏