Exile.
Long, cold, deep, exile.
There was nothing I could do, nothing I could say, or things may have turned out worse for me.
Oh who am I kidding. There is nothing worse than exile from my tribe.
I am Aponi. I belonged to the Native American tribe Caddo. I was framed. Horribly framed by my own blood brother Hakan. His name means fire. He swore his fire would protect my butterfly. That is what my name means. Butterfly. My mother, Rozene meaning rose, chose it for me after a butterfly saved my tribe's life. The butterfly showed them they would soon find water and food after the long drought that came when my mother was pregnant with Hakan. My father, Paco, meaning eagle named Hakan. He loves his fire. My father uses fire to kill our food. He uses water to put it out.
But he framed me. Hakan wanted to be like our father. He took fire. He forgot water. Our forest burned down. We had to flee. My doll, Elu, was left to burn. We watched our home burn as Hakan told our father what he had done. Except he blamed it on me.
Women weren't supposed to hunt. I didn't. But Hakan and his fire convinced everyone that I did.
My father and his eagle told our tribe's leader what I had done. Our leader Keme, meaning thunder. Keme and his thunder gave me a glare so cold it sent chills through me.
"Exiled." Keme said.
My eyes widened.
I looked to my mother. My mother and her rose looked back at me.
"Your butterfly didn't save our tribe. It destroyed it. Your butterfly is a dark one, Aponi." My mother said to me.
I backed up. Keme sent Hakan to escort me out. He took me through the flames and sent me away through the other side of the forest. As I walked away I looked behind me to see if someone still cared and was coming after me, but all I could see was Hakan and his fire.