Alqa left the smithy and went straight back to Nergui. She swung herself onto Nergui and rode back the way she had come towards the Yisra. It took three days and the rest of her food before she reached the Yisra but she did and nobody once questioned where she had been. Alqa first went to find Sugekui and found him practicing archery atop Baiyarma. “Sugekui!” Alqa called to him. Sugekui lowered the bow and turned Baiyarma to Alqa, he trotted over and stopped next to her.

“Hi Alqa! Welcome back,” Sugekui excitedly said.

“Let me guess, Yesui told people,” Alqa responded, completely forgetting to greet him. Unphased by this rudeness, Sugekui nodded. Alqa sighed, a mixture of annoyance and relief. “Well at least I don’t have to tell anybody, although it really should have been me,” Alqa told Sugekui. “Anyway, how is Dagan?”

“He’s fine,” Sugekui responded. Alqa smiled and thanked him. She left and spent the next few days helping around the Yisra, she wove wool into cloaks and helped to make arrows.

Seven days later, Alqa noticed Buqutai acting oddly, at first he just was visiting his father more frequently, which is normal but it escalated. As the days went by, Buqutai not only visited his father more frequently, but would enter unannounced and Kiingis himself stopped eating with the Yisra, instead having Buqutai bring him food. That was not normal, nobody ate in their yurt, not even nursing mothers. Alqa approached Buqutai one day, “Buqutai, is your father alright?” she asked him. Buqutai shook his head.

“He is dying Alqa,” Buqutai said, he clearly wanted to speak no more of the subject, so Alqa left. Three days later, Kiingis died.

He had died sometime in the night, peacefully and in his sleep. The whole of the Yisra came out to prepare his body for burial while Buqutai found a spot to bury him. Eventually, Buqutai returned, and led Alqa, Qara, Kaapek, Yesui, Narantuyaa, Okiin and Qorichala to the burial site. Upon arrival, they began digging. They dug a wide, rectangular hole using iron shovels. When they were done, Qara rode back to the Yisra and the warriors who remained mounted their horses and lined the path leading to the grave site with their right arm outstretched and the palm facing down in a salute to the fallen. Their fingers were spread and slightly curved in. Their elbows were slightly bent as well. A group of warriors on foot, carrying the body on a palanquin marched solemnly past them, followed by the rest of the Yisra. Alqa’s shoulder hurt from holding her arm up for so long but if her Yisra couldn’t have their proper burials, at least Kiingis could.

The body reached the whole and all warriors dismounted as the body was silently lowered into the grave. Kiingis wore a pure white silk tsud and curved leather boots. His sash was bright red. One by one each warrior approached the grave and with Buqutai’s dagger, removed a single strand of hair and dropped it into the grave with their Riidagak, then bowed with their arms tightly at their side and their knees locked. When it was Alqa’s turn she took Buqutai’s dagger from his outstretched hands and cut a strand of hair, she held it over the grave and dropped it in. It fell slowly and landed in the growing pile of human hair on his breast. She returned the dagger to Buqutai and bowed to Kiingis in the same manner as all the other warriors. Then she stepped back from the grave and walked away to join the group of those who were awaiting the end of the ceremony as the sun went down.

Upon the completion of the ritual, Buqutai picked up a shovel and took dirt from the pile formed by the digging. He threw the dirt into his father’s grave and handed it to the next warrior. Each took turns throwing dirt on Kiingis and when everybody had done so, they left Buqutai alone to finish the work and sit vigil. Alqa, Kaapek, Yesui, Narantuyaa, Okiin and Qorichala rode back to the Yisra ahead of everybody else, they rode in silence, no words were needed. Alqa had never really met Kiingis, but as Riidagak he had been ultimately responsible for her and Dagan being accepted into the Yisra as refugees. So, in a way he meant everything to Alqa. She now regretted that she had never even thanked him. But at the same time, these warriors who surrounded her now had known him their whole lives, they must have felt immense pain at his passing. They got back and put the horses back into the pen, taking the bits and bridles off and closing the gate behind them. They dispersed to their respective yurts for the night after that. Sleep did not come easy to Alqa, even though it did for Dagan. She stayed awake long into the night and eventually cried herself to sleep. Her Yisra would never get a proper burial like Kiingis had.

Two days later Yesui approached her while Alqa was washing herself, completely exposed at the stream. “ When you are ready, come back to the Yisra. I am organizing a hunt, we need to get Buqutai some gifts to celebrate his ascension, and lots of food for the feast,” Yesui told her, then left Alqa alone. Alqa quickly finished, got dressed and braided her hair. She mounted Nergui and rode back to the Yisra. She trotted to an area next to the goat pens where Yesui, Qara, Kaapek, Khagtai, Narantuyaa, Okiin, Galdaan, Sarghagatii and Tsetse waited, mounted on their horses. “Let’s go,” Yesui said. The company rode out to the west. They managed to kill a lynx and some marmots and polecats on their first day.

