Floating Cloud

Floating Cloud sat on the lakeside path with her dead daughter on her lap. Silent Pool’s last words were “I am with Fast Skimmer. Please take good care of Quiet Rabbit.” Then she closed her eyes and with a smile on her lips she let out a long breath and was gone.

Floating Cloud knew that her will to live had left her moons ago when she lost her soul mate.

Floating Cloud looked up into the clear blue sky. Her tears ran freely down her cheeks. She had watched Silent Pool look up and smile, then trip over a limp, fall backward and hit her head on a stone. It was as if she had seen where she was going. Her smile was the first since Fast Skimmer had been killed.

Floating Cloud thought back at her own similar experience. Her parents had not approved of the person she had chosen as her mate. Her mother had sent her on her way declaring that her family name was now Black Storm Cloud.

She and her mate had made their own way for almost twenty moon cycles then they came upon the Elk Hide Clan and had been accepted.

It was an overwhelming shock when, that fall season, she lost her mate during the first hunt. He fell from a cliff as he tried to run down a small boar.

She had been devastated but her love for Silent Pool had sustained her.

Silent Pool was the reason she had recovered. She was born on a spring morning like the one she had now died on. Floating Cloud thought back to all the times her daughter had saved her from the darkness that often threatened to consume her. She knew that she had not been able to give that relief back to Silent Pool.

Now she sat and cried.

She stood and picked up Silent Pool and slowly carried her back to the Elk Campsite. She would take her to the Shaman of the Next Life who would prepare her for the journey to the land of the Ancestors.

White Swan came to her and helped carry Silent Pool. She asked what had happened. She listened as Floating Cloud described what had taken place and her interpretation of it.

White Swan commented on how sad she was. Fast Skimmer had been a good friend and when he and Silent Pool became mates, she too became a good friend.

She shared the fact that it had been clear to everyone how much Silent Pool missed her mate.

White Swan left Floating Cloud with the Shaman but told her to come to her camp site when she was through. She would have Quiet Rabbit there.

Silent Pool had once again given Floating Cloud a reason to stay young. She would need all her strength to care for and raise her grand-daughter Quiet Rabbit. She would need Quiet Rabbit as much as Quiet Rabbit would need her.

When she saw White Swan approaching, Quiet Rabbit knew that something was wrong. When she was invited to have the morning meal at White Swan’s campsite, she knew it was bad. She was trembling as she walked with White Swan to her camp.

Taelo was sitting on a log near the fire. He looked at her and pointed to a seat near to him. He pointed to a leather sack hanging near the fire and said that the morning stew would make them all feel better.

Quiet Rabbit looked at Grey Fox Running. He seemed to have the same tears in his eyes that he had on the day he brought her father home.

She immediately had tears in her eyes. She knew instantly that Floating Cloud would come to tell her that her mother was gone.

She began to silently cry.

She felt Taelo’s arm go around her shoulder. He gave her a hug and quietly told her his heart hurt too. He told her to look at the clouds in the sky and imaging floating there with her father and mother.

Floating Cloud took in the scene around White Swan’s cook fire. She paused for a moment, took a deep breath before going on.

She tried to keep her composure as she approached Quiet Rabbit. She was not sure how she was going to break the news.

Quiet Rabbit looked up at Floating Cloud and saw tears in her eyes. It was clear to her that everyone was crying.

It was also obvious that her mother was not there.

She knew in her heart that her mother was with her father. It was where her mother wished to be.

A shiver ran through her. She closed her eyes and wished her mother happiness.

Thank you for reading this far.