William Riley reacts badly

Rosemma was frightened by her fathers face.

He always intimidated her, but this time his anger and lack of concern on her part shocked her.

Not once did he ask her what she wanted, not once did he even look her way. When he ordered her to return to the family yurt with all of her belongings in the morning and then stomped out, she suddenly was angered beyond anything she had ever felt before.

He made her feel like a thing, an object, not his daughter. Something likened to a whipped dog, a animal owned by him.

No kind words, no loving glance her way, concern for her, and she felt her heart squeeze.

Then she turned to Grandmother, Great Grandfather, and Charles with a grim look.

And she said" So who's up for a wedding, then a quick pack up to get the hell out of this
place?"

Then turned on her heel and trotted back to Jack Chang's cabin as fast as she could go.

Grandmother caught her half way back. "Rosie, you don't have to do this, not on a whim dear child!" She thought of her daughter, and the repercussions of the days to follow after they had all gone.

Rosemma turned to face her."Yes I do, Grandmother, the Nommos need me to come, and so I will go as a married woman then, but in name only. I need Charles to come, they seem to want him there with me. I have no choice. My father is a difficult man, so let him be difficult. I am not going to stick around and have him treat me like a cow."

She turned and picked up the pace. Once at the cabin, she quickly packed up her clothes, and the meager things she could call her own.

Back outside she whistled for the pup, Chomper came running. He followed past the other three who by this time had arrived. Jack ventured a "Child-!" At which she put up her hand for silence.

Walking up to Charles she held out her hand to him, which he took.

"In name only, Charles, and you travel with me, teach me, and if any of the rest of you want to come, do so." At this she looked over her shoulder to the others with a meaningful glance.

"And otherwise I would clear out anyway. Father will make life pretty miserable for you, none of us should be here in the morning."

Charlie and Jack gave each other a raised eyebrows look in astonishment, then grinned
with some elbow nudging. Grandmother had a shocked face, not believing this was her little
granddaughter giving orders to all of them.

But after some thought she came to realize the Nommos at work, and how desperate they must have made Rosemma feel. They needed her to come to them.

When they came back to the elders still remaining in the Council Hall, and Rosemma
stated her desire to be married to Charles BearTracker, Bertola didn't refuse her request.

She understood completely. And with the other elders as witnesses she married them in a brief ceremony, and their names written in the marriage and death book, and rings given them, ones made to standard sizes as proof of official sanction. She then kissed them both, and
stepped back. Tears in her eyes, knowing they would be gone, and she had regrets over that, but she knew why they had to go.

Two hours later, all were packed, Chomper and Jack Sharp Tooth carrying packs, and they slipped out of the village in the dark.

Rosemma didn't look back, but the lump in her throat felt like a boulder. She hoped someday her family would understand and she suddenly felt very old.

Jack was already making plans, talking low to Charlie Bear Scratcher about finding a boat, where to go to find a boat, all the while working magic to swirl aroudn behind him and erase their tracks. He knew the trail well, and a spirit light he set to guide them floated along as they went lighting the way.

Despite feeling heartsick and unsure, Rosemma thought learning some magic would not be such a bad thing.

Then she glanced at Charles, and realized she wasn't the only one feeling unsure. He glance back at her and offered a slight smile, shyly.

"Charles, I am so sorry it had to be like this. I hope when we find ourselves at the end of our journey, whole and alive, we can then undo the marriage if we both wish, and stay good friends. This is not that way it goes in the village usually. Most parents are delighted to have their son or daughter apprenticed to someone with talent so they can learn a craft. I will not make any apology for my father, I am just sorry I seemed so pushy and I had to go so soon, oh
I would have given anything to not have it go like this!" She felt weary, and stopped talking then.
Both of them walked on under the spirit light for what seemed to be miles. Then Jack stopped them. Grandmother protested, "Father we need to put a lot of distance between us and
William!"

Jack turned to her, "Magnolia, hush for once. I am going to set a guard, and will keep watch for anyone following us. So far, no one has followed us, and if we get up in the morning before first light and keep going, they will not catch us."

