The Plane’s Children – Chapter One – Emersli1

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13 Minutes

They sat alone, watching the others weave and mingle.

They had come to so many of these gatherings, each time hoping that this would be the time.  That this would be the gathering that they felt their otherself take shape … a signal that their spiritmate had been born on the plane below.  But just as every previous time … there was nothing.  No pull.  No call.  Nothing.

Over to the right, the one they called Dodge suddenly shuddered and morphed into a small slender creature with a masked face and delicate paws.  On the other side of the circle, the one called Fierce growled and shrank down into a black and white creature with loose skin and sharp teeth.  And right at their feet, Peace cooed softly, their soft white feathers glowing in the blue haze.

Sighing, they left the gathering to return to their dwelling.

Alone.

The one they called Alone lived in a dwelling on the edge of the settlement, almost in the wilderness of the forest surrounding them.  From the time they had first become aware of themselves as someone separate from the Plane, they had served their people to the best of their ability.

As a venerated Elder, indeed as the Eldest among them, Alone had guided most of the residents of the settlement through their awakening, othering, and bonding.  It had been their greatest joy to watch over their people, but sometimes they couldn’t help but wish for something for themselves.

They were lonely.

If they walked through the settlement, all who passed smiled and stopped eagerly for a cheerful word.  Some had small puzzles or problems they sought help with, and others still needed an elder’s soothing and support through their maturing.  But all treated Alone with the utmost respect and affection.

And yet…

There was still the small dwelling on the edge of the settlement.  Empty rooms, still spaces.  No life but their own.

Of course they could choose to rejoin the Plane, but every time they made up their mind to do so something deep inside ached and throbbed at the idea.  But they were very tired.

Perhaps there was something misformed about them?  Perhaps as the first to separate they had torn away too fast … left some ineffable something behind, without which they could not find their otherself?

A rap at the door of the dwelling had them turning to open it, revealing Sage on the other side.

“Come in, my friend.  What brings you here tonight?”

Sage took a deep breath, sensing the sadness and despair around their friend.  “I came to sit with you.  I know things did not go as you’d hoped tonight, and thought you might like some company.”

In truth, everyone in the community loved Alone.  Alone had been a parent to all of them at one time or another.  They were always the rock for others to lean on.  But the loneliness had become more and more apparent, and everyone was worried for their Eldest Sibling.  Each day they feared that this would be the day Alone decided to return to the Plane.

Alone sighed and beckoned their friend inside.  “Thank you.  I am thinking that perhaps tonight was my last gathering.”

Sage’s breath caught painfully.  “Please say you are not thinking of leaving us?”  They reached out and gathered their beloved friend into a gentle embrace.  “Surely there will be someone …”

Alone shook their head.  “I’m beginning to think not.  Perhaps I am malformed in some way, and othering is simply not possible for me.  It is time I gave up foolish dreams.  They only hurt me anymore.”

Sage tightened their hold on their friend as a despairing sob sounded through the small dwelling.  They didn’t know how to comfort Alone.  They had found their own otherself in their third gathering, and had now lived many lifetimes with their spiritmate.

But it was Alone who had comforted them, that first time back in the settlement on the Plane … after that first lifetime.  Being without their spiritmate until whatever force ruled such things determined they should be reborn onto the lower plane for another lifetime.  The loneliness had felt overwhelming, the separation a pain like nothing they had ever felt.

Alone had held them through their grief.  They would not fail their friend now.

“I do not think you could guide and shelter all of us as you have if there were something missing in you.  I do not know why no spirit has ever called out to you, but perhaps the Plane might know.  It would cost nothing to ask, would it?  I will go with you to the Heart of the Forest, and you can seek counsel there with the Plane itself.”  

In truth Sage was frightened to leave the settlement.  Most of them never went further afield than the gathering grounds.  They lived their lives in the settlement, working and waiting to be reunited with their spiritmates.  But Sage would not let Alone go into the forest without a companion.  At worst they would provide an anchor, should Alone be tempted to let go of themself.

The elder smiled sadly in their friend’s embrace.  Alone knew what it cost Sage to make that offer.  They were touched that Sage was willing to go so far from their own comfort to try to help them find answers.  “That is not necessary my dear.  I can go by myself.  I am well accustomed to being alone.  But your advice is well given, and I believe I will take it.   In a few days, when everyone has recovered from the festivities.”

