Kinsa sat with bowed head beside the tattered cot of her dying mother. She held one of her mom’s weak, emaciated hands in hers. Lifting it through the disheveled tangle of her hair to her mouth, she kissed it.

The sickness had been progressing for some time before Kinsa noticed anything. Her mother had done a good job of hiding it. Maybe that was it, or possibly it was because it is difficult for a child to conceive of a parent getting sick and dying. In her settlement it was a reality every kid faced eventually. Two seasons back she watched as her father died from the sickness. Barring accident, injury, or some other acute misfortune, it got everyone in the end.

“Please, not yet,” she whispered, “I’m not ready for you to go momma.”

The nearly skeletal hand gently squeezed hers, and she raised her head. Her mother had woken up and was looking at her with eyes so full of love no pallor of sickness could ever mask it.

“Kinsa, my baby girl. I’m sorry,” the woman breathed.

“Sorry for what momma? You have been the best mom anyone could ask for,” she replied.

A tear rolled down the sick woman’s cheek as she said, “I was in love with your father, and we didn’t plan well enough. We were past the lawful years for having children; we knew we were too old. The sickness comes for everyone. I begged him for a child, and he eventually broke down and said yes. I am a greedy woman, and now you have to pay for my weakness by going through this life alone at such a young age.”

She squeezed her mother’s hand as hard as she dared to, and said, “Don’t say that momma. I am glad to be alive. I don’t care if I was a lateborn. Being alive is better than never being given the chance.”

Another tear rolled down her mother’s cheek and she said, “But my dear little one, after I am gone the others will never accept you. Our laws forbid it. You can’t even inherit what little I would leave to you.”

“I am glad to be alive momma, and I have you and daddy to thank for that.”

A hint of marvel entered her mother’s voice, “Look at you,” she said, “Not even eleven winters and so grown up. When I was your age I never had to deal with the things you do. You’ve had to grow up so fast.”

The sick woman broke down and started crying.

Through feeble sobs she was barely able to say, “I have to leave my baby alone in the world. Nobody will take care of you when I go.”

“Don’t say that Momma, Drelk is our friend, he will take care of me.”

Her strength spent, she took a moment to regain her breath then said, “He can’t, little one. The town and our laws will not let him. You are lateborn, and there are rules. If he tries to help you, he will be cast out, or even killed. It is even more so since the Jergoon haven’t come yet with the food for the season. Supplies are getting low, and soon everyone will be looking to their own hut and family.”

Kinsa knew her mother was right. When she looked at the food kibble this morning, there was scarcely enough for another few days, even on half rations.

As she was considering this, her mother rallied the last of her strength and lifted herself up to an elbow, “Kinsa, you have to go. You will never be accepted here. Your only chance at a life is to take whatever possessions you can now, while I am still alive, and leave. I don’t want you to watch me die in this bed. Go find a town where nobody knows you, or that you are a lateborn. Leave so you can at least remember me with some dignity. I only have weeks, maybe a month or two left. I don’t want you to see me wither away.”

“What? You want to send me away?” she breathed.

“No, dearest little light, I don’t want to, I have to. There’s no other way.”

Her mother looked to the doorway behind her and nodded. When Kinsa turned to follow her gaze, she saw their good friend Drelk standing there.

Her mother said, “Drelk, you were my husband’s closest friend, and you are a good man. I need something from you.”

He looked hesitantly from Kinsa to her mother, and back again, “I thought you might ask me this. Is it time?”

“Yes,” she said, letting herself fall back on the cot.

He looked at the two of them then said, “Okay, I’ll be back before first light. Kinsa, be ready to travel.”

Kinsa watched as he backed out of the doorway and disappeared.

“Where am I supposed to go?” Kinsa asked.

“North,” her mother responded, “They should have food there this time of year if the traveler’s stories are true.”

“But what if they aren’t?”

“Anywhere will be better for you than here, and North at least has some hope of food.”

With those words, her mother drifted back into sleep.

Kinsa pulled up a little fat log they used as a stool and lay her upper body over her mother. As she rested there, she tried to absorb and remember every detail she could. It is a rare thing to know when you are spending your last moments with someone. It is simultaneously one of the greatest gifts one can receive, and the cruelest strokes life ever takes.

She was gently shaken awake by a large hand on her back. Blearily, she opened her eyes to see Drelk standing what little light the pre-dawn darkness allowed. He took out a candle and lit it. In the weak illumination, she looked up at her mother’s face to see she was awake and looking back at her.

Drelk said, “I’ll be waiting outside,” and stepped out of the little hut.

Her mother looked deep into her eyes and said, “Now, my little light, you have to go. Be brave, and stay on the roads when there are any. Know that you take with you all my love, and I am so very proud of you.”

“But Momma, I can’t-“

“Yes, you can, little one. More than that, you have to.”

“But it’s not fair!” Kinsa cried.

