The Pow-wow

Despite that, though, it soon became rather clear that sticking around and watching as the clouds sluggishly drew their path across the sky would be nothing but mind-numbingly boring. Even Icarus seemed to think the same, pacing the small paddock set around his teepee impatiently, back and forth and back again, stopping here and there to nibble at a greener patch of grass or nicker at a fellow horse walking past. Not once did he leave the space, despite the wide open gate - every now and then, though, he slowly walked up to Afonso, lightly nudging his shoulder in an open invitation to go out and explore.

Finally, after he'd tuned the strings of his guitar (well, not entirely his - John had lent it to him a fairly long time ago, and he'd brought it along to play at night, when he couldn't sleep) for what seemed like the hundredth time that morning, he relented, setting it inside the teepee, well protected among his blankets, before climbing onto the Appaloosa's back. He let him trot off, choosing his way, ears pricked and tail swishing as he moved towards the East Wood.

They were back just as the sky started changing into warmer hues, darkness already eating up the horizon, beyond the treeline. Wood was already piled high at the centre of the circle, a few people milling about, chatting cheerfully or simply resting by themselves, some helping with the fire, some... Not really.

It wouldn't be worth it to take another walk, now; after riding for several hours and spotting a couple of deer, both of them were fairly tired. Besides, soon enough, the fire would be lit, the stories would start to be told, and maybe, maybe he'd get brave enough to finally get himself a friend. An acquaintance, at best. After all, everyone had seemed a bit disappointed when he'd told them that he'd mostly spent the time on his own; he'd gone there to make friends and have fun, after all, they'd tell him. He couldn't quite understand why he couldn't just settle for one of those.

He settled himself behind one of the five great logs, leaning against the rough bark and closing his eyes. He'd fully intended to stay awake to see the bonfire being lit, he really had, simply sitting down to try and not look as out of place as he truly felt - but shortly after listening to the quiet shifting of Icarus's body as the horse laid down next to him, blissfully oblivious as the night set and the flames rose.

~~~

This had been a quite beautiful day; even Kain had to admit that. His shoulders and arms still ached from the furious Lacrosse game yesterday, so having a whole day to rest seemed like an okay deal to him.
Many participators used the free time to roam the plains, ride into the woods again, but not so the boy and his tobiano stallion. They had decided to visit the one place they had only seen from far until now - the river. And there they went - and pretty much stayed there all day long. It was nice, having nothing to do for once. His shoulders still spotting a nice sunburn, the dark-haired boy snoozed in the shadow of a large tree for hours, jumped into the river once or twice, but much more than that… he didn’t do.  

The week was slowly drawing to an end, and even though Kain had been sceptical about the event at first, he had grown to like it somehow. Sure, everyone was kind of a nerd, dressing up like that, but yeah - it was fun.
The bond between him and his horse had grown, too. Often enough he and Jet had fought against each other, the stallion had thrown him down plenty of times - now they had discovered that there were things both of them delighted in. Things that made more fun if you actually teamed up and fought together. Kain felt this was a realisation worth remembering and keeping for the future.

But yes, he was satisfied with how things went. A lot, actually.
The sun was slowly setting when he gathered his stuff and his horse and went back to the camp. They were planning a big fire in the evening, for everyone to gather and tell stories, play games or make music. As Kain didn’t enjoy being the center of attention and part of a group of more than five, he planned to sit a bit on the outside, to witness rather than to actually participate. The music part of the whole thing interested him, nonetheless. Maybe he’d manage to smuggle his guitar to the celebration.
He tied the tobiano to a pole close to his teepee, so the horse hopefully wouldn’t cause any mischief, took the instrument under his arm and set off.

The center of the camp was full with people already, most of them had already settled themselves in a place they found comfortable, and Kain was just looking for one that was more offside from the center. His eyes fixed on some logs that lay on the other side of the fire, he made his way through the other participators. He’d almost made it; hadn’t there been those legs sticking out behind one of them. Kain stumbled over them, was startled at first - and then he realised he just had woken someone from a little, peaceful nap or something.
He ducked a bit, brusquely saying “Ow - my bad!” to the other.

