Ranger Tales: My Little Scorpion

My controlled exhale slipped a bit as a quiver of relief rippled through me. I could hear her coming up the mountain; she was thrashing angry too. That only excited me. I was so happy she was coming. She was my apprentice. She loved our relationship and our work, yet her honor was deep, and she was raised to attend with the princess. Her internal protector and her intimate confidante. The Princess who is now High Queen of Cascadia. For these substantial reasons Kenz thrashed against her very need for me. She was young and proud. My little pocket scorpion.

Soon her thin frame filled my door. There wasn't much more to her than that. I was on my pallet, lotus position, eyes closed. But my third eye was wide open, and her aura was a thundercloud of tight fury. 'Stormbourne' her spirit name whispered in like a wind. I was reminded how distant of a second place I held in her heart.

She rushed me in a growl, but I absorbed her elfin frame. I pulled her on to my lap and placed her clinched fists around my torso, using her arms to pin her on my lap, protecting me from her sharp knees. As she felt my strength around her and my stiffness between her legs the barrage subsided a bit. Our lips found each other. She slumped into me, settling into the kisses, but still trying to free up her arms. Then tears as her resolve to be angry with me melted away. Our reunions had become increasingly intense. But physical contact always arced the current to ground.

She was hungry. She liked to ignore her needs and wrap herself in service to the Queen. They had fallen in love long ago as childhood pillowmates. Now they were adults, but not by much. And she was my ranger apprentice now. The Queen could keep her away with tasks, but I had rights of calling. And she needed me. It would be easier on her to accept and embrace it, but she was born of these mountains and had the stubborn nature that characterized our people.

Still, she is a woman and has needs. And I am her lover. Not only that, but I really enjoy her, feeling a strong affection that could be her shield, if only she would open her heart. She is eternally youthful, but learned early to distrust men. She was 19 when the Neutron Star collision dust began settling on our planet.

The dust had solved most all of the problems of the old world. A high percentage of the humans on the planet started rapidly aging when the dust reached us and a few of us actually grew younger. I was one of those. A new tribe within humanity was materializing. The stardust had brought absolute clarity to some of us. Others were befuddled, but only by their fierce resolutions to hold on to what is no more.

We all had our theories, but it was quite a mystery. For me though it was a deep affirmation of universal love. The dust cleansed our planet. Cities were buried under it in a matter of years. Internal combustion engines quickly clogged up, and desecrated sites were now dust dunes. All water was drinkable again, species of edible mushrooms abounded, animal populations were strong and healthy, and while most still weren't savy to it, I had begun communicating with many of the forest creatures, finding they were incredibly conscious.

"Why won't you leave me be," Kenz hissed kissing me. "My loyalty is to the Queen."

"Why won't you accept your love for me," I responded. "Why do you fight against yourself and your calling."

Kenz just growled into my shoulder. Then she started sobbing. It was sudden and surprising to me. I hugged her to me gently, "what's going on?"

She just shook her head, face still buried into my shoulder. I loved having her close to me. It had been months since I had been with her in private. Stroking her hair, I held her snug to me. I was so in love with her. I wanted her as a woman and being over twice her age I had the tenderness of a father with her too. Although I look to be an athletic 30 year old, I was mid-forties when the dust falls began.

Time, and even age, have become increasingly meaningless concepts of measurement in this age of stardust. First off, the stardust has a low intensity reflective property that catches light, reflecting some and absorbing some to be emitted over a longer duration. And it is cumulative. Therefore light levels have become almost stable and the passage of time seemingly suspended. As it turns out our previous concepts of time were built around loss or decay; as we saw it to be a function of time.

The new world was no longer bound to decay. Decay still existed, but 'goodness' or 'substance' could prevent it, and even reverse it. Maybe it could be stated that decay occurred where it was appropriate. So did youth. For example orgasmic sex was making us younger, and harmful sexual actions toward others aged us, even up to outright death.

Many things were like that resembling the old form, but totally outside of former dogma. For example stealing something would age a person, yet, if a person was suffering from greed and possessiveness, it would be an enlivening experience to liberate their material possessions. The spirit of the action was now the determinate factor. Judgement of action was suspended because the fruit of our actions was the judgement. The illusion of delay was gone. There was no hiding anymore. Outside a reflection of inside, with little delay.

I was a veteran of these mountains, having walked them since my childhood in an age mostly vanished. The dustlight, as it is called, has sped the growth of trees. Bathed in perpetual light the forests of Cascadia are quickly becoming primordial in dimension, with a very natural order developing. Places to live almost grow into existence. Fires create fields, and in those fields we plant gardens, which we abandon back to the forest as fires create newer fields. So the gardens become forests. As a ranger in these woods I am witnessing this pattern emerging.

I am The General Love of the North within the Queendom of Cascadia. General over a fledgling band of ranger/knights in a mostly peaceful land. Our thick forests are our primary defense against the remnant maruaders that sometimes come up our coasts or wandering brigands from the mountains. Our call to rangership is much more about staying current with the forests and keeping trails open, then defending the Queendom. Still, we are the only defense and some few threats still arise.

So the title sounds impressive and I certainly hold weight in the counsel to speak with authority, but in actuality, I am just living my childhood dream of ranging through mountain and forest. With visits to my Cascadian Family spread all throughout this wonderful bioregion. The only missing piece is Kenz' reticence to join me. Being out there on the trails with her. The smile she carries to each vista and her ability to communicate with the forest creatures brings me so much joy. Entering villages with her and being housed as a couple was as sweet as life could be. Her joy was so evident, but only a few weeks would she give her ranger duties before she would return to court. And even those sojourns had become scant.

She was with me now though and she was happy. It wasn't me, I reassured myself. Forgetting all that I just held her, letting my own tears of relief sting freely. After a while a deep exhaustion settled on us and we layed down and nestled together, falling asleep in each other's arms.