At this, he sat down on a rock, the rest of them took out their bedrolls and lay down exhausted. Rosemma suffering from fear of her father again. She just couldn't stop shaking about what would happen if he found them.

Charles whispered quietly so they could all hear" This sure wasn't the kind of honeymoon I would have planned!" And they all laughed together, and soon settled into a cold restless but needed sleep.

Grandmother reviews her own life

Maggie almost exploded when she came around the corner of the cabin to hear
her father and old Bear Tracker hatching up some cockamammy thing like betrothal between
a young girl and a young man still in his own training period.

But she stifled herself, and slipped back around the corner and went to sit on the front
porch.

"The last thing those two know is anything about marriage", she thought. "The last thing I knew was about marriage, only that I wanted to get married so bad, and all I got from that was two babies and a no good husband that vanished into thin air and left us practically
begging for food."

Her memories came flooding back, Luca just left one day, walked off, took his pack , she realized later, all his clothes, just had it stashed, planned it. Her mother who was alone with all the little ones, and their best friend, Alma Golden Moon BearScratcher, got her started on learning to spin and weave so she could earn a little trade goods to get by on. She helped in their gardens, milked their goats, went out with the dogs and fetched in the sheep every night, while they watched the girls. All so they would survive, have some food, some milk, some wool.

Idana was the oldest, and she learned to cook at a very early age, along with Maggies youngest siblings. Learned to dry meat, vegetables, any thing for winter.

It was a hard way of living, water had to used and not wasted. They were in the desert, and not used to the heat. Old May-Ling Chang, Maggie's grandmother suffered the most. She had spent her life along the coast, in moister warmer temperatures. The dry heat only spared her arthritis some, but left her lethargic and always complaining.

Sheila McGilroy Chang was a tough no nonsense woman, who managed the family with
lots of love backed up a firm hand. Maggie learned alot by watching her with the younger children and applied some of it to her own daughters.

But she constantly dealt with a deep burning anger over the desertion of her husband.
And with the anger came a resolve to never have to expose herself to pain like that again.
When unattached men came into camp, didn't matter who they were, she never smiled, never
laughed, didn't look their way, and finally it seemed to have become a habit with her.

By the time the two wandering husbands came back. though always prosperous with newly acquired goods, which no one asked in what manner they came by them, Maggie was ,
and she sighed at this, a sourpuss.

When her mother put down her foot and demanded that things change, Jack got a spot
teaching magic in the Sacred Village. And both Sheila and Maggie cried at having to leave their
dear friend Alma.

Charlie and Alma had five children, all girls, walking out of camp the Changs cried
sadly, hardly daring to turn and look at their counterparts standing in camp crying just as heartily.

Charlie and Alma were from the desert tribes and torn, between family and beloved friends, and it was a long journey of over two weeks of walking to reach each other, so as the years flowed past the pain dimmed into a fondness when they all thought of each other.

Charlie would pass through on one of his expeditions, finally crying on the cabin porch with both Sheila and Jack over Alma's death. The next year, her mother passed. By that time
all the little Changs had grown up, and went onto their chosen path or married and were raising
children while being employed by their prospective camps and clans.

Three of them lived in the village, Maggie saw them now and then. Her father would make the rounds to visit his grandchildren and great-grandchildren, coming back with tales of who was doing what, or fighting with who, or getting married.

Maggie would listen and shrug to herself. She had to grow up so fast, it seemed like she was never a child playing with all of her much younger siblings. She felt detached.

But her own grandchildren, even though she was stern with them, they filled her life.

Idana's girls and the one boy had talent, but not as whale singers. They took after their
greatgrandfather with his conjuring. Idana did too. Much to the delight of many of her neighbor
children. She would tell them stories and embellish them with the characters riding along on a horse, or a fierce eagle flying right through where they sat, or over their heads.

She was a huge success at birthday parties, and gatherings of a celebratory nature.

Then there was Vincenza and her husband. Because he disliked all things magical heartily which he did not understand, he forbade them to his children. No wonder that none except Rosemma
had shown any signs of a gift. Closed minded, and the older girls were going to get themselves in trouble. Oh, he stood over them like an farmer over his best heifers, but May-Ling and
Soledad were the most determined flirts, teasing and then snuffing out any hope in the hearts of more young men their age than Maggie could count. Sometimes beauty was just skin deep, and that was all.

