A little story I wrote, just with Native America and Alfred. Hints at character death, Enjoy!
Silence can be lovely. Silence can be beautiful, and calming. Silence can take away all the pain and leave you gasping in delight. Silence is amazing, but quietness is so much better.
Migisi knew that, while she did certainly love the rare moments where the world stopped and her mind was still as a pond in the dead of summer, she loved this more. Sitting amongst wildflowers and long grass, the sweet songs of birds in the air. The sun shining down, smiling at them all and hugging them in rays of warmth. Every plant around her was vibrating with life as spirits returned to their trees and rocks and flowers. The river, once frozen and dulled in colour, now rushed with excitement at the coming of spring. Everything was smiling, making sweet little noises, the trickling of water, the rustling of wheat and tree branches, the ballads of songbirds. Yet, amongst them all, one sound made her smile the most.
"Mochni!" She called softly, and immediately, the child looked up from the pebbles he was trying to grab from under the water. A tiny thing he was, with eyes brighter than any sky she'd ever seen and a smile that pleased even the grumpiest of people, and hair the colour of ripe wheat. His skin was certainly odd, nothing she had ever seen before, not with how incredibly pale he was. At first she'd thought him to be malnourished when she found him, but when ten years went by and he didn't age more than a month, she knew. He was like her. He reached only to her hips even on the tips of his toes, and so she'd picked a suitable name for him. Mochni, or 'little bird.' He did love watching the eagles and the ravens take flight.
He tripped over his own feet in his haste to get over to his caretaker. His chubby cheeks were puffed and the colour of salmon scales. She smiled at him, and patted the spot next to her. At once, he plopped down, hands haphazardly placed in his lap as he looked expectantly up at her. "Yes? Do we have to go back? Please, can we stay? It hasn't been that long yet!" She laughed softly and stroked his hair, and he eagerly leaned on her side. "No, my dear, we are not leaving yet. I just missed my little Mochni." His small shoulders slumped in relaxation, and he hummed, pleased at her reply. "Good... I haven't even gotten to see any birds yet!" He wiggled his way onto her lap and looked straight up at her. She knew that, if he were to one day grow taller than her, she would mistaken his eyes for shards of the sky. Perhaps it was a reflection of just how much he loved the birds.
Within a second, in a flurry of giggled and dandelion petals, she rolled them over to lay on their backs. The grass prickled her skin, and Mochni wouldn't stop giggling, but it was worth it, for not a moment later, a raven shot across the sky. The first one of spring. The birds were returning. Alfred squealed and pointed his chubby finger up at it, following it with his finger. "Look, look!, Migisi, look! A raven! He's come back!" She chuckled softly and held his other tiny hand. "Yes, I see him! What a brave soul, coming before any of the other ravens!" Mochni paused, and looked at his caretaker for a moment before he whispered, "I want to be like a raven too. I want to soar through the skies before anybody else and guide them where they need to go. Migisi, please, can I be a raven?"
She blinked in surprise. What a peculiar question! "I... Suppose. Yes. Of course, Mochni. But first, ask the spirits of the ravens. Ask them what it takes. And do you not prefer to be an eagle? They seem to be your favorite." Mochni shook his head, pointing back up at the raven, which was now joined by several more, an ink splattering of black in the otherwise clear sky. "No, I want to be like the raven! Because that is your favorite animal, right? So as long as I like the raven, you'll stay in my heart, with me!"
She felt a pang hit her heart, and squeezed his hand tightly. "Yes... Of course, my dear. You will be in my heart as well, forever and ever."
She was worried... Alfred had appeared ten years ago, when she had been radiant as ever and full of energy. Now, with every passing day, she noticed that she was aging more and more. She knew exactly what that meant. She was no longer one with the land. Her time was coming to an end. Surely it had to, at one point or another, but did it have to be now? Did it have to be when she finally found a child that would not die in fifty years, five decades, barely a breath compared to her life. And it was being taken from her, just like that.
Silence isn't nearly as nice as this. She heard only his excited murmurs and the calls of the birds, the trickling of water, the rush of wind through the grass around me, the cawing of ravens...
And lastly of all, the sound of her own heartbeat, slowing by the second.