Rafts by Utunu

Author:Utunu
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9798987618929
Publisher: Mapaku Village

Ceremony

“Two halves can make more than a whole.”

Tumari proverb

The full moon had reached its apex once more, and I went to mark it. There was a large tree near our shelter, and soon after our discovery of the island I had started carving a short slash for each moon’s turning. There were thirteen now—we had been here a year. I stared at the markings for a moment; I hadn’t known so much time had passed. Shima had been the difference, I supposed. If I had been alone…

Our unhurried construction of the raft was coming along nicely. We finally had enough logs, I thought, to provide the entirety of that bottom layer, and had collected a number of smaller pieces to craft the top upon which we’d sit. We’d bring our spears, and a number of containers for water; several moons ago Shima had helped me gather a few coconuts and break them in half so we had more water containers for when we needed them. I wasn’t exactly sure how I felt about leaving, but I felt I should find out what happened to my village. I assumed Shima felt the same way; he hadn’t said anything about it, but dutifully worked with me in preparing the raft. I estimated we had perhaps half a moon of preparation left—at our admittedly leisurely pace—before we might be ready to depart.

There was an evening like many others; we sat at the fire together sharing our dinner. Shima sang, as was now happily a common occurrence during our evenings. He had lost none of his ability, and as always, I was entranced. He sang for longer than normal, and kept glancing my way as he did so, which was different. There was a different tone to it too—but as always it was all in gnollish, and though I could pick out a word or two, it was not enough for me to understand. There was an eagerness to it, a focus, as if he wasn’t singing to the fire or to the ocean or to the world around us, but as if it were pieces of himself. It almost felt like he was singing to me, specifically, and every time he looked over and met my eyes, he looked almost bashful. It was entirely unlike him.

“Shima?”

I saw his tail twitch.

“Shima, what is it?”

“Kunet! Want to go look at stars?”

It seemed as if he could barely sit still. I smiled. “The sun hasn’t even set yet! But if you’re that impatient, of course I’m happy to.”

He grabbed my hand in his and pulled me to my feet, leading me up the trail to the top of the cliff. I laughed. “Shima, what’s gotten into you? We have all night if that’s what you want.”

About halfway up he lost his patience with my relative slowness, and sped on up ahead of me. I made my way to the top to find him sitting at the cliff edge, legs folded, almost quivering with excitement and doing a rather poor job of staying still.

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