Amazon Companion

by Roseau, Robin

"We all knew better," Bea said.

  "Neela, paint Bea's lips pink."

  That earned more laughter.

  "Now, as I was saying, the ringleader, et cetera, et cetera, I have something special for you. Serra, is the next mixture ready?"

  "It is, Queen Malora, but it is untested."

  "Well it must be tested. Bring it forward."

  Serra stepped away but returned promptly, carrying a bucket, and I had no idea what was in it. I thought perhaps I was going to be expected to eat or drink something disgusting.

  "I need a cup," Malora said. "Aura, go retrieve Maya's cup from the kitchen. Run."

  We each had our own mugs. I was just as likely to drink from Malora's as my own, but still, I had my own. Aura ran to the kitchen and returned with the cup I used for meals, handing it to Malora before sitting back down.

  "Serra, please confirm there is nothing in that bucket that is inedible."

  "It might taste poorly," she confirmed, "but it will not poison your companion."

  "Excellent. Who has a rag?"

  Serra was ready and dashed forward with a rag, handing it to Malora. Malora turned to Neela. "Let us test the mixture." She stepped behind them, then she held one of Neela's ponytails in her hand and dipped it into the mixture in the mug. When she withdrew the mug, the tips of Neela's ponytail were bright pink. I stared.

  The women began laughing.

  "What?" Neela asked.

  "You'll see. Hold still." Malora used the rag to catch anything dripping from Neela's hair. Then she did the other ponytail. When she was done, the bottom two inches of each ponytail was pink.

  She repeated the process with Aura, who looked a little sick while watching Neela, but she held still while Malora dyed the tips of her ponytails.

  It actually looked kind of cute, but if they didn't look much like Amazons before, now they didn't look like Amazons at all.

  "Serra, your mixture appears to work like a charm. Do you have any idea how long it will last?"

  "None at all, Queen Malora," Serra responded. "It will fade, I am sure."

  "If it fades too quickly, you can make more?"

  "Of course," Serra replied. "Any time."

  "I require a table," Malora said. Nori and Clara jumped up and grabbed one of the dining tables, setting it down with one end towards the fire, one end towards the amused women.

  "Maya," Malora said to me. "Lie down on this table, your feet towards the fire, and your head hanging over the edge."

  I stood up and smiled. "You realize that dye isn't going to work on my hair. It might provide a tinge of pink, but that is about all."

  Malora grinned at me, and I noticed most of the other Amazons were as well. "You would be surprised what magic we Amazons can weave." She turned to the other Amazons. "Should we let her in on what Serra has been doing to her?"

  That started a debate with people weighing in on all sides. I didn't notice, but I suspect Malora gestured to Serra, because she stepped up behind me and pulled the towel from my head. My hair tumbled free, but Serra stepped around, running her hands through my hair and holding some of it where I could easily see it.

  My black hair was now the color of straw. I stared at it.

  Everyone grew silent.

  I stared at the hair. I was proud of my hair, and I had no idea what magic Serra had weaved.

  Malora stepped up next to me. I turned to her. "Is it going to fall out?" I was on the edge of tears.

  "No," she said quietly. "Be brave, Maya."

  "Once the pink fades," Serra whispered to me, "I can put the black in. The pink won't last, but the black does."

  I turned to her and nodded, attempting a half a smile. It was pretty shocking. Then I glanced over at Neela and Aura.

  "Well," I said. "What are we waiting for?" I moved to the table and lay down, allowing my head to hang over the end.

  "You three," Malora said to Bea, Aura and Neela. "Will dye her hair. All her hair. You will need to use your hands to work it in. Do not forget her eyebrows. And I also want her lips pink."

  The three of them approached, with Bea taking the bucket from Malora. Malora spoke to them quietly. "Please be neat. I do not want it splashed all over her face or her clothing. Rinse and dry her hair when you are done so it will not drip onto the back of her tunic."

