The Nightingales
Not so very long ago, two furres grew up together in the palace of King
Mithuna and became as brothers though they were as different as night from
day. The one was a prince and the other was a chamberlain’s cub. They played
together in the gardens and sat together at the feet of the tutors, but when
alone, Prince Ineko spent his days contemplating Hajimemashite’s creations
and the ways of the Dreaming; while Ineko’s friend, Hyrstan, spent his nights
in cemeteries delving into necromancy and the dark arts.
One night, Hyrstan came in beaming with pride and told Ineko how he had
unlocked the mystery of transmigration of the soul. Ineko was frightened at
the thought of allowing his soul into the body of the dead, but he could not
refuse his friend. They went to the graveyard where Hyrstan performed the
rituals and magicks necessary, and for seven nights they did this. Placing
their souls in the corpses of furres or animals, they wandered far and wide
together, seeing many wondrous and terrible sights which had been unknown to
them. Each night, Ineko saw the endless suffering of furres and the beauty of
their love, and each morning, he grew more dedicated the Dreaming and began
teaching others of Aristaya’s bliss.
In time, Ineko became king and the furres rejoiced for he was well known as a
furre of wisdom and compassion. Ineko built temples and schools to ease the
minds of his subjects; while Ineko’s wife, Mahira, who was just as devoted to
the Dreaming as her husband, built hospices and hospitals to ease their
bodies. Such was their love and devotion to each other that they appeared the
eternal lovers, radiating joy to all who saw them. To no one’s surprise, the
kingdom flourished with peace and prosperity under their stewardship.
Meanwhile, Hyrstan continued practicing the dark arts and became a mage with
the confidence of one who knows few limits to the power he possesses. Hyrstan
eventually grew weary of skulking in tombs and the catacombs beneath the
palace. He laid aside his friendship and convinced himself that it was he who
should be king.
No sooner had the desire taken his heart than Hyrstan went to Ineko and asked
him to spend the day in the gardens as they had when they were young. Ineko
gladly accepted and they walked the worn paths of the garden, pointing out
all the places holding special memories to each other, until they came upon
the bodies of two nightingales laying side by side beneath a fountain.
“Let us bring them back to life with our souls,” said Hyrstan. “Then we can
fly above the treetops again, just as we did when we were cubs.”
“For the friendship we share,” Ineko replied, “I will do as you ask this one
time only.”
Together, they laid down next to the nightingales and let go of their souls
in a long, sighing breath. With a gentle clatter of leaves and a hushed
thump of wings, the nightingales flew gleefully into the air. They soared
high to dance nearer the stars and stooped low to flirt with the earth until
their capering had taken them far from the gardens. But as Ineko flew higher,
Hyrstan circled low to return to their bodies. Then he entered the body of
the prince and destroyed his own, burying it beneath the fountain.
The prince returned to the palace and told Mahira of his friend’s death.
Terror struck at Mahira’s heart as she looked into her husband’s eyes, and
she shuddered as if she had suddenly been cast out into the cold. ‘It is
grief for his friend,’ she told herself. ‘It will pass in time.’ The
strangeness in the prince, however, did not go away and the harmony which the
kingdom had known was worn away.
Meanwhile, the nightingale searched frantically for his missing friend,
fearing that he had befallen some accident. After many days of searching,
though, he despaired of finding his friend and came to rest in the limbs of a
oak tree where a strange thing happened. As the moon reached its zenith among
the stars, the nightingale’s soul spread out through the world and touched
the horizons beyond the night. With the veil of his body left behind, he saw
the shining web encompassing all and the bright points of dreams moving along
its labyrinthine paths. When his vision cleared, the nightingale found
Aristaya sitting at the base of the tree smiling peacefully at him.
“You have been betrayed by your friend,” she said. “Now, I will be your
companion.”
The nightingale was at once overcome with the joy of Aristaya’s peace and the
bitter pain of losing his friend so that he felt he would burn out into
nothingness as a meteor streaking across the sky. Years passed and the
nightingale’s sadness faded as Aristaya walked with him in the gardens of the
night and taught him the mysteries of the Dreaming. As they sat one evening
beside a silvery stream, Aristaya turned to the nightingale.
“You have now seen the many paths of the Dreaming and know that they are all
as one, connected and dependent on each other. The time has come to make your
choice. Shall I return you to your body, or shall you remain in the body of
the bird?”
The nightingale tilted his head to the side as he looked at Aristaya, saying
after a moment, “I have but three questions left to ask you... Does Mahira
know that her husband’s soul is not mine?”
Aristaya nodded slowly. “That she knows.”
“If I am returned to my body, what will befall Hyrstan?”
Aristaya gazed long at the nightingale. Then closing her eyes, she inclined
her head to the nightingale, leaving no doubt as to what end Hyrstan would
come to. The nightingale shuddered and quickly fluttered his wings, trying to
shake loose the horror which came upon him.
“What, then,” asked the nightingale, “will happen if I remain in this body?”
“Hyrstan will continue his evil until it has eaten away his heart and on the
hard seed of it is left. Then he know great suffering, but your wife will
comfort him and be his teacher. In time, perhaps, he will be able to walk the
paths of the Dreaming with a full heart.”
The nightingale twitched his head briefly to look squarely at Aristaya before
answering, “My choice then is made.”
So saying, the nightingale took wing and flew above the trees singing to the
birds to follow. Each evening thereafter the nightingale would gather the
birds high in the trees and sing to them, teaching them the ways of the
Dreaming and the truth of the end of suffering so that the air was filled
with joyous song. One night many years later, the nightingale perched amid
the branches in the garden of the palace and Mahira came to listen to the
wondrous singing. As night descended and the other birds left, the
nightingale glided down from the tree to sit on Mahira’s shoulder. He
lingered there for a moment as she gently caressed him. Then, together, their
souls soared.