Chapter Thirteen

We Didn’t Do All That Badly

 

I wrapped the wide, absorbent cloth around Lahn’s hips after having dried him. I secured it then, with my hands at his hips, I looked up into his eyes.

“You’re done, baby,” I whispered.

I’d used buckets of warm water and soap that the girls had provided to bathe Lahn while he stood in our tent. He was a mountain of a man so there was a lot of him – a lot of skin, a lot of muscle, a lot of everything and all of it was good but it was even better wet, slick and soapy. The rugs on the ground were a sopping wet, soapy mess. But the bath was seriously fun.

His eyes dropped to my chest and one of his hands went to my waist as his other hand cupped my breast and I looked down to see my apple green nightgown was soaking wet, my nipples were hard and nothing was left to the imagination.

“Not done,” he growled, my head tipped back just as his thumb slid over my nipple, my knees buckled and it was good Lahn was as fast as he was big because his hands caught me at the waist before my legs could go out, he lifted me up, they wrapped around his hips, my arms around his shoulders and he took two long strides to the bed where he took us both down.

Then his hand slid down then up again, inside my nightgown as his lips trailed my neck.

Oh yeah, bath time was going to be fun.

* * * * *

It was late afternoon and Diandra and I were headed to Narinda’s. Seerim had given the all clear for the visit and I was anxious to see her to check how she was doing.

But I had something on my mind.

“Um, Diandra?” I called; she patted my hand in the crook of her arm and looked at me.

“Yes, Circe?”

“Does, um… Seerim, uh… kiss you?”

Her brows drew together. “Kiss me?”

“Don’t you have that word? Uh –”

“We have that word, of course we do, my dear. And yes, of course Seerim kisses me.”

I looked away and felt my stomach clench.

Lahn had yet to kiss me. It was weird and this had lasted so long now I was afraid of kissing him.

“Ah…” Diandra murmured on a squeeze of my hand.

I looked back at her to see she was smiling. “What?”

“The Xacto,” she started, I braced when I heard that word and she went on, “do many things for our warriors. They teach the young ones much. But they are not allowed to touch mouth to mouth.”

“What?” I asked and she turned her eyes to me.

“They aren’t allowed to kiss the warriors.”

I felt my brows lift. “Why not?”

She got close to me and her voice lowered. “Because their mouths have been many places, my dear.”

Uh… gross.

I looked forward again and mumbled, “Other parts of them have too and by your account they don’t avoid those.”

She chuckled then explained, “Yes, this is true and those places are private and special to those of us lucky enough to keep them so. But the mouth is close to the eyes and the eyes the Korwahk believe are portals to the spirit inside. They believe, if you open these portals to the wrong people, they can steal your spirit, cripple you, render you useless, lame. A warrior does not want that.”

Portals to the spirit. Windows to the soul. I’d heard that before and I figured they meant the same thing in a way.

She kept talking. “They do not wish for such as the Xacto to be close to the warrior spirit. That, my dear Circe, is kept safe and given only to ones they trust… ones they love.”

I bit my lip.

Diandra guessed. “The Dax has not kissed you.”

“No,” I mumbled.

“It could be, my dear, he does not know how.”

This was such a bizarre notion, my step faltered and my head snapped around to look at her. “What?”

Her head turned to me and she stated, “It would not surprise me.”

“That’s… well, that’s crazy,” I told her.

“I see,” she grinned her wicked grin, “he pleases you much in your cham.”

He certainly did.

I felt my cheeks burn, she saw them and then she chuckled a wicked chuckle.

Then she stopped us, turned us to facing and I saw her eyes were not wicked and knowing but kind and understanding.

She wrapped her hand around my bicep and squeezed. “My beautiful Circe, your king is a ferocious warrior. He believes his spirit guides him into battle. It protects him. It keeps him strong. He would not allow anyone close to that. He would do anything to guard it and keep it safe just as he would do anything to guard his flesh and bone, his heart, his innards. He would no sooner allow a Xacto or whore or a girl he’s taken during plunder to come anywhere near that.”

