[hr][center][img]https://www.advocate.com/sites/default/files/deveryinner.jpg[/img] [img]https://fontmeme.com/permalink/220623/365a181610a7ae0974f30926362ed09e.png[/img] [hr][i]Blue Hills Reservation 10 Miles Outside Edenridge Lunchtime[/i][/center][hr] It had been a warm, humid type of day on the Blue Hill Reservation. A storm was brewing in the East and could be seen from miles away. No doubt they were due for some heavy rain coming their way come nightfall. It was her sincerest hope that the horrid weather would pass by before or after Mitena Strongbow and her band played their set at the longhouse. Tena had pretty much spent the morning trying to wire the acoustics right at Aponi’s Heart and had also spent most of the morning feeling like she was fighting a losing battle. The place was old and the Chief didn’t really have a lot of money to fix it up but it was home. The longhouse had been on the reservation for as long as the Rez itself had existed. It was as the name suggested, a king building with high old beams and plentiful decorations representing the tribe's history, even down to its name; Aponi’s Heart. It was a name that held much meaning to the Blue Hill people. Aponi was the poor girl who fell victim to the white man’s fear and rage. She was the girl whose death forced their ancestors to leave their land and settle elsewhere. Chief named it as a reminder to his people to not forget where they came from and what happened to them. The dark haired beauty stood at the microphone on the short two foot stage, guitar in hand, testing out our vocals with a song from Jimmy Eat World, 23. She looked out at the empty dance floor where the crowd would be later. Johnny the Janitor was sweeping up the place ready for the evening’s festivities. Looking at him with her soft brown eyes Tena smiled; he looked like her brother; Charlie. [center][color=BB986B][url=https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vNQncx4R7U4]“I'll be twenty-three I won't always love what I'll never have I won't always live in my regrets You'll sit alone forever If you wait for the right time What are you hoping for I'm here I'm now I'm ready Holding on tight Don't give away the end The one thing that stays mine”[/url][/color][/center] Tena still had the CD (remember those?) that Charlie had sent her from his home in Edenridge the summer before he…. It was a beautiful mix of sad songs and deep melancholy mixed with rage, so much rage. It was truly a glimpse into his mind and soul before the end of his life. When word had gotten to Blue Hills about the massacre her brother had undertaken, Mitena’s heart sank. She was lucky in that only a handful of people on the reservation even knew of her connection to the boy and those that knew were wonderful to her. She wondered, she truly did, if he had been with his people on the Reservation if Charlie would’ve been ok? In the letters they all too briefly shared, her big brother spoke of people he loved. Friends and a girl specifically. Penelope. The way he spoke of her, his words were resonant and passionate. [color=D3D3D3][i]”Whatever the pain I feel, no matter the hurt, I look through my window into hers and I see her. I see her and I know my life has meaning. She is the air I breathe. William Henley once said I am the Captain of my soul. She is the Captain of mine”[/i][/color] The young indigenous woman remembered his words as clear as the day was long. He obviously had people he cared for, people that meant everything to him but Charlie’s words were not always pleasant. Tena’s brother had so much pain, so much darkness. She wondered if they had been raised together as siblings should be, then maybe just maybe, life would change and the beautiful departed would no longer be that. Maybe people would have been saved? Ifs, buts and maybes were not Tena’s style however. Charlie did what he did and that was that. She couldn’t change that, she was just a humble native girl with a great ass and a talent for that thing called music, so that’s where her energy and her time would go, not dwelling on what could have been. Mitena glanced down at her fingers as they plucked at her guitar strings and more specifically, the thick leather brace on her left wrist. It was his. Apparently her brother liked his Hot Topic bling. Luckily the brown leather worked well with her wardrobe. It was the last gift he sent her, along with the copy of his unfinished book. It took a little while but once Tena opened it up, she just couldn’t stop reading. [color=BB728D]“Sound check