Dwellers of Ahwahnee (The Beyond Collection)

by Sheryl Seal

  I greet her warmly and ask that she walk with me to the orchard while we talk. I love the orchards and all of the splendid fruit they supply our little tribe. Nodding and taking my arm, she wastes no time and rushes me with her concerns. “Grandfather what is wrong? Where is Oria? We are supposed to be going over the ceremony plans today. She is nowhere to be found! I have looked everywhere for her. There is something wrong, I know it. I cannot feel her presence anywhere in this world. This cannot be though; she has to be here somewhere right?”

  Aponi has always talked very fast, so I always pay close attention and try not to miss a thing she is saying. Sometimes this is hard for an old man. I am still sharp though. I try to comfort her with a smile and a soft pat to the hand. “Aponi my dear, you cannot feel Oria because she is no longer in our lands. White Bear has stolen her away. I do not know what the full purpose this is for yet.” I watched her face changing with many expressions as she tries to understand the information I have just given her.

  Many thoughts swarmed through her mind before she assaulted me again with more questions. “Why would White Bear do this? They are good friends. He is not our enemy. I don’t understand. Where has he taken her? What is going on grandfather?”

  Poor child was very much distressed and in near tears. I tried to comfort her but she would not like the answers that I have for now. I knew they would not be enough to console her. “Aponi, sometimes it is enough to know The Great Spirit has a plan for us. We do not always understand everything at first, you know this. Oria came to me and told me she thought White Bear was acting strangely. She was not sure why but she thought it had something to do with a necklace he was wearing and with drawings on a cave wall. I am going to the cave beyond Oria Falls to investigate this after I leave you. I hope this will tell me where he has taken her exactly.”

  Now Aponi was angry. She tucked a loose strand of her gold hair behind an ear and then putting her hands on her hips she ranted. “Well, I will tell you this grandfather, when I tell Red Thunder about this; he will be very upset at White Bear. He had better have a very good reason for what he has done. He also had better not harm one auburn hair on our Queen’s head. If he thinks for one second that Grey Wolf will not hear about this…He had just better pray to The Great Spirit, is all I have left to say for him.”

  She thought for a second and seemed to arrive at a conclusion. The same thought that I had actually. “Do you want me to go with you to the cave? I could get Red Thunder. We can all go there together.”

  “Actually Red Thunder is coming as we speak. I think it would be a very good idea if we went to the cave together. The new Dwellers are coming in tonight and others will have to train them.”

  “Grandfather, you do not believe we will find Oria by then, do you?” She sounded a little defeated. I tried to ease her fears the best that I could, even though I knew that it would not be enough for our Aponi. She is high-spirited and thinks highly of Oria. They have become like sisters. I hated to have to tell her what I already suspected for now, but she already felt the truth and I would not lie to appease her. “No dear, I think she and Matoskah will be gone for a while. I have also sent word to Grey Wolf. I will have to wait and see if he answers my call. Try not to worry Aponi, all we can do is put the pieces of the puzzle together and see what the picture shows us.”

  Red Thunder had gotten the message I had sent him while Aponi and I had been talking and was now approaching us with a concerned look on his face.

  “Here is Red Thunder now. Let us go to the cave and see if there are clues as to why Matoskah felt the need to abduct The Golden Queen.”

  Aponi

  I listened to grandfather with growing concern about our Golden Queen. I had grown to love Oria as a sister and could hardly believe that White Bear had done this thing. I know there has to be a good reason, but I certainly couldn’t think of it. I guess we will find out soon enough. I know grandfather and he is a very wise man and he will figure out what is going on. I threw myself into Red Thunder’s arms as soon as he approached and it all came rushing out.

  He tried to get me to slow down and I tried, really I did, but then as the story would unfold a little more, I would start rambling again. He knows me well and doesn’t mind that I speak so fast… pretty much all the time. I can’t help myself. I’ve tried talking slowly and I sound ridiculous. I can’t think and forget what I want to say. Red Thunder says he loves me the way I am and it’s part of what draws him to me.

