But the tai’twain bond already exists.
Yes! Anna’s mind exclaimed. But I am still human. You haven’t accepted the human. I’m here on a trial basis. I have a month to establish Wolfe. What if I fail and am still not accepted? Will the people want to keep me, send me back, or give me to another clan? Bind me to him; marry the human part of me to Des. That way, no matter what happens we stay together. Marry us; in front of all so that you show the people that the human part is bound to Des too! Please! Anna begged desperately. I need to know that we can never be separated. Humans always need proof.
The Phsatorae backed away.
Anna’s face shined wetly with tears. “Please!” She sniffled. “Please!”
The Phsatorae turned to the Elders. Anna wiped her eyes on her sleeve. She heard an Elder gasp in shock. The Phsatorae turned away and Elder Sablot stepped forward.
“Our sincerest apologies, we failed to realize that you harbored this doubt. Wolfe sub-clan has a month to prove its worth but that bears no relation to the worth of the human Wolfe.”
“Yes, it does!” Anna exclaimed. “Because only one Phwolfe and one Wolfe exist, both of them, me. To doubt one’s worth casts doubt on to the other. If a family or group tried to form a sub clan, then, yes, they would be separate. But since only one me exists, you can’t separate them and say this Wolfe is proved worthy, while this Phwolfe is unworthy.”
Elder Kolel stepped forward. “She brings forth a valid point.” He shrugged. “No one on the Ladreti Khwa would doubt her. But if Wolfe clan proves to be unworthy and we go back to Golria with Wolfe, doubts will abound. If we go back with Desvren’s tai’twain wife, no one will consider it to be strange or questionable.”
“How does this marriage thing get done?” The Phsatorae asked. “Do I have permission to read the answer in your mind?”
Anna nodded and gave him her hand. Her mind gave him the answer. In many ways, it can be done in so many ways, but this is the way I want to marry Des.
He stepped back. “Could you be ready by the time of the feast?”
Anna nodded. “If Des takes cool shift tonight, yes. Could you explain it to the people? The marriage, the reason I want it?”
Gurlesc nodded. “We would ask the people to read the gift we intend to present to the Hunter. It has happened before. Sometimes, our histories get made that way. A Hunter requests a certain tale to be added to the repertoire. After the people read us, we announce that we agree to this marriage. The Phsatorae then marries you in front of all. Is that the only gift you want, hunter? It is really a small thing. You are already tai’twain!”
“It’s all I want. It’s important. The human part needs to be accepted as Des’s wife before the clan issue gets decided. Every bit and part of me needs this. I need to have this acceptance and binding of the human, so the human part can never be rejected by Satorae because the Phsatorae bound that human part to Des.”
The Phsatorae nodded. “It makes sense in a sort of twisted way. If I marry the human Wolfe to Desvren then no one can try to reject her or separate her from Desvren without going against the whole Satorae clan. I will do it.”
“Thank you.” Anna looked at the digital, not even seven o’clock yet. She touched Des’s mind. He still slept soundly. “I’m going to get my pack and go strain the leka.” She bowed low. “Thank you, Phsatorae. Thank you, Elders.” She left quickly fearing to give them a chance to change their minds.
Anna grabbed her pack and ran to the hall. She poured, scooped, and scraped the leka into the strainer systems and entered leka in to the computer-control, which automatically strained it three times. She became absorbed by a flurry of preparations. She strained and bottled dyes and half the glue. She set the other half to re-boil. She ran to East 5.
Yes, enough of the coarse fiber remained to make a rope. But the supply processor needed half an hour to weave it. She ordered it and harvested savti in the interim. She took the rope, tied two carts together and ran pushing them in front of her. At the ladder she untied one of them and pulled the other one up the ladder by the attached rope. She’d have to use some of the storage crates from the rail room to lower the leka from one cart to the other until she found a better way. By eight sixty, she’d made three more leka runs and started straining them. She trotted back home. She needed to talk to Des.
