by C J Murphy
After their meal, Noeul and Jordan sat outside and watched the dogs play in the yard. Jordan got lost in the words of Thoreau, while Noeul absorbed the warmth from the big rock and wrote in her journal.
There have only been a few times when I’ve felt like I was not completely in control of what was going on in my life: when I lost my parents, when Aggie died, and now. The fact that Jordan’s even here is testimony to the uncertainty I feel. To be honest, she’s like someone opened a window and let in fresh air. I’ve been comfortably stagnated in this world I’ve created. Her presence is like a tidal wave coming in and taking everything that existed on the shore back out to sea. What the wave leaves behind is either treasure or destruction.
I thought having someone here in my very orderly world would cause an uneasy feeling. The reality is the exact opposite. It’s like tasting food while cooking. If you stick to the recipe, you know exactly what you’ll get. The magic happens when you throw in an unexpected ingredient and the dish takes on a whole new flavor.
Just the short period of time she was in the greenhouse breathed new life into the space. Jordan is determined and seems to have an untamed spirit. It’s been a long time since I looked forward to a change of pace. I’m thinking this pace might be more like a sprint.
Noeul put the journal down and silently watched Jordan sitting there with a book that Noeul knew well. She turned her face to the sun and offered up a silent thought to Aggie. I hope you know what you’re doing, because I’m following your lead here.
Chapter Seventeen
THE NEXT FEW DAYS, Jordan followed Noeul around as she explained her scientific process. With access to all Noeul’s most recent research, including pictures and specimens that had been catalogued, Jordan had months’ worth of data to pour through and match up with her own. Their processes were slightly different, and Jordan began to recognize something. Because Noeul wasn’t surrounded by technology or distracted by the shiny things of a busy life, she could see things with a much clearer eye. Her senses, no longer dulled by the hum of electronics or the trappings of a world bent on immediacy, seemed much sharper and more attune. Remember the ‘KISS‘ principle, Jordan. Keep it simple, stupid.
Jordan enjoyed letting Noeul lead their daily run through the wooded trails that crested in and out of the forest around the house at Topside. The pounding of Jordan’s trail runners set a rhythm for her heart and cleared her mind. Bandit and Kyo ran ahead of them, darting on and off the trail to chase chipmunks and squirrels. Noeul slowed when they came to the falls with the deep swimming hole at its base.
Hands on her hips, Jordan drew in some deep breaths. “I need to come back here for a swim. This place is gorgeous.” Both dogs leapt into the water and swam out to the center. They turned and made their way to shore only to shake off right in front of the women.
Noeul put her arms up to ward off some of the water. “You two, go play.”
Jordan sat down at the water’s edge and tossed a rock. She watched the ripples make their way out in ever widening circles. She closed her eyes and listened to the sounds around her. Off in the distance a woodpecker drummed out a repetitious rat-a-tat-tat that echoed off the trees, as leaves fluttered on the breeze. “Nothing like it in the world.”
Noeul sat down beside her. “What’s that?” She began drawing geometric shapes in the sand with a stick.
“The pure lack of mechanical sounds. Most people can’t do without that kind of noise. This kind of quiet drives them crazy. I, on the other hand, lose my way in it.” She picked up another rock and tried to skip it across the surface. It didn’t get very far, given the angle of her throw.
Noeul stood and sailed a rock that skipped five times. She grinned at Jordan. “It’s all in the wrist.”
Jordan laughed and rolled to her side. “Well done.” She accepted the hand up that Noeul offered and brushed the sand from her shorts. “Come on you two, time to go.” Balling her hand into a fist, Jordan tried to dispel the spark she felt every time they touched. It was a peculiar feeling. She rubbed at her side which tingled without reason.
“Tomorrow, we’ll take the horses for a trail ride, if you’re up for it.”
“That sounds great. I’d love to go for a ride. I rode occasionally when I worked for the national parks. They were some of my favorite jobs. I chose those jobs so I could tell my sister all about the wonders she was never going to be able to see in person. There’s not much that she lets stop her. Unfortunately, most of the parks are inaccessible. I’d send her pictures and tell her stories about my travels.”
