A Half-Faerie, Half-Mortal Wildflower

Before I could even attempt an “in depth” blog series for Half Faerie similar to the one I wrote for Isolt’s Enchantment, I had to do a LOT of research. The books were written from a deep place of heart, and their creation was largely intuitive, so much so that it was not uncommon for me to “come up” from a writing session as if from a trance. Often going back to re-read and edit I would have the experience of “Who wrote that?” having no concrete memory of creating (what for me were some of the best!) story events, nuances and subtleties. To revisit those depths in an effort to articulate meaning has proved incredibly daunting and required an entirely new exploration of the latest scientific discoveries and my own understanding of life and experience.

The result: a remarkable paradigm shift within me; a new way of looking at the universe itself and my place within it. Which I will now share with you as we move through the Daughter of Light trilogy, chapter by chapter.

And so it begins …

If Melia — the central protagonist in Daughter of Light — is anything, she’s a wildflower.

Let’s break that down.

Wildflower definition: a wild or uncultivated flowering plant.

Wild: living in a state of nature; not tamed or domesticated.

Uncultivated: not educated; not refined; not cultured.

Flowering:  to produce flowers; blossom; come to full bloom. Also to come out into full development; mature. (Melia shall surely do both, on her own terms … and in her own way!)

Native American Proverb:


May your life be like a wildflower, growing freely in the beauty and joy of each day.

William Blake:



To see a world in a grain of sand and a heaven in a wildflower, hold infinity in the palm of your hand and eternity in an hour.

William Wordsworth:



I am already kindly disposed towards you. My friendship it is not in my power to give: this is a gift which no man can make, it is not in our own power: a sound and healthy friendship is the growth of time and circumstance, it will spring up and thrive like a wildflower when these favour, and when they do not, it is in vain to look for it.

The final quote smacks of destiny and Melia’s journey will require the truest of friends, wildflowers themselves.

I can think of no better opening for the Half Faerie installment of this adventure than Sarah Darling’s cover of Tom Petty’s Wildflowers:

"Wildflowers"

You belong among the wildflowers

You belong in a boat out at sea

Sail away, kill off the hours

You belong somewhere you feel free

Run away, find you a lover

Go away somewhere all bright and new

I have seen no other

Who compares with you

You belong among the wildflowers

You belong in a boat out at sea

You belong with your love on your arm

You belong somewhere you feel free

Run away, go find a lover

Run away, let your heart be your guide

You deserve the deepest of cover

You belong in that home by and by

You belong among the wildflowers

You belong somewhere close to me

Far away from your trouble and worry

You belong somewhere you feel free

You belong somewhere you feel free

As a half-faerie, Melia is an outcast in the enchanted world where she lives with her two sisters and full-blood faerie mother. The girls' father has been exiled to the mortal world for breaking his faerie troth. When a tragic accident destroys what's left of Melia's fractured family, her mother is unforgiving. The punishment she metes out will leave her daughter torn between guilt and ecstasy, challenge the bonds between three sisters, and complicate Melia's relationship with a young priest who’s come to the Realm of Faerie on a mission of his own.

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Isolt's Enchantment: Excerpts, Quantum Musings & Songs

The Novella
Isolt’s Enchantment: Isolt’s Enchantment & Holy Water

The Chapters
The Stargazer:  The Meaning of Celeste is Heavenly
Koldis:  A Slave to Matter
The Idonnai Guard:  Who Do We Owe?
Isolt’s Enchantment:  We Will All Know Joy
Isolt’s Enchantment:  Come Away, O Human Child
The Tale of Hermes Wand:  Interspecies Communication?
The Tale of Haff and Gweff:  His Body Remembers
Josefina and the Magic Basin:  Grief, Black Holes & Particle Accelerators in the Enchanted World
Isolt’s Revenge:  Quantum Resonance in the Realm of Faerie
Umbra:  Do You Really … Want It Darker?

Isolt of the Waters is an ancient water elemental whose betrayal and enchantment has forever changed the Whole. When a young scholar in Idonne discovers her story, along with tales of dwarf magic and the birth of Umbra—a malevolent entity dwelling in the Void—he dreams of a life filled with adventure and heroism.

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Do You Really ... Want It Darker?

Dying. Death. Light snuffed out, but not completely. A grey sheen, its source not visible, infiltrates the vast space I float in. My awareness simmers. I wait. Minutes. Hours. Days. Weeks. Months. Eternity?

A tunnel of warm sticky heat envelops me. Pulls and sucks me deep into its vortex. The timeless nothingness stretches me; thinner, thinner, thinner.

