Dolce's Story Chair - Elbereth's Task

Dolce: Dad!
Dad: Yes, Dolce.
Dolce: I lost some more friends.
Dad: I know, Dolce. Some of them we barely had a chance to know.
Dolce: I don't feel so happy.
Dad: How about a story? Would that make you feel a little better?
Dolce: The story not as much as being able to cuddle up with you.
Dad: Well, you hop up onto my lap and I will tell you the Last Story I have about the Angels of the Rainbow Bridge.

Elbereth stood at the threshold of the Rainbow Bridge. Across it's glimmering span, she could see her angelic sister, Dulcinea. Elbereth saw the joy in Dulcinea face as each creature crossed into Heaven accompanied by their humanly companion. All of the Angelic Host knew of Dulcinea's sacrifice to build this simple bridge between the earthly meadow and the vastness of heaven. Everything had a price. Dulcinea's price for the happiness and health of all the creatures who waited for their earthly friends had been her wings and the ability to ever cross from Heaven to Earth. Even the meadow she laid on angelic feathers was forever banned to her. Elbereth knew that Dulcinea drew all the joy she wanted from the knowledge that every creature that crossed the bridge had waited in peace and comfort in her meadow. Elbereth often found herself talking with Dulcinea or in the meadow amongst the multitude of creatures. She had even spent many millenium with Antonius travelling between Heaven and Earth.

Antonius had chosen as his True Purpose to bring the souls of all the kittens to Earth and to return those who humans had abandoned or ignored. Without forethought, Elbereth's True Purpose had become entwined with that of Antonius and Dulcinea. As she stood and watched over the Rainbow Bridge, she suddenly felt an Earthly tug at the center of her being. She nodded her head towards Dulcinea and she flew towards Earth.

Elbereth found herself hovering over two forms in a small cozy room. One form was human and one was a old frail feline. Elbereth knew why she had felt the pull to this location; a Beloved One was about to say goodbye to it's human companion. Elbereth felt the sorrow radiating from the human as it patiently and lovingly waited for its feline friend to pass from the earthly world. She watched the human gently craddle the feline and lovingly stroke its fur. Elbereth felt the human's sorrow and wished it was within her True Purpose to ease its pain. Elbereth knew that she did not bring release for the human. She was here to forever bind the human to the slowly fading creature in its lap.

Elbereth watched as the feline's body shimmered. The physical body stopped as the feline's angelic form separated. Elbereth knew that the human understood that it's beloved friend had finally left the Earthly Plane. It did not take angelic insight to understand the tears that coursed down the human's face. She turned her attention to the bewildered feline spirit that seemed confused and lost.

"Beloved One." Elbereth spoke to the feline spirit in its own language. "I have come to take you home."

"But I don't want to leave." the feline spirit replied. "I want to stay here with her. "

"Your time on Earth has ended." Elbereth stated with a smile. "I am here to guide you to where you can wait for your friend. There you will be restored to the Beloved Friend that your human remembers. There will be no pain or sorrow for you."

"But what about my friend?" The feline asked.

"For her." Elbereth respondly sadly. "There is a price to pay."

"I will pay it." the feline said quickly. "She has given me a home and all the love I needed for the last fifteen years. Ever since I was a Kitten, I can remember feeling her love and affection."

"That is what brought me here." Elbereth said. "The Ending of a human's Earthly Love is what calls me from Heaven."

"Then what is the price she has to pay?" the feline asked.

"Watch and you shall understand." Elbereth replied.

Elbereth held an outstretched palm towards the human female. A thin silvery blue tendril began to drift from the human towards Elbereth's outstretched hand. Elbereth pulled the ethereal wisp and slowly formed a small sphere from the energy. The feline saw that a small void had formed near it's human's heart. Even the feline could sense the hollowness and pain that the void was causing the human female.

"What have you done to her!" The feline's back arched and its fur bristled. "Whatever you have done, I demand that you undo it now!"

"This is the price she must pay." Elbereth took the small sphere and laid it on the forehead of the cat.

The silvery blue energy sparked along the feline's angelic form. Elbereth smiled as the feline suddenly understood what had happened.

"For as long as this human female lives, she will feel the loss of this small piece of her essense." Elbereth explained."In time, she will be able to bear the loss with greater ease than she does right now. But forever, she will know of its loss. In times of reflection and melancoly, she will once again feel the strength of this moment and she will remember you."

"Does it hurt her?"

"For this moment, it will feel as though her breath has been stolen from her body." Elbereth replied, "In time it will become merely an echo."

"But why."

"It may take many years for you and her to be reunited in Heaven." Elbereth stated. "Without this small piece of her essense, the two of you may never meet in the vastness of Heaven. Now you shall wait in a vast Meadow next to a Rainbow Bridge. When she crosses to Heaven in her time, you will feel her presense. You will feel the tug of her spirit and you will come running. Then you will cross the Rainbow Bridge to be together for the rest of time."

"So this is the price?" the feline asked.

"Yes." Elbereth smiled. "The pain and emptiness she feels now is to secure the eternity of happiness she wants for the two of you later. It was a contract she made the minute she decided to give you her love. In time, the void will lessen, but it will never fully heal. She may even open her heart many more times before she joins you. And each time, I will return and bind her to those she has made Beloved Ones."

"With her love." Elbereth continued, "She has asked for you to wait for her. The small pearl of her essense I have given to you is not so that she remembers you, but so that you remember her."

"I will never forget her." the feline said defiantly. "Take me to the Bridge. I am ready to wait forever for her."

Elbereth lifted the feline and placed it within the folds of her robe. She cast one more glance at the human clutching the still form of her beloved friend. Have faith, Elbereth thought, One day you will be together again.