The Book of Dreams (66 page)

Breathless and barefoot, with stars in her hair, Dana ran among them, kicking the ball and shouting to Edane. All the time she played, the questions rang through her mind.

Are you or are you not? Have you the taste of your existence or do you not? Are you within the country or on the border? Are you mortal or immortal?

When the game was over, she parted from her mother with the same words she had said to Gabe.

“I promise to return and let you know my decision.”

Falling to earth, Dana landed in the snow near Grandfather’s house. Though she walked in her bare feet, she was impervious to the cold. It was early in the morning, the darkest hour before dawn. Were anyone to look in her direction they would see only a pale wisp of light.

With every step she took, Dana felt the weight of her decision. How could she embrace humanity? To grow up in the mortal world, she would have to accept so much pain and sorrow, failed dreams and lost hopes, inevitable change and inevitable tragedy. There would be so many things she couldn’t control, both in herself and in her life.

On the other hand, there was so much to gain, all the joys and wonders of being alive on the Earth, learning and growing, finding friendship and love. And what a great mystery was human life itself, when you can never really know what might happen next!

She stopped before she reached the door. Her hand paused in midair and didn’t knock.
Not yet.
Turning suddenly, she ran from the settlement. With the ease of a shape-shifter, she dropped to the ground and took the form of a wolf, as white as the snow. Now she let out a howl. It woke all the dogs for miles around and set them barking furiously.

The door of Grandfather’s house opened. Light spilled onto the snow. Out bounded the black wolf in a rush to join her. When he reached her side, they touched noses in greeting. They played a frantic game together, chasing each other in frenzied circles in the snow, dashing back and forth around the trees, snapping and barking in the sheer fun of being wild.

Then, without a backward glance, they ran into the North.

• • •

The next evening, the two old men sat drinking tea by the stove. It was dark outside the window, but the moon glittered on the snow. The Northern Lights were swirling across the sky. Heads close together in easy companionship, they spoke in a mixture of French and Cree. A jeep pulled up in front of the house. Footsteps sounded. Roy came in the door, stomping the snow from his boots. He looked sad and dejected.

“I tracked them to Lac à l’Eau Claire.”

Grandfather and
grand-père
regarded him with sympathy.

“They came up to me. There was plenty of jumping and barking and they let me hug them, but they didn’t change back. They ran off. Is that their choice, do you think?”

He looked stricken.

The old men exchanged glances.

“Some things don’t get decided right away,” Grandfather said.

“It’s not possible to know for now,” agreed
grand-père
.

“But they are your friend forever, Roy.
C’est vrai, n’estce pas?
This you know. Whatever happen, they are your friend.”

• • •

Far in the North, on a promontory overlooking the lonely tundra, two wolves howled at the moon. Across the clear sky, the Aurora Borealis illumined the night with multicolored lights.
Les chèvres dansantes,
the French Canadians called them.
The dancing goats.

The two wolves exulted in the wild beauty of the night, the wild freedom of their nature, the wild magic of the land.

• • •

Farther north again, beyond the Northern Lights, in a place some Native legends call Skyland, the High King and High Queen of Faerie arrived. They bowed before the Old Ones, the Firstborn of Turtle Island.

“Because of you, the Battle of the Great Heart was won,” said Midir.

“We are here to express our gratitude,” said Honor.

“There is no need,” came the reply.

We are all family.

A year and a day later, Roy went to bed at midnight, having failed to talk his grandfather into doing the same. The Old Man sat at the stove, smoking his pipe and drinking tea. The wise dark eyes gazed out the window at the night beyond.

“No point us waitin’ forever,” Roy had said quietly, more to himself than to Grandfather. “They made their choice. We gotta let them go in peace.”

That very night, Roy had a dream. He was playing soccer in the sky with wolf-people and goat-people who sparkled like the constellations. The blue shining ball they were kicking around was the planet Earth. Running beside Roy was Jean, who kept changing from wolf to young man and back again. On the same team, racing across the vast plain of the firmament, was Dana: one minute fairy, the next wolf, the next again, a young woman.

The three went into a huddle together to review the Game Plan. It was so profound and exhilarating that Roy kept losing track of their strategy, yet somehow he knew it and understood it in the deepest part of him.

At the heart of the universe, we talk of a life lived in matter.

Then he found himself plummeting from the sky, shooting out of the darkness, like a falling star.

Did the others fall with him?

• • •

Roy surfaced from his dream to stare groggily at the ceiling. A final image lingered in his mind: his two friends, in jeans and parkas, walking out of the forest, hand-in-hand. As he lay there, heart aching, familiar sounds reached his ears. Voices talking and laughing. Feet crunching on the snow outside. His name being called out. Loud knocks on the door.

