Spotted Hand - Cuhsoyi 2

It took weeks for them to relax. When they were awake, the little tribe calling itself the Spotted Hand were walking or hunting. When they were too tired to walk they slept where they stopped. They built no fires that Eqahkali could not put out quickly. They ate on the run, and they didn't bother to look for their ripped or missing clothing if they snagged on a branch.

Cuhsoyi was put on as their most precious healer, while Laka was made proud that she was their 'distant warning' system. The others? The males? Well they did what boys did best. They hunted, they scouted, they protected. Cuh was proud of them. They performed so well under this kind of pressure.

Fortunately, it didn't need to last very long. By the time they reached the edge of the savannah belonging to the Lion prides, the fivesome were exhausted. There was one night they spent under the bright Planet Twenty stars, that they all lay awake to discuss their situation.

They were silent, of course, their minds touching intimately as they could.

The bird Kin said they wanted our heads, Laka told them. Because she was concentrating on the distance, her mental voice was stingingly loud.

Why would they want us any more? They have slaughtered hundreds of others - we even saw them killing slaves. Eqahkali spat, his mind was hot as always.

Because we killed their elders, and their kin. They aren't the types to let that slide. Etehmaro sighed. His own voice was soothing to Cuh, for some reason. He was so much more mature than their middle-boy.

And because we defied them, don't forget that, Jahkonu added. His mind was smooth, dark, coersive and always elusive. No one dares to do that, unless they're crazy or suicidal.

Which were we again? Cuh asked. Her own gentle mind-voice was still quite strong, in this close setting. I don't think we were suicidal. But a little crazy goes a long way I guess.

They laughed, enjoying their luxury. They decided at this night to head as far west as they could. They'd been hearing talk of this Twelve and One - cheetah Kin like themselves, who often arbitrated difficult meetings or traded with those who were able. They sounded friendly enough. Anything was good now. Anything but the Lions.

So when they woke in the late morning, to a fairly dark sky and a low cloud cover that spat chill water down on them, they walked again at a slower pace, due west. They would head south a bit, when they could. Right now, there was a sort of gulley that interrupted their walking, they could enter it, but that was dangerous with the rain. It would likely flood, that's what Laka's plant powers told her. The roots of exposed trees told her.

When they were walking together, Cuh and Laka fell into stride together. Though Cuhsoyi was almost seven years older than the girl, she felt a strong love for her, an attachment like a sister - more than just a leader of a small tribe.

"You're going to be very powerful when you're grown up," Cuhsoyi said, "you're already good at so much."

"Hah -" Laka said, brushing her off. "I can sense plants and shape wood. What's so great about that?"

"Well how about that spear handle you made for Eqahkali? He loves that. You did a great job fixing that horrid blade to it."

"It's not horrid," Laka laughed, "it's very ... um, proficient?"

"I guess. I can only see what kind of damage that blade is going to do to some animal. Or a Lion." Cuh added with a smile.

"A lot, I hope," Laka muttered. "Besides," she perked up, "he's a great hunter. Did you see him take the waterbuck?"

"I did, and I also nearly had to see his thighbone, if you don't recall..." Cuhsoyi grimaced at the memory. The buck had gored him but shallowly - he just kept working his leg until it all but fell off. Determined, that one was. And the crazy one of their bunch.

***

Cuhsoyi dreamed clearly of her mother for the first time, on the night that they met the Elephant Kin. She woke, and found that she was being watched by a wise, old old female 'phant.

"You miss her, even though you do not know her. You are a good daughter." She said. Her great head was almost bigger than Cuh. But she had warm, kind eyes, and Cuh could even see a friendly smile spread across her low, triangular mouth.

"Thank you. I ... you saw my dream?" Cuhsoyi asked. She was hardly awake, but she was curious.

"I did. It is my gift, I walk in dreams as easily as I do a field." The 'phant said. "I have done it for a very long time, too. Your girl there," she nodded and aimed her trunk at Laka, "she will have strong children, and yours will be so very brave." She paused, and then blinked, her grin turned down a bit. "And they must be, for what is to come... So must you be."

"What... what do you mean by that? Are you seeing something?"

"I have heard that the Lions of the east have placed a considerable bounty on your heads, and I see them trying to get it. But your head is much too pretty on your shoulders where it belongs. You will keep it. So will they. It is that you are meant for bigger things than wandering these plains."

"... Are we."

"Yes," the huge grey-skinned woman said. "Keep walking, young child. West, to the sun, and to the children of speed. It may take a while. You will see. As I have seen." She tapped her forehead with the tip of her trunk, and then used it to caress Cuh's cheek.

"... If I might ask something, just how old are you?" Cuh hoped she wasn't asking something indelicate.

"Oh, old... Very old." The 'phant rose again, she had been kneeling and her one leg was bigger around than the cheetah. "I have great-grandchildren in abundance, and I am happy. They will continue to defend your tiny tribe, when I am gone."

"Then we owe you a great deal," Cuhsoyi said, "thank you."

"We must all have a mission in life, little Cheetah, I know you shall find yours some day. Not long from now."

Cuhsoyi went back to sleep, and found no more troubling dreams.

***

It had been another two years, since they established a passage through the Elephant lands. They had found the Plateau, where Twelve and One lived. The group met up only once, on the north-east plain past the Plateau. The tall, handsome leader Omaciyu and his second, Hala, and their one female, Temih. While there was nothing overtly wrong with them, and they did ask to come along to the farther Plateau frequently, Spotted Hand was ready to be its own tribe, however small. Twelve and One supported their decision - partly because they had three males, partly because they knew the value of space and privacy.

But one day, abruptly, (after an old Lion had clearly passed through their territory a bit more than a month before, slowly making his way south and west as they had gone, once before) the sky was filled with things. Foreign things, big batwinged creatures out of Human legends.

Dragons.

They had hardly seen the first month of these creatures, when Etehmaro walked back into the small clearing in front of their Plateau home. "Laka is on a huff again," he said to Cuhsoyi, "so there aren't as many of these as I'd like to give you." He offered the female a handfull of tiny purple-blue flowers that rested on long slender reeds. "I hope they make you happy," he added with a sly grin.

The shapeshifter was as wily as his shapes implied. He could be so many things... And right now, of course, he wanted to be her mate. What else would he be offering her these lovely flowers for? Of course also, she was going to accept whatever offers he had for her. They were close in age, and seemed somewhat compatable in powers and personality. Though Etah had gone through some difficult times, he was growing out of his cold phase.

Cuhsoyi wanted to warm him up.

Just about then, near starlight time right after sundown, Laka broadcast something amazing. First was her feeling that she was a complete ugly idiot - and then, after Jahk yelled up to her about it, she told them that dragons would be coming to see them in the morning!

Dragons!

Cuhsoyi and Etehmaro entwined that night and tried to keep their thoughts to themselves. It was difficult of course, as always, because Laka was so sensitive. She was quite young, too, and they didn't want to bother her hormones any more than they were already.

And in the morning...

***read the above before heading to the below***