Yiska

**Yiska** is a side character in The Smoke Room. He is a beekeeper and traveling fisherman who lives at the Meseta settlement near Echo. He is a good friend of Tsela.

## Appearance

Yiska is a large brown bear with broad shoulders. He has hazel eyes accentuated by thick eyebrows. Yiska wears tan pants with a brown belt, and a light blue button-up shirt that is untucked on his left side. He also wears a beaded necklace holding a black talon or claw. During the animatic in Cliff's route, Yiska is shown wearing a fishing hat.

## Personality

Yiska is initially quiet, and when first meeting Samuel's group he tends to keep to himself or interact primarily with Tsela. As Cliff's route progresses, he shows himself to be warm and gentle. Yiska seems to be open to ideas brought by outsiders and willing to cooperate with them, especially in comparison to cynical Tsela.

Yiska displays a deeply internalized obedience to the colonial forces that rule the reservation and aim to suppress the Meseta way of life. He is immediately willing to painfully punish himself for the relatively mild infraction of being caught speaking the Meseta language, but he nonetheless speaks Meseta while traveling with Tsela, still actively participates in traditional ceremonies. Yiska seems to be grappling to some degree with guilt and shame and instilled in him by a childhood in the residential school system and may truly seek the approval of the domineering authority figures who aim to strip him of his culture, or he may be simply collaborating with the settlement's strict system of rewards and punishments in order to gain privileges and shield others who might be targeted in his place.

### Before The Smoke Room

Yiska was born and raised on the Meseta reservation, where his family has lived for 35 years. Yiska has spent his whole life under the strict rules of the settlement; he graduated from its brutally repressive school system, and continues to tend to the apiary on school grounds. Yiska was considered an excellent pupil for his obedience and diligence and was granted 'special permissions' at some point as a result, possibly including clearance to occasionally leave the reservation in order to fish and then bring his catches to Echo to sell. On these trips Yiska frequently travels alongside his fellow fishermen and friends, Tsela and Shilah. The three also occasionally meet up with Avery on the way.

Yiska is highly regarded in his community, both by his fellow Meseta and by the colonial enforcers who preside over the reservation. He is both trusted by the Meseta to lead important ceremonial chants and considered by Reverend Caldwell, who oversees the residential school, to be a dependable worker and a role model for the settlement's children.

### Cliff's Route

While returning to the Meseta reservation after selling fish in Echo, Yiska and his group made camp in the woods and were attacked by a monster of some kind. From Yiska's perspective the beast resembled a giant snake, which frightened him greatly. The creature attacked Shilah and dragged him off, and although Yiska, Tsela, and Avery went looking for their friend they found no trace of him, nor any blood or even any tracks left by the monster.

Upon returning to their campsite, the group then meets up with the expedition party of Clifford Tibbits, who are also headed to the reservation. After exchanging stories about their encounters with the beast, the two groups decide to travel together. During the journey, Yiska tends to keep to himself or speak to Tsela in the Meseta language, though he is cordial with the rest of the party when interacting with them.

At Avery's parents' hogan, Yiska recounts the monster attack, including the detail that the trees looked different just prior to the monster appearing and that members of his group were seeing things that weren't real. Yiska is concerned that they encountered trouble on such a well-traveled route, but Avery's mother Manaba seems unsurprised, and reminds him that 'soil never forgets.'

As the group travels the next day, Cliff begins to annoy Tsela with his questioning about the Meseta settlement, but Yiska helps smooth things over. Eventually, they arrive at a spring where many other travelers have camped out. Yiska joins in the evening's festivities. The following day, the party arrives at the Meseta reservation and Yiska leaves with Tsela to inform Shilah's family of his fate.

Yiska is later present when Cliff stops by Tsela's house to discuss the settlement and the possibility of developing it. Yiska expresses interest in a potential railroad, contradicting Tsela's staunch opposition, and believes that it would benefit the reservation by allowing its market to grow and its residents to travel. Cliff excuses himself after this leads to a disagreement between Yiska and Tsela, and as he leaves Yiska cordially offers to answer more of his questions later, on the condition that Cliff disregard anything that Caldwell says to him.

If Cliff is forthright about the fact that the railroad is intended to connect the reservation to Echo, however, Yiska is horrified by the possibility. After Cliff insinuates that finding some evidence of Caldwell's possible misconduct could jeopardize the plans for the railroad, Yiska enthusiastically agrees to gather more information on the reverend before meeting Cliff again and the two shake hands.

