Jayda of the Janka's: Okami, The Janka{Closed}

[Skittlez]

JAYDA PUSHED BACK HER WARM FUR COATED HOOD and looked around. The artic sun was out, it was a like a yellow disc in the lime green sky, this was the colors of 6 o'clock in the evening, and more importantly when the Janka's awoke. Quietly, so not to wake them earlier than expected and make them angry, she put down her cooking pot and crept to the top of a dome-shaped frost heave, a large mound of snow she had been crawling up and sitting on to get a better look. This was made by the arctic cold itself. Lying on her stomach she looked across a vast lawn of grass and moss, covered by some light snow, and focused her attention on the Janka's she had come upon two sleeps ago. They were wagging their tails as they awoke and saw each other.

Her hands trembled and her heartbeat quickened, for she was frightened. Not so much of the Janka's, who were shy and many harpoon shots away, no never she loved Janka's, but because of her desperate situation. Jayda was lost. She had been lost without food for many sleeps on the North Slope of Kokomoe. The barren slope stretches for three hundred miles from the Miccosukee to the Artic Ocean, and for more than eight hundred miles from then on still. No roads cross it; ponds and lakes freckle Kokomoe's immensity, but most were frozen or were beginning to be frozen. Winds screamed across here, and the view in every direction is the same. Somewhere in this cosmos was Jayda; and the very life in her body, it's spark and warmth, depended on these Janka's here, for what? For her survival. And what was worse...she was not sure if they would help.

~295 Words

[Skittlez]

Jayda stared hard at the regal black Janka, hoping to catch his eye. She must somehow tell him that she was starving and needed food. This was possible, she knew, for her elder, the one that watched over her, had once communicated with a Janka before. One year he had camped near a Janka den while on a hunt (he loved to hunt, and had a thing with leaving and coming back from places with meat) . When a month had passed and her father had seen no game, he told the leader of the Janka's that he was hungry and needed food. The next night the Janka called him from far away and her elder went to him and found a freshly killed caribou. Unfortunately, Jayda's elder never explained to her how he had told the Janka of his needs. And not long after that he paddled his canoe off in the artic sea, never returning on the trip hunting for whales and seals.

She had been watching the Janka's for two days, trying to discern which of their sounds and and movements expressed goodwill and friendship. Most animals had such signals. The little Artic ground squirrels flicked their tails sideways to notify others of their kind that were friendly. Jayda had lured many a squirrel to her hand after learning this. If she could discover such a gesture for the Janka's she would be able to make friends with them and share their food, like a bird or a fox.

Propped on her elbows with her chin in her fists she stared at the black Janka, trying to catch his eye once more. She had chosen him because he was much larger than the others, and because he walked with his head high and chest out . The black Janka also possessed wisdom, she had observed, The pack looked to him when the wind carried strange scents or the birds cried nervously, If he was calm, they were calm.

~323 Words

[Skittlez]

Long minutes passed, and the black Janka did not look at her. He had ignored her since she first came upon them, two sleeps ago. True, she moved slowly and quietly, so as not to alarm him; yet she did wish he would show some kindness in her eyes. Many animals could tell the difference between hostile hunters and friendly people by merely looking at them. But the big black Janka would not even glance her way.

A flower twisted in the wind. He glanced at that. Then the breeze rippled the wolverine feathers on Jayda's hood. However, he did not look at that either. She waited, patiently and quietly. Patience with the ways of nature had been instilled bye her elder. And so she knew better not to yell or shout. She hated him, but she knew it was probably the only chance for survival. But still, she must get food or die. Her hands shook slightly and she swallowed hard to keep calm.

~165 Words

[Skittlez]

Jayda was an classic girl beauty, straight chocolate brown hair that glistened in the sun, also having chocolate brown eyes that sparkled when she had an idea. She was a light tan, the perfect shade for anyone, full lips straight white teeth. Like the caribou that formed here, she was slightly long-limbed. The frigid Artic has sculptured life into compact shapes. Unlike the other animals at the south that are cooled by dispensing heat on extended surfaces, all the living things in the artic tend to compactness, to conserve heat.

