by Sandra Lang
Sleeping next to another person is strange. There is this whole other body beneath the blankets and sleeping furs that I am not used to. My head rests on his bare chest with my hand clenched in his and his free arm wrapped around my waist. I do not know what to do with my own free arm. It is just curled against my bare chest; a small and useless barrier between our bodies.
“Are you happy?” he whispers through the dark.
“Like I have never been before.”
“Good.” He pulls me a little closer and kisses the top of my hair. I tilt my head up allowing him to kiss my lips.
“Are you?”
“More than words could ever express.”
“Good.” I snuggle into him a little closer and close my eyes.
“You know what I just realized?”
“What?”
“I never got around to paying you back for getting water on me in the spring.”
“You did indeed. I remember it.”
“As I recall, you threatened me to carry a pot. Chiefs do not take kindly to that sort of thing, you know.”
“You are not the Chief.”
“Not yet. We Chiefs have long memories though.”
“You do not. You could not remember what I said five summers ago.”
“No. I was too busy being angry with you. I could not understand why a silly little girl would be so aggravating.”
“I am glad to see things have not changed.”
“Now you are just a silly woman.”
“In love with a man who still becomes angry when he does not get his way.”
“I did get my way, or have you missed the past half cycle?”
“Tarok, my love, you did not know I was what you wanted until only recently.”
“That is not true. You have always been beautiful.”
“Oh please. You are biased.”
“I knew everyone at the Summit thought we were bound. Many people came up to me to say how beautiful my woman was. I did not correct them,” he admits. “And just between you and I, many of the warriors here keep asking how I managed to convince you to bind yourself to me. Apparently you are far too pretty and kind for me.”
“I promise I will not tell anyone,” I say with a yawn.
“You should sleep. It will be morning soon.”
“Are you not going to join me?”
“Of course I am.”
“Promise to keep me warm?”
“Do you even have to ask?”
I smile as I snuggle into the warmth of my bond-mate. His steady heartbeat and even breathing lulls me to sleep.
A knocking on the wooden frame of our hut wakes me. I groan and nestle against the warmth of my companion.
“What time is it?” I ask.
“A while after dawn,” Tarok says. “You may come in Shaman.”
“Tarok! He is not allowed in! I am not even dressed!” I screech, sitting upright. I wince at the pain and wait for it to subside.
“What? It is not like he has never seen any of this before.”
“I do not care. He does not need to see me like this.”
Tarok sighs and gives me a hard look. “You women prance around in barely anything to cover your wrappings all summer long. I am certain you have nothing to hide that he has not already seen.”
“You are impossible, you know that?”
I clench the blankets to my chest when Natoak enters the hut. Tarok puts his arm around me reassuringly.
“I hope you got some sleep,” Natoak says with a wink.
I hold out our wrists. “I would appreciate to have a little dignity remaining when you leave, Natoak.”
“Oh hush, Akari. Everyone knows how children are made. It is not some secret to hide or be ashamed of. That and every person within the tribe is going to be waiting for you to begin showing.”
“Can we get through the winter before we start trying to figure out if I can have children? If I make it through the winter and can get the herbs from Mosh’ilan, then we can talk about it.”
“I did not mean it that way, Akari. You know that. I am just warning you.”
“I know.”
Natoak twists our wrists and the rope until it comes loose. The rope is still tied as he hands it to us. “Blessed may your life together be. May this rope remain forever tied.”
He bows to us and steps up to the door flap where he pauses. “I believe the rains will come early this season. I hope your door is ready.”
Tarok gets out of the bed and I blush at the sight of a naked man, even though he is my bond-mate. “Get up, we have things to do,” he says, pulling on his day clothes.
“We cannot stay in bed all day?” I say, a little more disappointed than I thought I would be.
He snickers and walks over to the bed where he sits with his arms on either side of me, effectively pinning me where I lay. “I want nothing more than to spend all day with you in this hut.” He kisses me in such a way that my heart flutters and I feel warm all over. “But I have something for you.”
“You cannot give it to me here?”
“I do not have my something here for you. You will have to come with me.”
“I have something for you as well. But you must wait here for it.”
“We do not have all day, you know.”
I narrow my eyes at him. “We have all the time in the world.”
“Where we are going takes at least a half day to get to.”
“It is still the morning. We will have plenty of time to get there.”
“Fine,” he says resting his forehead upon mine and staring into my eyes. “But if you are not back here by mid-day, I will have to drag you away.”
The image of him slinging me over his shoulder sends a flash of heat into my cheeks. “I promise I will be back before then.”
“Good.” He kisses me once more.
I force myself to push him away so I can return faster.
Nura and I walk from Rising Sun over to Sharp Stone. It is different walking to my family’s House instead of away from it. They should all have risen by now and be finishing their breakfast when I arrive. My stomach rumbles announcing that I have missed breakfast myself. Maybe they will have a little extra.
“Mother? Father?” I call when I step up onto the platform.
