by L P Peace
‘Gahdi Inria seems to have it in for you,’ Galla said. ‘There are bets as to why.’
Danielle deflated. ‘I noticed her watching me at the temit,’ she admitted.
‘Yep, and now she’s insisting on you being there for stories.’ Tonni said. ‘I’ve never known her to insist on anybody being present.’
‘The common belief is that she thinks you’re ignorant,’ Galla said. ‘And she’s trying to teach you so you’re worthy of her grandson.’
‘Oh, great.’ Danielle sighed.
They made their way back to the bowl. Gahdi Inria was still sitting in her chair overlooking the bowl. All the children of the various mitas were sitting within and listening to her as she spoke.
‘The Gahdis aren’t just the law masters,’ Tonni whispered as they got closer. ‘They’re the story keepers of their mitas. They keep the histories and the genealogies of our people, and whenever there’s a temit, they tell them to the next generation so that we remember who we are and where we come from.’
Tonni and Galla led Danielle over to the side of the bowl. The three of them sat across from Gahdi Inria, who looked into Danielle’s eyes and nodded before returning her attention to the children.
Tonni took a bag from over her shoulder and pulled out some food, sharing it with Danielle and Galla as they listened.
The stories were ancient mythologies. They imparted laws, and each one acted like a precedent for the laws the Gahdi would enforce.
Every now and then, Gahdi Inria, when making some important point, would look up to Danielle to make sure she was listening and understanding.
When the time was up, the kids climbed up and out of the bowl. It reminded Danielle of ants swarming out an anthill. She watched them run over the rocks, heedless, reckless, and completely free.
Tonni and Galla stood and started rounding the bowl where Gahdi Inria was standing. Danielle stood and followed, the wind whipping her hair about as the waves continued crashing below.
‘Take the chair back to my ship,’ Gahdi Inria said, ‘and leave me alone with the human.’
Danielle froze. Tonni picked up the chair and gave Danielle an apologetic look as she walked off. Galla pulled her into a quick hug before she followed.
‘Come here,’ Gahdi Inria said. ‘I need support. I’m not getting younger.’
‘Of course,’ Danielle said. She walked over to the woman and offered her arm, which Gahdi Inria took. They walked carefully over the rocks, avoiding the pools where Danielle could see small creatures within, waiting for the ocean to reclaim them.
Gahdi Inria seemed content just to walk, and Danielle wondered if she should start a conversation. Just as Danielle thought they were going to spend the whole journey in silence, Gahdi Inria cleared her throat.
‘Any questions about the stories?’
Danielle thought back through everything she’d heard and one thing came to mind. ‘The story about the male who killed a male from another mita. Why was his whole mita punished? Why not just put the male to death?’
Gahdi Inria hummed in disapproval. ‘Would killing the offender bring his victim back?’
‘No. But it would be justice for the family.’
‘Would it? Does taking a life bring justice, or simply more injustice?’
Danielle thought about it. There were still places that had the death sentence on Earth, but she’d never really thought about it. ‘I’m not a lawyer,’ she said. ‘I’ve never really put any thought into the rights and wrongs of these things.’
Gahdi Inria replied with another hum.
‘Killing the male might feel like justice. But what about to his family. His family who’ll be without a provider and protector when he dies.’ Gahdi Inria shook her head. ‘Do his children need to bear that pain?’
‘But they’re bearing pain when the whole mita is punished.’
‘Hmm. Yes, they are. But that pain is spread out, not concentrated in the loved ones left behind. Also, if the male is dead. How can he become a better person? How can he learn the error of his ways if he is dead? His growth as a person is rather hard once his blood stops flowing in his veins.’ Gahdi stopped walking and looked out at the ocean. ‘With our way, our mitas watch over the actions of their people because they will all suffer for the actions of those who won’t control themselves. Occasionally, a mita will choose to take the life of one of their people who keeps repeating the same actions. But it is only for terrible crimes, to protect others. It is not done lightly, and it is always agreed upon by the mita first.
Danielle thought about it. ‘I just don’t know.’ She shrugged.
