Return to my nest

              The Story of Ri            By Heather RaeLynn

        Once upon a time, in a place far, far away, there lived a person 
 named Ri. 

        This person was a very unusual person. This person wasn't a boy 
 or girl, like most people are, but was a Tol. Someone who is a Tol is 
 not quite a girl and is not quite a boy, but is not both. A Tol is a 
 very rare person, and they are all very shy, so you will probably never 
 meet one.

        Ri was a rather normal Tol. Ri was very shy. In fact, Ri was so 
 very shy, no-one had ever met Ri before that day.

        Ri lived on an island in the middle of a big, blue ocean full of 
 fish. Ri's island was not a very big island or a very small island, but 
 it was just the right size for the one person living there: Ri. 

        If you had asked Ri what the island looked like, this is what Ri 
 might have said.

         "My island is a very nice island. It's my favorite island, and 
 it's the only island I've ever been on. On the side where the sun rises 
 out of the ocean every morning, there is a fine sandy beach with water 
 that is always just right for swimming and fishing. There are trees at 
 the top part of the beach, and more trees cover most of the rest of the 
 island, except where my house is, and the meadow with flowers. In the 
 middle of my island there is a big mountain.

          Sometimes, when I'm on top of the mountain, I reach up and try 
 to pull down the sun. If I could hold onto the sun and take it with me, 
 I could use the sun's light to explore the caves I see under the water. 
 Without the sun, it's too dark and cold to swim inside them. But, the 
 sun is too high up for me to reach it. I know that it is close, because 
 when I put my hand out towards the sun, I can feel how warm it is. Maybe 
 if I jump, I could reach it. 

          I like the trees on my island very much. The trees are very 
 good for climbing, and if you climb high enough, there are birds who 
 sing to you in the trees."

            That day, Ri was doing what any Tol who lives on an island 
 would be doing. Ri was swimming. While Ri was swimming around in the 
 water and looking into the caves under the water, Ri suddenly saw that 
 the sun had gone away. It was dark! Ri quickly swam up to the top of the 
 water to see if the sun had really gone away, or if it was just playing 
 a joke again by hiding behind a cloud.

           When Ri reached the top of the water, Ri suddenly saw what had 
 made the darkness. There was a tree on top of the water! The tree's 
 shadow had made the darkness.     

         'A tree?' Ri thought. 'What's a tree doing on the water? Why is 
 it on it's side? Trees grow up, not sideways, and they only  grow on 
 land, not on the water!'

          Ri decided to take a close look and swam to the tree. When Ri 
 reached the tree, there was something on the tree that Ri had never seen 
 before.

  
          Another Tol.

          Ri was so scared that swimming away as fast as a Tol could swim 
 was all that Ri could do. After a few minutes of swimming away very 
 fast, Ri stopped.

         'Another Tol, like me!' Ri thought. 'But how? I'm the only tol . 
 . . but am I? Maybe not, fish visit fish and birds visit birds, so I 
 guess Tol can visit Tol! Yes, that's it. I have a visitor.' Ri swam back 
 to the tree and looked at the other Tol again.

          The other Tol was lying down on the trunk of the tree, hanging 
 on very tight. They blinked at each other.

        "Hello!" Ri said to the other Tol. "You're a Tol that has come to 
 visit me! Do you want to visit here in the water, like fish do? Or do 
 you want to visit on the island, like birds do?"

           The other Tol blinked at Ri, looking very surprised. "I'm a 
 Tol? I though I wasn't anything!" 

         "Of course you're a Tol! what else would you be? You're 
 certainly not an island or a tree or a flower or a bird or a fish of a 
 cloud, so that means you're a Tol. Like me!"

         The other Tol looked even more surprised. "You - you're like me? 
 I'm like you? Not  a boy or a girl?"

       "What's a boy?" Ri asked. "I've never seen one. What's a girl? My 
 name is Ri, what's your name?"

        "I don't have a name." The other Tol looked sad. "You have to be 
 a boy or a girl to have a name. I'm a nothing." 

        Ri wondered if the other Tol had been hit on the head with a 
 falling coconut or something, because of the strange things the other 
 Tol was saying. "Anothing. That's a nice name. Are you hungry, Anothing? 
 I am, and I'm going to my house to find some food. Do you want to come?" 

        The other Tol though quietly for a moment. 'Ri is very nice, but 
 thinks my name is Anothing! Oh well. I'm very hungry, and it would be 
 good to finally have a friend, a friend like me, a not-boy and a 
 not-girl. Ri would never laugh at me for being different, because we are 
 the same.

        "Okay, Ri. Let's go eat!" Anothing let go of the tree trunk and 
 got into the water. The two of them swam to the beach, and Ri showed 
 Anothing the path from the beach to the trees to the house. While they 
 were walking, anothing told Ri why anothing had been on a tree on the 
 water.

          "I ran away. I ran away from the mean boys and girls who 
 laughed at me because I wasn't like them. I went on a ship that was 
 going across the ocean, but when the crew found me, they tossed me out 
 into the water. I swam until I found the tree and climbed on it to have 
 a rest. then you found me. I'm glad that you did. I need a friend. May I 
 stay with you on the island and be your friend forever?"

       "Of course!" Ri smiled, and they ate their first meal together.
  
                                          The End