She though of Rosemma then, hoping that the test had gone well, and she hadn't
come out of it tramatized. Young Charles seemed like a decent young man. She remembered him from his visits to the village with his grandfather. Son of the youngest daughter. Who tried to look after Charlie. Oh good luck, just like Jack, irrascable to the core.

She broke out of her revery at the sight of Charles and Rosemma walking up the path.

Rising, she saw the two of them exchange glances. "Oh, oh, now what is this?"

Charles cleared his throat,"Grandmother Magnolia, I would like to speak with you, your
father and my father if it would be possible."

" The elder gentlemen are just around the back" she replied, " I think we will just go there and make it easy for them." She grimaced to herself. What she didn't say was the elder gentlemen had about three mugs of ale each and at this point pretty satisfied with themselves.

Jack and Charlie looked up at their coming and motioned for them all to sit.

They both smiled with this look on their face that to Maggie spoke volumes.

Charles pushed his glasses up his nose, glancing at Rosemma.

"The test was a great success, we made contact with the Nommos, both of us, they
came through Rosemma and included me in what they came to show us."

Grandmother gasped,"Showed you, what did they show you?" She forgot the
tipsy old men and her annoyance with them at this news.

" They took us to the far north, we saw something we can't explain quite yet, it was a beam of light, and from the perspective of time, it seemed we had gone back to when the time of the dying happened." Charles swallowed hard at the memory. This he knew was possible, to
journey in time, but it still gave him pause. But at least the first to hear this information were
well versed in the eosteric ways of life.

"What did you see, how did it happen?" Jack leaned forward on his cane, a little wobbly but excited and focused on Charles.

Rosemma spoke up,"There were many men in strange clothing, and machines that worked, so we knew this was not in this time and day, they were busy moving around in their machines, and when this huge beam of light came on and shot up into the sky, it killed almost everybody, just like the histories tell, us. Only a few got back up after a while, and then we were shown that it began to snow a lot. Things changed and we saw many dead Nommos and their cousins in the ocean, and more snow untill all the northern coast were covered over and
cold. I am not sure how far down this was to be honest. But from what I and Charles were shown it was still going on."

She swallowed, and went on"And Charles would like for me to be his apprentice." She saw that this was a shock by the looks on their faces. Best to get it over now.

"I said yes", she added. Hardly daring to look at her grandmothers face.

Magnolia was a little taken aback, but thought she wasn't too surprised.

"Jack chuckled, and Charlie smiled. Magnolia spoke up.

"Rosemma, the hardest part will be telling your father this, you know that."

She continued, "you are old enough to get married, but if he objects to your
apprenticeship to Charles, you may have to wait two more years before you can have the way
clear."

Rosemma burst out, "What, why is that, my father would not even let me
get married to anyone unless he approved of some match in his favor, he still has my sisters to marry off, he wouldn't stop my apprenticeship, would he?"

Jack spoke, "Here is this village, a senior member of a family has the right to approve a marriage in the presence of a council person, at the age of 16 or older, but if there is an apprenticeship that may impact the livelyhood of the whole family, it has to be considered by
the whole family and brougt before the council to determine the outcome."

Rosemma felt a lump rising in her throat, why had the subject of marriage come up in all of this, when all she wanted was to be an apprentice. Oh she thought, marriage involves some kind of
material goods as a good will gesture, but taking a young worker from their clan involved no such thing. The clan would come away less unhappy if she married, she suddenly realized.

The faces of her parents came into her mind, as she thought about them, then realized she was being addressed

"So, you may have to wait and see how your father reacts."

She drew a sharp breath.

Old cronies never change

Jack Chang and Charlie Bear Scratcher were sitting out in Jack's yard behind his cabin.



None of Jack's family living in the yurts that surrounded the yard at some distance could see them, or hear them, mostly due to not being at home, but off in various activities.