‘Well, you’d better,’ Gahdi said, pulling on Danielle’s arm so she faced her. ‘Because you’re my Hanra.’
‘Hanra?’
‘My successor,’ Gahdi Inria said. ‘You’ll be Gahdi to Mita Kar when I die. We have to start the lessons soon. I have around twenty solars left in me, and it takes fifteen to learn to become Gahdi. You must learn all of the stories, by heart.’
‘You can’t be serious,’ Danielle gasped. ‘There must be someone else.’
‘There isn’t,’ the old woman said, her voice firm. ‘You heard the song. The goddess gave us three gifts. The laws, the wisdom to apply them, and the knowledge of who our Hanra was when we laid eyes on them.’ Gahdi Inria stepped closer, her bright red eyes narrowing. ‘I knew it the moment I saw you. I always wondered what it would feel like. It was a knowing. An urge to share the stories with you. You remember that when you meet your own Hanra.’
‘Gahdi Inria,’ Danielle started, keeping her voice level. ‘I can’t possibly do this.’
‘Can and will,’ the old woman insisted. ‘It won’t be easy. The learning is hard, but that’s not what I’m talking about. Most of the other Gahdis will accept you. A few won’t. This is the first time a Hanra hasn’t been Temerin. It’ll be a hard road, but Mita Kar will accept you.’ The old woman nodded firmly. ‘Especially because Haddis is destined to become Mita Vadice, the leader of Mita Kar. It’s an oddity. The Gahdi is expected to be independent of the Mita Vadice, and you’ll be mated to him. But you’ll make it work. You don’t have a choice.’
‘I don’t have a—’
‘No. Because I can only pass these things onto my Hanra, and if you walk away, Mita Kar won’t have a Gahdi anymore.’
Danielle stared at Gahdi Inria; her face was completely serious.
‘Take the next few cycles. When we go to our next temit, I’ll move onto your ship to begin your teachings. Take this time to come to peace with it.’
‘But you don’t even like me,’ Danielle said.
‘Hmm. It’s not that I don’t like you. I was shocked. I needed a rote.’ Gahdi Inria pulled Danielle towards the forest and the two women resumed their trek. ‘You’ll be fine. Just take the time.’
Danielle nodded, too shellshocked to do anything more than that.
Danielle’s head was still spinning that night at the beach as the Temerin partied around her. A band were playing huge barrel sized drums that reminded Danielle of Japanese o-daiko drums. There had been o-daiko drums at the ceremony when Endurance was launched, and it brought back a lot of memories of the crew, which only added to how she was feeling.
As the party continued, Aerdan, Bedvir, and Haddis led her back to their blanket in the woods. Danielle was relieved when Aerdan started kissing her. She needed this distraction. Needed to get out of her own head.
Between the three of them, they undressed her, while keeping their own clothes on. Danielle shivered and not just because of the chill air of the forest pressing against her skin. She was equal parts nervous and excited. She lay in the cradle of Bedvir’s arms, Haddis to her left, Aerdan to her right and they took turns in kissing her. Each of their kisses had its own signature, something that was wholly unique. Aerdan’s confident expertise, Haddis and his sweet shyness and Bedvir with his controlling dominance. Each kiss hit different buttons for Danielle. Each promised something different and left
her yearning for it.
Once more they’d promised her, as they began, that they would only go as far as she was willing to go. It was her idea to get naked. To let them see and to get used to being seen. The three of them stayed dressed, but even so, her hands explored them one at a time.
Again, they kissed and touched her as she brought herself to a crashing orgasm, whispering encouragement and admiration as she did. They were slow, accepting and totally focused on her. They were obviously aroused and straining to contain themselves, yet totally in control of their actions. Danielle was awestruck that they would go to such great lengths to win her trust.
As she fell asleep, she was able to admit she was more than halfway there.