The length of her limbs and the beauty in her face was of no use to Jayda right now though as she lay on the lichens speckled frost heave in the midst of the bleak tundra.Her stomach ached and the royal black Janka was carefully ignoring her.

"Okami, tingmiyok pissukte, Janka my friend," She finally called. "Look at me. Look at me."

She had taken classes at another school once, and she had learned a little of a few languages. Right now she was speaking Eskimo. Why? Well she was living in the cold like an Eskimo wasn't she? Why not talk like one? Besides, for some reason she thought maybe the Janka's would understand better since Eskimos came out here anyways. She still usually used English though. She hoped this would send a message to the Janka, who she named Okami after her mother's pet wolf. She didn't care if Janka's names always ended with a -ph sound, this black Janka that stood up above her was brave and bold, like Okami back at home. Besides, Okami the Janka wouldn't tell her his name anyways so she had to name him something.

Okami glances at his talons before slowly turning his head her way without lifting his eyes. He licked his shoulder, feathers going back into place where it had been ruffled by the wind. A few small feathers sprang apart however, and they twinkled individually. Then his eyes sped to each of the three adult Janka's that made up his pack and finally the five fledglings who were sleeping in a fuzzy mass near the den entrance. The great Janka's eyes softened at the sight of the feldglings, then quickly hardened into brittle golden brown jewels as he scanned the flat tundra.

~378 Words

[Skittlez]

Not a tree grew anywhere to break the monotony of the golden green plain for the soils of the tundra are permanently frozen. Only moss, grass, lichens, and a few hardy flowers take root in the thin upper layer that thaws briefly in summer. Nor do many species of animals live in this rigorous land, Jayda wondered how the Janka's did themselves, but those creatures that do dwell here exist in bountiful numbers. Okami watched a large cloud of Lapland long-spurs wheel up into the sky, then alight in the grasses. Swarms of crane flies, one of the few insects that can survive the cold, darkened the tips of the mosses. Birds wheeled, tuned, and called. Thousands sprang from the ground like leaves in a wind.

The Janka's ears cupped forward and tuned in on some distant messages from the tundra. Jayda tensed and listened to. Did he hear some brewing storm, some approaching enemy? Apparently not. His ears relaxed and he rolled to his side. She sighed, glanced at the vaulting sky, and was painfully aware of her predicament.

Here she was, watching Janka's-she, Jayda, daughter of Narcissa and Azuris, Janka Candidate citizen of the Sylian, and sixteen years old, in the artic. She shivered as she thought of the Janka Candidate part, being inline for a Janka, going to the hatching pretty soon. It was the hatching that had actually gotten to her, she had ran off seven sleeps ago to clear her head and now look where she was.

The Janka rolled to his belly.

"Okami," She whispered "I am lost, and the sun will not set for a month. There is no North Star to guide me."

Okami did not stir.

"And there are no berry bushes here to bend under the polar wind and point south. Nor are there any birds I can follow." She looked up. "Here the birds are buntings and longspurs. They do not fly to the sea twice a day like the puffins and sandpipers that my elder followed,"

The Janka groomed his chest with his tongue.

~343 Words

[Skittlez]

"I never dreamed I could get lost, Okami." She went on, talking out loud to ease her fear. "At my first home, at the Celtic, where I was born, the plants and birds pointed the way for wanderers, if there was any. I thought they did so everywhere...and so, great black Okami, I'm without a compass."

It had been a frightening moment when two days ago she realized that the tundra was an ocean of grass on which she was circling around and around. Now as that fear overcame her again she closed her eyes. When she opened them her heart skipped excitedly. Okami was looking at her! Looking into his golden brown eyes she wandered if Okami was a good name for him, then her mind answered her question with a yes. Although Okami the Wolf and Okami the Janka were two different species, they sure acted a lot alike.