“Many things in life aren’t fair, or the way they should be. This is especially true since the Jergoon came to our planet. It has never been perfect, even before them, but we must take what we have before us and do our best with it. It isn’t right, but it is the world we live in, and we have to do our best all the same.”

“I don’t want to leave you, Mommy,” Kinsa said weakly.

“And I don’t want you to go, but it is what is best for you,” Her mother replied, “Now, take the cook pot there, and that plate and spoon. They should fit in my old harvesting bag hanging on the peg by the door.”

She got up and dutifully did as her mother directed, gathering what few possessions could practically be traveled with.

When she was done packing, her mother said, “Now, take the rest of the food with you.”

“No, momma! What will you eat?”

“I haven’t been hungry for a long time now, little one. You are still growing, and need the nutrition. Don’t argue with me and do as I say.”

“But-“

“Now, young lady.”

Tears welled up in her eyes as she reached into the food bag and took out all the remaining kibble.

“Now, Drelk is waiting for you outside. Come and give me a hug and a kiss then go.”

The little girl did as ordered, and with her mother mustering all her strength they held each other for what both of them knew would be the last time.

Her mother stopped the hug first, and took her shoulders and guided her away saying, “Now, Drelk is kindly waiting in the dark out there for you to escort you out of the village. Go and know my heart is with you every step of the way my precious little one.”

All Kinsa could think to say was, “I love you, Momma.”

“I love you too, so much. Now go.”

Tears blurred her vision as she stepped out of the candle lit hut into the darkness.

“Hi kiddo,” Dralk said from above her, “Let’s get going.”

As they both walked through the darkness, the early morning silence was broken by the soft sound of her mother’s sobs behind her.

“I can’t go,” She said, “Who will take care of momma?”

Drelk reached down and took her hand in the darkness as they walked, “I will. I promise. I will take good care of her.”

He guided her through the dark and eventually to his hut. It was familiar to Kinsa. She had been to it many times to visit with the big man. It was one of the larger, nicer huts in the village on account of his being the best fiber weaver in all the surrounding villages. Baskets, clothing, even jackets and shoes were made of the local plant materials, and Drelk was an expert craftsman. It was quite an accomplishment given how young he was.

“Come in and warm up a little by my fire. I have some things for you.”

She went to stand by the hearth and watched as he stepped to a chest along one wall and began going through the contents.

In the light of his small hearth fire, she noticed that he was looking thin, and not as filled out as she had always known him to be.

“You are getting skinny. Are you sick too? You are too young to get the sickness, right?”

He paused for a moment at what he was doing and said, “No, I’m not sick that I know of. I have been eating less since your mom took ill.”

“Why?”

He finally pulled out a large woven bag from the chest. It was the kind he would usually take out for one of his long treks into the neighboring woodlands to gather fiber in.

As he got up and began walking toward her, he said, “I had a feeling she would have to send you away. There’s no future for you here. I knew you two would need the food more than I did.”

He reached into the large bag and took out a smaller sack and handed it to her, “This is for your trip.”

She looked inside, and saw more food than she had seen in months.

As she was marveling at it, he said, “Now, make sure you ration that out. It may be a really long time before you get more. Maybe if you can stand it keep it down to four pieces a day. Don’t make yourself weak though. You may need your strength for any troubles on the road.”

“Okay, I will,” she replied, not taking her eyes off the food.

“And another thing,” he began, “I have made some things for you in my free time lately. I want you to have these.”

She looked up. Out of the bag, he pulled a brand new backpack, a set of clothes, and some odd looking shoes that went further up the leg than usual.

He held up the various items as he explained, “When that traveling merchant came through last season he commissioned me to make him some new clothes and a backpack. The backpack design is different from the simple things our gatherer’s use. See these extra pockets and what not here? Those are for things like fire starters. This one here you could put a few kibbles in so you don’t have to stop to eat on the road. Oh, and these clothes are reinforced in the joints so they won’t wear out as quick on you. And the shoes-”

Dralk usually didn’t talk much, and as he was going through the list of things he had made for her, he was practically falling over his words. As she took her gaze off of the clothes to look at his face, she saw tears in his eyes. She let him continue on, and paid attention to his explanations of everything carefully.

“-and here I made you a nice warm blanket with dried frenya fluff in it for warmth, then I quilted it to keep it all in place so it doesn’t shift, and uh,” he paused, and looked at her, “It’s, the, um. It’s the best I know how to make. I hope it serves you well my little Kinsa.”

“You need to get out,” she said.

“Huh?”

“Get out so I can change into all these clothes.”

“Oh, yeah, of course.”

Drelk stepped out of his hut into the growing light of pre-dawn.

In a few minutes, she called him and said, “Okay, you can come back in now.”

As he stepped in, she saw a satisfied smile form on his face, “Oh, it looks like I got the sizing just right. Maybe a touch too big in some places, but that will just make it easier to move in I venture to say.”