Sage smiled at their friend.  “Well then, until that time we can sit and gossip about the otherselves found last night.  Did you see Fierce?  If ever anyone was well othered…”

Alone thought of the feisty young one.  “Indeed, the ratel is well suited, but I almost shudder to think what their crossmate might be.”

“Well I hope it isn’t Peace.  Fierce would shelter them so stoutly they’d never get to learn a thing.”  Sage worried a bit.  Crossmates were usually well-suited, but complementary just like their spiritmates.  Fierce and Peace might be complementary, but they were definitely not well-suited.  Fierce needed someone with enough fire to stand up to them, but enough gentleness to soothe them.

“No, not Peace.  I rather think it might be Soft.”  Alone considered the two well-suited, the ratel and the chinchilla.

“Soft?  How so?”  Sage couldn’t imagine the two together.

Alone hummed.  “Yes.  There is a saying on the lower plane.  Glory to the mattress that nullifies the cannon.  I think Soft can take Fierce’s fire and temper it without smothering it or burning alive in it.”

Now Sage considered.  “You could be right.  So who for Peace then?”

“I think perhaps Restless.  They will liven Peace up a little, while Peace will settle them down.”  Alone thought of the two young ones they had guided through their lives thus far.  

“A kangaroo and a dove?  Well, perhaps …”

Alone relaxed into the evening in the company of a good friend.  Indeed they had much to be thankful for.  And yet…

Soon.  They would go to the Heart of the Forest, and then they would know.

Word spread quickly through the settlement of Alone’s plans.

Everyone in the settlement seemed to feel the need to show their support, stopping by the little dwelling with gifts for the journey.  A new tent.  Fruits and vegetables.  Carefully preserved meat.  A new pouch, with many pockets for whatever tokens they might find along the way.

Each individual giving something in an effort to both ease their sibling’s way and remind them that they had people who loved them who would be awaiting their return.

Alone felt both surprised and touched.  Of course they had known their people cared for them, but the outpouring of love was unexpected.

Going into the schoolroom the day after the festivities, they found the youngest all abuzz with questions, so they settled in to share their people’s story as they had so many times before.  So many years of young ones to shelter and guide that sometimes now they seemed to blend together.

“In the long ago, there was the Plane.  The One created it to be the dwelling place of the people, but the people had not yet become.  But something was happening within the Plane.  Slowly, so very slowly, an understanding was growing.  That understanding was what we call ‘self’.”  Alone remembered the first time they had realized they were self.  Looking into the lower plane and marveling at the life there.

“The first people had no Names.  They knew only that they were not ‘Plane’.  The Plane was overjoyed, and made a place for these first children to grow, and learn, and slowly… still so very slowly … more joined them.”  Those early days had been so free, exploring and learning about everything.  Most of those who had experienced that time were gone now.  Returned to the Plane after many long years of life.

One of the children bounced eagerly.  “When did Names come?”  None of the children had Names yet, so all were curious about them.

Alone smiled.  “Names came when the people realized they were many.  No longer could they simply know each other as they spoke and learned together.  So they went to the place where the Plane spoke with them, the place we call the Heart of the Forest, and they asked for Names.  And the Plane gave each of them a Name of their own, which they joyously shared with each other.”  They had not been called ‘Alone’ then.  But no one was left who would remember that first, precious Name.

“The Plane’s children continued to learn, and grow, and many more joined them.  One night, they decided to celebrate.  They gathered together at the edge of the Plane, in the place where they could look up and see the stars.  And they danced and sang and made merry all night.  And something new began to happen.”  They remembered that first gathering, watching as their friends and companions became other.

“As they danced, they began to change.  As life had grown within the Plane, life had also been developing on the lower plane.  And now, many of the people felt a new form take shape within them.  A form from the lower plane.  And they wondered at the change.  The next morning, back in their familiar shapes, they hurried to the Heart of the Forest to ask the Plane what had happened.”  Alone had led them there, confused and bewildered, having seen the changes but not having been part of it.

“The Plane reassured the children.  This was a good thing, for it meant that on the plane below, their spiritmates had been born.  And the otherselves they had discovered reflected their truest selves, and would allow them to join with their spiritmates in the lower plane for the course of their lives.”  All had been excited then, thinking of life on the lower plane, and a mate.

“Where did the spiritmates come from?”  Oh, that child was going to earn the Name ‘Curious’’, Alone was almost certain of it.  All the children listened eagerly, even the older ones who had heard it before.

