From the Den: November 2021

Somewhere in our past:

Sunlight speared through the leaves of the palm leaves from all Aguaje palm trees lining the edge of the grove. Here in the jungle with no name except to the locals, the trees were ripe with their fruit, which brought his children to the trees. He stood looking up into the sky towards the top of the palms past the heavy hanging fruit. The sky was filled with bits of rainbow, as he had always intended.

Yum Kaax, as many of the realms knew him by, loved this jungle but disliked the beings who have brutalized their way into it. Beings created by other beings; beings who were divine enough to have known better than to create such creatures. Creatures who did nothing to make their world better, rather instead caused pain and despair in their wake. Caused so much pain that it was felt in deep echoes all the way to the OtherLands.

Yuma as he now called himself, to remove himself as far from what he once was, moved to sit under one of the great palms to wait. He had been searching all the realms where he had left bits of his own creations to find his mate. She had been lost long ago, which is why he had left this realm to be left last to be searched..

There was no true death, or at least none known by his race. The first race as they were called in many worlds. It was kind of a silly nickname as there were others who came before them. Ones who had created him and his siblings. Shapeshifters all of them. Something different than many of the biped creatures polluting this realm and others. Beings living eternal with divine powers or at least divine to the less, short lived creatures.

Iz, as his mate was once called, was here long ago when it was a land ruled by beings more connected to the land and all the creatures in it. Even those creatures though still hunted other animals deemed less than themselves. Deem as something to own or wear while they honored the idea of the creature. They believed their false gods wanted them to sacrifice creatures to them. Many feathers were used to create great cloaks to give the illusion of flight. Iz in her anger for their crimes against their children hunted them. She became known as the Bringer of Death.

Long had Yum Kaax believe Chaos was wrong to have allowed such creatures to be created. They were a plague in the realms. They falsely believed they were created in their gods' images and they were superior to all other living things. Yum Kaax stepped on them every time they showed up in his worlds. Sadly he wasn't as strong as some of the older beings who came before him and Iz. They had been created as an experiment for their pleasure and then left alone.

All 1st beings were given the ability to create, thus Iz and him had created their children. Here they carry the name of Mo' in the first language of this jungle. Iz had wanted a rainbow in flight, and he created bits of the sky. Red, yellow, green and blue feathers wanted by lesser beings because they are ‘pretty'. And this happened in every realm Iz had been in. Feathers were something every being seemed to want. He did think they were a wonderful thing to be created but not at the expense of the creature.

It was a thought pattern so alien to him. Why would anyone want to own the feathers when you could watch the beauty of the birds in flight. Rainbow in flight. He didn't understand it. There was nothing more beautiful except his Iz. His beautiful love who was both terrifying in her beauty and humbling. .Power in motion, He should have kept her in the Otherlands. Their birthplace and home. Never to venture into the other realms. Her beauty and power made her a wanted prize like their children.

A prize to be controlled; to be caged; to be a trophy. An object of great worth and power. To fuel the impossible and imagination of whole civilizations. He, Yum Kaax, great warrior artist god did everything in his power to keep his love, his heart, his Iz and his children safe. And he failed. Every day after that he strived to make up for it.

At first he destroyed whole civilizations to try to amend for his one mistake. Not taking her pain serious enough, to understand how deeply she was connected to their children, how she strove to make them the jewels of the jungle, of all the jungles in all the realms. How Iz did her best to create a safe haven for every home of the Mo, the Macaw as they were called by the conquerors in the one realm where she was caught.

Pieces of her were taken by her captors. Yum had tracked down every bit of his love and placed them in a special area of their home in the OtherLands. Pieces of her just waiting for him to find the rest of her so there could be a glorious reunion. An iridescent feather, a claw sharp as a razor and her eye of brilliant yellow-white; all things considered to be treasure talisman of power and magic. But only if he could find her, for he feared she had hidden from herself as well. He would try something new, just as soon as he came to do what he planned. He whistled and cooed a sound his children knew as their own.

Yum Kaaz looked up at a rustle in the trees above and smiled a slight smile at the brilliant red which started the rainbow in flight. A flight to cross the borders of the realms and bring his children home where they would be safe. Not all could go because some needed to stay here to await Iz’s return. But most would go, and the world would weep at their absence.

Now:

Dr. Cayos of the Belize Bird conservancy, shook her head once again at the numbers of Scarlet Macaw recorded. When it became clear at the turn of the century these birds were slowly somehow disappearing from the jungles of South America, it was feared there might be an illness. Since then it has been theorized that there is some other reason for the disappearance and in most circles it was mostly classified as errors in data collection. Even though in some ways it seemed like flocks were just all of sudden not there.

She had taken this job feeling she could make a difference with these birds she loved dearly but lately it felt like a losing battle. Mostly because she couldn't figure out the mystery which shouldn’t exist. Science didn’t work that way. So why are there such huge numbers of birds disappearing? They had set up cameras to no avail. No trace of their trackers, or radio collars, just gone. Even though the authorities and other people in the field of bird conservation were sure that she and her team were making big errors in their reporting.

“Dr,Cayos”, She looked up at her assistant. “ Your 3:00 O'clock meeting is here”. Dr. Cayos had to think for a moment and then she remembered, a new sponsor was coming in. The company which was well known for making very large contributions to other conservancies had called and said they would make a very large donation but the head of the company wanted to meet with her.

Normally Izabella Cayos didn't meet with anyone, even someone promising money as she wasn't really a people person and tended to not make friends easily. The conservancy had better people for that but this gentleman wouldn't take no for an answer. He had insisted he had read every thing she had ever written and published. He wished to hear from her the direction she wished to take for the conservation of Macaws. So meeting her was a requirement for a large check. So now Izabella was now meeting him..

Izabella nodded at her assistant, who smiled an odd smile and moved back to let in a rather handsome man. Izabella felt a brief flash of confusion at a feeling of familiar connection when she looked into his warm, rich brown eyes.

“Dr Cayos, I am Yuma Kaaz, and it is very nice to meet you. You will find we have a lot in common.” For the first time in her life, Izabella felt both excitement and joy at meeting someone. She truly hoped what he said was true.

“Dr Cayos, I would like to share a special film I made that might answer a few of your questions about our beautiful feather friends. Do I have your permission to share it and my proposal with you?.” At that word, Izabella felt her heart jump for some silly reason and she nodded her head as he pulled out a tablet. She moved close to him and felt a bit of a thrill in doing so. And would have spent a moment enjoying the feeling and his closeness till she saw what was on the tablet and time froze. Imprinted in her eyes and on her brain was the title of the film. “Rainbow in Flight”. And Izabella knew his words to be true.