Weayaya: The Sunset Woman

Chapter 3

Yvonne
Present Day

I sat on the stair and sipped my coffee as Aunt Lizzie read her book in the room with couches. She giggled lightly as the sun began to set.

Jonah walked into the house and passed me by, he leaned down and kissed the head of Aunt Lizzie.

"Welcome home Jonah," she smiled up at him. "Your dinner is in the kitchen with a hot cup of coffee. Eat up and get some rest."

"Thank you Miss Eagle." His voice was low as he walked into the kitchen.

I stood up from the stairs and walked over to her, "why does he call you Miss Eagle if your name is Elizabeth Duncan?" I wondered.

"Oh he's called me that since he was a boy," she put the bookmark in her novel. "I met him some miles away, he was probably about six or seven then, I knew his mama, but she died young. I took him in after that. One day he watched me stare up at an eagle and the eagle sang to me. After that he began to call me Miss Eagle." She smiled as she recollected.

She looked over at a clock on the mantle of the fireplace.

"I'm gonna head up to bed honey, are you coming with?" She put her book on a nearby table and began to go upstairs.

"Not yet, I'll stay awake a bit longer." I smiled a little.

"Alright..." she began, "but try and get some rest honey, you haven't rested well. I can tell by those black circles."

I gasped a little, only smiling as a reply. The woman was right, I had barely slept since I was cruelly broken up with, and last night all I did is cry and pass out.
"I'll go to bed soon," I tried to hide my shook.

"As long as you beat Jonah, I'll accept it. The boy goes to bed later than most." She giggled like a girl as she climbed the stairs, disappearing into the corner.

I stared up the staircase for a moment before I went back into the living room. I stared outside the big window and listened as Jonah washed up his dishes. He walked into the room,

"Where's Miss Eagle?" His voice was husky.

"Went to bed," I glanced at him through the corner of my eye.

"Oh," he vocalized.

I heard his footsteps retreat, but soon they returned.

"Your name is Evie?" I heard him wonder.

"Yvonne," I corrected him harshly.

"Oh..." He sighed as I turned to face him.

His copper toned skin looked faded in the full light coming in from the sun setting beyond the clouds.
His face seemed distraught, unsure, and questioning.
I knew I may have hurt his feelings.

"Look," I sighed, "it's not your fault, Aunt Lizzie has called me Evie since I was a kid. I shouldn't have snapped at you like that. I'm sorry." I apologized as sincerely as I could.

"Well...Yvonne...I am glad to finally know your name." He smiled a little. "Are you going to go up to rest?"

"No," I sighed, "I can't sleep well." I looked into his dark colored eyes.

"Why don't you take a walk outside?" He suggested, taking a step closer to me. "The prairie air will calm you," I saw a smirk form on his lips.

"Alone?" I felt my voice raise highly, "you must be crazy."

"Do you want me to go with you?" He asked suddenly.

I felt my eyes suddenly grow wide and my cheeks tinted with my red blush. "You-Are you serious?"

"Yeah," Jonah stepped closer to me. "The prairie is beautiful at night."

I stood up straight, "I mean...okay...only if you go with me."

"Of course." Jonah looked shocked. He moved out of the way and his hand gestured toward the doorway.

I walked over the stairs and pulled the boots Aunt Lizzie brought me onto my feet. Jonah laughed a little as he opened the door.

I walked out first and he followed behind me, closing the door tightly.

"Come on," he smiled as he walked down the stairs.

I followed him as he walked a path into the wide open grassland. The sun was nearly gone away behind the horizon as we set out. We walked for a while in silence, but Jonah stopped suddenly as the sky light up with stars.

"Look up," his voice was calm, "the stars have come."

I walked up beside him and looked at the night sky, it was alive with all kinds of stars. I felt a sense of calm rush through my body as my eyes glazed over the sky. The moon hung brightly, circled by stars.

"The moon is beautiful," i felt my throat vibrate in joy at its serenity.

"The night is always beautiful." I felt Jonah lean over my shoulder and talk lowly into my ear.

I shivered and walked in front of him a little. No one had done that to me before.

"What are you doing?!" I began to panic.

"Shhh!" He stressed. "Don't get so loud." He whispered, "soon the Wagani come." His hand went to the lower part of my back.

"Wagani?" I repeated loudly.

"Shhhh! They come!" Jonah sank lowly into the grass. He yanked me down with him, and as he crawled forward, I did my best to follow him.

A fire was burning in the middle of the grass, but it didn't seem to consume the rest of the open field. Suddenly, a group appeared out of no where. Women, dressed in white, walked in a single line toward the fire.

"They come." Jonah's voice grew even quieter.

The women created a circle around it, each appeared to wear their long hair down or braided. Each woman began to dance; their bodies moved and flowed like the wind, each seemed to praise the actions of another. They twirled and stomped their feet, some sang out, their voices melded wonderfully together. The women shined brightly against the illumination of the firelight. Abruptly, the women stopped their windy movements and melodic voices. They bowed down on their knees and a singular woman stood tall.

She began to chant and she threw things into the fire. The others kept their bodies down to the ground, glancing up only as the standing woman's voice and movements began to grow more and more.

"The Wicasa wakan." Jonah gestured to the standing woman.

The standing woman threw a fine powder into the flames and a great colored smoke arouse.

The women rose up and each reached out to the flames and took something from it. It was only when they rose that I witnessed each woman carrying a torch from the flames.

"They leave," Jonah whispered into my ear.

We were pressed next to each other.

The women followed the woman who stood away, each of them following the other in a line.

It took minutes for them all to disappear on the grassland.

"What was that?" I turned to Jonah as he rose up from the grasses.

"Those were the wagani." He helped me up to my feet. "They come here on the night of the harvest moon; they come to keep the people they protect safe." He explained quickly. "Come, we should go," he smiled as he took my hand in his own and led me back to the house.

By the time we had returned, it was the depths of night, and we made sure to enter the house quietly. We took off our shoes and walked up the stairs, making sure that we made no sounds that would wake Aunt Lizzie. We went to our rooms; I stripped off my clothes and crashed into the bed.

Before I realized it, I fell asleep, and slept well for the first time since I was cruelly betrayed.