Ihaan and I spent a very long time out in the heart of Red Squirrel Lake looking at the stars. They were just so beautiful. I didn’t want to leave. One more thing happened that night that was both remarkable and mysterious. Did you know, audience, that Ihaan the Hermit was a music student? Well, he was, and he played something amazing. This was the first time he introduced me to this instrument. The fun never ended when I was with him.
He and I sat under the stars, and I pointed out a few constellations. One of them was Cygnus the Swan. Cygnus has always been one of my favorite constellations. Ro liked Cygnus because duh, she was a bird.
It was dead silent on the lake. I was still seated in the bow of the canoe, and Ihaan still remained in the stern with Ro. The Ghost of Ontario amazingly hadn’t attacked us. Well, not yet at least. I knew he would, though. The star canopy had calmed me down a bit but not totally. Deep inside, I was still screaming.
I think Ihaan noticed this because he asked me, “Little Red? Are you all right?” My eyes had adjusted to the dark, so I saw him pretty clearly. His hand rested on his Native American-styled pouch, and Ro sat on his arm again with her wings wrapped around his neck.
I shook my head and looked away, closing my eyes. “No.” I admitted. A rush of wind blasted through mine’s and Ihaan’s hair. I opened my eyes again and glanced at him, continuing, “Ihaan, it’s just, I don’t feel safe in this park.”
“And why is that?” he wanted to know. “Is it because of this so-called Ghost of Ontario?”
“Yes! What if he flies out right now and grabs us?” Negative thoughts started to flood through my brain again.
Here, Ihaan tried to have a little fun, although it was actually kind of scary.
Ro lifted off his arm, and he grabbed hold of either side of his canoe, asking, “Does this mean you don’t want me to try this?” With that, he started to wiggle the canoe.
“Ahh!” I screamed. “Stop! Stop, Ihaan! Look!” I pointed one of the tilted ends of the canoe in which a little water had come it, “There’s water coming into the canoe!” I did not want to fall in the water again. It was cold! Besides, we were right over the shipwreck of the Ghost of Ontario!
Ihaan laughed, and Ro made a noise that sounded like laughing as well. “Aw,” he spoke, “Is a guy not allowed to have some fun?”
I started to chew him out. He promised me that he wouldn’t let anything happen to me, and guess what he did? He tried to capsize the boat! I thought he was a gentleman! He really didn’t. He really was a gentleman. He was just a boy who wanted to have some fun. I mean, all kids want to, right?
However, before I could really start to yell at him, Ihaan looked out to the lake and said, “Shh! Quiet! Quiet!”
“Huh?!” I frightfully asked. I turned to stone. My entire world crumbled down. I could feel the Ghost of Ontario’s presence. I too looked out to the lake, and I saw Ihaan grip the edge of the canoe with both hands. Ro landed on the thwart again. The wind blew again. I noticed that Ihaan closed his eyes against it. “What is it?” I asked him, even though I knew it was the Ghost of Ontario coming for us.
“The wind,” he answered, “The wind is trying to tell us something, Kylie. Listen. Listen with your heart and your mind.”
I stared at him. What was he talking about?
He soon asked, “Do you feel it, Ro?”
I next glanced at Ro. She too had closed her eyes. Wind blasted through her feathers and Ihaan’s scraggly, long, brown hair.
After a bit, he opened his eyes and said, “Yes. The wind is telling us something. Ro, are you hungry?” Hungry? Why was he asking Ro if she was hungry? What was the meaning of this? Was Ihaan just showing off? Was he trying to impress me? Well, he already did with those amazing eyes and ab muscles. He really was quite the boy.
I watched confusingly as Ihaan the Hermit removed his hands from the canoe’s edge and reached down into his canoe. While he dug around, I noticed that his pouch had been unzipped, and half the leaf I found was hanging out it. I pulled hair behind my ear and adjusted my flowers, staring. Before long, the leaf slipped, and it floated down and landed on the thwart next to Ro. After a bit, I was forced to retreat back a bit when, from the stern, Ihaan drew a wooden bow and a quiver of wooden arrows.
“What in the name of?!” I asked, shocked, “You’re an archer, Ihaan? How? Why do you have a quiver of…?”
“Shh!” he snapped at me. He held his finger up to his lips, and Ro mimicked with her claw. “The wind is telling me, Little Red,” Ihaan explained, “that a whole school of pike are swimming around under us!”
“Pike?” I asked, “Are you insane, Ihaan? They’re no pike here! The Ghost of Ontario killed them all! Remember, we’re on Red Squirrel Lake!”
