Tsela Begay

**Tsela Begay** is a side character in The Smoke Room. He is a traveling fisherman and a friend of Yiska who lives at the Meseta reservation near Echo. He is also the cousin of Cynthia Tsosie.

## Appearance

Tsela is a wiry kit fox who is around twenty years old, although according to Samuel the bags under his eyes make him look forty. He is noticeably short and has large ears, as well as brown eyes. Tsela wears a white button up shirt tucked into black pants, which are held up by a brown belt.

## Personality

Tsela is curt and very distrustful of outsiders, often keeping to himself or talking only to Yiska. He heavily resents the spread of colonization because of what it has taken from his people, and he is cynical and cold toward anyone he perceives as being complicit in that process.

Tsela is devoted to and protective of Meseta customs, and shows a deep care for members of his community, such as when he prioritizes informing Shilah's family about his probable death immediately upon returning to the Meseta settlement.

### Before The Smoke Room

Tsela's father passed away at some point prior to the events of The Smoke Room, leaving Tsela the cabin that he owned on the Meseta reservation. Although the settlement's colonial authorities tightly control who can travel, Tsela often leaves for days to catch fish and sell it in Echo. It is unclear whether he has some special permission to do this or simply successfully flouts the rules. He routinely makes this trip with his friends and fellow fishermen Yiska and Shilah, and the three occasionally meet up with Avery on the way.

Tsela also possesses a rifle, despite the strict regulation of weapons within the reservation.

### Cliff's Route

During a routine return trip from Echo, Tsela and his friends are attacked by a mysterious creature while traveling through the woods. Tsela later recounts that from his perspective, the beast resembled a man with rotten, singed flesh hanging from his bones, gasping for air. During the attack, their companion Shilah was dragged off and disappeared without a trace, despite Avery, Yiska, and Tsela's best attempts to track him down.

Upon returning to their campsite, Tsela and his group encounter an expedition party of travelers from Echo, consisting of Clifford, Samuel, Murdoch, and Jebediah, who recently had a similar run-in with the creature. Although Tsela initially resents the idea of dallying to talk with strangers so close to the site of the attack, the two parties rest and recover together and decide to travel to the Meseta reservation as one group, hoping to gain safety in numbers.

After recuperating at Avery's parents' home, the group journeys back to the site of the attack to try and salvage any supplies. On the way, Tsela gruffly introduces himself and Yiska by name, but prefers to keep to himself or speak to Yiska in the Meseta language. Cliff tries to strike up a conversation with them about the Meseta settlement, but Tsela shuts him down.

After arriving at a lively campsite near a hot spring where many other travelers are socializing, Tsela and Yiska relax and drink with the rest of the group, although Tsela insists he will not be singing or dancing. It is at this point that he shares what the monster in the woods looked like to him. The next day, the group safely arrives at the Meseta reservation and Tsela immediately departs with Yiska to inform Shilah's parents of his fate, although he agrees when Cliff asks to stop by and ask him some questions later on.

When Cliff appears at his cabin, Tsela initially attempts to turn him away at the door. Cliff insists that he wishes to establish an open channel of communication with Tsela and Yiska, and says that he is interested in creating a more honest and mutually respectful world through intercultural dialogue. Tsela cynically points out such exchanges have rarely been fair for his people in the past, and the vulnerabilities that the Meseta have exposed by opening up to outsiders before have invariably been used against them. Cliff proposes the idea of a possible new railway running through the reservation and Tsela is immediately skeptical, confident that anything offered by colonial forces must come at a terrible hidden cost. Yiska tries to point out the increased trade and travel that a railroad could bring to their community, but Tsela is unconvinced.

If Cliff outright admits that the railroad is intended to connect the Meseta reservation to Echo, however, then both Tsela and Yiska are united in their staunch opposition. Cliff asks for their help to derail the project's construction, and Tsela refuses to shake his outstretched hand but Yiska accepts it.

Tsela is next seen that night, performing a ritual with Yiska and other Meseta, as well as Cliff, on the outskirts of the settlement. He explains to a quizzical Sam that the ceremony is intended to lay the spirit of Shilah to rest. The two discuss their respective cultures and Tsela disparages Sam's Christian faith, which he accuses of being a dominating force and a destructively hierarchical way to view the world, as opposed to the more harmonious Meseta outlook. Despite this initial antagonism, Tsela lights Sam's cigarette when asked. He also agrees to show Sam more Meseta practices, if only because he considers Sam unlikely to remember anything he is taught and therefore trusts him not to share information with other outsiders.

Sam is reminded of his friend Cynthia Tsosie and Tsela reveals that she is his cousin, although the two have not been in contact in years. Tsela recounts Cynthia's early life, as well as the circumstances of her family's unusual and abrupt departure from the reservation. Sam then offers to pay Tsela for an escort to Providence, a nearby town with a railroad, but Tsela is not interested in paper money. Instead, he is intrigued by Sam's promise of a phone call with Cynthia when they reach their destination, although he is afraid of what he might learn from speaking with her. He agrees to travel with Sam as long as Sam buys the provisions.

