Redsand Canyon You've only known the ones who leave at dawn

Germanicus answered in a way that only he could.

Crowfeather looked away from the older man.

How unfair… how unfair that Germanicus had been sent away while Crowfeather had been left behind. Ruenna had been able to follow. She had sought out the silver eagle on her own, with no suffering in her ability. She had been able to fight for him. This thought struck the dark figure in a way that was sharp and painful against his chest. Once, he would have thought only good things of Ruenna. Now he hated her.

Their children had been born the day before.

Crowfeather had never felt anger in such a way. He could not meet the gaze of the other man. In a day he had been wed to a woman they had only had a few chance meetings with. Then again, the shadow recalled how Germanicus had willingly gone to lay with the pale Fellahin on their first night in Akashingo. That had been forgiven after much selfish pouting and frustration.

They had shared more since that night, had they not? They had spoken in a way that was unlike two men.

I thought of you every day. Crowfeather would not congratulate Germanicus on his children. He could not force the words to flutter from his mouth on hurried wings. Even if he could, he knew that it would not sound genuine. It would be said with hate. Our trip to the east was my motivation. To walk and heal… to speak with the Pharaoh.

Crowfeather thought of the man’s lapis gaze, and he felt fearful. Ramesses had such power, such charm.

He wanted to wed me to a stranger. He called me… a prince of Akashingo. I prayed you would return. I prayed to the stars every night for a dream, for a vision of where you were, if you were alright. It felt pathetic. Love had never been good to Crowfeather. Why would this be different?

It won’t matter now, so it makes saying this easier…

Still, he would not look at the older man. His heart pounded in his throat with the rage of so many wrongdoings and so much pain.

After our last discussion, I thought very hard about what you had said to me. I have never been a fighter, Germanicus, but when you said that Ruenna had offered to marry you- Crowfeather had dispensed with the pleasantries of calling the woman Lady Ruenna. She was not a lady anymore. She was another void that had sucked his hope away. I wanted to fight.

A bitter smile found its way to his dark lips. It only tugged at the edges of his features. The boy’s eyes remained vigilant upon the water.

I think I love…d you. I hoped every day that I would see you climbing the mesa again. That I could tell you.

But you never came.


And it did not matter anymore. There would be no journey to the east, no hopes of further hunts in the dark woods, or fishing in the rivers. Germanicus was married and he had made a family. All of the things that he had denied so firmly now sat in his lap and beamed at the seer with wicked little teeth.