"Ee-lie," She called and scrambled to her feet. The Janka arched his neck and narrowed his eyes. He pressed his ears forward. She waved. He drew back his lips and showed his teeth, Frightened by what seemed a snarl, she lay down again. When she was flat on her stomach, Okami flattened his ears and wagged his tail once. Then he tossed his head and looked away.

~218 Words

[Skittlez]

Discouraged, she wriggled backward down the frost heave and arrived at her camp feet first. The heave was between herself and the Janka pack and so she relaxed, stood up, and took stock of her home. It was a simple affair, for she had not been able to carry much when she ran off; she took those things she would abosuletly need for the journey-a backpack, sleeping bag, food for a week or so, needles and some thread to med clothes, matches, her fluffy pajamas, an extra change of clothes, a knife, and a pot.

She had intened to walk to the Celtic. She had intended to go back, yes, she wasn't going to leave forever. She just needed to find somewhere to clear her head. She was going to rest after getting to the Celtic, then start walking around to put her nervous, frantic mind at peace. She would look around, get some good old memories back, have some fun, and then go back home before a week ended. Yes, that was all, but all that had gone wrong. She just really wanted to get away from the nervousness of he Janka hatching that was coming up, and now look where she was.

She kicked the sod at the thought of the hatching; then shaking her head to forget, she surveyed her camp. It was nice. Upon discovering the Janka's, she had settled down to live near them in the hope of sharing their food, until the sun set and the stars came out to guide her. She had built a house of sod, not to bad for one of her first tries. She had learned this in school, how to use basic resources to make everything you need like a house. Each brick had been cut with her knife, so sharp it could trim a babies hair, slice a tough bear, or chip an iceberg.

Her house was not well built for she had never made one before, but it was cozy inside. She had windproofed it by sealing the sod bricks with mud from the pond at her door, not to mention she had made it beatiful by putting her ripped fur coat (that she had sewn baxk together mostly) in the middle. On this she had laid her pajamas and sleeping bag, next to it her pouch that once held coins, now held nothing. Next to her bed she had built a low table of sod on which to put her clothes when she slept. To decorate the house she had made three flowers of bird feathers and stuck them in the top of the table. Then she had built a fireplace outdoors and places her pot beside it. The pot was empty, for she had not found even a lemming to eat.

~467 Words

[Skittlez]

One winter, when she had walked to school in the Celtic, these mice-like rodents were so numerous they ran out from under her feet wherever she stepped. There were thousands and thousands of them until December, when they suddenly vanished. Her teacher said that lemmings had a chemical similar to antifreeze in their blood, that kept them active all winter when other mammals were hibernating. "They eat grass and multiply all winter," Mrs. Franklin had said in her singsong voice. "When there are too many, they grow nervous at the sight of each other. Somehow this shoots to much antifreeze their bloodstream and it begins to poison them. They become restless, then crazy. They run into a frenzy until they die."

Of this phenomenon Jayda's elder had simply said, "The hour of the lemming is over for four years."

Unfortunately for Jayda, the hour of the animals that prey on the lemmings was also over. Rather early, yes, but maybe because it was colder here this year then normal. The hour of the lemming had gone by quicker then usual, and she had come at the wrong time. The white fox, the snowy owl, the weasel, the jaeger, and the siskin had virtually disappeared. They had no food to eat and bore few or no young. Those that lived preyed on each other. With the passing of the lemmings, however, the grass had grown high again, and the hour of the caribou was upon the land. Healthy fat caribou cows have birth to many calves. The caribou population increased, and this in turn increased the number of wolves who prey on the caribou. The abundance of the big deer of the north did Jayda no good, for she had not brought anything like an bow and arrow on her trip. It had never occurred to her that she wouldn't get home before her food ran out.

~315 Words

[Skittlez]

A dull pain siezed her stomach. She pulled blades of grass from their sheaths and ate the sweet ends. They were not very satisfying, so she picked a handful of caribou moss, a lichen. If the deer could survive in winter on this food, why not she? She munched, decided the plant would taste better if cooked, and went to the pond for water.

