Embers of Fall

Ravens Song

Dawn cast its light against the mountainside, lighting up the entrance of the cave. Navati stirred at the sound of the birds fluttering and chirping outside and rubbed at her eyes to remove the sleep from them.

As her vision cleared, she stretched her limbs and pushed her long hair over her shoulders, letting it spill across the length of her back. It laid dark and straight as a smooth river, until she braided it again, tying it with cloth covered in an assortment of beads. With it out of the way, she crawled out of the blankets to get on her feet, but noticed Kotve's absence.

In the morning, he usually woke her by drawing stories upon her bare skin and speaking of a past that was long forgotten. But it was quiet and empty. Her skin laid untouched and cold.

She glanced over to the makeshift bed, expecting to find Kotve sleeping, but he wasn't there. She wondered if he finally trusted her enough to leave without worrying about her running off, but saw that some of his things were also missing. Had he gone hunting again?

She gripped her satchel, throwing the strap over her shoulder and walked out of the cave, wincing as the sun blared into her eyes. As they adjusted, she slowly pushed through the thicket and saw his horse was also gone.

Shouldn't he have at least told her he was leaving? What if she had wanted to go with him?

Annoyed, she made her way towards the trees and down a path that led to the closest stream. There she would be brush her teeth with pine and rub them clean with salt before bathing. She always kept crushed herbs and flowers in a wooden case within her satchel and mixed them, once it set after a few days, she'd use them as a fragrance and wash in the water. Surprisingly enough, the stream was not as cold as she thought it would be, making today the perfect day to do so.

Woodpeckers drilled on noisily in the background, perched overhead far into the peaks of the lingering trees that winded down, following the path of the stream.

A few squirrels watched her, using their teeth to hold the nuts they had gathered.

Several cardinals and blue jays also flew over, flitting from tree to tree, and a small hare rubbed its paws over its face a few feet away. The animals knew of her routine by now and deemed her as no threat unless she moved too quickly or disturbed them, but she mainly kept to herself. But at times when she felt lonely, she would talk to them, but they never humored her long enough for it to matter.

Silently, she stuck her toes in after peeling off her boots and clothes, then fully dipped herself into the deepest part of the stream. It was still awfully shallow, so she had to crouch and used a piece of cloth to scrub at her skin. She hadn't bathed for a day and the smell of blood, sweat, and horse was still ripe on her skin. Kotve had joked that it would make others steer clear of her, to which she'd scoff.

She wondered what he was doing, even though she told herself she didn't really care and used her fragrance and rubbed it in, before rinsing off in the stream and doing her hair next. When she finished, she wrung out her hair and used a hand-sewn towel from her satchel to dry off. Once clean and dry, she pulled on another dress made of the same material, except it caped over to keep her warm and was designed with intricate markings and patterns specially woven in for her. It had been a gift from her father and she wore it often when winter drew near.

More signs of the seasons changing appeared and she made sure to change her attire to ones that would provide the most warmth and tuck her away from the cold air.

Newly cleaned, she ventured along the stream, waiting for her hair to dry under the light of the sun and gathered what herbs she was familiar with along the way. She stuffed most into her satchel and wandered towards the camp where she joined a few tribeswomen, helping them sew and weave baskets. Her day was spent with her mainly distracting herself and waiting for her husband to return, but he didn't.