[Flashback] Where's That Cow?!

by **Kanara Keezheekoni** on April 25th, 2011, 10:05 pm

Season of Fall, Day 25, 508

Kanara had her hands splayed out in front of her, fingers flexed to the max. Her eyes were squeezed shut, with small beads of sweat forming at her temples. “Where are you?” She muttered. She could hear Kasu breathing behind her, her brother shifting impatiently, her grandmother’s presence. They were all distracting her, too many energy signatures for her to handle. She knew them so well; her pores had picked up on them immediately. She scowled slightly, trying to ignore them. It should have been easy especially because she knew their energies; her problem lay in her lack of knowledge. She had no idea what kind of energy she was looking for. Her grandmother has said she had sensed a cow that had escaped the Eypharian herd. It was supposedly a scrawny, sickly beast that would do nothing more than provide them with a little milk before they’d have to slaughter it. But, meat was meat in the desert and they were running out of supplies.

A sigh escaped her lips as she searched the vibrations in the air again. She didn’t feel anything thing other than her horse, brother, and grandmother surrounding her. They had formed a circle, putting her in the center so as to confuse her senses and to her frustration it had worked. “I can’t feel it, Shimasani.” Kanara told her grandmother, gritting her teeth.

Her grandmother walked towards her, looking thoughtful and stared intently into her eyes. “You’re probably thinking too much. You have to let yourself feel it, all of it. Let’s go over it again.”

“Again?! Why do I have to listen to all of this?” Her brother, Cheveyo exclaimed. Kanara shot him a deadly glare.

“This can help you too Cheveyo.” Their grandmother said to him as she called Kasu to her.

“But, I could be out hunting!”

“You are out hunting,” Kanara told him, rolling her eyes.

“Well, you’re taking forever!”

“Enough!” Their grandmother said, silencing them immediately. “Now, Kanara. We must start from the beginning. Our world is full of energy and life. Each person, object, and animal has a different kind of energy and these energies change depending on movement. We Chaktawe are best at sensing large disturbances caused by movement." She paused, her white eyes searching Kanara's face. Karana stared back; her face intrigued. Her grandmother smiled, satisfied to have her protegee hooked and so continued. "Now, the real skill lies in in sensing those that don't move."

Kanara eyebrows furrowed in doubt, it wasn’t that she didn't believe her grandma. She knew that her grandmother was an exceptional tracker simply because she was blind. But, she didn't know if she had the skills to do what her grandmother thought she was capable of.

If her grandmother had seen her granddaughters' looks of doubt, she showed no sign. Instead, she continued on with her lecture. "Everything in our world vibrates. Big or small. You just have to listen."

Kanara nodded and then sat down. The sand was warm beneath her, it was mid-morning and the sun was already blazing down at them. If she didn't get it by mid-day, her grandmother would lead her brother to the cow instead. No! I will get it this time! I have to. She closed her eyes and began to breathe deeply. Inhale...exhale. Her mind blacked out for a few moments before her emotions began raging around her; doubt, frustration, anger, and guilt. She tried desperately to block them out, battling to suppress them but to no avail. Her eyes snapped open as she succumbed to her emotions. Disappointed, she refused to look into her grandmothers’ eyes so she stared hard eyed into the sand in front of her. Finally, when she couldn’t take the silence anymore, she looked up.

Her grandmother was sitting on Kasu, her white hair flowing in the desert winds and mingling with Kasu’s. When had she gotten on top of Kasu? Sometime when she was meditating she supposed. “Kanara, you can only learn this skill if you learn to accept your feelings, not shun them. Now, try again.” Stifling a small sigh, Kanara closed her eyes again. Just as before her head cleared, then the emotions started. This time she didn’t fight it, she let them wash over her and slowly her mind was blank once again.

Translation :

by **Kanara Keezheekoni** on May 1st, 2011, 4:11 am

“Good! Now, listen.”

Kanara brought her hand hands up in front of her, concentrating on what her fingers were telling her. Her mind was a blank state, well for most of the time. As she listened, small wisps of colour began to fill her mind. It was the way her mind worked, changing what her fingertips sensed into pools of color. She began to separate the colours to help her identify what objects or people they were associated with.

She started with her brother’s spear. In its stillness, it gave of a pale, gray hum. When her brother moved it from hand to hand, the colour spiked to a brighter shade of gray, before returning to its pale grey stillness once again. Kanara moved on to her brother next. He was pacing back and forth, sending her strong waves of bright orange. His energy was completely different that his spear’s, she noticed. Comparing them, she observed that her bothers’ energy was shorter, but his was stronger, more excited, and almost louder in a sense.

Curious, she moved her focus onto her grandmother and Kasu. She struggled to separate their two energies, but found she couldn’t. After a few moments of struggling, she relaxed and did what her grandmother had said; listened. Their energy was not as vibrant as Cheveyo, probably because they weren’t moving. However, Kanara could still sense waves of bright purple. Finally, she realized that her grandmothers’ and Kasu’s energies had combined; interweaving themselves to become one. So that’s why I couldn’t separate them.

Kanara blinked opened her eyes, a question ready at her lips. “Shimasani. Will all energies change?”

Her grandmother smiled, “Usually.”

“How will I know what they are then?”

