#the mage pipeline got me yet again

[pixelizedprince]

Listen tiktok is a godless land that treats Gale horribly but this came across my page and I was HOWLING

[even-after-a-millennia]

look out with me at this beauty

For @nilefreemanweek2021 and the prompt Childhood.  While protesting a pipeline, Nile sees something in the distance that reminds her of a family vacation she took as a child.  You can read it below or over on my ao3 account here. Gen | Rated G | 1.7k

“You would think,” Nile said in disgust, “that after how many times these things have broken, we wouldn’t have to be right here, protesting them making yet another pipeline.”

“Profits before the people,” Andy said drily from where she was standing next to Nile.

“Ughhhhhhhh,” Nile groaned.

Nicky and Joe returned from giving out water and food to the other protestors and handed over the remaining bottles and granola bars.  Nile ripped one open and tore a bite off viciously.

She looked out, past the line of police officers that were attempting to intimidate her and the other protestors standing in the path of the pipeline.  In the distance, she could see a piece of higher land going up into the sky.  She squinted, but it didn’t become any clearer.

“Hey, guys, what��s that?” she asked, pointing at it.

Andy looked over.  “Oh.  I remember that place.  We were here in the… uh, late 1800s?  Trying to push back the expansion of settlers onto the native people’s land.  The tribes in the area had many names for it, but the one I remember is Bear Mountain.”

“Bear Mountain…” Nile muttered, pulling out her phone.  She typed “Bear Mountain South Dakota” into the search bar and started reading the results.  “Oh,” she said quietly.

“What is it, Nile?” Nicky asked.

“It’s also called Bear Butte.”

She swallowed, then said, “My family and I went there when I was a kid.”

“Would you like to tell us about it?” Nicky asked.  He kept one eye on the police, but turned most of his attention to Nile.

The others did the same, settling in for the long haul.

_____________________________________

The field of sunflowers whipped past Nile’s window and to her ten-year-old brain, they seemed to go on forever.  Jordan was kicking the back of her mom’s seat and she turned to look at him and said, “Child, if you don’t want to walk there, you will stop that right now.”

He stopped, pouting.

“I’m bored,” he said.

“Look outside, Jordan!  You can see forever!” Nile said, trying to distract him.

It worked for a few minutes, but then he was kicking again.  Nile’s mom looked at the ceiling of the van, and Nile knew that her patience was being tested.

“Hey Jordan, I spy with my little eye, something that starts with the letter S,” Nile said.

Nile’s mom sent her a smile, which Nile returned.

He looked around, taking in the options.  “Sky?” he asked.

“Nope!”

“Street?”

“This is a highway, dummy.”

He frowned and opened his mouth to retaliate, but she just said, “C’mon, you can get it!  It starts with S!”

Jordan looked out the window and brightened.  “SUNFLOWERS!” he shouted at the top of his lungs.

Nile nodded as her parents took deep breaths, then let them out.

“Your turn!” she said.

Their game lasted another hour, then they stopped at a rest area to go to the bathroom.  Jordan climbed on the playground while Nile swung on a swing in the kid’s area, as their parents watched from one of the nearby park benches.

They had been driving since early that morning, but her parents had warned that they wouldn’t arrive at the hotel until late.  

“So no swimming?” Nile had asked, trying not to pout.

Her dad had laughed.  “Maybe not the first night, but I promise we will swim before we come home.”

She nodded, satisfied.

They were going to Bear Butte in South Dakota.  Jordan had giggled when he had seen how close butte was to butt.  That had started a conversation about how this was a sacred place for the Native Americans in the area, and while the Freeman’s were there, they were to treat the place with respect.

“Dad, if it’s for Native Americans, why are we going there?” Nile had asked, brow furrowed.

“A few guys in my division went there when they were in Sturgis for a big motorcycle rally.  Said that it was a beautiful area and that you could feel the history and spirit of the place in the air.  I want to see it for myself,” he explained.

Nile didn’t really get it, but she nodded anyway.

Luckily, Jordan had tired himself out on the playground, so he crashed for a while after they got back in the van.  Nile pulled out Maniac Magee, the book one of her teachers had recommended at the end of the school year, and began to lose herself in between its pages.

