Dream Dancers

Occasionally things go wrong when creating. I spent quite a bit of time making a little fox pendant, only to have it suffer a polishing wheel accident which caused it to warp a bit - and have a few small dents in the back. I wasn't sure whether to offer it for sale, or really what to do with it, but then a story came to me. A story that gave a much more fun and interesting reason for the warping than a prosaic polishing wheel accident. The pendant is being listed at a lowered price, and it comes with a story:

One spring, three kits were born to a pair of Dream Foxes. They were happy, playful kits. They slept during the day and spent their nights chasing insects and their mother’s tail while their father was off hunting and fulfilling his dream duties.  Well, two of the three followed this normal pattern. The littlest one, the one his siblings called Sun Dancer, followed a different rhythm.  Try as he might, he just couldn’t sleep during the day. The warm golden sun and bright clouds drew him as the moon and stars drew his brother and sister. He spent his days exploring on his own since he couldn’t talk anyone into joining him. And since he was awake during the day, of course he couldn’t keep his eyes open at night. His parents despaired at times, but they both believed things would change when he grew into his calling.

When the kits came of age, soon after the first snowfall, their mother sat them down in front of her.  The moon was on the rise although it could barely be seen behind the clouds. Sun Dancer had played hard that day, chasing snowflakes and leaves and his own tail, all the while wishing his siblings were with him. They were with him now, but no one was playing. Seriousness radiated from his mother and all three kits sat silently. He felt his eyes drooping, but did his best to pay attention.

“You know we are Dream Foxes,” she said finally. “Do you know what that means?”

The kits stared back at her, silent.

She chuckled. “Of course you don’t. But you are about to learn. You three – all of you,” she added with a look at Sun Dancer who stifled a yawn, “were born to be Moon Dancers, Star Dancers, and especially Dream Dancers.  You sleep during the day so you can dance at night when children sleep deeply enough to dream, to lose themselves in nightmares.  Your life’s work is to dance into those nightmares, to pull away the darkness, and to destroy the shadows and fearful beings. Your dancing will drive away the terror and lead children back into light. You will turn their nightmares into dreams. It is an important duty, one that you will take immense pride in as your father and I have.”

The kits stared, still silent but all thinking hard. Sun Dancer felt a stirring of anxiety.  How could he fulfill the duties he was born to if he couldn’t stay awake at night? He felt his front paws scrabbling nervously at the frozen leaves in front of him and forced them to stay still.

“No questions? No comments?” 

“How do we get into someone’s dreams?” asked his sister. She was always the one to ask questions. “Is it like going from dry earth into water? Do we just jump? Or coming out of the dark den into moonlight? Just walk from one place to another? Is it like that?”

“Something like both, but not quite like either. We will begin your training tonight. For the first few nights we will all dance together in one child’s nightmare as you learn. And then you will be on your own. I have great faith in every one of you. You will all fulfill your life destiny.”

She lined them up and had them close their eyes. “Once you are comfortable with this, you won’t need to keep your eyes closed. But for now, do that so you can focus. It is important to rid yourselves of everything except for what you are about to do. Right now, just focus on what I tell you.”

Sun Dancer tried hard to focus but he was having more and more difficulty staying awake. His mother’s voice was a soothing background noise, pushing him into sleep.  He missed most of what she said until suddenly he heard, “Now jump!” His eyes flew open. The shapes of his siblings and mother wavered in the moonlight and then disappeared. He was alone on the frosty leaves, crouched low and trembling. Why was he so different from the rest of his family? He so very much wanted to be with them now.

After what seemed like the entire night, but was really much less than an hour, his mother and siblings returned, shimmering in the air in front of him before solidifying, all three panting happily.

“That was so great,” his brother gasped.

“Did you feel how scared he was at first and how it just went away when we danced?” his sister said. “And wasn’t it fun chasing that scary dog out of the dream? I can’t wait to do it again!”

His mother smiled at their enthusiasm, but her expression turned sad as she looked at Sun Dancer. “You will have to spend tomorrow in the den, trying to sleep. At least rest all day. Then maybe you can stay awake tomorrow night and try again.”

And Sun Dancer tried. He lay all the next day in the den with his sleeping brother, sister and parents. He didn’t sleep, but he was able to stay awake that night for his mother’s instructions.  But when he tried to jump it simply wouldn’t work. He watched everyone else disappear again, while he was left alone in front of the den.