  As I’m telling Red Thunder everything grandfather had told me, they both listened quietly as we made our way to the edge of the village. Neither one of them could’ve gotten a word in anyway. I think they knew it because I ranted and raved all the way out of the village.

  We shifted into our spirit animals and headed for Oria Falls. It was great to actually fly with grandfather again. He doesn’t often shift and fly with us. He is a wonderful Falcon and Red Thunder and I are both golden eagles. We were all on a mission though and this was not a time for fun.

  My mind constantly wanders and times of crisis are no exception. I smiled in my mind as I thought of Oria and of a time a few days back when we were soaring high in the sky. We had come to the amazing backside of the waterfalls known as Upper Yosemite Falls. Shifting, we landed on a rock and while resting, I told her the story of love, which Red Thunder had told me one day while we were here.

  Oria had probably already heard it from her grandmother. She was known for her story telling and I knew that my friend had heard them all. But this day she needed a distraction from constantly thinking about Grey Wolf and the guilt that she laid at her feet for his disappearance. She kept quiet all the way through my version of the story and let me stumble through it. I wasn’t even sure she was listening until I came to the end of the story. I started off by asking her if she knew about the rock we were on. It is a big granite rock.

  I didn’t expect her to answer and she didn’t seem to be interested so I just rambled on without waiting for the answer, mostly to hear my own voice. “It was the day of the marriage of Tee-hee-nay. I believe she was the fairest of all the Ahwahneechee maidens. She was to marry Kos-soo-kah. He was of course, the bravest of the warriors. But before the bride could go with the bridegroom to his lodge that would soon be their home, there was to be a great feast. So all day long, all of the Ahwahneechee were busy with preparations for the big event. Early in the morning Kos-soo-kah gathered about him the strongest of his young braves to hunt with him for the marriage feast. He parted from his beloved with the promise that, at the end of the day’s hunt, he would drop an arrow from the cliff above the falls. By the number of feathers it bore, Tee-hee-nay should be able to tell what the kill had been. The day sped quickly by while Tee-hee-nay and the other women gathered acorns and young grasses. When the long shadows stretched across the meadows, she made her way with a light heart to the foot of Yosemite Falls to receive the message from Kos-soo-kah. The shadows deepened into night, but still Tee-hee-nay received no sign from her lover. Becoming fearful, she climbed the cliff to meet him, and there, at the top of the cliff, she saw fresh footprints in the moist earth which led over the cliff. There were no returning footprints though! Slowly she crept to the edge of the rock, and leaning far over the edge she saw on a mound of fallen rock, the motionless body of Kos-soo-kah. She knew then that as he had drawn his bow to send his arrow and love message to her, the ground beneath his feet had given away and the avalanche carried him down. By means of a signal fire she brought the old men from the Valley to her. The young warriors came from the woods, carrying on their backs, Kos-soo-kah’s kill for the wedding feast. Slowly she was lowered over the cliff to his side, for she would allow no others to go. As they were both raised to the cliff above, there beneath the stars of her wedding night, she fell quietly forward upon his breast and then the spirit of Tee-hee-nay followed that of Kos-soo-kah’s. The arrow was never found, but in its place appeared the granite shaft to the left of Yosemite Falls, in token of Kos-soo-kah�
�s last message to Tee-hee-nay. Even to this very day it is still called by the children of Ahwahnee, Hum-mo, or Lost Arrow.”

  I looked over when I heard a sniffle and Oria had probably been crying for a while. Her nose was runny and red and her eyes looked swollen. “I’m so sorry sweetie, I had no idea this tale would upset you so much.” I put my arms around her and hugged her for a long time while she just cried until she had no more tears in her. I felt her pain so very deeply that I too had cried with her.