“I imagine she appreciated that a great deal. It sounds like you were an amazing big sister.”
“I tried to be. Dava was one of the greatest gifts my parents ever gave me. I wouldn’t be who I am today without her. She drove me, made me better than I’d ever have been without her.”
“I’ll bet she’d say you did the same for her.”
Jordan laughed at that. “I’m not so sure. My best guess is she’d say I’m a big pain in her ass.” Jordan noticed that Noeul’s smile didn’t seem to reach her eyes. “You’re an only child, aren’t you?”
Noeul shook her head. “Yes. My mother miscarried when I was five, and they told her it would be dangerous to try again. They poured all their love and attention into me. I had incredible parents.”
They walked slowly back along the moss and fern lined trail to the house. “I’m sorry, Noeul.”
Noeul shrugged her shoulders. “It’s okay, that was a long time ago. It would have been nice to have a sibling left after my parents passed. I can’t complain, I had a good life. Your bio mentions the foundation your parents started. That’s incredible.”
“They truly wanted Dava to experience everything she could. I loved pushing her around the baseball diamond. It’s still one of my fondest childhood memories.”
“I get the feeling you’re still a pretty big kid.”
Jordan’s grin crept out. “Excellent observation, Professor.”
They eventually made it back to the house, where Noeul decided she was going to go take a shower. Jordan wanted to do some cultivation work in the outdoor crops that were growing near the house where she’d seen some weeds. The tools were stored in a small shed and easily accessible.
Within minutes, she was using the hoe around a row of corn, sweat pouring down her back. The sun was bearing down on her, giving her cause to strip down to her sports bra for comfort. She ran her hands through her wet hair and pushed it out of her eyes. Her muscles ached pleasantly, as she worked the soil around the edge of the stocks, stopping the weeds from taking hold. She’d forgotten how much she enjoyed simple manual labor. I could get used to a life like this.
***
Noeul stood in her bedroom, drying her long hair with a towel. Movement out the window drew her to see what it was. Jordan was standing with her back to her, wearing nothing except shorts and a sports bra. Her skin shimmered with sweat, as she worked her way down the row. Noeul squinted at something on Jordan’s back, as she stood and wiped at her brow. When Jordan put her hands on her hips, Noeul had a better view of her back. Noeul could now see a phoenix with wings of crimson, the tail curving around Jordan’s left side. The tattoo was beautiful against her bronze skin.
The more Noeul watched, the more her own dragon tattoo tingled. Her hand went to it automatically, as she recalled the dream she’d had in Shepherdstown, the phoenix and the dragon wrapping around each other. This is crazy. Noeul shook herself out of her reverie and dragged her gaze away from the window to look in the mirror.
She finished combing out her long, black hair and pulled it back, gathered it with the clasp, and pushed the pin through. Noeul stood at the sink, staring at her own reflection, and shook herself again. She moved through the house and gathered up a pair of well-worn leather gloves on her way outside. Her guest had almost completed the second row, as Noeul came up beside her.
Jordan greeted her with a blazing smile. “The corn looks great. How a
bout we roast some ears over that open fire pit? I could grill up some vegetables to go with it for supper tonight. What do you think?”
“Good idea. By the way, we haven’t even had lunch yet. Are you hungry?”
“I want to finish the other two rows. I figured I’d do that before I showered. Anything else you want done while I’m already dirty? I’m not afraid of heights or hard work, so think about anything that might need done while I finish this.”
Noeul shook her head and couldn’t help staring at where the tail of the phoenix wrapped around Jordan’s side and climbed up toward her breast, disappearing under the sports bra. I’d like to see where that tail ends up. Her eyes were transfixed on Jordan when she heard her name as if from far away. She felt a touch on her arm.
“Noeul? Are you okay?”
Noeul startled. “Hum? What did you say?”
“I asked if the animals need to be turned out into the field?”
