Ghost Singers in the Sky

"The wind blew as 'twad blawn its last;
The rattling showers rose on the blast;
The speedy gleams the darkness swallowed;
Loud, deep, and lang, the thunder bellowed:
That night, a child might understand,
The Deil had business on his hand."

-Robert Burns


He was born on the thunder's crash. She was born on the vibration. He was called Keme and she was called Echo. They were of the Singers Clan.

He was a proud and brave warrior always causing something to happen. Sometimes it was good and sometimes it was bad .. but if something happened Keme was always near. A favorite among his Brothers he was the star in many a plainswoman's eye. His songs were always rousing and they left the hearer with an energy and swelling of spirit within them.

She was much as she was called. She reflected those around her. She had black silky hair and large dark eyes that reflected every man's dreams when he would gaze into them. Echo loved to be happy and she drifted towards men who caused her to reflect such. But what she would inspire in men was not always happiness. They became possessive and jealous of her form and beauty and the picture of their dreams in her eyes and their wishes lifted into song on her tongue.

It was not done in malice. She would drift away from those that caused her to feel anything besides happiness. Or sing a sad song. She knew no sadness of her own. So it was that when she met Keme all her own dreams came together in one man. The way he always made her feel .. always. And Keme was no different than any other man. He fell in love with his own dreams in her eyes and his own wishes lifted in song on her dulcet tongue. Keme was a man of heights of emotions and Echo was his first love. He adored her and treasured her above all else.

Keme rose swiftly in the ranks and was given command. With his command came demands on time and it was time that took him away from Echo. True to form Echo sought comfort for her loneliness. The spark of a man's happiness that she could reflect. And this took her away from her absent Keme.

Keme had never known jealousy or anger as he did now. And the more he was jealous and the more he was angry the more he could not connect with Echo. And the more she sought the attentions of happier men. Keme became a brooding young warrior. His songs no longer lifted high to the Sky. Trying to figure out how to win his Echo's attentions back to him. But Keme was not meant by the Sky to be a man quiet for long and soon his Brother's teased him from his doldrums. His excitement returned and his happiness which true to form drew his Echo back to him. Once more he was the spark of her heart and she was reminded of all the reasons she wanted to be with just him. Her songs again reflected the energy of her Keme.

But Echo had caused another man whose name was Mato .. to fall in love with his own dreams in her eyes and his own wishes she had lifted to the Sky on her sweet voice. He was not so willing to let go of those dreams when Echo's gaze returned to the man she loved. A rivalry was started between the two Brothers. First in more innocent games of competition and finally in a test that became about life and death. What had started out about Echo became more about honor and pride between the two warriors than about a woman. And in that terrible moment of Brother against Brother both warriors were mortally wounded.

Keme rode back to Echo and she ran out to meet him but her heart stood still when he slid from the saddle of his kaiila in a smear of crimson and fell into her arms spreading the warmth of his fast fading life over her hands and breast. He died in her arms with a smile and his failing voice lifted in song. For the first time Echo knew her own sadness and she wept for her Keme. Sadness that was her own was too much for Echo to know and she brought Keme's quiva to her own breast and fell on it with him in a reflection of his own death.

Sometimes following the thunder and the vibrations that shake the plains the Tuchuk can see Keme upon the Sky and if they are lucky .. sometimes ... they can see Echo next to him ... ever still his reflection.