The nation

Chapter 10

The power, the feelings must have been truly awesome, commanding magic like Ondu. Marx would imagine being a spirit or a shaman that would be able to tell the future, see into people’s hearts and protect herself from harm. Marx was shorter than average, she was a bit chubby, her face was rounder because of that. She had a nervousness about her that turned some people off, a bit of extra energy her mother would say, “just go run it off.” Sometimes Marx did run but her energy never seemed to abate. Marx was good at braiding hair and was often asked by people for her quick and neat hair braids. She was still engrossed in the carvings when Callum touched her shoulder.

“Holy fuck!” She shouted and turned so fast that the hand she had on the boulder slapped Callum square in his jaw, it made a loud smack sound.

“Well Marx,” Callum stepped back and held his jaw, “for the love of Utoo, what was that for?”

“I told you to start making more noise and stop sneaking up on me.” She said quickly, Callum was going to be a very good hunter one day.

“Look,” Callum pointed behind him at the two long trails that he left in the dirt, “I have been dragging my feet for the last forty meters, shufflin the whole time.”

Marx got up in his face, standing on her tip toes, she was so close they might have kissed, she hissed, “then start whistling too, cuz the next time you startle me like that you’ll be holding more than your cheek.” Using her left leg, she grazed Callum between his legs.

Callum’s eyes went wide at the pressure. Marx felt a little weird when she touched Callum’s crotch, before she would just kick him there; her mother said that was the best place to kick to redirect a boy. Marx would kick lots of boys in their balls, but she didn’t know what her mother meant about redirecting boys, other than them falling to the ground in pain. This time though, her breath caught in her chest, Callum’s eye’s looked different too, his cheeks flushed, and his hands went to his groin brushing the bottom of Marx breast. She still stood on her toes after she put her leg back underneath her.

Callum held his crotch. He was not sure what was happening, he did see something new in Marx’s eye’s, something that he had never seen in her eyes before; like lightning might shoot out and pierce his chest.

“Now wait a minute Marx, I’m sorry, forgive me. I know how much that bothers you.” Callum was getting some confidence back, “I just wanna say I am sorry.”

“Well then,” Marx never finished, Callum pushed her backwards and she landed with a bounce on her butt.

“Praise Utoo.” Kaya came running into the stand of the large boulders, “I think I’m getting faster.”

Kaya saw Marx on the ground and Callum standing over her cupping his balls and said, “again? You two do this too often.”

Callum was tall for his age, he had long black hair with a natural wave, his deep brown eyes were calm and reassuring, he was not a man yet, but he was closer than most boys his age. He was the same age as Kaya Tasso, 16 winters. Marx was 15 winters old. Kaya had felt like she wanted to be closer to Callum, closer than a friend would be, but she never gave a voice to those feelings. For some odd reason Callum and she alone equaled a nervous KT. Conversely, Kaya acted less nervous when it was the three of them instead of being awkward when it was just the two of them.

“Help me up Kaya!” Marx threw a hand up toward Kaya.

“Sure Marx, did you get him good, or should I kick him too?” KT grabbed Marx’s hand and helped her up, “let’s get you dusted off...”

“Get off of me.” Marx was laughing now, forgetting about the awkwardness between her and Callum just moments ago.

“Do you think they’ll still play the Warrior’s game?” Callum asked the girls.

“YES!” They answered in unison and rather loudly.

“Is that all you think about Callum?” Marx threw a rock at him.

“No...”

“YES!” They both answered in unison again, then the girls burst out laughing.

The three of them stayed at the boulders all day, they talked about the Warrior’s game; Kaya Tasso played too but Marx was not fast or agile enough, not like Kaya was. They talked about the rains, the summer planting season, and what fun they would have chasing the sun. It was getting late, and they were playing tag.

“I’ll catch you KT.”

“No, you won’t Callum.” KT ducked right to run between two boulders.

Callum went left knowing that the path Kaya took turned left on the other side. He thought he could beat her to that side, he was wrong. Instead of being ready to catch Kaya, they collided, and both of them went down to the ground, with a grunt.

When the dust cleared, “Callum?”

“Yeah?”

