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Authors: Isabel Allende
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affection?â
âAffection is like the noonday sun; it does not need the presence of another to be manifest. Separation between beings is also an illusion, since all things in the universe are connected. Our spirits will be together always, Dil Bahadur,â Tensing explained, noting, with some surprise, that he himself was not immune to emotion, and that he shared the sadness his disciple felt.
He, too, was distressed when he thought of the impending day when he must return the prince to his family, to the world, and to the throne of the Kingdom of the Golden Dragon for which he was destined.
CHAPTER FIVE
Eagle and Jaguar
T HE PLANE CARRYING A LEXANDER Cold landed in New York at five forty-five in the evening. At that hour, the heat of the June day had not yet faded. The youth remembered with good humor his first trip alone to that city, when almost as soon as he left the airport, an inoffensive-looking girl stole everything he owned. What was her name? Heâd nearly forgotten . . . Morgana! A name from medieval sorcery. It seemed to him that yearshad gone by since that incident, though it was only a few months. He felt like a different person: heâd grown up, he was more sure of himself, and he no longer had fits of anger and despair.
His familyâs crisis was behind them. It seemed that his mother had beat her cancer, though there was always the fear that it would come back. His father was smiling again, and his sisters, Andrea and Nicole, were beginning to grow up, too. He almost never fought with them anymore, just enough to be a true brother. He had gained a lot of respect among his friends. Even the beautiful Cecilia Burns, who used to pay about as much attention to him as she would to a flea, now asked him to help her with her math assignments. Well, more than just help. He had to do all the problems and then let her copy his work, but the girlâs radiant smile was more than enough reward for him. All Cecilia Burns had to do was shake that shining mane of hair, and Alexanderâs ears turned red. Ever since he had returned from the Amazon with half his head shaven, with a proudly displayed scar and a string of incredible stories, heâd become very popular at school. Even so, he felt as if he didnât really fit in. His friends were not as much fun as they had been. Adventure had aroused his curiosity; the little town where heâd grown up was a barely visible dot on the map of Northern California. He felt he was suffocating there, he wanted to escape and explore the wide, wide world.
Alexanderâs geography professor suggested that he give an oral report to the class about his adventures. He arrived at school with his blowgunâthough, to avoid accidents, without the curare-poisoned dartsâphotos of him swimming with a dolphin in the Rio Negro, subduing a crocodile with his bare hands, and wolfing down meat impaled on an arrow. When he explained that the meat was a hunk of anaconda, theworldâs largest water snake, his classmatesâ amazement reached the point of disbelief. And he hadnât even told them the most interesting part: his journey into the territory of the People of the Mist, where he had encountered fabulous prehistoric creatures. Nor had he told them about Walimai, the aged shaman who helped him obtain the âwater of healthâ for his mother, because that story would have made them think heâd lost his mind. He had written everything down very carefully in his diary, because he was planning to write a book. He even had the title; he would call it âCity of the Beasts.â
He never said a word about Nadia Santos, or Eagle, as he called her. His family knew that he had left a friend in the Amazon, but only his mother, Lisa, guessed the depth of their relationship. Eagle was more important to him than all his friends put together, including the beautiful Cecilia Burns. He had no intention of exposing his memory of Nadia to
âAffection is like the noonday sun; it does not need the presence of another to be manifest. Separation between beings is also an illusion, since all things in the universe are connected. Our spirits will be together always, Dil Bahadur,â Tensing explained, noting, with some surprise, that he himself was not immune to emotion, and that he shared the sadness his disciple felt.
He, too, was distressed when he thought of the impending day when he must return the prince to his family, to the world, and to the throne of the Kingdom of the Golden Dragon for which he was destined.
CHAPTER FIVE
Eagle and Jaguar
T HE PLANE CARRYING A LEXANDER Cold landed in New York at five forty-five in the evening. At that hour, the heat of the June day had not yet faded. The youth remembered with good humor his first trip alone to that city, when almost as soon as he left the airport, an inoffensive-looking girl stole everything he owned. What was her name? Heâd nearly forgotten . . . Morgana! A name from medieval sorcery. It seemed to him that yearshad gone by since that incident, though it was only a few months. He felt like a different person: heâd grown up, he was more sure of himself, and he no longer had fits of anger and despair.
His familyâs crisis was behind them. It seemed that his mother had beat her cancer, though there was always the fear that it would come back. His father was smiling again, and his sisters, Andrea and Nicole, were beginning to grow up, too. He almost never fought with them anymore, just enough to be a true brother. He had gained a lot of respect among his friends. Even the beautiful Cecilia Burns, who used to pay about as much attention to him as she would to a flea, now asked him to help her with her math assignments. Well, more than just help. He had to do all the problems and then let her copy his work, but the girlâs radiant smile was more than enough reward for him. All Cecilia Burns had to do was shake that shining mane of hair, and Alexanderâs ears turned red. Ever since he had returned from the Amazon with half his head shaven, with a proudly displayed scar and a string of incredible stories, heâd become very popular at school. Even so, he felt as if he didnât really fit in. His friends were not as much fun as they had been. Adventure had aroused his curiosity; the little town where heâd grown up was a barely visible dot on the map of Northern California. He felt he was suffocating there, he wanted to escape and explore the wide, wide world.
Alexanderâs geography professor suggested that he give an oral report to the class about his adventures. He arrived at school with his blowgunâthough, to avoid accidents, without the curare-poisoned dartsâphotos of him swimming with a dolphin in the Rio Negro, subduing a crocodile with his bare hands, and wolfing down meat impaled on an arrow. When he explained that the meat was a hunk of anaconda, theworldâs largest water snake, his classmatesâ amazement reached the point of disbelief. And he hadnât even told them the most interesting part: his journey into the territory of the People of the Mist, where he had encountered fabulous prehistoric creatures. Nor had he told them about Walimai, the aged shaman who helped him obtain the âwater of healthâ for his mother, because that story would have made them think heâd lost his mind. He had written everything down very carefully in his diary, because he was planning to write a book. He even had the title; he would call it âCity of the Beasts.â
He never said a word about Nadia Santos, or Eagle, as he called her. His family knew that he had left a friend in the Amazon, but only his mother, Lisa, guessed the depth of their relationship. Eagle was more important to him than all his friends put together, including the beautiful Cecilia Burns. He had no intention of exposing his memory of Nadia to
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