Blow Me

When the wind started I was on the edge of the herd. I lived through many wind storms but this one was different. This one had a life to it .. it was an .. entity. It cried like an enraged kaiila .. screamed like a larl as it approached us. There was very little time to do anything about commands or organization. Several riders spurred their kaiila towards the wagons crying the alert of wind storm. I was left alone suddenly and I knew I had to wait .. there on the edge of the herd. I bunched the bosk that were not all ready forming into tight circles. The dust stinging my eyes and trying to tear the scars off my cheeks with stinging ferocity. I felt skinned slowly ... the flesh around my eyes above the wind scarf and my arms below the vest and above my gloves. But I did not stop until the bosk were turned away from the wind.

I was riding Kai .. and glad of it for the bulky beast did not seem to falter even with the worst of the wind. I could not see or hear by the time I pulled him down to his knees and I fell protected by his body. I could not hear save the insane screaming of the wind all around me as I shoved my head between my knees and rested my forehead against the smooth silk bulk of his hide. It felt like millions of tiny needles stripping my back of all flesh even beneath the leather vest as it crested over my saddle and tried to rip me from the safety of Kai's side. After a while I grew numb to it.

Even with the wailing and crying of the wind in my ears I found myself in my thoughts. Deep within where the screaming did not reach. I thought of those riders who .. without thought ... spurred their kaiila to the camp. Some loved one ... some possession that drove them to protect. My first thought had been the bosk. The parameter. The first line of defense. Was that because I was alone? I was worried for my friends and Tuchuk family at the Harigga. But I was worried for them as a collective. What would it be like to have someone special that I thought of even over the bosk? Would I ever have that? Or was I the type of person to think of the bosk first. Always. Would that change if I had a mate? Would it change if I had a child? Or was this who I was despite what life might bring me later?

I did not have answers to these internal questions. It felt natural to me to be there .. alone with the bosk and my kaiila. It felt good to know that I was in control of that line of defense. That the bosk would not break without my knowledge.

I am not sure how long the wind blew and screamed around me. I think it stopped several moments before I even realized it. Perhaps it was the movement of Kai beneath my forehead ... I blinked and lifted my head .. dust and bits of grass fell away from my head and shoulders.. I was nearly buried in it. But there was work to be done and I dug out to swing into the saddle and dig in.