Welcome to the second to last installment of Chip’s adventures! This was one of my favorite installments to write! I hope you enjoy it.
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Abaline.
Chip gazed up at the curiously enchanting structure in the oak tree rising above them, finding himself unexpectedly reluctant to move forward now that they had finally arrived. He had been anticipating this moment for so long, and Chip wondered if what came of it would be all he had hoped for.
He longed for a purpose, but what if he didn’t have one?
He craved reassurance that his prayers were heard, but he feared discovering that just the opposite was true.
Perhaps, it was better to leave these stones unturned. After all, if he did, he never need fear disappointment.
He almost turned back.
But then, a sudden breeze blew past him, and Chip found that it was shaking loose all his fearful thoughts, casting them to the ground like so many fallen leaves.
The clearing around them was all deep green and golden splendor, but nothing compared to the oak tree itself. Light shimmered through the bark and across the sprawling branches and trees, as if gold filigree ran through root and limb.
Full of wonder, Chip ventured forward. Though he knew that he was already in a land that was utterly different from his home, this place felt like a world all its own.
Oh, let this be the place where I come closer to You.
The words came unbidden, seemingly of their own accord, yet Chip knew at once that they expressed the truest longing of his heart.
Come closer to me.
As the prayer left him, a golden light, high above in the wooden dwelling that nestled in the oak, caught Chip’s eye.
“I think we’re meant to go there,” Chip said softly.
“I do believe you’re right, Chip,” Alfeus replied.
Chip looked over at the chipmunk and was surprised to find that tears were filling his eyes. But, of course, Alfeus had always longed to see Abaline face to face and had long regretted missing the opportunity to do so with Leah. This moment meant just as much to Alfeus as it did to Chip.
All three together now, they moved forward, noticing for the first time the ladder that led up to Abaline’s home. Instantly, Chip was dismayed. He could never climb such a thing, and Abaline felt suddenly and horribly out of reach.
But then, “Over here, young Chip! Don’t despair.”
It was Beauregard, who had wandered over to the right and discovered a contraption altogether more unusual than the ladder. Alfeus looked on from his perch on the ladder, waiting with admirable patience for his friends to follow.
Chip hopped closer to the beaver, who might have looked the slightest bit pleased with himself for solving Chip’s dilemma. Nestled in the plush grass was a wooden bucket. Looped through its handle and disappearing into the tree’s branches was a thick rope, which Beauregard had already taken hold of.
“Hop in, my friend,” Beauregard said.
Chip did so, but then hurriedly called for the beaver to wait. “What about you, Beauregard?”
“Don’t trouble yourself about me, Chip.”
“But then you won’t meet Abaline!”
Beauregard leaned close. “Who’s to say I haven’t already,” he whispered, and then, with a smile and a wink, he took the rope in his mouth and hauled Chip up to the platform.
The height might have troubled Chip if he hadn’t been so captivated by the glimmering dragonflies and fireflies that swirled all about him, as if they were celebrating along with him that he had reached Abaline at last. Chip had never seen their like. They were the most radiant blues and greens he’d ever seen, and a trailing golden dust fell away beneath their twirling path.
But what waited above was more glorious still.
A sheltering canopy of leaves trailed down, filtering the light of the golden sun and leaving Chip with the sensation of having entered a hidden world.
Tangles of branches and cascading foliage left the structure Chip had seen from far below partially hidden, so that it was difficult to know where the oak ended and Abaline’s home began.
Chip hopped out of the bucket onto a sturdy wooden platform. Alfeus was standing at the open door, and Chip joined him. The chipmunk didn’t seem to register his friend’s arrival (or Beauregard’s absence), so fixed was his attention on the entrance and all that might wait within.
“I can’t believe we’re really here,” Alfeus whispered.
They looked at the entryway a moment more before Chip asked, “Shall we go in?”
The chipmunk nodded, took Chip’s paw in his own, and together, they entered.
