Dark Silver: Chapter IX

Chapter Nine: Truth

“Man, what a party.” David woke up much later than he usually did. It seemed to be midday. But it did not really matter since pretty much everyone else was completely exhausted from last night. All but Takoda of course, he still wanted to do nothing but play with David. However, Wematin did nothing to help him. David would have to find a game that wouldn’t require him to work so hard, and fast. ‘Ive got it' thought David.

“Hey Takoda, would you like to play a brand new game?”

“Really,” Takoda’s face lit up with joy and anxiety, “what is it called, and how do you play it.”

“It’s called hand slap,” explained David, “you hold out your hands like this and I try to slap them and you pull them back. If I miss, then you get to try.”

They both sat down across from each other inside the hut in the center of the camp and got to playing the game. It didn’t take Takoda very long to match David’s speed, and eventually exceed it. David was so sure that he was guaranteed to win. During the game, David noticed that others around him were playing, too. Soon, David realized that he taught something even worse than high five. Again, he would have to find a way to change the situation in his favor.

“Takoda,” said David, “do you remember how you, your father, and Wyanet tickled the hell out of me yester day?”

“Do you want to do it again?”

“Not exactly, but I can’t do it without your help. You in?” Takoda leaned in to hear what David had in mind.

After a few minutes of planning, Takoda and David began to look for Wematin. When they did, their plan was put into action.

“Hey dude,” said David, “how are you?”

“I’m just fine,” said Wematin, “what are you up to?”

“Nothing much. I’ve just been looking for Wyanet. Do you have any idea where she might be?”

“I think she’s in her tepee.”

“What is she doing in there, still sleeping?”

“Actually, I think I recall her saying something about you, but I can’t be sure.”

“Thanks,” said David, “Oh, there’s still one more thing.” David walked right up to Wematin and pushed him with Takoda on all fours behind his knees, causing him to loose balance and fall on the ground with a thud.

“COME ON!!” David grabbed Takoda's hand and made a run for it.

“You little brats!” yelled Wematin, but they were long gone before he could get up.

When the little troublemakers were sure that the coast was clear, they headed for Wyanet. David asked her to come out.

“Hi David,” she said, “just the person I wanted to see.”

“What for?”

“I wanted to give you a birthday gift,” she held out a long hunting bow and a quiver filled with arrows, “hope you like it.” David tried on the quiver and gave a pull on the bowstring. This was so much cooler than his old Winchester.

“You kidding, I love it. I can’t wait to try it out.” David gave Wyanet a big smile of gratitude. “However,” said David, “there’s still something that I have to do before I do.” And just like he did to Wematin, David pushed her and she fell back into her tepee yelling “What the hell?". Once again David made a run for it, but not before picking up Takoda with a big smile on his face.

“Dawvid, what are you doing?” Not saying anything, David threw Takoda into Wyanet’s little shelter and ran to look for a hiding place. And luckily just before Wematin arrived at the last place where David and Takoda wrecked havoc.

The annoyed father poked his head inside looking at Wyanet holding down and interrogating David’s partner in crime.

“Where did he go, Takoda? Tell me or I’ll leave you to your father.”

“I’d don’t know.”

“We don’t have any time for your cheap tricks,” said Wematin, “we want to know where David went and now.”

“I swear I don’t know. Dawvid told me that we were in it together, that he wanted to get back at you two for tickling him yesterday.”

“You tickled him too. Didn’t you think that he’d want to get you as well?” Takoda hadn’t thought about that. He was so surprised that David would trick him into thinking it was a game, but at the same time he couldn’t help but see the humor in the irony.

“Where do you think David would hide,” asked Wyanet, “He’s so damn unpredictable.”

“What are you asking me for,” answered Wematin, “you know him better than anybody else here.” Then at the same time, all three of them looked at one another and each one of them knew exactly where David had gone.

David knew it was risky, but there was no way that they would expect him to hide in the chief’s hut. He took a good peek before daring to enter. If Gahege was there, then David could simply claim that he was looking for Ominotago, though he hoped that it wouldn’t come to that. Something about her made David a little uneasy.

“Hello,” said David, “is anybody in here?”

“Who is it?” Initially David thought that it was Gahege, but he then realized that it was only Maiara sitting in her chair. “David, how nice to see you.”