Noeul wrung her gloves in her hands before answering. “Uh, I’ll take care of it.” Her eyes were still glued on Jordan’s side.
Jordan looked down where Noeul’s eyes were trained and smiled shyly. “It was a gift to myself after a pretty rough time in my life.”
Noeul felt her cheeks heat, and she dropped her gaze. “I’m sorry.”
“No need to be sorry. I’m not embarrassed. The tattoo has a lot of symbolism for me, a rebirth of sorts.”
“Oh?”
“That’s a story for a glass of good whiskey and a crackling fire. It’s safe to say that the Jordan you see now was born out of the ashes of another one.”
The bleating of the sheep cut the tension between them. “I’m going to go, uh…” Noeul’s words died before she could find them. “Uhm, I’ll let them out. I’m going to head to the greenhouse if you want to join me. I have a few things I wanted to show you.”
Jordan’s smile lit up her face. “I’ll finish this up and be there in a minute.”
Noeul rubbed her side and waved with her gloves in hand. “No hurry, you know where I’ll be.”
The rest of the afternoon, the two women worked together. They tended the animals and worked in the greenhouse lab. Noeul enjoyed teaching Jordan her grafting techniques and showing her the progress of an experiment that was showing promise. Jordan added her own knowledge and suggestions. Noeul was enjoying working side by side with someone, something she hadn’t done in years. She found herself frequently turning to Jordan to bounce an idea off her or work through a concept. The conversation was easy and productive. They’d started a few new experiments together. It felt like they’d been research partners for years even though the reality was far from that.
Early evening, Noeul called out to Jordan who was cleaning vegetables in the kitchen. “I’m going to go get a fire started so it can make good coals to cook on.”
“Great. How about I make us a drink? I got a good look at your liquor cabinet, and I think I can make about anything with what’s in there. Do you have a request, or do you want me to surprise you?"
Noeul muttered under her breath. “You’ve been doing that since you got here.”
“What, I didn’t catch that?”
Noeul could feel the heat rising in her face and quickly moved toward the door, calling behind her. “Surprise me.”
Outside, Noeul placed small kindling in the bottom of the fire pit and followed that up by stacking larger pieces around it. She lit the fire and waited for everything to catch. Slowly, she added more substantial pieces until she had a nice fire going. She sat back watching the red and yellow flames lick at the wood, slowly consuming it. Glowing coals were lining the bottom, and she used a long wooden stick to move them around. Heat radiated off the fire, and she pulled at the open work shirt that covered her tank top. The sliding glass door slid open, and Jordan handed her a glass of white wine.
Noeul sipped from her glass. “Thank you, this is perfect.”
“I figured we’d save the Jameson’s I found for later. Those coals look great.” Jordan had soaked ears of corn in water, and she laid those directly onto the fire. The corn sizzled, and rising steam mingled with the small wisps of drifting smoke.
Noeul helped her move a small grill over the pit, and Jordan pulled vegetable kebabs off a plate, sliding them onto the surface. Red, yellow, and green bell pepper, chunks of onion, and cherry tomatoes lined the skewers. Within seconds, a delicious aroma filled the air around them. “Oh wow, that smells wonderful.”
“This is pretty simple. I’ve never been much of a cook, not for lack of trying on Mom or Jida’s part.”
“I’m happy to have someone to share dinner with. Kyo is a great companion. She’s pretty sparse on the conversation side though.”
“Well then, I’m honored to fill that role.” Jordan turned the kebabs and the corn that sat down in the coals.
The wine and the fire brought Noeul’s blood to the surface, warming her skin to an uncomfortable level. She set down her glass and leaned forward to remove the work shirt. She looked up in time to see Jordan’s piercing dark eyes looking at her, more accurately her shoulder. Noeul smiled, “What?”
“Your tattoo.”
Noeul looked at her right side, where the dragon head crawled up from her back to lay across her shoulder. She looked over at Jordan with a question on her lips. “What?”
“It’s like the one I saw in my vision during the cleansing at Havasu. I’m not asking you to show me. Can you at least tell me about the dragon, does the tail end with roots that penetrate the earth?”
