• Namid awoke with a start as a black shape suddenly pressed down upon him. He felt a gust of warm air as the shadow snorted at him and lifted it's face away, revealing a long snout and eyes of black onyx. Namid sighed as he pulled himself up from his make shift straw mattress in the dirt.
    "Good morning to you too, Yiska."
    The female horse shook her mane in reply and trotted off toward a nearby patch of grass peeking through the hardened ground. With her absence from in front of him, Namid was subjected to the full onslaught of the blazing sun, forcing him to shield his eyes with his hand as he began to pack up his belongings within the small clearing.
    The Great Plains were just as he remembered them; harsh, unforgiving, and wild, but also beautiful and full of life. The vast expanses of grassland served as home to many sacred animals, like the buffalo. They were also home to the most treasured partner of the Native people: Horses.
    Namid could still remember the old legends his tribe used to tell of the horses, of the sacred spirits of the wind who could not be tamed by anyone, god or man. They told him the folk tale of how, when the worlds of both man and spirit were in crisis, the Native tribes sought aid from the carriers of the wind, and how they earned their undying trust through a selfless act that forever forged a bond between the two.
    Now, as a sacred rite of passage, every young Native travels alone to the Plains to seek out one of the sacred wind spirits and reenact the selflessness of times passed in the hope that the spirit will choose him as it's sacred partner, a bond that lasts even in death. The spirit and Native become two halves of the same soul, their link goes beyond friendship and even blood. That is how Namid came to be partnered with Yiska.
    Natives do not name their spiritual partners; such an act goes against the wind spirit's freedom and the sacredness of their pact, but a spirit does choose a name that it may be referred to by it's partner and others. Namid's partner possesses a shining coat of midnight and the speed of the wind itself, so it was only fitting she chose to name herself Yiska, "Night Has Passed."
    Looking up from his work, Namid saw the black horse grazing leisurely among the sparse grass; more out of seeming boredom than actual hunger. She sensed his gaze and looked at him in turn, before letting out a short neigh of impatience. Yiska was annoyed at her partner's lack of urgency. It was only natural after all. He and Yiska had set out on their journey several weeks ago because Namid had witnessed a sign, a message from the spirits.
    It was the first sign he had received since he was little, since the day his sister died and his tribe came to an end.

    [TO BE CONTINUED]