Chapter 20
Lake of the Rainbow Fish
Vultures feasted when the people marched into the land of legend.
The tribe advanced with a somber spirit and a survivors’ resolve.
Two more fighters died as a result of wounds suffered from the battle against the bubinzwana.
Others hurt badly were recovering from injuries and carried on a travois, one person to each corner.
Upon the lips of many were new songs composed to commemorate victory over the fearsome beasts.
More than two, full yaka-yaka have passed since the Abantu left the southern shores and the tribe has done nothing but flourish.
There are healthy new babies and more arriving almost by the day.
Amidst the parade of people, Eku walked with Ingwe to one side, Yathi on the other.
Yat and Dokuk paced nearby, with Tar and Maz, Kolo, Dala and Longo trailing.
The persistent rain was a gentle reminder that lobo-yaka was fast approaching.
The people wore loincloths and vests of cured skin with full satchels on their backs.
Eku no longer carried an ula-konto; instead, held Ingwe’s hand.
The hunters led the people across a dirt and leaf-strewn shoreline covered with bright green water grass.
The water to their right was gray and flat, textured by rain.
When the forest encroached upon a rocky shoreline, the hunters turned the parade inland, marching through mature forests of tall, broadleaf hardwoods.
The people marched past sycamores with troops of hanging fruit bats.
They harvested from fig trees as they walked along, small brown monkeys screeching at the enormous and strange two-legged herd.
Away from the shoreline, the land was flat with occasional low ridge lines.
When they passed over a ridgeline high enough to see across canopy tops to the water, Eku saw the opposite shoreline was but a faded line.
The next time they returned to the water, the river was gone.
Only the bumps of distant mountains lay across the open expanse.
The people walked the shore of the lake of endless freshwater.
***
The tribe continued along a coastline that continued to change.
Boulders now made up the shoreline, many of them smoothed around the edges, as though knapped into a rounded shape by the hammer of a giant izik-kosa.
“There are more rocks here than dirt,” Yathi kept saying.
Passage along the shoreline soon grew impossible.
A short traverse into the forest brought them through mature hardwoods with relatively little undergrowth.
Travel was easy again and access to the lake was enough to keep bladders always topped off.
Since the river became the lake, there had been no signs of moving water, strangely unnerving at first, despite what lay around them.
The water of the lake was remarkably clear.
Even when the depth was well over Eku’s head, he could see the stones and boulders that cluttered the bottom as though looking through air.
Heaps of the round rocks strewn along the shore and half covered by the dirt of Umawa formed miniature hills; others lay in piles offshore as miniature islands that made Eku and Yathi want to swim over and explore.
The shoreline soon became so crowded with large boulders that Eku and Yathi and many of the young people were able to run along the shore by leaping from one flat spot to the next.
The brown limbs of the young adults move in synchrony as they bound over rocks bleached pale by Ulanga, nothing but the spectacular spread of water and the rise of purple-grey mountains in the hazy distance.
The shoreline rocks grew ever larger and less uniform.
When a steep hill rose along the shore, it was as though Umawa had not so subtly suggested to the humans that this might be a good place to stop and figure out what to do next.
The people made camp to do just that.
***
The tribe set up camp with a view of the water, on a slight ridge, forested by white acacia with gracefully spreading limbs and thickly budded twigs, fuzzy with their first green shoots.
Plants hibernating during sika-yaka were waking up.
The land transformed by the day.
From brown and yellow to just brown and then brown with glimpses of fresh green and eventually just green, the ground everywhere littered with shredded buds and husks.
Clearing the encampment was easy and fun.
All lower limbs of the acacia chopped away easily and many were long and straight and excellent for shelters.
Saplings and brush were chopped to the ground and used for the same purpose.
A nearby inlet filled with water reeds aided the effort.
When chores were done, the young people were allowed to explore in groups.
The hunters considered this land to be remarkably safe.
The largest beasts encountered were a skittish antelope, smaller than an impala, and enormous porcupines that ambled slowly with a humped back armed with quills the length of Eku’s arm.