~~~

Afonso was the kind of person that didn't really stand out much against the crowd. For someone who was perfectly happy being left to his own, this had always been an useful skill to have. Of course, it also came with its disadvantages, especially the annoying tendency of people completely missing the fact that he was, indeed, sitting there when turning corners or even walking down hallways and unapologetically bumping into him. Both he and everyone else were very much used to it, accepting the fact that he was that weird kid without giving it so much as a second thought. It had never bothered him as much as it probably should have.

It wasn't too surprising, then, that when the combined shift of something solid hitting his legs and the of his back hitting the ground as Icarus stood up beside him (since when had he been leaning against the horse?) woke him up so suddenly, Affie wasn't too bothered; in fact, he was mostly confused - hadn't it been evening just a moment ago? And since when had a blanket been draped over his shoulders? Was the fire already lit? Hopefully he wouldn't have missed the whole thing.

He furrowed his brow and blinked, before his eyes turned to the boy standing not too far off, whom Icarus was eyeing suspiciously. It took a moment for his sleepy brain to make the connection between the rude awakening and the boy staring at him, and even longer to realise the awkward position he was in, pretty much laid down under the horse's belly. He sat up, careful not to surprise Icarus too much, and offered the other a small smile, quickly shaking his head, and hesitated a moment before giving him a thumbs up, in what he hoped to be a reassuring gesture. Hopefully it would be easily understood by the other - John never seemed to have a problem figuring them out, even being from another country and all.

~~~

Kain saw the other topple over as his horse suddenly stood up, alarmed by the stranger walking by and stepping on his owner.
After all, the boy smiled at him and showed him a thumbs up, so that little incident shouldn’t have been that bad, should it? Relieved, Kain exhaled and relaxed his stance.
“Sorry, man, I not see you down there,” he said in his wonky English, pushing back his guitar to its place on his back. He shot the other a lopsided grin and pointed to the log he was sitting next to.
“Is there place for me left?”

Kain almost didn’t wait for the boy’s approval, and flopped himself on the broad piece of wood. He knew he could, or rather, should say something, the boy seemed to be nice after all… but alas, the language, the language. To work out what to say next, to carefully put together words and sentences, all that was so difficult. Kain had been a slow learner in languages his whole life, he just wasn’t talented for that kind of stuff… but now it depended on this foreign language if they understood each other or not.
He ended up with simply saying “My name is Kain” and turned his upper body to the other in anticipation for an answer.

~~~

Afonso nodded at the other's question, though he quickly realised that there had been no need for an answer on his part, given how very quickly he'd sat down. But yes, of course, there was plenty of space - he wouldn't keep it all to himself, after all; he doubted he could, even if he tried. Tugging the blanket - he'd have to figure out whose it was, now; perhaps he could hang a sign outside his teepee? - a bit closer to his body, burrowing under it until his neck was well protected against the cold, he sat down beside the other. The fire roared across from them, red sparks floating off into the lightly star-dusted sky, and Affie sighed quietly, eyes following their ascent. What most people would consider an awkward silence had never bothered him much - it comforted him, in a way, mostly because silence meant less people asking him questions and getting angry and frustrated when he couldn't bring himself to answer.