  I was just thinking with all the wedding plans I had been making, this story came to my mind and since we were right here where it had happened, I thought it would be a good distraction. “It was just an old tale Oria, please, let’s not cry anymore.”

  She dried her eyes and said to me something I hadn’t really thought on before. “You can’t honestly believe that after all you know about this magical world… well, that these are all just legends. These were real people that created our heritage. I can feel them in all the stories that have been told and everywhere I go. Their happiness and their pain, I feel it all.”

  “Well yes, I suppose they could all be true. But honestly Oria, you are just missing Grey Wolf and that is really where your pain lies. But it is time you moved on and quit blaming yourself. It is not your fault that he is not here and we really don’t know what happened. I’m sure if there is a way he will come back home to you. Life must go on though.”

  She silently agreed and I was sorry that I had not thought before I rambled on this story of love, that didn’t seem like it had a happy ending at all. “Really, if you think about it Oria, they were together in the end and their spirits left this earth and they have spent eternity together. Not so sad now is it?”

  “No not so sad at all, Aponi.”

  We spent the rest of the day flying around the skies and I knew she was always looking for Grey Wolf but at least she wasn’t sitting around by herself. Yes, I love her very much and White Bear had better have a good reason for what he has done. I couldn’t imagine him putting her in danger and we all knew that if it wasn’t for her love of Grey Wolf… well, White Bear might have stood a chance to win her heart.

  With the memory of that day fading from my mind, Oria Falls was in sight and we shifted as we landed and headed up to the cave. Red Thunder held my hand and relayed that he had asked me a question when we were in flight. “Why didn’t you answer me, my love? You were very quiet, not like you at all.” He snorted and I nudged him with my arm playfully. “I’m sorry Red Thunder, I was thinking back on one of the last days Oria and I spent together. We have to find her; I can’t lose my sister now.”

  He squeezed me to him and then promised me, we would find her and bring her home, no matter what it took.

  “What was the question?” I asked him, once again curious.

  “It was nothing important, my love. I was just trying to make conversation with you. I know you are worried for our Queen.”

  Oria

  I woke up with a pounding head and everything in my line of vision was fuzzy. What the heck happened to me? Trying to recall, I closed my eyes again and searched my memory for the last thing I could remember. Whispering the events out-loud, I thought this might help me. “I can recall going down to the foot of the falls, even though I shouldn’t have. What else is there? I remember looking up at the top of the falls and it was almost like I could see Grey Wolf.” Once again, I could see him standing there with his arms stretching upward, looking at the sky as a streak of lightning went straight through his body. He wasn’t there this time but all of a sudden, White Bear was and he was carrying me off and putting something over my face. Then quickly the darkness overwhelmed me and there was nothing else.

  Grumbling I started to yell. “White Bear… Matoskah! Where are you? Where have you taken me?” I screamed at the top of my lungs because I felt alone here, so I took another look around. Things were not as foggy as they had seemed before but the yelling didn’t help my head any. I sat up and looking around, I could tell I was in a lodge. It wasn’t one that I recognized though. I could hear voices growing closer all around. Suddenly the flap to the lodge was thrown aside and in walked White Bear.

  “Oria, please do not scream anymore, I am here. There is nothing to worry about. All will be well, you will see.”

  “Are you out of your mind White Bear? What have you done and where are we? Explain to me what is going on.”

  White Bear stood there and I could see the different expressions cross his face as he himself tried to find the words for what needed to be said. Then he pulled the necklace out from under his leather shirt. He took it off and handing it to me he began to describe the events that led to my abduction. “This necklace with the fire that glows deep inside is what I found in the caves on the ridge. It was sitting in a notch in the wall glowing. I could not resist touching it and when I did, I felt compelled to wear it.”

  I was looking at a jewel that was in the center with silver surrounding a diamond shape. It also had a long leather cord tied at the end. As I held the brilliant red stone it started to glow and felt warm to the touch. Startled, I tossed it aside. White Bear picked it up saying, “There is no reason to fear it now my Queen, the spirit of the rock has done its job. I am no longer possessed.