There had been no sightings of predators; though, everyone was intrigued by the sightings of a new and magnificent eagle, its wingspan perhaps twice as wide as Eku was tall.
Breathless the first time he saw the mighty bird soaring over treetops in the distance, he could not wait to catch a closer glimpse of the region’s alpha predator—an eagle, but twice the size of a fish eagle!
***
Eku and Ingwe, Yathi and Kolo explored along the water.
Hopping from flat rock to flat rock along the piles that lined the base of the hill where it ran to the edge of the water.
The giant rocks are different shapes and sizes.
Piled in formations that create isolated pools.
Inlets with overhangs of rock above shallow water, like caves, the water a beautiful laza when the light of ulanga slants in.
Sometimes the pools are startlingly deep, perfectly clear water circled by giant rocks, deceivingly in depth.
The bottom is a fascinating miniature world of oddly shaped rocks and green weeds that spiral to the surface to find where Ulanga touches and unfurl tiny, bright green petals that float like lily pads.
Eku realizes these are all separate realms for different colored fish to rule.
They see waka-waka-waka fish of many different colors.
Similar in body structure, but remarkably different in coloring.
Reds and yellows and even laza.
Some had multiple colors, while others were iridescent, showing a different color depending on how they faced Ulanga.
“We should call this the lake of the rainbow fish,” Ingwe said.
***
Hunters cross and eku stays in camp
He explores the sees the cat
They reach the river with the rises - they make camp. They will follow this to the new camp - perhaps eku thinking one last river to follow….
Eku dreams
They march along the river to their new home
Describe new home
Eku carves and is visited by lume
finale
//
Eku's days are full.
He has chores, like always, but more often, he is pulled away per request of Tiuti.
Whatever grueling training Eku thought the old master had in store for him turned out to be anything but.
Tiuti immerses Eku in whatever activity he is busy with.
They explore the countryside.
Investigate the new beasts and birds and especially the smaller beasts, such as freshwater crabs and insects.
They followed the mothers when they investigated the area for valued plants used for poultices.
Eku was fortunate to observe Tiuti locate an excellent variety of quartzite.
He had Eku retrace the path for finding the stone and brought his uncle Lume along.
Eku watched his uncle Lume grin at the sight of the rocks and used the backside of his ax to lop off a piece of core rock to carry back to camp and play with.
//
“Your job is to make those connections.”
(example - feathers on the tiny spears)
He works with the Umthi of the Mantel and begins to learn about the guka-hombe.
//
The birds that are like big ducks and overly aggressive….
***
A few days after the tribe settled at the base of the high hill, Tiuti told Eku there would be something different.
That morning, when Yathi and the other young people left for harvest, Eku was directed to the opposite end of camp, where he found the most experienced hunters gathered at the base of the steep hill, his father, Nibamaz, Juka and Lopi amongst them.
Eku gulped.
These were hunters with two or more talons.
Not to be trifled with.
There was not another young person or even a hunter with a single eagle talon.
Tentative and nervous, Eku came forth at a slowing pace.
Kaleni noted Eku’s tentative approach and stepped away from Nibamaz to smile and click in greeting.
He pointed past the hunters, above their heads, at the treeline where the hill rose steep before them.
“Eku, will be climbing to the top of the hill. From the top, we will decide the direction to go next.”
Eku smiled and looked perplexed, but curious.
Walked up to his father who recognized Eku’s nervousness and clicked in a reassuring way, adding, “This is something we wanted Tiuti to see. He would have gone with us, but the land is very difficult. He said to bring you in his place.”
Eku could barely suppress the smile.
He was going to accompany the lead hunters on a scouting!
Such an honor was nearly incomprehensible.
Like something out of a dream!
Well, maybe when he was older, but Eku didn’t know what to think.
Just that it was awesome.
He stayed to the side and listened as the hunters prepared.
The climb would be difficult.
The hunters would show no leniency.
He would have to keep up.
