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The native language in this book may or may not be right as I am not a native speaker.

~TIA~

As soon as the sun came up Kyla was up and moving. She decided the fish should be safe from critters during daylight hours. She stacked some extra wood on the fire and went off to check her snares. She was delighted when she found a rabbit in one and a squirrel in another and she hurried back with her bounty to share their good fortune with Lily. 

She was about halfway back to camp when she stopped dead in her tracks, her mouth fell open in shock. A large group of plum trees stood before her. After a few minutes of staring at them in disbelief  she started towards them and her mouth instantly started to water. She sat her rabbit and squirrel at the base of one of the trees and started picking plums. After eating several handfuls she started filling up the bottom of her shirt to take them back for Lily and Josiah. How wonderfully surprised they’d be she thought as she picked and picked and picked. She wasn’t concerned about picking too many because whatever they didn’t eat they could store for winter. Now that she knew they were here she would try to pick and dry as many as she could before they fell off and rotted. When her shirt was full she made a mental note of where the trees were for later and headed back to the den.

When Kyla got back to camp Lily was sitting by the fire waiting on water to boil for tea. Kyla smiled when she saw Josiah nearby playing in the dirt, occasionally he would look up at the grazing horses longingly. She knew he longed to ride them but she hadn’t really had the time to try it. She was also unsure if Lily would allow it and didn’t want to give him false hope. 

“Guess what I found,” Kyla said, walking up to Josiah after dropping her the meat by the fire.

“Ummmm, some kind of new plant you want me to try?” He asked, looking up at her curiously. She was often finding new edible plants and was notorious for getting them all to try them as soon as she got back.

“No,” she chuckled. “Well yes actually, kinda,” she pulled a juicy plum out of her shirt.

His eyes lit up, “Is that-” 

“A plum? Sure is,” Kyla answered, putting a few it into his eager hands.

Lily stood up and walked over to see what all the fuss was about,” You found plums,” she said smiling.

“Yep,” Kyla said, giving her a handful. “I’m going to clean this meat and cut it up for drying, then I was going to go get some more if yall want to come.”

“No, you go ahead and you can take Josiah with you. I’ll stay here and do the meat. I don’t wanna go too far incase I get a headache,” Lily said sadly.

“Really? Are they that bad?” Kyla asked. Maybe they were a bigger deal than she thought. Maybe something was wrong. Sure everyone gets headaches but they're not usually so bad that you’re afraid to leave your house. 

Lily shrugged her shoulders and quietly walked off towards the fire. 

“Josiah you wanna come collect some more plums?” Kyla asked, dumping her shirt full of plums out into a bowl.

“Yeah, can the horses come?”

“I guess that’s up to them. Usually they do though,” she responded smiling at him.

Kyla tried to focus on picking the delicious fruit but her mind kept wandering back to Lily and how she could help her. Then it struck her, willow bark duh! Everyone knows you can use willow bark for pain, and she just where to get some. There was a big tree down by their creek.

“Hey, you ready to go back?” She asked Josiah, eager to go get medicine for Lily.

“Yeah, I’m pretty much full,” he said, picking a few more from the tree and putting them in his shirt.

“I think if the horses eat many more they may get a belly ache,” Kyla said laughing. “You wanna drop these off at home then go down to the creek for a swim to wash off this sticky juice?”

“How will we get clean when the water gets too cold?” Josiah asked as they started towards home.

“I don’t know. I guess we’ll have to boil a lot of water,” she answered, distractedly as they walked into camp. 

All the meat had been strung up to dry but she didn’t see Lily. She glanced inside the den on their way towards the fire but didn’t see her there either. 

“Josiah, will you go get a shirt or something to lay these out on to dry?” Kyla asked, glancing around the camp for any sign of where Lily was.

“Yep,” he said, running off towards the den.

Kyla started towards the fire to look for the most recent footprints to see where she had gone, but when she got close to her destination a wave of fear gripped her. Laying on the ground beside the drying rack was Lily. Kyla rushed to her side, first she made sure she was breathing then she shook her trying to wake her. After the third shake Lily slowly opened her eyes and looked around confused.

“What… Why am I on the ground?”

“I don’t know, I was hoping you could tell me,” Kyla said, trying to stop herself from trembling.

“I don’t know. I was feeling a bit dizzy. I thought maybe I was hungry so I was going to get a few plums… I don’t remember anything after that.”

“You’re going to have to start forcing yourself to eat. You can’t be passing out from low blood sugar with no one here to help.”

“I’ve been trying but it makes me sick.”

“We’re going down to the creek to clean up. Come with us, you're covered in dirt. If you get a headache you can ride one of the horses back,” Kyla said, hopeful she’d agree.

Josiah walked up swinging a shirt in his hand. “Ride the horses? I want to ride them!” he said jumping up and down.

“Wait, ride one of the horses? How did you even know they’re rideable?”

“I don’t but we can find out. So will you come with us?” 

“Yes, I think I’ll be okay. It’s not that far,” Lily said, with a shrug.

“Why are you so dirty?” Josiah asked his mom.

“Oh, I just fell over, I’m fine,” she answered him smiling.

“Okay, y’all just let me get this plums ready to dry and we’ll go,” Kyla said.

Kyla, cut the plums in half and Josiah removed the seeds, then they laid them out pit side up to dry. Lily watched them as she munched on plums and drank a cup of tea. When they were done Kyla linked one of her arms with Lily’s, in case she needed support. Then she linked her other arm with Josiah so he wouldn’t think it odd, and they headed down to the water with the horses trailing behind them.

