Laika: Constellations
By: Monica Vix
Click. Tick. Spark. Fire jumped to life. The orange and red glow from the flames licked at the wind, a thin pyre of smoke rising in the air. With a clack, a metal cooking pot was set over the campfire, suspended by a pair of spits embedded in the ground. Clattering of wood and metal fell against the ground as cutlery was rest against a wooden bowl. A distant whistle of the howling wind graced the desolate wasteland, the valley of Where Our Bikes Growl alive with the sound of nature and the whispers of those who rode the valley before. Leaves of the budding plants waved in the wind, the gusts blowing against the frame of a ground level billboard looming above a lone coyote.
Laika sat down, her back pressed against the sturdy billboard, covered in graffiti obscuring the face of a bald eagle trooper. The coyote looked to the waning crescent moon overhead, amber eyes tracing the individual craters. With only the light of flame and the distant glow of Where We Live, every detail in the celestial body was prominent to the naked eye. The tan coyote sighed, her breath making a mist before her in the chill of midnight. Her leather jacket covered arms pulled in close to her body, keeping herself warm. Her gaze went back to her home in the distance, watching the distant candle light glimmer and gleam.
It's been weeks since she had a moment of respite to herself. The coyote was working herself to the bone literally and figuratively, her familial curse making her more useful than she would like to be. Laika felt relied on by far too many people. The only reliance she didn't mind was her daughter; but even then, Puppy could get on her nerves, too. Breathing deeply, Laika basked in the quiet night, the first in a long time. Unhooking her water skin from her bike, the coyote poured the water into her pot, starting to cook a private meal for herself. Ingredients would be tossed in to make a good and hearty soup, a hearty amount of chilies filling the heated pot. A can of corn was cracked open with her knife, pouring in the grains with a collection of scattered splashes.
A glint caught her amber eye. Laika looked to the side, eyes narrowed with her hand grasping her knife tightly. Turning, focusing, the coyotes started at the approaching figure; she studied the body of whoever was approaching to see if she was in danger. The tension in her body quickly faded as she saw the yellow glow of an old computer screen headed her way, the unusual mask hiding the features of the approaching person.
"What're you doing out here, Shaza?" Laika spoke in a stern voice. "Shouldn't you be watching Puppy for me? You said you'd feed her and put her to bed so I could have some alone time." The coyote sounded as frustrated as she did concerned.
Laughing it off, the computer masked woman approached. "Finally tucked her in. You have that little faith in your own sister to put a pup to bed?" Shaza joked. The yellow screen that hid her face had the same static expression of furrowed eyebrows, a little potted plant on the white shell of the discarded electronics bobbing as she walked. "Especially when you're not only our protector, but my closest friend? And only sibling?" The dull, dirty cloak that adorned her body shifted as she sat next to the coyote. "You put up with me. Puppy's fine. Ate plenty. She's going to grow big and strong. And restless." Shaza's somewhat monotonous voice continued, "It took two hours to get her to bed."
"Hm." Laika huffed. The coyote leaned away from her sister. "If she does grow up. She's... getting close to bleeding, isn't she?" She asked in a rhetorical sense. "Thank you for taking care of her. I needed some... time to think." Her gruff, tired voice thanked her sister.
Gazing up to the stars herself, Shaza hummed a little tune. "You usually don't like being alone like this. Especially this late." The observant and blunt woman spoke. "Something keeping you awake at night, too?" Her head tilted back to look at Laika, tilted to the side as she asked the question.
"Getting dreams again. Same ones back when I first had Puppy." The coyote replied with a somber sigh. "Was thinking about visiting my daughters Where We Used to Live." She answered quickly, as if it hurt to say. "Since the fires, I haven't had the chance to go visit. Hopefully their graves aren't destroyed." Large amber eyes gazed due east, looking over the valley and towards their old home. Tan ears flicked and she hurriedly turned back to her stew, starting to stir and mix ingredients in as the water began to boil.
A hand reached from the dirty cloak to pat Laika on the back, Shaza keeping her gaze fixated on the stars above. "I have been thinking about my nieces, too. You were a good mother to them then, just as you are a good mother to Puppy now. If... you're concerned about that." A soft, halfhearted laugh came from under the computer screen mask. "We grew up together! And yet, I still can't read you, Laika. Although back then I couldn't read myself either. Who would've thought a rowdy boy getting into fights would become an isolationist hermit weirdo of a woman?"
"Look on the bright side. At least you got to skip out on the curse." Laika looked over her shoulder at Shaza, a slight smile on her lips. The tired bags under her eyes were highlighted in the low light of the campfire, her amber eyes looking towards the digital expression on Shaza's face.
Silence fell over the pair of women. Laika turned back to her stew and continued to stir and add flavorful ingredients a pinch at a time. She was diligent with her cooking as all of her attention was poured into it over her sister. The quiet night continued on moment by moment, Laika and Shaza simply enjoying the wordless company of one another. Muttering soft nothings to herself, the coyote tossed in a handful of thistle stems from a small pouch, mixing the stems into the soup until they were barely even noticeable.
