Cold Days and Colder Nights

Upon reflection, she can never remember being as cold as she has been on this migration to the northern grounds. Perhaps that is because they have never left as late in the season as they did this time. So many obstacles had been thrown at them, but there was a certain amount of pride and satisfaction that they had met each one as a cohesive group, as a people. Each challenge had been met, and overcome.


And then there was the question of personal challenges. She had her own share of those, and tried to do the best with them that she could. She had suffered pain, but survived. She had looked death in the face, and survived. She had to relinquish the feeding of her youngest son to another while she was injured, but they had both survived that. She had spent many lonely nights, because her mate was tending to tribe affairs, but she survived.



All of these things heavy on her mind and heart during the last few hands of the journey, but she tried to face them one at a time. Perhaps it is selfish of her, but the one that seemed to haunt her the most was not getting to spend enough time with Ba'atar. She understood it, that the Tribe came first, as it should, but that did not mean she had to like it. It just seemed like each time they tried to get away just to talk, it did not happen. Someone always interrupted, someone always had to have his ear on some of the most amazingly mundane things you could imagine, but he gave it. It was actually funny in a way, that the man who could be so selfish at times, gave so freely to his people.


Right now, what she wanted most was just an ahn or two with him, with no interruptions, with no one needing his ear. For just a small amount of time, she would like to be the focus of his every thought. She promises to give him back, honestly she does. So many nights, he had finally stumbled into the wagon, only to fall into an exhausted sleep with maybe a kiss to her cheek or her temple. And on most of those nights, his rest was not for long, because someone was always looking for him, needing him. And so goes life.