Breath

Darkness came to the village eventually (coiled and waiting inside of a stranger come to climb). When the fires began to go out unattended, the sherpas trekked down from snow caves and treeline cabins to stoke them and lie with the struggling, sharing breath as they did to reach the summit with city folk who were unsteady and unable to think. Two of them decided to give their last breath away, which brought honor upon their families and the stone heart of the mountain. They were wrapped in a simple woolen blanket (bearing the design of their family) and placed in an ice vault for a later procession that would take them to the edge of an impossibly deep crevasse and let them fly free. When at last the village was able to breathe easily, gratitude took the form of spicy yak stew, fresh bread, dried herbs, carvings for protection, and new blankets rolled and attached to the back of packs for easy transport. The sherpas left with little fanfare, as the maintenance of life was a practical, expected thing - and the mountain was always calling them home.