Fiction logo

True Colors

Finding your power within

By rani JayakumarPublished 3 years ago 12 min read
3

When Sienna was born, she was merely yellow-brown. Her furless skin matched the rough clay of the canyon walls where her family lived, and as she toddled, naked, it was nearly impossible to find her. Slowly, as she grew in the warm sunlight of the canyon, the sun’s rays turned her skin to a golden, rich caramel-like color, and her fur grew in to match. It was then that she was named - Sienna, a lush burnt orange that glowed with each sunset and sunrise. She could be found teetering on a ledge, much to her parents’ dismay, when the first morning rays hit, raising her tiny spindly arms upward.

Her mother, Ochre, smiled at her daughter’s antics, being of the type to wander, but she gravitated more towards the green, and gathered the weeds that sprang from cracks despite all odds.

Her father, Umber, was more serious and strict, and forbade her from playing on those higher edges. When he caught her reaching precariously for a hanging edge, he would turn dark with anger, and the fierceness of his raw umber gaze would give Sienna pause.

Still, when he wasn’t looking, she couldn’t help herself. The other young ones didn’t seem to share her proclivity for adventure. Her best friend, Auburn, did love the sun, but she basked in it in her own front yard, and turned so reddish her mother would call her in to cool down before she burnt to a crisp. Their friend Tawny also enjoyed being outdoors, but he was content to just brush himself continuously and stare at the animals that strayed into their neck of the woods.

To Sienna, it seemed their whole existence was one blur of earth. The occasional burst of green came up from the cracks that her mother found, and a stark white animal or bird might meander down in the winter, but mostly, her life was full of dull, monotonous shades of brown. She wished for more.

“Oh honey,” her mother said, patting down a mud pie with her paw. “Pumpkin, we’ve got more variety than we know what to do with. Think of your friends and family - Auburn, Tawny, Uncle Copper, Aunty Drab, Grandpa Bronze and Granny Sandy, not to mention our neighbors - the Goldenrods, the Chestnuts, the Sepias. There’s even your brother and sister, Earth and Almond, and your cousins, Ecru and Olive! You’ve got so much variety in your life - and it changes even more when that beautiful sun hits our canyon!”

“Or the moonlight casts over us at night,” Daddy Umber added, putting logs on the fire. “Sugar, you’ve got it made in the shade.” Earth gurgled a reply at his feet. “See, she agrees!”

That was exactly what bothered Sienna - too much monotony. The sun came and set each night, the moon came and went in phases, and there was much too much shade in this canyon. What was above? What lay beyond? The world couldn’t only be this, could it?

The next day, she joined her classmates at school - an alcove carved into the canyon walls. Today, they’d be learning about camouflage. Sienna sighed - she knew all about it.

The teacher, Miss Fawn, was one of the brighter and nicer teachers, but she was still boring to Sienna. But today, next to her stood someone new.

“Class,” she announced. “This is Mrs. Wheat. She’s a real life camouflage expert, and she’s here to teach us all about it.”

Mrs. Wheat looked bright, unlike herself and her classmates. Her fur was neatly groomed, and lay flat against her body, so that no matter which way she turned, she was all one bright shade of wheat. She smiled, and her small fangs gleamed white under her wheat-colored eyes. “Hello,” she said kindly.

Then she closed her mouth, and slowly backed up into a very light part of the classroom wall, where the sun had hit it. As she closed her eyes, the wall around her shimmered, and she disappeared.

All the kids said, “ooh,” and “woah!” But Sienna’s eyes were shining. She had heard that adults could do this, but she had never seen it for herself. Her parents certainly didn’t seem to have the ability - they just did things the normal way, never hiding, always in plain sight.

Sienna went home full of ideas and plans of how she’d practice and learn her new talent. Her family was getting ready for dinner, but she was bursting at the seams to tell them about Mrs.Wheat. “It was SO amazing!” she gasped, eyes wide, and bouncing out of her chair.