  Exasperation overwhelmed me and I was starting to get the feeling that my friend was in grave danger of losing his soul. “What spirit are you talking about White Bear? I don’t understand what is happening here, and where are we?”

  “If you will listen to me for a minute I am trying to make you understand what has happened and why I need your help. We are in an old Ahwahneechee village that has been gone for many centuries. These souls were some of the first Ahwahneechee to arrive and they were led here by the Great Spirit. In this new high walled home, they were free from attack and had left the original village because of a sickness that came to all the people who lived there. Not all died in the other village of the sickness, which they had no way of knowing because they had already left. History tells the story of part of the tribe that left because of sickness and were never seen again. This part of the tribe had no way of knowing they had brought the sickness with them to this new village. They would not have been safe anywhere they traveled.”

  “Excuse me White Bear, is this Chief Tenaya that you are talking about?”

  “Ahh, I see you know some of your history Oria, but no, these were the very first Ahwahneechees that came to the lands. This is way before the time of Chief Tenaya. This was the first time the curse on the land happened. The first time the people had to leave for many moons before it was habitable and the people could come back.

  “So then, I may not have heard this story growing up.”

  Nodding yes, White Bear continued. “I think this may be one of those stories that just got lost over time. It is a shame that many of the old stories are gone now. I had to ask the elders about this long forgotten story. There was only one that remembered such a story.” He whispered this last part and I could feel the pain he had for these people in his heart.

  Then he cleared his throat and continued on in a stronger voice. “The chief here is Black Arrow and there are fifty souls including him that has been lost and wandering. Things were good for a while in the new village but the winter that year was so fierce that the entire village was starving. They were guarded on three sides by the tall mountains. The snowstorm trapped them by the only way out and eventually they all succumbed to the sickness, and starvation. The problem was and still is, no one was left to attend to the burials in the proper way and they have all been left here drifting. Nobody has known that they are stranded here. They need to be put at peace so they may return to the El-o’-win. You are the Golden Queen of the Ahwahneechee and they need your help Oria. It could have been anyone that found the stone and was then possessed by the old chief’s spirit, but I was in the cave when the drawings appeared. He knew that the Golden Queen had come to the lands and he had to take action. The drawings only
last for a short time.”

  I was trying to absorb all that White Bear was telling me and mostly what I got was, White Bear was not evil and my fight would not be with him. Being so happy about this, I jumped up and threw my arms around his powerful body and laughed and cried with joy. This brought the first deja-vu that I would be experiencing in this village. He hugged me back and then pulled me away from him to look into my face. “You are not angry with me?”

  Trying to dry the tears from my eyes, I slapped him on his chest playfully and looked up into his beautiful jade eyes. “Of course I’m mad at you, you’re an idiot. You stole me away from home. You could’ve just explained this to me you know. I would have come to help.”

  “It was not my call; the old chief possessed my soul. This was the only way to get you to the cave. He tried to summon you but you were too distracted. Last time he tried this it didn’t end very well. He couldn’t have more people hurt because of his need to free his people’s spirits.”

  “So, what you’re saying to me is that he’s tried this before? That it didn’t work and that others were hurt trying to free these people? How were they hurt? Isn’t there just a ceremony that is done?”

  He chuckled whole-heartedly and replied. “Yes to all of your questions, and you are hanging with Aponi so much you are starting to speak like her.” He chuckled at his own joke and then added. “The ceremony however, is more challenging than it sounds and demands critical timing. That is why a Golden Queen is needed. It has to be performed in the spring. This is not possible here because if you go outside the lodge, you will see that it remains winter here forever. Only you can change the seasons for them. Change this nightmare of winter that they have been in for centuries to a warm spring day. Then they can go live in the West with the ancestors. It is the right thing to do. Spring is the time of year when the cycle of life, death, and rebirth is complete.”