The next night, his father led them and Sun Dancer still wasn’t able to jump into a nightmare with the others. Soon his brother and sister were dream dancing on their own, spending all night dancing from one nightmare to another, leaving brighter dreams behind.

Eventually Sun Dancer gave up and went back to playing alone during the day and sleeping in the den at night. His parents let him be, having decided that he was likely never to grow into the calling of his bloodline.

One day he was exploring a part of the forest he hadn’t seen before. It was filled with interesting bits of light and shadow; the ground was moss covered and he could hear a creek nearby. He sat under a tall tree and closed his eyes, enjoying the warmth of the sun that came through the branches. He listened for a time to the water.  As he focused on the sound, he felt a strange thrill go through him, almost as though someone or something was calling him, asking for his help.  The feeling came in waves, growing stronger, and suddenly he heard his mother’s voice in his head saying “Now jump.” He jumped without thinking and felt the world waver and warp around him. It hurt a bit, like being bent in ways he shouldn’t be bent, and then it stopped. He opened his eyes.

The world around him had changed. The sun still shone, but it was harsh and unfriendly. Black leafless tree snags surrounded him. The moss below his feet had changed to dust and ash. As he turned around he saw glowing eyes and dark shapes move towards him from behind the snags. The air was dry, hot and filled with terror.

He realized he must have jumped into a nightmare. And he was alone with no one to guide him. He watched the glowing-eyed shapes for a moment and then let instinct take over. He began to dance, whirling in a circle that got ever bigger and closer to the fearful shapes. The ground where he danced cooled. Green patches of moss appeared. The snags sent out branches and then grew leaves, bright green and new. As his dancing circle expanded, the dark shapes drew back and eventually turned to mist and disappeared. He could feel the terror slowly dissipate until finally it was completely gone.

Faintly in the distance, he heard words that he didn’t quite understand. “The fever’s gone down. Thank goodness… it looks like she’s sleeping so much more peacefully now.”

He sat panting, exhausted but filled with excitement and a feeling that he had done something big and special. He wasn’t quite sure how to leave the dream, but closed his eyes and focused on the place where he’d been sitting before entering the nightmare. He felt a slight wavering of the air around him, but none of the warping pain he had felt before. When his eyes opened he saw his own mossy forest and heard the nearby creek.

He ran to the den and woke his parents. They and his siblings crowded around him as he told them about his dream dance.

“Oh son, we are so proud of you!” his mother said. “And to have accomplished your first dream dance alone!”

His father looked at him thoughtfully. “Children who have nightmares during the day. I wonder. And you say you had pain when you entered the nightmare?”

Sun Dancer nodded. “Yes, it felt like I was being bent and twisted. Everything around me felt warped and strange. But I felt fine as soon as I was in the nightmare. And it didn’t hurt at all when I left the dream to come back. You don’t feel that?”

“I don’t,” said his brother.

“Neither do I,” his sister added.

“I think you have a very special gift, little Sun Dancer,” his father said. “A unique and important calling. Children who have nightmares in the day – they must be ill. Maybe filled with medicines. Their sickness and the poisons in their bodies are causing them to sleep deeply enough to dream, and those dreams are dark.” His snout wrinkled with worry.  “Is the pain very great? Are you able to bear it?”

Sun Dancer started to give a flippant answer about how strong he was, but then then realized his father was asking an important question. Could the pain stop him from doing what he needed to do? He shook his head.

“It did hurt, and things felt very strange for a bit but it didn’t last long. It was bearable. And the feelings that came when I danced and chased the shadows away?  They easily made up for the pain. It will never stop me from doing this.”

“We are so very proud of you,” his mother said again, giving him a lick on the nose.  “We are proud of all of you. You are all true Dream Dancers.”

From then on, Sun Dancer spent most of his days answering the calls of sick and frightened children who couldn’t escape their daytime dream terrors without help. There were times when the pain was so strong that he almost couldn’t bear it, and other times when entering the dreams was as soft and easy as jumping into a powdery snow drift.  Over time, he began to feel as though his world was always a bit warped and bent, always a little affected by the sickness behind the nightmares he spent so much time in.  But the overwhelming joy he felt when he danced and then felt the terror fade away, as he sensed the child begin to breathe easily instead of panting with fear and pain, made everything else insignificant.