salutation to dawn, winter daze and haze. i was amongst the living now, slow rituals and ceremony, our leader was a witch called raven, our technology, twigs and tea. 
her circle was closed to us, unless you were bird clan, but her words guided the tribe. once she looked my way, her dark eyes saw through my skin, i wondered what secrets she stole as i looked away.
the bird clans amongst us were crow, rook and raven, but there were various other animal clans, the bat, the bee, butterfly, coyote, deer, we had one single dolphin member a woman with pale blue eyes. there were many others, the dragonfly, the frog, horse, lizard, owl, salmon, wolf and a collection of individuals whom belonged to no clan. 
we were treated well, obeyed the laws of the raven and respected her authority but there was a growing personal dissent within me as i watched the bird clans impose restrictions on movement or others. 
we were kept within the confines of the boundaries marked by them, unable to go further than a few miles from our site and yet as i gazed down into the valley i could see the ocean calling me. it started as the signal inside my head, a soft siren singing out no one else could hear. even at night i was serenaded and longed to feel the strange movements of currents and tides. 
it was a song as well as a yearning. 
after dawn there was a meeting of the bird tribes within the circle, i would be expected to be preparing teas for the circle and i found myself adding some extra herbs to the mixture, a little extra strength valerian i had created in hybrid with some narcolepsy magick.
as i carried the pot towards the circle i watched the poor tribes slave away under ignorance and fear. never would they think to explore outside the area, never would they need to have freedom. it had either been conditioned out of them or it was just not present. i felt the conflict of envy, the idea of ignorance as bliss had an appeal but the song was stronger. 
they allowed me to pour them their tea and then the rest of the community would drink, soon i would be able to escape.
when sleep came it was powerful and deep, i could see them falling, sitting down to make themselves comfortable, some snored like wild beasts others just closed their eyes and drifted of, but all slept. 
the cold sky above weighed heavy as i slipped out, for the first time stepping beyond the perimeter into forbidden areas. that in itself made me feel a strange new sensation, a complex sort of achievement and shame. i followed the song. 
down into the valley, through the jungle and wild growth, the gnarled vines and trees, the savage bushland, it's strange insect life ever present, the glorious flowers exploding in colours so rich i could spend them, so large i could crawl into them and hide. i walked down, there was no obvious trail but i moved fast and confidence built as the song became louder. 
eventually i came to level ground, covered in sweat and breathing heavily i walked along until i reached the clearing and then a golden sand. my feet of course instantly found this texture to its pleasure, my toes sunk in and curled downwards, i made shapes with my feet but the song, the song led me further down, towards the water.
it's hard to know what feelings overwhelmed me, a strange embrace of familiar territory, a past life flashes before my eyes, was i ever a child. memory makes a strange tapestry, stitched together experiences, sometimes you can't trust them. but now, i felt as though i were truly alive. squid clan, i was home.