"Foolish sage! You think us dumb for not knowing your God? For not knowing his truth?
We heard Yeshqu talk, long before he was even known as Yeshqu.
He saved us when the earth swallowed the first of our ancestors
He saved us when the waters swallowed our hunting grounds
and he will save us once more."
-excerpt from King Oalaff's last warning to the colonists of Henswyck
She felt the seabreeze and its salty wisps caressing her face long before she heard the waves crashing upon the shore. From a distance, her wizened eyes could make out a blurred blue skin on the horizon, deeper than the deepest dream. It had been ninety days since Annsa last saw the southern shore. She knew this would be her last visit. As her bed bearers foisted her makeshift litter over last sand dune, she could finally gaze upon the white caps cresting upon the beach once more. The great southern stretch of water which separated her from her home gazed back. Her bed bearers gently lowered her litter to the ground and sand delicately poured in along the corners. "There you go Grandmother Annsa, can you still see the waves?" said Tunqquallk.
Laying the litter, Annsa turned her head slowly toward the blue waters and orange hued sky. She struggled to seat herself as her arms ached with the pain of age. "Yes dear child. Though my eyes cloud much and I see more memory than present." Even clouded and murky, her eyes found comfort in the dance of the waves and small birds fluttering above.
Her bed bearers were none other than Taquan and Tunqquallk, behind them followed K'quan, daughter of Kuna. All summoned by the Weavermothers of the fishing village they had first encountered when they landed on the island nearly 25 years ago. While the rest had long dispersed in their new home thanks to their gracious new family, Annsa remained in the same spot performing vigil for those they had left behind. Annsa felt the chill of the autumn air like a prickling needle in her hands and feet. It was time for them to all meet again. Before she became one with the earth. She felt a sudden pang of sorrow. Kunqq and Sanquan had passed two winters ago, and their son Kuna was now a Spearfather needed to help the fishing village hunt the seals before the next winter. In his stead, he sent his young daughter K'quan to accompany Annsa to the sea. As Taquan and Tunqquallk stepped away from Annsa's litter, K'quan lagged behind, struggling to get her footing in the loose grains of the beach.
"Dear grandmother, why have you called us here? It pains me so to remember our first home" Taquan fidgeted with the fishbone ornaments sewn into her hide shirt. Visions of tumult and fears long passed flashed over her eyes.
"My time is soon dear child. I will reunite with Mauunitqq like all things are destined to" she let out a gravely cough and doubled over in a fit. Taquan reached down to support her feeble frame upright. Annsa's glazed eyes did not flinch to meet hers, and remained fastened to the southern horizon. "I've called you here to pay homage to Mauunitqq and the spirits of sea and air who brough us here" she wheezed. "For I have seen that we will need to pay them homage once more."
Taquan and Tunqquallk looked puzzledly at each other. "Grandmother Annsa, you don't mean you wish to return to our old home?" Tunqquallk's neutral tone was betrayed by a furrowed brow. Behind him K'quan silently gazed at the three who had made the voyage across the southern waters. Their exploits had become near legend for the peoples of the salt marsh archipelago.
"No, No!" A wheezing laugh echoed from Annsa's atrophied frame. "I have put this off long enough, for you all live so far from this spot where we first arrived and I have only told the small children of this village. But the Mauunitqq speaks to me in my old age, and he has imparted wisdom and prophecy to me." She took a moment to gather her breath as the winds whipped sand around the four of them. Her eyes still latched onto the southern horizon. "Mauunitqq has revealed to me that our new home is transient too. The earth beneath us is like a great meal to the ocean, and one day the hungry waves will finish the meal, bones and all. When that day comes, even old me will no longer be around, and neither will any of you dear children."
"Why summon us then grandmother? For if we cannot change this destiny, why give us this new anxiety?" Taquan responded fearfully.
Her eyes still on the horizon, they wrinkled into a smile. "Why do we plant the fruiting trees if we do not enjoy their fruits until they grow thick and tall and we grow low and old? Why do we save the deer with her fawn and hunt the great stag instead? Why do we save and coddle the tame bear cubs and kill the fitful ones? My children I call you here because I need you to carry Maunntiqq's words with you and to your children and their children and their children a hundred fold. Mauunitqq protected us on our fateful journey to our new home, and now Mauunitqq entrusts us, as voyagers from the first land, to protect our new family."
The winds whirled once more, and tiny vortexes danced upon the beach. Annsa finally broke her steeled gaze upon the southern coast and looked upon her companions with glazed milky eyes. Taking a deep breath, she foisted herself off of the litter and stood facing the three, radiating a certain warmth and vigor which made even her wizened frame feel larger than the pine trees of the hill lands. Her knees crackled and popped as she straightened herself and extended her palms to Taquan and Tunqquallk. Inside, Annsa felt a warmth like the embrace of family coursing through her flesh and spirit. It was the warmth of memories long passed, the warmth of a good meal, the warmth of family which cares for you in your worst time. She knew it was Mauunitqq. She knew it was her companions. The embrace was fueling her very soul for one last vision. She knew that her last words spoken would mark the end of her life. Taquan, Tunqquallk, and K'quan all leaned in with astonished and widened eyes to listen as she opened her lips for one final tale. "Let me tell you the final prophecy of Mauunitqq..."
***