"This was inspired by the poem THE BEACHES OF JADE by Willow Katsumi Relf-Discartin, with its reference to aborigines. I thought it likely that these aborigines would carry out complex religious rituals and that outsiders would be curious. But their curiosity would never be satisfied as the aborigines would guard the sanctity of their rituals. All the outsiders know is that zing-zing juice plays a significant part, and they long to discover the secret ingredient..."

Oh yes, there had always been rumors. And they had heard legends handed down from their ancestors and related to them at intervals throughout their childhood. But nobody outside the circle had witnessed the sacred blood-letting that occurred once in every five danas and was said to rejuvenate Jade and its aboriginal inhabitants.

It had all begun quite innocently when Kaalize asked her brother if he knew where she’d left her sandals. “I’ll help you look, if you like,” Kaal volunteered. “We were on the beach with others until quite late last night, if you remember.”

“Oh, yes – the game! It was my turn to throw and I took off my sandals so that I could run faster. But I’m not sure where I was at the time.”

Skipping from their cave, they made their way to the beach and began their search. Quite forgetting why they’d come, Kaalize picked up the ball that she’d left the night before. The young, athletic female began throwing it against the rocks and catching it. But no matter which rock she aimed at, it kept landing on one particularly large one, bouncing back to her outstretched hands.

It was some time before she noticed what stood at the base of the rock – her sandals. She was a little puzzled as she couldn’t remember seeing this rock before. Nor did she think she could have left her sandals there. Bending down to retrieve her footwear, her eye was drawn to a collection of lines etched into the stone. Eagerly, she called Kaal to her.

He was methodically shuffling through the sand, still looking for his sister’s sandals. But he came over to her when she picked them up and waved them above her head.

Kaal laughed at her apparent excitement. “It’s nothing to get excited about, sis. I’d have made you some new ones if you couldn’t find those.”

“No!” she cried. “Look at these pictures. I think the aborigines must have made them. It looks as if they tell a story.”

Bending his long, lean body, Kaal began studying the hieroglyphics, tracing them with his fingers. His lips moved as he interpreted some of the pictures. He skimmed quickly over those he couldn’t quite make out.

“According to this,” said Kaal, “this is the aborigines’ most sacred spot.”

“So why have we never seen it before?” said Kaalize. “And why did my sandals end up at its base?”

Kaal shrugged and returned to his study of the crude but detailed pictures. Suddenly he stood upright, excitement in every line of his being. “It’s tonight!” he shouted. “Tonight they carry out their sacred ritual. And it’s right here on this spot!”

Kaalize was skeptical. “How do you know that?”

Pointing, he said: “You see these pictures here? Well that’s a lunar calendar. When the Three Moons of Jade cast their colored shadows so that they overlap at this point, that’s when they do the sacred blood-letting ceremony to rejuvenate themselves and Jade.”

“So whose blood are they letting?”

“Not ours, for sure,” said Kaal, laughing. “We’ll be well out of sight, watching.

“There’s even a bit about the secret ingredient for their zing-zing juice, but it’s so worn I can’t make out what it says.”

The two began making their plans for that night. They would bring food and drink and the warm blankets that Senior had made, as the nights were cold. They began making their way back to their cave, but stopped in their tracks when they saw an aboriginal female walking towards the sacred rock. They realized they would have to stay now and made themselves as comfortable as they possibly could, given their lack of preparation.

The woman was carrying a cloth bag from which she took various items – most of them organic in origin.

Bowing towards the rock, she built a small fire and ignited it. Then she laid three pebbles on the flat, rough top of the sacred rock. As the pair watched, a colored light was emitted by each of the pebbles. The rays overlapped in much the same way they expected the shadows of the Three Moons to join at one point.

“They must represent the Three Moons,” whispered Kaalize. “The colors are amazing!”

“Did you hear me, Kaal?” said Kaalize when he didn’t respond.

He was fast asleep even though night had not yet fallen. Then Kaalize began to yawn....

When they awoke, they found to their amazement that they were standing upright and buried up to their waists in sand. Well, Kaalize was up to her waist, but Kaal was buried only up to his upper thighs, being that much taller.

“Your face!” exclaimed Kaalize.

“What about it?”

“It’s old – tired and wrinkled. And it looks almost transparent, as though you have no blood in your veins.”

Kaal had been too wrapped up in the serious business of freeing his legs to look at Kaalize. Now he took a good look. “Yours is the same. You look old and frail.” Fear and confusion made his voice crack.

“Use see-back!” cried Kaalize. “We need to know what happened. We’re old before our time. We need to look back and undo the past. We will die soon if we don’t recapture our youth.”

But their bodies had been weakened and their psychic powers drained. No matter how hard they directed their dreams, they could never recapture the events of the night before or discover how the ritual had been carried out. Nor would they ever know how they’d fallen victim to the aborigines’ zing-zing juice.

It was small consolation that their blood would rejuvenate Jade for five danas to come.

Simultaneously, they reached the point of death less than one tenth of a dana later – a fitting end for twins.