...And We Will Have Snow

Chapter 3-5: Ghandl

Niño remains in the shaman dream with Xayna as they walk hand in hand through the forest. In the glow of their new relationship, the dream and the walk seem timeless. Although they pass through dense stands of tall spruce and cedar, wind along valley after valley and climb over ridge after ridge, it feels as though only a moment has passed when they emerge onto a beach. Before them, tucked up against the trees, is an old Haida longhouse, the tall carven pole in front of it surmounted by a stylized eagle.

Xayna leads Niño in through the single door, and to the back where Ghandl sits alone. Along the way Niño has had glimpses from Xayna's dream of the actual village and house where she lives with her father. He knows that the longhouse they have entered is part of Ghandl's shaman dream.

Ghandl reminds Niño of his uncles Juan and Tengri, a calm presence neither young nor old. Niño accepts the dream with easy trust. Ghandl looks him over appraisingly, then gestures for them to sit and turns his attention to Xayna.

She tells him the story of following the bears and finding Niño. In the shaman dream the telling is short but she omits nothing. Ghandl looks again at Niño and says, "So you are Xayna's Spirit Bear. We are all spirits, so I will call you Bear."

Niño is about to protest that he already has a name, but Ghandl waves him to silence and says, "That is a child name. If you are to be Xayna's spirit guide, you need a spirit name. Clearly you are now Bear." Niño, sensing something of Uncle Juan's insistence on impeccable intent in Ghandl's pronouncement, nods his assent. This is, after all, exactly why he is here.

"Now, Bear, tell us your story."

Niño, Bear, knows how to do this. It is part of the shaman training he learned from Tengri. The key to shaman story-telling, he knows, is letting the story tell itself. This one wants to be told backward. His words are few, but they conjure images in this shaman dream that make the story real.

"Xayna called to me, so I came. But before I saw her I did not know this.

"When I became the bear, it was to protect the seals. I felt her presence when I did that, but it was a natural presence, and did not prevent my change.

"Before that, I was a sea lion. My uncle Ryan and I swam with the big sea lions many times, up and down the coasts.

"Before that, I was just a boy, but I was learning shaman ways. I learned from my mother and my father to be aware of the spirit in all things. I learned from my uncle Ryan how to take on the form of a seal. I was also learning how Sun Domes are built, how they operate, how they are deployed, and of the need for shaman guidance of the people who will live in them."

Bear speaks slowly, fleshing out his words with images from his mind, opening links to the Q so his listeners can access the full range of ideas behind his thoughts. Still there is much he only hints at. He knows there will be time for more complete exposure of these new ideas, and answers to questions, in days to come. For now, his task is to present a coherent outline.

"I went to a village in the far north, one in danger of being overwhelmed by snow, to watch how a Sun Dome is deployed. It was there I learned the form of the white bear.

"Before that, I learned how a Sun Dome captures a small echo of the earth spirit we call Gaia, enough to sustain a thousand people.

"From this, I also learned that for a Sun Dome to sustain a thousand people, a thousand people must sustain the Sun Dome. It is easy for a shaman to learn how to do this. But not every person is a shaman. Not even one in every thousand is a shaman.

"From this, I learned that there is a need to help other people learn what a shaman can know. What shamans everywhere have always known.

"When I began looking for a way to do that, I learned that for ten thousand years the Haida have known how to be mindful of these islands that sustain them, even though they too are not all shamans.

"That is why I am here. I am here to learn how the Haida care for their islands. So that I can teach a thousand people how to care for a Sun Dome."