My psyche travels through some cosmic sieve, and I lose … what is it that I have lost? The brighter part of myself—an ember—falls away. It is gone.

Images from my life, memories—the ones I buried—jangle through me. I’m reminded in vivid detail of every evil I ever committed—from the smallest lie to the most deplorable betrayal. The excuses I made for myself—every rationalization—consolidates into a single trail of gluey telltale.

The sticky thread spins and rolls into a compacted ball of cowardice, envy, self doubt, and self pity. The grey light is extinguished. I have arrived in a void of omnipotent blackness as an impotent, seething blotch.

Heat builds around me, my consciousness implodes. Raining down through the ethers, I am mortal ash. — Umbra, Isolt's Enchantment

Quantum Musings: "Quantum Electrodynamics ... does not see [the] universe as static but [as] a dynamic arena where matter and energy are spontaneously created and destroyed and [the] particle anti-particle annihilative dance keeps the stage rocking." — Amir Suhail Wani

Umbra.

The darkest part of the shadow. A quantum manifestation of all unresolved human suffering.

OMG!

There couldn't be a better theme song for Umbra than "You Want It Darker" chillingly performed and superbly written by genius songwriter Leonard Cohen.

"You Want It Darker" Lyrics

If you are the dealer, I'm out of the game
If you are the healer, it means I'm broken and lame
If thine is the glory then mine must be the shame
You want it darker
We kill the flame
Magnified, sanctified, be thy holy name
Vilified, crucified, in the human frame
A million candles burning for the help that never came
You want it darker
Hineni, hineni
I'm ready, my lord
There's a lover in the story
But the story's still the same
There's a lullaby for suffering
And a paradox to blame
But it's written in the scriptures
And it's not some idle claim
You want it darker
We kill the flame
They're lining up the prisoners
And the guards are taking aim
I struggled with some demons
They were middle class and tame
I didn't know I had permission to murder and to maim
You want it darker
Hineni, hineni
I'm ready, my lord
Magnified, sanctified, be thy holy name
Vilified, crucified, in the human frame
A million candles burning for the love that never came
You want it darker
We kill the flame
If you are the dealer, let me out of the game
If you are the healer, I'm broken and lame
If thine is the glory, mine must be the shame
You want it darker
Hineni, hineni
Hineni, hineni
I'm ready, my lord
Hineni
Hineni, hineni
Hineni

Isolt of the Waters is an ancient water elemental whose betrayal and enchantment has forever changed the Whole. When a young scholar in Idonne discovers her story, along with tales of dwarf magic and the birth of Umbra—a malevolent entity dwelling in the Void—he dreams of a life filled with adventure and heroism.

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Quantum Resonance in the Realm of Faerie

“It was a silver saucer with pretty colored stones decorating its rim. But it was the bones that alerted me: The bowl’s value is greater than its beauty.”

A sense of doom slithered across the back of Quasimi’s neck. Thinking it might be an insect, he tried to brush it away. “The bones?”

“Bones on the ground, fancy metalwork close by, death in the air.” She widened her hands in a display of wonder. "I said to myself, ‘You’ve stumbled upon some dwarf relic infused with magic’. Do you want to see it?” she asked.

Quasimi ran his palm across his damp forehead. He undid the top buttons of his shirt. Used to his free-flowing garments, the fitted clothes stifled him.

Flora dragged a bulky item across the floor and settled it in the middle of the cottage. “It’s like an eye.”

A silver basin shined in the cottage’s dim light, beguiling the mage. He rose from the small table to inch toward it. “Flora, it’s magnificent. Someone would pay you a pretty piece for this.”

“I don’t want to sell it.”

He winced. The desire to possess it consumed him.

“When you fill the basin with water from the Great White Sea, you can see things.”

“What can you see?” he asked.

A troubled expression flitted across Flora’s wrinkled face. She filled the basin. “Look for yourself.”

The mage kneeled on the floor. The basin compelled his gaze. Quasimi balanced on his toes before rising to his full height in the center of the room. Once he leveled the water, a cloud-colored mist rose from the water’s placid surface.

When Isolt’s face formed in the water, her eyes black as coal, the mage tried to release the bowl.

But it held him. The water in the basin boiled and hissed. — Isolt's Revenge, Isolt's Enchantment

Quatum Musings: When: Elendah’s challenge to Quasimi—to travel to the Veiled Tavern and spend a night there; his “chance” encounter with Flora and her dark curiosity; the mage’s prior actions at the behest of his friend, the God Vulcan; and Isolt’s quest for vengeance “resonate together in a reinforcing manner due [to] their overall similarity [then a] collective experiential solidity of the apparently independent material world [unexpectedly] emerges”. Is it quantum karma? Maybe.

