Moths at the Riverside

"You are a child, and you are standing at the riverbed. It is your home, and you know no fear. Dawn is breaking on the water, and it is lit up in hues of blue, and gold, and the palest of pinks, like blossoms themselves, had touched the waves of the river. You are standing on the riverbed, and you step into the water. Your feet sink into the cool mud below. Tadpoles dart around your legs as you waddle through the shallow waves - crickets and frogs let out a disharmonious song from the shore as the sun rouses them out of sleep. You hear a voice cry out behind you to be careful, but what have you to fear of your home? Pale white moths press gentle kisses to your face with their wings before they depart elsewhere to hide from the sun’s light. Dawn is breaking, the world is awaking, and this is home.”

"And where is this home?"

“It is waiting. It is ready for you when you choose to seek it. But right now you are a child, dancing in the waves dappled by sunlight. You have water-lilies in your hair, and the cattail reeds are where you play hide and seek with the other river-children, who look much like you, with muddy feet and flowery hair and moth kisses on their cheeks.”

"I wish I was....still a child that is. If only we could live like that. It would be wonderful, wouldn't it?"

“But you do not have to give it up. I hope... I hope it can replace a bad memory of yours,” Alphaear says in a quiet, but earnest manner. "I hope you think of the time you were a child by the riverbed instead. The waters are still rippling. The water-lilies are waiting for you. The moths have gone, but others have taken their place. It is never quite so far out of reach.”