The Native and the White Man (boyxboy)

(3) Just Around The Riverbend

Parijat's pov:

I sat near the riverside, Sachiv beside me grooming himself. I looked down onto the clear water, thinking about everything that had happened now. Kabandha wanted to marry me. No doubt not out of love, he wanted to be chief to show off. I didn't like Kabandha. He was too serious and definitely not my type. I never felt some sort of attraction towards the women in my tribe, but neither have I felt that for any other man in the tribe. They were all too... plain, you could say. There were men in the tribe that were interesting to say the least, but I felt like I needed someone else, someone a little more... different. Like me. I've always been different from the tribe. First was because of the way I was born, and the other was that I was somewhat of a loner. Of course I had friends, but Naomi was the only friend aside from Sachiv. I liked talking with nature as well and the other from my tribe seemed a bit much plainer.

Then I thought struck my head as I stared down at the clear water of the river. A white man. Maybe I should meet a white man. They were dangerous, from what my tribe said, and I haven't even seen one, so why would I think about meeting one? I shook my head, willing those thoughts away, knowing father would be angry if I ever thought of meeting a white man. I've been taught never to have relations with the white man and to never trust them. They were savages and we knew nothing of them. They cut down our trees and destroy our rivers and destroy our land for the gold which is nonexistent. I've heard the western tribe was already taken out by the white man. I shake my head again, sighing out loud in frustration. I didn't want to marry Kabandha, but then it was for the good of my people.

Sachiv looked at me with concern. I chuckled, “He wants me to be as steady as the river,” I say as I look down into the river, two otters of different shades of brown pupped up with happy grins. A thought then sparked up in my head. I smiled and exclaimed, “Hehe... But it's not steady at all!” I stood up and stepped into the water, Sachiv going up my leg as we walked over to the canoe. “What I love most about rivers is you can't step into the same river twice. The water's always changing, always flowing,” I say, grasping the oar and rowing the canoe.

“But people, I guess, can't live like that, we all must pay a price. To be safe, we lose our chance of ever knowing.”, I then turn the curve of the river, moving aside the tall grass to see ahead of me. “What's around the riverbend? Waiting just around the riverbend?” I spot the same two otters once again, they jump out of the water and over the canoe to the other side. The river was starting to get rough, the otters swimming ahead of the canoe, and gulls flying above my head in the sky. The fishes swam in the river below, the water starting to excite me. “I look once more,” I exclaim as the river was now rough, Sachiv clinging to the canoe for life whilst I maneuver the canoe away from the large rocks. “just around the riverbend, beyond the shore, where the gulls fly free! Don't know what for! What a dream that they might send just around the riverbend for me, coming for me.”

The canoe then goes under a small waterfall. I stare at awe at its beauty, saying, “I feel it there beyond the trees, or right behind these waterfalls.” Sachiv squeaks as he dips his head through the soft flowing of the small waterfall, fish coming down to his head, causing him to almost fall. We then exit from the small waterfall to see a male beaver patting down sticks with his tail to make a dam. “Can I ignore that sound of distant drumming? For a handsome sturdy husband who builds handsome sturdy walls and never dreams that something might be coming just around the riverbend? Just around the riverbend,”. I look ahead to see a waterfall. I feel the adrenaline rush through my veins as I see it. I grab the oar, rowing faster towards it as Sachiv squeaks, begging me to turn around the waterfall. But my mind was made up as the canoe falls down the waterfall, Sachiv clinging to me for dear life.

“I look once more just around the riverbend, beyond the shore, somewhere past the sea! Don't know what for! Why do all my dreams extends just around the riverbend? Just around the riverbend...,” I then stop the canoe after going under a rainbow, the river splitting into two before me. On the left was a steady river, so plain and unmoving. And on the right was a river with the water moving roughly, rocks popping up from the waterbed. “Should I choose the smoothest course? Steady as the beating drum... Should I marry Kabandha? Is all my dreaming at an end?” My mind, filled with many thoughts. This was for the good of my people, I had to marry Kabandha. But something was telling me to wait. The wind was telling me to wait. Something was coming, something was about to happen.

“Or do you still wait for me, Dream Giver, just around the riverbend?”, listening to the wind, I maneuvered my canoe to the right, following the unsteady river as Sachiv still clung to me for dear life.