The Mender

Lost Travelers

"Has Angry Snake come?" Esri whispered.

A shrouded half-moon offered the only light, barely enough for Esri to make out Zura's hunched-over form in the Thinking Circle. Esri's hand brushed one of the large rocks at the entrance to the stone circle. In the near dark, she relied on touch as much as sight as she walked the familiar path from the cave.

"No, she hasn't arrived, but she still has time. Come, sit with me, Esri." Zura sat rubbing her fingers over the grooves of the Sky Bones. "If Angry Snake is the first Traveler to return it will be a welcome sign. She is one of the most powerful of the Travelers. The Sky Bones and Thinking Circle tell me that this is the night when Angry Snake's sky journey should begin again."

"But we haven't seen any Travelers since the Ash Rain and Always Cloud. And still you wait for the Travelers every night before pale Sun-Man returns. If the Travelers are gone, what use are the Sky Bones? Or the Thinking Circle? What does it mean, Zura?"

Zura said, "I believe the Travelers are only lost and will return to us. We need to watch closely for them so we can welcome them back."

Esri wrapped the extra animal skin she brought around the older woman. "It's so cold. You're shaking. Let me keep watch for Angry Snake. Go back and lie beside Dagan and get warm. You know he has the heat of an old buffalo when he sleeps."

"Yes, one of his many gifts," Zura agreed. "I need to stay, Esri. Angry Snake may be weak if she comes. You might miss her. I've seen her many more times than you. I'm happy you came. You will keep me warm."

Zura stared in the direction of the Traveler's Guidepost, a tall, narrow stone pointing up, barely visible in the dark. It was positioned opposite her in the stone circle.

Esri sighed, "Though you're old, your eyes are better than mine. Even if the Elders Council allowed me to become a Skywatcher, I doubt I could ever be like you."

"But no one hammers a truer spear point. Or fills me with a sweeter song. Anyway, since I am the only Elder left now, I say that you can be Skywatcher if you want." Zura patted Esri's knee. "And what I want from you, is for you to start making your songs again."

Esri couldn't understand Zura's hopeful tone, "And what would I make songs about? The Ash Rain? How there are only three of us left? That we're cold all the time? And we have hardly any food?"

"But the Ash Rain ended and we're still alive, Esri. More plants are coming back. Perhaps soon even the big animals will return. Yes, it's still cold, but Sun-Man looks stronger. Maybe he's not leaving us as many feared. And see, even Moon-Woman brings a little more light." Zura pointed at the half-moon.

"So many died, Zura. I can't stop the sadness I feel all the time. And, I worry about something happening to you or Dagan. . ."

"I also mourn for those who died. But these nights as I sit waiting for the return of the Travelers, I've been thinking that if we are alive, there could be others who didn't die in the Ash Rain. We need to find them," said Zura.

"But where are they? How do we find them?"

"We walk. And keep walking, even to the Rising Sun land of the Ancients if we need to."

"Leave our bode?" Esri asked. "There's little to eat but at least we know where to look for food and the cave spring is still the only good water to drink. We can't leave, Zura."

"I walked to the River of Life yesterday, when you and Dagan were gathering roots, and the water tasted like before the Ash Rain. We can stay near the river and look for those we've traded within the past." Zura turned to Esri, "Little Bird, we are too few. A bode needs many people to help each other. If we stay, we won't survive for long. It's better to try to find Others than die one by one in our empty bode."