"Shame the Wastelanders broke up. And neither of us have a boombox." Shaza thought aloud as she shifted to lay down on her back. "I could go for some of their music. Even if I'm sure Beicoli told the Birds of Where We Used to Live, her voice is phenomenal. Soothing." The woman groaned and stretched, popping her back against the ground.
Nodding along with her sister, Laika agreed, her skull earrings bouncing against her cheeks. "I know Jakob has a cassette player and a few of their tapes." She stopped nodding. Her eyes furrowed, looked down to her waist, and then back to her late night dinner. "And he still has my gun, too. Borrowed it yesterday to teach Poochie how to shoot and still hasn't given it back. What're the odds he's getting himself into trouble?"
"Likely." Shaza replied dryly. "Give him a break, though. He has been better. First time in a month he's left for this long. I bet he's back at our old home."
Taking a sip from her meal, Laika swished the stew around in her mouth for a moment, judging how well it tasted. "All the more reason to head back for a day, I suppose. I'll leave tomorrow. Think you could watch Puppy tomorrow, too?" The coyote gingerly lifted the pot off of the campfire and began to pour the mixture of chilies, thistle, corn, and miscellaneous spices into a wooden bowl.
"You'll hate me for saying no. I'll be busy. The Elder is getting me to look into some of the old tech around the wastes." Shaza answered while shifting to get cozy on the ground. "Said that after the attack Where We Used to Live that we need to be more... proactive. He said it with the pause, too. I didn't add a snort like he did, though." The computer masked girl chuckled at her partial impression of the Elder. "Why not have Puppy stay with mother? I know you have a testy relationship with her, as do I, but she has nothing else to do than cook and horde all the good recipes. 'My' famous crochets are her recipe - don't tell Puppy - and you have no idea how many months of pestering it took for her to teach me."
Ladling spoonful after spoonful into her mouth, Laika listened to Shaza's suggestion with a skeptical look. "Our mother is... our mother. You see how much of a mess we turned out to be." The coyote raised her bowl to her lips and took a hearty slurp, the reddish brown stew splashing against her tan fur and staining her red scarf. "Besides. The last time I let her watch my daughter, she was trying to teach her how to shoot. At least Poochie is a teenager before Jakob started teaching him."
"Barely thirteen kind of teenager, but I concede. You've made your point." Shaza nodded sagely. "I'll try to keep Puppy from gnawing on wires and running off, but no promises. She doesn't deserve to be raised like a warrior, would probably be better suited doing what I do. Or even what Pebble does." The glowing screen face tilted, looking up towards the coyote. "By the way, what are you eating?"
Amber eyes tilted down to her sister, gazing at the effectively expressionless face. "Thistle stem stew. Some chilies, a bit of corn, nothing that special." The coyote set her bowl on the ground. "If you're hungry, you can have some. Made enough to last a few days for me and the kid." Laika explained, offering her now empty bowl and spoon to her sister.
"That nightmare repellent stew thing? Hm. Surprised Puppy would eat this. Doesn't she hate thistle stem?" Shaza sat up, taking a peak into the pot. Her yellow glowing screen looked up, now wet with the steam from the heated stew. "Oh, speak of the devil, here comes your daughter." She said in a flat tone.
Just those few words made the amber eyes of the coyote mother grow wide, her head snapping to look towards their home in the distance. Silhouetted against the candle light of Where We Live, a small child was walking closer and closer to the small camp. Laika quickly drew herself to her feet, boots scraping against the dusty dirt beneath her before starting to dash away from the campfire to her daughter. Step after step, the coyote got closer to her kid before dropping down in front of her. Panting hard, the amber eyes focused on the small child, staring into Puppy's large brown eyes.
"Puppy..." Laika panted out. "Honey, why are you out after dark?" She spoke with a worried tone, "Especially so far out from the village?" Her breathing mellowed out as she stared into the sleepy eyes of her daughter, her open mouth closing and gaze softening. "You know I don't like you out here by yourself during the day, let alone at night." She sighed.
The small arms of the preteen wrapped around the neck of her mother, dragging herself closer to the warm leather covered body. "I couldn't fall asleep." Puppy's little voice squeaked out from the red scarf around Laika's neck. "Aunty Shaza said she was going to get you to come home. Said she was gonna drag you by your tail if she had to." A yawn broke up her thought process as she relaxed in the loving embrace of her mother.
"Oh did she now?" Laika mused with a soft, forced laugh. "And I thought she came out here to give me company." The taller, older coyote pulled her daughter up into her arms, heaving the small preteen up with a groan. "Come on, you can stay with us for a minute. I was about to head home myself, without Shaza grabbing at my tail." Laika spoke to Puppy in a soft whisper, as if to not disturb the sleepy state the small girl was in.
Shaza was shaking her head, the glow of her screen covering the ground as if she was scanning for something. "Kids with their imaginations. Like I'd tease you like that? Pfft." She teased. "She must've been tailing behind me if she got here so fast on those little legs." She diverted.
Laika walked over slowly, step by step carrying her next to Shaza, this time holding her daughter close as if she would fall in an instant. The taller coyote sat down shoulder to shoulder with her sister, letting Puppy sit in her lap as they relaxed by the billboard and flickering fire. The low light of a midnight moon shone down, stars dancing in the sky above the three girls. Puppy's large brown eyes opened a little, looking up to her mother and the stars past her.
