Beginning at the End (Moon Child Trilogy: Book One)
Page 22
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Waking up in the morning has always been one of the most difficult things for me. I enjoy sleeping and dreaming. Reality is not as sweet as the dreaming world. In my dreams my body bears no scars. In my dreams everything is right in the world. Yet when I wake, all I feel is the disappointment of having to live another day in a world as imperfect as this one. Natoak would tell me that imperfection is the beauty of our world. I do not believe him and never have on this account. Waking this morning is harder than any other. I dreamt of beautiful things and woke to the darkness of the cave.
I feel for my clothes and sigh at their dampness. I knew this would be the case, but I still got my hopes up. I dress in the dim light that filters in through the mouth of the cave. Water drips down from the overhang. The ground beneath it and around the cave entrance is saturated. Tarok is nowhere to be seen. I assume he has gone out hunting when I hear the rumble of my empty belly.
He returns with two rabbits in his hand. He stokes the fire back to life while I skin and prepare the rabbits for eating. After we eat, we decide to go back to the ocean and see if our canoe survived the night. We do not say a word to each other as we make our way through the forest.
I am pleasantly surprised to see that it is still there, albeit a little further along the shore and no longer on the sand. Tarok pushes it off the rocks and back toward the sand where he inspects it for holes in the hull.
“I think we will be all right for traveling in it.”
I toss the bag into the bed of the boat and peer over to see the remaining contents. “Have you seen the satchel Masha gave me?”
He shakes his head.
Frantically, I open the bag and search through the contents. Nothing. “Do not leave without me.”
I run back up to the cave to find the satchel is not there either. “As if this trip could not get any worse!” I say through gritted teeth.
I make my way back down to the shoreline and get Tarok to help me search for the satchel.
“What is so special about it?”
“It was a gift of herbs for Natoak.”
“That is it?” He stands straight and looks at me like I have gone mad.
“It contains herbs that we cannot get in our tribe.” Tears prickle at the backs of my eyes. I pinch the bridge of my nose to will my eyes to not let tears begin to swell.
Tarok sets his hand down upon my shoulder. “This is not something to cry over, Akari.”
“You do not understand, Tarok. This is an important gift and I have lost it. Masha trusted me to give it to Natoak and I lost it.”
“They are just herbs, Akari. We can get more next summer.”
“They are not just herbs! They are medicine!”
“Medicine? Is Natoak sick?”
“No, Natoak is not sick.”
“Then why does he need medicinal herbs?”
“Because we do not have them in our lands.”
“I do not think we are going to find your satchel. I am sorry.” He squeezes my shoulder reassuringly but I shrug him off angrily. “We need to leave this beach. I think we will be able to catch up to the others if we leave now.”
“Okay” is all I can say.
The fates decide to give us a break by allowing us to find the two boats belonging to our tribe not too far away. We pull the canoe into the protected cove and reunite with our tribesmen.
“Thank the spirits you are all right,” my father says pulling me into his warm embrace. “What happened?”
“The storm hit us early and we had to pull into the shore. We were worried we would not find you.”
“We were planning on waiting until tomorrow morning before going to look for you.”
“Thanks to our future chief, there is no need. Shall we begin heading back home?”
My father gathers the men back onto the boats to get us underway. I step onto the boat he is on. He gives me a strange look. “What are you doing?”
“I think I have had enough canoe rides for a while.”
Within a few days we are back at the village and everything goes back to normal. Except those things between a certain Wise Woman and the future Chief.
Chapter Fourteen