“You too miss,” David had never talked to her before, and he hoped to God that she wasn’t anything like her husband, “do you think I could ask you favor?”

“Sure, what is it?”

“Well, you see,” if David had ever been shy in his life, then this would have been it, “I kind of pulled a fast one on Wyanet, Wematin, and Takoda…”

“You’re asking me if you can hide here, aren’t you?”

David gave an awkward smile; he just knew that she would deny him refuge in her living quarters.

“Well, if I were in your situation, I’d have to say that the best hiding place would be behind me in my chair.”

“Thank you so much,” David quickly took her suggestion and crouched behind her, and waited without making a sound. Suddenly, someone had walked in. ‘Crap,’ David thought, ‘what have I gotten myself into this time?’

“I don’t know how much longer I can do this,” it was Gahege, “it’s so emotionally draining and putting a stress on my nerves.”

“What are you talking about?” Maiara had a good idea of what was rushing through the chief’s mind.

“That human, David, I can’t stand him and what he’s doing.”

“And what exactly has he done that upsets you so much?”

“He’s changing everything here; everywhere I go someone is doing or talking about something that is somehow related to him. Just today I saw him playing some kind of hands game with a cub. Then i saw that everyone around him started doing it and having the time of their lives.”

“People just enjoy what David has to offer to our tribe. Why does that bother you so much?”

“Because everyone is forgetting about why we disliked humans in the first place. They’ve taken away so many things that are rightfully ours.”

“What has David taken away other than the hate that has filled our hearts for many generations. But that’s not what you believe he’s stolen from you.” Gahege knew exactly where Maiara was going with this, “you’re afraid that your own daughter will choose David over you.” David wondered whom she could be talking about. “Even if she did you know that she would only be following her heart and that she will always love you no matter what.”

“That’s the problem. When Wyanet believes that David feels the same way about him as he does about her, then she’ll realize that David’s so called affection and emotions were an act all along.” Wyanet is Gahege’s daughter? David would have never made that connection in a thousand years. At least now he knew that Wyanet got her personality from her mother.

“How can you say that? Wyanet and David owe their very lives to each other, and you owe him a real chance. Can’t you see that he’s doing everything he can to make you realize that?”

“I can’t believe what I’m hearing, you’re choosing the whelp over me.”

“I’m not choosing either one of you over the other, I’m trying to help you so that you won’t regret what you’re doing for years to come.”

"It's not a matter of what I will regret, but rather what I do regret."

"What exactly do you regret? That you've let Wyanet's new friend into to our protection, that you've still failed to open your heart as the rest of us have?"

"Not at all, rather I regret that I haven't handed David over to the werewolves and watch them eat him alive. Or even better, turn him into one of them, giving me even more reason to kill him myself." Gahege punched through one of the walls of the hut and stormed out.

When Maiara was sure that her husband was long gone she reached behind her and motioned for David to come out. “It’s safe to come out now.” David got up and walked towards the exit.

“Wait, David,” called Maiara, “come here for a second.” David unwillingly did as he was told.

“David, I know that today is the first day that we’ve done so much as exchange words, but do you trust me to tell you what I really believe?” David nodded facing down, trying not to make eye contact with her.

“Look at me, David,” she put her finger under his chin and lifted his head looking him in the eye. Lifting his eyes, David returned the gesture.

“Do you really believe that he meant what he said about you?”

“Why else would he say those things?”

“I’ll tell you why, it’s because it's really hard for him to see such drastic changes in the ways he’s known his whole life. He’s too proud to say that he’s happy with what you have given us.”

“But he seems so certain in what he says.”

“Only because he doesn’t’ know what he really does think, about you and everything else. I also know that you’re by far the most honest and sweetest person to ever come within a hundred miles of this place, which makes you the most capable one to open up his heart and help him embrace what has happened within the past month. And do you know who else thinks the same way about you?” David smiled a little.

“Yes, she really loves you, David, more than you know. I know, even if you don’t, that you love her just as much.”

“Then why hasn’t she even told me that Gahege is her father?”

“Like I said, she loves you. She’s conflicted between telling you whatever will make you happy, and the cold hard truth that you need to know.”

“But why me, why do I have to do this?”

“Oh, David. You of all people should know that life is anything but fair. I know that you’re still very young and that you don’t deserve any pain that you’ve received in your life, but that pain and suffering is why you know that it must be you and only you who can lead us all to being a loving people as we were so long ago.

