Ruffles in the Wind

Preface

Preface

The wind of wintertide shifts from my red hair off to the tip of my nose. Winds howl and I relax my cheeks in the palm of my hands.... The crackle of the fire has my complete attention. The dark sky wind can take your soul in the nighttime... Your lips can turn blue, and you never wake... I curl up next to Bakumda, my youngest brother to share his warmth. Life of the average Apache is not easy but during the dawn I stare away. Nothing is easier than this. I silently pick from the bush cut tree that lay in the twilight set abyss grabbing the finest leaves for my father, Hridayesh. The tribe curer, the reason that I stay sane in this world of the unknown. He is a funny man at home, very large in build and tall like the sky. I look up to him as he speaks, and fear him when around others. He is strict but at home he is light. 

Nights are cold here. The wind is tough. There isn't much to do but survive. Survive another day. "Be useful" my mother says, she tells me this when I stare off in dream. Her name is Yadiclori, I never heard it before, my father gifted her this name at marriage. They met at age 4, and have been friends ever since. But friends are all they are. My father is too busy to be home. My mother hates him for this. Their conversations only regard the home, tasks and us children.

Much of my time is spent outside and away from home. There is too much expected of me there. I spend my day wandering the withering pastures... and still, I find beauty in even this.

I'm silenced in fear by the sound of the terrain being swept against footsteps... They creep up behind me in the grass meadow followed by the Llano River water.

Who is it?