“Will you get off of me?”

“Sure.” He said and pretended like his arms wouldn’t work.

“I see.” Said Kaya, then she thrust her hips upwards and to the right, knocking Callum over. Using her momentum, she came up on top of him, straddling him and holding his hands to the ground.

“Kaya, lemme up.”

“What’s the matter? It was fine for you a moment ago, oops!” Kaya yipped.

KT was holding Callum’s hands to the ground right next to his ears. Before she could stop herself, Callum straightened both of his arms, moving his hands laterally, taking KT’s hands with his. She was so surprised that she fell face first onto Callum’s face, nose to nose and mouth to mouth. There was an awkward moment, but it left quicker than it came. Kaya stayed like that, laying directly on top of Callum, her breasts flattened by her weight, her lips touching his; her heart flipped.

“KT, let’s go. I am getting tired of all this running.” Marx did not see them on the ground, she was still on the far side of the boulders.

KT, Marx and Callum were home before the sun was completely below the horizon, they did not run. Marx talked endlessly about the carvings on the boulders, it was obvious that she would give anything to know what they said. Callum’s house was the first one they came to.

“See ya Callum.” KT waved.

“Yeah, bye Callum.” Marx made like she would hug him then faked a kick to the balls. Then the girls ran, giggling and laughing. Callum just stood there, watching them go, wondering.

After Hardens’ speech to The People about working together and rebuilding, the village rallied, and everyone chipped in to do their part. Many of The People went south to the farmlands in those first days after the speech, the fields were drying up nicely. Farm activities like, plowing and planting, were to begin as soon as the soil was dry enough to not have the horse teams getting stuck all the time. Hunting resumed soon after the rains stopped, they did not need to wait for the ground to dry, as all the hunting parties headed for higher ground. Raising children was a normal activity that never ceased, no matter of the weather.

The animals: horses, chickens, goats, etc., all needed to be tended too. Stalls and pens had to be cleaned and repaired, if needed, and the loose animals gathered up again. Most of the domesticated animals did not go far, they simply tried to stay dry like The People did. Rounding up the chickens, no matter of the level of domestication, was always a challenge. The elders learned long ago that this was in fact a job for the young. So, all the children, over ten winters, were drafted and set to work catching the chickens. They played, or rather, worked diligently at chasing the chickens, few were caught, if any. This was mostly about keeping the younger children busy while the adults went about their work.

The healers were also busy. Many of The People continued to see the traditional healers, use the sweat lodges, and bath houses. Some sought solitude, some stress relief, and others the inner peace that would keep them on the feather’s edge. Westin Stina was busy in his apothecary, busy mixing herbs and roots together for the healers to use in ceremonies and individual treatments. Some of which were elaborate and needed enormous amounts of herbs to complete. Westin had the most knowledge in herb lore and was the defacto expert that the healers turn to for the best herbs and purest mixtures for their ceremonies. This meant that Westin was too busy to see, or even speak to, Harden about his lack of a proper response to his wife.

“Davyn?” A female voice said behind the old man, making him stop and turn around.

“Sokonan, how well are you today?”

“Davyn, you old fool. Where are you off to now? You have missed quite a few council meetings. Are you avoiding things, or just me?” Sokonan gently brushed some loose hair from in front of her eyes. Westin was over twenty winters Sokonan’s senior but the two have always had a more than cordial relationship.

Too old to blush, Westin smiled instead, “why would I hide from you?” He stepped closer and helped Sokonan with the loose strands of her hair.

She grasped his hand when he was moving her hair, she opened his hand completely and rested her cheek in his palm, she let out a deep sigh, “it is hard to live without,” not knowing how to finish, she hesitated.

“Without touch.” Westin finished.

“Without the warmth of love in my bed.” She looked up and into Davyn’s eyes.

These two have shared much with each other. When Sokonan’s husband died, twenty winters ago, she was so distraught that she was left rocking on the floor of her home in a daze. She was alone, completely alone, when he died. Her husband was a great hunter and was off hunting when a leopard attacked him. His body was found next to the dead cat’s body, he had fought to the death; like he always told Sokonan he would.