“Karma is the non-local interconnection within consciousness which is the basis for all manifestation.” — G.P. Smetham

Thus in Daughter of Light cosmology, the consciousness of Elendah, Quasimi, Vulcan, Flora, Isolt of the Waters and—even Haff and Gweff through their created work, the magical basin Ormrun—converge in the Parallel of Shadows to breakthrough to the material plane of the Realm of Faerie in a climatic event.

Delta Rae's song "Fire" exquisitely captures Isolt's anguish:

"Fire" Lyrics:

I, I got my eye on you, I heard what you been saying
These rumors you spread ’round, they burn me down like flames and
We used to be friends, but that ain’t true now
You ain’t got my back, you’ve shown me that so many times

When I need help
Can’t call for help
’Cause no one comes

So I’m calling FIRE

It won’t be pretty, I ain’t no girl cried wolf, I’ll bring this whole damn city
They’ll come from miles around just to see how you cut me down
We used to be friends, but that ain’t true now
You poisoned the well, now I can’t tell who’s on my side

When I need help
Can’t call for help
’Cause no one comes

So I’m calling FIRE

Isolt of the Waters is an ancient water elemental whose betrayal and enchantment has forever changed the Whole. When a young scholar in Idonne discovers her story, along with tales of dwarf magic and the birth of Umbra—a malevolent entity dwelling in the Void—he dreams of a life filled with adventure and heroism.

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Grief, Black Holes & Particle Accelerators in the Enchanted World

“Regina, did you feel that?”

Her daughter waited with crossed arms on the side of the road. “What?” She cared little for her mother’s interests and concerns.

Regina’s father was a sorcerer from Kyrakkos. Soon after Josefina had given birth to a son, he’d taken the boy and left Faerie. Regina blamed her mother for her father’s abandonment.

Josefina ran the back of her fingers against her cheek. Her skin felt warm. “That hot gust?”

Regina offered pursed lips and an impatient shake of her head.

Josefina returned her gaze to the bowl, the air remained still. With reluctance she wrapped the basin with the same thick cloth the dwarf had used to cover it. She re-tied the twine to create a handle. Despite its size, the bowl was light and easy to carry.

At night, Josefina slept with her hand resting upon the bulky package. Her dreams became vivid and troublesome. She kicked and moaned, often waking her daughter. Regina said nothing, only moved her pallet farther away.

The pair veered from their original path and found themselves before the roar of the Great White Sea. Josefina quickened her pace. Regina dawdled.

Josefina knelt before the tide. She scooped up sea water with both hands and poured it into the bowl. When it was full, she carried the full basin back toward the beach, away from the waves.

An aching melody drifted above the roar of the ocean. Its forlorn sound sliced opened Josefina’s heart. The bitter loss of her son poured out. She bowed her neck and peered more closely into the basin. The song became louder and more anguished. The melody rose higher and higher, fluttering around the muannaye like a wounded bird.

A black flame unfurled beneath the water’s surface.

A magnificent illusion? Although it felt like her heart would shatter into infinite pieces, Josefina couldn’t avert her gaze.

The bowl grew warm to the touch. Josefina remained mesmerized. A promise rose from its depths, annihilation of both pain and joy.

Exquisite emptiness.

Josefina gazed into the Void.—Josefina and the Magic Basin, Isolt's Enchantment

Quantum Musings: A team of scientists announced on Thursday that they had heard and recorded the sound of two black holes colliding a billion light-years away, a fleeting chirp that fulfilled the last prediction of Einstein’s general theory of relativity.

That faint rising tone, physicists say, is the first direct evidence of gravitational waves, the ripples in the fabric of space-time that Einstein predicted a century ago … It completes his vision of a universe in which space and time are interwoven and dynamic, able to stretch, shrink and jiggle. And it is a ringing confirmation of the nature of black holes, the bottomless gravitational pits from which not even light can escape, which were the most foreboding (and unwelcome) part of his theory. — Dennis Overbye

Did the gravitational wave of Josefina's grief (black hole) over the loss of her son collide with the grief (black hole) of another mother—"a billion light years away"? Did the force of this "collision" excite quanta and/or ignite mirror neurons to manifest as heat? Did the basin serve as a conductor, the particle accelerator?