* * *
Nearly every Temerin adult on Crassis was involved in the games. Three more ships had even arrived overnight, bringing in males from a mita that hadn’t even voted at the temit, meaning they couldn’t technically win. One of them confessed he expected to be knocked out of the first course, a race through the forest to track several plants that had been identified as potential ingredients for olgi, the compound that brought out the Temerin’s markings. He shrugged with a grin. ‘The games are fun,’ he said, before walking away from Danielle and Bedvir, who was escorting Danielle to find Galla so they could sit together as they watched their partners participate.
They found her and Tonni kissing passionately among the crowd of spectators. Danielle stopped at a respectful distance and waited.
‘Tonni, come on. We’ll be late,’ Bedvir said.
Tonni broke the kiss and made some gesture at Bedvir that Danielle could only guess was obscene by the way Bedvir laughed. She and Galla kissed once more before she stepped aside.
‘Danielle,’ Galla called, reaching out for her.
Danielle walked up next to her, smiling at Tonni, who was now waiting for Bedvir.
Bedvir kissed her, then left with Tonni. He ran to join Aerdan and Haddis, while Tonni pushed her way to the front where she found Kentor and Sidha.
All told, there were around two hundred adults and a hundred or so children, sitting several hundred feet away from the marketplace, where the start of the race was set up. They watched, the three thousand participating Temerin gathered at the start line. They shoved, pushed and knocked into each other, vying for a place at the start.
In contrast, Aerdan and Haddis stood off to the side, ignoring everyone in the crowd and acting as though there was nothing significant about what was happening. From what Danielle could see, it was obvious they were mocking the enthusiasm of some of the younger racers.
‘So tell me about these games.’ Danielle said as she settled down next to Galla. ‘Have you seen them before?’
‘Oh, a few times,’ Galla said, waving a hand as though it was obvious. ‘Whenever the Temerin land somewhere, there are a load of botanists and scientists who go out and catalogue all of the plant life, animal life, minerals, metals, anything they can harvest quickly while they’re here. There are people who go out and cut down trees, and hunt animals for food and skins and all sorts,’ Galla said. ‘When the games are called, they turn these things into tasks. Each one is designed to eliminate a certain number of people from the games, and the biggest cull is the race.’
‘How many does it eliminate?’ Danielle asked.
‘Almost everybody,’ Galla said. ‘There’ll be about twenty to thirty people left after this.’
Danielle looked at the beautiful forest and imagined three thousand Temerin racing through it. ‘They’ll destroy the place.’
‘Nah,’ Galla shook her head, ‘Temerin aren’t like that. Their own homeworld was mostly natural. They love the natural world. They’re not allowed to overharvest, harvest a plant that’s already been harvested, but most importantly, they’ll leave the place looking like it was before we arrived.’
Looking through the clearing, Danielle doubted it.
Several long minutes passed with the racers getting restless. Finally, an orange and grey Temerin woman came out of the forest and signalled something to Cuulden, who was overseeing the race. He nodded in response.
There was some sort of cue that Danielle didn’t see, or maybe it was a feeling rather than being a physical thing, and then the racers were lined up. Some stared into the forest, focused on their task. Others waved at friends and family in the much smaller crowd.
Tarkin stood near the front, his features cast in iron determination.
Even as the signal, a single piercing tone, went through the forest, Aerdan, Haddis, and Bedvir, along with several older Temerin, stood at the back and waited until the massive behemoth of a crowd had surged, stuttering, faltering, and even falling before picking themselves back up again and continuing on. Only when they were gone did they finally jog into the trees.
Beside them, the children broke away from the sitting adults and disappeared after the racers, their energy and enthusiasm too much to contain.
‘How long will this take?’ Danielle asked, as she watched the massive crowd disperse clumsily into the distance.
‘Oh, anywhere from a few metri to a few hacri,’ Galla said.
‘It’ll take less than an hacri.’
Danielle turned to find Gahdi Inria shuffling up beside them. Someone had placed her chair down without Danielle noticing, and she dropped into it with the weight of ages on her.
