How to begin? Can’t start at the beginning because the beginning has been over for a while. Even though I decided rather recently to begin to tell the story that began back when — I, like most humans, want to tell the story from start to finish. My friend Ruby says it doesn’t work that way — we all jump into a story in the middle, even the story of our lives. We spend our time from that moment on trying to keep up with the story and the history at the same time. Our heads waggle back and forth trying to read two things at once. I believe her.

I also like to be different. So for this story we’re going to jump in, stand in the middle and pull both ends in our direction. When all three meet that’s the end of that story.

Or the beginning of another.

At any rate, that’s why this is Chapter -10 (negative 10). I’m standing in the center with a lot to say about what brought the story to this point. There’s a lot of story to tell, too. That will begin with Chapter 10, just to make things even. I need space in between, too, for the parts of story and history that will happen as I fill in from the ends.

I know this is out of order, but the journey was out of order. Each time I lept off the cliff, I ended up in another multiverse. I managed to make my way back home, and tried to go in “order,” but something would happen and I’d fall off another edge. I decided that if I start with Chapter -10 and Chapter 10, I could work my way to Chapter 0, which will be interesting to say the least as some people say 0 doesn’t really exist except as a place holder. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see if that chapter does exist when we get to it.

Now I know this story says it’s about Scents, and it is. Lots of wonderful fragrances. Flowers, trees, grasses, leaves, wood, air, all sorts of natural scents. They are everywhere. Each is unique, and each plant has unique properties, too, that reflect the nature of the plant in the way the essence oil or resin reacts with the body. Human or D’ni I might add, although I’m sure the D’ni physiology was somewhat different from that of a human. If you breathe deeply when in Kadish, you can almost taste the age and pine-like smell emanating from the leaves as they fall. You’d think it would be musty — I did when I first arrived. But no, there are pockets of space in between the heavy trunks that allow for air flow. Good thing, too, so that the oxygen can circulate for us on our journeys.

I didn’t know this, of course, when I was smelling lilacs on the surface and wondering how I could extract the fragrance. Lilacs are such fragile things that their scent can’t be collected without great difficulty. Just too ephemeral. Oils or waxes won’t hold it, and alcoholic bases overpower it, even the mildest base. If you can get some of the oil, it’s at least 100 times more expensive than rose. Amazing. The lowly lilac.

But that’s not part of the story, the lilac. The story is about Cavern Scents. I guess I’d better get to writing about that.