Nicolas and Sikkim Root

The air was cool and the sun was just beginning to rise as Nicolas walked along an animal trail in Pine Grove Canyon. His thoughts were filled with the adventures he wanted to experience through sea travel and far off land places that he had only heard about in stories told by his Elders. Places where the buildings were a lot different than the wood shacks his people lived in; where the food was richer in taste and of beautiful women not worn down by the hard labor of farming. Nicholas did not want a wife who worked in the fields with him. He wanted someone to care for the house and kids while he did the hard stuff.

However, he believed that such a beauty could only be found across the sea. He sighed and continued to walk along the trail, unaware of the woman standing amidst the trees on his right. She turned and watched him. Slowly, she moved from the trees and followed him. The trees had been pressing her to talk to him each time he walked the trails, but the laws between their peoples prevented such contact. She wasn't sure why this man was important. Wasn't sure why the trees wanted them together.

Nicolas ignored the urge in his gut to turn around. He didn't want to go back to his city. Not just yet. He turned at the sound of a mountain lion's cry. He froze when he saw a woman not much younger than him running toward the cat, sprinting toward them.

"Wait!" Nicolas called, but the mountain lion had all ready knocked her to the ground.

Nicolas pulled a knife from his boot and ran at the cat. The cat turned to him, teeth bared. He raised his arm raised, ready to strike. But the girl sat up, blocking his strike. Nicolas stopped. He could hear her voice, but did not understand what she was saying.

"What?" he asked.

"Talking to the cat, city boy," she replied, her voice only marginally louder as she kept her attention on the cat.

The cat purred loudly until her attention turned to something in the West. She smiled slightly as the cat moved closer for a moment before disappearing into the trees. Nicolas took a step toward her. An arrow buried itself in the ground next to her. He let the motion of the step carry him forward, but his own steps were stopped by another arrow. The late afternoon shadows draped everything, hiding whoever it was that was firing arrows. From the corner of his eye, Nicolas watched her stand. Her mouth moved again and this time he caught a few words. "…game … Lilly… Leaf."

She turned away and another arrow hit the ground inches from where she stepped. A second arrow came and hit next to her foot again. Nicolas grabbed her hand and pulled her away. He almost had to drag her because it seemed she couldn't move on her own very well. His grip released as the feathers of an arrow cut his arm. Covering the wound, he turned to see if she was okay, but she was gone. He tried to figure out where she went, but he could see nothing. He didn't even know her name, unless it was the one she had spoken.

"Lilly," he said softly.

He was answered with a cat's call and turned to see the mountain lion that had knocked the woman to the ground. It was only in sight for a moment before it left again. Blood was beginning to seep from between his fingers and he tore enough off his sleeve to wrap it until it could receive better treatment. After another look around for the woman, Nicolas turned to find a place to sleep for the night.

As he wandered deeper into the trees, he thought of the instructions given by his parents and grandparents. The law between their peoples to not be alone with the opposite sex of the other tribe. The mountain forest people accepted the wild animals like they were members of the tribe. Had the laws been violated today? Nicolas had been unable to see the gender of the cat. If the cat had been male they were fine. But the more he thought the more he felt like something had been broken. And who was it that had been shooting arrows at her? Had they been trying to kill her because of how the law was written?

***

The tip of an arrow was leveled at her left eye as she stood.

"Have you no shame, Sikkim Root? Being alone with a man from the city and trying to pass it off as one of your games."

"Why would you have me feel shame for something untrue, Oak Leaf?" Sikkim Root replied.

"If you weren't alone with him then why did you run away with him?"

"It's..."

"No! No excuses! We shall let the council decide. …Come, Lilly." Oak Leaf lowered his bow and waited for Sikkim Root to start walking towards their village.

There were few differences between the mountain tribe and those of the city, but laws in both places were set to ensure their cultures did not mixed. This would guarantee that inheritances gained through marriage remained in control of the occupying group. Lands were given to the men as part of the woman's dowry. For most, the land increase was minimal. That was not true in Sikkim Root's case because she was the chief's daughter.

Women worked as well as the men, but their work was different and dealt more intimately with the care of the whole tribe and not just for individual survival, as it was for those in the city. Only during hard times would the men of her tribe permit women to work beside them. In the mountain tribe, women were to accept the man's decision and not question it.

'This is not going to go well,' Sikkim Root thought. 'If Oak Leaf is unwilling to listen then the council will be sure not to listen—Chief's daughter or not.'

Sikkim Root, Oak Leaf, and Lilly stopped at the place of judgment. It was a peaceful meadow where the council gathered often. A brook babbled through the center and several large boulders sat in a semi circle around it. Occasionally, Chief Willow Root would sit in during these counsels. Today was one of those days. He looked at them when they arrived. Sikkim Root looked at the council members and Oak Leaf looked at him.

"Oak Leaf," Chief Willow Root asked, "what's going on?"

"Chief Willow Root, Sikkim Root was found alone with a man from the city."

Members of the council looked hard at Sikkim Root.