There were many rooms within – many more than ought to have fit in a house so small – but they both instinctively knew where they were meant to go. It was a room at the heart of the house, and both Chip and Alfeus understood that inside, all the questions stirred up over the course of their journey would be answered and come to rest.
As they passed beneath the doorway, the pair were drawn in different directions. Alfeus wandered off to the left-hand side of the spacious room, while Chip’s attention was immediately arrested by the tawny owl observing him from her perch directly in front of him.
He knew her for who she was without giving it a moment’s thought.
Abaline.
But she was unlike any tawny owl Chip had ever seen.
She was unassuming in size, though she managed to be imposing nevertheless.
She gazed back at Chip with the most astonishing amber eyes he had ever seen, and he found himself dumbstruck in her presence.
“Hello, Chip.” She spoke, and her voice was smooth and kind.
Her feathers ruffled and flared as she left her perch behind, and Chip gasped as the light caught them. They were beautiful to begin with, with their amber and cream hues, but when the sunlight shimmered across them, their edges glinted brilliantly, as if someone had delicately edged them with gold.
Abaline rested before Chip, and, at last, words returned to him. “You know my name? Did you know I was coming?”
“I am forewarned of all who seek to find me, so that I might know whether to safeguard their coming or defend against it.”
Chip’s brow furrowed. “Why would you need to defend against someone finding you?”
“Many seek to destroy what I guard.”
This didn’t quite make sense to Chip, but he plowed ahead all the same and asked the questions he had stored up inside. “Please, I’ve come such a long way to find you, Abaline. Will you tell me what my purpose is? And if my prayers matter at all?”
She looked at him kindly. “Chip, the answers you’re looking for will never be found in me.”
“But that doesn’t make sense!” Chip cried, instantly distraught that his journey had been for nothing. “Everyone’s told me to come looking for you, and I have, and you just have to tell me what I’ve been wanting to know. You just have…”
But Chip trailed off and desperation brought his head low as he softly cried, “Please, help me.”
“Chip,” Alfeus shouted, fairly jumping up and down at the other end of the room. “Chip, come quickly now!”
Our young rabbit looked first to Abaline, who nodded her encouragement. “Go and see.”
And he did.
Standing before Alfeus was a low, wooden table, and on it, rested the most magnificent book Chip would ever have the pleasure of seeing.
The pages were filled with golden lettering, and the words were startlingly familiar, for they were his own. As both he and Alfeus watched, a rose petal fell – from no place, in particular – and came to rest on the open book.
Just as petal brushed paper, Chip’s plea, Please, help me, appeared in brilliant gold filigree on pages that seemed ancient and new at the same time.
And Chip knew, in the sudden way that understanding sometimes comes, that, at the same instant, a diamond had fallen in the underground, only to become the most pleasing aroma rising through the air.
Tears of joy flooded Chip’s eyes as he turned around. The room was full of Light, all rose-gold splendor and joy – and Abaline stood in the midst of its radiance, waiting.
“What is this?” Chip asked, and she knew what he meant.
Her brilliant eyes met his. “It is His book of remembrance.”
He looked back at the book one last time, closed his eyes, and whispered, “Thank You.”
A pair of rose leaves fell as the two friends turned away, for Alfeus’ prayer had echoed Chip’s own.
Abaline led them to the entry of her home, and they followed silently, still in awe of what they’d been given to see.
At the threshold, both Chip and Alfeus turned back to Abaline.
“Very few are given the chance to see this with their own eyes,” she said. “Be careful what you do with this gift.”
Both nodded, though they did not yet understand, and then Abaline was gone, returned to the inner room, where a truth worth treasuring lay.
Saying nothing, for silence seemed important just now, Alfeus returned down the ladder and Chip to the bucket. Before he knew it or could quite comprehend all he’d seen, Beauregard was lowering the bucket, and Chip was twirling down through golden light, back to Beauregard, the land of Almea, and home.
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Only one installment to go, friends! I can’t wait to share the conclusion of Chip’s adventure with you all.
Until then,
Alexandria
21:25 Books 