The small mountain seemed entirely made of rock.
The incline was steep.
Boulders packed together, the gaps filled with leaf-strewn soil from which gnarly bushes similar to the junipers of the harsh terrain encountered while trekking up the escarpment after leaving the land of the elephants.
Still amidst the transition from sika-yaka to lobo-yaka, the bushes were leafless, but full of buds; though, the grass remained listless and stringy.
Cacti became abundant higher up. Light green whorls with prickly pale needles.
Eku leaned into the steep incline and went down on all fours to follow a path that zigzagged around and over boulders.
Squeezing between rocks became difficult even for Eku’s slender body and he grabbed any opportune branch to pull himself onto a boulder and clamber over.
The climb was strenuous, for sure, but Eku settled into a rhythm and the hard work was enjoyable.
He was proud to remain right with the hunters and noticed they were all sweating from the effort and being without any shade.
Winding through the rocks, Eku lost track of direction, but knew they were close to the peak when he caught a glimpse of water and the encampment, far below and behind him, to the right.
A moment later, while surmounting another large, flat rock, Eku glimpsed water again, but this time far below and to the left.
Which did not make sense.
At first.
A moment later, the hunters and Eku crested the top.
The top of the hill was a small, windswept plateau of flat bedrock and wispy dried grasses.
The highest point in the land.
Like the hunters, Eku walked about in a circle, able to see in every direction as far as the eye could see.
Their sweat dried in the steady wind and everyone gaped at the incredible view.
In every direction, as far as one could see.
The hill, as it turned out, was one of the highpoints atop a narrow crag of rocky points that formed a peninsula down the center of the southern end of the lake.
Lopi got everyone laughing when he said, “We stand upon the crack of the lake’s ass.”
Eku giggled, at first, because Lopi had used the words “crack of ass”, but then he realized it was not a bad description.
The narrow peninsula bifurcated the rounded tip of the lake; thus, Eku could see the water expanding in three directions.
To the near side, the encampment lay below and the lake stretched away to a distant shoreline with mountains in the background.
To the other side, beyond the width of the peninsula, Eku could see another distant shoreline with mountains curving away in the opposite direction.
When he looked straight northward, where the high ridge of the peninsula dropped, in the distance was more water.
Water on three sides.
***
The hunters return from across the peninsula.
There is a wondrous discovery.
The mothers express skepticism.
They remind the hunters who is in charge.
Eku follows the hunters back to the top of ass-crack hill.
They plot travel across the peninsula.
The hunters say it is a quick journey, but the land is beautiful and they will take their time.
As always.
They point out what they saw here the first time and how it compares to what they see on the land.
Eku paid attention enough to proudly convey all of what he heard to Tiuit, almost word for word.
Eku is with Tiuti’s every day, more than ever.
As soon as Eku finishes with Tiuti, he races off to see Ingwe.
After a last, late meal he tries to talk to Yathi, but collapses into an exhausted sleep.
//
***
8-9 miles to river, 2 days
Day 1
//
Across opposing ridgelines clustered by cone-like hills.
An abundant plain of forest and tall grass.
Small beasts and birds and bats.
Fowl in very large flocks that moved through the tall grass like a herd.
Numbers similar to a large wildebeest herd.
Forward strut, like a pigeon.
Black plumage with some feathers spotted white.
Very tasty and savory after skewered on a pole and hung over an open fire pit.
Stocky and permanently bowed with a featherless, vulture head always positioned to snatch the next ripe seed or creeping insect.
Eku was surprised the first time one of the flocks exploded into flight.
The birds obviously preferred to be on the ground, but were strong fliers.
The wing beats were loud and they squawked abrasively once settled in tall trees, as though to scold the two-legged herd for interrupting.
//
The Mantel shoot them out of the trees with the guka-ombe.
Eku talks to Tiuti about how to make the bowed strings stronger, the tiny arrows better fitted with tiny blades.
//
More of the acacia trees from the shoreline.