  She got three "Yes, Queen Malora's", and I lay stoically while they dyed my hair. Aura unwrapped my braid, and then they dunked my hair into the bucket of dye, working it in with their hands. Later, I saw all three of them had pink hands. Once the hair on my head was done, they talked about how to do my eyebrows.

  "Use a rag and brush it in, I suppose," I said.

  "She said not to drip on your skin."

  "Do it carefully," I added.

  Once they were done, they rinsed my hair and dried it with a towel, making sure no pink was leeching into the two. Then Neela painted my lips to match all of theirs.

  "She shall also have pony tails," Malora declared, so they sat me up and tied my hair into the requisite ponytails.

  I decided Bea had gotten off easily. The assembled Amazons were deeply amused by our punishment, and I had to admit, I thought it was pretty funny, too.

  "Well," said Malora when they were done decorating me. "I will allow smudged lips only during those times where keeping them fresh is impractical. Serra, was there enough lip paint for all four of them to carry some with them?"

  "Not in pink" Serra replied. "There were two in pink."

  "Well then," said Malora, "Neela and Aura shall keep the lip paint, and it is their responsibility to see to it that it is artfully applied as necessary. I will allow Bea and Maya a brief period in the morning to have their lips painted. Otherwise I wish to see four sets of bright pink lips for the next three days. I will see three sets of ponytails for the same period. Bea, if your hair were longer, it would be four."

  Bea offered a small bow. "I apologize for ruining your fun."

  "Serra, was there anything for over the eyes?"

  "In purple," Serra said. "No pink."

  "Oh no, those colors would clash." Malora signed dramatically. "I will have to forgive Bea's impertinence, as I am out of amusing punishments to heap on these four. Take your bows and put everything away."

  A while later, Malora gathered the four of us together. "Neela and Aura, you must be diligent with the lip paint. Refreshing too often is better than not often enough."

  "Yes, Queen Malora."

  "The four of you will watch out for each other. You will fix ponytails. You will fix lips."

  "Yes, Queen Malora."

  "Good. Thank you for being good sports."

  We grinned, and the bright pink in the fading light was a little disturbing. "Yes, Queen Malora."

  Later, in our hut, Malora pulled me to her. "How do you feel about your punishment?"

  "Were the women amused?"

  "Very much."

  "Then it is a good punishment," I said. I paused. "If it is meant as a deterrent, it is probably a bit light."

  "It is meant for amusement," she said. "Perhaps Aura finds it more unpleasant than you do, even though I made yours much more severe."

  I smiled at her and fluffed my hair. "You're the one who has to look at it."

  "It is very bright," she said. "I will be able to see you in the dark."

  I laughed and moved into her arms.

  "I'm proud of you, Maya."

  "I am, too."

  "I do not expect you to fight as well as a warrior. I expect you to train as hard as you can. Do you understand?"

  I pulled away from her, and she made a whimper of disappointment.

  "I do not believe I am going to enjoy it any more tomorrow than I did yesterday."

  "The training?" Malora asked.

  "Yes."

  "But you enjoyed the water today."

  "Yes, but-"

  "Wait, Maya. You enjoyed the water."

  "I was scared of some of the opponents. And I didn't know at first what to d
o with Aura."

  "You were very gentle with her."

  "She was terrified, and I don't want her to be terrified of the water. That will make it so much harder to teach her to swim. People who have had a bad experience with water can be very difficult to teach to swim. Those who are comfortable with the water basically teach themselves with only a little help."

  "Nori and I talked earlier. We are going to make adjustments in how we train you. We will expect you to give us everything you have. And if you do, there will be no unpleasant repercussions from shortcomings."

  "No whips?"

  "No whips, for instance. I also believe you are terrified of making even the smallest of minor mistakes, unintended violations of the rules."

  "Like being late?"

  "You were not late to be malicious or because you were engaged in something you should not have been. You were late because you were doing something you should, and the timing was unfortunate. And the punishment you received is amusing."

  "And so other punishments will be equally amusing?"

