A Long Day, Tag: Allan, Taima , Navajo

[Niyol]

Niyol was sitting under a small tree watching the women in the village go about their chores, some washing clothes nearby and others giggling. Due to his brooding nature, the women of his tribe found him interesting. Why, he didn’t know, he only knew that he would not love again. Ever since that fateful day of losing his family he had not spoken of them but their faces still haunted his dreams. There had been many women who had tried to get close to him in the village but all tried in vain.

His brother however To’tso’nii Hastiin seemed to have better luck with the women having been seen around a woman from the town. Keeping watch over the women as they washed clothes he waited to see if anything would happen, today had been a rather boring day, he thought watching a little girl help her mother carry clothes from the water to their home. Niyol smiled inside watching the girl run behind her mother. Having not seen his brother for most of the day he wondered where he was. The village was in a stale state today it seemed like the day would crawl on forever.

[Mansi]

As Mansi gathered up the cleaned clothes she had taken for her aunt, depositing them in the basket at her side, her four children gathered around her, the baby burying her pudgy hands into the silty sand that edged the rivers, the boys roughhousing and laughing behind her. She hummed to herself, a tune exceedingly famiilar to her ears, one she used to put her fussy youngest son to sleep often. "Hatsiin, take your brothers- Gad stop pulling Gaagi's hair, now- Hatsiin, take this basket and give it to Aunty, I'll take Doli to sleep, yes?" The little boy hid a grimace as he gathered the basket in his arms.

Mansi chuckled as she paused to watch the the boys walk away with the basket, the twins struggling to keep up with their older brother and his longer strides. Hotsiin was so like his father, the same proud little shoulders, a well of words, a happy chatting one. Gad and Gaagi, the twins were quieter, speaking their own private language that didn't need words. They looked like Mansi's father. Feeling her throat tighten she reached to the stream, splashing her face with water to clear her mind. "There's no use in getting sad, is there, little jay?" She whispered softly to the two year old, turning to lift the child into her arms. Her stomach plummeted, the child that had been merrily gurgling to herself just a minute ago was nowhere to be seen, and panicked she rose to her feet, screaming the baby's name to the alarm of the women around her. Women and children milled in thick groups... and the river. Mansi called again, adrenaline coursing through her body as she began to run through the crowds, feeling her throat constricting... yet again.

[Allan Waters]

To’tso’nii Hastiin had hunted that morning too. He had noticed that early at dawn, the bigger prey let itself easier in the direction of his rifle, especially if he was careful to hide in a good place to avoid the wind carrying out his scent to the animal. And he didn’t want deers anymore, he had taken enough of his aunt’s teasing when he hunted one and kept a thigh for Violet. That was the first time she asked him direct questions, starting with “Whom are you giving it?”, unsatisfied by his evasive answer that it was “for somebody in town” and ending with “And why don’t you give her the whole deer, to see if she cooks it and invites us to dinner?”, which meant, according to their people’s traditions, a marriage proposal and an engagement. Of course he denied any insinuation, but those words – and the ones which followed, because she hadn’t stopped here – had troubled him… Not that he would have admitted yet even to himself how much Violet meant now in his thoughts, in his life… He still hadn’t understood this and he wasn’t preoccupied with it.

At least Mansi didn’t tease him, she followed him with big eyes, nodding understanding, and she had accepted the deal he had proposed to her. It had two good results, one that aunt Dlozilgaai couldn’t say anything anymore, as he didn’t obviously keep a share of the game for anybody outside the clan, and the second that if Mansi was the one getting the bigger share and kindly accepting to cook more, keeping their secret, so that one of her nicely adorned clay pots arrived, full, to Violet, almost each evening, then he could avoid being seen by the nosy neighbours. Seeing her almost only after the nightfall had this advantage, and he was less worried for several reasons: besides solving the gossip problem, she could rest more, not having to cook after she arrived home from an exhausting work for another, and she was better nourished and gaining strength, which she will need when running away…

Now, he had left the meat at home, keeping a share for his aunt and one for his sister, and being told they were at the river. The remaining parts were shared by the other families in the clan, as it was customary, and he went to look for them. Barely reaching the river shore, he saw a little girl trotting happily towards him.

He caught in his arms his favourite niece, asking her, with a smile:

”Hello, little jay! Where is your mother?”

[Niyol]

Niyol hearing the screaming ran over to Mansi to see what the trouble was but through the crowd, he could see his brother with a child. “Mansi isn’t that one of yours” he asked pointing towards the child near his brother trying to calm her down. “My brother” he said cheerfully. “Have you been walking among the whites again” he replied a little disgusted. How his brother could walk among them was disturbing to him. “To’tso’nii “He asked “How is the hunting, I’ve been watching the women all day”. He smiled as mother and daughter were reunited as the little one rushed into her arms.

