Belonging

Written by Jane Barnaby for Seyra Gryphonheart's backstory

Today was the best day ever. Nothing could top it. Seyra had turned twelve planet turns old, officially marking her as a young adult Itla. To celebrate, her tribe had thrown a small party. It might not have been as large as the festivities that the girl had seen in the Allied Cities, but it meant the world to her.

She happily devoured the raw fish they’d caught together just for the occasion, listening to the cheerful conversations all around her. They’d foregone travelling for the day to stay in the safe clearing. Around the dozen or so tents made of hides, the behemoths grazed on the tall grass, enjoying a feast in their own right.

“I don’t understand how you can like fish raw so much,” Ciniath said, shaking her head. The woman’s milky white skin and hair that shimmered in the sunlight showed her Erkaan heritage, but the decidedly smaller and less bulky build of a human. Her pale brown eyes shone with amusement. “You are supposed to bake or cook it, silly girl.”

Seyra merely licked her fingers clean before flashing her sharp teeth at the older woman in a cheerful grin. The discussion was one they’d had a thousand times before, and they’d have it a thousand times more. She could recite her reply in her sleep. “This is fish as nature intended it. You’ll just bake the taste away if you roast it above a fire.”

The half-Erkaan opened her mouth to give her usual retort, then closed it again as her gaze flickered to something behind Seyra. Curious, the girl turned around. Her parents stood behind her, with her father hiding something behind his back. The both of them were smiling with excitement.

Tail swishing back and forth, her mother spoke first. “We’ve got something special for you today, little gecko,” she said lovingly, using her pet name for Seyra. If anyone else said it, she’d be chasing after them to give them a piece of her mind, but it was different when it came from her mom.

“You’re twelve years old now, so it’s time for you to get something befitting of the age.” Her papa moved his hands to reveal the item he’d been hiding behind his back.

Seyra’s jaw dropped in shock and awe as she looked at the leather backpack. It was a beautiful thing, with several pouches stitched onto the main sack and with at least two spaces inside there. With a giddy smile, she jumped forward and tried it on. The straps were a little rigid still, and the rucksack was too big on her, but it meant the world to her.

Excitedly, she ran a small circle around the clearing, loving the weight of it on her back. Other tribe members chuckled as she came by, but she didn’t mind. She had a backpack! Something to carry her own things with! It was the first true thing that she owned, other than her slingshot and her clothes, and she loved it.

When she finished the lap, she threw herself in her parents’ waiting arms, breathing hard from the exertion. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!” she said as she flung her arms around both her parents’ necks.

Her father laughed as he enveloped them both with his enormous arms like a sandwich with Seyra in the middle. There was nowhere she felt as safe and loved as with her parents. Three Silver Summoners together, a little family within the extensive family that was their tribe, together forever.

Eventually, she let go of them again, still smiling. She had to show off her backpack to every single person in their group, even if they’d already seen her with it. It was hers, and she was proud of it.

That day, she felt invincible.