a desert community tradition of valuing the ancesters thru their head and facial garments and the guardians on both sides of the life cycle who oversee their care.
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she unfurl a vail. one of many that she has. the tradition went back as far as anyone could remember. every female of the household had a particular color and design assigned to her at birth. these represented the existence and testimony of the girl for both in life and death. there would be times when things were added to her design like marriage and the new family's color or pattern, never both as a record of respect for her own family and childbirth. all of her veils were to consist of those colors and designs and no two were alike. there would be special one to be worn only at special events and others that were for everyday. the girls were to under no circumstance. even at ancesterial celebrations, those veils would be brought out but never worn. to use anyone else's vail for that was taboo as well as serious grounds for being disowned among the family and the clan. those who were had their colors and patterns burned and were never used again.
because her immediate family was so large, she had hundreds of veils from all of her ancestors that were past down. she also had the veils from other tribe members who for what ever reason were no longer present in the tribe but were in good standing. her father held the post of high elder and thus had the rights and honors of providing the dwellings for the veils. no one was to touch any of these veils except for ceremonies. she felt that she was different because she was the daughter of the elder so the rules didn't apply to her. she would go thru those veils daily and tried to imagine what life was like for each of the women. she even put some on for a short period just to get a feel about them. her mother did catch her ones and after a strict scolding warned to never be caught doing it again. it seemed that she too being a daughter of an elder pulled the same thing. being caught would bring dishonor to the family but also a loss of the many priveledge she definitely enjoyed. not to mention father. this would truly break him. he had already loss seven of his daughters and four sons thru dishonor. the boys would have a chance to redeem themselves in a few years but the girls never can regardless of what they have done. she was the last girl and the youngest child. so much rode on her following the path that was her birth right.
firmly settled on the line between a free spirited child who was allowed a lot of leeway and that of a young casted adult with certain obligations, she took all the liberties that were allowed her to their ultimate limits and even crossed a few but knew when it was time to lie low. being caught with the veils would be one of them.
a few weeks had passed before she played with the veils again. this time the unusual vail had another one attached, almost woven into it. it's pattern too was unrecognizable. that evening, she inquired about amy veils that belong to other tribes or just unusual one in general. after realizing she almost gave herself away for being in them to begin with by reminding them of an up coming festival. reassured, her father revealed that from time to time outsiders were “ adopted” in to the clan and once they had proved themselves had color and designs assigned to them. but he reassured her that it hadn't been too many for dynasties. and his chest ouldn't contain such items. then she inquired about a vail that had another smaller one interwoven into it. this indeed produced strange looks as neither of her parents had hear of such an occurrance and asked to show them this vail. she went and fetched the mysterious vail to show her parents and prove to them what had occurred. seeing the older vail and the attached one to it, she was accused of tampering and destroying it. her enraged father scrolded her then banished her to the barren tomar region for three months alone to think about what she had done. any one inquiring about her were to be told she was visiting relatives in a near by tribe. in tears, she ran from the room. she had did many things but never this.
at dawn, she was placed on a caravan headed for the tomar region with strict instruction that she was to be abanded there and then fetched 3 months later if she survived . later that day, her father knowing that no one else knew about that particular vail went to burn it in the wells fire that burns continuously just outside the village.. they were a natural phenomenon that burned very hot that offered many benefits to the village like protection, heat and cooking source. that evening, her father went thru the other veils to see if any more were damaged and found the mysterious vail intact and bright with it's out cropped vail, a little larger this time, as if brand new. startled by this, he processed five more times to destroy it to no avail. and the out cropped vail getting larger. he finally decided to keep it. not wanting to loose face with his daughter, he would devise a way to inquire more of his daughter concerning the vail.
this was not a good time for her to be in the tomar. the windsmar season was about to start. that was the season of fierce winds and flame storms. you definitely needed to have shelter and food during this time if you were to survive it. her father had given her little supplies and the caravan didn't stop at the last depot before entering the tomar despite her pleas. she had been in the tomar only one other time as a small child when they got cause in the windsmar and had to wait it out. now she had to think and work quickly because she had little time to waste and it would be upon her very soon. she started digging around in the sharp sand to create a crater for which to bury herself. she did have one tarp and blanket to use as a cover. with luck, the winds would throughly bury the top it it and she would be safe. in her digging she came across some pompous root, a rare delicacy of her people. and the way that they grew, it you came across one there were many, many more. this did solve the issue of food because once she was buried, she could tunnel along to find more. now water was another issue. here in the tomar, it was extremely dry. even the littlest drop of what turned to glass and would cut severely. but there were other roots that acted like sponges and take in the moisture of the pornia, wet season. it was just a matter of finding them before the storms.
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