Trust is important, she said.
Can I trust you? he replied.
Can you afford not to?
This is not sad; it is a change, a letting go, from which something else may begin, she said. Whatever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace, I will offer it up as a burnt offering.
This thing of beauty
Held within a hand and heart
Will betray us all.
Nobody entering the Opal Forest emerges unscathed; they stagger into the light and for a moment it is the real world that seems as a dream. Of all the journeys one takes, it is the ones we fear the most that we gain from.
The Opal Forest is the third tale in the Gem Cycle from the Drut’syla tradition. Originally told over several nights, it is told now within a single evening – its first moment in the light and on the tongue for nearly three decades. Join Shonaleigh Cumbers online for a journey through this incredible story.