"Come with me. When my father returns for me before the winter, come join us." She looked up at me with those large, dark eyes of hers and I was compelled to agree.
I smiled and kissed her softly on the lips. "Alright, I will."
The summer passed quickly, as summers are wont to do. Everything was transformed into vibrant greens and bright arrays of colour for a few short months before, all too soon, fading back again into the dismal greys and browns of autumn.
Rebecca tried her best to distract me when the men all went out to the Hunt. She was wonderful, but I was too angry and despondent to forget the fact that I was the only one left behind, save for the women, young children, and old, blind Hagi who had been on more Hunts than anyone and had earned a rest. I alone was left, I alone was a failure.
The men set out in the middle of the season, ranging far from the mountain in search of large prey. Two weeks later they returned, heavily laden with enough meat to see us through the winter, once it had been preserved by the women. As always, we continued eating the small game as we caught it, until the snows came.
In the meantime, Bec and I talked. We planned where we would go and what we would do when we joined the caravan and headed south. I had never been anywhere else besides my village and had no idea what to expect. I knew that Fremmenik Province, of which even that I had seen so little, was only a part of the world, but I'd had no idea how vast it was, or how different.
Rebecca filled my head with stories of the places she had seen. I heard of cities made entirely of stone, even the dwelling places. Supposedly cities are full of noise and people, though there is very little in the way of growing things. She told me also of deserts that are hot and dry and brown, inhabited by few, and islands nestled in a wide expanse of ocean. Many of the places she told me of, even she had never seen, only heard of in stories.
05-Apr-2007 12:26:51
- Last edited on
01-May-2007 13:23:17
by
Roshinda
Nice so far.