Other hardwoods, including apple(?) with leaves growing in a weeping pattern, the branches long and hanging with leaves of light green, almost yellow.
Flocks of cuckoos congregated, similar to turacos, but with brown feathers and bright orange chests, performed repetitive exchanges that grew in volume until a crescendo and silence.
And repeat.
The ground stalking bird.
Tall, similar to an ostrich.
Streamlined for running, both the body and head like an adze-shaped ax, the powerful wings folded tight against the muscular body.
It wasn’t until later that Eku realized the fast-running birds could fly.
With great reluctance it turned out, but once provoked enough, rose on powerful wings straight up to the nearest, tallest tree with an opportune branch, where it would roost briefly, before gliding away to land on the ground, a safe distance away.
***
8-9 miles to river, 2 days
Day 2
//
Eku woke up extra early one morning to the call of the monkeys that sounded like human babies.
The camp was surrounded by knobbed hills and rocks.
The water is clear with a hue of laza and green, so much clearer than Uwama ever was.
Eku leaves the familial hut and used the area for emptying bowels and bladders.
The monkeys continued their plaintive cries.
There is a variety of high pitched screeches and whistles from bats and owls and other nightbirds he had not learned to identify.
Coughs of the curious hagu that lived here.
Like many of the beasts here, they were small, about the size of a juvenile bushpig; though, the little bodied pigs had a guttural and menacing sound, rounded bodies and enormous fat snouts they used to root through the dirt.
Eku crept a short distance into the treeline.
There were whisperings from the darkness of the branches above him.
He did not have a weapon and would not go far.
Curiously, thus far, the land seemed barren of any large predators; though, hunters reported leopard-like prints left in soft dirt by the water.
The whisperings were louder.
Almost directly above him.
Raspy noises, almost like human tongue.
Another kind of monkey.
Tiny and round and agile, with enormous eyes that were certainly designed to see at night.
The whispering monkeys, as it turned out, were similar in appearance to the monkeys that cried like babies.
Both types of monkey had enormous eyes and hands much like a human’s.
Eku comes upon a swatch of grass stretched between the rows of trees.
Ulanga is fiercely bright, but the day is not hot.
Warm with a breeze.
Under Ulanga’s direct fire, the grass reflects yellow, the brightness hiding the green shoots.
Tall amber grass through which moved the ever-crouched, dark shapes of the clucking fowl.
Termite mounds poked from the tall grass like naked vulture necks, some symmetrical, others with bulges and bumps, strung together one after the other, like a range of mountains.
Eku remains relaxed.
Focused.
Remaining ibe-bonakalio; otherwise, he would have missed the cat.
Watching in the same spot where he had just been looking and seeing nothing … the beast materialized within the tall grass.
Eku knew the genet and other small cats were the true masters of stalking.
But this cat was not so small.
More than halfway to a leopard.
Orange coat with stripes the same shade as the brown grass.
Crouched low, muscles tense, as though trying to sink into the ground.
Ears very tall and pointy and directed to the front.
Eyes focused in a way that told Eku the cat could see its prey.
And then the cat sprang.
A blur of motion shooting forward.
An explosion of blurred wings and waka-waka fowl flew with much screeching.
For a small moment, Eku thought the cat made a juvenile miscalculation, having started too far away.
But then he watched in disbelief as the cat bound forward and leaped spectacularly high into the air, rising easily three times the height that Eku was, extending a taloned paw to snatch one of the hard-flying fowls out of the air.
Dragging the bird as it fell to the ground, landing and delivering a quick and savage bite to the head, killing its prey as the rest of the flock sped away.
Eku marvelled at the predator.
Magnificent.
A body nearly the length of a leopard, but slender, with longer legs and a short tail.
When the cat licked bloody jowls, Eku saw a long, pink tongue and briefly, canines comparable to a leopard.
As though sensing his fascination, the cat suddenly looked directly at Eku.
Eku and the beast were eye to eye.
Neither moved or blinked.
Eku remained perfectly still.
Not even blinking.