Richie Sambora's cool song "Church of Desire" captures Josefina's plight:

"Church Of Desire" of Lyrics:

Woke up in a cold sweat
In the middle of the night
Seems like a lifetime
When you're wondering who's wrong or right
One confession would resurrect the truth
Revenge or forgiveness for sins between me and you

Now we dance with the devil down lonely
Street, lonely street

Looking for a window in the house of tears
Living in hell, I pray the rain disappears
I'm headed for a breakdown
And the fever runs higher
As I kneel at the altar I can feel your fire
In the church of desire
Church of desire

You never find a reason why love falls from grace
Some kind of voodoo, like a spirit you can't embrace
There's a voice in the mirror, and a ghost in my heart
That relives the passion before we were torn apart

Now we dance with the devil down lonely
Street, lonely street

Looking for a window in the house of tears
Living in hell, I pray the rain disappears
I'm headed for a breakdown
And the fever runs higher
As I kneel at the altar I can feel your fire
In the church of desire
Church of desire

Now we dance with the devil down lonely
Street, lonely street

Looking for a window in the house of tears
Living in hell, I pray the rain disappears
I'm headed for a breakdown
And the fever runs higher
As I kneel at the altar I can feel your fire
In the church of desire
Church of desire

Isolt of the Waters is an ancient water elemental whose betrayal and enchantment has forever changed the Whole. When a young scholar in Idonne discovers her story, along with tales of dwarf magic and the birth of Umbra—a malevolent entity dwelling in the Void—he dreams of a life filled with adventure and heroism.

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His Body Remembers

The Temple of Delphinus was built atop a stony promontory whose southernmost tip jutted out across the Great White Sea.

Although the road between the citadel and temple was well-traveled, Ryder had never had the desire to visit the shrine before.

By the time they reached the blue-grey stone compound, the choir was lining up on the broad stairway in front of the cathedral.

A large audience gathered before them. A soloist with an angelic voice opened the first hymn. Ryder stilled. When the voices of the choir joined the song like a flock of birds in tandem flight, his heart soared.

As the ethereal performance continued, an unfamiliar yearning simultaneously burst forth and contracted in his chest. He longed to both remember and forget. What? Something wavered at the edges of his mind. It plucked at the edges of his consciousness. He chased the wisps of a memory, but they were so faint.

Ryder remained silent during the lengthy hike back to the citadel. It was dark by the time Garrick and Shilda said farewell at the citadel gate.

That night, Ryder felt drained. He went straight to bed and fell into a deep sleep. The dream fragments that whispered away when he woke the following morning left both sorrow and elation in their wake. — The Tale of Haff & Gweff, Isolt’s Enchantment

Quantum Musings: “The universe is built on harmonies. The Pythagoreans had it right when they married mathematics, music, and the cosmos. Just as mathematical patterns underlie the musical scales and intervals most pleasing to the ear, they also describe the probability waves at the heart of quantum theory. More than 2500 years ago, according to ancient sources, Pythagoras applied his studies in music theory to the behavior of celestial objects … Music resonates, it pulses, it leaps into our psyches. Thousands of years after the age of Pythagoras, physicists are still discussing the harmonies of the universe." — Paul Halpern

When Ryder hears the Delphinus choir, he doesn’t mentally know he’s hearing music his mother loved, music that held meaning for her, music she listened to while she was pregnant with him. But his body remembers. And his body both yearns for and awakens to … love.

This beautiful song, The Meaning of it All, captures the complex moves of Ryder's heart:

The Meaning of It All Lyrics:

If I asked you to remember
Why we set out on this road
You gonna fight me or surrender
That it wasn't all my fault

Cause you're breaking down and I can tell it's deep
There's a tidal wave that's rushing towards the beach
But your anger has such beauty underneath
And we all want love, yeah we all want love

There's no end to what we're feeling
Just some breaks along the way
I get so caught up in the meaning of it all
While my heart just wants to crave

So breathe, darling, breathe in deep
Come on, breathe, darling, breathe in deep for me

Cause I'm breaking down and I can tell it's deep
I try to dream about the future when I dream
But I can't bury that sad kid I used to be
Cause we all want love, yeah we all want love

Cause we're breaking down and I can tell it's deep
There's a tidal wave that's rushing towards the beach
But you know I'll be there waiting
With my arms outstretched to reach for you, my love
Cause we all want love, yeah we all want love
Yeah we all want love, yeah we all want love

Isolt of the Waters is an ancient water elemental whose betrayal and enchantment has forever changed the Whole. When a young scholar in Idonne discovers her story, along with tales of dwarf magic and the birth of Umbra—a malevolent entity dwelling in the Void—he dreams of a life filled with adventure and heroism.

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Come Away, O Human Child

Illusion, magic, seduction ... a tangled knot of obedience and betrayal, loss and a desire for vengeance give rise to Isolt's enchantment.