“You won’t.” Her grandmother stated simply. “We can identify these disturbances, only when we sense it often. Just like how you can recognize your brother or Kasu. But, we already know you can track us.” Her grandmother said, waving her hands around like she was clearing dust from her face. “The real task is finding that cow.”

Kanara looked at her grandmother doubtfully. How was she supposed to find this cow if she had never felt its energy before?

by **Kanara Keezheekoni** on August 8th, 2011, 1:15 am

Closing her eyes once again, Kanara settled back into her blank state. It took a few moments to let the emotions wash through her, but she achieved it faster than before. Next she let the colours of those immediately near her flow by her. She held herself there, not searching. Just listening.

As her mind adjusted, she started to feel the movements of those a little farther from her. Beetles scuttling across the sand in muted waves of orange. A jackal and her cubs stirring in the west in weak pulses of yellow. Scorpions moving-wait. She paused her senses for a moment. Why would jackals be rising so close to noon day? They hunted at dusk and dawn...unless they sensed an easy catch like a sickly cow. Intrigued by her idea, she focused on the jackals. The pulses slowly began to get stronger until she was receiving consistent waves of energy. The jackals were moving.

Kanara shifted towards them, her left hand flexed. Her brother was in that direction. His energy had changed to a muted orange, he had probably stopped pacing. She let his energy flow past her before the jackals’ energy reached her. The energy came to her clearer, easier to read. Her left hand seemed to pick up animate objects better than her right. Reading the signature, she realized they were headed north, or northwest from her. So, she tried to zero her senses in that direction; setting invisible boundaries in her mind. Then, she listed to the energy in that area. She let them come at her in a wave of muted colours and she slowly filtered though them. Finally, she sensed a small weak pulse of dull gray-yellow. The pulse was faltering too much to be a healthy beast, but it was still moving.

A small blossom of happiness fluttered in her stomach. Has she actually found it? Before letting herself get too happy, she reeled her feelings in; they hadn’t gotten to the cow yet. Now, they had jackals after it too. Not to mention any other creature that was hunting for meat.

“I think I found it. But, the jackals are after it too. We have to move now,” she told her company grimly.

Cheveyo sprang to his feet quickly and hefted his spear out of the ground. “Let’s go.”

Rising from her place, Kanara pointed northwest. She held onto to the weak signature and began moving. Her grandmother and Kasu followed besides Cheveyo. They let her lead, for which she was grateful. They moved fast, Kanara focused on their target.

Before long, they had reached their target. It was sitting right in front of them, surrounded by a large jackal and her almost full grown cubs.

by **Kanara Keezheekoni** on September 30th, 2011, 4:13 am

The jackals turned to face the intruders, turning their back to the cow. The cow, foaming slightly at the mouth, had already given up. It had collapsed on sand and was breathing shallowly. Kanara felt pity for the creature, it would be best to end it's suffering.

But, she had to get through the jackals first. There were five jackals, including the mother. A brief intense silence followed as the two groups stared each other down. Kanara glared at the pack, her teeth clenched. Her body was leaning forward with her staff gripped in both hand. Her awareness dimmed, her grip left her hearing the songs of the wood than the motions of coming battle. She could only feel her heart pounding in her temple. So, she tried to focus on forming a plan instead. Her brother was close, he was standing to her right with his spear pointed in front of him. Her grandmother and Kasu were behind them.

Then, before she could form any thought, there was jackal on top of her. A cry rang out and the battle began. Kanara could feel herself falling, in a moment she was on her back. The sand burned as she struggled to get back up. A set of paws kept her down as she fended the jackal back with her staff. She held her staff horizontally pushing at the creature's mouth to keep it from biting her.

“Kasu, go!” She yelled. She didn't want her grandmother anywhere near the attack.

“Be careful!” Her grandmother yelled back.

Once Kanara heard the sound of hoof-beats disappear behind her, she turned her attention back to the battle in front of her. Another jackal was running toward her. Frantically, she kicked out, catching it on the shoulder. Meanwhile, her arms were fatiguing fast as the jackal tried to reach her. Gritting her teeth, she held on, kicking the other cub as it tried to approach again, until the first jackal had had enough and ripped it's jaw from her staff and tried another approach. Anticipating this, Kanara was ready to attack. As soon as the jackal had pulled back and was diving in for the second round, she twisted her arms and stuck the cub hard in the jaw with the brunt of her weapon. The jackal yelped, pulling it's weight off her.

Using it's dazed state to her advantage, she stood and quickly struck it again on it's temple, rendering it unconscious. Breathing hard, she took a squinted around her. The noon day sun was bright and left glares on light. Finally she made out the other cub limping back to it's mother, favouring one of it's leg. She must have kicked one of it's leg out. On the other side, her brother was fighting off the other two jackals. She ran towards him, her staff in both hands ready to strike. As she got closer, the mother jackal intercepted her.

Surprised, she stopped running. The mother took advantage and leaped towards her, her mouth opening to show a large array of sharp teeth. Kanara jumped back, bringing her backhand forward to strike. Her staff collided with the mother jackal's body. Feeling the impact, Kanara pushed hard, pulling the jackal out of midair and tossing her down into the sand. Panting hard, she felt a small moment of triumph at her achievement until the jackal quickly came back to her feet.