Hope

Mika and Zambak learn a lesson about hope

The Concert

Orbeo & TulangRusa

On the next full moon, Orbegrillo, or better known to her friends as Orbeo, planed to perform a concert with TulangRusa, the most beautiful harp in the world.

Orbeo was an Apple Gall Being which had been created with the essences of bee, ant, cricket, as well as, pollen from orchid, dandelion, poinsettia and rosemary.

The harp she played, TulangRusa, had been created from the bone of a very majestic doe name Rusa. Rusa had once roamed Mother Earth many years before. Those who were fortunate to be near Rusa could hear her always singing the most beautiful songs, and making the most wonderful music. Her voice had a magical tone, a tone that touched the heart and soul of all that were near. She was so elegant and loved by all who knew her.

Before leaving Mother Earth, Rusa had requested her bones were to be made into musical instruments. And so her wish was granted, and several instruments were then created. When completed, each instrument produced the most melodious sounds ever heard. Each quite heavenly. Yet not just any person could play these heavenly instruments, for each instrument would only play for the being it chose to play it.

TulangRusa had chosen Orbeo, and from the moment Orbeo strummed TulangRusa's elegant strands, the magic began. Together, through their beautiful music, would join those listening to become one with Orbeo and TulangRusa.

The Preparation

Preparing for a concert was a daunting task, so much to prepare, and Orbeo knew help would be needed. There were many friends who volunteered, but Orbeo decided to ask her dear friend Rose for that help.

Rose was very honored and pleased that Orbeo had chosen her to help, and so gladly agreed. Watching and hearing Orbeo perform with TulangRusa, the most beautiful harp in the world, always brought such great joy, and like herself, everyone would be thrilled to be at one of their concerts. Rose could not wait to get started.

Invitations would definitely be needed and Rose began with those. The sooner she made them, the sooner she could get them delivered. This was going to be an easy task for Rose, for creating invitations was one of her specialties. She had already envisioned what they should look like, and so she dedicated the entire morning to bringing that vision to life. When done, she had created the most beautiful flora, with colors of burgundy and black, invitations. She then decided to enlist help from her confident, as well as best friend, Petals. Not just because they were the best of friends, but also because Petals could fly. This would make it much easier to deliver to all those recipients of the invitations.

Along with a bag full of the finished invitations, Rose arrived at Petals home. Petals happened to being sitting on his porch, reading a book.

“Petals, I've just finished the last of the invitations, will you help me deliver them?”, asked Rose.

“Sure, how many are there?”, asked Petals.

“Well, I counted at least 50. I tried to remember everyone. Maybe you can look them over and let me know if there is anyone I missed. It would be terrible if someone were forgotten. ”, replied Rose.

“Gladly”, said Petal and immediately began looking over the stack of invitations. After a long while, Petals looked up and said, “I think you covered everyone Rose. I couldn't see any names missed. Let's go deliver them.”

Rose set the invitations back into her over sized pouch. It was one that had long straps which she could securely keep over her shoulder while flying. Petal reached out, grabbed Rose's hand, and off they flew.

Rose would call out a name on an invitation and Petal, knowing where the being lived, would then fly in that direction. One by one the invitations were delivered. By the time the last invitation was dropped off, both were quite exhausted.

Petal turned to Rose and said, “How about we go for a swim? I swam in the lake yesterday and the water was so warm!”

Rose nodded happily in agreement, “Yes, that sounds like a great idea”. And off they flew to the lake."

Where's my Invitation?

Once the invitations had been delivered, there immediately began a buzz throughout the entire community. As the date of the concert drew near, everyone's feelings grew with great anticipation. Each preparing in for this event in their own way. The usual questions began, “What shall I wear? Who will be there? Will Orbeo play my favorite tune?”, and so on.

There was much excitement to be had by everyone. Well, almost everyone.

Mika, which was short for Mikaratusi, sat visiting with Zambak. Zambak lived in the tree next to Mika, and was not only a good neighbor, but also had become a very good friend. Both were Apple Gall Beings. Mika created from the essences' of Eucalyptus, oak, elephant, and hippo, and Zambak of eucalyptus, stargazer lily, pine, ostrich, and flamingo.

Mika hesitantly turned to Zambak and asked, “Zambak, did you get an invitation to Orbeo's concert?” Mika had been hesitant because what if Zambak had said yes, then the thought of being the only one that didn't get an invitation brought on a feeling of great sadness for Mika.

“Dear Mika, I'm sorry to say, but no, I didn't. Since you had not said anything, I also thought of asking you. Do you think ours could have possible gotten lost?”, asked Zambak.

“Maybe. That has to be it, right? I truly hope that is what has happened. I really don't believe Orbeo would not have invited us.” said Mika.

Both sat sadly looking at each other, with each wondering why didn't they get an invitation?

The thing about sadness is that sometimes it has a way of changing the way a person thinks, or feels. It might change their thinking to something very different, something far different than they would normally think or feel. Those changes sometimes brought on feelings of being, alone, left out, ignored or neglected. If not changed, emotions and feelings like these can then lead to a sense of hopelessness.

Mika and Zambak wanted dearly to go to the concert, and being the only ones that did not get an invitation, made them feel left out. All they could think was, 'why weren't we invited'.

As they sat, they both began to ask each other,

“Did we say or do something to upset Orbeo?”, “Maybe Orbeo thinks we don't like harp music”, or “Maybe this concert is only for really close friends, so maybe we are not as close as we thought?”, or “Maybe we're just not good enough to be invited.”. And so it was, they let their sad thoughts carry them further and further away from hope.