“The spiritmates were children of the One, born into the lower plane as the people were born into the upper plane.  There were many children of the One, and not all of them would be spiritmates.  Many simply lived their lives finding everything they needed within themselves.  But some of them were different.  Some could see farther, run faster, hear better.  They were gifted with more, so that they could protect their people… for the lower plane had many dangers.”

“But the gifted ones needed more than the lower plane could provide.  They needed us.  And they were our mates.  We rejoiced, and waited eagerly for the time when each of us would be called to our mates.  And then … it began to happen!  One after another, those who had found their otherselves were called away to a life on the lower plane with their spiritmates.”  That had been a bittersweet time, watching so many beloved companions leave to join with their mates.  And yet there had been more young ones to shelter and guide, and Alone had found solace in caring for those new lives.

The question this time came from one of the older children, one almost ready to be Named.  “What happened when the spiritmates’ lives came to an end?”  Old enough to begin to see that no joy in life came without a cost.

Alone sighed.  “When the spiritmates’ lives on the lower plane ended, they came to the upper plane, but not to the place where the people lived and grew and learned.  Many have searched, but we have never found the place where our mates go.  The people returned here, to the Plane, to wait for their spiritmate to be reborn into the lower plane.  Then they rejoin them.”

“It is a difficult thing to exist without one’s spiritmate.  We mourn the loss of our mates, but sorrow does not last forever.”  Alone had seen it over and over.  The initial grief, fading over time into quiet waiting.

“As time went on, the children of the One born into the lower plane began to build communities, and live close together.  And a new type of gifted arose among them.  These were people gifted with understanding, empathy, and a deep connection to the upper plane that allowed them to ease and smooth the emotional pains and struggles of others.  But often these gifted ones couldn’t shield themselves from the ills they were meant to ease.”  Alone had watched from the edge of the Plane and hurt as these children came apart.

“But then a wondrous thing happened.  They realized, these gifted spiritmates, that they were meant to work in pairs.  One blessed with the gifts of the lower plane, and one blessed with the gifts of the upper plane.  And they began to pair with one another.”

“Didn’t that mean they didn’t need us anymore?”  Another older child, worrying.

“Not at all.  WE are their spiritmates.  Their connection and comfort.  Sometimes their guide.  Sometimes their protector, as they are ours.  But now we had something new.  We had crossmates.”  Alone remembered the first few pairs, building something brand new in their world.

“Our crossmate is the spiritmate of our spiritmate’s pair.  They complement us, rather than complete us.  They sometimes become the best friend we have.  Some crossmates choose to live together while they wait for their spiritmates to be reborn.  Others prefer not to.  But whether best friend or working partner, a crossmate is a gift.”

The youngest children were getting fidgety, so Alone finished the tale quickly.  “As more and more gifted were born into the lower plane, more and more of the Plane’s children began to find their otherselves.  And more and more children grew within the Plane.  Over time, the Naming began to be done by the Elders … as they were the ones who knew the children best.  This was a good thing, but in a way it grieved the Plane.”

“Why did it grieve the Plane?”  The newest child asked innocently.

“Because as the people began to do more for themselves, they did not rely on the Plane as much.  The Plane was happy to see their children grown, but sorrowful that a distance was growing between them.  Few make the trip now to the Heart of the Forest.  The people stay securely within the settlement.”  Alone felt a deep kinship with the Plane in this, having watched generations of their people grow and develop, and leave them behind.

“Is that why you’re going to the Heart of the Forest?”  A deep hush fell over the schoolroom.

“I have been to the Heart many times.  I find great comfort there.  There is nothing to fear.  We are the Plane’s beloved children, and while the way to the Heart is no longer easy, we should not be afraid to seek it out.  It is there for each of us, as we have need.”  

“Now,” Alone got up and dusted off their clothing.  “It is time for a meal and some playtime.  Today is after all a festival day.”

Moving out of the schoolroom, Alone wandered through one of the neighborhoods within the settlement.  This was the oldest part of the community, but it had been well cared for and rebuilt as needed over the years.  And yet…

There, almost completely worn away.  A post that had once braced a wall of a single room dwelling.  Alone remembered the day they had sunk that post into the ground.  Feeling pleased to have created something that would shelter them.

Now they felt as old and worn as that post.  Perhaps it was time.

The Plane would know.

It was time to ask.