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The nation Chapter 38
“Sorry Callum,” Kaya said, after reestablishing her connection to the ground.“It’s really alright, I always get welcomed like this after a hunt.”“Really?” Kaya was looking sideways at Callum.“Really!”Kaya kicked Callum in the shin. “Don’t be a shit.”“Ouch, Jeez Kaya.” Callum dropped the gear he was carrying to rub his damaged shin.“When a girl runs up to you and kisses you because she misses you, don’t even joke about kissing other girls in front of her.” Kaya sounded pissed.Callum rarely saw Kaya angry, mainly because she wasn’t angry often. When she did get angry it was often seismic.“I am sorry. Ok, ok,” he held up his hands defensively when Kaya flinched towards him. “Stop.” He said with force.“Stop what?” She replied.“Stop acting like a child. I am not a child anymore; I am a hunter and a damn good one at that. I am sorry, I was joking and hurt your feelings. I’ll just see you tomorrow, I’m tired.” He said, while rubbing the back of his head.“Don’t, I...” but Callum al
The nation Chapter 39
“You know she is married right?” Rognvald sneered. “She is The Lady of this village, wife of the chief. Of course, she won’t have the same feelings that you have.”“I thought...”“You thought what? That you would become chief before me?” The anger began to show in Rog’s voice.“No, I don’t.”“You don’t what? You don’t wanna be chief? That’s a load of manure. Did you even know that she is pregnant too, probably with your child.” Rog’s voice was getting too loud, he calmed himself a bit.Erek shuddered, how did his father know all of this? Who had been talking to him? Erek felt cornered and helpless, like a small child might feel. He trembled with anxiety; his hands clench reflexively and his lip quivered. Then Erek said something to his father that changed things.“Only one person saw us.” His voice was quiet, just above a whisper.“What?” Rog said sharply.“Mr. Flistedt saw us two days ago.”“Are you sure?”“Not positive, but we were outside hugging and both of us heard his cart rolli
The nation Chapter 40
“Fine.” A rough sounding voice responded.Baylie went in through the flap, it closed gently behind her. The room was lit by two candles, one on each side of the bed, but the room had a quality about it. A quality of sadness, of desperation, of darkness. Baylie saw a lump on the bed and sat down close to it. She put her hand on the lump and it moved.“Honey! Are you ok?”“I’m fine.” A muffled voice answered from under the blankets.“Explain to me how you are fine?” Baylie, still sounding concerned, added a tone to her voice. A tone that said, “stop lying to me.”Indra appeared from underneath the covers, her head was pointing away from Baylie, she didn’t want to look at her friend.“I’m pregnant.” Like that was some kind of answer that spoke for all her problems.“Women get pregnant all of the time in Ondu, why is yours different? What is going on with you? Is it just morning sickness? Maybe the baby will have a lot of hair when it’s born.” Baylie let a little excitement creep into her
The nation Chapter 41
“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
The nation Chapter 42
“Hold on!” A voice called, one that she thought was familiar.Then with almost no effort at all, she was lifted out of the snow by a man, a big man. “It’s ok, I have you.” He said. “Why are you walking around by yourself?”“I’m going to the council meeting.”“You are? Me too.” The man had joy in his voice.When Brie lifted her head up to see who had picked her up, she was surprised that it was Erek. Simple Erek did not sound that simple anymore. Brie decided to play it smart and not give away too much.“I’ll carry you to the door then I’ll put you down.”“Why would you do that?”“So, you can pretend like you made it on your own, it’ll be our secret.”Brie had never heard Erek speak like this, he usually had one- or two-word answers and blank stares. Who was this Erek? “Oh, I didn’t think of that,” she said honestly. “Well let’s get moving, I’m freezing.”Erek walked them towards the meeting house. When the two got close to the council room Erek set Briaunna down.“Now you can walk i
The nation Chapter 43
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
The nation Chapter 44
What Sokonan intuited from this statement was; I don’t have time for any other problems right now, you know; like a pregnant wife.“Harden, you know you aren’t in this alone, you do not need to carry the weight of the village on your shoulders. Ondu will survive, The People will survive.” Sokonan put some force into her words. “Winter is always hard on The People, it is ok to let nature take its course.”Harden slapped his leg, making Sokonan flinch at the sudden sound.“What if I, or we, can do something about it? Aren’t we compelled to do whatever is in our power to do to make things better? What if a group leaving is the right thing to do?”“Is that what has been bothering you lately? What Rognvald said about some people leaving Ondu?” Sokonan looked like she had figured out Harden’s problem, she had only uncovered a part of it.The three hearths that were meant to heat the meeting room had fires burning brightly in them, casting the familiar dancing shadows along the tough tanned
The nation Chapter 45
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