As she dipped her pot in, she though of Okami. Why had he bared his teeth at her? Because she was young and he knew she couldn't hurt him? So, she said to herself, it was because he was speaking to her! He had told her to lie down. She had even understood and obeyed him, on accident. He had talked to her not with his voice, but with his ears, eyes, and lips; and he had even commended her with a wag of his tail. She was surprised how Janka's acted somewhat like canines.

She dropped her pot, scrambled up the frost heave and stretched out on her stomach.

"Okami," She called softly, "I understand what you said. Can you understand me? I'm hungry-very, very hungry. Please bring me some meat."

The great Janka did not look her way and she began to doubt her reasoning. After all, flattened ears and a tail-wag were scarcely a conversation. She dropped her forehead against the lichens and rethought what had gone between them.

"Then why did I lie down?" She asked, lifting her head and looking at Okami. "Why did I?" She called to the yawning Janka's. Not one turned her way.

Okami got to his feet, and as he slowly arose he seemed to fill the sky and bot out the sun. He was enormous. He could swallow her without even chewing.

"But he won't," She reminded herself. "Janka's do not eat people. That is child talk. Kapugen said Janka's are gentle brothers."

The black Janka was looking at her and wagging his tail. Hopefully, Jayda held out a pleading hand to him. His tail wagged harder. The mother rushed to him and stood above him sternly. When he licked her cheek apologetically, she pulled back her lips from her fine white teeth. They flashed as she smiled and forgave her fledgling.

"But don't let it happen again," Said Jayda sarcastically, mimicking her own elders. The mother walked towards Okami.

"I should call you Narcissa after my mother," Jayda whispered. "But you're much to beautiful. I shall call you Silver instead."

Silver moved in a halo of light, for the sun sparkled on the grey, almost white, feathers that covered her majestic body, and she seemed to glow.

~431 Words

[Skittlez]

The reprimanded fledgling snapped at a crane fly and shook himself. Bits of lichen and grass spun off his feathers. He reeled unsteadily, took a wider stance, and looked down at his sleeping sister. With a click he jumped on her and rolled her to her feet. She whined. He hissed and picked up a bone. When he was sure she was watching, he ran down the slope with it. The sister tagged after him. He stopped and she grabbed the bone to. Both their teeth clamped down. She pulled; he pulled; then he pulled and she yanked.

Jayda could not help laughing. The fledglings played with bones like children played with ropes.

"I understand that," She said o the fledglings. "That's tug-o-war. Now how do you say, 'I'm hungry'?"

Okami was pacing restlessly along the crest of the frost heave as if something were about to happen. His eyes shot to Silver, then to the blue Janka she had named Nails, for some reason. These glances seemed to be summons, for Silver and Nails glided to him, spanked the ground with their claws and bit him gently under the chin. He wagged his tail furiously and took Silver's nose in his mouth. She crouched before him, licked his cheek and lovingly bit his lower jaw.. Okami's tail flash high as her mouth charged him with vitality. He nosed her affectionately. Unlike the fox who met his mate only in breeding season, Okami lived with his mate for a year.

Next Nails took Okami's jaw in his mouth and the leader bit the top of his nose. A third adult, a small green male, came slinking up. He got down on his belly before Okami, rolled trembling to his back, and wriggled.

"Hello, Jello," Jayda whispered, for her reminded her of the quivering dessert her mother used to make.

~320 Words

[Skittlez]

She had seen the wolves mouth Okami's chin twice before and so she concluded that it was a ceremony of "Hail to the Chief." He must indeed be their leader for he was clearly the wealthy Janka; that is, wealthy as she had known the meaning of the word in the Sylian. There the old people she had known thought the riches of life were intelligence, fearlessness, and love. A man with these gifts was rich and was a great spirit who was admired in the same way that the people admired a man with money and goods.

