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Old 09-25-2004, 01:57 AM   #293
piosenniel
Desultory Dwimmerlaik
 
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Rôg

From his seat on the rocky rise, Rôg looked back toward the Eagle camp and imagined the smoke rising from the fire that would be lit near Ayar’s bier. He had only witnessed the death rituals for one of his own clan leaders, and this is how it had been for him. He could see the bier being built. Precious scraps of wood were stacked one upon the other, pieces criss-crossing one another to form a high, rectangular structure. At home, he recalled the children had been sent out with one or two adult members of the clan . . . to gather the dried sweetgrass and sage in baskets. They had stuffed it into the hollow places between the layers of wood to make the smoke from the fire thicker and more fragrant. He wondered if that were a custom among the Eagles or was it something once again peculiar to his own clan.

‘Hey!’ came the familiar voice, piping up from beneath the lip of the outcropping. ‘I’m coming up, too. Move over and make room for me.’ Miri’s little face peeked up over the rocky edge. Her hands and fingers found purchase on the uneven surface, and with a minimum of effort she hove her torso up onto the surface followed quickly by her legs. Rôg looked at her expectantly, wondering aloud why she was not with her family. ‘I’ve come to look at the lizards,’ was all she would say, a set look on her face.

‘Lizards it is then,’ said Rôg, scooting over and patting the now vacant space beside him.

~*~

They both sat quietly for a long time, their backs resting comfortably against the sun warmed rock. The lizards sensing no movement from the still forms crawled over their legs and poked in and out of pockets and sleeves and folds. It was Miri who moved first, scattering the skittish lizards off her legs. They raced away from the two, disappearing over the side of the rock, as Miri snuggled in closer to Rôg.

‘It’s very sad, isn’t it?’ Rôg’s quiet words were more a comment than a question that required an answer. He could feel Miri rocking a little beside him, and saw the slight nod of her head.

‘Where will she go when they light the fire?’ she asked, picking up a number of the small pebbles that dotted the rocky surface. She skipped them off the rock’s top as she waited for his answer.

‘I don’t know,’ he said, drawing his knees up near his chest and putting his arms around them for support. ‘What do you think?’

Miri chewed on the side of her lip for a moment, sliding her eyes up to Rôg’s face to gauge if he were really listening or if he might laugh at her answer. ‘Well,’ she said. ‘I think she really does fly up . . . on the smoke.’ She scuffed her foot back and forth on the sandstone surface as she thought further on it. ‘That’s what eagles do. They fly up on the winds. That’s what Ayar would do.’

‘That sounds as if it could be true, little one. I cannot say it isn’t so.’

‘There is something, though,’ she said in a whisper. Rôg waited for her to go on. ‘The bad things can’t follow her there, can they? They’ve gone away, right? They won’t come to get us next, will they?’ Rôg said ‘no’, that everything would be alright. The new clan leader and the elders would see to it. No bad things would follow Ayar or come to bother the rest of Miri’s clan.

Miri, her mind now somewhat resolved on this issue, turned the conversation to other topics. Her Mami was making something special for supper; would he come and eat with them. He declined, saying that he needed to make the evening meal for Aiwendil. Well, then, she asked would he come to the gathering tonight. They would be singing for Ayar when the sun goes down, her mother had said.

Rôg smiled at her wheedling, then shook his head ‘no’. ‘Remember I told you I would be leaving . . . to see my own family?’

‘Not already,’ she complained screwing up her face in a frown. ‘Tonight? Not tonight!’

‘Yes, tonight,’ he said, laughing at her grumbling. ‘I promised the young man who’s guarding me I would be in my tent when he came to check on me. And I intend to be. Then I’ll send him to the clan gathering and the singing. Once he’s gone, I’m leaving as I said.’

‘Oh, all right!’ she gave in, with a mildly dramatic sigh. Her chin was cupped in the palms of her hands, elbows resting on her knees as she sat cross-legged. ‘But remember, you promised to come back . . .’

Last edited by piosenniel; 09-25-2004 at 02:00 AM.
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