High summer had set in and as usual I was herding the flock far from the encampment as I neared my season. I had my youngest adult sister with me for company as we flicked our herding wands and commanded the raptors to guide the birds to the next clearing. The rattles of the gourds hung from the tips of the wands and the harsh cries of the raptors triggered the entire flock into wheeling flight as we marshaled them away from the seed-filled grasses towards another patch not yet harvested by the hungry birds.
The gathering had come and gone more than a season ago and the tribe was ecstatic that not only had we been given a young tod, not yet ready to Fly but also three kits from tribes who had fared better than our own on the promise that any tods we bear or any vixens we bear more than one in any given year be brought as payment to the next Gatherings until we match the gift. While none of the new kits had Flown yet, the tribe was optimistic that we would easily be able to pay this debt within three Gatherings. The tod himself was rapidly approaching puberty and our own eldest kit had just shown her first blood.
Now as the flock settled into the new clearing and the raptors landed in nearby trees to watch for predators and any strays a yowling sound came to my ears along with a sending that was so hurried and jumbled that I couldn’t make out more than I was the object being sought. When I sent acknowledgement and turned to look in the direction the call came from I was surprised to not only see our new tod flying as hard as he could my way but also another vixen I had never sent to before escorting him. On their arrival, I stood on my branch and offered my scent to her in formal greeting as she did for me. She told me she had just arrived from the tribe that had given us the tod and that my presence was urgently needed back at the encampment, the entire tribe being Called. The tod had been sent because I was so near and he already knew my pattern while the rest of the available vixens had been sent out to summon all the hunters, gatherers and fishers. She and my sister were to bring in the flock while I took the tod back as quickly as possible and report to the Eldest on my arrival.
A Calling. Never in my life had I experienced a Calling, though my true mother had told me there were two Callings just before I joined the tribe. A Calling is the summoning of the entire tribe, no individual exempt for any reason, not even in the heat of battle or the chill of impending death. All are summoned because the future of the tribe is to be voted upon.The only exception would be any birthing mothers, already unable to hear or vote upon the outcome. While visitors are allowed to attend, even if they are formally introduced they are not allowed to vote, only advise and observe. A Calling was always triggered by the Elders and presided over by the Eldest. Since the Eldest was also the high Priestess of the tribe, I assumed I was summoned to give of my strength as she led the discussion as well as give my vote when it was time.
Night had fallen and all but the most distant hunters and the one who had summoned them were already seated around the Calling Fire. Flames leapt three spans into the air, lighting the encampment’s clearing with almost daylight intensity while four of the Elders each held a single burning torch high over the clearing where they might be visible to our returning hunters. We already knew they would be landing soon since the younger Priestess had been the one to locate them and used her own Web energy to signal their return shortly after dark. The moon had drifted only another handspan across the sky when the hand and the Priestess touched down by the fire and everyone settled into council.
Because the Sauk do not use words as humans do, I can only offer a rough translation of the images and ideas that flew between minds that night. But I can tell you that despite the speed of thought, the meeting lasted past moonset and only a few had gone to their nests by the time the sun rose. I was not one of them.
