Wednesday, August 3, 2016

The Storm Break's on a New Day pg 13

I woke to the feel of a hand snaking down my chest towards my dagger, when it was almost at my hip, I reached up and grabbed and found a wrist, which I twisted and pulled across me as hard as I could, sending the person flying over me. The female screech told me I may have made a tactical error in flinging her. Marcurio lit up the tent with a spell and we all sat up to see Shaimar rolling to her stomach and trying to climb out of our baggage.

I exclaimed "What the..." as she got to her knee's, took one look at the three of us watching her and went a very dark green.  I could see it in her eye's, she was going to bolt, I yelled "Marc!", figuring he knew a spell that might stop her, but he launched himself at her and held her tight when she started wiggling and bucking.

 Navitas crawled over and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Sister, stop, your making it very...err difficult on Marc." noticing the strain on his face. "What where you doing?" Shaimar started sobbing, huge gulping sobs that were heart wrenching to hear.

" I  I thou..ght if I pleased him, he would ma..make me his fir..first Wife, not you." I closed my eye's and thought hard for a moment, but Navitas beat me to it.

"Now who said I was going to marry Kurdan? Who said he wanted to marry me in the first place? Hmm?" Well it's not the direction I would have went, but it was a good one. I crawled over so that I could sit next to Marc on the opposite side as Navitas.

"Shaimar, it will be year's before I even think to marry, the Stronghold must be built, self-sufficient  and all those with-in know that they are as important as I. The women know that they can marry as they choose, any male they choose and have children. The men to know the same and that they don't need to challenge to be Chief to do so. If I marry right away, it will look like I want the same things I left."

I put my hand on her chin and lifted her face.

" Never be shammed because you think you have to do the thing's your mother said.. that tradition dictates. I will take a wife, IF that is what you want after you do some growing and know your own mind, then I would not be ashamed to call you wife. That is year's from now and I think you need to quit squirming on Marc's lap or he may think your interested."  I had seen that Marc was biting the inside of his cheek and his face getting more and more strained.

Shaimar fairly leaped off Marc's lap and sat beside Navitas. " Urag said that he thought I should follow my heart to what I want to be the most." She looked at Navitas, "and that is to be like you, but I..well I don't think I could be a single warrior among men."  Navitas shook her head.

"Oh, Sister. You must not have understood, I have two Heart-Sister's  that would love you. When they get back, we will talk about you joining us, IF you want to." Shaimar tilted her head and had a very contemplative look on her face.

"I do not understand exactly what it is you mean by Heart-Sister, if they are not of your clan?" Navitas shook her head.

"Azul is an Imperial, Nic is a Bosmer, they went to the Imperial City to see if they could find a cure for the Vampirism that Azul caught. Then they may go to Valenwood to visit Nic's family. We started out in the same Imperial training company and have been together through vampire hunts, bounty hunting and many other things. We decided that if my mate can't except them, not necessarily as wife, but as Sister and the same for their perspective mates, then we would not marry." Shaimar's smile lit the tent.

"This is what I want, yes to have a family that Love's me for me, not because of my body proportions."  I coughed and got their attention.

"That is one of the thing's that I want in my Stronghold, the ability for everyone to do as they wish, not as tradition dictates. The only thing traditional I want is the Strength, Honor and sense of self that the Stronghold's give. Our people are strong, but they will not stay so, not with our strongest women leaving and sometimes it isn't the strongest male that win's, but the one with the most cunning."

" Our crafting skill's are among the best and highly sought after. But how many of our best smith's never return to a Stronghold? They don't want to be one wife among many, but they want children, so we call them "City Orc's" and all in the Stronghold's think them weak. I do not think City Orc's are weak and I think we will prove to the other Strongholds that "tradition" has many faces"

"For now Ladies and Gentleman, I think sleep is in order. Marc, I think it's your watch, wake me in three hours and I'll take over." He nodded and understood, I knew it would be a while before he'd get back to sleep, I had been in that state before.


The storm lasted another two days and in that time we went over the notes that we had written, reading them to each other, Navitas or Marc taking notes. Each of us coming up with idea's that would work with the concept that I wanted in a Stronghold. Tradition, tempered with innovation, Strength with honor and compassion. How we would go about making ourselves even more self reliant that most "traditional" Strongholds, they had blind spot's, that we would open to the light and chase the cobweb's out of.

I knew I had chosen rightly, having Marc along, having him as a core member of our Stronghold. Having Navitas and her Heart-Sister's was one of the most important thing's that I will work towards. I knew i needed the kind's of people that could do the thing's that a town or village could do. That was one of the major problem's with the "Traditional" Strongholds, the touted being self-reliant but had to get food-stuff's and cloth from outside. We would change that.


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