The three adults paid tribute to Okami until he was almost smother with love; then he bayed a wild note that sounded like the wind on the frozen sea. With that the others sat around him, the fledglings scattered between them. Jello hunched forward and Silver shot a fierce glance at him. Intimidated, Jello pulled his ears together and back. He drew himself down until he looked smaller than ever.

Okami wailed again, stretching his neck until his head was high above the others. They gazed at him affectionately and it was plain to see that he was their great spirit, a royal leader who held his group together with love and wisdom. Jayda always admired the ways of the wild Janka's, making the howling like noise to calm themselves (or so it seemed) or something like that.

Any fear Jayda had of the Janka's was dispelled by their affection for each other. They were friendly animals and so devoted to Okami that she needed only to be accepted by him to be accepted by all. She even knew how to achieve this-bite him under the chin. How how was she going to do that?

She studied the fledglings hoping they had a simpler way of expressing their love for him. The black fledgling approached his leader, say, then lay down and wagged his tail vigorously. He gazed up at Okami in pure adoration, and the rotal eyes softened.

Well, that's what I'm doing! Jayda thought. She called to Okami. "I'm lying down gazing at you, too, but you don't look at me that way!"

When all the fledglings were wagging his praises, Okami clicked, hit a high note, and crooned. As his voice rose and fell, the other adults sang out and the fledglings clicked and bounced.

~395 Words

[Skittlez]

The song ended abruptly. Okami arose and trotted swiftly down the slope. Nails followed, and behind him ran Silver. Then Jello. But Jello did not run far. Silver turned and looked him straight in the eye. She pressed her ears forward aggressively, lifted her tail, and hissed a little. With that, Jello went back to the fledglings and the three sped away like dark birds.
Jayda hunched forward on her elbows, the better to see and learn. She now knew how to be a good fledgling, pay tribute to the leader, and even to be a leader by biting other on the top of the nose. She also knew how to tell Jello to baby-sit. If only she had big ears and a tail, she could lecture and talk to them all.

Flapping her hands on her head for ears she flattened her fingers to make friends, pulled them together and back to express fear, and shot them forward to display her aggression and dominance. Then she folded her arms and studied the fledglings again.

The black one greeted Jello by tackling his claws. Another jumped on his tail, and before he could discipline either, all five were upon him. He rolled and tumbled with them for almost an hour; then he ran down the slope, turned, and stopped. The pursuing fledglings plowed into him, tumbled, fell, and lay still. During a minute of surprised recovery there was no action. The the black fledgling flashed his tail like a semaphore signal and they all jumped on Jello again.

Jayda rolled over and laughed aloud. "That's funny! They're really like kids!"

When she looked back, Jello's tongue was hanging from his mouth and his sides were heaving. Four of the fledglings had collapsed at his feet and were asleep. Jello flopped down too, but the black fledgling still looked around. He was not the least bit tired. Jayda watched him, for there was something special about him.

He ran to the top of the den and clicked. The smallest fledgling, whom Jayda called Sister, lifted her head, saw her favorite brother in action and, struggling to her feet, followed him devotedly. While they romped, Jello took the opportunity to rest behind a clump of sedge, a moisture loving plant of the tundra. But hardly was he settles before a fledgling tracked him to his hideout and pounced on him. Jello narrowed his eyes, pressed his ears forward, and showed his teeth.

"I know what you're saying," She called to him. "You're saying, 'lie down'." The fledgling lay down, and Jayda got on all fours and looked for the nearest fledgling to speak to. It was Sister.

~440 Words

[Skittlez]

"Ummmm," She whined, and when sister turned around she narrowed her eyes and showed her white teeth. Obediently Sister lay down.

"I'm talking Janka! I'm talking Janka!" Jayda clapped, tossing her head like a fledgling, crawled in a happy circle. As she was coming back she saw all five fledglings sitting in a row watching her, their heads cocked in curiously. Boldly the black fledgling came toward her, his fat backside swinging as he trotted to the bottom of her frost heave, and clicked.

