15. The Game

Summary

• Kya returns to the stump in the forest, hoping to find another feather left by an anonymous friend. When she doesn't find any, she decides to leave her own gift - a tail feather from an immature bald eagle.
• That night, she feels a sense of calm thinking about this friend who leaves her gifts in the forest. She doesn't think he means to harm her as he shares her love for birds.
• She spends the next day cleaning her mother's dresser and trims her long hair. Looking at her mother's old cosmetics, she tries on some lipstick for the first time, and looks at a bottle of old nail polish, reminiscing about a time when her mother painted her and her sisters' nails.
• When she returns to the clearing, she finds a feather from a night heron, seeds, and a much-needed spark plug for her boat. She's moved by this act of kindness, thinking he must want to court her like male birds do with females, even though she's still young.
• Kya can't read the note left for her and rushes back home to find a gift for him. She decides on a feather from a tundra swan.
• Upon her return, she's startled to find the boy waiting at the stump, breaking the rules of their anonymous gift exchange. She recognizes him as Tate, a boy from her past. He tells her he left the gifts and offers to teach her to read.