As the night sky grew darker and the Dragon carrying the bright star on his back flew farther out over the ocean, if you listened closely you could hear in between the night sounds a voice talking into the darkness.
“Where are we going?” Astrid asked Dragon
There was no audible reply because Dragon was speaking to Astrid using his soul link to her. What Astrid heard in her head was, “patience Little Astrid, patience. Enjoy the night breeze, watch the moon play upon the water and turn it into liquid silver. We shall be there soon enough.”
Astrid sighed deeply and in case Dragon didn’t hear her the first time, she sighed even louder. “Shush” Dragon murmured “and listen.”
As the night grew quiet, Astrid started to pick out all of the different sounds in the night. The closest was the rhythmic flapping of Dragon’s wings. This deep, but almost quite whoosh as he flew steadily onward. Down below she could hear the water rustling into the night which sounded like a back up singer to the drum beat of Dragon’s wings. Then all of a sudden she could hear the main singer, these beautiful deep moans that lifted up to a higher note at the end. One of the most beautiful songs she ever heard. Astrid wondered where they were coming from, who was making them when Dragon started to fly lower towards the water before landing lightly onto a rock that seemed to be floating in the middle of nowhere. As she slid off of Dragon’s back onto the ground she felt the chill from her toes and then winding it’s way up to her head. She looked around and realized that they were on a glacier floating in the ocean and that was what was so cold. Dragon then turned into a boy and created from the very air two long velvet capes. One for Astrid and one for himself.
Star was looking around at the beauty of the floating ice that looked like it had diamonds thrown across the surface as it shone in the moonlight, while all around her the song continued to play. Her back was turned to the water when she heard a splash behind her and the ice rocked gently. As she turned around quickly, she was just able to see a large black shape with a very large eye before it disappeared back under the water.
As she turned to Dragon to ask a question, the shape once again emerged, but this time continued to float at the surface.
“Talk to him,” Dragon encouraged
“Talk? But, Dragon, how can I talk to him? He is an animal.” Astrid replied
“An animal? Astrid, you know better than that. What just because someone is different than you, you can’t communicate with them? They don’t have a brain? They don’t have a soul? Does that mean that neither you nor I truly exist because we are different? Think, Etoile, think”
Astrid continued to stare at the whale in front of her, wondering how she would be able to communicate with it, when she felt Dragon nudge her mind before quickly pulling back. She wondered, could she talk with something who doesn’t speak her language by reaching out to it with her soul? Would they be able to truly understand each other with no words? She slowly opened her mind to the whale in front of her and as she did, her senses were flooded with so much knowledge and love and experiences that she couldn’t even begin to understand. She knew about the whales family going back thousands of years and how they knew all of the stars intimately and the stars knew them. How this very whale was watching the sky the moment she came into existence and had made a wish to meet her. That the reason why she was there in that single moment, was because the whale made a wish on ‘her’ star.
In gratitude for all that she was learning, Astrid shared back to the whale the beauty of the night sky from where she was in the universe and all the dreams and worlds she had been lucky enough to see and experience and be a part of.
Time in that moment ceased to exist as the two met in a world not of words but of light and love. Finally as the sky slowly started to lighten, Dragon touched her arm to bring her back into her physical self. “It is time for you to go back to your home.”
Astrid looked up at him with tears in her eyes, “I don’t want to leave, there is so much more to share.”
Dragon sighed deeply and just in case Astrid didn’t hear him the first time, he sighed again. “Silly Astrid, why should time or distance be any different than physical words? All you have to do is open up your souls to each other and it will be as if you are physically there. Now time to say goodbye.”
Astrid reached out with her mind one more time and showed her friend her opening up her arms and embracing her with all the loving energy she could. Her friend reached back and filled her soul with song. Then Astrid slowly winked out of existence on the glacier before winking into existence on her Star far up in the sky.