After sitting like this for some time, Mika suddenly turned to Zambak and said, “You know what, we could just sit here being sad, guessing and imagining all kinds of things, and then we would never know why we weren't invited. I would hope that I know Orbeo pretty well, and I believe we would never have not been invited to this, or any other of Orbeo's concerts. I think the thing to do is visit Orbeo and ask.” Zambak nodded in agreement, and both set off for Orbeo's dwelling.

Patience and Hope

Across, and on the other side of the woods from Mika and Zambak's dwellings, sat Patience and Hope, two friends who lived together, and also very tiny, about the size of a walnut. Each were also Apple Gall Beings haven been created with the essences' of snail, lady bug, liquid amber, armadillo.

Patience and Hope had just arrived back home from a long visit with “Romera The Wise”. It was Always a treat to visit with Romera, especially when there was an abundant supply of honey (which Romera always seemed to have plenty of), and honey was their favorite food.

Both Patience and Hope being so tiny, and unless given a ride to one place or another, would take a long time to get to any one destination. They were able to visit “Romera The Wise” because of their good friend Chianti, a lovely bird friend who flew them there. For their return home Chianti was not available, and so they had to walk home, taking them about two weeks.

Upon arriving home, Patience found three large envelopes sitting by their door. On one envelope written in lovely script read, “Patience and Hope”. On one of the other envelopes, it had the written name of “Mika”. The last envelope had written on it the name “Zambak.

Patience turned to Hope and said, “Hope, look at this, we have an invitation to something. I bet it is like the one “Romera The Wise” received for Orbeo and TulangRusa's upcoming concert. I wonder why these others are here?”

Patience proceeded to open their envelope and saw that it was indeed an invitation to the grand concert. Seeing the other two envelopes were identical to theirs, they wondered if they had been delivered to them by mistake.

“I think we need to get these two other envelopes to the right owners as soon as possible, the concert is not that long away.” said Hope. Patience nodded in agreement. The only problem was that both being so very small, they could not carry these large invitations. They had to think of a better way to get them to Mika and Zambak.

Patience and Hope were very well named, for there was nothing either did without lots of patience or hope. Hope began thinking of all the people who could, or might soon travel by their home and said, “Patience, this is bread day right? That means Lavender always passes by. I hope this day is no different.”

“Oh yes, and Fleur, is also another one who heads to the bakery for bread.” replied Patience. "We will sit here and watch for either of them. I'm sure they will not mind delivering the invitations to the Mika and Zambak.” Hope nodded in agreement and sat next to Patience.

In the meantime Mika and Zambak, while walking on the path to Orbeo's dwelling, were having those sad feeling again. They had slowly kept creeping back, and with them were creating all kinds of thoughts. Many thought which were not very good.

“Mika, what if Orbeo really didn't send us an invitation? I'm not sure if I want to know.”, Zambak said sadly.

Even though Mika had been thinking the same thing, another feeling was stronger, hope. It was far stronger than doubt, and seemed to be winning. “No Zambak, I really believe there must have been an error somewhere. Orbeo would not forget us.” Mika said.

As they came around a group of large Oak trees, there sitting on a tiny doorstep, sat their friends Patience and Hope. Both were looking off in another direction, in a somewhat worried manner, as tho waiting for something or someone. Mika and Zambak decided to take a few moments and say hello to their good friends. It was always good to see, and take time for, friends after all.

Patience and Hope still intensely looking towards the walking path, in the direction in which Lavender or Fleur might arrive, and did not see they had visitors arriving from behind where they sat.

When Zambak greeted, “Hello dear friends”, so deep in thought were they both, that in unison, jumped up in surprise.

Once their minds calmed, they began laughing a little at their own reactions. Then realizing they had Mika and Zambak in front of them, jumped up again, only this time for joy. “Oh, Mika and Zambak, you are exactly who we needed to see. You could not have been passing at a better moment”, said Patience.

Mika and Zambak looked at each, wondering why their arrival was so important.
“We're so glad to see you also, as always. But what has made you so excited to see us this time?”, asked Mika.

“We were off visiting “Romera The Wise” and just returned home. Laying against our door were these invitations.”, said Hope pointing to the envelopes.

“Yes, yes and although one is addressed to both Hope and I, these other two are addressed to each of you. We were hoping Lavender or Fleur would pass by so that we might ask them to deliver them to you.” said Patience.

Again, Mika and Zambak looked at each other this time with the largest smiles, and even a few tears.

“Oh, Patience and Hope, we cannot thank you enough for this wonderful surprise. We were headed to Orbeo's dwelling for this very reason. We had wondered why we were not invited and if there had been a mistake somewhere.”, said Zambak.

“Oh, Mika and Zambak, we are so sorry. You must have felt very sad, I know we would.”, said Hope, while Patience nodded in agreement.

“Yes, we did, but we know in our hearts that our friends would never intentionally forget about us for any reason. This only confirms that thought.”, said Mika.

After spending a lovely afternoon with Patience and Hope, Mika and Zambak gathered their invitations and headed home.

Both walked in silence for a bit. Mika stopped and turned to Zambak saying, “You know dear friend, I was very sad with the thought we might not have been invited. There were moments when I had lost hope, and sadness began to fill my heart.”

Zambak replied, “Yes, unfortunately me, too. It's hard to keep hope close sometimes. This time because I didn't, it led me to sadness and doubt. It seems that when I keep hope in my thoughts, it has always made me feel that things will work out. Hope has a way of always bettering things, or situations, wouldn't you say? Today when I began to hope again, that feeling of sadness started to go away, and I felt so much better. ”

“Most definitely.”, answered Mika, then gave Zambak a big hug.