Tsawke|Tsu'tey/Oc

9-Hewne tsawl'srä

Tsu'tey gave me the heads up that Iknimaya would be taking place in two days. I have to tame an Ikran. Oh boy.

Instead of brutal training with Tsu'tey or scouting out plants, Tsu'tey told me to get a tsawl yaney. It's a big canoe meant for two to three people. He gave me a paddle. He said his bow would be enough. It has a leather paddle at the end that's kind of triangular.

We carried the canoe a short distance as the sun began to set over the valley, to the water hole. He placed the canoe down in the water and let me get on in the back so that I could help push it off of the sand. I dug the paddle into the shallow sand below me and then Tsu'tey got onto the front. We wobbled for a second before he helped me get us moving down out into the middle of the large lake.

"Why are we out here Tsu'tey?"

He glanced over the edge of the canoe and he looked over his shoulder at me before pointing out at the water around us. It took me a second to realize the water was illuminated by beautiful giant anemnoids, they looked like blue fire from a gas stove. This species in particular had long long slimy blue tentacles with small fish and even teya'lu weaving in and out in between the tendrils.

"Before my brother was born, my mother would take me here to show me the fyuatx(anemnoid) and how the fish relied on it. It was her way of teaching me the importance and role of a leader." His shoulders tensed with a building sigh, "she gave me a hint of the weight I was chosen to bear." An awkward silence fell over us both.

"If it's any comfort, my parents would have given me the same weight if they were alive today." I said in my mother tongue. He turned his head and gave a concerned look.

"Oh, sorry, English. Uhm, my parents owned a company which I don't know too much about, but the main building collapsed. I was too young to remember but I was in the building and I have scars to prove it." Crap, I missed the point, "sorry, I missed the point, didn't I?" I chuckled a little.

"Would you still have come here if you became that leader?" He asked quietly.

"I would hope so. I love this world. It's beauty is beyond compare." I gazed up at the sky at Polyphemus and down at the beautiful anemnoids. I saw him smile a little to himself.

I shrugged it off, but my heart, it's beating fast and loud at something so small. I wish it would stop, I know he can hear it.

He turns his head and his ears flick at the sound. He smiles a little more and his ears flick again. His listening is disrupted when I throw myself into the cold glowing waters below us. I opened my eyes and adjusted to the cool waters. I watched Tsu'tey look down at me through the rippling waves created by my splash. There's no saving this beautiful night, is there? I don't think so.

I came back up to try and salvage the evening.

"Sorry, I really like swimming, and I wanted a closer look at the fyuatx(anemnoid). My grandpa took me swimming a lot and I never got to see anything half as beautiful as this." I smiled at the memory. I genuinely love those memories. It's a warm feeling.

"We should go back, get you dry, and we've missed dinner." He held out his hand to help me up on the canoe, which I obliged. Getting up was a little difficult due to the lack of boat-like qualities a earth canoe has. The Yaney, the normal one person canoe is like oval with its ends cut off and the bottom is like a normal canoe, but it's flat on top. The same goes for the big canoe with the exception of a much wider and slightly curved hull. So I really didn't want it flip it over, thanks to Tsu'tey being... well, Tsu'tey, I got on within a few moments.

"I'm not sure I'm very hungry tonight."

"Why not?" Tsu'tey's head whipped around quickly to meet my gaze.

"It... hasn't been the same since Hahaw passed. Rìni and Tangek have gone to tell their extended relatives in the Omasaho clan and... I miss them dearly."

"Hahaw always was a gentle person, she caught me stealing snacks when I was young, she didn't tell my parents. Instead, she let me help in the kitchen so I could learn some skills beyond being a warrior."

"It's really not the same without her here. She made me feel at home. She reminds me of my late-grandmother."

"I can imagine she was quite the honorable lady."

"She was, but she wasn't serious in the slightest, she always found a way to make us all laugh, even when the worst had come."

"The worst?"

"Granny... she got sick, it was completely preventable, but we didn't have the money to pay for treatment. She died at home. And Grandpa passed away the same way."

"I'm sorry, that sounds terrible."

"It's not all bad, I got to be with them both when they needed me. And I'm sure they're watching over me, one way or another."

I helped him paddle back until we reached shore and we left the canoe and the paddle in an old hollow tree. He got me to the communal cooking fire and gave me a blanket, it was a beautiful, simple, and warm quilt made up of soft skins, soft plant fibers, and feathery bits.

"Thank you for tonight Tsu'tey. It was beautiful." I grinned the edges of the soft blanket and pulled it around me.

He just nodded and let me get warm and dry.

I went to bed that night, thinking about Iknimaya in a day, but I was feeling warm and tingly. Fuzzy inside with a joy I didn't understand yet.

I smiled a little and slipped into the hammock with the blanket Tsu'tey leant me. I'll be sure to give it back in the morning.