Spoiler
It's the end!
“Stop! Hania! Come back.” I woke with a start. The sun was beating down on my eyes.
“Kaya!” He ran to my side. “Are you alright?”
“What… What are you doing here.” He sighed, and refused to look at me.
“I heard you scream…” He looked around. “This is where you slept?”
“I arrived late. You’re not allowed to be here.” I said. He was getting off topic, which was one of his many skills.
“We don’t have to tell them.”
“I was supposed to do this on my own.” I rose, grabbed my bad and ran. I ran as fast as I could, but he still caught up enough to get in front of me. He turned and grabbed my arm as I tried to pass him. “I don’t want you here!” I screamed. He let go.
“You don’t…” His eyes beat on me like the sun. Water flushed my eyes.
“I… I-” looked at my feet again. “I missed you.” I said, using my small hand to tilt his head in my direction.
“That is why I came.” He grabbed my hand and tugged me along.
We traveled in silence for a while. I had nothing to say to him. He followed me, thinking I couldn’t do it, and wanting to protect me. No one thought I could do it. Not even my father, whom I was doing this for.
Finally, he spoke. “Why are you going on this journey?”
“You have not heard by now.”
“No one tells me anything.” He said, still holding my hand. It was not common for older children to hold hands, but I liked it. I had once told him that…
“My father has no sons. Who is going to become chief?” He shook his head. I continued, “I have to. I will be married to a man of my father’s choice. The elders will think the man is Chief. I will be making all the decisions. It was my father’s idea.”
“Does he know who he is going to pick?”
“Yes.” He looked scared. I wanted it to be him, but… “I do not. I am not allowed to know until I complete my quest.”
He was soundless after that. We both were.
We traveled for several hours. Walking, not knowing where you were going, not having to turn back, and being with Hania gave me much joy.
It was getting dark again, and Hania suggested we make a fire this time. I walked about until I found the stream I could hear. I saw fish, and ran to get him. He took a stick, and sat at the stream for an hour, as I made a fire with the rocks he had brought. I watched as he eyed the fish. His eyes were so striking. They were the eyes of a warrior and a lover at the same time.
“Ah.” He said as he held up the stick with a fish on it. Why he was so amazing never escaped me. He never let me forget why I love him.
“I have to say something.” I blurted, not knowing where it came from.
“What is it, Kaya?” He said, smiling. I was going to miss him calling me that.
“I really am glad you’re here.” I looked down at the deer tracks pressed in the mud beneath my feet.
* * *
It was rain that woke me that night. I looked at Hania, he was sound asleep.
Rain was not falling on me. Hania told me last night he could not see the lights. He knew either cold or rain would be coming. We lay beneath a large bush. It was comfortable, and the soil beneath the plant was soft and warm.
I stood absentmindedly. I saw a light in the distance and headed for it. As I traveled towards the blinding array, the streams rush got louder and louder.
As I got closer, all I could see was the light. The trees, green and wet, had vanished. All around me was the same gold light I was heading for. After some good amount of steps, I could no longer pick it out. I followed my ears. I went where the stream got louder.
When I reached it, I saw it was no light. Standing before me, in its tracks as it had before, was a deer. I inched to where my footsteps from earlier were. The deer was my height. Its shining golden eyes stared back in mine. He nudged his head under my hand so I knew what he felt like. His skin was the feel of rushing water. I knelt down, gesturing I thought of him as my God. He stepped closer, leaving gold spots in his tracks.
He opened his mouth and whispered in my ear, “He is looking for you.” and kissed my cheek.
I turned around, my wet hair whipping in my face. “Kaya? Kaya, where are you!”
When I went to look at the deer, he vanished. “I’m here!” I ran to him. I was going so fast, I could no longer see my feet. I felt like the deer. I was the deer.
“Kaya! Kaya!”
* * *
“So, that was your sign.” Her wrinkled face looked up at me. Her eyes dim and grey, her hair stringy and darker than mine.
“Yes, Catori. That is who I am.” I was shaking. My only wish was that my name be as strong as I felt.
“You are, and forever will be known as Chief Nodin.”
Hania looked at me, smiled, and embraced me in his arms. I knew, for all the winters I would live, intertwined with him is where I belong.
