#ravalli

Ravalli, MT

Ravalli (Salish: sk̓ʷɫólqʷe, sk̓ʷɫʔó) is an unincorporated community in Lake County, Montana, United States. As of the 2020 census, Ravalli had a population of 85. For statistical purposes, the United States Census Bureau has defined Ravalli as a census-designated place (CDP). In the early 1900s, the Pablo-Allard herd in Ravalli was said to be the largest collection of the bison remaining in the U.S. and played a critical role in the conservation of bison.

A post office called Ravalli was established in 1887 and remained in operation until 1983. The community was named for Antonio Ravalli, a Jesuit missionary to the Indians.

Ravalli is located in southern Lake County at the junction of U.S. Route 93 and Montana Highway 200, at the bottom of a big hill near the CSKT Bison Range. US 93 leads north 33 miles (53 km) to Polson, the Lake county seat, and south 36 miles (58 km) to Missoula. MT 200 leads west 7 miles (11 km) to Sčilíp.

Ravalli and Zelda  Drawn  by  sira-the-hedgehog only here and DeviantART  other sites have no  premission  to  put it 

She took the gentle, cobbled slope in one sandaled little thump at a time. It was all she could do.

She could command flames. She could run for miles. She could flip from a stand. She had trained.

Alone. But this... this was a city. Her first city. She was in her first city and she could not walk. All of her training, all of her discipline, and all of her determination rushed out of her like road dust under a spring rain. The city and its many spirits washed her sense of self down through the gutters.

Within a mile, there were two pairs of lovers making something quite a bit like love - one rough and tender, the other meek and dutiful. Five different children pretended to sleep, while seven others did. Only two had nightmares - the third was just reliving her day. A deep-throated man sang about a feeling that he'd never felt - joy at the sight of green eyes, but she knew that dull, brown eyes had filled him once with poetry. Now? He sang about green, hoping to forget.

She remembered, because he did. She was awake, awash in sweat, and asleep all at once.

She took another step. Her open spirit touch another mile, expanding like a spark across arid brush. That's what was happening, after all. This city hadn't seen a priestess in a generation. Dead wood from troubles, sorrows, secrets, and selfish little thoughts threatened to catch.

So they caught her. She felt them, felt through them, and burned away their burdens.

This is who she was, but not who she had chosen to be. No one chose to see that deep.

She chose... well, she chose to take another step. She did what she could.

Another mile of troubled spirits met her halfway to the ground.

Prompt: A breathless Anonymous asked me:

"A thousand kisses deep"

A brief introduction to one of the principals of the novel(s) working on when not messing around tumblr or... you know... that unimportant stuff I'm paid to do. Back on the road I go...