The years go by for the little girl. Soon she is grown and going away to college. The old man stays behind tending his gardens. Things don’t seem to grow as easily as it used to, or the flowers quite as pretty. But the little girl doesn’t notice. Life has gotten in the way. School, boys, driving, the newest movie and all the other trappings of society have interfered. She has almost forgotten the long walks that her and her PaPa used to have. Certainly, she has forgotten about the back woods by now.
She would go see her grandfather from time to time, as school and social life would allow. But as she got older those times got fewer and fewer apart. She knew that someday she would receive a phone call, dreaded receiving it, but she knew that eventually it would be placed. That day was today.
As she pulled into the driveway, she was taken back by the appearance. She knew he had been sick for a while now, never realized just how sick he must have been. Her eyes beheld a sight that she thought she would never see. It almost seemed that the yard had taken over. Everything was overgrown and a wildness was evident everywhere. She sat there a few moments taking in all the sights. In her minds eye she remembered, she remembered what it was like to live here. Her eyes filled with tears as she realized how much had changed and what she had missed.
She gets out of her car and walks up the stairs. She almost thought that she heard her grandfather’s nickname for her called from the woods out back, but brushed it off to the wind. Besides, who else but PaPa would ever call her Little One.
Out of habit, she cries out “PaPa” when she walks through the door. She hears a muffled “up here.” She climbs the stairs, probably the slowest she has ever climbed them before and stops at the door leading to his bedroom. There, laying in his bed, was the shell of the man she once knew as her beloved PaPa. The doctor is there with him and he stands as she enters the room. He motions for her to follow him out the door. Standing in the hallway, he tells her how bad it is. She is all he has and he is all she has. Soon, very soon, that will all change.
She sits down on the corner of his bed and waits for him to wake. Shortly he stirs and opens his eyes. Recognizable happiness shines from his eyes as he looks upon his Little One. “You’ve come back?” “Yes Papa, I am here. For as long as you need me.” She takes his hands into hers. The once strong hands that encompassed hers now seem so much smaller. The Old Man drifts off to sleep and again she hears Little One drifting upon the wind. Must have been Papa whispering in his sleep.
She goes downstairs to fix some hot tea. Filling the kettle, she places it upon the stove. She sets out the cups and gets the tea out of the cupboard. “Come to me Little One, I can help him.” She almost drops the tea on the floor. “Who Said that?”
“You know who I am”
“What do you want with me?”
“I can help him. Come to the woods, you know where I am. You have been there before.”
And a thousand forgotten thoughts cascade into her mind.
She walks out the kitchen door and toward the woods out back. The pathway that she treaded many times with her grandfather is still barely there. Thoughts come to her as she walks the path. Tales and stories that he told her, plants and trees he pointed out to her. They all come flooding back to her now. How could she have forgotten what it was like to walk through this area?
There, to her right, barely spotted through the overgrown brush is the pathway she took that fateful day so long ago. This is where she saw it and this is where she headed today. It is harder going here, more roots and brush to step over. Harder today than it was so many years ago, when she spied this small pathway. She always did let her curiosity get the better of her.
Finally she stops, her destination has been reached. Standing, she sees a white hilted sword laying on the ground. The iridescent glow belays the magic held within.
“Take it to him – to the Old One. Tell him the Burden has been paid in full. Tell him – Tell HIM that I give my Word.”
“Yes My Lady – I will”
She picks up the sword and feels the power course through the blade and into her. A thousand images flash through her mind. Humans and dragons walking side by side, in battle together, conversing and deep in thought. Some have the sense of being old, others of a more ancient times, but some seemed to be more recent. She feels the burden that is placed upon the wielder of the blade. She hurries back, back to the house. As she enters the kitchen the tea kettle is whistling but she pays no heed. She has something important to do. She hurries up the stairs, to the bedroom of her Grandfather. She walks into the room carrying the sword. He wakens as she crosses the room. A look of recognition flashes across his mind for a second before being replaced by a look of sadness. She bends down and places the sword into his hands.
“She, she told me to tell you that the burden has been paid – that she gives her word.”
He grasps the sword in renewed energy, “thank you old friend thank you.”
He reaches out with his right hand and clasps his beloved granddaughter’s hand. Holding the sword in his left hand, he holds his granddaughters hand in his right. He takes a long deep breath and then lets it out one last time.
Almost inaudible she hears “Í will miss you Old One” or was it just the wind??