Knowing the cat’s mind said something was here, but the eyes could not see him.
Staring straight into the eyes of the magnificent cat hunter for waka-waka heartbeats, until something put the predator back at ease and its attention went back to the bird.
Eku watched the long pink tongue come back out.
Licking the bird, eyes half closed, as if relishing the meal to come.
He waited for a while longer, feeling a sense of empowerment from remaining invisible to the cat, even when it was focusing peak attention.
Ibe-bonakalio.
He melted into the shadows as the cat began to feed.
//
They reach the river.
See a new, grass eating antelope.
About the size of an impala.
The fur has an unusual hint of laza to its hue and the long and narrow horns curved elegantly back like a guka-hombe drawn to fire.
The horns were ridged pale and black, like a zebra and the Bwana were eager to obtain them.
The mothers put a curfew on the beasts and hunters began to wager over who got to make the next kill.
***
They follow the river.
Camp for one night. Hike a day. Arrive the next.
//
Sweet singing barbets, whistling woodpeckers with bright red heads and last but not least, the irreplaceable honeyguides, birds that looked like miniature hawks and guided an observant hunter to where bees have hidden their great stores of honey combs.
A patch of sek-igambu, the roots are easy to pull from the soil. Roasted and eaten whole or ground into powder to make flat cakes using sweet berries or plum or fig as jelly.
//
Giant bats, with bodies the size of a mongoose, hanging dark and triangular, looking forbidding and fragile at the same time.
Not good for eating or their fur and the sinew was impossible to extract for use.
The bodies were a lustrous, dark brown with a hint of red, the wings orange-brown, almost the same color as the skin of the brightly colored plums upon which they feasted.
The bats hung in colonies of waka-waka individuals, easy to spot from the ground, within range of an ula-konto and especially, the guka-hombe, which the Mantel were teaching many of the new, young hunters to use.
But bats were loaded with sinew and cartilage and not good for eating, while the fur was soft but not durable.
//
***
Iliwi-kelele-abantu (they are all abantu now).
//
The sand is different.
Grittier than the sand of Uwama, but softer, almost like sand mixed with dirt.
The trees grow close to the water; in fact, they grew right out of the beach.
Or what served as a beach (it’s actually dirt).
The trees can grow next to the water because it is not salted.
The lake has waves, but not like Uwama.
There is no tide to worry about.
When Ulayo blows long enough, waves roll into shore with a bristle of whitecap, gathering mud as they tumble up the gradual slope.
But even during the choppiest storms, the people can swim without fear of being carried out to sea.
//
Vines with kidney shaped leaves.
//
All of the women are on the same cycle and there is a wave of pregnancies.
The tribe’s first laba-ini will be enormous.
The second will be even bigger.
***
//
He is back on the opposite side of the peninsula.
Standing atop the ass-crack hill.
Where he stood before, with the hunters.
Only now, Eku was alone.
Scouting alone.
He can do that now, because he is big.
A giant.
He can see even farther than the last time and peers across the peninsula, away from the endless lake, where they entered the land of legend.
A great tree has grown where they defeated the bubinzwana.
Much higher than even the high hill upon which he now stands.
Like shatsheli-lambo, this is the greatest tree.
Eku must go there.
A giant’s bounding strides send him careening down the hill.
Hurtling boulders to the shoreline.
Leaping across half-submerged stones.
Eku veered inland, vaulting over bushes and dodging trees.
Running across fields of tall grass under the light of Yanga, until the mighty tree rises.
Dwarfing even his giant size.
Great, talon-like roots sunken into the earth, like a magnificent jungle tree, but waka-waka larger, with branches stretching for the stars.
The lower boughs were enormous, with gray bark, wrinkly like the skin of an elephant.
Impossibly high.
But Eku knows he can climb even this great tree.
Because he is the leaping cat.
His two giant legs became four and he bounds for the tree.
A spectacular, predatory leap carried him into the lower boughs.
He dug sharp claws into the spongy bark and leapt through the massive, intertwining branches.
