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The girl blinks freckles of ice out of her lashes. Her red cheeks and sharp nose do much to enliven her, but her eyes remain unflinching. You have scant time to ponder as the rest of the group looks on with a conjunction of irritation, confusion and intrigue. What you know is you gave your word to the Old Woman, and you’re doing your level best to have that mean something nowadays. You aren’t delving into the Malebolge, though the weather might’ve fooled you. You doubt the girl will be in much danger. You make a swift motion with your hand toward the group and she walks over.
Your obligations settled, you fall in with the others as the long step begins again out into the wilderness. East you head down the ridges and copses of pine and fir. After some discussion it is decided to try for the canyons of Owl’s Rake, about a day’s journey away. Light-in-his-Eyes is a second-rate woodsman and Kule has only heard of it. You have, of course, never been, so the Twins must lead. Red Hoof and Gray Hoof share an inscrutable look, then take to the front as the rest of you follow.
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Kule stole another glance at the girl. The tip of her nose bent up just so, like a curl of smoke. He had found his eyes tracing her cheekbones again and again, his chest warm in the snowy air. Her eyes flicked to his! That’s the second time she’d caught him. The girl walked over and the boy did his best to stare straight at Campbell’s gray leather jacket moving up ahead. The more Kule didn’t look, the more red his cheeks became and the more distance she closed until she was walking right beside him. After a few minutes of intense strain he risked a lightning glance to his periphery, only to find her eyes locked on him!
<span class="mu-i">”My Gran-”</span>
<span class="mu-i">”It’s the weather! It’s cold so my cheeks are warm! It’s cold…during winter…”</span>
He cut her off by reflex, his words flailing into a defensive posture. He realized only by degrees that his voice had cracked into a shrill whistle. It had been doing that lately. He had no recourse but to continue looking straight ahead and hope that she left him alone. Instead she just kept walking, stone faced. Very stone faced. Suspiciously so.
<span class="mu-i">”My Grandmother,”</span> Here she gave an exaggerated pause to make sure she wouldn’t be interrupted. <span class="mu-i">”My Grandmother knew your father and uncle when they were younger.”</span>
This was not so surprising, the Maidu were not a very large tribe and his village, Wetya’kat, was only three days away. The mention of his father summoned up his death in terrible clarity, the sound of his screams and the the stink of the entire village’s fear and helplessness, his uncle’s wretched face of anguish. His cheeks had soured from flush to wan. The girl looked at her feet.