They stopped for food somewhere in South Dakota, but still had a few hours to go.  It was getting dark, the sun setting over the fields as they flashed by, and Nile was entranced by the colors streaking across the sky.  She pulled out her folder of paper and tried to recreate it with her colored pencils, but the road was bumpy and the colors didn’t do it justice.

Her dad insisted on putting it on the dash anyway.

“Anyone looking at this vehicle will know that there is an artist on board,” he said, smiling at her.

Even Nile was dozing by the time that they pulled into the hotel parking lot.  She dragged Jordan behind her, holding onto his hand, until they could get up in the room.

“Whoa…” she said, looking around.

There were two queen sized beds, a giant tv, a microwave, and a fridge in the room.  She went to get on the bed, but her mom said, “Wait a minute.”

She took the covers off and put them to the side.

“Alright, now you can get on.  But no jumping.  There are people below us,” she said.

Nile frowned.  Well, that stopped what she was going to do.

Jordan and Nile got one bed and her mom and dad took the other.  They had waffles for breakfast and Jordan thought the machine that made them was the coolest thing.  Her dad had actually made the waffles, but he had let Jordan flip the griddle, which he did with glee.

They drove a little bit out of town and parked.  Nile’s dad shouldered the backpack that Nile’s mom had packed full of water, sunscreen, and snacks.

“Remember, you two, do not touch the pieces of cloth on the trees.  They are prayer cloths and they are not to be disturbed.  Do not go off the path.  And try to be respectful and quiet.  Okay?” their dad said.

They nodded, and set off.

It was a gentle slope upwards at first, and then they were pushing themselves up the hills.  There were a lot of trees right by the trail, and Nile watched as the pieces of fabric tied to the trees swayed in the breeze.  They were pretty.

Then they reached a flatter area with a wooden railing and looked out to see down the hill and out into the fields beyond.

“Cool…” Nile breathed, taking it all in.

They kept going, and Nile eventually stopped looking ahead and just kept looking around, taking in all the trees and grass and fields around her.  They crested a hill and Nile looked down the hill and suddenly stopped.

“Dad, why do the trees look like that?” she asked.

There were many trees that were on their sides, barkless and white against the grass.

“There was a fire here in the late 90’s that burnt up a lot of the trees.  The grass has grown back, but the trees couldn’t be saved,” he explained.

“Oh,” she said, feeling a sadness she couldn’t really explain.  This was all so beautiful.  It hurt to see the remnants of destruction here.

“Hey,” he said gently, kneeling beside her.  “Look at it this way.  All of this,” he said, gesturing to all the nature around them, “went through something terrible, and it managed to come back from that.  I think that’s inspiring more than anything.  What do you think?”

Nile thought about it, then nodded.

“Good,” he said.  “C’mon, Nile.  I hear the view from the top is incredible.”

It took a long time for them to get there.  They had to stop for water breaks a bunch and a snack break too.  But then they finally took the steps to the wooden platform at the top of the Butte and Nile and Jordan ran to the railing to look out over everything.

“Whoa…”

Nile had thought that she could see for miles before.  But it was nothing compared to how far she could see now!  She and Jordan ran from one side of the platform to the next, looking out at the different angles and what they could see from each.

Eventually, the novelty wore off, and they settled on one of the benches for a few more snacks and some water.

Nile’s dad was still standing at the railing, and Nile joined him after she finished eating.

They didn’t say anything for a while, just looked out together as the wind rushed over them.  She leaned into his side and his arm came around her, holding her there.  Any chill she would have felt from the breeze was lost in the warmth from her dad’s body.

“This is the kind of thing that I fight to protect,” he said softly.

If Nile wasn’t so close to him, she might not have heard him.  

“It’s really pretty,” she agreed.

He blinked, and looked down at her.  “I fight to protect you too, my little river,” he said, pulling one of her braids lightly.

They grinned at one another, the moment broken, then left the railing and its beautiful view behind them.

__________________________________

They had done more on the trip, had even gone swimming in the pool at the hotel.  But that first day was the thing that stuck most in Nile’s brain, years later.

“Turns out, that was the last time my dad was home before he was killed in action,” Nile finished.  “So I’m glad we got to have that time.”

“I am glad we are here,” Nicky said thoughtfully.  “Protecting this view the two of you looked out on.”

Nile’s heart clenched, but she nodded.

“He died fighting for places like this,” she said.  She turned to the police officers who were closing in.  “Let’s make sure none of these people do the same.”