Ahead, an enormous marble palace seemed to rise from the ground. Its polished turrets pierced a darkening sky. Isolt dropped Tarquin’s hand. Her elegant feet refused to take another step.  She wrapped her arms around herself to quell the uncontrollable shivering that possessed her. Tarquin faced her. His face swirled in a spiral. Isolt rubbed her eyes. All this marching. She was exhausted.

He held a key forged from a luminous dark metal in his palm. She let her gaze rise. His shock of blond hair and familiar broad shoulders shushed the foreboding within.

“This is our home,” he said. “Use the key to unlock the door. Please, so we can live here forever.”

With one hand cradling her belly, Isolt reached with the other. The metal was so smooth. So mesmerizing. Clutching the mysterious key, she walked slowly to the palace door. The key practically slipped itself into the lock. As she turned it, she looked back to smile at her beloved king.

He waved her on as she pushed opened the door.

A malignant force gripped her and yanked her within. The air reverberated. The walls of the palace disintegrated.

No one heard her cries.

Her first thought was of her son. There was no way to save him.—Isolt's Enchantment.

Loreena Mckennit sings about faery's and the seduction of a nameless human child in Stolen Child:

 

Stolen Child lyrics:

Where dips the rocky highland
Of Sleuth Wood in the lake
There lies a leafy island
Where flapping herons wake
The drowsy water-rats
There we've hid our faery vats
Full of berries
And of reddest stolen cherries

[Chorus:]
Come away, O human child
To the waters and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand
For the world's more full of weeping
Than you can understand.

Where the wave of moonlight glosses
The dim grey sands with light
By far off furthest Rosses
We foot it all the night
Weaving olden dances
Mingling hands and mingling glances
Till the moon has taken flight
To and fro we leap
And chase the frothy bubbles
Whilst the world is full of troubles
And is anxious in its sleep.

[Chorus]

Where the wandering water gushes
From the hills above Glen-Car
In pools among the rushes
That scarce could bathe a star
We seek for slumbering trout
And whispering in their ears
Give them unquiet dreams
Leaning softly out
From ferns that drop their tears
Over the young streams

[Chorus]

Away with us he's going
The solemn-eyed
He'll hear no more the lowing
Of the calves on the warm hillside
Or the kettle on the hob
Sing peace into his breast
Or see the brown mice bob
Round and round the oatmeal chest.

[Chorus]

For he comes, the human child
To the waters and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand
For the world's more full of weeping
Than you can understand.

Isolt of the Waters is an ancient water elemental whose betrayal and enchantment has forever changed the Whole. When a young scholar in Idonne discovers her story, along with tales of dwarf magic and the birth of Umbra—a malevolent entity dwelling in the Void—he dreams of a life filled with adventure and heroism.

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Ignorance Is Bliss?

Two stories, two radically different outcomes.

Are we born rooted in the garden (planet Earth)—along with our animal and plant compatriots?

If the answer is yes, we can expect/hope for outcomes like this:

What if you could talk to animals and have them talk back to you?

Andrea Breytenbach has dedicated her life to what she calls interspecies communication. She sends detailed messages to animals through pictures and thoughts. She then receives messages of remarkable clarity back from the animals ... the amazing story of how Diabolo became Spirit:

If we believe the answer is no, we can expect/predict more outcomes similar to this:

Endangered Sumatran tiger disemboweled, hung up in Indonesia.

Cats of all shapes and sizes appear throughout Daughter of Light.

The maned visage roared in Celeste’s mind. Etched on a lambent gold shell, harvested from the depths of the Great White Sea, its regal quality drew the mortal woman’s hand. Above all the exquisite rattles on display, the lion’s tawny head resonated most deeply with the hopes she held for her child.—The Stargazer, Isolt's Enchantment

“Come in,” the invitation drifted from the interior.

As Melia crossed the threshold, cats—real ones, not botched spells like Malachi—froze, watching her. She felt as if she were a four-armed, blue-skinned sorceress from Kyrakkos who’d wandered into a crowded bar at Southend. She took another step. The creatures resumed their feline movement—re-curling in their high perches and stretching on the front room’s magenta sofa.

A unique fragrance filled the cottage. Vanilla? Cinnamon? She couldn’t quite place it, but it made her want to curl up on one of the sofas, alongside the cats, and take a nap. She forced herself to stand straight.

“Coffee?” The Illustrator’s question came from the back of her studio
.
Before Melia could answer, the woman returned with two plates. She set them on a table then brushed a fat black cat from its seat. The cat glared at Melia, straightened its tail, and padded from the room. —The Illustrator, Half Faerie

Sinjiin roared.

