It was after the Great Sickness, right before we left for the Nesting
Grounds....Hadron and I were newly mated; we were expecting our first
hatchlings...
And that trip would be Grandmother's last...She never lived to see her
great-grandchildren.
Holding onto her emotions and rationale with sheer force of will, Sarama
glanced once more towards the cave, winced a bit, then continued her
story.
"Baylene's mother was a sauropod of the old order, back when many of their kind
reigned supreme. Madame Sybille was a lady in every sense of
the word. Baylene's father, Wymon, was equally as formidable...."
~~~~~~~~
"...There were four children: Baylene the eldest; the twins Amber and Ember; and a brother named Kenric..."
It was near dusk, and the old parasaurolophus, Mother Adah, answered
little Sarama's questions concerning Baylene.
Of course, Adah wanted very much for Ola to hear this; after all,
her mother recounted the same so many years ago. Adah's family
had always held the brachiosaurs in high esteem, and one such family in
particular.
Ever since she was a young hatchling, Adah remembered
Baylene's parents with such fondness.
Glancing every now and then at the brachiosaurs settling in for the
night, Adah continued her reminisces of a grand family. But for all the
grandeur and splendor of that long ago era, there was much pain. There was
illness that plagued the sauropods; then there was a son spoiled and
pampered by both mother and sister.
Yet, the eldest daughter still holds onto her hope, but I can tell that
deep inside she is seething...
Yes, Baylene, your trials are just beginning.
~~~~~~~~
Baylene was the eldest child of Wymon and Madame Sybille, a formidable
couple all the dinosaurs held in high regard. The pair, both boasting a
strong noble heritage, stressed those never-ending time-honored values
of family, honor, loyalty, and sense of duty. Both Wymon and Sybille
passed on those traits to their four children, yet one child never quite
imbibed the parents' strong influence.
That insistence that tradition
must be carried on regardless of the "changing times", that began to
occur even before the parents' deaths, was played out everyday by the
daughters.
The son, however, never quite saw it that way.
Which was why, when Ola
inquired of Kenric's whereabouts, the very mention set Baylene's eyes ablaze.
However, Baylene
remained oddly silent and calm; only the eyes gave away the depth of her burning
rage. Never, not ever, did Baylene allow herself to display outright rage; she
never allowed herself to do so.
As it was always the case....
~~~~~~~~
Of the three daughters, the greatest burden fell upon Baylene. Her
parents expected her to take over as family matriarch; she became her
aging parents' chief caretaker, despite the twins requests to lend a hand.
No, thought the elder sister, it is my responsibility.
So Baylene, in addition to attending her own mate and anticipating her own
hatchlings, watched
over her aging parents until their deaths. In a way, Quivier wondered if
all this self-sacrifice on Baylene's part played a role in their
children's fate.
How inexplicably cruel that all of Baylene's children
were struck down with sickness; several never survived past hatching.
Only Gemma survived
her ordeal, but the sickness left its mark upon the child. As it
happened with many other brachiosaur youngsters that year, Gemma the infant
was rendered sterile. She would never be able to conceive, and that
fact weighed heavily upon Baylene who so desperately wanted Gemma to
carry on the family legacy. It pained Quivier as he watched his better half's
depression deepen -- a depression from which she never quite
recovered.
However, much to Quivier's utter amazement, Baylene never whimpered or outright
voiced her grief. "Can't go about blubbering and complaining how unfair
life is," she said to him many times. It was that "never let them see you fall
apart" proverb Baylene internalized from childhood on into adulthood.
The
unflappable, indomitable Madame Sybille, who suffered many of life's
storms herself, instilled the same in all her children, especially Baylene. Sybille herself died without ever shedding one tear or voicing
absolute frustration, even when her only son drove her and Wymon to
distraction.
Kenric...
That, too -- the unending counseling of the wayward brother -- fell upon Baylene's shoulders. It was all she could do to coax the young aimless sauropod: "Kenric, you really should find a mate"; "Kenric, why must you be so self-centered? Everything you do must be for the herd's benefit"; and, "My dear brother, you really must do something positive with your life".
Of course, all of Baylene's good advice fell upon deaf ears.
Kenric, the spoiled baby brother of the family, was a constant source of
frustration and contention. Whereas the girls were responsible,
even-tempered, and had all the marks of refinement, Kenric
carried all the trappings of a over-indulged childhood.
Toward the end of
her life Madame Sybille blamed herself for spoiling Kenric ever since
he was a young hatchling. Both Wymon and Sybille, then a trio of adoring
sisters, catered to the boy's every whim.
