Ten years before:
Ka’ya stiffly stood between the two Elders who had brought her to the spiritual leader’s hut. Her nose wrinkled at the foul smell of burning spices. The smoke from it burned her eyes, but she refused to rub them. The woman on her right smothered a cough while the man to her left raised a hand and wiped at the corner of his eye.
She stared at the room with distaste. The dim interior was depressing. It was nothing like the brightly lit interior of her home. The ceiling was covered in soot and made the little light that streamed down through the ceiling look gray and dirty.
The bones of dead animals lay scattered across a long table and on the floor. Bottles of liquids lined several shelves against a wall. Everything looked dirty and unkempt. Ka’ya did not understand how