Flora and Aldous had almost reached the bottom of the stairs. Jade’s arms circled Lola. They were trapped together in the center of the dais. Ryder shielded them, wielding a dagger he’d wrested from a knight. Sinjiin tread a menacing perimeter. Three knights taunted the tiger from a safe distance.

Gavin urged them on.

Melia circled the chamber. Volcanic heat rose like bile in her throat. Sinjiin’s mighty bulk stretched across the dais. Blood stained his fur. Three separate blades pierced his throat, flank, and hindquarters. Their hilts quivered as the tiger gasped for air.

Jade and Aldous knelt beside the large cat. Jade eased the blade from the wound in the tiger’s throat as the elf stemmed the flow of blood with a strip of cloth. Lola hovered over them, batting her hands. Ryder and Flora parried with two knights.

Melia released her anguish in a guttural blast that shook the entire chamber.—The First Battle, Half Mortal

A vast plain of dried grass and brush stretched before him. He sniffed the air: the dust of dry earth, the wet of water—a river, and the blood of a fresh kill. He threw back his head and roared. Overheard, dazzling light punctured a pitch-black sky.

He tore across the plain, his mighty paws kicking up dirt and tiny rocks. Another mighty beast raced by his side, his mate. They pounded the land in unison. By the time they reached the blue wildebeest, the hyena that had killed it was long gone. He crouched to rip a chunk of meat from the dead animal. It was a good night.

After his mate finished eating, they curled around one another and slept deeply.—The Heart of a Lion, War & Grace

I'll leave you with this powerful visual and instrumental tribute to all felines, freedom, and nature, John Barry's Born Free.

And if you've never heard the lyrics:

Born free, as free as the wind blows
As free as the grass grows
Born free to follow your heart

Live free and beauty surrounds you
The world still astounds you
Each time you look at a star

Stay free, where no walls divide you
You're free as the roaring tide
So there's no need to hide

Born free, and life is worth living
But only worth living
'Cause you're born free

(Stay free, where no walls divide you)
You're free as the roaring tide
So there's no need to hide

Born free, and life is worth living
But only worth living
'Cause you're born free

We Will All Know Joy

In Isolt's Enchantment the story of a young priest in Idonne—Ryder—intertwines with tales about the origin of the Whole and the history of several magic artifacts that will figure largely in Daughter of Light.

The day came when the dwarf god crawled for the third time from the depth of Una’s belly. Blackened with soot and ash, he labored beneath a magnificent fiery wheel. The wheel flung energy far and wide from the core of its rotation. Vulcan roared, “I name this the Sun.”

A great light followed in the wheel’s wake, dispelling the darkness.

“What have you done?” Una exclaimed, “I can see all that I am, and I am glorious!”

It took all Vulcan’s strength to heave the flaming ball into the heavens where it would dance with the moon, like a lover, across Una’s starry skies until the end of time. “The Sun will be recognized as my most marvelous creation.”

Indeed it was, for Vulcan’s magic created a light which would rise each day from the east, spreading its potent, life-giving force upon Una’s fecund belly. Each night it would set in the west, as the moon appeared amidst the sparkle and shine of millions of twinkling stars.

“It’s breathtaking,” Una murmured. “Can I ever thank you?”

“I will bring my people here. They will nurture you to spectacular abundance. We will all know joy.” — Isolt's Enchantment, Isolt's Enchantment

Suffice it to say the road to joy will be a long and one winding one ...

I love this guitar cover of George Winston's Joy. It has the feeling of creation.

Isolt of the Waters is an ancient water elemental whose betrayal and enchantment has forever changed the Whole. When a young scholar in Idonne discovers her story, along with tales of dwarf magic and the birth of Umbra—a malevolent entity dwelling in the Void—he dreams of a life filled with adventure and heroism.

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Who Do We Owe?

And what do we owe them?

Anton straightened the front of his robes and folded his hands before him on the desk. “You romanticize danger and risking your life. But the world beyond these walls is not what you think it is. You’re safe here in the citadel—”

“A safety that is suffocating me. Must my body weaken and my spirit wither while I am still young?”

A shadow darkened Anton’s pale blue eyes. “Fate brought you to the Order. You’re a gifted scholar. And soon you’ll be a gifted priest.”

“I will soon be a man. One with ties to no family. I would choose my own future.”

Anton pushed his chair back with a loud scrape. He stood up and leaned across his desk. “The Order of Idonnai has invested in you. We’ve fed you, sheltered you, and trained you. You owe us your allegiance.” He paced.

“Your demand I pay with my life’s blood for not drowning me like an unwanted kitten is unfair! I’m nothing more than a slave here.”

