Shake out your boots

As the red woman gently teases about knowing what happened through wisdom, the Warlord looks at her with an evaluating eye. Brows lift in silent question as she watches him and, when his voice breaks the silence, Keahi barks in laughter. Eyes dance with joy as he rejoins her, the loud clap of thunder signaling the arrival of the storm. Curling toward Sirius, she yells over the howling wind to be heard, “Why do you think I wear my armor so much?” Lightning streaks through the sky, lighting the dark sky and illuminating the pair.

Excitement zips along the tropical wolf’s nerves as the thunder momentarily deafens them and, as Sirius laughs, Keahi joins him while he questions if she is ready. Ocean blue eyes are animated, almost wild, as she looks to the Warlord, grinning broadly. It is the only answer she gives to his question. Sure enough, the next bolt of lightning strikes the old dagger’s hilt that is acting as a rod. The red woman screams, not in fear, but in pure joy. In the seconds before the bolt struck, she had felt the electric current in the air, almost tasting the ions as the lightning charged them.

This time the thunder is truly deafening, when sound slowly begins to return, her ears ring. Keahi feels alive in the midst of the storm, seeing the untamable beauty in each driving drop of rain. She shouts to the storm, encouraging it onward while staying firmly pressed into Sirius’s side. Will he think her mad? In this moment, the woman does not care.


"Keahi Mogotsi"