sounds good, Tena”[/color] A warm but strong and authoritative voice called from behind the bar. Raising her eyes upwards, she matched a gaze with the elder gentleman who stood there holding his towel over his shoulder like a proper bartender, which [url=https://www.throughtheclutter.com/images/lou-diamond-phillips-1.jpg]Chief Coldwind[/url] certainly wasn’t. He had been the leader of the tribe for over twenty years now. It was a title he inherited from his father and his father before him. Chief had just turned sixty yet he still carried himself with a jovial attitude, young at heart some might say. He was also still a total DILF. Ryan would go ballistic hearing those kinds of thoughts but she was also aware that the entire female and some male inhabitants of Blue Hills wanted to climb her grandfather like a tree. [color=BB986B]”Oh hey, thanks Chief”[/color] She sweetly smiled as she climbed down from the stage, resting her guitar against the mic stand. [color=BB986B]”I hear you’re gonna sell out tonight. We got enough beer?”[/color] [color=BB728D]“As a matter of fact…”[/color] The Chief reached below the bar and pulled out a small ice cold bottle from the fridge. He popped the cap off and slid it across the bar to the gorgeous girl. [color=BB728D]“Spoke to a guy I know a few towns over, Cleary. Nice guy. Kind enough to send us some samples of his new brew. So I got a few crates. We should be good. I also spoke to Fallon, she’s gonna keep the lighthorseman away from Aponi’s tonight, give you girls a little chance to raise some hell”[/color] The older man placed both his palms flat in the bar and leaned forward slightly, always the authority. [color=BB728D]“Not too much hell though or the Great Spirit will have my ass ok?”[/color] [color=BB986B]“I can’t promise that, I hear Big Bear is in town”[/color] She rested her hand on his for a brief moment and smiled before taking a step back. [color=BB986B]”Thanks Chief, means a lot”[/color] Tena picked up the bottle and examined the label. Huh? It came from Edenridge: what a coincidence. Then again, New England was a small place. She took a swig from the bottle and her eyebrow cocked highly. [color=BB986B]”That is some good shit”[/color] [color=BB728D]“Language”[/color] [color=A7BB9A]“It’s called English, get with the times Grandpa”[/color] A voice called back as three beautiful women entered the bar. [url=https://img.favebites.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/10125545/babe-min-1.jpg]Ryan[/url], the source of the voice was a pint sized poison pixie. She was followed by [url=https://www.avpgalaxy.net/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Amber-Midthunder.jpg]Heather[/url] carrying herself like a queen and [url=https://static01.nyt.com/images/2020/09/01/arts/28aulii-cravalho1SUB/28aulii-cravalho1SUB-mediumSquareAt3X.jpg]Odina[/url], the youngest of them, rambling to herself. The rest of Tena’s band, Red Wolf Road, had arrived at Aponi’s Heart. Chief Coldwind looked upon his granddaughter with a grin as she climbed onto the small stage and sat down next to her bass. She was a lot like her late grandmother. No shits given in this life. [color=BB728D]”I’m afraid that ship has sailed. I’m an old man now”[/color] As the other girls got onto the stage following Ryan and began to set up their own instruments for practice, Tena considered her life on the Reservation. It was comfortable, it was safe. She was surrounded by people that loved her like her girls on the stage or the Chief. Her auntie Jadyn had been a godsend and Resi and everyone. They say “It takes a village” and for Mitena that really was the truth. With no father to speak on and after her mothers passing, the entire tribe took to raising her. From the minute she picked up a guitar, from the day she admitted to liking girls as well as guys and the day she found out her brother was a murderer, the Blue Hills tribe supported her and di rignr by her. They were “Sidanelv”…that meant family. All of them. Taking her beer up on stage with her, Tena placed it down by her stool as she picked up her guitar again. [color=BB986B“So the first set goes like this; we open with Kickstart my Heart. Then we do Your Love and Back on the Chain Gang before we switch up to the acoustics. Gonna open that with Paint the Silence, Constant Knot and then round out the hour with 23. Plan?”[/color] The other three girls muttered amongst themselves for a moment before nodding their heads in agreement. [color=BB986B]”Alrighty then, count us in Odina”[/color] 3, 2, 1, let’s jam.