Obviously, not everyone was as comfortable with silence as he was, and soon enough, the boy beside him was talking - and, it seemed, searching for answers, too. Biting down on his lower lip, Affie stayed quiet, thumb slowly running along the edge of the blanket, and, for a moment, pretended he hadn't heard. Normally, he always carried a notebook and a pen with him for such situations, (it wasn't ideal, mind, but it was better than nothing) but now, he had neither. How was he supposed to reply? He couldn't just answer, knowing his lips would remain shut as stubbornly as if they'd been glued together, his tongue refusing to move even when he tried his very best. He was still for a moment longer, watching as the tip of his shoe drew a line on the dusty ground by his feet, eerily orange by the light of the fire. Suddenly struck by an idea, he crouched down, using his index finger to write AFONSO down on the sand. It was barely visible, but hopefully the other would be able to read it.

~~~

The other leaned over and seemed to do something on the ground - maybe he was searching for something? How weird, Kain hadn’t even received an answer yet. But on the other hand, maybe the boy was just shy, or not interested in making conversation at all.
On closer inspection, though, it turned out that he was writing something in the sand.
Kain bent over, trying to make out the letters coming up in the dust.
“A...af...fon… Afonso? Ah, that is your name? Cool”, he said, dropping back with a slightly embarrassed expression. “So you… can’t talk,” he remarked, nodding. “That’s okay.”

Kain, not being the most socially competent person himself, soon settled in his place, curiously watching the surroundings. Here, a little way off from the biggest fuss, it was perfect to watch most of the celebration, without being too much of a part of it. Kain soon felt comfortable where he was.
The big bonfire flickered merrily - it was surrounded by people who either sat and watched, or talked - some even danced. Their moving forms were lit by the yellow light and so visible against the rising darkness.
Kain remembered the instrument he carried around his shoulders; what moment would be more fitting for a few chords than this? He pulled the guitar to his lap and struck a few simple melodies.
Oh, how he enjoyed the silence that was now filled with some of his notes. A fire like that was the perfect place to play a bit; it was a hobby Kain loved very dearly.

~~~

It was okay. Of course it was. Nodding slightly, Afonso briefly wondered why he'd worried at all, but the well-known fact that not everyone accepted him as well as this boy was quickly brought to the forefront of his mind - that was why he worried. Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath; it wouldn't do to think about such things here. Everyone he'd met so far had been incredibly, surprisingly nice - besides, he was here to have fun, not to be haunted by what were undoubtedly silly, senseless thoughts.

Sitting back on the log, he pulled the blanket tighter over his shoulders, eyes settling on the fire and surrounding people. He closed them for a moment, meditating over all that had happened in the past few days - this was his last night here, after all, and, truth be told, he doubted he would ever come back. Still, despite everything, he was surprised he'd lasted this long, and more surprised still at the fact that he had, actually, enjoyed himself a fair bit. The open landscapes and mostly untouched wilderness had given his mind the freedom it so sorely needed; maybe, in the long run, it would help much more than he'd thought possible.

The sound of simple chords being struck brought him back to reality; opening his eyes once more, he let them settle on Kain, who had gotten a guitar from seemingly nowhere and was filling the relative silence with a song he'd never really heard before. It was a nice one, though. He briefly debated going back to his teepee to get his own guitar and play a bit as well; however, given the fact that some people were looking their way, inching closer to listen, he ultimately thought it a better idea to just stay where he was. He offered Kain an encouraging smile - he did seem to be a better player than Affie, anyway.

~~~

Kain enjoyed the stray chords slowly rising into the starry sky. The flames of the big bonfire flickered high and painted a soft light onto the rich blue; there was something warm about them, something that even subdued the chill of evening that was slowly rising on the plains.
The middle of the camp was slowly filling with people, the other entrants who used the evening for a celebration rather than for some quiet time like him. This Afonso seemed to prefer to keep a little distance to the center of the party, too; something the dark-haired boy could just understand too well. He seemed to be a pretty quiet guy - not just because of the fact that he didn’t talk.

Kain had seen the other move slightly when he had started playing - of course he hadn’t expected to hear somebody play the guitar, and so it looked like the sound had woken him from a slumber; or, at least, a state that had been pretty close to it. He seemed to ponder something, hesitated a bit, before a quick smile proved that he most likely wasn’t annoyed at the music; so Kain continued with a simple rendition of “Country Roads”.

This event had been a crazy one indeed. He hadn’t realised how crazy it was until he had found himself in the middle of a bunch of riders dressing as “Indians” - but in the end, he had painted his horse, crafted himself a headdress and played lacrosse as well. Now, he had come to the conclusion that it had been nice. Funny even. He remembered how Jet had stolen his wig countless times, or pulled down the freshly built teepee, or even bucked him down in the middle of a buffalo stampede… Even though it had been weird at first, the memories he’d made were all pleasant. Those of this particular evening, too.
The fire was still sending sparks into the night sky, and Kain watched them rise into the air, dance around before they disappeared, while he bemusedly plucked the strings.