After arriving at the cabin, Jack had grabbed a jug of his homemade ale, and two mugs

and they vacated the premises quickly.



Because they knew that Magnolia was coming back soon after, and Jack knew she would be in a mood. And he wanted to laugh with Charlie, just like old times.



He and Charlie were each twenty years old when they first met. Jack had been traveling along towards the old city of Reno, still a wild place, and Charlie had too, but from a different direction.



Son of a Medicine woman, he was just tired of the high holy talk and attempts to get him to immerse himself into the Medicine way. He just wanted out, see the world , have some fun, sow some oats, then after some time maybe find himself a good woman and have some kids.

The rest would fall into place.



The first time he saw Jack Chang was outside Reno, on the old highway from the west.

Jack was holding off some bandits, well quite literally holding them up and off the ground.



Charlie stood and laughed at the improbable small young man with a long pigtail, outrageous long silk robe with long sleeves who was smoking a pipe with one hand and carrying on a conversation with the five men he had suspended in mid-air.



"If I let you down, unless you leave quickly and do not bother me again, this -with a wave of his pipe holding hand- will chase you down and eat you!" And there was a giant red

dragon standing there glaring at the men.



Even Charlie was impressed, and amused. He chuckled and saw that Jack nodded

slightly in his direction.



Jack had lowered the men down and they ran fast and hard in different directions

vanishing in just a matter of minutes.



So did the dragon. Jack turned to Charlie, "Now good sir, how can I help you?"



Charlie grinned,"Pretty good trick, you a magician from some show?"



Jack grinned back, "No, I come from a long line of Chinese magicians, wizards to be exact, I am formerly of the old San Francisco city to the west, and am off to see the known

world and find my fortune. And search for other magical folk here and there."



"I am the reknown Jack Chang."



Charlie grinned, I am the not so famous son of a Medicine Woman, Willow Weaver, and come from the Northeast area of here, still in the desert, mostly known as the sticks, and I too am off to see what is out there and find my fortune, and maybe a woman too someday."



"I have some whiskey in my stuff, want some?"



After that day, they traveled together, inseparable, finding adventures, some fortune, but not enough to ever last long, and eventually women they came to love. And families.



Both Jack and Charlie had many children and grandchildren, and great grand

children.



Now they sat smiling after a second mug of ale, and Jack spoke of his beloved

wife, Sheila, and his regrets at leaving her alone with the kids so often. And how his mother

May-Ling had come to help out in her later years. And of course his great-granddaughter,

May-ling, who was the village beauty. He shook his head, "May-Ling of course has gotten a swelled head about her looks, Soledad has at least a bit more sense. She will marry well."



Charlie mused, "All my daughters did pretty well. Took after their mother, my

Alma Golden Moon, found good husbands, and then I have the grandsons. Charles is a good boy, though he tends to be very sensitive, and not so hot in the social skills department. If I remember that summer he spent here, May-Ling was pretty merciless on him. Leading him on

then shutting him down."



"Now how about this youngest one, she is pretty young, but I tell you what, you and me(this accompanied by a swing of the mug) should maybe think of a betrothal.

Rosemma trailed her grandmother and Jack Chang into an almost empty cabin
behind the long house used for community gatherings.

Seated in a chair was a tall upright old man, who watched them enter in silence and a somewhat stern expression. That was until he saw Jack Chang. Then a great smile crossed his
face. Which he then stifled again.

As Rosemma stood blinking in the dim light, she saw a younger slender man with glasses
who stood back a bit behind the older man as if in respect. He was watching all of them intently
and really was staring at her.

She blushed and suddenly wanted to run out the door and hide.

The older man spoke "Jack Chang, greetings!, and I am honored to meet you again
Magnolia after all these years. And this must be the young newest singer, the child we have heard so much of."

Jack grinned from ear to ear, "Oh yes, my great granddaughter, a chip off the old block, and as sweet and good a girl as they come, very talented too.." He paused to grab a breath and Bertola jumped in.

" Well, this young man is Charles Beartracker, also a grandchild and also talented, and
since he has come with his grandfather, we could spend all day bragging up the kids, but let's not."

