Pinto Hath looked out over the homeland, her quiet demeanour unusual for one so spirited. Unusually so on this night, she was worried, and her mind could not be rested.
Even the wolves calling to her from over the great canyon couldn't still her restless heart and mind, and she didn't try to keep her swirling emotions at bay.
Instead, she leaned back and enjoyed the night as it was: peaceful, quiet and lit by the moon, it was long since they reached the homelands, but Pinto remembered the day like the back of her hand, and she relished the feeling of it all coming back again.
In these last two years, since her betrothal to Mumpo, she had become restless, and her feet itched. She didn't blame her husband for the feeling – Mumpo was too good and tolerable to be much of an opponent in a tantrum, and Pinto was good and throwing those, as her sister Kestrel had been. Kestrel was gone now, her life was demanded by the Singer people, and though Pinto knew Kestrel's ears were blessed with Firesong, she felt that her heart pined for her sister a little, or even more than a little.
When Kestrel had died, Pinto had been seven, but that day she remembered as clear as this one, and the memory would not shift, nor did she have any desire for it to do so. Firesong was a blessing, and it had brought the Manth people many great gifts. Somehow though, Pinto felt unblessed and ungrateful for the departure of her older sister. She reminded herself now, sitting here in the quiet blessing of the moon that if her pining meant anything it was noting to her brother Bowman.
Bowman was twin to Kestrel, and the two were like the separation of tree from earth: the one did not exist without the other. They always went together, hand in hand, heart in heart and Pinto missed that.
The certainty that there was a joining in her family… and though her family had grown wide, and her son grew healthy by the day, something was missing, and she wanted it back.
'There you are!' Mumpo had found her, and as she looked up at him, Pinto remembered what it was to be happy.
'Where have you been?' Mumpo wondered, 'Bowman and Sisi will arrive tomorrow.'
'They will.' Pinto agreed, deciding to lay aside her internal conflicts for the time being. She sighed and allowed her husband to assist her to her feet.
Together they walked down to the village.
Deep in the cracks of the ravine, the child heard the feeling. He smiled. She was coming.