The two then hear a sound like an animal in distress and investigate a nearby ranch, where they find the corpse of a mule. The wound that killed it is cold and therefore not recent, so Tsela assumes that the sound was another animal smelling the remains. Just then, something monstrous pulls Sam's leg out from under him and begins dragging him through the forest. Tsela pursues and fires his rifle at the creature, which seems to dispel it, and then he urges a limping Sam back to the safety of his cabin.

As the two shelter inside, Tsela observes that something malevolent seems to be following Sam, and in order to defend the settlement he resolves to put together a hunting party to kill whatever it is. Something then knocks unnaturally at the door and speaks to them in a voice that sounds like a poor approximation of Yiska's. Sam keeps quiet at Tsela's insistence, and eventually the presence outside departs. Tsela then orders Sam to try and get some sleep, and warns him not to leave the cabin or open the door until morning, even if someone they know asks to be let in. Tsela dozes in a chair near Sam, while still holding his gun.

During the night, Tsela seems to be taken over by some version of his ancestor John Begay. The presence in Tsela converses briefly with Sam, but Tsela expresses no memory of this afterward.

Tsela cooks breakfast for Sam in the morning and then, after watching him try and fail to stand on his injured leg, leaves to get medical assistance from Avery. When they return, Tsela explains that he intends to leave for Camp Rosa with Yiska in two days, and offers to let Sam ride in their cart since he cannot walk. The three depart the cabin and Tsela sets off alone to meet Yiska at the settment's apiary, without another word to Sam.

Tsela finds Yiska teaching Cliff about beekeeping and fills him in on Sam's injury, as well as the violent deaths of several penned pack animals the previous night. Cliff asks for a translation and Tsela gives him a dirty look, which earns him a glare from Yiska in turn. Yiska insists that Cliff deserves to know, and Tsela leads them both to the carcass of a mauled mule in a nearby cornfield. Tsela remarks in the Meseta language that each dead animal means one less way out of the settlement, but tells Cliff not to concern himself with the matter.

Suddenly, an irate Reverend Caldwell appears and scolds Tsela and Yiska for speaking Meseta, which is against the settlement's rules. He commands Tsela to explain what is going on but Tsela ignores him, and instead spits on the ground and walks away. That night, Caldwell is fatally mauled by some kind of beast.

Presumably as a result of Tsela's plan to hunt down the thing terrorizing the settlement, several Meseta later catch a massive wild hog in the act of goring Caldwell and kill it. Tsela is next seen relaxing beside Caldwell's body and the carcass of the great boar, which he seems to accept as responsible for both the attack on the reverend and the massacred livestock.

## Relationships

### Yiska

Yiska is a close friend of Tsela, and the two often fish and travel together. Tsela calls Yiska a "harmonious person," and considers him untroubled by the past or the future in the way Tsela himself often seems to be.

### Cliff

Tsela distrusts Cliff and seems to dislike his incessant questions, preferring to keep their interactions brief and speaking to him bluntly. Tsela considers Cliff's ethnographic ambitions a form of thievery, and resents the idea that Cliff will study the Meseta and then return to his faraway home to share what he has learned with other outsiders, without trying to meaningfully improve things for Tsela's people.

### Samuel

Tsela's general hostility towards outsiders extends to Sam. He is especially wary of Sam's inclination towards Christianity, which Tsela perceives as obsessed with establishing dominion over the natural world. Additionally, the important sense of self and belonging that Tsela's culture seems to grant him means that he is quite perturbed by the relative rootlessness of Sam, who retains no ties to his family or place of origin.

Despite all this suspicion, Tsela eventually agrees to give Sam an inside look at a Meseta banishment ritual, albeit only because he feels confident that Sam will not remember enough of the intricacies of the practice to pass it on to anyone else.

### Cynthia

Tsela and Cynthia are cousins and their families are close, but the two have not interacted since Cynthia's family left the settlement early in her life. Tsela does not appear to have personally known Cynthia well.

However, when Sam presents him with the opportunity to make a phone call to Cynthia, Tsela jumps at the chance and seems to place a high value on reconnecting with her.

## Trivia

* Prior to having his sprite implemented into The Smoke Room, Tsela made his debut visual appearance during the "Buy a Man Some Hooch" animatic on Cliff's route.
* Tsela is a descendent of John Begay and a possible ancestor of Jenna and Jeremy Begay.

## Gallery

DefaultTalkingEyes closedSmilingSurprisedAngryTsela's first visual appearance, during in the animatic on Cliff's route.Artwork of Tsela in a promo for the twenty-third released build of The Smoke Room.Promo art for Build 27 featuring Tsela alongside Yiska and Cliff. Drawn by Solomon.