WAIT. Don't spoil it for yourself by reading this post until you've read the story from the beginning.
The sidebar on the left will take you through the doses of story ... enjoy it for the magic!
xo Mokihana
Hapa "of mixed blood"
-Hawaiian Dictionary, Pukui and Ebert
They were not so different from their friends. Minoaka was true to her name, a dimpled laugh punctuated her face and the hearts of everyone who met her. From the start our daughter wore her destiny on her face along with the long and curved nose of her father. Covered with soft dawny feathers of silver until she was steady on her two human feet this child was the patient and steady twin. Comfortable within the nest she waited to speak. Skeena was given the name to remind the twins of their Tsimshian lineage.* The boy was as fluid and quick as the swift and long flowing river for which he was named. "He will need someone who is agile with arrows, and nimble with his fingers." Raven saw into his son's future as clearly as he saw through the limbs of an acre of cedar. "When I have taught him all I know, he will want more."
I knew my mate looked at destiny with eyes different than mine, I asked, "Is it magic he will need?"
"Yes, but it is not so much that he will need magic. He wears those genes already." Those golden eyes caressed me with knowing. Raven saw into things and was facile with adaptation. "There are people, mortals that like you who criss-cross the borders and make sense of the many ways to be in human skin."
"Apprenticeship?" I questioned, knowing that was one way to put it. Raven and I home-schooled the twins during the first dozen years. It was easier to manage the nightly transformation from skin to feathers. Languages of bird and kanaka came naturally; family visits and neighbors' kept the windows and hinges to our doors in constant motion. Stories and music, harvest times and planting seasons; play-filled and mischief-making all of these common remedies filled the bellies of our children. This fall approaching was a special time, I could sniff it even as the summer was not yet done with the squash fattening on the vines.
"I've seen a pair of brothers particularly good at juggling magic.Watching them season in season out, they feel a good match."
"Are they far from us? Will he need to leave us soon?" I was not ready to live without Skeena.
"Not far, but yes soon Skeena will leave us for awhile. You will like the brothers I have seen. That I promise." He cupped my round face with his silver-tipped wings. "They are menders and meddlers," he added.
"My favorite sort of magicians," I said. My tears rolled onto his vest and hid in his waistcoat pocket for safe keeping.
*(The Tsimshian (/ˈsɪmʃiən/; Sm'algyax: Ts’msyan) are an indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest Coast. Tsimshian translates to Inside the Skeena River.[1] Their communities are in British Columbia and Alaska, around Terrace and Prince Rupert and the southernmost corner of Alaska on Annette Island. There are approximately 10,000 Tsimshian. Their culture is matrilineal with a societal structure based on a clan system, properly referred to as a moiety. Early anthropologists and linguistics grouped Gitxsan and Nisga'a as Tsimshian because of linguistic affinities. Under this terminology they were referred to as Coast Tsimshian, even though some communities were not coastal. The three groups identify as separate nations. There are many other ways to spell the name, such as Tsimpshean, Tsimshean, Tsimpshian, and others, but this article will use the spelling "Tsimshian".)
I knew my mate looked at destiny with eyes different than mine, I asked, "Is it magic he will need?"
"Yes, but it is not so much that he will need magic. He wears those genes already." Those golden eyes caressed me with knowing. Raven saw into things and was facile with adaptation. "There are people, mortals that like you who criss-cross the borders and make sense of the many ways to be in human skin."
"Apprenticeship?" I questioned, knowing that was one way to put it. Raven and I home-schooled the twins during the first dozen years. It was easier to manage the nightly transformation from skin to feathers. Languages of bird and kanaka came naturally; family visits and neighbors' kept the windows and hinges to our doors in constant motion. Stories and music, harvest times and planting seasons; play-filled and mischief-making all of these common remedies filled the bellies of our children. This fall approaching was a special time, I could sniff it even as the summer was not yet done with the squash fattening on the vines.
"I've seen a pair of brothers particularly good at juggling magic.Watching them season in season out, they feel a good match."
"Are they far from us? Will he need to leave us soon?" I was not ready to live without Skeena.
"Not far, but yes soon Skeena will leave us for awhile. You will like the brothers I have seen. That I promise." He cupped my round face with his silver-tipped wings. "They are menders and meddlers," he added.
"My favorite sort of magicians," I said. My tears rolled onto his vest and hid in his waistcoat pocket for safe keeping.
There's a new entry to the journal. Read it here. But, if you have come to read and be part of Our Audience, these New Segments are just starting to uncover things to come. I would love to hear what the original entries (ending here) have been like for you. Thanks so much for your participation!
*(The Tsimshian (/ˈsɪmʃiən/; Sm'algyax: Ts’msyan) are an indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest Coast. Tsimshian translates to Inside the Skeena River.[1] Their communities are in British Columbia and Alaska, around Terrace and Prince Rupert and the southernmost corner of Alaska on Annette Island. There are approximately 10,000 Tsimshian. Their culture is matrilineal with a societal structure based on a clan system, properly referred to as a moiety. Early anthropologists and linguistics grouped Gitxsan and Nisga'a as Tsimshian because of linguistic affinities. Under this terminology they were referred to as Coast Tsimshian, even though some communities were not coastal. The three groups identify as separate nations. There are many other ways to spell the name, such as Tsimpshean, Tsimshean, Tsimpshian, and others, but this article will use the spelling "Tsimshian".)
