Next morning/Rephiam

I woke up and looked over to the girl sleeping on a blanket, another being pulled closed to her. I could not help but smile a little. She looks so innocent when she sleeps. I climbed down the ladder and woke the others, telling them all to be quiet. We went out and did our usual morning chores whenever we are in The Valley. We pulled our horses away from the others and led them to the river to wash them down, as well as the birds despite who much they despise a cleaning. We released the animals again and we worked around the lodge. We did not have enough strength, nor time to check on the damages of the lodge. It is rare that it is so badly damaged but with the weather and such it does take a beating if no one takes care of it. The only problems we really found were a few scattered holes in the wood and on the roof some tiles were shattered and need to be replaced. We then broke into three groups, one to prepare the food outside, another to start working on the damages and the other to clean up and set up the inside for breakfast. I moved from group to group, supervising and helping whenever I can. By the time the food was ready Stevie Rae still had not woken up so I climbed up and woke the girl. I placed a hand gently on her shoulder and shook her lightly. She groaned softly and turned over. I placed my hand on her shoulder again and this time I shook her harder and that seemed to bring her out. "Huh? What?" She looked at me and gave me and inquiring look.

"Get up. Breakfast is done." Since I could not stand without hitting my head on the roof I sat on my knees to make myself seem bigger, simply out of habit. "Then afterwards you may bathe. There is soap and cloths you can use. I will make sure the others do not disturb you."

She smirked. "You too right?"

"Of course."

Her smirk faltered and she gave me a serious look all of a sudden. "Did the kid come here yet?"

"No. As I said it will take at least three days."

"Oh…" She cracked her neck and then rubbed it with one hand. "Deer for breakfast?"

"Dear for breakfast."

Stevie Rae

I was really, really, like really starting to hate deer. I picked at the meat and silently wished for a big plate filled with eggs, bacon, toast and a glass of orange juice to plop down in front of me. I sighed at the thought and reluctantly ate the deer in front of me. This time breakfast wasn't as quiet as last night's dinner. There were soft conversations between the guys. Rephiam talked with his brother and I tried tuning in to what they were saying, ignoring the other conversations.

"So when the kid gets here, if he even does, then what? We still have to teach him the ropes and we cannot keep her as a pet forever Rephiam."

"I know Amaro. We will just have to move immediately after he comes; maybe give him a day's rest, especially after catching his own horse."

"Then we will drop her off somewhere right? I mean we cannot just take her with us to confront Kain."

"Once again, I know Amaro." Rephiam placed a hand on his chin and looked over to me. I quickly turned my head away and started 'eating'. "Maybe there will be a village or settlement."

"An Indian one?" Amaro sounded winded.

In the corner of my eye Rephiam turned his attention back to Amaro and I turned my head slightly. "What choice do we have Amaro? At least with the other Indian tribes we can use our ties to insure that she can stay with them."

"Our ties? Rephiam our ties with the tribes are horrible at best. All the tribes know us and the ones where our mothers live in completely hate us to the point that they will act exactly like Raymer did to us. I do not think that anywhere is safe. That is the reason we are always on the move."

"Do you think I do not know that Amaro? I know alright? What choice do we have?"

Amaro sighed and ran a hand through his loose hair. "I suppose you are right. Now it is just the problem of finding a tribe that will at least listen to us."

"I have one in mind."

"Please do not tell me…" Rephiam only nodded and Amaro shook his head unbelievingly. "I cannot believe this Rephiam."

"I understand Amaro." And like that their conversation ended. They ate in silence and it seemed to me that the others were paying attention as well for they all quieted down and continued eating in silence as well. I suppose that Rephiam knew I was listening in because he looked up straight at me and held my gaze. I pulled away from his gaze and stared at my plate, still feeling his eyes on me.

Boulder/Dallas

At least Mr. Johnson is a little bit better. I think to myself as I ride into town. I hitch up my horse and Beau took a drink from the trough before him. I climbed up the stairs of the town hall and checked in with the receptionist, Ms. Beasley, before making my way to his office. I knocked and when I didn't hear anything I opened the door slightly and peeped in. "Sir?" There lay Mr. Johnson on the sofa, feet up on the coffee table and a cold coffee beside his feet. "Sir?" I asked again before coming into the room.