Her older brother, Almond, was not excited. “Yeah, yeah, that’s baby stuff. We learned to do that ages ago.”

Sienna was surprised. Almond had never shown her before, and he certainly didn’t seem to use it. “Really, Almond? Can you do it? Can you teach me?”

“Sure, easy,” he bragged. He grinned really wide, then checked around him for a spot that was pretty close to his color. He smoothed down his spiky fur, then leaned against the shadow next to the doorway. He closed his eyes. For a moment, his sharpened fangs glowed white, then he closed his mouth and dissolved.

Sienna and Earth’s mouth hung open. Their mom said, “Oh, so you remember, do you?” with a laugh. Dad came over and pulled him back from the wall, saying, “All right big shot, come and have some dinner,” as Almond came into sudden focus.

Sienna was sure more than ever that she would learn to do it, whatever happened.

She spent the next several days willing herself to become invisible. She scouted out parts of the canyon that matched her fur exactly, trying them at different times of the day. She’d have Auburn and Tawny watch her while she scooted back against doorways and school walls, closing her mouth and eyes, only to open them again as they said no. She even tried covering herself with the same mud of the place she was - a tactic that made her well-camouflaged, but still not invisible, and inevitably left her sneezing dust.

As Mrs.Wheat gave more classes on camouflage, Sienna watched as several of her classmates started to hone their skills, and were suddenly able to do it. Cinnamon was the first, her dark shade melding against a shadowy wall as she sweetly hummed, and then went silent. Rusty bragged about how he could do it, and just went in face-first, his backside going blank and reddish. Toffee tossed her wavy fur with a smooth glint in her eyes, battled her eyelashes, and wiggled her fingers bye as she faded away.

One by one, others in their class learned to “camo” as they called it, each evanescing like a wisp of smoke in the right background.

“What can they do that I can’t?” she pouted to her friends and family, and anyone else who would listen. It was her mom who took her aside with a hug. “Peanut, stop trying so hard. When it’s your time, you’ll be able to do it easily. You’ll see. When you relax, it’ll just happen on its own.”

Sienna felt she was relaxed. She took slow breaths before her turn, and even took to meditation up on canyon ledges (as long as her Dad didn’t know). She felt steadier than ever, but still couldn’t camo any better. Or even at all.

Suddenly, it was summer. Most of the class had learned to camo. Even Auburn had managed to do it one night at home. “I did it!” she cried, jumping up and down one evening after dinner. “My big sister Toast helped me!” Sienna was jealous, but also curious. If her sister taught her, maybe Sienna could learn, too.

Auburn lowered her voice to a whisper. “There’s a secret.”

Sienna knew it, there had to be a secret, something she was missing.

“You see,” Auburn continued. “The secret is that you really, really have to believe.”

Sienna was confused. “Believe what?”

“In yourself!” Auburn said happily. “You have to just believe in yourself enough to do it!” She laughed and hugged her friend with joy.

Sienna was happy for her, but she didn’t see the point. She did believe in herself, didn’t she? She was the one who’d always been brave, been curious, been the one to try to see new things. Why couldn’t she do the one thing that everyone else, so cautious and safe around here, could?

The next afternoon, she climbed up to a tall rock. She gathered rocks idly, so she could take them back for dinner as an excuse. But mostly she just sat there, watching the sun dip slowly lower and lower in the sky, painting the canyon different colors with each movement. She nibbled on a pebble as she watched the fingers of its rays reach deep into the canyon where nothing else seemed to live, and wished she were as free as the sun to reach out and touch anything.

She knew that if she really wanted to, she could climb to the top of the canyon and see the whole world if she wanted to. But she didn’t do it. She had to admit it - she was scared. Of leaving her family. Of leaving her friends. Of going somewhere all alone, not knowing what kind of world she would find.

Sienna didn’t believe in herself after all. She put her head down on her fuzzy arms and cried.

