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Even on her mother's deathbed, she had never had a bad word to say about her father. Her mother had taught her that the true healing happened on the inside and began with what one focused on. If one focused on what one lacked, that was what they would continue to have. If one focused on the bounty in one's life, they would truly be wealthy. This is what her father had not been able to understand and why he could never learn to heal. Dinara didn't hate her father, but pitied him for his blindness. Dinara really missed her mother, but was happy she didn't have to suffer any longer.
As she lay there thinking, Dinara fell back to sleep and began dreaming. In her dream, Helaena was standing next to her mother and the Goddess Danu. They were all three pointing to a village full of people. In this village, women and older people were valued and treated with respect. Women never had to fear that they would be homeless and both older men and women made the decisions for the entire community. No one group had presidence over the other. All the people were allowed to follow their own dream and contribute to the community in a way that was best for them and everyone else. The Cyclopes, Helaena, showed this and many other wonders to Dinara.
After what seemed like weeks, Dinara woke to find a small fire and some food near her. She lay under the golden cloth, but there was no sign that the Cyclopes had ever been there. Dinara had never been quite sure if she had truly seen what she had, but she did have the wonderous golden cloth that always kept her warm and brought her pleasant dreams full of wisdom.
Dinara pulls out this golden cloth from her backpack now and looks at it while sitting hundreds of miles from where she had been given it. She still wasn't sure if the Cyclopes had been real, but she had learned over the may months since that day to accept many uncertain things. The dreams from under the golden cloth had been so vivid and distinct that Dinara had began to write them down in her journal, which she had kept with her during this entire journey. She rolled out her sleeping bag and laid the golden cloth over it, getting ready for another night of wandering the dream lands.
After nearly a week of rest, Dinara decided it was time to continue her journey home. She had a strange sense of urgency that she couldn't put her finger on. There was something calling her home. She packed her things, faced west and began walking.
Dinara walked for many days through high mountains and arid deserts. During this time, she saw many differnet animals, but never saw another human being. There were not many people left in this world after fundamentalist religous groups had killed nearly everybody that were of a different belief. Disease killed much of the rest. There were only small pockets of people and most of these were pretty afraid of strangers.
Dinara could feel the seasons changing to Fall when she came to a large forest. This forest went on as far as the eye could see to both the north and south. It appeared that the only way to get to her home was to walk through these dark woods. The prospect was not very appealing. She took a deep breath and started walking.
It was cool and dark. There seemed to be a path leading in that appeared to be prety well worn. Dinara walked all that day and made camp near a clear stream. All this time, Dinara had not seen nor heard a single animal. This made Dinara nervous. It seemed to quiet, to still.
The next day, Dinara walked all morning without seeing anything. All of a sudden, a strong breeze came coursing throuth the trees. Dinara caught the smell of fire and food on the breeze. She headed in the direction the breeze was coming from. After walking another 5 or 6 miles, she came over a rise and saw a small stone cabin with all kinds of animals around it. There were pigs, goats, deer, snakes, bears, and many others. They were all at peace with each other, none trying to eat the other.
