Chapter 20. Rain of gold rain of purple

Where wrong assumptions and a water droplet turn a quandary into an epic dilemma, and Luna gets a noseful

Note: This is where I’m going to pause the author commentary, as I feel it would disrupt the story and the experience. Some things are best left uncommented…

Tendrils of luminescent cacao dust still hanging in the air, Max and Itzel sat at the base of the Sacred Cacao Tree in speechless silence. Neither dared move. Luna nonchalantly preened her feathers.

Max ached to open another pod, but had a fierce sense that this was not the right time to mention it. He’d just witnessed something he was sure the laws of physics did not allow, and wrestled to reconcile what he just experienced with science. Regardless. He knew he’d never be able to look at a cacao tree the same way again.

Itzel, for her part, was instinctively worried. She sensed they had unleashed far more than mere images. This was powerful stuff, and she was far too young to know what to do. She held onto the cracked cacao pod in her lap, running her finger unconsciously along the opening. Unease seared a hot streak through her heart.

Return breath of life to Cacao Tree, thought-lined Luna to Max.

Max snapped to attention.

“Umm, Itzel?” Even his whisper seemed too loud in the sudden quiet of the night. Itzel looked at him, daring to hope his animal guide Luna had wise words for them.

“Luna says… to return the breath of life to the Cacao Tree.”

“Breath of life…”

Itzel closed her eyes, took a long breath in, and willfully relaxed. She knew she’d never be able to connect with the ancestors, or any spirit guides, if she continued being nervous or worried. As she exhaled long and deep, she saw in her mind the great swirls of cacao dust moving in tandem with her breath.

She opened her eyes.

“The breath of life is the cacao pollen,” she said quickly, not wanting the insight to evaporate. “So… we have to return the pollen to the Cacao Tree.”

Max looked at Luna.

It is so.

Max didn’t have to translate. His face said it all. But knowing the answer to her question only generated more questions, and only deepened Itzel’s anxiety.

Max said what Itzel couldn’t.

“Are you kidding? How are we supposed to gather up all of this pollen or dust or whatever, and return it to the Tree?” Max’s awe gave way to rational indignation. “It’s impossible. Besides, it’s not really pollen if it came from the cacao pod.”

Luna hopped off Max’s shoulder and snapped her wings at him, as if annoyed with his reaction. She zipped over to a branch and sat there sternly looking at him. If she had arms she would have put them squarely on her hips.

Itzel remained heavily silent. She watched the scintillating tendrils of cacao dust swirl in the moonlight. As magnificent as they seemed when they first unfurled from the cacao pod, so much more daunting they appeared now, shimmering their massive challenge at the children.