Roy was already out of bed. Pulling on his jeans.

Running into the hall, yelling.

À bientôt.
(French)—See you soon.

À gauche! À gauche!
(French)—To the left! The left!

Abú
(Irish)—Forever! Hurrah!

Allons! Allez!
(French)—Let’s go! Go ahead!

Allons-nous!
(French)—Let’s go!

Alors
(French)—then, in that case

Alors, regarde, chérie
(French)—Then look, my darlin’

Âme soeur
(Canadian French)—Like the Irish term
anamchara,
this means soul-friend. It tends to be translated as “soul-mate” but it transcends romantic connotations though it may include these. As a Québécois friend explains, it refers to
“une grande amitié, une forte relation amicale et très respecteuse.”

Anamchara
(Irish)—soul-friend

Angakuk
(Inuktitut)—shaman, medicine man/woman

Aqsarniit
(Inuktitut)—soccer trails, the name used by Baffin Islanders for the Northern Lights. Another Inuktitut name for the Lights is
Aqsalijaat,
meaning “the trail of those playing soccer.”

Attention!
(French)—Watch out!

Aventure
(French)—adventure

Aya
(Hindi)—anglicized to “ayah.” A nursemaid or governess.

Ban martre
(Old Irish)—white martyrdom

Beaucoup de magie
(French)—lots of magic

Bí ar d’fhaichill ar an strainséir!
(Irish)—Beware the stranger!

Biens le temps
(French)—plenty of time

Bienvenue, Loup.
(French)—Welcome, Wolf.

Bon
(French)—good

Bravo!
(French)—Good work! Well done!

Buíochas le Dia.
(Irish)—Thank God.

C’est bon.
(French)—This is good.

C’est ça.
(French)—That’s it.

C’est certain!
(French)—For certain! It’s definite!

C’est incroyable!
(French)—It’s incredible!

C’est vrai?
(French)—it’s true?

C’était merveilleux!
(French)—It was wonderful!

C’était très beau
(French)—It was very beautiful.

Cá bhfuill Naomh Bhreandán?
(Irish)—Where is Saint Brendan?

Ça va?
(French)—How’s it going? (How are you?)

Cailleach Beinne Bric
(Scots Gaelic)—The Hag of the Speckled Company

Canot d’écorce qui va voler!
(Canadian French)—The bark canoe/boat that is going to fly!

Canot d’écorce qui vole, qui vole!
(Canadian French)—The bark canoe/boat that flies, that flies!

Cara Mia
(Latin)—My dear/beloved lady

Caribou
(Canadian French of Algonkian origin)—large deer in Arctic regions of North America. Both male and female have antlers. The same deer in Asia and Europe is called reindeer.

Cat sith
(Scots Gaelic)—fairy cat

Catholique
(French)—Catholic, as in Roman Catholic

Ce n’est rien
(French)—It’s nothing. Used as “you’re welcome” in reply to “thank you.”

Ceann groppi
(Scots Gaelic)—stuffed cod head. A Cape Breton delicacy. The cod head is stuffed with cod livers mashed with cornmeal, flour, and rolled oats, then boiled or steamed. Yum.

Chauvin
(French)—chauvinistic

Chercher une aiguille dans un botte de foin
(French)—to look for a needle in a haystack

Chez toi
(French)—(at) your house

Coimdiu na nduile
(Old Irish)—Lord of Creation

Comment dit-on?
(French)—How do you say?

Complainte
(French)—lament, sad song

Comprends-tu?
(French)—Do you understand?

Conte merveilleux
(French)—wonder tale, fairy tale

Craic agus ceol
(Irish)—crack and music—Crack means great fun, as in “having the crack.”

Craoibhín Ruadh
(Irish)—Little Red-haired Branch

D’accord
(French)—agreed, okay

Dangereux
(French)—dangerous

Dans l’bois!
(Canadian French of
dans les bois
)—Head for the trees!

Dehcho
(Dene)—The Big River (the original name for the MacKenzie River in the Northwest Territories)

Derc martre
(Old Irish)—red martyrdom

Dia Duilech
(Old Irish)—God of the Elements

Diablotin
(Canadian French)—demon

Dis-moi
(Canadian French)—tell me (informal of
dites-moi
)

Esprit du mal
(Canadian French)—evil spirit

Et toi?
(French)—And you?

Excus’-moi
(French)—excuse me, sorry (informal of
excusez-moi
)

Fado, fado
(Irish)—long ago. Usually found at the beginning of a fairy tale, as in “once upon a time.”

Fais attention
(French)—be careful

Fais-nous voyager par-dessus les montagnes!
(Canadian French)—Let’s journey over the mountains!

Famille
(French)—family

Fatigué
(French)—tired, weary

Garçon
(French)—boy