laughing little darling; any

[Chippewa]

Chippewa likes it here better, in the meadow. The grass is long enough to tickle her pale belly and even though she can see the shine of the river on the horizon that borders it, and the dark menace of the forest on the other side of it, it almost reminds her of home - her home, the long grass and the big blue sky above it. Here, she can sigh happily and graze lazily along, her nose almost to the ground though she looks up often enough with a bit of grass poking out between her lips to make sure she isn’t encroaching upon another’s space. At least it was not like the big dark forest that had offered her one strange encounter already that she was not in the least bit prepared for! Bird-horses or horse-birds! Pah! She gave a snort, shook herself back from the memory of the forest and it’s grim grip upon her and bent her head back to the sweet grass. Ah.... that’s better! Here, she could eat until her belly was full and drink from the offshoots of the river that chased themselves merrily through the meadow. And all without fear of dying from thirst or starvation or poison. Oh sure, death lurked here too - she smelled the predators’ scents and even some horses looked downright predatory from their stance to their eyes, and she kept her distance from those horses because they did not quite look right to her. Chippewa couldn’t put a hoof on it, but this place was not like home was but then… nothing could ever be like home was. Home was safe. No, home had been safe. Home was safe no more once the rivers grew poisoned or dried up. Even the long grass had begun to die and become the long dust. Dust, everywhere. In the eyes, in the lungs, in the gut - dustdustdust. Until she was free of it, she had thought herself dust until she found trails and freedom and could taste clean air and water again. Others had not been as fortunate as she, or as plucky as she had been to strike off on her own once the herd began to sicken and die. Pah! A snort and a sigh, the day is too beautiful to be wasted on morose thoughts as those that filled her brain as she chewed long on a particularly sweet poke of grass that stuck out between her lips. She looked ridiculous, but somehow happy at the same time.