Girl he’d taken during plunder?

Before I could ask, she started us walking again and advised, “And now, perhaps, he doesn’t even think of it. If it is not part of the…” she paused and said with a smile in her voice, “festivities, I would suggest, you introduce it to the…” her hand gave mine a squeeze, “festivities.”

“Maybe he doesn’t want me near his spirit,” I muttered, she chuckled and squeezed my hand again.

“Oh, my dear, from what I’ve seen, I think you have no worries about that.”

Hmm.

“Circe!” I heard, my head came up and I saw Narinda walking out of a cham her head turned our way.

“Narinda!” I cried, let Diandra go and ran to my friend.

When I got to her, I threw my arms around her, she threw her arms around me and we rocked each other back and forth as we embraced like identical twins cruelly separated by an evil stepmother and reunited after decades.

Then again, sharing the horrors of the parade, Hunt and wedding rite would do that to a girl.

Our torsos separated but we kept our arms around each other and smiled in each other’s faces.

“I don’t know, my queen, should I be touching you or bowed in a deep curtsy?” she teased.

“If you curtsy, I’ll have your head chopped off,” I teased back.

We grinned at each other then we sobered. My eyes moved over her face and I saw she looked healthy, fed, watered, her eyes were clear of the resignation I’d seen that night and she looked like she might even be happy.

I pulled her back in my arms and whispered in her ear, “You’re faring well?”

I felt her nod. “You?”

“Hanging in there.”

Her arms tightened. “He treats me well, Circe, I think… I think…” she paused and her lips came to my ear where she whispered, “I think he likes me.”

I giggled and moved my torso back but kept my arms around her. “Rumor has it, he’s kept you to your cham he likes you so much.”

I watched pretty pink stain her cheeks, she started then let me go and looked over her shoulder to the tall, handsome warrior I saw with her that night. He was standing just outside the cham looking forbidding and his arms were crossed on his chest.

“Feetak, Queen Circe, erm… Circe, my husband, Feetak,” she introduced, her hand moving back and forth between me and her husband in a shy way that was cute.

He bowed his head to me. “Kah rahna Dahksahna hahla,” he rumbled with an added thump to his chest then his eyes turned to Narinda. I watched them warm and he moved to his wife. He said some stuff to her softly and ended it with “Narinda sahna”.

She looked up at him and nodded but I knew by the semi-baffled look on her face (a look I was certain I’d adopted on more than one occasion the last few days) that she didn’t catch half of what he said.

“Dohno,” he said softly, moved to her, put his hand to her waist, bent his head and touched his mouth to hers. Her cheeks got pinker, he jerked his chin to me and then Diandra and he strode away.

“He said, ‘I will leave you to your friends, enjoy your time, beautiful Narinda’,” Diandra translated and Narinda’s looked to her, eyes wide.

“Is that what ‘sahna’ means?” she asked, her voice breathy.

“It is, indeed, my dear,” Diandra replied on a smile.

Narinda’s eyes took on a faraway look as she gazed in the direction where her warrior disappeared and she whispered, “Golly, he says that all the time.”

I pressed my lips together and met Diandra’s eyes which were dancing.

Welp, it didn’t take a love doctor to see things were going well for Narinda and her savage brute.

Narinda seemed to shake herself out of it, she focused on Diandra and her fingers went to her cheek. “Oh! I’m so sorry! We haven’t met. I’m Narinda.”

“Diandra,” Diandra said, moving in to touch cheeks.

When they separated, Narinda asked, “Are you from Hawkvale?”

“I am Korwahk but many years ago, yes, I was from the Vale.”

Narinda smiled at Diandra then at me. “Well, isn’t this wonderful? Now I have three people I can talk to and actually understand.”

