esson 22: Sovereignty

fter Brian rushes off to his next adventure, I guide Shadow-Moon to the center of the Lands Adventurous, and to the seat of Sovereignty. The Lady of Justice greets us, and bids us drink from her cup. I gladly drink the white milk of paradise and return the cup. My counterpoint naturally enjoys the black drink.

   Sovereignty begins to age until she is an old crone. "I don't usually get such diametrically-opposed visitors," she says. "I believe you Moonchildren need the guidance of an older, more experienced woman. Come!"

   She takes our hands and leads us over to a garden patch. "Something should be done with this mess," I think, while another voice inside my head says, "It's beautiful! Such a lot of flowers and so low maintenance!"
   "Your task," says the crone, "is to work together and separate the flowers from the weeds. Fertilize the flowers, and throw the weeds on the compost pile. It doesn't need to all be finished in one day, but get started and work on it, and then come back by to see me."

   Since Shadow-Moon is intangible, I have to do all the work, pulling out only what we both agree are obviously weeds. Some of the weeds have nice flowers on them, and we leave most of those for now. The tobacco should go, but I don't win that one yet. We finally reach a stopping point, and pour fertilizer over the whole of what remains. I put a little extra on the sunflowers.

   Returning to the waterfall, I feel good that we've been able to share this time and make some progress. Get into each other's heads a bit. We feel less like polar opposites--automatically pushing away. We get back to Sovereignty, and she hands me a bar of soap and pushes me in the pool.