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9. The Land of Vida
They
slept and they slept, and when they awoke they were
in a strange place. Mika had dreamed that smiling
children had carried them a long way to an enchanted
kingdom. And when he
looked around at the brightly glowing houses and
the laughing children that stood all around, he
knew it hadn't been a dream at all.
"We
are the children of Vida," their hosts laughed,
and they pulled the travelers to their feet and
began to dance and to sing. Mika was caught up in
a feeling of joy as he danced with the children.
And as he looked in Jeena's face he saw an expression
he hadn't seen in all the days they'd been together.
It was one of utter peace.
Days
passed by in the land of Vida. And each day was
spent singing and dancing. And the children told
stories that made Jeena and Mika laugh and laugh.
And then all the children would Dream. Mika wasn't
sure what they meant that first day in the land
of Vida, when the children asked the two travelers
to Dream with them.
"Sure,"
they had both agreed.
And
then the children sat down in the beautiful flowers
that filled the kingdom, or beneath the tall majestic
trees, or stared up at the sparkling stars. Jeena
and Mika and some of the children sat around a rushing
stream.
Mika
stared into the stream and watched it drifting by.
He felt the water like life flowing endlessly through
him. And he heard the sweet song the stream whispered,
and he began to hum it himself. All around he could
hear music. "It's only the sound of the flowers
blowing in the breeze, and the rustle of the wind
in the trees," a part of him whispered. But it sounded
like music. And then it was gone. He heard only
the rush of the water, and looking around he saw
Jeena and the children still staring at the stream.
Everywhere in the Kingdom the children sat motionless,
staring at whatever was before them.
"Jeena,"
he whispered. But she didn't answer. He sat there
a little longer. After a while he pulled out the
flute and tried to play something, but it didn't
seem to fit in with the whisper of music that was
everywhere around him.
And
so, each day, when the entire kingdom stopped their
singing and dancing and began to Dream, Mika would
wander around the land painting beautiful pictures
that almost captured the unimaginable beauty of
Vida. He would play his flute and sing of adventures
and of the Quest that lay before him. 
One
night he Dreamed. In the Dream Mika saw a butterfly,
and he was the butterfly. He flew up, high in the
sky, then raced down to soar between the flowers.
Oh what joy, what freedom. He fluttered quietly
playing his own song that mixed with all the sounds
of the world, creating a beautiful symphony.
The
butterfly flew and he flew, happy and peaceful,
and then looking down he saw a silent traveler asleep
in a field of flowers.
Mika
opened his eyes. The sun was shining brightly on
the new morning. A butterfly drifted past his eyes.
He blinked, half remembering the dream, and he opened
his mouth to say something. But the butterfly disappeared
in the flowers.
"Jeena,"
he said that day. "Many weeks have passed since
we arrived in Vida, and, well, as beautiful as this
place is, nothing really ever happens here. I mean,
we just sing and dance and laugh. And the weather
never changes -- it's always beautiful of course.
But every day is the same as the last."
"But
Mika, you just told me that you Dreamed last night.
That you became a butterfly."
"What
do you mean Jeena. I didn't say I became a butterfly.
I just dreamed I was a butterfly."
"But
don't you see it, Mika? Everything is so clear to
me now, ever since we found Vida. Why, whatever
we want to become we can. I never knew that before.
We have only to see that we are and we become."
Mika
shook his head impatiently. "Yeah, but Jeena, there
are adventures out there. Destiny awaits me."
"But
whatever you want you have only to see it, and you
become it."
"That
doesn't make any sense to me."
"But
just as you were a butterfly last night..."
"Jeena,
I told you I just dreamed I was a butterfly!!!"
"Your
body may have been asleep, but you were a butterfly.
Can't you see that. We are everything and everything
is us. One spirit."
"Jeena,
I don't know." Mika sighed. "I kind of understand.
I guess I felt what you're talking about. Once.
But only for a short moment. That time by the stream.
But just when I felt it, it was gone. Then I was
just me, Mika the searcher."
Jeena
smiled. "Mika, I know you will find happiness some
day. I can see it so clearly. I wish you could,
too. You are right. You have to go. Find Gumba.
He will help you find your dreams, whatever they
might be."
Mika
sighed. It was very beautiful here. He wanted to
believe. Maybe if he tried he could learn to be
happy like everyone else. No. Destiny was waiting.
He had to go.
"Mika,"
Jeena said slowly. "Take this with you." And she
handed him her guitar. "Remember me and the friends
you have met. We're always with you, in your heart.
Remember that. You have only to think of us, and
we'll comfort you...And Mika, try to think of the
road you're traveling, rather than what lies at
the journey's end."
Mika
shrugged. She didn't understand how something drove
him inside, made him search. He hugged her, and
looking back at the dancing, singing children one
last time, he set off again on his journey.
 
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& illustrations © 1981-2013 Robert Alan Silverstein
pforpeace@aol.com
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