“We are inside, dear,” comes my mother’s reply.
I step inside and am caught by the delicious smell of cooking food.
“Hungry?” my mother asks, preparing a bowl of soup.
“Please?” I say excitedly.
“Should you not have eaten at your own home?” Father asks looking put out as she hands me the bowl she had been preparing for him.
“Probably.” I sit next to him on his sleeping platform.
“You smell of a man, Akari.”
“That tends to happen when you live with one, dear,” Mother says with a smile.
“I have never smelled.”
My mother pointedly rolls her eyes. “You have never been able to smell your own sweat. Not that it really mattered anyway.”
She hands him a bowl then makes herself one and sits on his other side. “What brings you to Sharp Stone?”
“I forgot to grab the blanket I made for Tarok yesterday.”
“I was wondering when you would come for it.”
“Did he present you with a gift and you had none to give?” my father asks with a laugh.
“No. I just remembered when he said he had something for me.”
“You are just like your father, Akari.” My mother shakes her head.
“Do not listen to her,” my father whispers, “there is nothing wrong with me, or you for that matter.”
I finish my bowl of soup and grab my blanket off of my old sleeping platform. “Thank you for breakfast, Mother.”
She nods and hugs me. “Do not come round too soon, all right? Enjoy your time with your mate.”
“I will.” I say as my father groans.
“I do not want to know what my little girl i
s doing with her mate. She should not even have one!”
“You were very supportive of this binding far before it became a thing,” Mother scolds.
“I like the binding. It is the acts of bond-mates that neither of my daughters should have been exposed to and I do not want to hear about it either.”
“I will see you both in a few days.” I smile and hug them both before setting off to Rising Sun.
The blanket turned out far better than I had hoped. The colors did not bleed into one another and the edges did not fray. To say I am proud of this silly blanket is an understatement. This blanket is going to keep us warm all through the winter. At least, I hope it will.
Nura and I walk into the center of the village where I spot that annoying man who keeps bothering me. Nura puts herself between me and where the man stands.
“Wonderful day for a walk. Care to join me on one?” the man from the west says as I pass him. I still have not caught his name and I do not mean to. Avoiding him clearly has not worked either.
“I have somewhere to be.” I continue walking in hopes of preventing him from following. He steps up to the opposite side Nura is on.
“That is a very nice blanket. Did you make it yourself?” He reaches out to touch it, but I move it away from him before his fingers get close.
“I did. It is for my bond-mate.”
“Bond-mate? Is that like a husband?”
“I suppose it would be. If you will excuse me, my bond-mate is waiting for me.”
I quickly walk away and hope that he does not decide to continue to follow me.
At home, Tarok sits eating a bowl of soup. A twinge of guilt pricks at me for not preparing something for him before I left.
“You are back,” he says without looking up from his bowl.
“Just as I said I would be.”
“No problems I hope?”
“Just one irritating one that will leave when the rest of the traders do.”
“Do you want me to put a stop to it?”
“That is not necessary just yet. I appreciate the offer, though.”
“Anything for you, Akari. I hope you know that.”
“I do.”
He looks up at me now and then at the blanket. “What is that?”
“My gift to you.” I hold it out for him to take.
He sets the bowl onto the floor and takes the blanket. He unfolds it to look at it. “It is nice, thank you.”
“I know you were expecting a spear or a dagger or something, but I could not get into the work house.”
He smirks at me. “A blanket is much more useful to us both. Besides I already have the spear you gave to me.”
“Why are you smirking? Do you know something?”
“Maybe.” He pats the empty space beside him, inviting me to sit.
“Oh no. Not until you tell me the truth.”
Tarok sets the blanket behind him and walks up to me. His arms curl around my waist and lightly pull me into him. “I will only tell you if you come with me.”
“To your secret place where you will give me my gift?”
“Yes. I will tell you everything once we get there.”
I pretend to think about it for a moment before sliding my hands up his bare chest. “All right. I will go with you on the condition that you tell me the truth when we get there.”
“We should pack a lunch. I assume you have eaten?”
“I have,” I say sheepishly.
“Good.”
I lean up to kiss him, having to roll onto the balls of my feet in order to reach.
I pack us a lunch of bread and a few slices of meat from the celebration the night before. I put them into a bag with two filled water skins. Tarok takes the bag from me, which I give after reluctant protesting.
He puts his arm around my shoulder and says, “You are going to have to get used to me carrying everything.”
“I am sure one day I will be used to it. But today is not that day and tomorrow does not look good either.”
“I know.” He nudges me with his side.
“Can Nura come along?”
He gives me a questioning look.
“A little extra protection never hurt,” I say in her defense.
“Fine.” He looks down at where she lays. “But you are getting your own food, understand?”
Nura looks up at him and cocks her head to the side before standing to brush against his hand.
The three of us walk away from Rising Sun and into the forest. Every time I ask where we are going he gives me the same reply: We will be there soon enough. We walk through the Sacred Glade and deeper into the forest.
