redletalis

The Burning Sky

A round arrow that points north with white man words on one side. It sounded utterly ridiculous. If she wanted to find north all she had to do was look around her rather than at a metal rock in her hands. But the white man had always been so very odd in their ways. It wasn't his place to comment on it, especially not to a white woman with whom he hoped to trade. His sister's health depended on it, and Attacking Hawk had no intention of failing.

So he tried to think of anything that remotely looked or sounded like what she was signing and saying to him, and in the end he had to give up. Half of the reason, he suspected, was because he didn't truly understand what she was trying to describe. He couldn't even envision what she was trying to describe.

"Not know." He shook his head, hair falling over his shoulder with the movement. "Not understand. Roaring Thunder Bird knows. I ask. Yes?"

Was that acceptable trade for her? Would she accept that for the medicine, or would she keep the medicine until Attacking Hawk came with the desired item or Roaring Thunder Bird who would understand her better? He was certainly hoping for the former but, knowing whites, the latter was more likely.

The Burning Sky

He watched her carefully. For a moment he wondered if he should tell her again, try to use a bit different words than before in hopes of being understood better. It wasn't the first time he had gotten something wrong, and it wouldn't be the first time a white person didn't understand. Or pretended not to understand what he was saying. Attacking Hawk didn't think that this woman was of the latter, though, her entire spirit shone bright and honest even in the short time they had been in each others presence.

When she used his sign language to ask him to wait, Attacking Hawk couldn't help but be surprised. Not many bothered to learn the language of the people, and even fewer bothered to learn the sign language. It made him wonder exactly where she had been taught how to do that, and by whom.

It was a thought that entertained him in the time he waited. A soft breeze teased at his hair and the grass and wheat, causing small ripples on the water of the pond. The world was waking up properly. Birds were starting to sing and greet the day, and even the two horses seemed to perk up a little bit as the sun made the thin mist disappear. A squirrel ran across a branch above him, and Attacking Hawk watched as it skipped nad hopped its way across three trees before it disappeared too deep amongst the trees for him to see.

It was at this point that the soft rustle of clothing and tall stalks of wheat alerted him, and he looked up. The white woman was coming back, and she was carrying something. Attacking Hawk frowned and stared at her. Had he understood her correctly? A sky wheel? Obviously he wasn't the only one who had trouble being understood in a different language.

"Understood 'father'." He pointed to himself. He knew what father meant, but he had no idea about any sky wheel. "Com-pass? En-gra-ved com-pass. What is en-gra-ved com-pass?"

The Burning Sky

Now how could he explain things properly in a language that he didn't know all that well? It took a moment to sit down on the edge of the water of the pond, letting the two horses wander off to graze nearby, but Attacking Hawk waited for longer as he carefully chose words from his limited repertoire. Only when he was certain that he had chosent he best ones did he actually speak to answer her question.

"Medince for much-" he mimicked coughing. Then he put a hand on his forehead like a mother usually did when checking the temperature. "Hurts much." He tapped his nose. "Full. No air." And finally he touched his throat. "Hurts much, no speak. Long sick. Is White Man sick. Understand?"

He wondered how she could help him out at all. She wasn't an official trader in Rolling Hills, and he didn't see any special medicine with her. The shaman had tried all known cures that he knew to help Wild Rose, and it hadn't worked. This was one of the diseases that the whites had brought with them so they should have the medicine necessary.

"Have white medicine?" Attacking Hawk asked once more.

The Burning Sky

Most white people would argue that he was a frightening beast, and that he was ten times worse than meeting a cougar. She simply laughed and waved it off. Attacking Hawk didn't move any closer to the water, let alone around the pond. Instead he stood there between his two horses and let them have their fill. He was just about to pick up the reins and move on when the white woman spoke to him again, this time inquiring about trade.

Attacking Hawk turned to look at her. As far as he knew white women usually didn't have anything to do with trading or any sort of business at all, and he wasn't certain exactly how much he could trust her. Nor did he know what she had to give in return, but that was easily rectifiable.

"Medicine. Have white medicine? Trade medicine." He spoke a bit slowly to make sure that he pronounced the words correctly. Roaring Thunder Bird was the expert on the white man's language, not Attacking Hawk.

He prayed to the spirits that the White Man's medicine would help his sister.

The Burning Sky

Name:
Cetanwakuwa / Attacking Hawk

Age:
20

Ethnicity:
Nativie American.

Height:
6' even

Weight:
140Ib

Family:
Tacanipiluta / Red Tomahawk (father)
Kimimela/ Butterfly (mother)
Ojinjintka / Wild Rose (little sister)
Tatonga / Large Deer (younger brother and the youngest family member)

Skills:
A skilled hunter and warrior of his tribe who is open to interacting with the White Man but is still very suspicious of them.

The Burning Sky

The people of Rolling Hills were quite tolerant of the tribe as long as everyone kept out of everyone's way, so once or twice each turn of the seasons the tribe sent people into town to trade. And since Wild Rose was his little sister and she was sick with the White Man's illness, so Attacking Hawk had been chosen to travel to the settlement of Rolling Hills in hopes of trading for medicine. He had brought a pony to help carry everything, and he would trade the horse as well if that is what it took. Rolling Hills were tolerant but they didn't shy from setting exorbitant prices on some of the goods.

He had left the tribe yesterday morning, and had travelled the entire day through woods that slowly turned into meadows. The closer to Rolling Hills that he came, the more signs there were of the White Settlers. He passed an abandoned wood cabin with the roof caved in, and he found an old camping ground which he made use of that night. The sun wasn't even in the sky when he set off again, but Attacking Hawk wasn't about to waste more time. He would need all the time he had in order to trade with the White Man, and even that was too long.

The sun was over the horison and rising slowly in the sky when he came to a farm he knew was close to the town itself. The tribe called it White House simply because of the colour of the dwelling, and it stood out like a star in the large, vast fields that surrounded it. The man who had owned White House had always been friendly to the tribe and had allowed them to water horses on his land when they passed by. There was a large pond at the edge of the property, and this was where Attacking Hawk led his horses.

His horses heard it first, their ears turning forwards to listen better. Attacking Hawk heard it when the came out of the copice and the giant oak came into view. It was a soft humming, and around the edge of the tree's roots he could just barely see the edge of blue cloth. A white woman. What was she doing here all alone?

For a moment Attacking Hawk hesitated, but then he steered the horses around the pond to the opposite side of the white woman. He slid off his horse, landing softly and with a slight rustle in the grass, and then let the two horses find their own way to the water itself.

On the other side sat the woman in the blue dress, picking flowers and humming. Hopefully she would realise that he was only there to let the animals drink, and that he meant her no harm.