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Chapter 2 - Finding Rayraw Island - Natia Emory

The next morning, on the way to the beach with my father, I couldn't decide which story I would tell Niyol on our way home tonight. But I had all day to think about that. Maybe I would hear a new story today. Today was catching day, my favorite day. Only three of dad's friends show up though, but that meant more room to swim around in the safe area of the coastline. We started off the morning with some stretches, making sure that we wouldn't cramp up. We have had some excellent swimmers drown from suddenly cramping up and losing control of their muscles. Thankfully that hasn't happened in a year though. We took off our original cloaks to be in our aquatic attire and began the slow process of emerging ourselves into the chilly water. Today's windy conditions were making my wet fur even colder. I glanced over to the other otters as we began to take some deep breaths, preparing our bodies. Then, as if on signal, we all dove under the water line. My father and two of his accomplices swiftly swam over the drop off zone to gather the larger shelled creatures that dwell in deeper waters. Me and the other male resided in the shallower areas. I scanned the bottom of the ocean floor for some sustenance but was coming up short. Only 3 small clams that I had to put back due to my father's personal size requirements. I swam back up for air, dodging some bigger fish that required our nets for catching. After a big gulp of oxygen, I dove back down in search of some oysters that would be located on water logged branches that had fallen in during storms. With a couple of trips, I managed to gather a couple handfuls of the squishy meats covered in shells. Three hours passed and we had managed to scavenge up five and a half buckets of edibles for the families tonight. As we were scraping off the top layer of grime from the mollusks, dad's friend, Takoda Wanikiya, started sharing one of his crazy stories. "I remember a long time ago, probably 12 winters," as he always began with informing us when such exaggerated stories occurred, "me and my brother decided that we were going on our own hunting trip." He set down his work so that he may use the oh-so-necessary hand gestures. "We consulted our dad about borrowing his two man canoe. It took quite a bit of coaxing but we got our old man to let us use it," He then proceeded to sit up nice and tall to make this old story more interesting to listen to. "Yeah I remember when we first took off. It was a beautiful autumn morning. Dawn had just peaked up over the horizon to spy on our departure. I kicked us off of the beach while my brother pulled us out of the sand bed with the ore. As we worked together to get off the coastline, we saw our desired island in the distant East. We knew that the largest had plenty of ripe berries that we could fill pouches with along with this year's annual crabs sidestepping around the sea bed." We all giggled at the small walking motion he made with one paw across his other paw. "We paddled for about an hour and a half until we reached the coast of Gerichulaw Island. We could already feel all the sea creatures under our feet as we towed the craft on to land. Boy, we were so excited to get fishing and netting, we didn't even go deep into the island. We should have though." The suspense was starting to get at me now. I knew something ecstatic was 'bout to occur. "We set the canoe up against a large Pine tree so it may dry and not have any holes pop into to it when it got cold from the moon's face. We pulled out our best net and dragged it into the water, trying not to step onto the hyper crabs. "All of a sudden, a huge gust of wind blew past us, almost whipping the net out of our paws. We were trying to hold on tightly but it was getting to be too much. I was able to open my eyes a crack to see the anomaly. The trees and grass on the island were not being shook. Then the wind was too much for both of us. The net flew away and out to sea, but then the wind stopped." He paused for a second and so did all of us. Most stories weren't this mysterious sounding. Most were always big-fish stories or being chased by bears stories. We haven't heard a suspenseful fantasy story since my great grandfather passed away. He always had those types of stories to pass onto us. "We looked around. Didn't know what to think. We definitely didn't know what to think when the crabs below us starting pinching at our feet, they were practically trying to hold us down. My brother was looking at me very scared and I eyed the canoe. I said we were leaving now and tried to get out of the water. I stumbled a couple times but made it, only to see more strangeness. A purple mist was bleeding through the trees behind the beaches tree line." "A purple mist?" My dad interrupted, "you gotta be kidding " "Yeah! I couldn't believe it myself," Takoda grunted. "I grabbed the canoe as fast as I could but the mist was at my feet now, wrapping around my ankles. Burning them. I tried not to scream, but it hurt so bad. My brother had made it to shore and pulled me away by my tail, almost knocked me on my butt. "We splashed my father's canoe back into the water and jumped back into it. We rowed so fast back home. We could have won a race by a landslide. I don't think I have ever been so scared in my life." "Are you sure you went to Gerichulaw Island?" I asked. "Dad's taken me there when I was younger, and there was certainly no purple mist." "Tell you what, Natia. It certainly looked like it. That mist covered the island and I could see to my left, after we got back to our tribes beach,that we had gone in the wrong direction. Gerichulaw Island was way out West of the shore, not East." The men started laughing at this mistake; I just looked off to the East and thought of that island. "Hey missy, don't get any crazy ideas now," my dad knew exactly what I was thinking. "It's just a story." "I know, I was just thinking." I looked around a bit. "Mind if I go explore around a bit, dad? I want to go check on Grandma and the other elderly. Make sure they have enough food supply. " My dad sighed and nodded his head. He waved his paw, his sign for me to go my own way. I jumped up, set my cleaned clams in the washed pile and jogged away. First on my agenda was to inform Niyol about this island. I wanted to see it for myself, but I knew there might be dangers. Were the dangers real though?