Her expression never changed.

"Sikkim?" her father asked. "What is the meaning of this?"

"A misunderstanding, Father. The trees will attest to that."

The council members scoffed.

"Trees don't talk, woman," Cedar Pollen said. "Only the animals and others of our tribe can speak."

"I see Lilly has accompanied you," Fir Bough said. "What is her witness?"

Lilly approached Fir Bough.

"Alone with him," he repeated.

Chief Willow Root watched his daughter as witnesses were brought against her. His late wife had mentioned only once that she had heard the trees speak, but he had ignored it because she was very sick at the time. Sikkim looked well, not as sick as her mother, and stood as if nothing were wrong. While it was true that she had been alone with the boy from the city it did not violate their laws because he didn't even notice her until Lilly had come, followed shortly by Oak Leaf.

"Sikkim Root?" Chief Willow Root asked.

"The man from the city was there, Father, but..."

"Sikkim Root," Cedar Pollen interrupted. "There will be no tales told here. Be still while we deliberate."

Oak Leaf heard her sigh in frustration, before she walked to the edge of the meadow and knelt in silence.

How old had she been when she first heard the trees speak? Not only hear them, she realized, but understanding the words they spoke, though different from her native tongue. Was that why she loved playing, away from the village, with Lilly? The two of them had always played where the trees were the thickest, being able to hide better from the world. That is, until the man from the city came. There was something the trees wanted from him as well.

Why had they instructed her to follow? Why couldn't she have done what was needed to help the trees and Nicolas while still living in the village? Was it because it required them to be alone? Meaning their lives would have been snuffed out before the need was fulfilled? Then why wasn't another member of her people chosen or a city girl for Nicolas? Why was it just the two of them?

"Patientia, Picea Spinulosa Radix," the trees told her. (Patience, Sikkim Root)

The debate was brief because there were two witnesses against her. The council called Oak Leaf forward to tell all that he had seen. Oak Leaf had not seen the man from the city until after he had started his game with Sikkim Root, but she didn't want to play. It was a game they had played for years to help Oak Leaf get better at his archery. Oak Leaf had kept playing, seeing if he could get her to change her mind, when the man from the city ran off with her. Everyone looked at Sikkim Root, who was staring off into the trees.

"Day dreaming, Sikkim Root?" Fern Stems asked.

"Listening, Elder," she replied, her gaze not breaking.

"For him?"

"No," she said, turning to face them. "To the trees."

"Have you become deranged, Sikkim Root?" Fir Bough asked.

She remained silent, but stood.

"Does this mean you are ready, Sikkim Root?" Chief Willow Root asked.

"Yes, Father."

"Oak Leaf," Fern Stems began. "Take Sikkim and two others to Dead Man's Cliff."

"Yes, Elder."

Sikkim Root gave a short nod before turning to return to the village. First she was taken to the center of their village where her hair was cut off and cast into the fire. Her beaded breast plate and other ornamentation was removed by the Shaman and returned to her father.

"Why, Sikkim?" Chief Willow Root asked softly.

"Because the trees told me to, Father."

Then she was taken to a broken tepee on the edge of the village where she changed into tattered clothing and wrapped in a burial cloth. Before they left for Dead Man's Cliff, Sikkim Root was paraded around the village once more to remind the people what happened when their laws were broken.

Oak Leaf's friends, Pine Berry and Juniper Bough, accompanied them.

"Why have you done this, Sikkim Root?" Oak Leaf asked.

"I have done nothing, Oak Leaf."

"You were alone with him."

"Talking about this now is pointless."

"If the ruling was wrong, why didn't you oppose it? You always speak your mind."

"Only to you, Oak Leaf, and that was at your request. To speak that way to the council would have shamed my father."

"Sikkim Root..."

"The matter is decided."

The rest of the walk was silent. Sikkim Root stepped away from Oak Leaf and stood on the edge of the cliff. Her back remained to them as she heard Oak Leaf set his bow.

"Jump. We'll shelter you," the trees below her spoke.

"Sikkim Root, I'm sorry," Oak Leaf said, pulling the arrow back.

Before he could release the arrow, Sikkim Root jumped. Oak Leaf fired the arrow hoping that the arrow would take her life so her soul wouldn't wander on the earth, lost, because she had ended her own life. Sikkim Root's body moved slightly and the arrow missed. She disappeared from sight before he could fire a second. The three of them moved to the edge and listed as tree branches broke and cloth tore. When all was silent, Pine Berry and Juniper Bough returned to the village. Oak Leaf, however, waited another little while, wondering if he would hear her spirit cry in anguish. All was still and he returned to the village.

In the valley below lay Sikkim Root. She was bruised and cut, but alive. The trees had been right, by jumping she was sheltered and would be able to continue to live her life, though dead to her people. Still, she didn't understand why the trees wished to preserve her life. Ever so slowly, Sikkim Root got to her hands and knees and crawled to one of the trees further away from the cliff. Lying against it, she fell asleep.