Anna ordered up food for Des, Liso, Tava, and Fienu. She woke Desvren up by brushing his mind gently. “Love, wake up. I ordered food up for you and I want to ask a favor of you.”
Des rolled over and mumbled. His mind queried Anna’s. What do you need? He asked a little too deeply. Des jolted up out of sleep. “Marriage, what is this marriage thing?” He exclaimed.
Anna shook her head, so much for breaking it to him easily. “Don’t look deeply, Des. I want to keep just a small portion of it as a surprise for the feast presentation. I’ll explain everything. First, let’s wake up our friends and eat.”
They woke up Liso, Tava, and Fienu. Des inhaled his food down to the last morsel in record time. “Explain it quickly, before I look.”
“Marriage is a human bonding ritual. The Phsatorae marries us; no matter where we go, no matter if Wolfe becomes a clan or not. We have to be accepted as a completely bonded pair. No one doubts that I’m your tai’twain. But they harbor doubt that the human part of me possesses the capability of becoming tai’twain. If the Phsatorae marries us it proves that the whole of me, even the human part, is accepted by him and bound to you. Done in front of three hundred and fifty-six witnesses it prevents even the thought of ever revoking or doubting it. The Elders plan to explain my wish to marry you to the people at the presentation. Part of a marriage ceremony, calls for anyone who doubts the union to step forward or forever hold their peace. If no one objects when the Phsatorae marries us in front of all those witnesses, it becomes impossible for anyone to reject us or separate us without offending the whole Satorae clan.”
“This has been worrying the human part of you a lot lately, I sensed something bothering you. I didn’t wish to pry out what you wanted to keep private.” He took Anna’s hand.
Des, Anna let him see her fear, her worry, and the human need for security. The fear that failure of Wolfe might mean her rejection or doubts of their bond, he saw it all.
He shook his head. “It has indeed been troubling you. Love, no one would doubt a tai’twain bond.”
Fienu cleared his throat. “Some might, some do. The Phsatorae doubted her until she mentally guarded you. Sato wondered if getting hit by that stick managed to damage your brain. He asked me to read you thirty annuals ago and check, which is how we knew through all these annuals that a tai’twain bond existed between you two. I read you while you slept. Sorry, it was impolite. But Sato felt sincerely concerned about you. If your best friend feels concern and the Phsatorae doubts, others do too!”
Tava nodded. “Plus, if a hunter asks for only one thing at a feast in their honor. No one doubts that they want what they asked for desperately.”
“With all those witnesses, the tale will spread mind to mind when we reach Golria. A Hunter takes three takosund and at their honor feasts asks for an alien bonding ceremony. It will be a very popular tale. So everyone will hear about it. You can’t lie mind to mind. The sincerity of the ceremony could put all doubts permanently to rest.” Liso said.
Anna pleaded. “Please, marry me at the feast.”
“Of course, I’ll marry you. I would jump the rail for you.” Des hugged Anna fiercely and she saw that had anything gone wrong. He would have jumped the rail.
Anna shook her head. “Love, you can’t run as fast as me. Stay on your side of the rail and throw something at it to distract it while I make my escape. Never jump into danger, love. Help me jump out of it.” Des nodded.
“So you plan to get married?” Tava said.
“Yes!” They both said and smiled.
“Des can you or Fienu take the place of shift chief tonight? I made a rope and I want to run the rest of the le
ka in and strain it.”
Des nodded. “What do you need?”
“About fifteen or twenty carts of scrubbed savti and gesar ready to boil as much as can be harvested in the shift. East 5 grows a lot of gesar. I already cleared the paths so they could use the carts and harvest quickly there.”
“I’m quick at harvesting gesar. I’m not much good at any other harvesting. I’ll go to East 5 and harvest.” Fienu said.
“Thank you, Fienu. They intend to postpone the feast for another day and ask the volunteers to package takosund for honor gifts. I still need to make a lot for the honor gifts. Most of the gesar will get used to make bottled syrup and glues.”
Tava spoke up again. “I actually like to peel gesar if I have permission to eat one, once in a while.”
