Don't Have a Name Yet.

Civil Dispute

The spring air smells of new things, a warm fragrant musk after a long battering cold. The feeling of such a drastic change is nothing short of intoxicating. I gather up a few squirrels that I used my slingshot to knock out of the tree tops and tie their limp paws together. I hook them onto my belt and head back to the Village, feeling them flop against my hips and swing from side to side whenever I walked. I sniff the air and smile; the trees were already budding new leaves and beautiful flowers that would bear fruit in the late summer. Small frozen dewdrops still clung to some of the branches as if it was a dying attempt for the Winter Spirit to hold its grip on the land. I step through the opening in the wooden gate, shrouded by a shadow casted by early morning. I pad over to a post for stringing small game and hook three of the four squirrels onto the post before trotting over to my lodge on the far left side of the Village. I push the skin door flap aside and duck under the frame. The smell of my Paa's pipe and charred wood wreaths around me, as if the smell itself was the embodiment of welcoming and comfort. I grab two baskets from the basket pole and set the squirrels on the cooking stone. I take my flint knife out and begin slitting the animal's skin from its flesh.

"Thank you furry brother for giving me your body. May your spirit wander freely in the forest as if it was never taken." After the skin was off I washed it with ash and fat and pour water on it until the fur grows clean and soft again. Once clean of blood I wring it out and toss it in one of the empty baskets besides my thighs. I quickly gut it and do the same process with all the organs inside. I carefully wrap the intestines around my fingers and squeeze the extra fluids out before placing it neatly in the second basket. I hear rustling behind me, causing my ears to swivel towards the sound.

"Good morning Taido. I see you've already mad a catch yourself." I turn around and smile.

"Good morning Paa-paa."

"Did you catch game just for us, or did what you were supposed to do and catch for others first?"

"Yes Paa-paa. I've already caught three others as well."

"That's my boy." Paa beams me a proud smile, causing creases near his eyes.

"Paa, could you help me with the brains? I can never get them out in one piece."

"Of course." He takes a razor sharp shell off one of the shelves in the room and shoves it into one of the gemling's skull crevices. He pushes his palm onto the handle and the skull pops open. He continues this process until there's a nice hole in the skull. He gestures to borrow my knife and I hand it to him in haste. He begins to cut the sinew from the brain and pulls it out. He looks inside the dark hole and chuckles.

"It seems... that this time even I could not get the brains out fully either." He hands me the brain, roughly the size of my palm. There's a huge divot where there should have been a lobe. I let out a snort of amusement. Paa scrapes the missing chunk out of the skull and has me place them in the organ basket.

"Alas, even someone who has mastered skills as these can have days where things don't go according to plan." He grins. We rub ash and fat on our hands before pouring fresh water over them. Paa wipes his hands on his pants and starts his pipe up. He sits down and takes a couple of puffs, smiling contently. I sniff the smoke with an air of nostalgia about my senses; Paa had been smoking tobacco since before I was even born and was as natural to me as sunlight, or the whispers of the forest. He looks over at me as I sniff with my eyes closed and head tilted to the side. He smiles.

"Would you like to try a little?" He gestures his pipe to me. I take it from him, feeling it impolite to turn it down and cradle it in my hands. I take a moment to enjoy the detailed engraving of a water spirit that Paa himself carved, then put the stem between my teeth. I take a couple hesitant breaths and a generous gulp. Coughing and sputtering as though I've caught the Mute Death, I quickly hand it back. Paa chuckles and pats my back as I nearly hack my lungs out.