‘There are eight plants needed for the olgi on this world. Most of the ingredients are concentrated in two or three plants.’ As she spoke, Gahdi Inria pulled out a packet from her back, opened it, pulled out a small cake-like thing and popped it in her mouth before offering the packet to Galla and Danielle. Galla stretched across Danielle and took one quickly. Danielle stared at it for a moment before reaching in and picking up the spongy confection.
It looked like a small pop cake, but when Danielle popped it into her mouth it was crisper and had a small centre of nuts and some kind of syrup. It wasn’t as sweet as something similar on Earth like Baklava, which Danielle had always loved. The crispy pastry cake texture mixed with the earthy nuts and syrup was delicious.
‘Oh my god! What are these? I need a million!’
‘Moka. I’ll teach you how to make them when I come live on the ship,’ Gahdi Inria said.
Danielle heard a small hiss at her side and turned to see Galla staring at her in shock.
‘It’s fine,’ Danielle whispered.
Galla nodded slowly, her eyes still wide.
The gathered crowd chatted while they waited for the racers to make any kind of progress. Every now and then, children would appear from the underbrush and give an update to Cuulden, who would announce it to the crowd. Apparently, several fist fights had broken out. Several more wrestling matches. Insults were called back and forth through the trees, the gathered Temerin laughing and heckling in response.
As the race went on, more and more people got off their seats or from the ground where they were sitting in circles talking and moved towards the trees.
A green-skinned Temerin was the first to run back and over the finish line. A few minutes later three more Temerin of different mita appeared.
‘How many will be eliminated?’ Danielle asked.
‘All but twenty,’ Gahdi Inria said.
Several more people crossed the finish line, the winners lying on the floor and gasping for breath while children ran up and brought them water.
Suddenly the gaps in the forest were filled with Temerin walking out, laughing, joking and grinning. They mocked themselves and each other for their inability to finish the race, their self-ridicule in good humour as they reunited with their families and sat down to enjoy the rest of the show.
‘GO, TONNI!’ Galla screamed, getting to her feet.
There was still a crowd in the way, but Danielle jumped to her feet. Over the shoulders of people suddenly ducking as they were scolded, she saw Tonni leading a pack of racers back to the finish line.
‘WOOHOO! GO, TONNI!’ Danielle screamed.<
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‘And Aerdan!’ Galla said.
Turning to the pack, Danielle saw Aerdan and Haddis running neck and neck with Tarkin and several other members of his mita. Arms and legs were everywhere as Tarkin’s mita attempted to bring Aerdan down, but Haddis rammed them out of the way, blocking for Aerdan as he quickly caught up with Tonni, leading Tarkin by a nose.
‘GO, AERDAN!’ Danielle called out. ‘GET THOSE BASTARD CHEATS, HADDIS!’
Tarkin tried to pull ahead. As he did, he stuck out his foot to trip Aerdan, who leap-frogged over him, pushing off Tarkin’s back and pushing him to the ground.
There were still spots left in the race, but Danielle wasn’t sure how many there were. Tonni crossed the finish line, quickly followed by Aerdan, with Haddis just behind. The green-skinned Temerin had stopped to help Tarkin up, and there were more runners behind them. Some kind of discussion went on, then the other runners from Tarkin’s mita turned and headed back, seemingly aiming at the fastest runners as Tarkin, obviously injured, limped to the finish line.
It was obvious someone else would have gotten over if Tarkin’s people hadn’t taken out the fastest racers, but as Tarkin crossed over, another tone rang over the clearing.
‘That’s it then. That’s the twenty,’ Gahdi Inria said, standing. ‘Let’s go congratulate your males.’ She pointed. ‘There’s one.’
Danielle turned to see Bedvir walking towards her, a massive grin on his face. ‘I got taken out blocking for Aerdan,’ he said, his voice breathless.
‘You did fantastic,’ she said, smiling and throwing herself in his arms.
Bedvir held her close, picking her off the ground and swinging her around.
‘Enough of that nonsense,’ Gahdi Inria called. ‘Escort me to my grandson.’
Bedvir laughed and kissed Danielle before setting her on her feet. He held out an arm for the older woman, and Danielle and escorted them both to Aerdan and Haddis.