  "Perhaps not, but they will not be as extreme as you fear."

  "No whipping post?"

  "Not for minor transgressions."

  "A bad tone with you in public? That's going to happen again. That's the one I'm most afraid of, because it will come from the fear and frustration I already bear."

  "Disputes between warrior and companion are not usually settled with punishment."

  "And if you push me too hard during training, and I snap in fear or anger?"

  "There will be unpleasant punishments, but they will not be horrible."

  "By whose standards?"

  "Yours."

  "What if I can't get past my fear of training?"

  "Then we will try other things. You must know the basics. Amazons are not always popular, and you must be able to accompany me places. You must be able to defend yourself. And if we are ever facing demons, and I cannot send you to safety, I need to know you will not panic. I need to know if I tell you to run, you will run, and run, and run."

  We didn't solve anything that night, but when we climbed into bed, she asked, "Are you sore?"

  "Worn out," I said. "Not sore."

  "I enjoy our massages."

  "As do I. I am very tired. I will sleep fast."

  And I did.

  * * * *

  It was the next afternoon that I was next forced to wrestle, although Nori showed me the leg lock in the morning before we all stretched. She demonstrated very carefully on me, showing me several different ways I might be pulled into the hold, then she tried to teach me what to do.

  If she walked me through it, I could apply the hold, but for the life of me, I couldn't follow the sort of sequence that would be required in a real fight.

  We switched roles, and Nori demonstrated again and again, a few times at full speed, several times at slow speed.

  But when I tried it, I just couldn't get it.

  "This is simple, Maya," she said, and it was clear she was getting frustrated.

  "I know," I said. "Can we stop?"

  She nodded, and I asked permission to run slowly while we waited for everyone else. "Or do I need to stretch before I can run."

  "Go ahead," she said.

  At lunch, Omie and Vorine pulled me to the side. "Nori asked us if we would be willing to teach you wrestling moves. We would love to."

  "We'll see," I said. "Thank you for offering. Let's see how I feel after this afternoon."

  "We'll be gentle, Pink" Vorine said. "Say 'yes' and we won't report you for smudged lips."

  I stared at her.

  "Fine," I said. "Report me." I stormed away, but they hurried after me, pulling me to a stop.

  "Maya," she said. "That was a joke. I was trying to lighten the mood. I'm sorry."

  "Are my lips really smudged?"

  "Yes, but I would either report you or not. I wouldn't blackmail you."

  "Malora didn't say you only reported us. You also got to add to our punishments."

  "I don't want to add to your punishment," she explained. "I think the pink is cute, and I'm glad it's you and not me, but I can't think of a single thing I would add to it that would be amusing without making you feel badly."

  "We won't want you to feel badly," Omie added. "Vorine, go get Neela or Aura to fix her lips and let me talk to her." Then she turned me so I had my back to everyone else so my smudged lips wouldn't draw attention.

  "Let us try to teach you," she said. "We won't hurt you. If you don't like the practice grounds, we'll do it when you check your snares." She paused. "I bet I can get you out of afternoon training if you agree, at least for a few weeks."

  "This would be my training instead?"

  She nodded. "We leave to check on your snares, then we can give you a good workout somewhere you seem to enjoy better. You'll come home tired, and no one can say you are shirking your training, but we wouldn't be late."

  "You have duties to your warriors."

  "Do not worry about that. We might not both go every day. And we would try to ease you into doing it here, but if you just can't, then you can't."

  Vorine returned at that moment, Aura with her. Aura took a look at me and fixed my lips.

  "Malora saw me bring her," Vorine said, "and probably knows why. She may push it if she wants to add to your embarrassment."

  "If she asks you if my lips were smudged, tell the truth," I said. "Don't lie to her."

  "Thank you for that," Omie said. "We wouldn't have lied, but we would have felt badly for it."

  They were being kind. "If you can, come check my snares this afternoon. We should have at least a little time."

  They both smiled. "We'll make time. We'll make this fun, Maya. We promise. You must be honest with us though."

