The word fell through the trees like heavy rainfall splashing down on her head, a rude awakening not unlike the call to war some odd years before. At first, she wanted nothing more than to shut it out and pray that the Elders would handle this as she knew they could. They wouldn't sit by and let this happen, right? A comforting thought to lean on while she watched her brother lift up the newest of his children and laugh, her hand trailing along the hilt of one of her swords. They wouldn't storm through here and try to destroy him after all he'd done for them. She took a breath, her eyes glancing to the scar on her shoulder, a reminder of an attack she'd gone through just before her daughters were born. Sisters, just like her, had sunk their swords into her and threatened everything she ever loved. Their faces still stuck out like sore thumbs in her mind, especially the fear on their faces as their dreads were sliced off. It had felt good, so.. Good, just to rip them off. It was powerful, even while she herself was bleeding from her shoulder, mouth, and side. She could do it again, couldn't she?

As her brother went inside and the door swung shut, Tahigwa stood and turned to face the house. This was her home, the home she shared with her family since she was a baby. It was a place of diversity and unconditional love, and a place where her mother spent years sitting around and wondering just what became of her baby boy. That baby boy come home some years later as a young man and was shunned, but beloved by her, the little sister who'd found him. Tahigwa had waited years and begged Aisha for information, just like her mother had. She'd spent nights pondering just what he looked like and what he could be like, and when all of that was revealed to her that summer day, she never wanted to let it go. Even when she found out he had another sister, she'd gained an entire family, a new perspective, and everything she'd ever wanted. He'd grown into so much more than she'd anticipated. A guardian, a constant guide, a protector, everything... He'd done so much for her in the name of her safety, and now these sisters wanted to take him from her? Take his babies, his life, all of his hard work and make it worthless? She sneered, her knuckles turning white.

She'd kill them, she'd kill them one by one, and shred the dreads off of their heads the second they decided to touch her brother and her family. They'd need to shred her open and pull each an every bone from her body if they wanted to get anywhere close, and even then, she'd haunt them from the grave. She'd follow them and curse their young, destroy any hope for finding food for the next two thousand years. If it was within her power, she'd find them and destroy them now, but she wasn't psychic. She didn't know who they were, she didn't know why they felt the need to be so horrible, and she really didn't want to understand... But the second they dared to show their faces, she'd make them unrecognizable.

Her thoughts were broken as a hand placed itself on her shoulder and caused her to turn to the side. Nesrine, a friend from her childhood, stood behind her, a tired look in her eyes.

"Nes, did you hear?" Tahigwa said, her hands shaking furiously. "They're going to try and come around here and take my family away, but I'll kill them! I'll rip them to shreds, Nesrine! They already threatened my baby sister, now they want to get rid of every earthling in Jauhar? Do you know what this means? They're going to wish they'd never made those threats!"

Her face reddened and wrinkled into a furious pucker as she tried to compose herself, knowing full well that her family could hear her from inside the house. However, as her eyes peeled open to look at Nesrine again, she found her Sister knelt down beside her. Was Nesrine crying? She knelt down beside Nesrine and wrapped an arm around her shoulder. Was she as scared as Tahigwa was?

"Nes, are you scared?" She asked.

But as Nesrine's gaze moved shakily upwards to look at Tahigwa, her eyes conveyed something far more than just fear, and the words she said slipped out like a child's whisper.

"They're coming back."

(764 words)