Member-only story
A Butterfly in Strong Wind
It was a new village, nestled between a stream and a valley. Nature’s rough fist replaced the original inhabitants’ dreams of expansion with a mere hope of survival. Past the valley was a grand tree the size of ten men, slowly growing under the same elements which plagued the nearby community.
It was this little corner of the world that the Time Traveller eventually ventured to. Not much is known about her. The following is what two generations of academics have been able to piece together from oral histories and the archaeological record.
She was from the distant future, when mankind tamed the world and the stars were within its reach. A brilliant woman, she picked up the local language within months of her arrival.
Previously, she had trekked for many years around a place she called the Indus Valley, journeying thousands of miles and using all sorts of tools to seize power over the predators, diseases and hostile humans she met along the way. She did not have any of these tools when she arrived in the village. It is unclear why, but for historical purposes this is of little relevance. The crux of the matter is that there was a Time Traveller who came to a speck of a village — an assortment of mud huts — at the dawn of civilization.
