Call It A Daydream...

Dreamcatcher

Two perfect white feathers rest on the dirt, immaculate, quills delicately connected. The light, pale down at the base of each feather quivers with its own rhythm in the faint breeze. The breeze strengthens, and as the feathers begin to rise in an attempt to fly once more, she swiftly retrieves them and carefully wraps them in a tissue before putting them in a pocket and moving on with a smile.

At the edge of the forest she severs a young, pale sapling with a sickle knife pulled from her belt and a few whispered, soothing words to the living wood. She carries the cane with her free hand and stops only once more to pick up an empty, rusted instant-coffee can that lies, alien, in the tall grass. Tucking this under her arm, she carries these finds to her small cottage.

Inside, a long table waits. She places the undisturbed feathers on a corner and sits at the opposite end, setting the coffee can down and carefully examining the thin sapling. After a few moments, satisfied, she lays the branch down and produces her knife once more, cutting out a length of equal thickness with a murmured blessing. It is easily pliable, and she wraps the wood around the girth of the coffee can, tying the overlapping ends together with a length of thick waxy thread.

All is now ready, and quietly humming an ancient lay she begins to loop and knot the thread inside the ring of wood, forming a web. She pauses as the web progresses inward to slide a small, delicate bead of clear blue topaz onto the thread and work it into the net. After a few more rows, she adds a second bead of the same color, close to the center. At last the intricate tracery of pure white web is completed.

Only the feathers remain, and these she lifts delicately, tying thread around the base of the pair of feathers, knotting it and adorning the length of doubled thread with one last bead of topaz. She ties it to the base of the webbed ring and after adding another strand to the top of the ring, she hangs the talisman over her window.

Two perfect white feathers stir in the faint breeze, immaculate and delicate, ready to catch her dreams...