There were several constants upon which the tribe could always expect.
One was that life was fleeting and came to an end that always seemed to early, too cruel upon its victims.
Another constant was to expect the unexpected when it came to the weather. It seemed like the climate was determined by the Watcher. You could never quite count on the rain to come when the crops were thirsty or the sunshine when the leaves needed to grow.
The constant that women like Sparrow and Tsala thought about was this:
There will always be a steady stream of life in the tribe.
Juniper’s arrival to the tribe was not insignificant but it was not the only birth in recent months or years.
Just when the mother’s felt like they had done the impossible, birthed new family members, who they raised dutifully from infants, to children, to teenagers, and for some parents, adults, another baby would be born, starting the whole cycle over again.
While watching the older children and the toddlers, Tsala leaned over with a cheeky grin to Sparrow and said, “you can always count on that. A night of ale, a flirtacious thrust of a hip at solstice celebrations and then....” Tsala extended her hands to the spread of children before them.
Sparrow giggled, finishing her thought, “And then, in a few seasons, watch as the children bloom.”
The two mothers started cackling. The children around them were oblivious to their commentary. They were busy in worlds of their own.
Kadji was busy telling an embarrassing story of Ruko that made River howl with laughter.
In exchange, she swapped one of Fern.
On the other side of the log seats, Rain was in an animated conversation with Karvoka.
Rain, much to her parents worry, was a bit of a flirt with the boys of the village.
The boys responded in kind to Rain who they often complimented as being cool and unlike their boring or annoying sisters.
Many of the children Tsala and Sparrow were tasked with watching that day were still wholly bought in to carefree childhoods. They were in the “yuck” stage when thinking about romantic interests.
And the attempts at flirting often were humorous or unproblematic for their ages.
Sparrow and Tsala found it amusing to watch the early stages of interest in a partner they saw in the children.
Luckily...teenage hormones were quite a few years off for most of the children. They were still kids, having fun and being goofy.
Sometimes Tsala and Sparrow wished the children could stay that way forever.
