-hobybuchanon- Native American Indian Girl Returns (WORKING)

Hoby remembered that blizzard. Remembered finding a half-frozen Indian child curled against a warm spring, her dark eyes calm as if she'd known all along someone would come. He'd taken her in, raised her alongside his own sons for four years, until the state had decided a white rancher wasn't fit to raise a Native American girl.

"You should have," Tala agreed. "But I'm not here for apologies, Hoby Buchanon. I'm here because I need your help." -HobyBuchanon- Native American Indian Girl Returns

Hoby took off his hat, ran a hand through his silvering hair. "I did come back. Three days after they took you. The place was locked up. They said you'd been sent to the reservation school in Oklahoma. Said no forwarding address." Hoby remembered that blizzard

She was small, wrapped in a faded army blanket despite the August heat. Her hair, black as a starling's wing, hung in two long braids threaded with leather and turquoise. She didn't turn when Hoby's boots hit the dirt. She didn't need to. "You should have," Tala agreed

They rode east, toward the mountain, toward the spring, toward the water that remembered everything. And behind them, the sun rose full over Two Rivers Ranch, setting the dew on fire, as if the whole world was holding its breath for what came next.

"I know." Hoby put his hat back on. "But you came back first. That's enough for now."

Tala laid her hand on the mare's neck. Rain blew out a soft breath and lowered her head, something she did for no one except Hoby.