Sirius

“But mom!”

“Now now, there will be none of that.” The mother scolded in a gentle tone. Her daughter, huffed in the doorway with her doll dangling from one hand. Her face contorted to express just how upset she was with the request her mother had made.

“You know this only happens once in a while.” Her mother coaxed. “Remember when your sister was chosen?”

The door frame became very interesting all of a sudden as the little girl ran a finger down the smooth surface. She nodded briskly without looking at her mother.

The three closest planets hung high in a sunny, lavender hued sky. The girl’s mood brightened as she looked out the window, admiring one of them with a newfound reverence.

“Mother,” she called out on her way towards the window. “Why do we have to give gifts to other planets?” Innocence and curiosity filled her eyes as she stared out the window.

“We always have. Do you remember when Grandmother gave her gift?”

The little girl giggled and looked at her belly, wriggling and undulating under blue skin. She nodded but said nothing.

“Let’s go then.”

They walked silently to the central square in a lavishly tended garden, under the brightness of the three planets and the sun warming everything it touched. In the center of the garden stood a pillar much taller than the small child gripping her mother’s hand.

“Do you remember what to do?” Her mother asked.

“Uh-huh.”

Her mother let go of her daughter’s hand and eased back a bit. A small crowd had begun to gather to witness the giving of the gift. The ceremonial ritual had been passed down to every generation and its importance was not lost on anyone over the millennia that the practice had persisted.

“Who approaches the giving stone?” A gentle voice rang out, filling the air around everyone.

The child took in a determined breath and gripped her doll tighter. “PRIYA!” She called out loudly to the square and the pillar before her.

“Very well, Priya, you are here today to impart a blessing to one of the three planets we share this Sun with, and which have life upon them. Earth, it’s Moon and Mars. Which planet will you choose Child?”

Priya considered this. She had forgotten about this part of the ritual and now became self conscious over choosing. All eyes reached skyward, even her own. Looking at the beautiful planets held still in a cloudless lavender sky, Priya grinned and admired her doll. A little girl doll with a small face, long appendages and some scruffy material on its head. Her human doll. She had always loved the tales told of humans on planet Earth.

“I choose Earth.” She called out boldly. Her squat frame, so unlike the doll she held, hovered over the ground, legless but animated. Her mother mirroring her shape and features, smiled at her daughter and urged her to go on.

She reached around the pillar with very stubby arms, her doll swinging in her grasp, with a smile, reaching around the majority of her expansive face, she leaned into the cool stone.

“I give the gift of love.” She whispered, face pressed to the pillar, holding on as tightly as she could, heart swelling with the importance of the moment.

Light illuminated the stone from within. Those gathered began humming gently as white light engulfed the square. In a blinding flash, the light collected itself back into the stone and shot skyward, reaching through the vacuum of space towards its destination, a planet still young within the Cosmos, teeming with life. Earth. The light enveloped the planet and dissipated within the waters and grass at the feet of the people there.

A small girl giggled and toddled her way out of a cave with a stick in her hand. A woman was tending a fire in the darkness under the star blazing night. With a grin and a twinkle in her eye, the little girl embraced her mother and whispered softly in her ear for the first time ever heard on this planet.

“I love you.”