“Yep, it’s pretty wonderful,” I replied.

She jumped and cried, “Oh my goodness! What am I thinking? Come in, come in. I’ll ask one of my… erm, people to get us some refreshments. Let’s get out of this sun.”

I smiled at Diandra as Narinda hustled us in her cham thinking the change was remarkable. That night that seemed years ago, Narinda might not have been cool but she was collected. Now she was acting like a schoolgirl with her first crush.

My savior my first night in this world was in a good place and I was glad of it. It felt nice to have one worry off my mind.

We went into her cham and I saw immediately that it wasn’t like mine. It wasn’t as big, for one. And there weren’t as many trunks. Nor chests. Nor candlesticks. The furniture was nice but not heavily carved. The sheet over the hides of the bed (which was smaller) was gauze, a pretty gauze but not silk. And there weren’t as many pillows and only a few of these were covered with silk or brocade, the rest were covered in cotton.

Though, I had to say, her outfit was kickass but it wasn’t shot with silver or gold. The sarong was red, her belt was braided red, purple and blue and her halter top was purple. She had earrings on, some bangles but nowhere near my finery.

Okay, maybe it was good being queen.

We settled lounging on her bed, her girl brought us fruit juice and a platter with slices of cheese and grapes and we chattered away. She told us she had picked up some Korwahk words while being transported and held prior to the Hunt but she wasn’t even close to fluent and obviously hadn’t lucked out and had an interpreter almost from the beginning like I did. And it was clear Feetak wasn’t doing his talking with words. Nevertheless, it was also clear what he was saying was stuff Narinda liked.

After I ascertained she was settling, she took over the conversation, her eyes coming to me. “I’ve been so worried about you. I tried to ask my girls and Feetak about you but they don’t know what I’m saying or, when they answer, I don’t know what they’re saying. The king,” she shook her head and shivered, “he was frightening. How are you handling everything?”

“It’s taken a bit of time and I was lucky to have Diandra’s help but I’m adjusting.”

She leaned into me and whispered, “It’s all very strange, don’t you think?”

I smiled at her. “You can say that again.”

She returned my smile and leaned back. “But, I’m thinking, not a bad strange, just a strange. Though, I’m also thinking it’ll take awhile to get used to it.”

And I was thinking she was not wrong about that.

She turned to Diandra. “How long did it take you?”

“I, like you and our queen, was lucky to be claimed by a warrior who grew to care for me very deeply, very quickly. So, I’m happy to say, it did not take long at all.”

Narinda’s eyes came to me and they were wide. “That large, fearsome man cares about you already?”

“Uh –” I started.

“Deeply,” Diandra said firmly, Narinda looked at her and then at me.

The she cried, “Isn’t that lovely! Oh, Circe, maybe this won’t be all that bad.” I bit my lip but she missed it when her head snapped to Diandra and she asked, “How long did it take you to learn their language?”

Thus commenced Narinda asking Diandra approximately one thousand seven hundred and twenty-three questions about all things Korwahk, Diandra answering these questions in great detail and then Diandra offering up juicy snippets of my life for the past week.

“Oh my,” Narinda breathed, “how wonderful he was so worried for you when you were ill. It’s almost, I can’t believe I’m going to say this but… romantic.”

Diandra beamed.

“The brute did leave me out in the sun for nine hours,” I grumbled, the light shining from Diandra’s face extinguished and she gave me a narrow-eyed look.

“Oh, I saw you,” Narinda said. “I tried to catch your eye but you didn’t see me and I couldn’t get Feetak to understand me when I said I wanted to go see you. Night had fallen and for some reason he didn’t want me close to the dais.”

Feetak was sounding better and better by the moment.

Narinda went on. “You looked kind of bored but very beautiful. All that gold. Your clothing was amazing. And your jewelry! Feetak has given me a chest full of it but you were wearing more just during that celebration than I have in my entire chest.”

Yep, there it was. Proof it was good being queen.

