Knots

I spoke to Sajek .. T'zuri's father. I told him my concern about a young unringed girl being at the fires without a relative there. When Saresh came by bringing salted meats to the wagons and obviously knew T'zuri I think Sajek saw my point and realized I was very serious. I invited his family to move their wagons up to the First. That or T'zuri would have to wait to return until she was ringed. He seems to be very intent on the future he has envisioned for her. He is moving his family's wagons forward. Once the girl is ringed I expect Sajek to have many offers for her .. perhaps even one from Saresh.

It was odd to be in the company of a family...a family bound by blood. It is something I have avoided recently. It is still not a thing I can do with comfort. Saresh's arrival gave me an excuse to return to my work. It was not an unpleasant experience. I do not mean to convey that I do not like families or the feelings that they invoke when I am among them. Merely that it is uncomfortable. There is too much there that I missed. Too much I am not familiar with. Too many memories I do not have.

I was too tired to think of the dreams this evening. I went to my own wagons and grabbed some clean leathers and I even went and bathed. It seemed to take forever to scrub the sweat and dirt from my body. The Central Fire has darkened my flesh even more. Either that or the soil has stained it. I carefully braided my wet hair into the single thick rope like braid. Then I sat and taking a strip of kailiauk skin that I had tanned into a soft suede and dyed black I made it into an armband that would rest just below my left shoulder and above the muscle. I began to stitch the strings I had knotted together in a story around the strip. it read from top around and down following the strand. Not only were the strings the same as I had found tying the parchments to the brush but upon the strings I had knotted the verses in a way to bring remembrance of their discovery. When I was done the strings had formed three solid lines down on the armband. The knots stitched so they were facing up and easily read by eye or touch. I felt for some reason I was the keeper of this story. That somehow I should preserve it so that it was not lost to the unknown. I wondered if I would ever know the end or if someday I would pass the keeping to someone else.

With that thought I finally slept.