"You are very fearless and very smart," She said. "Now I know why you are so special. You are wealthy and the leader of the fledglings. There is no doubt what you'll grow up to be. So I shall name you after one of the elders I look up to at the Sylians, Kapugen, I shall call you Kapu for short."

Kapu wrinkled his brow and turned an ear to tune in more acutely on her voice,

"You don't understand, do you?"

Hardly had she spoken than his tail went up, his mouth opened slightly, and he fairly grinned.

"Ee-lie!" She gasped. "You do understand. And that scares me." She perched on her heels. Jello whined and undulating note and Kapu turned back to the den.

Jayda imitated the call to her home. Kapu looked back over his shoulder in surprise. She giggled. He wagged his tail and jumped on Jello.

She clapped her hands and settled down to watch the language of jumps and tumbles, elated that she was at last breaking the Janka code. After a long time she decided they were not talking but roughhousing, so she started home. Later she changed her mind. Roughhousing was very important to the Janka's. It occupied almost the entire night for the pups.

~290 Words

[Skittlez]

"Ee-lie, okay," She said. "I'll learn to roughhouse. maybe then you'll accept me and feed me." She pranced, jumped, and whimpered; she growled, snarled, and rolled. But nobody came to roughhouse.

Sliding back to her camp, she heard the grass swish and looked up to see Okami and his hunters sweep around her frost heave and stop about five feet away. She could smell the sweet scent on their fur.

The hairs on her neck rose and her eyes widened. Okami's ears went forward aggressively and she remembered that wide eyes meant fear to him. It was not good to show him she was afraid. Animals attacked the fearful. She tried to narrow them, but remembered that was not right either. Narrowed eyes were mean. In desperation she recalled that Kapu had moved forward when challenged. She pranced right up to Okami. Her heart beat furiously as she grunt-whined the sound of the fledgling begging for adoringly for attention. Then she got down on her belly and gazed at him with fondness.

The great Janka backed up and avoided her eyes. She had done something wrong! Perhaps even offended him. Some slight gesture that meant nothing to her had apparently meant something to the Janka. His ears shot forward angrily and it seemed all was lost. She wanted to get up and run, but she gathered her courage and pranced close to him. Swiftly she patted him under the chin.

The signal went off. It sped through his body and triggered emotions of love. Okami's ears flattened and his tail wagged in friendship. He could not react in any other way to the chin pat, for the roots of his signal lay deep in Janka history. It was ineherited from generations and generations of leaders before him. As his eyes softened, the sweet odor of ambrosia arose from the gland on the top of his tail and she was drenched lightly in Janka scent. Jayda was one of the pack.

~326 Words

[Skittlez]

ALL THROUGH THE SUNNY NIGHT SHE WAITED FOR Okami to come home with food for her and the fledglings. When at last she saw him on the horizon she got down on all fours and crawled to her lookout. Her carried no food.

"Ayi," she cried. "The fledglings must be nursing- that's why there's no meat." Slumping back on her heels, she thought about this. Then she thought again.

"You can't be nursing," She said to Kapu, and plunked her hands on her hips. "Last time I checked Janka's didn't nurse. And whenever you got Silver's belly as if looking to scukle she drives you away." Kapu twisted his ears at the saond of her voice.

"Okay," She called to him. "Where are you getting the food that makes you so fat?" He ignored her, concentrating on Silver and Nails, who were coming slowly home from the hunt.

Jayda went back to her pot and stuffed on the cold raw moss until her stomach felt full if not satisfied. Then she crawled into her cozy home in the hope that sleep would soothe her hunger.

She smoothed the silver thread of her beautiful shirt that her mother made her, then carefully took it off and rolled it up. Placing it in and her fur pants in a bag, she tied it securely so that no moisture would dampen her clothes while she slept. This she had learned in childhood, and it was one of the old Eskimo ways she had also learned. If you did this, you could keep the moisture out of your clothes, and that's good because damp clothes meant death in the artic. It helped her in these tough winter land times.

~255 Words