Tovi squinted into the darkness. The lone shadow in the forest was small and was possibly her sister. Her mouth dropped open and she preceeded to call out her sister’s name ; but stopped as she noticed the figure was male. Tovi’s heart sank.
“Greetings” Tovi said under her breath as the young brave stopped at the entrance to the camp and spoke to the scout.
When he did not acknowledge her, she shrank into the shadows of the lodge to her right. Her own lodge stood ominous a couple feet down. Tovi didn’t really want to go home. She moved silently toward her mother’s lodge and threw back the flap on the entranceway. “Mother, I am here.” Tovi sang melodiously, hiding her breaking heart. Tovi walked through another flap and entered her and Tavi’s little sleeping quarters. Two hides lay side by side on the dirt floor. One was folded neatly with a little straw doll atop the furs. Her sister’s doll stared vacantly at Tovi with questioning eyes. Tovi dropped her head and fought back the tears.
It had been a whole phase of the moon since her sister left and she could barely stand to see her little doll beside her empty hides at night. Where was she? Tovi hesitated to ask anyone about her sister seeming as though they had cast her out of their minds entirely. Even mother acted as if Tavi didn’t exist. She passed by her hides and never looked down. Even when Tovi brought up the subject of her sister, her mother would frown and say “who?” Tovi grew restless and afraid. Why did everyone avoid the subject of her sister? Why wouldn’t they send a runner to find out where she was? Tovi shivered in fear.
Walking toward her sister’s hides, she stopped. In the corner was a neatly folded peice of hide tucked under an old sacred mask. Tovi tilted her head in wonder. “Now, where did that come from?” Tovi scampered over to the mask and lifted the folded portion of hide from underneath it. with care and shaking hands, she unfolded the mystery and peered at the inside.
A simple message brought a lump into Tovi’s throat as she read the inscription.
‘Dear Tovi,
I love you , dear sister and I want you to take care of mother. If I travel to the underworld, I will try and send back your soul to you. Do not do anything until a dreamer arrives. He will show you how to fix the evil that has been done. I fear that there are other plans for me than to help me, dear sister. I feel it in the hard stares of the elders. I will be leaving you soon, take care and do not listen to the raven. Wolf is right about this one. Remember, I will be with you in the wind.
Tavi.’
Tovi would not wait any longer. She had to find Tavi and they weren’t going to stop her.
She waited until the guard at the opening of the trail fell to sleep(as he always did) and she snuck out of her lodge. Mother whined in her robes. Tovi moved quietly behind the lodges that surrounded her own and makde her way toward the gate. Her back hurt from the weight of her provisions. She carried a pack over her little shoulder containing deer jerky, acorn cakes and an extra fur. Who knows, her sister could be cold and hungry and she prepared for that.
She past by the guard as he snored and unconciously tapped his thigh. His was propped against a big pine with his bow clutched tightly in his hand. His lip twitched. Tovi couldn’t help but smile at the drool seeping out of the young braves mouth. His name was Jay. He was once in love with her sister but by now she wasn’t sure.
“Don’t worry Jay, I will bring her back. I promise” Tovi whispered and paused to look at him once more then vanished into the darkness.
She moved stealthily down the trail placing the pad of her foot down first and hopping onto the other. She would have to get pretty far from the village before she could start to run. She hoped to make good time and to beat the sunset. Her destination, Sun Mound, would take her two turns of father sun to arrive. She would travel until she could not stand before she took her first nap. Exhaustion would be her indicator of when she needed to stop. Tovi pushed back the creepy feeling that kept coming up into her stomach. She felt as if something was very wrong and she grew more restless with every step she took.
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