Ride at Dawn

The mix of excitement and grief of the Lysin traveler had struck the caravan. The news that one who might have become one of their own had passed was bittersweet. It was a lovely twist of fate that they would hear from Asha again at all, and if the traveler's stories were true, she had lived a life rich enough to envy. Yann'i remembered parting with that young woman in front of the city gates that had slowly, but surely devoured the sparse surrounding woodlands. She had been in charge of planning the route for the caravan then. Despite being sure that Asha would choose to stay, Yann'i had planned two routes, one slower and accommodating a new rider. Asha had been right in the end when she had told them that Sorlimk was her city, that she'd been born there and that she's die there. This Lysin had, in their retelling, spent the better parts of two years looking for the correct C'weyya caravan. Now that they had found them, perhaps they could close that chapter knowing all loose threads had been tied up.

Yann'i was sitting awake in the elaborate tent they had pulled into pulled up one of the many sturdy trees they had made camp around. "If you won't sleep, you might as well keep watch with me." her partner said through the thin flap of furs and leather keeping the cold out. Yann'i suppressed a sigh and opened the flap to join Lowrid outside. He was sitting on the small set of planks set up to hold up one side of the tent, doubling as a lookout perch. His rifle was laid easily over his lap, legs dangling off the planks. He sat with his usual easy tension, relaxed, but aware. Yann'i took her rifle from the inside the tent and slung it around her shoulder. "Perhaps" he said after a short while "we should hold a wake." She glanced sideways at him, keeping the bulk of her attention on the cluster of horses and the singular, out of place Lysin wagon under them "For Asha you mean?" "Yes. We taught her our ways." "She chose to stay. Being our kind requires living our life." "Riding at dawn, you mean?" "Am I wrong?" "No. But we might be proud to call her one of our own. Even if she never managed to get on top of a horse." Yann'i almost laughed "We can't just claim everyone we like." "No, I suppose we can't." Silence returned until Yann'i couldn't stand it any more "Suppose we could have tried harder to convince her?" "Don't be ridiculous." Lowrid chuckled "She had made up her mind. The terms we had laid out were clear. I think we're not doing us any favours thinking about how things could have been." "I just don't like to think that her early end was inevitable." "I imagine she's okay with how things worked out." "You're probably right." it was a difficult feeling, Yann'i thought, mourning someone estranged. It was mourning what could have been just as it was mourning what was. Chances lost. It was, unfortunately a common occurrence. Yann'i had always thought it was a little silly to dwell to long on what might have been. It was almost part of the C'weyya philosophy to leave such things as they were previously, because if one really regretted the outcomes of things, one should have taken action to change them. Then again, she had never been so directly affected by this feeling. She was older now, than many would have been when they had first encountered this odd dichotomy between the theoretically correct feeling, and the one stirring within them. It had never been an issue for her. "I'd be in favour of a wake" she finally said. It was indulgent, she was aware. Little more than a symbolic show of respect, but this way she could pretend like it was just as much for the person she was, at it was for the person she could have been. "I'll bring it up with the elders in the morning." Lowrid patted her on the shoulder "Think you can sleep now?" "Might as well stay awake until sunrise."

The caravan had packed up early in the morning, and the Lysin said their goodbyes, ready to return to Sorlimk. It came with an invitation to at least stop by there, despite the lack of trees to make camp in. If they were true to their word, they could spend the night inside city walls without issue. Perhaps, one day they would, even though they hadn't been around those parts of the tundra now, that none of them could claim to really know their way around them anymore. It would need to be a charting expedition. Lowrid rejoined Yann'i to fold the tent into the wagon after speaking to the elders. "And?" Yann'i reached across the tent for one of the leather straps that would tie the wooden frame of the tent to the wall. Lowrid shook his head: "They said they'd consider it later on, but not now. We hope to outpace the break of winter within the next few days." Yann'i nodded. She understood putting the needs of the caravan over the whims of melancholy. They secured the last set of straps together, before Yann'i went to fetch the horses. During the night, the horses would be tied to a set of strong trees, with generous lengths of rope, some space apart, so they could move reasonably freely, and wouldn't grow too annoyed with any of the other horses. Each C'weyya had their own horse, perhaps two, which would either help pull the wagon, or travel alongside it, ready to switch with another, in case they grew tired. Yann'i had taken the horse Asha would have taken. It was a stubborn, dark brown animal that seemed to have known that Yann'i was not its intended owner. It was always as far away from the place it was tied to as it could stand without straining the rope, and Yann'i would often have to spend several long minutes searching for it. Because of this, she usually fetched the other three horses first, lest she would have to wrangle it back to camp. This morning, Yann'i found it standing knee-deep in the fresh water stream they had used to wash their clothes in the previous evening. She whistled at it, catching its attention as to not startle it. It stared back at her, large brown eyes almost unblinking, until Yann'i was close enough to take hold on her reigns. "I don't suppose you'll be any easier on me now, will you?" she slowly tugged it toward the shore. Almost as if in response, the horse huffed and pulled in the opposite direction. Yann'i just barely caught herself, avoiding toppling into the water. "Didn't think so." she steadied herself "Come, Tawa. There's carrots at camp."

The caravan set off before the sky had turned from pink to blue. Tawa was trotting alongside the wagon, matching its speed. Usually, Tawa would jostle the wagon a little, bucking against the idea of keeping with the direction. It was a subtle change, but given both her, and Lowrid's thoughts were on Asha, they took notice. The rode long stretches that day, with few breaks and mostly subsisting off the rations each had stored in their wagons. "You know, Sorlimk is not that long away from the route Sovvin planned out." Yann'i remarked when Lowrid joined her on top of the wagon. "Are you proposing a detour?" "If you don't mind." "Then let's borrow a cartography quill and ink from Sovvin. Might as well rechart the route, if we're headed that way." It had been a while since Yann'i charted routes or drew maps. The former would hopefully be no problem, the latter though, could be a little messy in hindsight. "Maybe." "Sketch it against the old maps, perhaps?" "Could work. Maybe the elders won't even mind us missing out on the next hunt." "We were supposed to take part in that, weren't we?" "Yes, but I'm sure they'll find some of the young ones to join in our stead. You know how they're raring to work their rifles before the end of the hunting season." "Yes, yes. I also used to worry about practice during winter." Yann'i felt a smile creep onto her lips. It had been a long time since she had to fight her own face for control "Some things don't really change, it seems." "So then next morning at dawn?" Lowrid glanced over at her. "Next morning at dawn."