Long Thaw

Danaki stood, uncomprehending.

At fifteen years old, she had never seen anything like what lay before her. For the last three years she had been leaving the village on her own foraging trips. She would never walk more than the low rising sun just reaching its apex.

Most days her trek took her south-east because there were more plants and small animals to find and capture amongst the shrubby plants and grass but occasion curiosity superceded Danaki's need to stock up the family supply.

It had been some weeks since she had come this way, but in her fifteen years of life this expanse had always been a windswept, flat translucent sheet. The snow blowing in gentle tendrils across the ice like waves lapping the beach on a calm, sunny day. Danaki had never seen a beach or the ocean, but the patterns blown by the wind made her smile.

Today however, it wasn't the snow patterns that had Danaki entranced but rather the jagged line stretching out across the ice, disappearing into the snow-blown distance.

Hunting Party gone wrong

Eblar and Nithu supported the older tribe member between them. The hunt had been unsuccessful for days. The men were on their way back to the village empty-handed when they came unexpectedly on a resting T-rex.

There are no words to describe the moment you realise you've been eyeballed by a T-rex and those eyeballs register, SNACK!

The men turned wordlessly on their heels and took off in different directions but all veering for the same location. They knew the safest location, many had been scouted over the years and more found every time they went out. Racing to reach the depth of the cave which promised sanctuary but the T-rex, while not the fastest to his feet soon made the difference with his run and longer legs.

All three of the men reached the cave opening together, diving through the entrance one after the other but the older man, Casar was slashed across his thigh by the long foreclaw. It was barely a touch but enough on human skin to peel back the top layers. Once inside the men knew they had a short wait because the T-rex was notoriously short focused and would not waste time on three snacks in a cave when bigger meals could be found. Some time passed and the were able to leave the cave with Casar hobbling between other two.

Arriving back in the village, they took Casar straight to the healer and laid him on the furs on her floor. thankfully the cut had missed any veins, so it was a matter of treating the wound and keeping it covered until it scabbed over...no less painful though.

The sky has fallen

Danaki arrived back at the village almost the same time as the hunting group but ran straight to her parents, looking and calling for her dad. They were surprised to see her and even more so, in the puffing, agitated state. She had run most of the return back to the village and it took her a couple minutes before she could get anything out.

Her mother was distressed but her father sat patiently waiting for Danaki, to calm down and catch her breath. Finally able to speak, she spilled the story of what she had seen, followed by a dozen questions which her father was unable to answer. Once he was sure he had the story straight he stood and left the small hut, striding to the communal fire in the village.

Raising his voice he called out to the others in their own huts indicating he had something of importance to share. Gathering round, the other listened and also wondered 'what did this mean?' Danaki's father indictaed that the men should travel tomorrow, leaving early at dawn light to go see what Danaki saw and decide then what, if anything, they could do.

New world revealed

The small party of 5 including Danaki, left early as planned as after some 2 hours fast walking came to where she had been rooted to the ground, with the view that lay before her.....only now, the view was vastly different.

What the group now saw was not a single crack stretching out across the frozen ice but multiple chunks of ice gently rocking back and forth, quietly scraping each other as they touched. It was clear to the group that this was very different from Danaki's story but the strangest thing was the clouds rising upwards from the cracks between the cracked ice.

Eblar, approaching the edge of the ice carefully, fully expecting something to leap out from beneath the rocking ice, squatted and squinted across the area they had all walked many times before and noticed in the distance what now, everyone was seeing.

It appeared that the earth had risen up through the ice breaking it assunder and shattering the thick ice. Eblar held his hand close to the steam rising near him and indicated to Danaki's dad that he needed to come check out what he was feeling. This cloud was warm, not like the fog that came in some nights in winter, chilling a man through.

Her dad touchd the water and was so shocked he pulled his hand back like he had been burned. Looking at his hand, it was fine and he touched the water again, holding it there. Telling Eblar to do the same, they smiled at the new experience of warm water.

Village council

After several excursions over the following months, it was decided the melting ice presented no danger to the tribe. While none of them would comprehend that the frozen lake bed had fissured allowing a constant dribble of lava to escape, splitting the ice and ultimately melting completely. Further they didnt realise that lake was now being fed about as fast as it was evaporating, so it would continue to be there.

What they did learn was that the lake shallows provided a nice place to soak for a while and the warmth seemed to take away the body aches and other cares, at least for a little while.....