"Dallas," he called to me. I went to his side as he continued. "Dallas, I don't know what to do anymore. I sent out the search group and they couldn't find anything. Not a piece of cloth from her clothes, not tracks. I sent them out again moments ago, this time I told them to go farther and search in all directions. They even have the hounds with them but the scent is old." He groaned as he sat up and his feet fell numbly off the table. "What's worse is that none of the other towns in a radius of 100 miles haven't seen her. How far could she have gone? Where could she be? She could have been captured by outlaws, or worse, Indians, or even worse, the Black Ravens. She could be dead in the desert from starvation and heat after they put their slimy hands over her and took turns raping her and-"

"Sir!" I yelled out. He jumped slightly and looked at me for the first time. "Stop." My voice shook a little. "Stop." I repeated this time without my voice shaking. "She's alive, I know it. But you can't keep pushing yourself down and sayin' all these things that encourage the worse. All I'm sayin' is to not give up hope. She wouldn't want that. And I can assure you that for as long as I live I will keep looking for her and I will not rest until I find her you hear? She is important to you, to me, hell to the whole town. But you can't do this to yourself. You're our leader and when you panic the whole town panics. You need to be the leader you were elected to be and god damn it, be strong."

"…"

"Well?" I yelled out.

"… You're right Dallas." He stood and straightened his clothing. "I'm going to lead this town and I'm gonna keep my head up high."

"You do that sir." I said, giving him a small salute. "Now if you excuse me, I'm actually going to do something for this." I turned and walked out of the room. I went straight towards Beau and quickly unhitched him and got on him. "Come on Beau. We've got a girl to find." I kicked my stallion and he rushed out through the town, heading where my gut tells me, east.

The Valley/No POV

Stevie Rae yawned as she waited for Rephiam to bring her the bath stuff. He came over the hill and quickly handed over the essentials. "Why the hurry?" She blurted out. He froze and looked at her. She held her lips together, keeping them shut. He shook his head and quickly went over the hill. She sighed and placed the cloth and soap on the ground. She then quickly stripped and when into the river with the soap and cloth and started to bath. She felt at piece and was really happy to be getting cleaned. She forgot then the hurry she needed to execute and she took her time. What snapped her out of it was a sudden sound of a throat clearing. She squealed loudly and dropped into the water. Her head poked up out and she saw Rephiam on the shore, clothes in hand, her clothes, her extra pair of clothes at that.

"Found this is your bag." He placed it on the ground and stood. He looked at her a little bit longer and he turned and walked away. Stevie Rae became as red as a tomato. Not only did he just see her bathing, but he looked at her clothes in her bag which means… She quickly finished and looked through the clothes he had brought to her. Sure enough there were her white undergarments. She turned even redder and whimpered silently. That whimper turned into a loud squeal as the embarrassment took over her.

Getting over the embarrassment she put on her clothes, a light pink, almost white, flowered shirt, some grey pants that were actually a very small guy's pants, and of course her shoes and undergarments. She sighed deeply and she got started and cleaning her old clothes in the river. Once she was done she picked up everything and made her way over to the lodge and to her surprise, the kid that they saw just yesterday stood in front of Rephiam and they were conversing. She quickly went over there with the thought of 'It takes three days to get here walking' in her head. She caught the last bit of the conversation. "So all I need to do is catch a horse and then I'm in?"

"Of course. But let me tell you that catching one of these horses is not an easy task. So far the record to beat is under three minutes, a record set by Hotah."

The kid sighed heavily and looked at Hotah. Stevie Rae guessed that they already went through the introductions. "And it's 'cause you have a thing with animals."

"You got that right." Hotah confirmed with a grin."

"Alright." The kid said as he turned back to Rephiam. "I'm your man. I'm going to get this horse." He then looked over to Stevie Rae. "Oh hey…" He said quietly. "What's a girl doing here?"

Rephiam looked over at me and then back at the kid. "Wylie, she is Stevie Rae. We got stuck with her when she ran away from home."

Stevie Rae jumped slightly. She was sure she gave them a different story. Then she realized that a horrible liar she is, they probably read right past her lie and figured out the truth. "Oh. Alright." Wylie said. He walked up to her and extended a hand. "Hello. My name's Wylie, last name not important. This is Zeina and do you need a hand with that?"

Stevie Rae transferred everything to one arm and hand so she could shake Wylie's hand. "Hey Wylie, hello Zeina. And uh… sure. I could use some help." She then gave him the soap and the cloth and she turned to Rephiam. "I need a place to hang these so they dry and could someone fill me in."

"Wylie can himself and you could string some rope from the lodge to that pole over there. Reid, help her out."

"Will do." Reid said as he went towards the back of the lodge for some rope.

"Come on." Rephiam said. "The rest will come with me as we try to get the wild horses together. Wylie, hurry up so we can get this over with."