" There is work to do, and I have other things to go off and do now, and I suggest that we let Charles proceed with his testing of Rosemma."

At this Bertola nodded her head at the others, and left.

Rosemma really was edging towards the door, not sure why or how she had to be involved with this test. Charles watched her, and when he finally spoke, she froze.

"Rosemma, please do not be afraid, it will be a very simple thing, and you do not have to fear me."

"Please come closer." At this he pulled chair out for her, and then one for himself and sat down, motioning for her to sit across from him. She did, compelled by his words.

He pushed his glasses up his nose and smiled at her. She cracked a small one back at him, studying his face. Dark skin, long black hair, braided down his back, nice features,
not like any of her peers, Tall, lean, his eyes were a dark liquid brown, and very kind, with a gleam of mischief at that moment. He was older, but not that old, older than her sisters, but not
older than her oldest brother.

He was studying her intently, and looked into the bluest sky eyes he had seen
in a long time. A little upward tilt, but not like her sisters. He knew them from some time back,
suffered some at May Lings cruel words, and gotten over both of her sisters. Not a flashy beauty this one. But so different, freckles, curly fire red hair, and utterly a child, but also
there was an energy all around her, she was gifted in more ways than one.

Charles turned his head to his grandfather and Jack Chang. " Could be a while here, you two wanna go catch up?" And then adressing Grandmother" Madame, we will be taking our time slowly, I promise you I will go slow with her, and so if you have errands, or things to catch up, I will bring her to you when we are finished."

Grandmother pursed her lips, but got up and nodded. Jack and the older
Beartracker grinned and quickly left, slapping each other on the back , as they went. Grandmother made a disgusted noise in her throat and disappeared down the steps.

Charles smiled at Rosemma. "Now move your chair close to mine, until our knees touch. And I don't bite, or have bad breath,"

She blushed, pretty he thought. "Now that will never do, this is a child, and I am going to take her into a trance state."

Where they would both be very vulnerable, and he was the one with experience, no distractions.

" Please put your hands in mine, Rosemma, and lean forward and put your forehead against mine." She complied, and trembled a bit.

" I want you to go back to the time you saw the whale, calm your mind."

" Think of the water and the whale, open your eyes and look into mine,
Rosemma, please." She did.

Up close her blue eyes could drown someone, he took breath. "Match
your breathing to mine, and feel the floating on the raft, gently moving up and down with the
swells, up and down, breathing with me."

She caught her breath, and he curled his fingers around hers gently,
breathing slowly. she relaxed and felt herself drifting away from the chair.

Suddenly they were both on the raft, on the ocean and the whale was there. Singing, the song triggering pictures in her brain, in his brain. They were sitting
forehead to forehead, and she lifted her head and looked at the whale. The whale looked back.

She could see images of not just the snow the whale had shown her falling from a few months earlier, but a land, a shore line, and it was covered in snow. The sky
was dark and lights danced in the dark sky, and something else. A huge beam of pulsating
light, with a circular motion that seem to cut straight up into the night sky, and she felt fear.

The whale drew her closer to the shore. Charles patted her hand, it was then that she realized he could see what she was seeing. He smiled and nodded at the whale.

She turned her head back. It was if she was on it's back, and as they approached the shore, her breath caught. There was nothing , life, all life, trees, and the shore itself had decay upon it. Burned for miles around the pulsating light, and only the light frizzing with an energy from some unseen source seemed to be alive.

The whale moved back away from the shore, but swam along moving
slowly, flashing images of rusted machines, buildings falling down from rot, all the old things from a time well before Rosemma was born, before Charles was born.

They both watched the light clearly visible even as they got further up the shore, snow falling now as they traveled with the whale.

Then the scene changed, and the whale seemed to move into a different
time, people were moving on the shore, and the snow was gone. Machines, and men drifted about strong and dominant buildings, busy with their activities. And there was no beam of light.

Suddenly they seemed to move again into a different scene.

The men were intensely watching the sky, and then the beam shot up into the sky. And a horrible thing began to happen. Men began to cry out, and fall down
shaking their arms and legs, some screaming before they lay still.