The path we take slowly becomes more familiar to me. Almost as if I have seen this path before… but where? I spend most of the time we walk in silence trying to remember where I have seen this place before or if I have actually been this way.
“How did you come up with the name ‘Nura’ anyway?” Tarok asks as the wolf trots alongside him.
“I do not know really. It just came to me.”
“Well, she is the only one, okay? We do not need any more mouths to feed this winter.”
“She is the only wolf I have ever seen, Tarok. It is not like I just walk into the forest and find them sitting everywhere.”
“She is a bit strange. Why has she not gone off to find her pack?”
“Nura is not exactly a wolf.”
He looks down at her, then over at me. “Akari, I do not know what you see when you look at her, but she is a wolf.”
“She is a Spirit Guide.”
“Right… and what is that?”
“She was sent here to help me. That is why she is always around me and follows me everywhere.”
“Help you to do what?”
“Find peace.”
“Have you not done that already?”
“I am still scared, Tarok. I do not want to leave you behind.”
He stops walking so he can hug me to him. “You will not leave me behind, Akari. You will always be with me and I will always be with you. No matter where you go or how far away you are, I will find you.”
“What happens when I go somewhere you cannot follow?”
“Then you will just have to wait for me. I know where you will be.”
“I do not want to leave you without a child.”
“A child is not important.”
“You cannot be Chief without one.”
Laughter fills his eyes. “I can be Chief tomorrow if I wish it. There is no one to stop me. I am a trained warrior and I have been sitting at my father’s side for my entire life. There is no one more capable to lead this tribe.”
“What about Merick?”
“What about him? He cannot be Chief of Kurtu’lak. He has not been raised to be a Chief.”
“The traditions say you need a male child before you can become Chief.”
“The traditions say the oldest male child within Rising Sun will become Chief. I was born before Merick so I will become Chief. A male child of his that comes before a male child of mine will become Chief. That is how it has always been.”
“I suppose we need to have a child before them, then.”
“Like I said, a child is not important to me. Being with you is all I could ever ask for.”
“How can you be so calm about all of this? I have known for far longer than you and I still do not accept it.”
“After my mother died, my father showed me what made a man strong. He felt the pain of her loss and grieved for her. But he never forgot her. The rope that bound them in life still hangs in his hut so that even with her death they are still bound together. He went on living without her as I will have to go on living without you if you die.”
I have no words. There are so many things I want to say to him but each dries on my tongue before I can utter them. I simply hug him and hope that this is enough.
“I do not want to live without you, Akari. But I will if I have to,” he whispers before pressin
g a kiss to the top of my head.
We continue walking and eventually find the place Tarok was leading me. When we step into the clearing I know where I am.
“How did you find this place?” I ask a bit frantically.
“I found it last summer. One morning I woke up and my feet led me here. Why? What is wrong?”
“I have been here before,” I say, not stepping away from his side.
“How can you? You never left the village before you went on your journey.”
“No, Tarok. I have been here in my dreams.”
“How is that possible?”
“The spirit who said I was going to die was here.”
Everything from my dreams is the same here. The waterfall runs into the pool and out of the center juts a flattened rock.
“Do you want to leave?”
I shake my head. “We were meant to come here, Tarok. We should stay.”
“Good. Let us sit and eat and then I will give you my gift.”
After we eat, Tarok pulls a stiff piece of cloth from inside the bag. “Before you open it, I just want to tell you that it is my fault you were not able to get into the work house every afternoon.”
“What were you doing in there?”
“The summer of my first Great Hunt you bullied me into picking the perfect stone for my spear. This summer you did the same. My spear turned out to be terrible and you gave me yours. I finally listened to you. I had been walking along the break, not watching my feet, trying to figure out what to do about you and Namira. I ended up behind the work house where they left all the pieces of whalebone. I just kept looking at this one piece. I thought it was the perfect shape for a dagger. I did not think any more of it, though.
“After we decided to go through the binding ceremony, I was at the work house trying to figure out what to make you that you would not make better than me. I went around the back and saw that same piece. I remembered what you said so I took it and carved it for a half cycle. Every day I went to the work house to practice on pieces of wood so I would not mess it up. This,” he holds the cloth out to me, “is what I made for you.”
I unwrap the object to see a beautifully carved whalebone dagger. I run my fingers along the swirling designs on the blade and the hilt. “It is absolutely beautiful, Tarok. I cannot thank you enough.”
“Now you will have something to carry with you even when Nura cannot join you. I even managed to get Natoak to bless it. I thought that might make it a little more special.”
“I do not know how I will ever be able to thank you.”
“Just say you love me and we will get on to the afternoon I had planned.”
“I love you, Tarok,” I say and kiss him deeply.
We play in the cool water of the pool and beneath the waterfall until darkness falls and the stars begin to shine. When we decide to walk home, the fingers of my free hand constantly move to touch the design of the dagger. May it protect me from all that wish to do me harm.
Chapter Twenty-Two