49 The First Marriage (1/2)

Anna sits next to John as the sun rises over the forest. She looks out over the horizon as the orange sun mixes with the red leaves creating an ocean of fire. ”It's beautiful,” Anna sighs.

John bobs his leaves ”It unusual to see you so serene and at peace. It must be quite the sight,” he replies happily.

Anna looks over at the bush whose leaves still stubbornly remained green. ”You can't see it?” she asks inquisitively.

”I'm a bush with no eyes. How could I see so far?” John responds while waving his branches sagely.

Anna lays her head on her upturn knee. She yawns and asks sleepily, ”You see me just fine though. You even said I look tranquil.”

”Ah, I see you're mistaken. I can only send out my senses to observe the world. It's quite different from viewing the world with eyes,” He explains.

”How so?” She continues to inquire.

John leaves ruffle in contemplation. ”Well if you train hard enough you'll eventually experience it. But how should I explain it? I can observe energy in a bubble around me. The size I can manage now is just a ways into the forest. But I can only see energy. I can see the solid energy of the earth, the gentle energy from the surrounding vegetation, and the fiery yang energy from the sun,” John explains as he gestures to the distance with his Bush.

John pauses and raises his branch towards Anna's face as he continues, ”As for people and animals they stand out from the ambient energy. You and the rest of the villagers show up as dull shadows since you have less energy flowing in you then the environment. While Elanor and Joe shine brighter than the surroundings, in fact, if someone is able to match the ambient energy they would be invisible to me.”

Anna laughs ”It sounds like its even more colorful than the sunrise. But how can you tell what I look like if I'm just some dull energy?”

John bounces happily as he speaks, ”Honestly it's my specialty, energy vision that is. I spent many years documenting the mood of various divine and spiritual plants. You see they aren't as coherent as me, but if they have a core they have some sentience! I hypothesized that if we observe their energy, we can better understand them. I was almost finished with my book on the subject. It would have revolutionized the gardener industry! It's unfortunate I was cut down before that though.” As he finishes his explanation, his branches droop dejectedly.

Anna let the matter go as she looks out over the village. From here you can see all the little shacks. The morning of her second marriage has arrived. She still didn't know how to feel about the affair. She hadn't put much thought into the event when she accepted. Now however sitting up here with a bull and a bush she felt at peace for the first time in years. She smiled as she watched everyone scurrying around trying to cook the massive five-foot-long wolf Elanor brought.

After an hour of quiet contemplation, Anna sighs. She reaches out to touch one of John's leaves. ”You truly are just some bush huh? You can never tell what the future will hold,” she says idly.

”Indeed who would have thought that I John would be reborn as such a majestic bush!” John exclaims majestically while reaching his branches up to the sky.

Anna shakes her head while stifling a laugh, ”Yes, that's what I meant.” She then pauses and collects her self. With a serious expression, she looks at the bush and says, ”We talked about who should do the ceremony... We want to ask you to do it.”

John shakes in surprise. ”If you're sure I'd be happy to do the honors. But I haven't been to a marriage in a very long time. So I don't know the current trends,” he states.

”That's fine. It's better that way. I didn't think it would turn into such a big deal,” Anna says with exasperation.

John laughs as he consoles the young woman, ”You endured quite the ordeal. But it's only because they care.”

Anna buries her head between her legs as she remembers the dresses that Elanor had pulled out for the wedding. Each one was gaudier than the last. Not only that but the fitting was very bad. Her lithe body didn't fill out any part of the dresses. It was like a child trying on her mother's clothes. ”For a normal woman I'm average,” she complains.

”Don't worry about it; you can hide up here with me and Joe!” John says as he pats the back of Anna.