“You have been cheating on me for years Harden, the village is more important. The People are more important, the crops, the stores, everything but me. Why am I last on your list husband, why?” Like running into another tree, Harden was stunned by his wife’s admission.Briaunna was also stunned. She believed that her parents were perfect, that they would always do the right thing and protect her and The People. Now, she was hearing things that made little sense to her. Her mother was having an affair with another man, her father was too distracted to be a good husband. What was happening? “You have never been last on my list, why would you say that?”“Harden,” Indra wiped at her nose, “whether you meant to put me last or not, that is exactly how I feel. Last.”“Rognvald told me, that fucker. I had to find out from that snake in the grass.” Harden let the anger fill his words.Indra was not sure how to respond, first off, she was surprised by the fact that Rognvald knew. That meant t

Much of the gossip was just idle chat and good-natured banter to help pass the time away. Erek was not the only topic of conversation, the women talked about their men too, not one of them was off limits. But, that night after the council meeting when Indra went after Erek, she was not in control of herself, she was guided by her lustful inhibitions. None of the gossip played in her head when she walked after Erek. Not one time did she think about what she was doing, she just needed to feel a man again, her regret came shortly after her orgasm. Gasping from pleasure, Indra looked down and saw a face that wasn’t her husbands, it was the face of a frightened and bewildered Erek.Indra was in the third month of her pregnancy now; she stayed home and in her bed on most days. Her feet swelled to an absurd size; they wouldn’t fit into her moccasins anymore. The nausea and vomiting have left her weak and with little appetite, fortunately her nausea was almost over, she only puked now if some

When Callum wasn’t hunting, he and Kaya were spending as much time together as they could. In winter keeping warm was a necessity so they spent a lot of time at the Flistedt’s pottery shop, more specifically near the kiln. The kiln was burning every day, wood was a priority for the Flistedt’s, just as food was, and they all took turns gathering, cutting, and stacking wood. Wood was the one thing that the village was not lacking, the problem was going outside to gather it, the wind and cold were unrelenting. When winter fell on the land, it came down and firmly plundered it, leaving nothing exposed unfrozen.“Hey! Not too close to the kiln.” Kaya laughed, “you’ll burn your ass.”“Are you sure your parents aren’t gonna be mad that we keep hanging out in here? I mean do they know we are...” He trailed off.“That we are what? More than friends now? They know.”“They know?”“Yep, they are lovebirds still to this day. They told me that they know what we are getting up to,” Kaya pulled her h

“So, what, I just wanna know what you heard, I don’t care whether it’s true or not. I am so bored from the weather being bad, I mean we’re all stuck inside for the most part. So, just tell me already.”“I heard him tell my mom,” he bent forward and lowered his voice so that only Marx would hear. “My dad said a group of The People were gonna be leaving Ondu.”“For what?”“What do you mean for what? Don’t you know about the food shortage?”“Yes, you idiot, everyone is on rations.” She made a, duh, gesture.“Come on Marx, you don’t gotta be mean about it. But yeah, that’s what I heard my dad say. A group will be leaving in the spring to try and cross the Domea river.”Marx gasped so loud that Callum blushed.“Keep it down! I don’t know if it is true and that’s why I didn’t want to say anything. Maybe I misunderstood what I heard, ya know?”Only a few heads turned when Marx gasped, to be honest there were only a few people in the meeting house any way, everyone gathered around one of the

“Kaya.” Her mother said weakly.“Yes, mom, what’s wrong?”“I think we are sick; your dad needs water and a healer. I am too weak to stand, that is why I was on the floor.” Kathryn shivered. “I had to crawl over there the last time, I barely made it.”“Rest momma, I’ll get help.” Kaya got a burst of adrenaline.“Your dad,” Kathryn coughed, “he said his heart was fluttering in his chest. Go and get a healer.”The healer came. Kaya was exhausted from her effort, she had to walk a four-kilometer round trip to fetch the healer. The healer put her to bed after a quick assessment, telling Kaya that she needed rest. The healer’s focus was on Kathryn and Tombold, they were weak from dehydration. The healer did what she could, which was to try to get fluids into the Flistedt’s and make them more comfortable, the healer didn’t know what the sickness was. Kaya was informed by the healer, that she would have to take care of her parents because she was not as sick as they were and there was no one