Ihaan didn’t listen to me. Instead, he pulled an arrow out of his quiver and put it in his bow. Stretching his left arm, he pointed the bow and arrow towards the water.
I watched confused. Did Ihaan really know how to fish with a bow and arrow, or was he just trying to impress me again?
He did. He let the arrow loose, and I heard a small pop from the lake. I jumped and saw that the arrow was floating.
Ro soon crept towards the canoe’s edge, where he was, and stepped over the leaf.
I narrowed my eyebrows. I thought, Why doesn’t she just crush it? I mean, it’s just a leaf! A stupid, dumb leaf! In a very short amount of time, I learned that the leaf was much more than I thought it was.
Ihaan reeled in his arrow and pulled. It was amazing! From the lake, he dragged out a large pike! It was a pike! I couldn’t believe it! He really did know how to survive! I wished I could do that. I wished I could bowfish. At this time, I only fished with rods, not bows.
Ihaan held the pike up to Ro and said, “Bon appetite, Ro.” Ro’s tail feathers started to wag. Ihaan pulled the arrow out of the fish and offered it to her.
Ro’s feathers continued to wag, and snap! Just like that, she snatched the pike and set it down on the thwart. Lifting her right talons, she rested them on the fish and licked her beak. Then, she started to feast.
Ihaan sat back down, and he petted her back.
Astonished, I soon asked him, “How on earth did you do that, Ihaan? Where did you learn that? Did you make that bow, quiver, and arrows yourself?”
Ihaan nodded and answered, “I did, Little Red. You see, as I mentioned before, about ten winters have passed since Dempsey first showed me the park, and for those past ten winters, I have messed around with lots of different survival techniques. When you have been in the wilderness for ten winters in Ontario, Canada, then you get to know the wind. The wind tells you everything. For example, let me share ‘Soaring on the Wind’ with you.”
“‘Soaring on the Wind?’” I asked.
Ihaan nodded. This was where another amazing thing happened. This is something I’ve taught myself, in honor of Ihaan.
His eyes landed on the leaf resting on the thwart. Reaching for it, he picked it up and brought it to his lips.
“Leaflute?” I asked in a confused voice. A leaflute it was. Ihaan played the leaf whistle. You know, the instrument that is best known in Japan? Ihaan was incredible. He was a prodigy.
Closing his eyes, he started to blow, and a high-pitched, beautiful sound came from the leaf. This is another huge clue, audience, so pay attention. Believe it or not, but this was the song I heard in my dream. I didn’t recognize it until later, but I’m going ahead and telling you. Remember, I lived to tell the tale. The song was so, so beautiful. Who knew a leaf could make music like that?
At the sound of the song, I calmed down. It was magical. Ihaan defined it as “The song that can calm any distressed soul.” And it was. It really was. I smiled and started to sway back and forth to the music. Ihaan played the song for about a minute, but I wanted to listen to it forever. The song almost made me forget about the Ghost of Ontario.
Halfway through it, I heard another sound. I heard warbling, and before long, three loons that had just woken up, since it was starting to get light again, appeared next to Ihaan’s canoe, and all of them glanced at him. They warbled and let the wind rush through their feathers.
I stared. Oh, my God, this was amazing! Everything about that night was incredible. Once Ihaan came into my life, I started getting into the trip.
Thirty seconds after the loons appeared next to Ihaan’s canoe, the song ended, and he dropped his leaf, glancing at them. All three of them flapped their wings and continued to let the wind rush through their feathers. Then, with one last warble, they took off and soared in the direction of Red Squirrel Lake’s island where mine and Camp Juniper’s campground was.
I watched intrigued.
The loons fluttered their wings and edged closer to the island.
Ihaan glanced at Ro, whom had just finished her pike, and said, “Okay, Ro! Do you want to get us back? I promised Little Red here that I would get her back before her family wakes up, and you know I never break a promise!”
Ro glanced at him and nodded. Flapping her wings, she lifted off the thwart and also fluttered in the direction of the island.
My eyes shifted and landed on Ihaan again. He had unzipped his pouch, with a sad smile stretched across his face, and he slipped his leaf whistle inside. Now I knew why that leaf was so important. What about the spoon and berries, though? Those were the other two things I found in the pouch, remember? I had to give Ihaan a compliment.
Putting my hands together, I told him, “Oh, Ihaan, that was such a beautiful song you played on the leaf.”
“Thank you, Little Red,” he spoke. “The name of that song is ‘Soaring on the Wind,’ but it also has another name.”
“It does?” I asked, “What, Ihaan, what?” I wish I never asked that question.
After a moment of silence, Ihaan smirked, and in a low voice, he answered, “‘Lucilla.’”
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