“I never thought anything could be so beautiful.” Natori, the young shaman’s son staggered on the rough trail in the lush forest. The fog was a widow’s shroud on the land. Though he was warm in the unfamiliar clothes of the Qu’ullad people, he still shivered.

Vastusia, took his hand, his flesh slightly darker than hers, and smiled. “I told you there was a world beyond the savanna.”

He frowned. V’rovi traditions do not forbid us traveling to other places.”

“Only discourage it.”

“Our land, our traditions define us. We would cease to be a people without them.”

“The Qu’ullvad are a people, and we embrace electronic technologies. Look at what we’ve gained.”

His voice was quiet as he stared into the mists. “Look at what you’ve lost.”

“It’s not too late, Natori.”

He faced her. “You believe our fathers will permit this?”

“Our world is dying. Both our fathers both know that.”

“And this place?”

“It’s only half the size it was when our grandfathers were born.”

“This forest, my savanna, we cannot let them die.”

“Then marry me. As the next shaman, with us working together, we can save both our tribes, and the rest of our world.

Addendum – 2-6-2020: It was brought to my attention that I have a misspelling here. Errors can creep into a story when your only source is Google. I apologize and obviously all mistakes here are mine. The culture I’ve referred to is Maasai.

I wrote this for Flash Fiction for the Purposeful Practitioner: 2020: Week #06. The idea is to use the image above as the prompt for crafting a piece of microfiction no more than 200 words long. My word count is 200.

Although the scene is radically different, I used characters and (sort of) the situation in my current WIP. It deals with the extinction of species, and the consequences of such events on the larger biosphere. My character Natori is from a traditional people similar to the Masei of the Kenyan savanna. Vastusia is from a tribe in a different nation, one that has embraced more modern technologies. I based all of the names (except for the people/tribal names which are totally fictional) on the Swahili language.

The word “Dunia” in that tongue, means “Earth.”

To read other stories based on the prompt, click the link above and then scroll down to the comments section.

If you’re interested in my latest published works, my short story “The Mechanical Dragon” is currently available in Clockwork Dragons: A Fantasypunk Anthology. Also look out for my tale “The Deseret War” in A Mighty Fortress: A Mormon Steampunk Anthology, Book 4 which you can pre-order now for download to your kindle device February 18, 2020.