The Fairy Lantern and the Fox Doll

The Desert Mirage

I was asleep in bed. Where am I now?

I'm...flying? There's nothing here. I can't see anything at all. It's only black, but I can feel something. Movement. Speed. The wind against me, brushing against each fleck of fur. My tails sail out behind me, keeping my centre as I'm buffeted by the strength of the hot, dry air.

I'm coming to myself slowly. The darkness is softening to vague colours. Blue above, yellow below. Sand keeps being buffeted into my large ears. I can hear the wind whipping up, slashing at the dunes of the desert.

In an eye blink, I'm present.

The desert lies below my form, but I know it's not my body. This isn't me soaring above, it's

Kirla.

I'm inside Kirla.

How?

I can feel my heart beating in my chest, it's not where it usually is. The thought makes me pull away from the body I'm inhabiting.

Don't go, Sam. I wanted to show you something.

I don't know how, but I know Kirla is talking to me, talking through me.

Kirla, did you bring me here? Where are we? Are we in the fairy world or my world?

We're not springing over the dunes as Kirla usually does when we're together. We're high in the sky like a cloud, the sun warm on our fur, the tips of our ears, our sensitive nose. Feeling this makes me settle back into Kirla's body again. His seven tails are mine again, his fur, mine.

I glide over the desert without a sign to guide my path. The sky above is perfect blue and endless. If I went too high, I could get lost finding my way down.

Sam, we're in the fairy world. You went to sleep with me in your arms. When we're connected like that, I can take part of you to the fairy world. We're a ghost. Here and not here.

OK, Kirla, but why? What did you want me to see? This is really awesome by the way.

We laugh, the coughing bark of a fox. It's more enjoyable inside a fox. It feels like a deep, rough chuckle. I want to remember that when I get back to my body.

I turn my attention back to the swooping dunes of the desert but one peak looks exactly like the one before it.

Sam, Kirla thinks to me/us, this is the Desert. When I was newly made, there was a lush oasis where greenery would surround the cool water. It was called the 4:20 oasis. However, after stoners worked at the area, the greenery went away.

I ponder the words. Inside Kirla I feel slower, calmer. My thoughts aren't a rush. I want to look at the ideas and see them from different perspectives.

Is that me or Kirla?

Kirla, what are stoners?

We laugh again.

Sam, I sometimes think you're a fairy, and then you say stuff like that. Stoners are mountain fairies that feed on rocks and dried leaves. They're big and rocky, slow moving and grey brown. They consume their bounty and return home to become the crags of hills and mountains. They live on the Dusk Mountains next to the desert. Stoners are the reason the mountain ranges move. When the rocks and leaves were gone, the oasis vanished. Maybe it moved to another time? Or maybe another season.

I visualis the oasis with large fronds poking out whichever way. The image comes to me faster and clearer than usual. I can almost taste the slight algae on the water's edge and the deep shadows offered by the palm trees. This is Kirla's memory, not mine.