Fly With Your Heart

Epilogue

     I dreamed a dream.

     I dreamed a dream of flying when I was young, I dreamed a dream to be free when I was captured, and now I dreamed a dream to see my family once more.

     Mistik and I would not be able to find my family. We would search, and search, dear ones, but we could not find them.

     I believe they thought I had been killed, so they moved away. But the mountains here are vast, too far to fly – trust me, I've tried.

     Mistik and I would have searched into new wind, travelling together and sharing many a memory. That was when we first began to fall in love. He was strong and kind, I was smart and beautiful. We made quite a pair. By the time warm wind rolled around, there were the first eggs in the nest – you."

     As Kîsik finished her story, she looked down at the three chicks in front of her. They gazed back at her, curious.

     "Mama, why did you tell us this story?" the oldest piped up. He gazed at his mother with wide, brown eyes. She chuckled.

     "So you could understand, dearest one, that flying before you are ready is dangerous. I nearly died, and Nîpisîy would have been lost like I was if not for me finding her."

     "I don't wanna get lost!" wailed another, and soon all three chicks were crying out to the sky. Kîsik smiled.

     "You won't, children, if you stay in the nest before and after you have fledged. In a moon, your feathers should be here and your father and I will teach you to fly." She soothed. They looked better now.

     A cry from above dragged the families' attention to the darkening sky. "Kîsik!"

     Kîsik left her chicks at her nest and looked up. There, in the sunset clouds, came her love. Mistik glided down from the sky carrying a red fox in his talons. "Kîsik! I caught dinner."

     The chicks began chirping excitedly from their nest, but never leaving it. My story must have scared them, thought Kîsik. They all settled down and began eating. Somewhere in the middle of her meal, Kîsik felt old memories stir and settle deep in her gut. Feelings for her lost loved ones which she had bottled up as she told her chicks her story.

     "I need to go and fly a little, I'll be back." She promised, leaving the crag where she and her mate had made their home.

     She didn't fly far, just high enough so that she could be alone. Kîsik let the memories come now.

     She loved Yôtin, the first eagle she had ever seen. She remembered how he would play with her, and how he helped her in her flight exercises.

     She remembered Waskôw and Atâhk, her beloved mother and father. She would never forget them. Even Ispatinaw, who had never really cared for Kîsik, would not be forgotten.

     With a sigh she recounted her memories of the Featherless Creatures. Her chicks now knew to stay away from them, for they were dangerous. But, she could not deny that they had helped her.

     Kinosew, perhaps, she owed the most to. For it was he who helped her believe in herself once more, he who taught her to fly.

     Oh little Nîpisîy. She was fully grown now, a golden beauty. If not for her, Kîsik would not have met her family. Mistik helped her come to her senses. It was he who humored her in their quest to find her family, he, who brought her back from the land of pain and memories into the real world.

     It was also Mistik, who gave her the love she had yearned for, and her most precious chicks. Their chicks.

     Kîsik looked up at the evening sky. One star sparkled high above. She knew her well, for she was the one bright enough to shine at dawn and dusk.

     "Oh Morning Star, it was only you who stayed with me all this time. I remember how I promised to keep you company, but in the end it was the other way around. Thank you."

     That star blinked in response, wind rising up and whispering softly into Kîsik's ear.

     "You have learned to fly with your heart."