"It's okay, Nola. You can go home now. I can take care of him. I'll be home in a little bit... Make sure nothing falls out this time, okay?"
The sound of heavy hoofs could be heard making their way off into the distance. Noatak fluttered his eyes open, squeezing them tight at the sight of the blindingly bright snow. He groaned as he slowly tried to adjust them to his surroundings.
His body ached. Pins and needles seemed to run up and down relentlessly. The idea of moving seemed like a terribly daunting task, He thought. Every part of him seemed to be tingling.
He shifted slightly, trying to pull his jacket in for warmth, and finally realized the thick, polar bison blanket he was cocooned in. 'what?' He whispered to himself.
He positioned his arms to Push himself up so he could sit which proved to be a much more difficult task than he anticipated.
he steadied himself, looking around. A fire was burning a few feet from him, but other than that, there was nothing else.
'what happened?' he thought. The last thing he remembered was the storm. And falling. He was so sure he was going to die. So how was he still alive? Who had helped him?
"Here." Noatak turned slowly, wearily, too tired to jump at being a bit startled. A small hand was extended towards him, holding a cooked fish wrapped in a white cloth. Noatak stared at the fish for a moment, almost processing what it was, then slowly, his eyes made their way up the length of whoever's arm it was. At the end was a young girl about his age.
"Here," she repeated, giving the fish a tiny shake as if to catch his attention. "Take it. You look like you need it." Noatak looked at the fish, hesitant. His eyes danced back and forth between the girl and the fish until a smile appeared on her face. "Don't worry, it won't bite," She assured him. "It's okay. Take it."
Noatak slowly reached for the fish only to cradle it for a brief moment in his hands, staring at it, before finally unwrapping it.
Then, as if just realizing what he was given- Food! good, edible, wonderful food!- He tore off one of his gloves with his front teeth, and started eating it greedily with his bare hands.
A small giggle was emitted from the girl's smiling lips as she sat down next to him. Noatak didn't even notice and the girl didn't seem to mind. She just kept smiling and sort of played with the snow under her leather boots.
Before he knew it, the fish was gone. Noatak made sure to carefully pick up every last crumb left on the cloth, until there was nothing left.
"Good, huh?" The boy jumped a bit. He had forgotten he had company. "It's one of my favorites. They're pretty rare around here, so I always consider it a treat when I catch one." Noatak peered down at the completely empty cloth, guilty and ashamed about how greedy he was not to share.
"Don't feel bad though," She said, kicking the snow into a small pile. "My mom always tells me I shouldn't eat before a proper dinner. It'll ruin my appetite, she says." The girl stopped kicking the snow, turned to the boy by her side and smiled a huge smile. "That's silly though. I could eat all day if I only had the food!" She laughed. Noatak looked away, not quite knowing what to say. What a strange girl, he thought. there was a silence. Only the wind blowing could be heard. Noatak shivered and pulled the blanket closer.
"You know, you were out here for pretty long," she said, bringing an end to the quiet. "I thought for sure that I had been too late to find you. Good thing for Nola, or I probably would have been." Noatak stared at his hands. They were bright pink, but they weren't so prickly anymore.
"Nola is my Buffalo Yak. I just sent her back home right before you woke up." She explained, using a small stick to poke and prod at the fire before reaching into a medium sided bag she had a pulling out a handful of snapped branches and throwing them into the fire.
"My names Kahota by the way," she said. "but you can call me Kota."
"Kota.." Noatak thought. Kahota smiled.
"What's your name?" The young boy hesitated, looking down at his hands and shifting awkwardly in his place.
"That's alright. You don't have to tell me," Kahota assured him, pushing herself up onto her feet. "Mother always says you shouldn't press people for answers. It's disrespectful." She smiled once more and extended a hand to the nameless boy. "You think you can stand?" He stared at her hand for a moment and then finally took it gingerly and was pulled up. The blanket fell off his shoulders and pooled around his feet. Noatak scrambled to pick it up and handed it to her. Kahota shook her head and pushed the blanket back to him with her fingertips, gently placed on his hand.
