An Afternoon Meander, Open!

[Mansi]

Mansi took a deep breath of fresh air. She loved being out here on the grasslands. As much as she loved her children, and didn't much mind her chores, the feeling of being completely alone for a moment, with only the animals and the grass to preoccupy here was a heavenly feeling. She waded through the nearly waist-high grass, skimming her fingers over the top of it. Hotsiin, her oldest was nearly this tall now... Gad and Gaagi would be soon as well. And before she knew it, her small little bluejay, her Doli would be as well. The thought almost brought tears to her eyes, but she stifled them, instead watching her feet as they cut temporary pathways through the grasslands.

She combed her fingers through her hair, loosing the braid that held her long dark hair from her face as she worked. The wind instantly took hold if it and whipped it across her eyes and face, temporarily blinding her She pushed it back, and the wind blew it forth again. "You're playing that way, eh?" She mumbled, smiling absently. "Well, I refuse to play today." And with that, she found an even spot on the ground with her feet and sank amidst the grasses to rest.

She closed her eyes, placing her hands against her stomachs as she listening to the wind whistling over the grass. Mansi truly needed this. She had just gotten a great deal of wool, it was shearing season, and she had been combing and spinning it almost frantically over the past days. Leaving the boys to play and Doli in the care of her auntie was a good choice. She took another deep breath opening her eyes as she laid back, looking up at the sky.

[Erica McDavers]

"The sun is very beautiful, right, Rascal?" It had been a few weeks since had begun to learn the language of the Dine. Personally, she had discovered that she actually liked speaking it. The teacher was kind, it was Allan, after all and the name he called her, Tsedide, was beautiful.

Rascal barked and began to sniff around, "What is it, boy?" she asked, in English, this time. He didn't reply, instead, the lumbering animal deciding to scramble further into the grass, and barked when he found his prize.

"Rascal!" she shouted, "Leave her alone!"

The dog obeyed, and laid on the ground before rolling over and exposing his belly. "Rascal, bad boy." she warned.

She looked up to the slightly older woman and finally spoke, in limited Navajo, "My name is...Tsedide and I apologize for my pet bothering. Please forgive me."

[Mansi]

"What is it boy?" Came the unfamiliar words, breaking Mansi from her reverie. She opened her eyes slowly, biting her lip. Some good idea this was, she thought, mentally kicking herself. This had to be a punishment for abandoning her chores. The voice seemed too far away for her to try and identify in her grogginess, having come out of her thoughts as one came out of a nap. She knew for sure the words were in English, but she couldn't guess whether or not it was man or woman, young or old. As much as she was curious about the settlers, she was not stupid and knew meeting a white man while she was alone in the Grasslands would not result in anything good.

She began to push herself up from the ground, half-walking and half-crawling backwards trying to back away from the dog, whose sniffs made her body tense. As the animal thrust forward and barked at her, she let out a yelp of surprise, losing her balance and falling back on her behind. She blinked and then as the dog rolled over onto his belly, let a faint smile of relief break out on her face. "Rascal, bad boy." She sighed softly, again in relief, as she could now tell the voice belonged to a woman.

Slowly, she rose to her feet, brushing her dress off and looking the girl over and giving a faint, friendly smile, which grew as the girl spoke in her shaky Navajo. "My name is...Tsedide and I apologize for my pet bothering. Please forgive me.

She chuckled and shook her head, speaking in her own broken English. "Is fine.." And then tilting her head lightly. "You speak the language?"

[Erica McDavers]

The dog was apologetic, to say the least. He let out a small whine as he trotted to Erica's side, "Bad." she declared. "We do not attack innocent people. Especially, ladies. You hear?" Her temper cooled down a bit and focused her attention on the woman in front of her.

"Yes. I'm still learning. My friend, Allan, is teaching me. This mutt," she focused her attention to the quivering mass of fur at her side, "[color=teal]is Rascal and he's still very young and very naughty. He's not used to strangers."

He sniffed at Mansi, seeing if she was okay and pressed his nose against her hand, "It's okay, he wants you to pet him. He loves attention."

[Mansi]

She nodded, smoothing back her hair with her fingertips and braiding her hair back again quickly. Smiling faintly, she listens as the girl discplined her dog, brushing some grass off the front of her woolen dress.

"Yes. I'm still learning. My friend, Allan, is teaching me. " Mansi tilted her head at this, hardly hearing the rest of what the girl said . "Allan.." She mumbled, thinking. "Allan Waters?" She vaguely remembered her Aunt mentioning that Allan had made a friend among those of New Hope, but a young woman? She wouldn't have guessed that of him.

She ran her fingers over the dog's head in between his ears. "And do not worry about your Rascal... my sons are the same, still learning." She smiled faintly.

[Erica McDavers]

"Yes! That's his name, you know who he is?" she asked again, this time in English. She smoothed her dress down, and laughed inwardly at Mansi's joke about her sons. "Rascal, probably even worse. Really barking at respectable ladies?" Erica mock-scolded.

Rascal continued his attention mongering, wagging his tail and other efforts to appear oh-so adorable. Really, it made her want to be sick at that moment.
"Rascal...." she warned. He paid her no attention.

[Mansi]

Mansi took a moment to absorb the woman's words, still scratching the dog's head absently. She gnawed on her bottom lip, trying to connect the words. After a few moments, she made use of what she understood and answered. "Ho... Allan...my ... ehh... son... no, no..brother." She corrected herself, smiling at her success with the words.

The woman jumped at the dog's louder bark, then chuckling. "No harm, no harm." She mumbled to the woman, kneeling to scratch behind the animal's ears. "He is... just funny, yes?" She looked up to Erica and smiled broadly.

[Erica McDavers]

Her lips began to thin and voice was taunt when she said, "Your brother? I never knew, I just thought it was just him and his aunt." Erica was slightly hurt by this; what made him feel that he had to keep this a secret?

Then again, what did that say about her lessons and his promises of freedom?

"Well, it's very nice to meet you, sister of the waters."
Her response was poor translated. What she meant to say was, "..it is very nice to meet you, Allan's sister." but she overlooked it.

"May I ask...if he is not your son, do you have any other children?"

[Mansi]

Mansi smiled gently. "Many brothers and sisters in our... ehm... group?" The word for clan escaped her and she shrugged simply, not bothering, and supposing the word was close enough. Her hair blew into her eyes with one of the prairie winds and she chuckled and blinked, pausing in her stroking of the dog to brush it away

"May I ask...if he is not your son, do you have any other children?"

At the question, Mansi began to smile in pride. She had produced four healthy children, quite a task, and when asked she liked bragging. Unable to think of the number of children in English- there were so many numbers to learn- she simply held up four fingers. "Big boys and a girl. You have children?" She tilted her head, scrutinizing the woman. She was old enough to have had children to be sure, but then there was Allan getting involved. Mansi smacked her lips and shrugging again, concluding the thought. Wasn't worth pondering too much.