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The nation Chapter 84
The midwife was amiable and cordial with Kaya, if not a little annoyed. KT went inside and let the midwife breastfeed the baby. While she sat watching what would have been a typical scene for all new mothers, she wondered about her mother. Shortly after sitting down in the midwifes tent, Kaya fell asleep, she had been doing all she could to care for her cart and all of the belongings that it carried. She had her meager belongings as well as other people’s things to, every bit of available space was used to carry the necessities. Every cart, horse, and persons back would carry supplies for the journey. Kaya’s cart was no different, any space that she didn’t use was filled with food, water, or something needed to build a new settlement. Even her horse team was a pain sometimes, especially old Percy, but Gerard kept KT on her toes to, one would wander off and the other would follow or go in the completely opposite direction. When they weren’t pulling the cart Kaya would unharness one at
The nation Chapter 85
Kaya walked right passed the male leopard laying in the grass, he didn’t pounce when she was within a half dozen meters of where he lay, instead he followed her to the stream. Kaya kept walking angrily away from the safety of the caravan, she wanted to walk or to run anywhere but here. She was so far from home, so far from her normal life, the life she had when her parents were still alive. She had been through so much in such a short period of time, now she was in charge of two horses, a cart filled with supplies, and Rognvald was trying to force her to care for the baby. So much had changed, she had grown older but she didn’t feel like an adult, she felt cheated out of the last few years of her childhood. The leopard stalked her from behind, while Rollins crept parallel to the both of them. At the stream Kaya stopped, she bent down into a crouch and began to pull out the grass on its banks. She stayed like that for a while, pulling the grass and throwing it into the water. Her mind
The nation Chapter 86
Another pair of eyes watched the two-legs by the stream. The eyes took in the scene, the smell of fresh blood was on the wind, the scent of that blood was different somehow, it didn’t smell of prey. The eyes then noticed a rumpled body on the ground, it lay unmoving on the bank of the stream, it looked as though one of the two-legs pulled it out of the water. These eyes belonged to the male leopards mate, she was waiting for him to return with meat but he did not return, so she went to search for him. The two-legs stood by the water making noises at each other, the female leopard kept studying the scene, as well as the body on the bank. The clouds continued their trek across the sky, the wind high above the ground moving them from east to west, an immense cloud cover blew in and blocked the moons from reflecting the light. The darkness reduced the female leopard’s vision, cats have good night vision, but like all eyes they need a fraction of time to adjust to the reduced ambient light
The nation Chapter 87
“We need to get you cleaned up.” She said.A few kilometers to the southwest, the female leopard made it back to her cubs, she brought back a half dead fawn for them to chase and kill themselves; it’ll be a good lesson for them. She cleaned herself while three of her five cubs played with the fawn. One was too apprehensive, the mother thought, that one will be the first to die. The last cub understood that they wouldn’t eat until the fawn was dead, this cub moved to strike the neck of the fawn, to choke the life out of it like she had seen her mother do. She watched her cubs and thought, I can’t take them with me when I follow the two-legs, I have to kill those two-legs, I can’t leave them here either, they are too young to be left alone. The one cub finally put the fawn out of its misery and the rest of her cubs tore into the warm flesh like they were famished. The mother watched them eat, she thought about her other litters and how the ones that survived had went on to establish the
The nation Chapter 88
Rollins had no idea why she was being so gentle with this girl, Kaya, but she liked her. Kaya had a brightness to her, although a shadow loomed close to her heart, Rollins didn’t understand the shadow but she knew everyone had a shadow that loomed about them. Soap first, she took one of Kaya’s arms and rubbed it until the lather was built up, then she rinsed it just like Kaya had done for her. Rollins repeated everything Kaya had washed for her, but Rollins didn’t have the same modesty that Kaya had. Rollins took the soap in one hand and worked slowly around Kaya’s neck, following behind with her free hand she worked the lather tracing the curves of Kaya’s neck. The hand with the soap continued to probe Kaya’s skin, first her left breast then her right breast, then the free hand again tracing Kaya’s contours. Kaya bit her lip, while Rollins worked free any hidden dirt from Kaya’s chest, it was not necessarily sensual but Kaya’s body reacted as if it was.“Now you rinse, then you do my
The nation Chapter 89
Rognvald had slept outside last night, not because Lilly was mad, he was too drunk to walk back to his tent. He was awaken by a tall thin man tapping on his shoulder. When Rog moved everything hurt, one eye was closed and he had grass in his mouth. During the course of the night, Rognvald had fallen over the log he was sitting on, all of the beer and cheer had caught up to him. He had passed out face down in the dirt, mouth open and his body half turned one way. His first impression was of confusion, then irritation. When he tried to move the pain of his fitful nights sleeping arrangements said hello. Oscar had to help Rog to a sitting position before he could even try to communicate with him. Once sitting, Oscar fussed over the dirt and grass that was covering his leader, Rognvald shooed him away after a moment.“Someone bring me some water.” Demanded Rognvald to no one.“Kaya, he said he is too busy planning and managing this trip to see anyone, he was working all night and now he n
The nation Chapter 90
Lilly hated being out here like this, she was more of an indoor girl and longed for the comfort of a permanent home, not one that was packed and unpacked every day. Rognvald’s family was traveling in the most comfort of all of his people. The carts they had were big enough to carry all of the things they would need, one cart held all of the supplies and personal items the family had brought, the other cart was covered and large enough to give everyone a bit of space while they traveled. Rognvald rode up front on the second cart, the same one his family rode sheltered in, he liked to feel like a real leader and he thought that being up front was the way to both feel like it and portray it to his people. Lilly tried to hide from Oren and Claudia, sometimes she covered herself with a blanket, pulling it over her head. Everything from the children to the travel bothered her, she felt like she had dirt in cracks where dirt should never be, she was simply miserable.Kaya rounded the next ca
The nation Chapter 91
As she walked away from her cart Erek went to collect his son from his family, he was not putting his son through any of his father’s whims, not as long as he could help it. Kaya walked to the people that she knew, she tried to tell them about what Rollins told her, she tried to explain that Rognvald was drunk in more ways than one. But, the gossip of the Blue eye was faster than Kaya’s words were, the gossip was so fast that before Rollins and Erek had all of Kaya’s things packed up to travel, the news had reached every listening ear, it even touched the ears of the non-listeners. As soon as Kaya started to speak the people would either turn and walk away from her or they would respond by saying, “that Blue eye is a curse.” Some of her friends listened, some of the people had sense enough to know that Rognvald was a disgrace and a poor leader. With Oscar covering up for him he had been drunk every night, he even howled at the moons one night, Oscar did his best to cover that one up