“Now, before you go, is there anything else you want?”

"Actually, there is one thing that i would really want to do," he said, "I know that, as you said, this is the first time we've talked. But i was wondering if i could... if i could call you 'mother'."

Maiara had a big smile on her face. She opened her arms and took David into her bosom. "Of course you can," she said, "I would love it if you called me that." David stood there, managing to shed a tear.

“David, I’m not going to let go until you hug me back.” When he wrapper his arms around her, David realized that despite all of the hugs he had received until now, this was the first time that he had hugged someone back. When they let go of each other, Maiara saw the gift he had received from Wyanet.

“I see that you have a new bow, why don’t you go out and practice. We could use another hunter.” With a new sense of purpose, David walked through the flap at the entrance and headed for target practice.

As David headed for the archery range, he saw his three friends running to find him, but when they noticed him he and Wyanet exchanged looks; after which David walked past her. She knew exactly what had happened.

“Mother,” said Wyanet as she furiously entered her parents’ hut, “what did you tell him?”

“I told him what he needed to hear.”

“And what is that.”

“The truth,” Wyanet calmed down when she heard this, “You protect his feelings too much. He’ll never be able to change your father if he doesn’t even know what to change about him.”

“But what if it is too much for him to take.”

“You may be surprised to hear that he took it very well.”

“Then why does he seem so upset with me?”

“He’s upset that you’ve kept these facts from him all this time. All he wants is for you to be completely honest with him. And no matter what I may have said, or what he heard from your father, his feelings for you will never end.” Just like David, Wyanet had come to realizations that she hadn’t understood until now.

“Do you know where he went?”

“He went to try out your birthday gift to him.”

David had made it to the archery range and watched all the other Tokala who were practicing. They were all so dead on accurate, causing David to feel out of his element, but he was going to give it a shot anyway.

Taking hold of his personal bow, which seemed so light but strong, David took an arrow out from his quiver and aimed at one of the targets. When he had let go, his arrow flew with amazing speed, but it was not at all accurate, which was probably because the bowstring had run against his arm. David looked down to see scraped and red skin. At least he wasn’t bleeding.

“Do you need a little help there?” Wyanet had appeared right behind David.

“No.” David gave it another try, but he still made the same mistake. He had no idea how the Tokala were able to use their bows so flawlessly.

“Really, because it really looks like you could use some help.” Just as she did with the hunting knife, Wyanet put her hands on David’s showing him how to hold the bow correctly. She then turned his arm to show how to avoid further injury. “Now, breathe in and release as you breathe out.” David was shocked to see that he got a bull’s eye. Just one lesson from Wyanet and he was nearly as good as everyone else.

“How do you do it, Wyanet?” asked David.

“Do you want me to show you again?”

“Not that, how can I be so angry with you at one moment, and then with a single action on your part I’m no longer upset? I should be furious that you didn’t tell me that the only one here who hates me is your father. You don’t think that I could have been using that little bit of information up until now?”

“I didn’t want you to worry.”

“Oh, because it’s so much less a shock to me now.”

“Look, David, I’m sorry, okay. I’m sorry I didn’t put as much faith in you as you have done me. I’m sorry that I lied to you. But do you really think that I would ever intently hurt you in any way? Because if you do, then I don’t think I could live with myself.”

“Of course I don’t think that, just as I don’t think that Takoda will ever fail to completely run me down when we play.” David knew that what he said was a little funny, but he couldn’t be more serious.

“I’m glad to hear it.” And just to kiss and make up they shook each other's hand; David was still just a little upset. “Okay Takoda,” she yelled, “come on out.” David could hear something running in their direction, but when he tried to turn and look he realized that Wyanet had too tight a grasp on him, preventing him from getting away.

“What are you doing? I thought we were even after what I did.” David felt Takoda get a tight grip on his legs and began to drag him away to have his own idea of fun with him.

“So, you’ll just have to get even with us again.”

“And you can count on it,” yelled David, “ you can count on me to get back at you once again.”

“Have fun you two.” Wyanet just smiled and waved goodbye. She had a feeling that the four of them were going to be exchanging moves like this for a long time.

Gahege on the other hand had witnessed the whole thing from a distance with a smile on his face. Though it was hard to tell what exactly he was smiling about.