The Wall of Mist

Chapter 2

It was a very uncommon event that Elvina Wolfram could not be found in the Crow Master's hut. If she could not be found crafting objects in the hut, then no man or woman of the village could find her.

When the quiet called the seer, she made a point of finding tranquility. Tranquility could not be achieved with the frantic calling of the children or any other resident of the village. Thus, Elvina always found the most peaceful of areas in or near the village to spend her time.

Most of the time I was the Crow Mater's hut, but that tranquility was not enough for her some days. On those days she would not be found for she would be outside the village.

A rarer event then Elvina's total disappearance was her participation in any of the villages social activities.

She never sat with the women to prepare food and skin animals caught by the men. Nor did she participate in any other event that she might have to sit next to one of the village's women.

She found the women to be quite distasteful.

Neither did Elvina go on hunts with the men. She had always found herself hating the idea of killing. She could not stand the sight of killing an animal, but she could swallow the meat once it had been flayed.

There had once been a time when she was younger and much more naïve than she was now, that she wished to join the men during the hunts. Although it had not been, so she could kill to provide for her community members but, so she could escape the village life for more than a few hours. The hunts would have allowed her outside in the pure wilderness at a time she was little allowed to do so.

Now, there was nothing else that Elvina wished to do than learn from the Crow Master the arts of healing and spirituality.

She spent her time sitting and watching him, that how the Crow taught her. The Crow had once said when she had complained that she was not learning from him, that she was wasting her time by complaining. He told her that the best way to learn was with her eyes.

He had said, "Dear White Wolf, there is no better way to learn about the world than through your eyes. If I tell you that your brain will learn but if you observe, then it is your soul that will learn about the world."

It had been true.

She had learned more by observing the world around her. Human social knowledge she had learned by watching people interacting with each other. The currents of the river and lakes, the placement of the rocks had taught her to find her way home. The direction of the wind told her about changes in the weather.

There was more to the world than the words that people to spoke. Healing was not just about what herbs and vegetation that the Crow Master used, his movements were just as important as the ingredients that he used to make salves. The energy the Crow spent making salves and tonics were a part of the ingredients.

There was a rustle of fabric, the Crow's protégée watched the as the hut's entrance flap was lifted. Her dark gold-flecked eyes followed as a thin raven-haired woman entered the hut.

The women's onyx eyes locked with those of the slim framed girl with a bone in her hands. The girl sat patiently in question as the women approached her.

"Elvina," the woman's voice was soft but her face was pinched inward, "You are demanded to help us with the preparation of the kills that Gray Bear's men have brought back from the hunt."

Elvina shook her head, "Why Rami?"

"Papa said to come and get you," Rami said kneeling down in front of the seer gently grasping her shoulders, "And I only assume it is to help us."