“Our Dax showers great bounty on his golden queen,” Diandra announced.

“I can see!” Narinda exclaimed, her eyes scanning my clothing and my jewelry which was again, I had to admit, a pretty spectacular show then she reached out and grabbed my hand. “But I’m sorry you were ill, Circe. I’m glad you’re better now.”

“Thanks, Narinda,” I said softly.

“The golden queen,” Narinda replied just as softly.

“That’s what they say,” I returned noncommittally.

She smiled a smile I remembered in a way I knew I would remember it until my dying day. It was small, it was weird, it was attached to not-so-good memories but it still was a treasure.

“It was awful,” she whispered her understatement. “But maybe we didn’t do all that badly.”

I recited words that I would also remember until my dying day but I had forgotten until just then, “What has been has been but what will be is what we make of it.”

Her eyes got moist and she squeezed my hand, I squeezed hers back at the same time I felt something settle in my heart.

What will be was what I made of it.

I needed to remember that.

There was a sudden commotion outside, all of our heads swung to the cham flaps and when it penetrated the noises sounded urgent, we all jumped up as one and ran out of the tent.

People were running towards a cham a few down and there were shouts.

“What’s going on?” I asked Diandra who I could see was listening to the shouts.

“A child in distress,” she answered, we three looked at each other then we all rushed to the cham. Once to the outside of the group surrounding it, people started noticing me and stepping back, clearing a path for their queen. I pulled my girls forward and when we got to the cham, just outside, there was a child, maybe two or three, his face purple and he was clearly not breathing. His mother was shaking him, fear saturating her face.

“My God,” I whispered at witnessing her distress then I noticed a large slab of dried meat on the ground. “Shit, that child is choking!” I cried, not thinking, and dashed forward.

It took some effort but I pulled the boy out of his mother’s arms, there were cries and shouts at my actions and she clawed at me to get him back but I ignored her, turned his back to my front and did the Heimlich maneuver that I’d learned during the health and safety class I made all my father’s movers take. It took four cautious (considering his age and size) heaves but the meat finally flew out of his mouth and he instantly choked in air.

When he was sucking back his next mighty gulp, I turned him into his mother’s arms and his arms feebly went around her neck. She collapsed on her ass, shoved her face in his little neck and burst into tears.

Shoo. Well, thank God for that health and safety class. It was finally worth all the bitching the boys treated me to for making them take it.

I smiled down at mother and child, touching his hair then touching hers then I turned to see a sea of faces all watching me silently.

Oh man.

All eyes remained on me and not a sound was made.

Damn, now what did I do?

Then someone suddenly shouted, “Kah rahna Dahksahna hahla!”

“Kah rahna Dahksahna hahla!” another shout rent the air.

Then another. And another. Then a chant. Then they started the clapping.

Jeez. It was just the Heimlich maneuver.

I looked at Diandra who was beaming ear to ear and Narinda who was looking at me funny but still smiling huge. Then I rolled my eyes at Diandra which made her break out into laughter.

Then I turned to the crowd and lifted my hands and pressed palms down to get them to stop chanting. It took a couple of palm presses but I was their queen, my husband could kick anyone’s ass so they shut up pretty quickly.

I started to walk away but my hand was grabbed and I looked down to the mother who still had tight hold on her child but she was kissing my hand.

“Shahsha, shahsha, shahsha kah rahna Dahksahna hahla. Shahsha,” she whispered against my hand and I did a knees closed squat next to her, gently twisted my hand from her grasp and touched my fingers to her lips.

“It was nothing, everybody knows how to do that where I come from,” I said and heard Diandra close, translating. “And it was my pleasure,” I added, Diandra interpreted then I smiled and finished on a whisper, “Nahrahka.”

She nodded to me, eyes big and grateful. I nodded back, got up, nodded to my, uh… people, then Diandra, Narinda and I went back to Narinda’s cham.