Shyla felt my excitement and arched her neck and pranced sideways to the spot right in front of my Brother and Heart-Mother who had joined him. The rest of those them in a half circle behind them with three of the warriors sideways, watching behind us as much as all of us. I looked but did not see my Birth-Mother and felt a lump in the pit of my stomach.
I got off Shyla and walked slowly up to my Heart-Mother, placing my hand on her cheek. She did the same then pulled my head down to hers, resting my forehead on hers.
" I missed your Wisdom, Mother of my Heart." She made a grunting laugh sound.
"We all missed your hunting until we got three days' fast walk from the Stronghold. The game was much more abundant. Those warriors who were on the fence, they have since changed their minds about staying, with you." I nodded and then asked where my Birth-Mother was.
"She is in the Tent, her ankle is broken in such a way as to hurt much when standing on it." I headed for the tent and said we could buy either a wagon or some horses for transport. When I got to my Birth-Mother I knelt at her side, placing my hand on her cheek, like my Heart-Mother she put her hand on mine, but then pulled me so that our other cheek's rested against each other, an overt show of great affection.
Some of the Warriors, pulled up the sides of the tent, making it into a very large canopy, that way all would be out of the misting drizzle. I sat upon a chest so that all might see me as I spoke to them. The warriors at the back did not sit but stood in such a way as to be able to see in all directions.
"Son we wish to hear of your Stronghold, how far you have come in seeing it come to pass, and what you have to say about the differences you talked about." I nodded and stood to one side, a place that had been left open for me. Navistas, Shaimar, and Marcurio came to stand beside me, with many surprises from my "family".
"First I wish to thank all of you for bringing my Mothers and sibling this far. As for the Stronghold, I have the gold for the land purchase, though have not yet asked to buy." I held up my hand as I heard grumbles. " Yes, traditionally we Orcs just take the land and dare the Jarls to take it away. It is only because we have always taken land no one else wants..poor land for everything but mining, that they had not asked the Imperial Army to take the land back. I do not want that kind of land, for us." I paused to let that sink in, but as I did so Navitas spoke up.
"I have been with the Imperial Army, as many Orcs do. Kurdan is correct, they could take back all the Strongholds if they wanted, just by putting troops at our door and waiting to starve us out, it would not take long." I saw the Hunters nodding, they more than anyone but the Hearth-Wife knew how fast the gathered food went. She had made the point that they might not have believed from me.
" What I do want is a different kind of Stronghold, yes a Stronghold, no one will call us "city Orcs". We will be even more self-sufficient because we will have the support. We will keep to the tenants of Malacath, for he does keep us strong. With some changes, the first is that we all will have the right to take a mate and have children. This has not made the Nords weak and I think our way is making us so." I held up my hand when I heard grumbling, an Orc will complain about being hit with a new ax.
"Navitas said it, Traditionally only the Strongest male breeds, but what is he breeding to?" I could see I had their attention. "Many of the strongest and most intelligent females, leave the strongholds to go into the Imperial Army or to some other place. Not all, but enough, enough that we are starting to get weaker as a people, though many do not see this. I want each of us to have the right to choose our own mate, to not have to fight for that right. I want our females to want to stay, to not have to be traded off to another stronghold, because they are "too close in family", that is the real reason, for the trading. The only females IN a stronghold are generally related to the Chief. "
I knew I had them and I went on to explain about finding farmers and craft people to help round out our Stronghold. Plot's for wheat and other staple plants, pen's for animals, near a river for fish. If they were not Orcs, well, they would teach us and we would protect them. Then I had to get to the most complicated part, Leadership, our people were used to an iron fist ruling them, with no say, the disaffected leaving.
"At first we will have a Tribunal, Myself, Navitas, and Marcurio, with My Heart-Mother as first Adviser and my Mother as Chatelaine, which will be the same thing she does as Hearth-wife. Eventually, we will find a Steward, who has contacts in the area he or she will be able to get those thing's we can't make or grow. Eventually, the Tribunal will be voted on and will be supported by advisers who are people from different areas of the stronghold, chosen by those who work with them. So Hunters will choose a Hunter as their adviser," that was enough of an explanation for now. Each of them would decide if my vision of a Stronghold was for them, or they would move on elsewhere.. they could not go back.
I would plan on leaving in the next day or so, but I needed to give them time to think. I talked to my Mother's and Brother and told them that I had asked Shaimar to take them to the house of Navitas's friends. My Mother's were disappointed but when I explained why, they understood.
Two days later as we left Markarth, With my Birth-Mother riding and newly purchased horses packed heavy with supplies. I watched them head south, very few of the Orcs had decided to go their own way, most said they at least wanted to see what I could do and if it would work.
Marcurio, Navitas, and I headed toward Mor Khazgur, we still had a book to track down for the Librarian, but we were now not in a hurry. We were also careful, the hills and peaks were full of Forsworn and they would attack us are readily as anyone else.
As we sat around the campfire, Navitas asked me why I had not asked her to take my Mothers to her friend's home. She sounded somewhat angry about it, so I choose my words with care and tried to explain what I had in mind.
"Navitas, did you notice how many young Orc males were with My Mothers? Including my brother." Marcurio got it before she did and started chuckling. Her brow furrowed, then I could see when she really figured it out. "Yes, she's a sweet young thing, but I much prefer a woman who's old enough to know her own mind. With all those young bucks, she ought to find one that she likes, if not, then at least she will have some leadership ability by the time she gets to the house, and until we get there, My Mother's will see to that."
I saw her cheeks grow a darker green and a quirk to her lip's that let me know, she understood what I was saying, but now was not the time.
"So you hope that she will find herself with your Mothers to show her?"
" I told my Mothers who she is and what they wanted her to be and that it wasn't her choice. They agreed to help her grow into the kind of Strong female Orc that our Stronghold needs, the kind that you are."
"Kurdan, I am trying to figure out why me as part of your Tribunal?" Marcurio spoke up for the first time, a frown on his face.
"Marc, I chose you, well because you are human, Navitas because she is a strong female Orc. I want the males and other females to get used to the idea and might as well start as I mean the Stronghold to go on. You may step down when you train your own replacement. Your replacement must not be Orc, but a human or another Mer is fine. Navitas, your replacement needs to be female, Orc, Mer, or human. I will have to decide how to pick my replacement, as I do want an Orc male. I have some ideas, but I need to think about them more." With that, I stood up and stretched.
"Marc, you take the first watch, I'll take Midwatch, Navitas, you can have the morning watch. Because you cook the best and I like my morning meal not to turn my stomach!" Marc threw a small piece of wood at me, which I batted away.
"It was only once! and how was I to know the eggs were bad, they didn't smell!"
I chuckled and held the tent flap for Navitas. Marcurio was placing runes and a circle ward around our camp, as I fell asleep.
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