"Mommy? Auntie?" Puppy spoke up. Both sets of eyes turned to her in the instant she started talking. "Can you tell me about the stars? The constellations?" It sounded like she was about to fall asleep as she asked both of them for a bedtime story.
Laika looked up to the sky for a moment. Amber eyes traced out the stars and constellations, searching the sky as if looking for long lost treasure. "Hm. What about the one about the candle? Do you know that one?" Those hard eyes gazed back down to her daughter, gaze softening as she saw the gentle and sleepy expression on Puppy's face. With a nod, Laika began. "Back before the war, candles were plentiful to the point where they started to lose meaning. Some only saw them as light and nothing more. Maybe a nice aroma, like warm bread and fresh lemon."
"When the bombs first fell," Shaza continued after Laika stopped, "The bees that made the wax for candles were some of the first to die. Now we are left with remnants of our past, as well as theirs." She took a deep breath and gazed to the stars as well. "Wick from fur and dried stems, wax from a forgotten world, and we make a new tradition from wax and the fire of rebirth. Do you see the North Star, Puppy?" Shaza stopped herself and looked to the small girl.
Puppy looked up the stars and raised her arm, pointing up to the brightest star in the sky. "Right there? That's north? That's... just straight up from us." She commented. It brought a laugh to Shaza and a smile to Laika's lips.
"Well, it looks like that, honey." Laika corrected. "If you see it, you know which way north is. And if you remember your compass directions, it'll help you find anywhere. Whenever you are lost, always there to help lead you home."
Shaza nodded. "And the North Star, also called Polaris in the world before bombs, is the fire of rebirth. The biggest candle in the world. Melting away the wax of night and being remade in the day." One of her hands escaped the heavy cloak and started to pet Puppy's head, helping to lull the small dog to sleep.
"And since then, we use candles to light up the night and mark graves of our people." Laika spoke. Her tone drifted from a wistful storyteller to a somber, longing tune. "In remembrance of the bees that made the wax we use today, we melt down our wax and forge new candles. In remembrance of our dead, we adorn their graves in candlelight, so that the north star of the afterlife guides them home."
Before Laika realized it, Puppy was fast asleep in her lap. Those big brown eyes were closed and her gentle breathing was barely audible. With a soft sigh, Laika held her child and gently hummed, helping her reach a deep slumber in the cozy grasp of a loved one. Shaza removed her hand and sat shoulder to shoulder with Laika, sitting silently for a moment. Her screen covered face looked towards the last embers of the campfire and the wisp of smoke that rose to the stars. A few moments of Laika's soft humming brought Shaza to speak.
"You're a good mother, Laika." She chuckled. "You still remember Ava's favorite constellation story word for word, just how she taught you, and continue to share it. She was such a smart girl." Shaza rest her head against Laika's shoulder, a first thunk of the plastic shell of her screen mask and the second of her actual head hidden underneath. "I remember when she found the Elder's astronomy book. She wouldn't stop reading it and looking through my telescope every other night, asking questions when I was barely awake that no one could answer."
The words from her sister brought Laika pause. Looking to the stars, tracing the path of the constellation of the candle, she forced herself to smile. "The best I can do as a mother now is at least visit." The smile quickly faded as she stared at the twinkling form of Polaris. "And take care of her little sister the best I can. Even if it means having to put up with our mother's insistence this curse is a good thing." Her gloved hand gently ran over the fluffy head of her daughter, keeping Puppy close to her body.
"Of course, of course." Shaza sighed. "Are you ready to go home? I don't know about you, but I can fall asleep right here in just a few more minutes." She pulled her head off of Laika's shoulder and heaved herself up, the heavy canvas of her cloak rustling as she stood. "Do you want to carry your daughter or your food?" She asked half jokingly.
Laika pulled herself up to her feet, keeping a firm grasp on her daughter as she stood. "Carry the pot. We'll be eating it for a few nights." Shifting the weight of Puppy's surprisingly heavy form, the coyote started to walk back to the candle lit village. "If you want to stop by for dinner tomorrow, we can save you a bowl." Laika invited.
"How generous, a bowl of nightmare repellent soup for dinner." Shaza teased as she walked behind Laika, carrying the warm pot. "Maybe I'll spend the day teaching Puppy how to make those crochets. On top of work for the Elder. Should keep her out of trouble." She mused. " We can have a little dinner party. You better invite mother, too, if you want to avoid any arguments with her."
Nodding solemnly, the coyote sighed. "I'll let her know when I get back from visiting my daughters' graves. I'd rather visit them every day for the rest of my life than deal with mother first thing in the morning again."
The two walked along the starlit valley of Where Our Bikes Growl, carrying a sleeping child and a pot of stew. The glowing warmth of Where We Live got closer and closer as they progressed, the gentle chatter of late night people filling the air. Shaza dropped off the stew at Laika's home before heading to her own house across the town. Laika would lay on the couch with Puppy, falling asleep with her child.
