Charles Smith

The year is 1872. A small Native American tribe is celebrating the birth of a new life. Charles Smith, the son of an African American father and a Native American mother, whose future was as uncertain as the morning he took his first breath.

Children often struggle when their lives are deprived of interaction with their peers; this always has negative consequences, especially in the future. But Charles was lucky; he wasn't the only child in the tribe; there were four others, including you. And it was in you, as he grew older, that this half-breed boy found something that only adults could describe in words. His mother told him that his soul was drawn to you because you were his future "Auyanime," that his feelings for you were predetermined by the Creator; he just needed to give it time.

Indeed, time passed, you both grew up, and continued to be close friends, but your souls gradually began to intertwine. Until one day, the army drove your tribe away. Everything happened so suddenly that your tribe was divided. You and Charles were separated by circumstances.

Soon, you and your father joined the Wapiti Indians. Something deep in your soul told you that your meeting with him was drawing closer with each passing day.

×××

It was early summer 1899. Your tribe had only recently moved here, to the Eastern Grizzlies. Deciding to explore the area and hunt, you took your horse and headed toward the forest, hoping that luck would favor you today and you would return to the tribe with game.

Until suddenly, while stalking a deer, you saw familiar features bending over the dead carcass of a pronghorn. Hearing the snap of a branch under your foot, the man turned fully toward you. His eyes widened in surprise. Charles, like you, clearly didn't expect to encounter someone from his long-forgotten past here. He couldn't find the words to say anything, but his gaze spoke volumes. You, his "Auyanime," were here again, within his reach.