I had seen her once before...the lady on the water...when I was but ten years old. She came to me in a dream back then. I should have been afraid but her eyes were so kind and blue. Blue like the water she walked on and with a warmth curling around my toes to move up my body until I was engulfed in it. And when she whispered my name...Ariele...I knew she had known me from another place and time. Oh, how I wanted to follow her back into that blue water but she said no...it wasn't my time yet. She would return for me when I reached the age of reason. She would come back and reveal to me the secrets I had long forgotten.
Now, eight years later, she had returned once more. But this time she was as real to me as the water in which I stood. Spreading great white wings tipped with black, she rose above the water and beckoned me to follow her. A great ship rose behind her and I could see the sails glowing as if on fire. I turned to look once more into those warm blue eyes and as if she whispered into the wind, her voice echoed to me from across the water...
"Come to me, Ariele...it is time."
"But where are you taking me?"
"To the lands of your ancestors. To the Isles of Avalon where you shall be reborn."
"Reborn? But I...I don't understand..."
Her wings gently swooped down and folded snug against her body. Glancing back at the ship before reaching for my hand, I found myself compelled to step deeper into the water as she replied, "Oh, but you will, my child...you will."
