Prepare to enter the world of Larbu and Tia, a parallel universe that exists here, now. It's a world where two kids and their parents embark on a series of adventures, learning how to return to their full aliveness.

In Natives, the first release in the series, the family explores hot springs and old Indian trails in the American West. Larbu and Tia begin to connect with a past world through voices, visionary dreams, and finally by a meeting with an old one. They return to their parents and their own world with a new perspective on how life could be.

an excerpt from

natives

by S. Katz

first release in the Larbu & Tia Series

The trail climbed higher, and the vistas turned more spectacular. High, pyramidal peaks revealed themselves to the west and south. To the north and east lay steep slopes of multi-colored rock, sign of rock rich in ores. Above these slopes loomed impressive gray rock spires.

Gathering dark clouds spoke of the approaching storm, but the changing weather only energized the Amber clan. They kept on until they reached the high point of the trail, where a Forest Service trail marker showed the way to the Chief Kohl Mine.

"I'd like to rest a bit," Rebecca said.

"And I need something to eat," Tia proclaimed as she sat down on a nearby rock.

"What about the mine, Tia?" Larbu inquired. "Don't you want to see it?"

“I don’t need to,” she replied, looking into her pack.

“It’s okay,” Rebecca said to Larbu. “You and Dad can go.”

Larbu shrugged his shoulders, and he and Samuel started off again. The trail headed downhill for a quarter of a mile, before leveling off and revealing an active mine. Just as they arrived, a large semi loaded with mine tailings roared off down the forest road. Another sat parked, while workers loaded it with more tailings. The workers were very business-like. Clearly, this was not an old, deserted mine that invited casual exploration.

“Every time I actually get near one of these, I don’t want to go any closer,” Larbu said. “I mean, I think it would be neat to find a huge gold nugget, but as soon as I’m standing at the mine entrance, that changes. I can feel the earth being cut, and I hate it.”

“Strange that they would name the mine after the great Noche Chief who lived in this valley when the white settlers arrived,” Samuel replied.

As his father spoke, Larbu was somehow reminded of the inscription he’d found in the cave. He did not say anything, because at this moment, something was coming in—a strong feeling—and he needed to pay attention to it.

Samuel and Rebecca always encouraged the children to honor their feelings, explaining that feelings are the first step in making choices, where human beings are concerned.

“If you don’t honor your feelings, then you’re not a human being,” Samuel would remind them.

Beautiful as it was here, strong and healing as the elements were, Larbu was feeling troubled. He’d begun to hear something—voices—and they seemed to come from the earth itself. The voices were singing a sorrowful song. The song was in a language he did not recognize, but it didn’t matter,

for somehow, he understood the meaning. How, he wondered, could there be such suffering in this special part of the world?He listened in astonishment to the singing for a long time, before asking his father, “Are you hearing what I’m hearing?”

“I hear the wind, I hear a raven calling, and I hear a semi in the distance,” Samuel smiled.

But when he saw the expression on Larbu’s face and the tears welling in his eyes, Samuel asked, “What’s wrong, Larbu? You look like you just saw a ghost.”

“Or heard a whole bunch of them,” Larbu mumbled. “Voices,” he continued, “many sad voices singing a song in some other language.”

Samuel put his arm around Larbu and drew him in close. Samuel did not know what was happening, but now was not the time to try to understand it. Slowly, they walked back toward Rebecca and Tia, Samuel holding Larbu each step of the way.

When they reached the ridge, they found Rebecca holding Tia, who, they learned, had also heard the song.

“Who are these people?” Tia asked. “And why are they so sad and in such pain? It feels like they’re a family, one great big family.”

The Ambers drew nearer to one another, and soon, all of them were crying. Above, the heavy clouds gave way to rainfall: the sky had joined them. They walked slowly off the ridge and solemnly down the trail. No one spoke. At sunset, they reached the car. Clouds obscured the full-moonrise.

In the car, Larbu began to talk, and as they drove, he talked more and more. No one else could get a word in. He talked about things, lots of things, about anything but the songs.

“I feel lonely,” he finally confessed.

To which Rebecca quickly replied, “If you’d be quiet, then you could feel and see that we’re with you.”

At this, he stopped talking and let the feeling back in.

Once back at the cottage, the feeling did not go away. But Larbu remembered his mother’s words: “We have enough room,” Rebecca had often told them, “for whatever we are feeling as well as for what we are doing. After all, our feelings spark every one of our choices in life. That’s why we have them. They serve as our guides. If we push them away, then we make our lives miserable and make ourselves sick.”

Larbu sunk into his feeling and decided to go with it to wherever it was leading him.