Rosemma gasped and Charles put his hand on her temple, murmuring soft words as to a frightened child. "Rosemma, take a breath, stay with the whale, stay with me."

She breathed a ragged breath and felt the whale reach out and soothe her, and she found the strength to stay there.

It was not easy. For next the whale moved them back to the raft, and pushed them in another direction, and they moved again back in time.

They moved closer to a coast that Rosemma knew, and she saw
more people falling down, flaying in spasms before they stopped, all ages of people, men, women and children.
Her eyes filled with tears, but then she saw some of the people move, and eventually get up. Very few. And they were confused, and cried out in pain at what they saw.

Charles spoke " Rosemma this was the time of the Great Death, and so these were the surviviors. Whatever knocked them down, did not kill all of them. Most of them, but these were the ones who are our ancestors. Only a few generations back."

At this point, Rosemma also looked about the ocean and saw other victims and survivors. The whales, the Nommos had suffered greatly too. Death floated all around them in the ocean, and she looked into the great creatures eye and saw sorrow there.

"Charles, they lost their loved ones too, and so did all creatures that lived here!" It was a revelation, she saw the whales as they were, intelligent, loving,
with families, and a connection to each other, and they had suffered the blow and had reached out. To them, to humans out of such a loneliness so deep, and sad, they put aside all of their fear of humans to make contact. And some of the humans had changed, could hear them, and feel and see what they sang about.

She reached over and put her hand on the whale, and shed tears, the tears falling on the wet skin of the Nommos. The creature began to sing to soothe her, and Charles sat in awe.

Finally he spoke, "Rosemma, I think you should say goodbye, and let it be known we will be back to visit. We will both be very tired, and so will the Nommos." He
gave a smile to the great creature, it was an honor to just be included in this contact.

Nose running, Rosemma whispered" Goodbye, I will come to see you again, I will come to find you, I will try to travel to the ocean when the weather is better, or go southnow if I have to to see you, you would find me? The Nommos sang back in agreement, and she kissed it above the eye.
"Goodbye, dear one until then."I will come." And she broke the contact.

They were back in the cabin, sitting knee to knee. Rosemma rubbed her palms on her knees and spoke.

" What did we just do?" Charles rubbed his eyes, fumbling around trying to find his glasses. "I am a singer too, but I hear other creatures most of the time, I have only heard a whale once in a trip to the coast with my grandfather."

"But I learned to vision quest and travel between when I showed some
abilities as a child, and was apprenticed to my own grandfather, who is a shaman. Just as your
great grandfather is a a magician, and wizard, I suppose."

She looked around the room trying to help him locate his glasses. They were in the corner, how they ended up there, well she could put that to right. Reaching out her hand, she moved them from the corner right into her palm.

Charles sat startled. " Well it looks like there is more than meets the eye with you , young lady. A talent very few possess. Telekinesis indeed."

Rosemma grimaced, " Please don't tell anyone, I am afraid one of the
teachers will want to make me their apprentice, and it is not that I don't like them all, but I am
happy where I am, with Grandmother and Jack Chang."

" Well, dearest girl", that gleam of mischief was back, " I think I can find someone who may just be the one to teach you, but first you'll be happy to know, you passed the test with more than the highest colors. Funny phrase, that."

"I guess I am glad, but still, I can't sit in classes any more than I do now. I love some things, but do not like sitting so long. I just can't." Her eyes looked strained and her mouth drooped from exhaustion and the emotional burden left over from the visions she had seen.

" Listen, I will teach you, and no sitting for too long. I am claiming you as my apprentice, you have a special gift, and need special training. My grandfather will be there to keep us both out of trouble, that is if he and Jack Chang can keep themselves out of trouble."
" It won't be easy, we will have to learn what that great beam of light is."

Rosemma looked drained as she almost slid out of the chair to the floor, and Charles caught her and half carried her out into the fresh air. They sat down on the steps, and he made her put her head down. Then he stepped to get her a drink of water.

She drank and gratefully smiled a thanks up to him. He smiled back.
"What did I just do, claiming her as my apprentice, here I am charmed by her already, dear
spirits, how do I go from here?"