I am safe. I am warm. I lie cradled in loving arms. The starflower shines above me. A brown haired lady sits over me a smile on her face. Mother. A blonde man walks up behind her. Father. The light reflects off of the glass sitting on them. It makes me laugh. I can see ten of me reflected in it. My parents smile and laugh. A strange woman comes over and takes me from my mother. I do not want this! I squirm and knock myself out of the lady’s grasp. My mother and the lady shriek, and my father tries to catch me. I don’t see why they are so worried. My friend wraps and cradles around me. It tickles. I laugh, and slowly it lets me to the floor. I look up and mommy and daddy. They aren’t laughing. I crawl over to the lady and tug on her robes. Why aren’t they happy? She yelps and jerks away. And then she’s running out of the room, and mommy and daddy won’t look at me. Suddenly rough hands are grabbing me and pulling me up. Why aren’t mommy and daddy helping me? I scream for them. My friend tries to help. It twists around the people carrying me, but I was tired. My friend was tired too. It fell away, and I was rushed out of the room.
Dark black. Men I don’t know surround me. Clawing at me. Where are mommy and daddy? I do not understand! Why are they hurting me? And then one of them grabs a sharp thing from a tray of instruments sitting next to the table. The other men push me flat, and then PAIN. I scream and scream, and try to get away. The place between shoulders burns, stings, and then it spreads, twists, around. And then I’m falling into darkness, and I can hear my friend howling in outrage while the fire consumes my body and the men are laughing as another needle is pushed into my back and-
I jolt awake, screaming. Madly I tear at my back. Nothing. The wind outside is howling madly, rain plummeting down on the roof, and the sea crashing against the rocks. I take deep breaths, calming myself from the nightmare. Already it’s fading. I’ve had dreams like this before. Nothing out of the ordinary. Its nights like this that I wish that the nomads were here. But of course they aren’t. They’re out walking. Due back tomorrow. Just in time to see me off. Or is it today now? I look at the battery-operated watch that Elder Min got me the last time they were out. 2:17. So today, then. I suddenly realized how cold I was. The combination of the rowdy wind and the cold sweat I had woken up in made for a cold me. I pulled up the covers of the bed. A year and a half ago I had FINALY gotten the elders to allow for the other nomads to bring me a mattress to sleep on. Before that I had to make do with forest moss and leaves. I tried to fall back asleep, but it was useless. So finally I gave up, grabbed my flute from the corner, and headed to the mouth of the cave. I sat there for a while, playing some unknown melody on my flute. It was sad. Haunting, like the wind outside. Eventually the rain stopped, and I went outside to sit on the large rock right near the sea. I played as the dawn broke, and was still playing when I heard voices in the distance. I instantly leapt up, joy and panic rising at the same time. The nomads were back. I hadn’t seen them for 3 months and I couldn’t wait to see them all again. On the downside though, it meant I only had a few hours until I had to leave my cave for God knows how long.
I hastily put my flute away, and dashed out to meet the nomads.
All in all there were about 25 of them: 20 adults and five elders all wrapped in brown traveling cloaks.
They settled quickly, setting up tents and fires in about 15 minutes around the cave. They all tried to keep their actions calm, but I could all tell they were anxious about me leaving.
They all helped me pack up, and of course a few of them had parting gifts. I got a few knickknacks from some of the nomads, but the best gift came from Elder Lirta right before I left.
As I was lacing up my shoes, she hobbled over to me.
“Larimar, child.” She said in her warm tone. “Are you prepared to leave us?”
I looked up at her.
“I think so. I have everything, and the bus arrives in town soon.”
She shook her head.
“Nay. You are missing the most important thing.”
Elder Lirta always had a strange way of speaking, but she was the smartest person I knew.
“What am I missing?” I asked her, frantically double-checking all of my bags.
“This.”
With that she pressed something firmly into my palm.
I looked down at it. It was a small pendant made out of the cave stone and my namesake, Larimar.
My eyes started to well up a bit. Elder Lirta was the closest thing I’d ever had to a mother. She was the one who had found me abandoned in this cave so long ago, and the one who had convinced the nomads to take me in. I was going to miss her the most.
I leaned over and hugged her, then pinned her gift to my shirtfront.
She patted my shoulder, and then led me out of the cave.
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