Storehouse

Meredith spent the day resting and exploring the Fire Cave. The shaman joined the men outside. The women worked near the fire grinding corn with mortar and pestle. They plied their guest with questions about her life.  

"Tell me, how do you catch your food?" asked Wild Fire, the plump old woman who had served them earlier. As she talked, she rolled fresh corn cakes swiftly between her hands and pressed them thin.

"Why, in my world we no longer hunt for food or gather it from the earth. We go to a very large place, a storehouse filled with food from which we take what we need in exchange for something we call money, a token of other tasks we have done. It is a very different world!"

Wild Fire laughed, "Food everywhere? I think that would be fine." She slapped a corn cake onto a hot flat stone. 

Lost Their Souls

Meredith pondered for a while before saying, "In my world we seem to have forgotten that the universe is our home, and that all things come from our mother, the earth and her loving bond with the sun. Those who have riches and power take from her the land and the water. The great machines do their labor, they eat well. But in exchange they have lost their souls, while the poor and wretched, those without power and wealth, go hungry."

"I do not understand this," said the simple woman. She continued to cook corn cakes while Meredith sat silently.  

Eat Too Much

"I see that your people have plenty," Wild Fire said.

"There is plenty in my world," said Meredith, "but we do not share it well. Some people eat too much while others are starving."

"How can that be so?" said Wild Fire, deeply shocked. "In my world food is shared with all our people, as a sacred gift from the earth." She plucked a sizzling corn cake from the stone and added it to the growing stack.

Destroyed by Fire

"Why are there no young people here?" asked Meredith, breaking the silence.

"That is a long story," said Wild Fire as she put aside her corn cakes and looked at Meredith sadly. "Once my people were many and filled this land. We were given the gift of fire. We gathered the fruits of the earth, so we lived in prosperity and had many children. We built many beautiful dwellings and were happy. But our vision was limited and we broke the laws of creation, and so our world was destroyed by fire." 

Keepers of the Fire

"Only a few of us survived. In those far off days we were still young, but we have grown old without having children. Perhaps the fire prevented that." She sighed and covered the corn cakes with a white cloth.

"This fire, which has both nurtured and destroyed my people, is sacred to us. Though we fear it, the power of healing lies within its flames. We have vowed to remain here in this cave to tend the sacred fire, so that someday others may use it as it was meant, for its healing strength.

"We are the Keepers of the Fire." 

Healing Leaves

"What is in your pouch?" said Wild Fire. "Do you have the sacred leaves?"

"I suppose so," said Meredith. "I gathered some tobacco leaves in the cave of the First World, the World of Earth. Are these what you mean?" Meredith opened her pouch and pulled out the broad green leaves.

Wild Fire took them and rubbed them between her fingers. "They are good. They are healing leaves," she said, spreading them out on the smooth stone table.

Small Treasures

"What are the other things in your pouch?" the old woman asked. "May I see them?" Meredith nodded and pulled her small treasures from the pouch. "Where did you get this lizard's tail?" Wild Fire examined it closely. 

"From the Cave of the First World. I found the harvester ants there too."

"And this tuft of fur?" Wild Fire asked, holding it between her thumb and forefinger.

"From the Dog People who live in the Second World. And the algae. I gathered them all as tokens of my journey."

"That is good," said Wild Fire, laying them down on the stone table beside the sacred leaves.