That night, Sam sees Yiska at the funeral ceremony for Shilah, playing a drum while he moves in a procession with other Meseta. Tsela explains the ceremony to Sam, and mentions that Yiska has been chosen to lead it because of his relatively untroubled, harmonious outlook.

After Tsela and Sam survive another encounter with a monster that seems similar to the one from the woods, they take refuge in Tsela's home. Something knocks at the door and claims to be Yiska in an approximation of his voice, but Tsela knows it is not him.

Yiska leads the funeral ceremony long into the night, and the next morning he agrees to lead Cliff to the settlement's school so Caldwell can give him a tour. Cliff apologizes for his intrusive presence among the Meseta, but Yiska explains that anthropologists have been visiting them for many years already and they are accustomed to the peculiarity.

Yiska follows silently as Caldwell leads Cliff through the school. The reverend mentions that Yiska was a model pupil during his schooling and Yiska accepts the compliment with deference. When Caldwell departs so that Yiska can demonstrate to Cliff how honey is collected from the apiary on school grounds, Yiska exhales as if in relief. Cliff asks Yiska about his experiences at the school, and Yiska outlines a stern system of rewards and punishments but does not go into specifics.

Tsela arrives, and explains something urgently to Yiska in the Meseta language. Cliff asks to be filled in and Tsela gives him a dirty look; Yiska glares at him for this and insists that Cliff deserves to know. Tsela then leads the way to the slaughtered corpse of a pack mule in a nearby cornfield, and says six pack animals in total were killed the previous night.

Caldwell returns, enraged to overhear the Meseta language being spoken. Tsela spits on the ground and walks away unconcerned, but Yiska immediately becomes anxious and contrite, apologizing for Tsela's behavior and promising to speak with him about it. Unmoved, Caldwell instructs Yiska to discipline himself by washing his mouth out with caustic lye soap. Yiska is obedient and determined to see the act through despite being in obvious pain. Caldwell gently encourages him, and it becomes clear that this punishment was a frequent one during Yiska's schooling. When a stunned Cliff considers speaking up against the cruelty, Yiska looks at him with anger for the first time. Caldwell dismisses Yiska afterward and he returns home to recover. Caldwell later remarks that Yiska has not been made to wash his mouth out with soap in fifteen years.

Later, after Caldwell is mauled to death, Yiska presumably helps to kill the massive boar that the Meseta suspect to be the culprit. Yiska is next seen sitting atop the beast's carcass, holding a spear that has punctured its jaw.

## Relationships

### Tsela

Yiska and Tsela are close friends, and have likely known each other for years. Yiska's reserved nature means that he often seems to defer to Tsela, but he is nonetheless willing to speak up when he feels Tsela's more bitter outlook does not represent his views. Between the two Yiska seems to be much more diplomatic, and less dismissive of outsiders. Tsela's open disdain for Caldwell sharply contrasts Yiska's apparent obedience to him.

### Cliff

Yiska is cordial toward Cliff, especially in comparison to Tsela, and is more willing to talk to and work with him. Should Cliff tell the pair about the plans to expand the railroad from Echo to the reservation, Yiska expresses heartfelt thanks for the warning and seeks a way to help Cliff in undermining Caldwell.

### Caldwell

As a graduate of the residential school, Yiska has spent much of his life under Caldwell's dogmatic authority, and has been continuously subjected to the reverend's brutal attempts to suppress Meseta culture and language. Despite Caldwell's cruelty Yiska seems to have internalized his teachings to some degree, and is willing to obediently wash his own mouth out with lye as punishment for being caught speaking the Meseta language. This may be genuine or performative, as Yiska still seems deeply committed to Meseta customs and appears very willing to work to undermine Caldwell when Cliff explains that doing so could help to halt the planned railroad to Echo.

## Trivia

* Prior to having his sprite implemented into The Smoke Room, Yiska made his first visual appearance briefly during the "Buy a Man Some Hooch" animatic on Cliff's route.
* In addition to his skills as a fisherman and beekeeper, Yiska is indicated to be a capable carpenter.

## Gallery

DefaultTalkingSmilingSurprisedEyes closedAngryYiska's appearance in the animatic on Cliff's route.Promo art for Build 27 featuring Yiska alongside Tsela and Cliff. Drawn by Solomon.