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The second day, Yesui took Alqa to ride ahead of the group and look for tracks. Just before midday, Yesui dismounted and called Alqa over. Alqa dismounted and approached Yesui, “look at this. Bison. A herd. Looks like about ninety, wait here, I will tell the others,” Yesui explained. She mounted her horse and rode off back towards the hunting party. She came back a good while later with the rest of the party and they rode on, following the tracks.

It was early the next morning that they first sighted the herd. “Ok, here is our plan. We make them run, and when they do, we find the weakest and target that one. But let’s not go for one with broken horns, right? We need something for Buqutai,” Yesui told them.

“How do we get them running?” Alqa asked. Yesui smiled and pulled up some grass and dirt. She put it in her mouth and chewed it into a paste then spat it out onto her hand and smeared it on her face.

“We go to war,” Yesui said, smiling. The warriors pumped their fists and copied her, Alqa did too. The paste felt odd and slimy, but this would be a very unique hunt.

Alqa went with Yesui, Qara, Okiin, Tsetse and Khagtai on the right while the others rode on the left flank. They trotted closer and closer until the bison started getting uneasy about their presence. At that moment, Yesui let out a war howl and the whole of the party spurred their horses into a gallop and charged directly at the bison, screeching war cries and howling like wolves. The bison were spooked and ran, they gave chase. The feeling was exhilarating, adrenaline rushed through Alqa’s veins as they rode down the bison. Slowly an old cow started falling behind, Alqa looked at Yesui, “that one!” Yesui yelled to the rest of the party. Okiin took the first shot, and soon the bison was being pelted with arrows from both sides. Galdaan put away his bow and took his hooked spear. Spurring his horse onwards, he used the sharp hook to open a gash in the bison’s side, allowing it to bleed out. He galloped away as soon as the wound was made.

It took a long while, but eventually the bison groaned and fell, the party circled their dying prey before approaching when it died. First order of business was to retrieve all the arrows they could. Then Yesui approached one of the horns and cut off the hollow cap with her dagger. She removed it and put it in a bag on her horse and from that bag, she took out a huge sheet of felt. It had some iron loops sewn onto the edge and Alqa helped Khagtai tie rope through these and attach it to each horse, except Tsetse’s. Once they had gotten the bison onto the felt they started riding, slowly back towards the Yisra, Tsetse rode behind to make sure the bison didn’t come off the felt. It took them five days to get back.

Yesui approached Alqa one day after getting back, she was smiling. “You look happy,” Alqa commented, she was busy making new arrows.

“My children should be back sometime today,” Yesui told her. Yesui sat down cross-legged next to Alqa.

“You have a mate?” Alqa responded, she had never heard of Yesui having children or having a mate.

“I was, he died though,” Yesui sighed.

“Oh, I’m sorry. Where were your children?” Alqa asked, trying to change the subject.

“No, it's fine. It has been thirteen winters since he passed. They have been on guard duty at a Baal Tusgra since the end of last winter,” Yesui explained. “I need to get this horn fashioned into a proper drinking horn, but I want to see them.”

“Do you want me to take the horn to a Baal Tusgra?” Alqa offered.

“No, I can handle it. Thank you though, besides I want you to meet them,” Yesui told her. Alqa smiled and Yesui stood up, “I’ll see you later Alqa,” Yesui told her and walked away.

Near the end of the day, two riders were spotted coming from the north. Mongolkiina had been the first to see them, and she was the one who called out their approach. A group of warriors rode out to meet them and Alqa ran to Yesui’s. She stood outside the yurt, “Yesui! Mongolkiina saw two riders coming from the north!” Alqa called in, Yesui was out of the yurt very quickly. By the time they arrived at the edge of the Yisra, both riders were already there and Yesui quickly approached and embraced each of them. Alqa smiled and returned to making arrows, taking iron, stone, copper, bronze and bone arrowheads and using glue to attach them to shafts, then the shaft was left to dry. When they were dry, they would be taken by Oiyunbiileg to have the fletching attached.

Alqa was almost done with the arrowheads she had available when Yesui and her children approached her. “Hi Alqa,” Yesui said, “these are my children. My daughter Yid and my son Baatar.”

“Hi, I’m Alqa, nice to meet you,” Alqa said.

“You too!” Yid exclaimed. Baatar just waved shyly. Alqa waved back. “Alqa! Why’ve we never seen you before?” Yid asked, she spoke very fast and it was relatively hard to understand her.

“What? Sorry, I can’t understand you,” Alqa asked.

“Oh, why. Have. We. Never. Met. You. Before?” Yid enunciated.

“I’m new,” Alqa told her.

“Oh right! I heard the Baltui attacked!” Yid exclaimed again.

“Slow down, I can’t understand you,” Alqa told Yid. Alqa noticed Yesui slipping away and Baatar standing to the side and watching them. “Baatar, how are you?” Alqa asked, trying to be friendly with him.

“Fine,” He said.