As she’d slowed down sobbing, she felt a shadow pass over the canyon. It was large, and dark. She could feel the rumble, and the distant sound of water. Her eyes widened - she had to warn the others.

Swiftly, she climbed back and reached her parents. “Come on! We have to get out of here, I heard the water coming!” she yelled urgently. “Let’s go!” She picked up little Earth, who had her hands flat against the floor and was feeling the vibrations, too.

Her dad rapped on the canyon walls with their tribe’s emergency warning signal. The sound would travel through the walls to everyone. Mom and Almond gathered up some basic supplies, and they started to climb.

All the ways and all the paths that Sienna had traveled so secretly all the years of her life were now the same path they were taking. Her mom had her lead the way - she knew that Sienna was an expert at where to put her paws at each step, and how to hold on with her fangs when necessary.

The roar grew closer, but more and more people were climbing now, and the shaded northern wall of the canyon was covered with them. Young and old, small and tall, all of them shades of the sun and earth. They could feel the rumble closer now, and feel the coolness of the water coming closer.

They kept climbing, onward, upward, following Sienna’s path. Her family urged the others on, until they were very near the top. But the water kept coming. They could feel the spray now, and any moment it would round the corner in a flash, and flood the canyon. They could only hope that held tight against the walls, they would not be washed away. Sienna held tight to Earth’s hand.

Her dad rapped again on the wall - a different signal this time, one Sienna had never heard. Then she watched, as one by one, each of them, no matter where they were, closed their eyes and mouths, and pressed themselves into the canyon face. One by one, they disappeared as if they’d never been there. Soon it seemed like only the canyon was left. Her dad looked up at her, proudly, and smiled. He nodded.

Sienna knew what she should do. She had led them all this far, by herself, because of who she was - an explorer, and adventurer. She could do difficult things. She breathed in the scent of the cool water, and as it rushed past them, she, too, closed her mouth and eyes, and sank into the rock face.

Though the water below them was cool, she felt a warmth inside her, as if she were lit with a sun from her heart. It felt like the edges of her body were breaking apart into dust, and her fingers and toes tingled, both alive and serenely still at once. She knew she had camoed.

The water rushed onward, filling the canyon, and then, just as surely, swirling back. It would go back and forth for a while before it was safe and dry enough for them all to return.

As everyone popped back into the focus, Sienna watched. They came alive again, like seeing a dark cloud start to drift across the sky. Her parents were calling her back down, but Sienna smiled and shook her head no. She would climb - that was what she was meant to do.

She emerged at the top just as the sun touched the top of the canyon wall. Its rays rippled across the flowing water, throwing stars and shadows on the rock walls. Many others climbed up behind her, emboldened by her bravery. They, too, watched in awe. No one had ever been this far in their memory - all the way up, to where the sky touched the canyon.

No, it did not touch here, it was still further up, so much farther.

Sienna looked out over the canyon. Everything seemed the same shades of color she had seen - brown, clay, dust, dirt. She also saw flowers springing up from the cracks. They, too, had climbed their way up. They were all shades she had never seen - cerulean, magenta, chartreuse, mauve, lemon.

And the vast sky overhead, it, too, was white, and blue, and rose and lavender, and every other shade that Sienna had longed to see for so long.

She looked around - all the others were in awe of the beauty that no one even knew existed. She had brought them here, whether they returned to the canyon or not, by following her true colors. She closed her eyes, drank in the heat of the sun, and burned bright.

Fantasy
3

About the Creator

rani Jayakumar

Writing, art, mindfulness, environment, music

Reader insights

Be the first to share your insights about this piece.

How does it work?

Add your insights

Comments

There are no comments for this story

Be the first to respond and start the conversation.

Sign in to comment

    Find us on social media

    Miscellaneous links

    • Explore
    • Contact
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of Use
    • Support

    © 2024 Creatd, Inc. All Rights Reserved.