“Jordan, I’m afraid to ask how you know that. I know for a fact this is as much skin as I’ve ever exposed to you.”
Jordan blushed and turned their meal again. “I promise, Noeul, I haven’t been a peeping Tom. If you can bear with me, I’ll explain. I don’t want to let this dinner go to waste, because I’m starving. There is an explanation for my question.”
Noeul concentrated on Jordan’s face, trying to detect any kind of subterfuge. There was none that she could see. She relaxed only a bit and raised an eyebrow. “Please don’t give me a reason to doubt you or your purpose, Jordan.
“Noeul, I assure you, my reasons and purpose are above board. I haven’t told you one thing that hasn’t been the truth, and I never will.”
Noeul took a deep breath and held out her hand for the plate Jordan was offering. “I’m counting on that. Don’t make me regret it.”
***
Jordan’s stomach flipped. She felt dizzy remembering the vision at Havasu, when she was somewhere she couldn’t explain with Maiah in that out of body experience. She needed to be able to explain this to Noeul in a way that didn’t seem fabricated.
They ate in near silence. Once they’d finished, Jordan took their plates into the kitchen and poured them both a generous portion of Jameson’s. Walking back outside, she sat down beside Noeul and offered her the tumbler. She sipped her own, leaned forward on her elbows, and collected her thoughts.
“Noeul, when I was searching for you, things happened all along the way. Some things I’ve told you about in detail and others, I only skimmed the surface. I told you that when I was at Havasu I met up with the same medicine woman you did, Maiah. She told me during my vision that I had to seek the rooted dragon to find balance.” Calling on her uncanny memory, she relayed the vision to Noeul, exactly as she remembered it.
Jordan turned to Maiah “Where am I?” She watched, as a breeze blew back the silver strands of hair that surrounded the older woman’s face.
“You are in between earth and sky.”
Jordan watched Maiah draw something on the ground with a stick. A crude bird hovering above what seemed to be a dragon. The dragon wasn’t one she recognized from any depiction she’d ever seen. Most in her recollection appeared dangerous and imposing. This one seemed gentle, fiercely protective, and strangely female as both figures came to life.
The bird shifted above the dragon, and Jordan saw it transform into a fiery phoenix, studying the ground ben
eath it. The dragon found a branch and held it up for the phoenix to land upon. Talons closed tightly around the wood, and the dragon brought the branch down where it could look eye to eye with the phoenix. The dragon reached out and sliced through the ground with a great claw, peeled back the sandy earth, and planted the branch. A great tail swept the soil back in place and rested near the base of the branch that had sprouted green leaves. Jordan watched, as the great tail began to grow roots that entwined with those of the branch beneath the soil. The phoenix wrapped its flaming wings around the dragon.
The branch grew into a great sequoia, as the phoenix and the dragon grew with it, an integral part in the heart of the trunk. The great tree reached into the sky, and a blinding light caused Jordan to raise her hand in front of her eyes. After a few seconds, the light turned into warm sunlight, and she stared at the massive tree. Something niggled at her conscious, something she couldn’t explain. She looked for Maiah and found a small red wolf that lay quietly alert beside her. Jordan grew sleepy and lay down, pillowing her head on the small wolf’s side, as she drifted into sleep.
Jordan finished her story. “After that, Solanya and Kelea took me to the cave where I found the memorial leading me to Sequoia National Park.” She watched for any reaction from Noeul and was willing to wait out her silence. There was nothing more she could say that would explain it. If there were questions, she would answer them. If Noeul wanted her to go, she wouldn’t fight it.
“Jordan, I don’t know what to say.”
“You don’t have to say anything. I wanted you to know why I asked about your tattoo. I don’t know if the dragon she was talking about is you, or if I’m yet to meet that person. I only know that when it comes to you, I take nothing as coincidence anymore.”
They sat around the fire and watched the flames dance without much discussion for a long time. Noeul finally broke the tension. “Tell me about your life back in Ithaca.”