Ryder didn’t see Anton’s hand, but he felt the crest of the ring cut his lip as his head jolted to the side. He relished the sting as he licked blood from his lip.

Anton stepped back. “You will take your vow!”

Any gratitude or indebtedness Ryder had ever felt toward Anton or the priesthood leached from him. He controlled his impulse to pummel the priest, but his entire body shook with the effort. He would not take the Oath of Non-Interference, because he would never commit his mind, or his body, or his heart to a life of inaction. — The Idonnai Guard, Isolt's Enchantment

If our life does not belong to us, who does it belong to?

The melodic movement of Michael Hedges' instrumental piece Aerial Boundaries captures the dance of Ryder's determination to move beyond the limits Anton and the priesthood  have set for him.

Isolt of the Waters is an ancient water elemental whose betrayal and enchantment has forever changed the Whole. When a young scholar in Idonne discovers her story, along with tales of dwarf magic and the birth of Umbra—a malevolent entity dwelling in the Void—he dreams of a life filled with adventure and heroism.

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A Slave to Matter

Is there an unseen force that drives Life? If we can’t see it, how can we communicate with it? Can we feel it? Could our bodies—in their totality—crassly be referred to as wetware for Cosmic Consciousness? Does an obsessive drive for external information (facts and events as defined by a limited human point of view) and wealth (owning, collecting, and/or amassing matter) distort dumb down numb shut off our physiological transmitters?

In the chapter Koldis, an ambitious member of a wealthy scholastic order in the business of hidden knowledge prioritizes his rise in the priesthood’s hierarchy. But he’s blinded—figuratively and literally—figuratively by a quest for immediate gratification and literally by the Sand Gypsies.

A slave to matter, he's blinded by all that glitters and dismisses all that he cannot "see."

Anton bowed his head in a show of obeisance.

Cashel, the head of the Order of the Idonnai, motioned him to sit.

The elder priest removed a dull leather pouch from the desk. He passed it from hand to hand. The unmistakable clink of coins filled the silence between the two men. “We’ve received word from Typhos,” Cashel said. “A sailor claims to possess an artifact of great interest to us. If the offer proves genuine, I’d like you to purchase it for the library’s collection.”

Although he was curious as to what the object might be, Anton didn’t ask. Reticence was a trait valued by the Order, and the young priest had long molded his character to gain approval from his superiors. He remained silent as he held out his hand.

Cashel made as if to give him the bag. His hand froze. “You must speak of this to no one.”

“Of course not.” The weight of the bag hit Anton’s palm. Gold. He would be required to make an accounting of the coins upon his return. He counted them out now while the elder priest watched. He raised his eyebrows.

“You’re authorized to negotiate the price of the sale. However, I prefer you pay all the gold in that bag than let the artifact be sold to another buyer.”

Anton’s subtle smile was genuine. To be trusted with such a mission assured his continued rise in the Order’s hierarchy. — Koldis, Isolt's Enchantment

Presenting Rebecca Ferguson's Glitter & Gold:

Lyrics:

How good or bad, happy or sad

Does it have to get?

Losing yourself, no cry for help

You don’t think you need it

And old friends are just a chore,

But now you need them more than ever before

All that glitter and all that gold

Won’t buy you happy

When you’ve been bought and sold

Riding white horses, you can’t control

With all your glitter

And all of your gold

Take care of your soul

Take care of your soul

How high, how low, how on your own

Are you gonna get?

Because

Losing your soul, will cost you more

Than the life you’re paying for

And all those friends you left behind

You might need ’em when it’s cold outside

All that glitter and all that gold

Won’t buy you happy

When you’ve been bought and sold

Riding white horses, you can’t control

With all your glitter

And all of your gold

Take care of your soul

One day you’re gonna wake up and find that

New dream is losing its shine and

Nobody is by your side

When the rain comes down and you’re losing your mind

So, who you gonna run to?

Where you gonna hide?

Glitter and gold

Won’t keep you warm

On those lonely nights

And all those friends that were such a chore

You’re gonna need them more than ever before

All that glitter and all that gold

Won’t buy you happy

When you’ve been bought and sold

Riding white horses, you can’t control

With all your glitter

And all of your gold

Take care of your soul

With all of your gold

Take care of your soul

Take care of your soul

Isolt of the Waters is an ancient water elemental whose betrayal and enchantment has forever changed the Whole. When a young scholar in Idonne discovers her story, along with tales of dwarf magic and the birth of Umbra—a malevolent entity dwelling in the Void—he dreams of a life filled with adventure and heroism.