"Will do sir."

"Call him Chief." Stevie Rae blurted out again. Thankfully this time Rephiam was already a ways away. "That's what the others call him."

"Alright. Thanks." Reid came there and quickly strung up the rope and took the soap and placed it on a barrel and left without another word. "They're all in a hurry." Wylie stated as he jumped up and placed the cloth on the rope.

"Yeah well… I don't know." She walked up to the rope and sighed. "Hold these for me and I'll put them up."

"I can do that." Wylie took the clothes and Zeina got of his shoulder and flew up to the top of the pole.

Stevie Rae took the first article of clothing, her skirt, and hung it up. "So how are old are you to begin with?"

"I'm twelve and just so you know, I left the tribe early because they kept on treating me badly for being a son of a Black Raven, they also kept on trying to kill Zeina. My mother was the only one who really took care of me so I left."

"Oh…" She took her shirt and shook it out before placing it on the rope. "How did you find us so quickly? Rephiam said it would take three days to get here."

"He told me the same thing." Wylie smiled up at her as she took another article of clothing. "Zeina helped me. When they left I sent her after them, to watch where they were going. She stayed until she saw them get in here and then she came back to me. Early this morning, immediately when the sun came up, she lead me here."

"She's really smart." A caw from Zeina sounded.

Wylie giggled. "She said thanks."

Stevie Rae giggled and continued placing the clothes on the rope. The two talked and talked. Stevie Rae couldn't understand why she was so open with the kid, maybe it was because he was a kid. Still innocent and not corrupted by the Black Ravens. A sad thought crossed her mind then. Once he becomes a Black Raven, there goes his innocence. Once they were finished they went ahead and walked down to where the others held the horses, against a cliff wall and all the ravens flew around in circles above the madness. Rephiam broke apart when they got close. "Alright Wylie. Get one."

Wylie looked up at Stevie Rae. "Wish me luck!" He went in to the fray then and tried catching a horse with nothing but his hands.

"Rephiam, he'll get killed." Stevie Rae said, fear in her voice.

"He will be fine. If it gets too heated we will go in there and save him if he wishes."

"If he wishes?"

"Yes because once we help him we kill his bird and he can never be a Black Raven."

"What?"

"It is tradition. It only happened once before."

"And what happened to him?"

"He decided he would try again and without us there he got trampled to death." Rephiam then went back to the blockade.

"Oh gosh." Fear just stayed inside her and without warning Zeina landed on her shoulder and cawed softly. "You're worried too?"

'Caw…'

"Yeah. I know."

The horses neighed and snorted and stomped and with each passing moment the danger level grew. The worse part that all those horses, about eight by her count, were in a small area and they couldn't get out. It was four and a half fear filled moments before a scream erupted the air and the Black Ravens pulled away as the wild horses rushed out. Stevie Rae feared the worse and Zeina on her shoulder lowered her head in fear. Then out came Wylie riding a horse and whooping wildly with happiness and excitement. "Who-hoo! I'm a Raven! Zeina, we're part of the Black Ravens now! Whoo!" Wylie laughed and Zeina flew up and followed Wylie as he tried to get a handling on his horse. Once the horse calmed down he directed the horse back to the others. By that time the ravens had landed on their master's shoulders.

Chogan pulled forward and evaluated Wylie while he was on the horse. "He seems alright. No major cuts, just bruises."

"Good job buddy." Reid gave him a thumbs up.

"Congratulations." Hothlepoya and Hotah said at the same time.

"Yeah… Welcome to the Ravens." Amaro said unenthusiastically.

Rephiam pulled out from the group and stayed before Wylie. "What are you going to name him?"

"Hm…" Wylie placed a finger on his chin and closed his eyes. Zeina landed on Wylie's shoulder and cawed a few times, each time there was a small lapse of time. Stevie Rae realized that the raven was giving out suggestions on the horse's name. After a few seconds he smiled and opened his eyes and started petting his horse. "I'll name him Zacard." Zeina cawed loudly and happily and Stevie Rae took it that Wylie had picked one of her names.

Rephiam nodded. "Welcome to the Black Ravens Wylie, his raven Zeina, and his horse Zacard." Rephiam bowed his head, so did Mocker and Shadow's Wing. Like dominos the others bowed and in lieu of the moment Stevie Rae bowed her head as well.

Wylie smiled and bowed his head as well and both of his animals did as well, as if it was natural. "Thank you for admitting me into your tribe." All at once they raised their heads. The Black Ravens just gained one more.

Please review! Oh and what do you think of the Black Raven's initiation traditions?