A Little Political Power Never Hurt Anyone...Right?

"So, Princess," Vernon said after dropping his hand planting both on his hips. "What are your plans for the rest of the day?"

I found that I didn't quite take offense when other people called me 'Princess'. It was nice from him in a 'cool uncle that drives a motorcycle' kind of way…the one who told embarrassing stories about your stiff-upper-lip dad. I thought for a moment, tapping my chin with my knuckle.

"I might take a walk around the village more. See what else could be improved…I just wish I had my purse…"

"OH!" Leigh piped up this time, grabbing my arm to get my attention. "I know where that is!"

I blinked down at him, then grinned.

"Yeah! Yeah! I put it in Brother's room yesterday."

Funny. I hadn't seen it or heard it be mentioned…

"Oh! Reaaalllyyy?" I said, turning my head slowly with a wide, obviously forced smile that I pointed at Gharret, who suddenly took to stretching and ignoring the conversation.

I took that moment to reach out and snag one of his ears. He yelped – which made Leigh and Vernon jump with looks of surprise on their faces – as I dragged him down to my level.

"Gharret…where is my purse…?" I said, sickly sweetness dripping from my voice. This was my patented 'poisoned candy apple' tone I liked to use on people only when they'd royally fucked up.

And NOBODY messes with a woman's purse. NO. BOD. EE.

"It's…uh…um…under…the bed, maybe?" he whined. I let go of his ear and he immediately covered it, pouting at me.

Vernon then proceeded to let out a massive, roaring laugh, throwing his head back and nearly doubling over backward from hysterics. When he calmed down enough to start wiping at his eyes, Gharret was frowning deeply and Leigh was attempting to conceal his own amusement…it was probably best for his own safety.

"I haven't seen a female snatch him up by his ears since he was a pup! And the only one who could was Caroline!"

Even I had to crack a smile at that. Big, bag, scary Gharret running around as a little toddler getting ear-snatched by his mother was a sight I almost wish I'd been around to see.

And, weird as it sounds, part of me wondered if any of his offspring would need ear-snatching. I shook my head and coughed a little.

"Can you run and get it for me, Gharret? Since you're the one that hid it in the first place?" He looked at me and I gave him a wide, sickly sweet smile and he sighed.

"Fine, fine. I'll be back." He acted as though it was such a difficult request, but he took off at a jog to go fetch it. When he was gone, Vernon chuckled again.

"I think you'd be a fine female to him," he commented, nodding his head sagely. I blushed and coughed a little, causing him to crack open an eye and see my awkwardness.

"Even the Goddess only had a small, select group of males she kept. Far below the norm at the time. My memories of the lore are that she came from a world that was very different from our own…" He rubbed his chin in thought and I nodded a response.

"Women and men tend to populate fairly evenly, so polygamy wasn't nearly as common as it wasn't seen as necessary. Monogamy – two-person relationships – dominated as the norm because, I suppose, it was just more fair. We also didn't have to worry about hunting or foraging or farming or anything like that…"

Vernon nodded his head and sighed. "So strange…perhaps one day this world will be like that, but I certainly won't be alive long enough to see it." He grinned a little, albeit sadly. I smiled a little and shook my head.

"By all means. Enjoy what you have now, in this time period. The more complex a society becomes, the more often stupid people come into power and start making bad decisions that hurt everyone." He chuckled in response.

"Believe me, it happens anyway. But it sounds as though you have much lore and information that you draw on, as well. Your lore-keepers must have been wise or held fantastic memories…" He trailed off and his keen eyes told me he was fishing for the secrets to knowledge preservation. Luckily, I was more than happy to assist him…as it was one of my future projects.

"The answer you're looking for, Vernon, belongs to what my people call 'paper' and the 'printing press'." He smirked and was quiet for a moment as he waited for me to continue, so I obliged him. "Also writing. Recording events, and how they happened, and preserving that information so that its easily accessible to future generations to learn from is the basis of education. With records of lore and events that happened a long time ago, even many thousands of years later, we can learn from the mistakes of our ancestors and avoid those problems they encountered."

He bobbed his head, his grin growing wider. The little tug at my arm made me glance over at Leigh, who was staring in abject, unadulterated WONDER at me.

"Woah…," he breathed. I could only laugh.

"I take it writing hasn't really taken off in this world, has it?" I asked as I looked back to Vernon, who shook his head.

"I haven't a clue about what writing is, so I can only assume that's a no. All we have is what has been told to us by previous elders. We keep that information fresh and accurate by sharing stories among ourselves and the children of the village." I sighed in response.

"I intend to create paper here in this world. I'm going to need it for what I intend to do. Also, a writing system, to allow for record-keeping. Math would come afterwards, of course-" Leigh tugged on my arm, a curious look on his face.

"What's 'Math'?" he asked. I figured he might.

"A complex way of counting numbers really high. Like…figuring out how many grains of rice are in an entire bag without having to count every single one." My explanation seemed to blow his tiny brain out of his ears, because he gasped and went back to staring at me in wonder. Vernon, meanwhile, lifted his chin in pride, a great grin spreading across his features.

"I see you have lots of plans for us, Princess…A word of advice, if I may…?" I blinked curiously and bobbed my head.

"It may seem unfavorable to someone as intelligent as you clearly are…but mating for political power would put you in a better position among those in the village to better distribute your ideas and advancements. Don't you think? Being the 'only one' that Gharret would accept – and he is quite the popular Chieftan, here, young as he is – would shine an already bright light on a bright individual. Get it?" He finished with a grin and a wink and I gasped.

Oh shit. He was right.