The water was starting to get colder than it usually was Kyla noticed when they entered the river. It had also started getting a bit cold at night, both were sure signs that winter was on the way. She pushed the thought aside and waded out into the water. She washed her hands, arms, and face until they were free of sticky plum juice. Then she made her way down stream and found the large willow tree she’d seen before. Its beautiful long branches hung out over the water. Their leaves brushed against the water with a light feather like touch that barely caused the water to ripple. There wasn’t a bank here, just a large dirt hill that was pretty much straight up. She looked around for an easy way up but when she saw several thick roots that probably belonged to the willow sticking out of the dirt. She looked down at her very full belly then back at the roots, it wasn’t that high and she highly doubted she’d fall. Besides if she did it’d just be into the water so she’d be fine right? She made her decision and smiled to herself as she accepted the challenge and started to climb.

Kyla grabbed a hold of a root and large root and pulled herself up. The root shook but held her weight. She reached above her head and grabbed another root she started to pull up but it came free of the dirt almost causing her to fall back into the water. She found a good foothold where a big rock was buried in the dirt then reached up and grabbed another root. She tugged on it testing it out, it slipped out of the dirt a little then held. The bank was just overhead, she reached up and grabbed the bank with one hand and a low hanging willow branch with the other and pulled herself up. 

The tree almost seemed to greet her when it’s branches swayed in the wind as if it was waving hello to it’s new visitor. It almost made her feel bad about what she was about to do to it even though she knew it wouldn’t really hurt the tree. She walked over to and placed her palm flat against it, “I’m sorry,” she said before pulling a knife from her pocket and cutting away some of its bark. When she had all she needed she leaned her forehead against the tree. “Thank you for helping my friend,” she said.

She jerked back and spun around, crouching low to the ground. and brought her knife up in front of her when she heard a stick break on the opposite bank. This wasn’t a normal sound of a stick being stepped on by a critter this was one of those that caught your attention and made the hair rise on the back of your neck. She sat there frozen for a moment staring at the other bank but nothing moved. She stood up and  walked to the edge of the hill, nothing seemed amiss. The water flowed undisturbed below her. After glancing in the direction of the offensive noise again and seeing nothing she climbed slowly back down and eased herself into the inviting water below her.

Adahy watched the wild woman in front of him in wonder as she hung from the roots of the willow. She easily pulled herself up the bank moving from one to the next with grace. He heard her whispering to the tree and smiled. Who was this wild woman in ragged clothes that talked to trees? He felt drawn to her, maybe he could talk to her? He took a slow step forward. He was so entranced by her he didn’t pay attention to where he’d placed his foot until it was too late. The twig snapped and she reacted like she was under attack. He was barely fast enough to keep from being seen as he leaned his back against the tree. He didn’t move a muscle he barely dared to breath. 

A few minutes passed and he dared a quick glance around the tree. He caught sight of beautiful chocolate colored eyes that seemed strong but fearful before he ducked back behind the tree. He heard the gentle sound of her reentering the water and realised she must have already climbed back down the hill. He stood there quietly. giving her time to swim away. As he waited all he could think about we’re those eyes that would surely haunt his dreams tonight. After a while he picked up his rifle, leaned it against his shoulder and started on his way.

“Are we gonna ride the horses now?” Josiah asked Kyla grinning from ear to ear when she came swimming upstream.

“We can try,” she responded and returned his smile.

She whistled to the horses and they looked up at her from where they’d been nibbling grass next to the creek bank. She made kissy noises and they waded out into the water and stopped. She made the noise again and they took a few more tentative steps forward. She repeated the noise again. The mare looked at her warily and didn’t move. The stallion tossed his head and neighed in aggravation then started into the water after her. She swam out deeper until he was swimming too. When he got close enough she grabbed a handful of his mane and pulled herself onto his back. He looked back at her but he was calm, not panicked which told her this wasn’t new to him he’d been ridden before. She lowered herself back into the water and swam back to the bank. 

“Okay Josiah, I think you can ride them now,” Kyla said walking up to him with the dripping wet horses following her. 

Lily watched nervously as Kyla knelt down on the ground with one knee up for them to step up on. “You wanna get on first?” Kyla asked looking over at Lily.

“I guess,” Lily said smiling nervously.

Lily stepped up on Kyla’s knee, grabbed a handful, and carefully pulled herself onto the horses back. The mare stood calmly while she was settled.

“Are you ready for Josiah to join you?” Kyla asked.

“I think so,” she said, holding onto the horse's mane. 

Josiah stepped up onto Kyla’s knee and Lily grabbed his arm and pulled. He threw his leg up onto the horses back and Kyla helped push him up. He sat up and wrapped his arms around his mom’s waist, then he looked down at Kyla with the biggest grin on his face she’d ever seen. 

“Y’all wanna ride them home?” Kyla asked, looking out across the river and admiring how the sunset bounced off the water.

“Oh I-,” 

“Yes!” Josiah blurted, cutting off his mom in excitement.

“I guess it’ll be okay,” Lily answered.

Kyla walked towards the den and the horses followed behind her with no problem. She had to hold back her laughter the few times she looked back at them. Lily looked like she was trying to hide the fact that she was holding on for dear life and Josiah was definitely having the time of his life.