If I ever see that prospector again, I'm going to wring his fuckin' neck. Not that he'd remember me at all, the drunk fuck. God, he talked a big game, tellin' me he found some sort of gold vein that made the Old Dutchman's Mine look like nothing. It was far away, he just needed to talk to the authorities to claim it, and he had the deal of a century for me. What'd he say again, he was out of supplies or something and needed me to ride out to the mine to make sure nobody else claims it, and in exchange, he'd give me half of everything in it? I should've known it was bullcrap, but I guess I was to damn drunk to know better, and by the time I sobered up, I was already ridin' out and figured I was already in too deep.

Now, a smart fella might at that point realize that hey, if I was real drunk last night, how the hell do I even know where the fuck I'm goin'? And 'cause of that, that smart fella might not get himself into the situation I'm in right now. 'Cause if there's somethin' I've learned in this last week, it's that I ain't smart. So I spent the last few days heading out to a destination I didn't even know existed, and I didn't even really know the location of, but god damn, if I wasn't determined to find it. And while that'd be bad enough, I of course got myself some real bad luck on top of that. First, some of the wildlife forced me off my path, however aimless it might've been, leadin' me to some real unfamiliar places. And then, shit got real bad.

Gunshots. Lots of 'em. Now, I might not be the brightest out there, but I know that wherever gunshots are, that's where I ain't wanna be. I don't give a rats' ass if it's soldiers or outlaws or whatever the hell else it might be. And so that meant I was haulin' ass in whatever direction those gunshots weren't comin' from, and I rode through the night to make sure I was far, far away. It was only after the sun rose again and I realized that I now officially didn't have the slightest fuckin' clue where I was that I realized that this was a mistake. Through this comedy of errors, I figured that bein' lost in one way wasn't enough, so I had to be lost three times over, out in some prairie in the middle of god damn nowhere with dwindling supplies and no civilization in sight.

Which brings me to my situation now. At this point, I've got nothin' to lose just going the same direction I've been going so far, since whatever I left behind me wasn't much better, but I certainly ain't seein' a lot of promising terrain out in front either, just a whole bunch of fuckin' prairie. But hang on... is that somethin' out there? Looks like it might be a building of some sorts... well, kind of a mound with an entrance, I think? Whatever it is, it might have someone livin' in it that might be friendly, and that's all I can hope for at this point, so I ride towards it. As I get closer, it seems like the place is some sort of native building—a wooden construction of some kind covered with mud? Shit, I ain't no architect.

The noise my horse makes ridin' along seems to have alerted whoever's livin' in there, as a native lookin' fella steps out of the building... or is it a girl? Whoever it is, they seem a bit apprehensive, but not hostile, which is good, far as I'm concerned. I slow my horse down to try and seem less threatening, then trot up to the native. "You understand English?" I ask them, and I get a nod in return, which is insanely lucky. I have no idea how many of these Indians understand English, but I certainly wasn't lookin' forward to using my hands and feet to somehow try and communicate. "Good. I need help. I'm lost, and I need water." I then tell them.

Again, the native nods. "You need help, I help. Come in," they say in a clipped English, and I hop off my horse, following them into this hut. The inside is rather sparse, but functional, about the size of a larger room in a house, with a little cooking area, a sleeping area and some sort of spot for working with herbs, apparently. We both sit down on the ground and get to talkin', which clears up a few things. The guy's name is Shilah, and he's from a Navajo tribe that lives a fair distance west. He's a healer-in-training of some sort, and this spot out here is where they send those folks to live for a month or so on their own, live off the land, that sort of thing. They're not supposed to interact with the tribe during this time, but if someone that needs help shows up, then that's fine, so I'm in luck. Seems like my only real option right now is staying with Shilah until he finishes up his time here, then coming back to his tribe with him. From there, they might be able to help me get back home.

Talkin' with the guy, I get a real odd impression of him. Not a bad one, mind, but it's somethin' I ain't ever seen before. Shilah's a guy, that's pretty clear, but at the same time, he's got this long hair and kinda girly lookin' clothing, and he kinda acts real demure... it's somethin' new, that's for sure. After we finish up our conversation, he gets up, motionin' for me to get up too. "Come, Luther. I show you nature," he says, a smile on his surprisingly soft looking face. Looks like he wants to show me around the prairie, and I figure I'm gonna end up helpin' him out with hunting, gathering or whatever else needs done out here, which is a fair deal.