Anna smiled and laughed. “Permission, gladly granted.”
“I’ll cut up his peeled gesar and make sure he doesn’t eat himself sick.” Liso said.
“Thank you, all. Des, the shift meets in East 4 at nine. I’ll see you after twelve, okay.” Anna headed for the door.
“You get home by twelve ten or I will feed you unripe greal.” Des hollered as the door closed.
Anna ran down the hall laughing. It took six more runs to get all of the leka; by then the first batch was done straining. She put the first batch of leka aside for the making of flatbread. She mixed up the flatbread, filled the roasting pans, and set it to baking. It only took twenty-five minutes to bake and twenty to cool. She cooked all that they needed for the feast and dished it up. She ran to East 4 and started pushing carts of savti. She filled the ovens with roasting savti and then, she ran for the gesar in East 5. She filled all of the sixty liter pots again.
The rest of the leka finished straining, so Anna set up the individual servings that they needed for the feast. She managed to package two hundred and eight two ounce containers, before she ran out of time. She ran home at four after twelve. She wanted to avoid having to eat any more of that greal.
Anna slept well and was up before the alarm. She ran to the hall and went to work. She packaged the roasted savti, put more into roast, strained the gesar syrup and put half into re-boil and bottled half. She refilled the gesar pots again. Afterwards, she went back to packaging leka. By the time, she got done with the leka, the savti had finished roasting. Back and forth, she went roasting, bottling, straining, and packaging.
Finally, Anna went and checked the lists. If she finished packaging this roasting, she’d have plenty to go with the honor gifts. Enough syrup waited in bottles already, but she needed more glue to add to the baskets. She trotted in the last eight carts of gesar and set them boiling. She put the strained syrup to re-boil for glue.
At two ninety-eight, Anna made a run to Northwest 3 to get something special she wanted. She checked and watched to make sure there was no takosund sign. She jumped rail, got what she wanted and ran to East 1 with it. She needed to make honor gifts for the highest levels.
At East 1, she accessed information. She went to the design page and drew different views from the side, from the front, the back, the top. She merged the drawings onto a wire frame. She touched it up and filled it out. When she finished, a 3-D drawing stood out on the screen.
Anna filled the three dye wells that she could on the supply processor. She pulled up the colors available to her. She chose her colors for design one. She ordered it through the supply processor.
Anna started drawing design two, merged it, colored it, and ordered it. The supply processor told her it required two hours to get to the order, because it still worked on processing design number one.
Anna went onto drawing design number three and number four. The processor stated that design number four, wouldn’t be finished for nineteen hours. It would get done in time for the feast. She queried supply; did it have enough dye to finish the orders? Yes, it replied. She looked at the digital. Five twenty, oh no, she was late for nap time. She sprinted home.
Anna crawled into bed, snuggled up to Des, and hoped to wake up before him to avoid a greal feeding. No such luck. The greal tasted so horrible, she threatened to never pick it again. Des just laughed, kissed her, and asked if she needed his help.
“Des, how do they package the honor gifts?”
“There’s a room across the hall where the gifts get packaged into baskets.”
“Please, say I don’t have to make the baskets.”
Des laughed. “No, you don’t. They get recycled and reused. You only need to place the gifts into the baskets and put them on to shelves. You mark the shelves, volunteer shelves, special volunteer shelves, and so on.”
Anna nodded. “How do they get passed out?”
“You give the gifts to the level below you. They make much to do over the gifts. Oh…! Ah! They help you pass out to the next level. Oh…! Ah! You all pass out to the volunteers. Oh…! Ah! Oh…! Ah!” Des fluttered his eyelashes, clapped his hand to his chest, and acted out the last “Oh…! Ah!” as well as a teenage prom girl.
Anna shook her head, laughed, and pulled him in for a kiss. It quickly turned hot. She pulled away, nuzzled his neck, and got even. “Des, honey, we can’t. I need to go to work. Can you help me package the Oh…! Ah!’s?”
Des sighed like a drama queen. “All right, since I intended to jump the rail for you if necessary, I guess I can package Oh…! Ah!’s.”
