The Frenchman sent out men to search for the old woman what had disappeared, ‘cause he weren’t of the mind to believe all the stories he’d heard in the days followin’ The Event. After a few days of searchin’ with no success, he decided to give up. This ended up bein’ a good thing for everyone, since it gave folks a chance to put things behind them and before long, life on the Plantation got back to the way it was.
The crops were harvested, winter came and went and spring arrived to bring its cheer to the land. The clay people had planted the new crops and were spendin’ time weedin’ most of the day, which was a back breakin’ job, but they was good at it and would sing as they labored, which helped pass the time quite handily.
Summer was good to the clay people, as they had more time to spend together, singin’ and talkin’ at night around their fires. Tuni loved this time of year, mostly ‘cause the forest was so richly alive, not at all like its winter slumber and slow spring awakenin’. She loved to listen to the voices in the wind, what she called the sounds of the woods, somethin’ that gave her a warm feelin’ inside.
Before summer was over, she’d received a message from an unlikely source, that bein’ a single bird, what most folks call a dove. The bird liked to watch Tuni, usually from afar, near the tree line of the forest and coo while she was doin’ her chores. When her work around the Plantation was finished for the day, at just about the time the sun dipped below the tops of the tall trees in the west, Tuni liked to leave for the woods. The minute she got into the forest, the little bird would fly down to a nearby tree and follow her, no matter where she went or how fast, what Tuni didn’t mind at first, until her little companion began to make a racket every time she stopped.
It got to the point where Tuni didn’t want to stop to rest, what made her walks in the forest far less pleasant, ‘cause there was much to be seen in the woods, but not for someone who couldn’t stop. The only reason she didn’t throwd a rock at the little pest, was ‘cause she knowd that there was a message in the why the bird was so plum persistent in its followin’ of her. The problem was that for the life of her, she couldn’t figure out what it was.
Finally, after a few days of bein’ pestered by the dove, Tuni went to the Ancient Ones to see if they could tell her why the little bird was followin’ her. She confessed that she thought that maybe she’d done somethin’ wrong, what had caused the bird to chase her in such a relentless way, but the Ancient Ones just smiled as she described her ordeal. They knowd right away that Tuni would be receivin’ good news very soon, but as was their way, they said nothin’ to her, so she could discover what it was on her own.
The Ancient Ones told Tuni that she needed to watch the bird closely and that it could take a while before she’d find out what its true message was. Tuni felt certain that if she was patient and did what they said, it was just a matter of time before she’d find out what news the little bird was bringin’ her.
For the better part of a week Tuni watched that little bird as it followed her around in the woods, but nothin’ seemed to change, which was gettin’ her a little down in the mouth, since it made her adventures in the forest far less enjoyable. Finally one ‘specially hot day, where the world seemed to be smotherin’ under a blanket of heat, Tuni found her way into the forest and lo and behold, her little friend showed up, only this time he had a companion.
The little bird flew down to land upon a branch not too far from where Tuni was standin’ and called to her, like he was showin’ off his new found love, who sat in a tree a short spell away. That was the last she saw of her little friend, but the message was clear, there was someone comin’ that would be a part of Tuni’s life, though she didn’t knowd if it’d be someone that she’d eventually marry or if the boy would just be her friend.
Tuni tried to make peace with the message from the little dove, though the truth was, she’d never really thought about marriage, nor for that matter had she found a need for a boy friend either. As luck would have it, it turned out to be neither.