  "I will." I paused. "If I have to wrestle, I don't want it to always be you two though."

  "We'll invite the others, too."

  "I need to ask you something. Does Varda cheat?"

  They both looked uncomfortable. "Bea told you that?" Vorine asked. I nodded. "She doesn't cheat," Vorine said. "But she has little compassion. Avoid competing with her. We're willing to compete with her because we can beat her. And you could beat her in the water, but she'd make you pay for it later."

  I nodded. "Do the warriors know?"

  "I don't know," Omie said. "She can be subtle."

  "Perhaps not consistently subtle." I remembered Nori guessing that Varda had asked for my help getting her out of the binding Malora had applied.

  "Varda is not overt," Vorine said. "She'll use your hair. That's considered poor form. Our warriors often ask us to keep our hair long."

  "Benala likes running her fingers through my hair," Omie explained. "And she brushes and braids it for me."

  "Malora braids mine, and she fixed my pony tails this morning. She was chuckling while she did it. I think she likes that she was able to change the color."

  "She would," Vorine said. "It's a form of marking you as hers."

  I hadn't thought about that.

  "So, companions often have long hair to please their warriors," Vorine said. "Both Omie and I would cut ours very short, like Bea's, but our warriors have asked us not to. And so because we are companions first and warriors second, it is considered bad form to use our hair against us."

  "But Varda will pull hair. She usually gets away with it, but Nori is getting fed up with it."

  "It's stuff like that," Vorine explained. "She does it to the other companions, and then when we get a chance, we kick her ass for it, but she's too stupid to realize we're meaner to her than we are to anyone else."

  "If we wrestle, I intentionally go for the most painful locks I know," Omie said.

  "Locks?"

  "Submission holds. I am not allowed to use damaging holds on the companions, but if she is ever made a warrior, I can."

  I nodded. "Malora said the dispute with Bea was caused by both of them."

  "It was, but Bea was only reactin
g badly."

  I nodded. "Thank you for explaining."

  They hugged me, and then it was time to serve lunch.

  As soon as lunch was over, I began to feel the butterflies in my stomach. "I'm nervous," I admitted to Malora.

  She didn't have an answer, but she increased the amount of physical affection she was giving me.

  I let her draw me to the training grounds, and she sat next to me as we began our stretches even before Nori declared the start. We stretched, then we ran a bit, then Aura and Neela fixed our lips. Malora laughed and said, "From the start of training until any bathing is completed afterwards, smudged or bare lips are allowed. We aren't going to interrupt training for this."

  Nori broke us into groups, saying, "We're going to wrestle today. Companions with companions and warriors with warriors. Serra, Vorine and Omie, you are warriors today."

  The two sisters beamed, but I raised my hand like one of my students in school. Nori turned to me.

  "We all know I'm a pansy."

  "Please do not say it that way."

  "We all know my heart is already pounding in fear," I said. "Is that better?"

  "Really?" Malora asked. I nodded.

  "You wish to be excused?"

  "If I am not begging to be allowed to change my mind, I would like a bout with Omie or Vorine at the end of the lesson."

  "Of course," Nori said immediately.

  After that, we separated with Malora leading the companions. She taught us as if we had never wrestled, demonstrating the simplest of moves then letting the four of us pair up and practice slowly with each other.

  I hated it. I absolutely hated it, and I didn't know why yesterday it had been okay.

  But I did everything she asked, and I let the other companions practice on me.

  They were all deeply enjoying themselves, and I tried to absorb some of their spirit, but I just couldn't.

  "Let's do a round or two of bouts," Malora said. "Do you need me to officiate?"

  "No," the other three agreed. "We can call our own pins, and we'll stop if we need to."

  "Malora," I said. "I have a request."

  "Yes?"

  "Will you let my first bout be with you? Can you make it a good workout?"

  "How about we go as long as the other first bout goes? I'll probably pin you several times, and I'll let you try to pin me."

  I nodded. "All right."