Point of Order

Clattering rain outside filled the air with moisture as Geraln and I descended the stairs leading to the dungeon. We reached the bottom and saw Davod sitting cross-legged in his cell talking to Yumi, who sat facing him. There was a brown burlap sack beside her with a plate before each of them—scraps on hers, and half a bread roll with some cheese on his. When we came up, she shifted her legs to stand and reached for the leftovers.

Davod held out his hand to her and spoke excitedly. "No, wait." He looked up at us. "Guys! Check this out. Did you know, so, um… OK. Did you know that sha means basically, that? So when they say something-something, sha, and then something else, like, the sha separates the two things." He turned to Yumi. "Is that right?"

Yumi gave us a nervous smile, then turned her attention back to Davod. "ʃa, yes. Give the example."

Davod pulled back and sat up in thought. The braids in his hair had been undone, and his locks fell over his shoulders leaving his Falcon tattoo peeking out from beneath. He held up a finger. "Ok. Uh… I'm angry that you ate my food. 'uzi matha-de sha guwo-se, guwo-vi-de"

She giggled and corrected him. "du."

"guwovidu. Sorry. Why is it that?"

Geraln answered. "ɣʊwovide, my food is the subject, ɣʊwovidu, my food is the object."

Davod stared at him blankly, and me and Geraln sat down. 

Yumi looked at the two of us, then lifted the end of her sack to show us what was inside. "Do you want?"

Geraln asked, "what's in there?"

I leaned in. Bread rolls, a quarter of cheese wrapped up in paper, and a tin basket of grapes. She had small ceramic jars of stuff…

Geraln answered, "I'm starving."

Yumi smiled wide and portioned out some food. She was about maybe an inch or two taller than Miyani, meaning the top of her head would scarcely come up to his chest, and she had the same muscular physique. Same exceedingly dark-green skin, bright yellow eyes, though Miyani's were a shade brighter. They both wore sharpened black-lacquer spikes as fingernails. Yumi, however, had tiny glass beads in the shape of a flower on each of hers.

She was dressed the same, with naught but a leather belt that held up a flap of fabric in the front and back leaving her heavy legs, her fit tummy, hips, and bare breasts out. Miyani usually wore a rough, undyed cotton loincloth that draped perfectly over her muscular arse, God, just the image of her in my mind! Yumi had on a large, rough-silk dyed a deep red and embroidered with silver, and she used the back flap as a mat to sit upon the dirty stone floor.

Miyani wore her ivory hair in a pixie-cut about her ears with a little more body in the back. Yumi wore hers in two long braids over her shoulders, at the end of which she had large, red glass beads in the shape of bumblebees with black-and-yellow stripes painted on that dangled about her generous breasts. Her eyes had a rising-sun shape the same as Sarina had, and she ran those eyes all over my friend without reservation.

Geraln raised a finger. "Point of order."

Davod laughed. "Now? Seriously?"

I answered, "can you think of a better time?" I turned to Yumi. "Yumi. Do you admit to having a crush on our friend?"

Davod shook his head, still smiling, "you don't have to answer that."

Yumi shrugged and answered without the slightest reservation. "He is attractive. I would like to fuck him at least once."

The three of us giggled as one. I buried my eyes in my knees, Geraln shook his head and couldn't stop convulsing from laughter. Davod's cheeks grew flush and he fought back a wry grin. Yumi glanced at each of us and shook her head with a warm smile. "Why is your kind so ashamed to talk of such things?"

I tried to contain myself long enough to lean in, "for the record, you're saying at least once. Is that correct?"

She smiled and tilted her head to one side. "Beyond that, Mother will guide me."

I nodded. Then I turned to my right, "Geraln, you may serve the first question."

He nodded and turned to Yumi. "Alright, let's begin. Hellroot or nice pepper. Which one is hotter?"

She opened her eyes wide and looked around with a light giggle. "Uh… OK… well, I was never a fan of spicy food. I don't know."

Geraln raised his hands some. "Why not?"

Davod raised a finger, "protest. Follow-up."

"I yield."

Yumi glanced back and forth between them and giggled lightly. I went. "My turn. This is a required question. Yumi. Where were you the day we came here?"

Davod reached out a hand to her and touched the stone floor as close as he could. His voice was soft and gentle. "You don't have to answer that if you don't want to—he's required to ask is all."

She waved flippantly. "It was Apex's twelfth anniversary. She sought to bring my ear for her husband, so I had to deal with that."