They went to the hall and Des showed her the packaging room. “Des, the central processing room probably still holds a lot of heat. Let me cart the stuff out here. What about the mewu eggs and the leka?”
Des perked up. “You have mewu eggs?”
“There goes another surprise!” Anna sighed. “Well, they need to stay cool.”
Des walked over to the shelf and hit a button. Clear plastic slid down and a hum started. “They are cool shelves.”
“They most certainly are.” Anna ran for the supplies. They managed to finish the volunteers’ gifts before they went to join the cool shift.
“Is there a lot left for you to do?” Des asked.
“Well, if I look at the whole picture, no. If I look at the time, yes. I still need to finish packaging roasted savti, make the glue, package the rest of the gesar flour, finish the gift packages, make gifts for the top level, and get ready to get married.” Anna said. “But, a day and a cool shift remain for me to finish stuff.”
“What do you need from the crew tonight?” Des asked.
Anna shook her head. “Nothing, I’ll count myself lucky if I manage to finish what I already have in time. Everything goes down the processor holes, tonight.”
Des stopped, grabbed Anna’s shoulders, turned her around, and gave her a shove. “I’ll explain it to the cool shift. They need no help from you because they use the carts. Go get ready to get married, I’m not going to let you back out.”
“Do you mean to say, that I as pack-runner, got replaced by four rolling wheels?”
Des shrugged. “You came up with the idea and they lose no percentage to a cart. Even the warm shift uses them now.”
“Great, now I’m going to have to figure out another way to keep bone and muscle mass.”
“I am healer/medic! We will figure it out together. Go to work love and remember twelve ten or more greal.” Des walked off.
Anna trotted back to the hall, packaged the gesar flour and savti, bottled the glue that was ready, and set the rest to re-boil. She brought the cloth and yarn to the packaging room and sorted it for the gifts. Lastly, she ran to East 1 and worked on her special gifts.
Anna made it home in time and curled up next to Des. She thought he was sleeping until he surprised her with a kiss. A slow, hot, sweet kiss, then he nuzzled under her chin and over to her ear.
Ah, Golsidan nights were so nice, ten human hours, before morning. Plenty of time to enjoy being with her wonderful Des.
The next morning, Anna nearly bounced out of bed. Something about making love with Des invigorated her. Of course, it tired him. She wondered if he somehow healed a
s he loved. That could be it? Des with his giving heart liked to ease her pain, soreness, and tiredness. She needed to talk to him about this. Discomfort and fatigue seemed normal to Anna. His constant healing of her drained him and that was both abnormal and intolerable.
Anna grabbed some of her spare clothes and ran to East 1. Three of the designs sat finished in the supply processors exit tray. She wrapped them in the spare clothes to cushion them. She carried them to the packaging room. She went to the central station room and finished straining and bottling the second boil glue. She started carting everything into the packaging room. She sorted as she went. Finally, she packaged up the twenty-two special volunteer gifts.
The honor gifts for the cool shift ended up being huge. They took the biggest basket and nearly overflowed out of them. Anna wondered how to fit the takosund portions in there. Her solution turned out to be appropriate. She ran to East 1 and 2 and got netting. She netted the tops of all of the cool shift baskets. She tied nets onto the side handles, intending to place the takosund portions in them.
The four top-level gifts looked even bigger. Anna didn’t want to risk the special gifts in an overfilled basket. Not knowing what to do, she called the Elder Hall where the Elders gathered. Someone there probably knew the appropriate solution.
“Elder Kantuia Satorae, here. Can I help you?”
“I hope so Elder Kantuia. This is Phwolfe. I’ve been packaging honor gifts and I encountered a slight problem. Do you have time to answer a couple of questions?”
“Of course Phwolfe, ask away.”
“First, the top-level gifts overflow the baskets. Do I give them each two baskets?”
“No, you set the non-perishables on platters at their honor spots.”
Phwolfe Song (Golsidan Revival Series Book 1) Page 17