Ebook

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The Meaning of Celeste is "Heavenly"

The Delphinus choir sang as they always did at twilight. Their mysterious harmony filled the birth room with spiritual hope and yearning. Celeste’s spirit soared. She envisioned her soul climbing the peak of Mount Azyllai. The pain that made her delivery so difficult melted away. The gods would bless her son.

Rays of eternal light parted the threatening wall of shadows. Celeste thought of the fine reed basket, pale downy blanket, and luminous seashell rattle nestled therein. In her mind’s eye, her newborn son gripped the kingly noisemaker and beamed. — Excerpt from The Stargazer, Isolt's Enchantment 

If quantum reality is reality, then our experiences are rooted in a vast interconnected invisible world, and the love of a mother for her child transcends life and death.

Loreena Mckennit's The Old Ways is the perfect song to capture this bittersweet birth of a child in the land of Idonne.

Lyrics:

The thundering waves are calling me home, home to you
The pounding sea is calling me home, home to you

On a dark new year's night
On the west coast of Clare
I heard your voice singing
Your eyes danced the song
Your hands played the tune
T'was a vision before me

We left the music behind as the dance carried on
As we stole away to the seashore
We smelt the brine, felt the wind in our hair
And with sadness you paused

Suddenly I knew that you'd have to go
Your world was not mine, your eyes told me so
Yet it was there I felt the crossroads of time
And I wondered why

As we cast our gaze on the tumbling sea
A vision came o'er me
Of thundering hooves and beating wings
In clouds above

As you turned to go I heard you call my name
You were like a bird in a cage spreading its wings to fly
"The old ways are lost," you sang as you flew
And I wondered why

The thundering waves are calling me home, home to you
The pounding sea is calling me home, home to you

The thundering waves are calling me home, home to you
The pounding sea is calling me home, home to you

Isolt of the Waters is an ancient water elemental whose betrayal and enchantment has forever changed the Whole. When a young scholar in Idonne discovers her story, along with tales of dwarf magic and the birth of Umbra—a malevolent entity dwelling in the Void—he dreams of a life filled with adventure and heroism.

Ebook

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Apple | Barnes & Noble | Google Play | kobo

Paperback

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Isolt's Enchantment & Holy Water

One day she gave birth to a daughter, beautiful, vivacious and flowing. Una said, “I shall name you Isolt of the Waters, for you have brought with you all the springs, rivers, lakes, and oceans.” — Isolt's Enchantment

Water—from its supernatural qualities, especially potent in the enchanted world's Great White Sea, to its source of energy, inspiration, and wisdom throughout Melia's journey—serves as the passageway between the enchanted and mortal worlds and is a significant actor in Daughter of Light cosmology,

It's curious that, even today, water's unique qualities cannot be explained by quantum mechanics. Probablitity waves, definite states, pilot waves, quantum coherence, tunneling ... no one's figured out water's quantum magic. But we do know:

-- every organism we know of needs water to survive. In fact, without water, life on Earth would have never begun. 

So we'll begin our journey today with an ode to Isolt of the Water's dark enchantment, Holy Water by Big & Rich.

Lyrics:

Somewhere there's a stolen halo,
I used to watch her wear it well.
Everything would shine wherever she would go,
But looking at her now you'd never tell.
Someone ran away with her innocence
A memory she can't get out of her head.
I can only imagine what she's feeling
When she's praying kneeling at the edge of her bed.

And she says
“Take me away,
Then take me farther,
Surround me now,
And hold, hold, hold me like Holy Water.
Holy water.”

She wants someone to call her angel,
Someone to put the light back in her eyes.
She's looking through the faces and unfamiliar places.
She needs someone to hear her when she cries.

And she says
“Take me away,
Then take me farther,
Surround me now
And hold, hold, hold me like Holy Water.

She just needs a little help
To wash away the pain she's felt.
She wants to feel the healing hands
Of someone who understands.

And she says
“Take me away,
Take me farther,
Surround me now,
And hold, hold, hold me,

She says:
“Take me away
Then take me farther,
Surround me now,
And hold, hold, hold me like Holy Water.
Like Holy Water,
Like Holy Water,
Like Holy Water.”

Isolt of the Waters is an ancient water elemental whose betrayal and enchantment has forever changed the Whole. When a young scholar in Idonne discovers her story, along with tales of dwarf magic and the birth of Umbra—a malevolent entity dwelling in the Void—he dreams of a life filled with adventure and heroism.

Ebook

Amazon | Amazon (Australia) | Amazon (Canada) | Amazon (UK)

Apple | Barnes & Noble | Google Play | kobo

Paperback

Amazon | Amazon UK