Climbed until the branches grew small and Eku became the black and white monkey of the Mantel jungle.
Elastically hurtling from one side of the trunk to the other.
Higher and higher.
When reaching the uppermost branches, Eku does not hesitate.
Launching upward.
Powerfully flapping his arms to become the fish eagle.
Soaring higher.
Eku pierced the dark with his eagle eyes to see people sleeping on the ground below.
Orange fires glowing.
He knows the tribe is safe.
That is good.
He soared to where he could see only water and mountains.
Clouds obscure whatever came next.
Eku wanted to fly higher and see further and knew he could, but the great tree was small below him and the campfires have all but winked out.
He thinks, maybe the people need me?
Drifts down in a spiral.
Flaps his arms to settle slowly through the branches of the great tree until his toes grip Umawa.
***
Eku has a rare moment to himself.
Being so busy all the time, it is something he craves more than ever.
He climbed to the top of iliwi-kelele-abantu.
The area was abandoned in the middle of the day.
Eku likes this spot.
Iliwi-kelele-abantu is not as tall as the tallest peaks of the peninsula, but high enough to see over the encampment and far across the plain behind them.
From this vantage, Eku realized, it would be impossible to approach the village from any direction without being seen.
This would always be a good spot to have for an encampment, he realizes.
A place Umawa makes special, where humans can appreciate the majesty of what lay around them—and remain safe.
Eku sat on one of the logs in the cleared area for sitting.
There were many rocks protruded from the ground.
Tough junipers filled some of the spaces, but the top of iliwi-kelele-abantu was mostly open.
Nice and warm under Ulanga.
Eku had one of his uncle Lume’s finest carving knives.
Beautiful, like Kafila’s special axe, each in their own way, Eku thought.
The handle came from ultra-dense wood, carved while still green to a shape that affixed with the blade of isipho-gazi.
The knife blade was small compared to the haft, dark gray, about the size of Eku’s thumb, but sturdy and sharp enough to slice human hair.
A knife for precision work.
Eku knew he was lucky that Lume allowed him to use such tools.
He was also lucky that he spent so much time teaching him how to use them.
He liked many of the things an izik-kosa did.
Carving stuff.
Spears, especially.
He enjoyed working on the spear for Kolo.
An izik-kosa matches a weapon to the person.
And while Eku was certainly not an izik-kosa, he had learned much about their craft thanks to his uncle and Tiuti and now Wutota.
Kolo was shorter than Eku, but stockier and swift and impressively strong.
Eku took his time to find the perfect sapling, beautifully straight, unblemished by knots.
Cut the stem to a good working length and had finished much of the preliminary work.
Only fine-tuning remained.
The pale spear was set between his legs, haft end on the ground.
Keeping his knees apart, to slant the spear against his left thigh while his right foot trapped it against the ground.
Gripped the top of the haft with his left hand.
Held the knife in his right hand and leaned his head close to the haft to study each sliver of wood that came off the blade.
Periodically set the knife aside and lifted the spear.
Balancing the now cylindrical sapling on the flat of each palm.
Eyed the haft while moving one or both arms to undulate the length up and down, feeling the balance through each hand while eyeing the movement so his mind could tell him where more trimming was necessary.
Lost in thought, he barely noticed Lume’s labored breathing when he trudged up the hill; though, he sure felt the log shift when his uncle sat next to him.
Waited for Lume to catch his wind.
After a few deep breaths, he asked, “How come I do not see you wearing your necklace?”
Eku looked at his uncle as though the answer was obvious, but said, “It is too big. And heavy.”
Lume clicked in understanding. “Maybe wear it for special occasions?”
Eku lolled his head around, not sure.
“I like keeping it in my sealskin satchel. And looking at it sometimes. I wish I could see the beast the fang came from.”
Lume clicked neutral, then grunted and said with emphasis, “From far away!”
Eku giggled. “For sure.”
Lume watched Eku.
Noting how he held the haft with a secure grip; the cutting hand moving precisely, the way he taught him.