She felt like the royalty the old stories talked about in her beautiful new clothes, “They’re perfect! Thank you!”

She ran over and hugged one of his legs as he stammered, “oh, well, um, yes, of course.”

They took the next few minutes packing up her belongings. As they were doing so, he said, “Where is your rope, and your mending kit? Don’t you have an oilcloth for when it rains?”

She looked up at him and said, “Oilcloths are big and heavy, and I am only ten. I already put my mending kit in this leg pocket here, see?”

His eyes went to the pocket she was holding open and he said, “Fair enough, but where is your rope?”

She looked up at him and held her hands out to the side, “We didn’t have any rope. I wouldn’t want it anyway. Sheleda had me deliver a rope to her husband in the fields last season and it was heavy. I don’t think I could carry it very far.”

He considered this a moment then said, “Well, that won’t do. I have a length of Gingna fiber rope I was making on a commission for the new mayor’s house but he hasn’t paid me for it yet. It’s not a lot, only about 30 feet or so, but it is lighter and stronger than anything else you could use.”

At that, he walked over to a coil hanging on the wall and retrieved it from its peg. He re-coiled it to be a smaller loop and tied it off to an extra line on the back of her pack.

“There, this is light and strong, and it will serve you well; even if it is a little short.”

When he saw she was missing some things he considered essential, he supplemented them out of his own possessions to make sure she was not wanting.

With every added good he supplied, her concern grew until she couldn’t take it anymore and said, “You are giving me so many things you will need. What about you?”

He scoffed and replied, “Oh, these? Nonsense. I could get dozens by tomorrow if I wanted to.”

While she knew that wasn’t really the case, it still made her feel better about taking his things.

When she was all packed up, they walked together in the dim dawn light to the village gate. As they went, she looked up at the sides of the canyon that her village was built in. Here, within these natural walls, she felt safe. Her whole day to day life had taken place in the shadows of the numerous canyons and ravines that webbed throughout the plains. Unlike the dry plains above her, these carved out paths provided shade and a sheltered place to grow Trisk. Now, she would have to leave these familiar gullies and go out across the open hills to the North.

Before long they were approaching the gates to the village. The guards were there. One was a younger man, new to the village defenders who had never been particularly nice to her. The other was an older man in the early stages of the sickness. It was common at night to assign the less capable members to guard the gates as all they really needed to do was be awake to sound the alarm if anything happened.

When they approached, the younger one yawned and said, “What’s all this? Where are you going with the lateborn?”

The older one, wiser and more perceptive of what was happening, said, “Shut up you idiot.”

The younger man shot a confused and annoyed glare at him but did as he was told.

The older guard said, “You are Kinsa if I am not mistaken.”

“I am,” she said respectfully.

“Well,” he continued, “I knew your father, did you know that?”

“No, I didn’t,” she replied.

“He was, despite his disregard for some of our laws, as good a man as I have met. I take it you are leaving the village?”

Her eyes grew a little larger but she didn’t say anything.

“Right,” he said, “Drelk, you know you could get in a lot of trouble for helping her, don’t you?”

Drelk looked slightly flustered and said, “Well, I was, um, I was just taking her to the fields to work on the harvest.”

The old guard looked at him and quirked up an eyebrow, “Harvest ended last week, and the fields are on the other side of town.”

Drelk went silent.

The old guard looked at them both and said, “Well, I am afraid I can’t let you accompany her out of the village. If the town heard about it you would be in the desert without shade, if you catch my meaning.”

The craftsman looked around and said, “Nobody would know. Just let me walk with her for half a day, then I will be back by nightfall, I promise.”

The old guard gestured his spear toward his younger counterpart and said, “I think you are more exposed than you think. I’m sorry, you can go no farther.”

Drelk resigned himself and bent down to a knee and hugged Kinsa.

“This appears to be as far as I am able to go with you.”

She squeezed her arms around his neck and said, “Thank you. Please take care of mommy for me.”

“Oh, don’t you spare that another thought little one. I will take good care of her. You just think now on the road ahead and keeping yourself safe.”

She let go of his neck and stepped back, “I will.”

The old guard spoke again and said, “Now, since we are neither close friends nor family, there is no law against me escorting you for a ways outside the town. If you would please come with me young lady.”

The younger officer openly scoffed and said, “Young Lady? Come on, that’s like calling a-”

There was a blur of motion as the old guard spun and planted the butt of his spear deeply into the gut of the young man. He dropped to the ground wheezing and clutching himself, unable to complete his sentence, or even swear for that matter. The look he gave the older man made up for his lack of words.

Kinsa smiled as she walked past the crumpled younger man. The older man extended his had to her, and she took it. Together, they began down the road.

Before they rounded the first bend, she turned to see Drelk still standing at the gate. The younger guard had gotten up to a knee and they were both staring over the road at them. Kinsa waved, and Dralk waved back.

When they rounded the bend, she said goodbye to the only life she had ever known.