Well, Kenric was the family's only son...
As a result he grew into a
lazy, spoiled, self-absorbed brachiosaur with absolutely no ambition or
purpose. To him, life was one long giddy romp of pleasure. He never
found a proper mate; not one female worth her salt would have Kenric anyway.
He stumbled and bumbled on, further maddening his sisters and
brother-in-law. Gemma, although she loved her Uncle Kenric for his
warped sense of humor, formed negative opinions at an early age. Even
the rest of the brachiosaur community couldn't take much more of
Kenric's total lack of selflessness.
So, a few days before the Herd returned from the Nesting Grounds,
Kenric, without explanation, struck out on his own. No one knew his
destination; even Kenric wouldn't say.
"I just need to get away from here," was all he could offer.
Naturally, Baylene stoically and silently bottled her rage; not even the
departure of the wayward brother would ruffle that tight self-imposed
reserve. Yet Quivier could tell his mate literally seethed at Kenric's
abrupt departure. Baylene simply told him, "My dear, life goes on. If
Kenric wants to wander the earth alone, so be it. If he wants to
waste his entire life then who am I to stop him?"
Quivier said nothing as he witnessed Baylene's spirits sag under the
weight of personal tragedy. First the loss of her children, now her brother inexplicably
departs. What other unforeseen catastrophe would his beloved have
yet to endure?
Surely not....!
~~~~~~~~
Papa Japeth shook his head as Adah closed her recollection for the
night. "It is a shame that the boy left all the sudden, with no reason."
"Oh, my love," countered Adah, "he had his reasons, but we'll never
know....Oh my dears!"
She fell silent and stared out into the heavens.
Narrowing her eyes, she focused on one star that shimmered far brighter
than the others.
"Mother," asked her daughter Ola, "what is it?"
Mother Adah, the prophetic parasaurolophus, uttered these words: "My beloved family, there are trying times ahead...Our Sarama will find her mate, and will bring forth lovely children, but...Oh!"
She stifled a sob but continued, "A dreadful pestilence will ravage the Herd...Many will die...Baylene and her kind will suffer the full impact...I see something else..."
"Years of peace and happiness will follow...The stranger who will be the key to our future survival, is born, but is snatched from his mother's nest...But he will survive..."
"Then comes the fiery rain...A firestorm destroying everything...Our way of life challenged in a most cruel fashion. We will face many a trial...A death march across an endless wastelands. Then the stranger will return to us...He is one of us, but his ways are so unlike ours. He possesses great courage, compassion, and strength. Sarama will come to know him...."
"But it is Baylene...Her very future lies far ahead...This stranger will be the key to her survival...After all the tragedies she'll suffer, Baylene will finally come into her own..."
~~~~~~~~
Oh Gemma, it was so long ago. You finally met your mate, a fine gentleman named Orin. But the babies never came. Everyone around us enjoyed their new families. For us, however, there would be no more. It had to be the illness you suffered as a hatchling that caused it -- That sickness robbed us of future generations. But that later epidemic finally sealed the fate for our kind. It dealt many of our friends heavy blows as well, Sarama's family for one, but for us it was a death knell.
Suddenly, the elderly brachiosaur caught glimpse of another apparition. Another brach this time, a youngish male with that unmistakable look of mischief in his eyes. He was dashingly handsome; his colorful greenish-blue patterned skin glistened in the dim light. Other brachiosaurs accompanied him, two identical females who Baylene recognized right away. The twins -- Amber and Ember -- approached their sister; the former spoke first.
"Darling sister, our brother has something to say to you..."
As it was those days following Kenric's unexpected departure, Baylene's eyes
blazed. Secretly, she allowed herself
to revile this rebellious creature standing before her, but before she
could voice her objections outright, her brother spoke to her in hushed
tones.
Kenric was almost apologetic as he said, "Baylene, I've come back
to you...Well, at least in spirit...I had every intention of finding
you, what with hearing about that epidemic...But, my dear sister, I
never reached you, for you see..."
"Save your pathetic stories!," Baylene lashed out, saying nothing more as
she silently wept.
It was good sister Ember who finally and tenderly said, "Dearest Baylene, this is a time for reflecting upon our lives, not for tearing each other down. Kenric had his reasons for leaving us, and he had every intention of returning. I know that for a fact, but I never had the chance to tell you the news that night for...Oh Baylene! The Fireball changed everything for us!"
COMING UP:
CopyrightŠ2000 by PRP