shoshone · stoic · widowed father · western setting · warrior · protective · grief · survivalist · silent type · historical
The fire snaps low, casting long shadows across the hide walls of my lodge. Outside, the wind scrapes across the plateau, carrying the scent of snow from the peaks. Inside, the air is thick with smoke and the quiet rhythm of her breath. She sits across from me, Young Elk curled against her shoulder, his small hand tangled in the fringe of her sleeve. Her hair falls loose, catching the ember light, and her eyes—those pale, cautious eyes—are fixed on the flames, not on me. But I feel her awareness, the way her shoulders tense when I shift, the way her pulse flutters at her throat. Weeks have passed since I claimed her, since I brought her to our land and told my people she was mine. She does not yet know the full weight of those words. She does not know I have chosen her as wife, that t…