"Keep it." she insisted. He looked at the fistful of fur in his hand awkwardly. Kahota giggled and took it from him. "Here," she said, wrapping the blanket around him. She took his hands and neatly clutched them around the ends of the blanket to hold. "There. Isn't that better?" She smiled and let go. Noatak's legs felt wobbly at first at the loss of her grip, but he managed to hold himself up without her help.
Kahota stood in front of him, studying him, looking at his face. It made him a little uncomfortable. The girl stood a couple inches shorter than him, forcing her to jut her chin out in the slightest to look him in the eyes. She gave him a puzzled look.
"How old are you, anyway?" She asked. He looked about her age, but he acted like he might have been 1 or 2 years older.
"Fifteen." He replied.
"Oh. I only just turned fourteen." She said disappointedly, her mouth pursed to one side and eyes looking at the floor. A few moments went by in silence. The two just stood facing each other not making eye contact.
"You're quiet, huh?" Noatak stiffened slightly, opening his mouth to speak.
"I-" The sound of a bison horn was heard close by, and Kahota looked to her left in the direction of the sound.
"Oh! I have to go. THat's my dad." She explained, walking over to a heather creel basket placed in the snow and swinging it onto her back. "He gets sort of grumpy when I'm late with dinner." She patted the basket and laughed. "Well, It was nice meeting you," She began as she starting jogging away, looking and waving back at Noatak. "I'll see you later!"
Noatak gave a small, barely noticeable wave despite being puzzled at what just happened and not knowing what he should do. Chances were he wouldn't 'see her later'. He sighed, pulled the blanket tighter, and started walking.
"Hey, wait!" He heard a voice call out. He turned and saw Kahota had stopped and was now running back to him. " Wait. You don't have any place to go, do you?" Noatak looked down and then back up at her. "You're not from around here." He shook his head. "You're from up north, aren't you." Noatak grew a bit nervous. He had no reason to be, he knew that. This girl knew nothing about him.
"H-how did you know that?" He asked.
"Your jacket." She replied with a shrug. "It's thicker than ours are here. It's colder up where you live. The animal have thicker pelts."
The bison horn blew again, this time, a good deal louder.
"I'm coming!" Kahota yelled back in frustration, obviously knowing they could not hear. She turned back to Noatak. "You could stay with us." She pointed to herself and then stretched her arm in the direction of the horn. Noatak followed her arm down to the direction that she lived in. "You probably shouldn't just wander around..." He thought of his options.
He didn't know what to do. He probably would have died if Kahota hadn't found him.. What was he to do if he didn't go with her? Where would he go?
He looked back at Kahota and gave a slight nod and in return, she gave a big smile.
"Well then, come on!" She grabbed his hand and pulled him along, encouraging him to run with her.
"Thank you." He said in between staggered breaths. She was running pretty fast and he wasn't fully up to running yet.
Kahota just looked back at him and smiled as if to say 'don't worry about it!'
"Noatak," he huffed. Kahota peered over her shoulder and gave him a puzzled look.
"hmm?" as if she didn't quite hear him.
"My name is Noatak," he clarified and in response, Kahota started laughing.
"Wow, you really are from the north." Noatak didn't know what she meant, so he just stayed quite until they (finally) reached her village.
"here we are!" Kahota announced. Noatak huffed heavily, tired and trying to catch his breath. He looked around. Her village looked a lot like his own, perhaps a little larger. It made Noatak somewhat nervous. Maybe the storm had made him delusional and he was back at his own village...
"This is where I live." She told him. She carefully shrugged the basket of fish off her back and into her hands and turned to him. "Come on, let's go in."
"hey..." He started in a meek manner. Kahota stopped in her tracks and turned to him, eyebrow cocked. "What did you mean about my name... about me being from the north?" Kahota gave a small smile and shrugged.
"I don't know. It just sounds Northern to me." Noatak never thought of it that way. "Now come on," Kahota said, readjusting the basket in her hands. "Everyone'll be waiting." She disappeared into the igloo behind the brown curtain. "I'm home!" Noatak heard her announce, and he followed her in.
R&R please!
-Bea