“You should not scare your mother like that” he told Little Jay. He winked at the child and then asked Mansi “How are your children”. Little Jay was poking him with a feather she found on the ground as he spoke to her mother.

[Mansi]

((Heh, just so everyone isn't confused, the child's name isn't actually little jay, it's just a term of endearment being used. Sorry for that, if it mixed anyone up.))

Mansi scooped the little girl into her arms rather frantically, scolded her in a whisper as the child pouted, letting the two men talk and brushing her hair that had come loose in her panic back against her head. Her heart finally slowed to a calmed pace, but she could feel adrenaline racing through her still. If she had lost a child, especially her little one, she knew she wouldn't be able to handle it, especially now.

"Eh?" The woman looked up as her name was mentioned, seeming unaware of the fact, having been searching the child for cuts and blisters after her initial scolding and worry. She shook her head, as if to rattle her thoughts back into place and nodded lightly, snatching the feather that Doli was using to brush the man with reproachful word to the toddler who gave a quiet whine but nothing else. "My biggest boy is getting much more mature.. soon he'll be finished with playing with the twins, but they are getting bigger in their own right." Mansi flashed a smile,albeit a flustered one always proud to speak about her sons.

[Niyol]

“Well” Niyol said to Mansi “May your son grow to be a great warrior, he may do well one day”. He waited on his brother to as he watched the child cuddle in her mothers arms. Niyol had never liked how close his brother was with the whites and it disturbed him greatly.

The sight of the women doing their wash on the rocks seemed a boring task but it needed to be done. In the corner of his eye he saw a glimpse of something or someone. Who the shadow was or what the shadow was , Niyol couldn’t tell, however his suspicion had subsided when one of the older boys jumped out of the bushes trying to scare his friends.

Niyol was displeased with the boy’s action in causing alarm among the women and children. After things calmed a little one of the women came from the small crowd, apparently the boy’s mother, to scold him for his actions.

As the woman and her son walked past him the boy let out a bit of a grin.

[Allan Waters]

To’tso’nii Hastiin smiled at the display of maternal affection, while Niyol was scolding little Doli for her wandering. He hadn’t been aware of the fact that the little one had run away while her mother was busy.

“Niyol is right,” he confirmed to Doli on a serious tone, then he turned to Mansi, telling her: “I have hunted a young elk today. I have left the usual share for you. Your boys are becoming bigger and stronger, they need meat to grow into good warriors.”

It was true, but, at the same time, both of them knew it was more to it. There was one reason more, unsaid, for keeping a bigger share for her family. And after some thoughts lately, he was ready to reveal his secret to his sister. Or, well… as much of the secret as he was aware of, for the moment being.

“I was wondering what do you have in plan for the day after tomorrow,” he told Mansi. “If you are willing to let the children with our aunt and come with me.”

He wanted to introduce Mansi to Violet, for various reasons, as he didn’t know they had met before in the grassland. He had been teaching Violet the Dineh language for some weeks already, and he thought useful to have somebody else to speak to, besides him. Mansi also knew some English, as she had been fascinated by the white people’s skills and customs for a while and she had asked him to teach her their language since more than one year ago. Furthermore, as his services as a scout were required again, he would have to leave for a few weeks and he would need somebody trusted to …take care of Violet in his absence. (Well, he didn’t think of it exactly as “taking care” of her, but he didn’t want to know her as lonely as she had been before, and as scarcely fed. And he still wasn’t aware why he was feeling so protective towards her.) At least Mansi had, like all Navajo women, a vegetable garden, a corn field, and when he wasn’t there to hunt for the Bitter Water clan, Niyol and the others did it, so that nobody starved.

That naughty boy’s attempt to scare his friends turned To’tso’nii Hastiin’s attention back here and now. He smiled at his brother and he asked him:

“I think we should go hunting together tomorrow, what do you say?”

[Mansi]

Doli buried her face into Mansi's neck, nervous at the scolding of the men. The woman patted the child's back as she considered her brothers request. Of course, she always did want to help him, but it was hardly practical. She had already lost a morning's worth of herbs, and the time it took to haul the meat for him, by doing a favor the other day, and she had so much to do that to waste another day was highly impractical. There was wool to be spun for her auntie to weave it, and herbs to be collected for dye, and the boys clothes had been getting a bit ragged, Doli's dress to small, needing to have the hem let out.

"I would love to help you, brother, but I'm afraid that there is a lot for me to do that day... unless I can help you while taking care of my chores?" Mansi tensed, her stomach feeling heavy with shame. She felt awful for not helping, but it would have been a worse time having to catch up with all the work a day after it should have been done when new things to do would have sprung up, as things easily did.