"Jesse," repeated Dances with Joy as she gazed in wonder at the handsome
apparition before her, "I've never heard such a strange name, but your
voice sounds familiar; do I know you?"
 
"I don't think so, ma'am, but you never know," Jesse replied.  "These Dream
Quests are mighty strange.  You never know who you might run into.  Whoops!
Hang on a minute, ma'am; Eagle seems to have landed on a pinecone and it's
stuck between his talons.
 
"Hang on big guy!  I'm trying to help you.  Hold still!  You aren't the
first big clumsy oaf a bird that ever landed on a pinecone.  Hold still I
tell you; I almost have it."
 
For a brief moment, Dances' still clearing vision was filled with a blur of
feathers and fur as Jesse wrestled with Eagle, trying to remove the
pinecone from the bird's left foot.
 
"There!" Jesse finally cried in triumph. "It's out."
 
Eagle screeched a disparaging remark at Jesse and flew to the lowest branch
of a nearby birch tree, where he landed on one foot and looked accusingly
at the small, brown, shining ferret.
 
"Stupid bird!" Jesse sighed as he smoothed his ruffled fur. "I much prefer
angels for air travel, but they're all busy tonight."
 
"Who ARE you?" Dances blurted out, her patience at an end; "This is the
strangest Dream I've ever had.  First you blind me with a Light the likes
of which I've never seen before, then you play roughhouse with the bird
that brought you here!  What kind of Spirit Guide are you - if, indeed,
this really is a Dream and you have been sent to teach me anything?"
 
Jesse, who had been doing his best to avoid the glaring, red gaze emanating
from Eagle's sulking eyes, turned and looked at Dances with Joy as if he
were seeing her for the very first time.
 
"Please forgive me," He said in a very small voice that sounded even more
familiar to Dances as she remembered the tiny voice of countless snowflakes
as they melted upon her whiskers.
 
"I'm very new at this." Jesse said.  "I've never done anything like it
before.  A night like this has never happened before.  I'm not exactly sure
what it all means, but I know that you and Gnaws on Wood, New Mother, and
Tree Shaper are to be a part of it.  I also know that I've been sent here
to tell you that Father Above is going to give a Very Great Gift to all of
the world tonight."
 
"What kind of Gift could Father Above possibly give to us that He hasn't
already given?" Dances asked.
 
"I can't tell you that right now, but I think you already know in your
heart, for a part of that Gift is stirring within you." Jesse said as he
tried not to look into the searching depths of Dances' wide and beautiful
eyes.  "You and I will have to go on a journey within this Dream Quest, if
I can get Eagle to quit sulking, before either of us will fully understand
what is happening tonight.
 
"I heard a brand new word today, just before I left the lap of Father Above
and came to find you.  I didn't know what the word meant until I met you,
Dances with Joy.  Now I'm beginning to understand.  The word I heard as I
lay in His lap was "Christmas."
 
To be continued....
 
Joy to the World!
 
Paw Paw
[Posted in FML issue 2500]