The Spiral is Open, Never Broken

“With me as your proof,” Aila-on-the-TV said, “there is magic aplenty, magic for everyone. No longer is it the sole province of heroes and heroines in stories and fairy tales. We live in a unique time. I am myth made real, and anyone who wishes to remember and pursue their dreams is welcome to call at Maki Kéikéi.”

“Sweetheart,” Kuléo said to her as he leaned over and kissed her. “That was really nicely put.”

Aila just snuggled on his neck a bit more and scratched at his wing-shoulder. He turned the TV off and they watched the sunset outside.

It was less than a month since they had sat on the same couch while Aila had given Kuléo a taste of her discontent. Something had been missing, and now it was found: the dreamers with their dreams.

From all across France, then Europe, then the world, people came to Aila’s Temple of Change, Maki Kéikéi. First it was just a trickle, the very curious and the thrill seekers. Then their friends heard, and their friends’ friends. No one left exactly as they had come.

Some were simply touched in some indefinable way; they left with smiles on their faces and lightness in their hearts, and suddenly found time for things they had discounted or decided not to do. Others left inspired: some piece of artwork or research that had eluded them for years suddenly became clear, and they found that it was just the beginning of a long stream of inspired work. Fewer still left literally changed: limbs thought long lost now miraculously whole and working, or beautiful designs seemingly painted beneath their skins, which they cradled to themselves like the work of an impossibly talented tattoo artist. Some even left completely unchanged, except for a serene afternoon in an interesting place, but they were the few who had already found peace and fulfillment.

Students came to study at IAR, and they learned how to build their own Temples of Change. Soon, they were dotting the globe, and people didn’t have to travel so far. London; Frankfurt; Beijing; Buenos Aires; Mexico City; Los Angeles on Venice Beach; the beautiful Columbia Gorge near Portland.

As if all of that were not enough, as the year moved on, the really interesting things started to happen. Animals entered the Temples and left able to talk and speak with reason: Earth’s tanau. People entered human and left growing Ka’aulele wings, tails, horns, or any number of other animal features. Others left floating as little glowing people at eye level. Still others simply vanished in a spiral of misty light, up into the sky, with profound looks of peace on their faces.

What they all had in common was fulfillment of their unique and interesting dreams, dreams they had been afraid to voice or even to think about.

The changes didn’t stop with the ones who were changed. Others saw them and felt a giddy sense of possibility opening up inside themselves. They thought, if their dreams, why not mine? Sometimes just the presence of one of the changed people was enough to change someone else; they carried it out into the world like a pollen, sowing change through the population. Estranged lovers suddenly found that they had no idea what had been so terrible. Bitter blood enemies shrugged their shoulders and met over a drink for the first time in years, sometimes hundreds of years.

The new Earth Na’aulele, uplifting the world. A wave of joy and wonder spreading across the globe.