FACING SUNRIZE
"Yes, but I hardly recognized her. The Empress has a stone head fragment just like yours Grandma. She didn't get to tell me what it meant though. But she was so very kind and beautiful...and showed me many things about myself, about the past and the future too."
Soclea laughed out loud. "What an imagination you have Lali!" she muttered, holding her hand to her shaking head. Gongi wasn't buying it either. "I think you're just making this whole thing up!" she said annoyed with Lali. "No, I'm not Grandma" Lali insisted.
"Well....I don't like liars" replied Gongi. "Mother, wait" interjected Salanka. "Perhaps the snake bite caused her to have a slight delirium. She is rather warm...look at her eyes, so clouded. You know the venom sometimes causes eyes to get that blue film over them. But it wont last."
"Hmmph! That's no snake bite!" said Gongi with irritation. "She's in trouble and she knows it and is trying to get out of being punished for running away. She worried everyone that loves her half to death. That's what I think!" concluded Gongi emphatically. This made Tumby whine with fear and she tried to hide from the old woman, cowering behind Gongi's woven blanket basket. Gongi paid no attention. She was turning tortillas now that the flame of the fire burning in the hearth had gone down. Lali went and laid down on the great grizzly bearskin. Tumby was hungry for the Grandmother's tasty stew and those yummy hot tortillas, so very stealthily she crawled on her stomach and hid behind Lali, hiding her face in her paws.
"Your fantastic fairy tales don't fool me one bit young lady" Gongi assured Lali. "I haven't decided yet what to do about you!!!" Gongi put the tortillas on the mat in a nice stack. She began ladling stew into the ceramic bowls. "You get so nasty at times Lali, I just don't know how to live with you anymore!" she added impatiently.
As she filled the bowls she passed them around. Salanka took Lali her bowl with a few tortillas on the side. Then she sat down beside Lali while she ate. Gongi handed Soclea her bowl and tortillas. "Thank you Gongi" said Soclea smiling. "What's so funny Soclea," asked Gongi. "You look like you swallowed a butterfly." "HaHaHa!" laughed Soclea out loud. "It wont be long now before Lali will be bleeding every month." "I'm going to be bleeding every month?" Lali cried out. "Grandma I'll be good. I promise. Please don't make me bleed...(sob)" "Hush Lali,"said Salanka. "All women bleed every month. Don't worry. It's nothing to worry about" Lali looked confused. "At least then" continued Soclea with a chuckle, "we'll only have to put up with her nasty disposition on her Moon days!" The women looked scoldingly at Lali and laughed heartily. Lali didn't laugh. She didn't even know what they were talking about.
Chapter 5, page 4
The Adventures of Peaciwawala & Sittingjing-gongala

Lali Listens to Her Guardian
"She's a little wild pony now though" added Soclea lovingly. "Well, I better get home" said Salanka. "I'll go tell Palikwa, Lali came home now, so Taweya and the men wont keep looking for her." With that she gave Lali a kiss on the face and went to the door of the lodge. Soclea got up too. I'"ll go help you. Pulling back the buffalo hide door, they disappeared quickly into the night.
Suddenly the lodge was quiet, like a blanket had been thrown over everything. The night came into the lodge, and the stillness was ringing and charged. Just Gongi, Tumby and Lali sat together enjoying the nice stew Gongi had made. Gongi put more wood on the fire and they all sat watching the flames grow on the wood, warming and brightening the lodge. When she finished eating, Lali got up and gathered the other bowls. Tumby had already licked them clean. "I'll go down to the stream and wash them now Grandma," said Lali. "What else should I wash?
"No," said Gongi, surprised by Lali's change of attitude and behavior. She couldn't remember when Lali had been so helpful. "I'll wash them later. Just come and sit with me dear. How are you feeling now? "I'm just fine Grandma" she said. "I don't need to rest. I'm so full of energy now." Gongi hugged Lali closely to her breast, rocking to and fro, patting her gently on the back as she used to when Lali was a baby. Tumby was jealous and tried to snuggle in between them, but Gongi wouldn't let go of Lali. She just kept rocking softly in the soft light of the fire as it burned low.
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