To Get the Omen
And so the evening found me riding towards the first wagons. Not something I had done for a long time. Life had just seemed to converge around me. It was an odd jumpy feeling it gave me, to return to this place. How much it was mine and how at the same time it was like stepping into another world.
The Spex ... the woman Mahalah now the slave of Trajen had mentioned before she knew who I was. I didn't believe her completely ... but she was a Spex and so there was enough doubt there that it was dangerous for me to even be around the first wagons. And yet as much as I was drawn there for myself at times, this time I was drawn there for another reason.
Night had brought coolness. Shadows that eased my aching head. There was no one around the fires when I first got there but the slave Pariah and a free woman I had never met before. The woman was jumpy and nervous. Her fingers trembled around the cup of blackwine she drank. I found that curious, almost curious enough to distract me from why I was there. Was she afraid of me? There was no reason for fear, she was within the first wagons. So then there must be another reason and before I could ponder it further pariah was sent over to me and she brought a plump cool bota, and I can say it was Sky sent for it tasted very good as it washed the dust from my mouth and throat.
I remained in the saddle. Mostly out of the lack of desire to move, I still ached from top to bottom and then there was the fact that every time I moved the horizon did an unbroken kaiila dance on me.
People began to arrive, some I knew some I did not. They gathered around the fires and spoke among themselves. Lone arrived. I heard that he and Laquetta were mated. The first woman at the fire must be the woman Laquetta. I also met a woman called Tacita. She was beautiful. But I do not look much at the women here. They are not for me. They are of the first wagons.
Raven and isis came in and isis brought Kai a bucket of water for him to play with. She then approached my stirrup and lifted her crossed wrists to me. I was puzzled for a moment andI paused in the hydration of my body. She begged me to buy her. That shocked me. I asked her why. Why she would ask me to buy her, she did not know me.
What I wanted to say was...
how would I buy you? I am only an outrider and you belong to the Ubar of my people. You are a valued kajira kept at the first wagons. How could I ever buy such a slave? All my property together might not even be enough.
But that is not what I said. I am a proud man.
The Spex ... the woman Mahalah now the slave of Trajen had mentioned before she knew who I was. I didn't believe her completely ... but she was a Spex and so there was enough doubt there that it was dangerous for me to even be around the first wagons. And yet as much as I was drawn there for myself at times, this time I was drawn there for another reason.
Night had brought coolness. Shadows that eased my aching head. There was no one around the fires when I first got there but the slave Pariah and a free woman I had never met before. The woman was jumpy and nervous. Her fingers trembled around the cup of blackwine she drank. I found that curious, almost curious enough to distract me from why I was there. Was she afraid of me? There was no reason for fear, she was within the first wagons. So then there must be another reason and before I could ponder it further pariah was sent over to me and she brought a plump cool bota, and I can say it was Sky sent for it tasted very good as it washed the dust from my mouth and throat.
I remained in the saddle. Mostly out of the lack of desire to move, I still ached from top to bottom and then there was the fact that every time I moved the horizon did an unbroken kaiila dance on me.
People began to arrive, some I knew some I did not. They gathered around the fires and spoke among themselves. Lone arrived. I heard that he and Laquetta were mated. The first woman at the fire must be the woman Laquetta. I also met a woman called Tacita. She was beautiful. But I do not look much at the women here. They are not for me. They are of the first wagons.
Raven and isis came in and isis brought Kai a bucket of water for him to play with. She then approached my stirrup and lifted her crossed wrists to me. I was puzzled for a moment andI paused in the hydration of my body. She begged me to buy her. That shocked me. I asked her why. Why she would ask me to buy her, she did not know me.
What I wanted to say was...
how would I buy you? I am only an outrider and you belong to the Ubar of my people. You are a valued kajira kept at the first wagons. How could I ever buy such a slave? All my property together might not even be enough.
But that is not what I said. I am a proud man.
posted by Fonce of the Tuchuk at
3:33 PM
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