Like any true craftsman, Eku has fit the physical lessons into his own style and rhythm, peeling away a sliver at a time while paying attention to each exposed growth ring.
Lume clicked to indicate satisfaction and said, “That is good carving. For Kolo?”
Eku clicked yes.
“Too bad about your ula-konto.”
Eku had a melancholy smile. “I wish I still had it, even though I will not be a hunter. I miss throwing and practicing.”
Lume stuck out the lower lip.
Gave Eku a moment, then said, “I can make you another one.”
The carving hand stopped moving and Eku’s mouth fell open.
Wide eyed, he stared at his uncle.
Such a thought was simply too enticing.
Too good to be true!
Lume looked at Eku with a blank expression.
Among his many gifts, Yathi’s father was good at making complicated things simple, a trait he would pass on to his youngest child.
But what was he getting at now?
Finally, as though a bit exasperated, Lume said, “Who told you an izik-ikiz cannot have a ula-konto?”
There was no stopping the huge smile that spread across Eku’s face.
Lume let loose with a hearty chuckle.
Eku’s face quickly got serious and he said, “An adult ula-konto, like father’s. With a blade of isipo-igazi. And I want to watch when you make it.”
Lume rubbed his chin and matched the earnest look on his nephew’s face.
“An adult ula-konto, eh?”
“My first ula-konto was heavy, at first, but my arm got stronger. Then it was perfect.”
The lip stuck out.
A moment later, Lume clicked and said, “You will finish growing.”
He got up to lumber away, grumbling words from a song about how the best roots for keri sticks always grew at the top of a hill, before calling over a shoulder that he would let Eku know when work began with the selection of a sapling for a proper haft.
Eku almost shouted after him that next would be a javelin.
But one thing at a time.
He had to be patient.
He was not finished growing into an adult.
***
Later that night, Eku is back on top of iliwi-kelele-abantu.
There are many people now.
Flat rocks good for sitting and picnicking were all occupied.
Waka-waka young people congregated around the big fire pit, sitting on seating logs arranged in a half moon.
A dark emptiness lay just beyond the flames, then, spreading like a giant saucer, the dark but reflective water surrounded by jagged mountains of black.
Ulanga had escaped behind the hills to the left and above the highest peak, pale clouds mushroomed.
Eku thought of his dream and wondered what land may actually lie beyond the lake.
There had to be something.
Right?
The fire hissed with moisture and wood sap popped.
Flames glimmered white and yellow.
Eku looked around and for the first time since laying eyes on Ingwe, he was distracted by someone else.
Yathi, of course.
Eku leaned to glance past the top of Ingwe’s head.
Sisi sat snugly against his strong, young shoulder, Yathi staring over the water with a look of such delirious happiness that Eku can barely suppress laughter.
Further along, he saw Yat, familiar now in short hair, with Dokuk, who every day looked a little less sad.
There was Kolo, with Dala and Longo, mingling amongst waka-waka young people.
Tar and Maz sat a bit separate; though, Odi and Tuve hovered nearby, forever hopeful.
Eku turned his gaze north across the lake of never ending freshwater and began to imagine the adventures to come.
//////////////////////
Eku and Yathi fished and caught turtles and harvested ubhak-unda.
The day after camp was established, the people hiked inland for harvest.
Trees that lost their leaves during sika-yaka are now heavy with buds.
Grass and bushes sprouted new shoots and flowers.
Away from shore Eku found the land curiously flat, but with sharp ridgelines formed by waka-waka small hills clustered together, almost like termite mounds, but larger and more rounded.
While the ridges of hills were covered with green canopies, the flatlands were equal measure dark groves of trees, to fields of the tall yellow grass, not dissimilar to the savanna, just different.
The day was spent wandering more than actually harvesting.
But, ensuring future returns to his area, a hearty boxthorn patch yielded tasty berries, while a swampy bog on the shady side of one of the peculiar steep and rounded hillocks offered ripe and red sek-unda.