"Oh," the three of us nodded. I raised my finger, "move to proclaim. Yumi, you are much prettier with both your ears attached to your head.

Geraln raised his, "I second."

Davod laughed and shook his head. "I third."

She squinted at us but couldn't stop laughing. Davod then leaned in, pressing his face against the iron bars and spoke softly, "it's your turn. You can ask any one of us a question, and we have to answer."

Geraln added, "there are rules, but mostly we have to answer.

"I see," she nodded and looked around. She snapped her gaze off to my left. A prisoner in another cell slinked into the darkness. Then she nodded. "I believe I also have a required question. Caleb. How serious are you about Miyani?"

"I like her."

"Can you be more specific?"

I shrugged. "I really like her. She sees something in me. I don't know what it is, I'm not even sure if she knows what it is, but when I'm with her, I feel…"

Yumi shot back, "if that's true, then why have you not fucked her pussy yet?"

My eyes bulged from shock. Geraln snickered, and my two friends spoke in unison, "it's his religion."

Yumi's accent was pronounced but clean, and she spoke with her hands, "if this war claims you tomorrow, what will you say to your god? You held out for what?"

Geraln tapped me in my arm and added, "Jaysa was killed today."

"What?" I looked up at him.

Yumi looked down. "The jungle feasts."

Geraln nodded. "Yeah, that guy who was up on the roof with us? Him and two others from Kylen's group."

I needed a moment for that to sink in. Behind Yumi, water dripped down from the long line of a crack that ran the wall on that side and pooled into the corners on the floor. I watched as Geraln took a piece of cheese and nibbled at the thing. He pulled his face back in shock. "Is that?"

Davod grinned wide and leaned into him, pressing his face into the iron bars. "Aged bison cheese swirled with nuts and berries and then smoked."

Geraln took a decent bite. "OK, but what is that?"

Yumi smiled at him and answered, "it is called taku. It grows higher up; we put it in everything."

I went back to the moment Miyani raced back to the tower to embrace me as soon as she heard about Davod. Then I thought about the evening when I acted like an arse over that boy. It took us over an hour to work out the words for how, since I'm not Na'uhui, no girl would ever ask me for 'æmiʃʌði, and because of that it wouldn't be fair for her to entertain that boy. I could talk to her, and that mattered. She wanted us to make love—If this war did claim me tomorrow, what could I possibly say to her?

Davod took his turn. "Yumi. Have you ever touched the vine?"

Her eyes shot open, "no. Next question." She looked seriously at Geraln. 

Davod lowered his eyes and stared into his lap. While Geraln was busy taking a bite from his plate, a man's voice came from another cell to my right. "sekɪwa. ʃʊsi xewekʊse ʃa gæðude?"

We all glanced at him. He had a white, coiled snake tattoo on his right shoulder. "ya'uðesa ʃʌsæ'æde kitifikaŋi. ba xosodesa…"

Yumi shot back, "vʌ. pʊ yudasa"

His voice trailed off, "ʃʊsi bʊ'apesedu," and he lay back down on the stone floor.

Geraln served the next question. "OK, so Yumi. Will you please come back to us?"

She laughed. Davod furrowed his brow, so I explained. "They named Borel as our new captain. I don't know why."

Yumi inserted, "princess likes him."

"Oh really?"

She smiled and nodded. 

Geraln continued. "He's pissed off every sekiwa they gave us. Marya refuses to take us out anymore. Yumi gave us two days, and they brought this new lady in from Tower Three…"

"Keelin," I added. 

Geraln nodded. "Right. She's a looker, too, pure-blooded Herali. I'm not even sure if she's our age, but we all managed to piss her off. Now none of the sekiwa want to deal with us."

Yumi furrowed her brow at him. "You need to be careful. They won't say this to you, but useless men are expendable."

Geraln threw up his hands. "What the hell are we supposed to do when that arrogant sack of meat refuses to listen to anyone but the bloody mosquito in his ear?"

I shrugged. "He is decisive."

Geraln turned to face me. "Decisive on going the wrong way, you mean?" He turned back to Davod, who still hadn't lifted his eyes. "You want to know what that shit-brained mongrel did? He tells Keelin he won't follow her until she picks one of us to sleep with. Then she disappears for… basically the whole day. She didn't even come back to get us; Miyani did. Then he starts mouthing off at her until this kid," he pointed his thumb at me, "threatens to punch him in the face. And of course Blue's right there, too."

Yumi pulled a small ceramic jar from her bag and brought out a knife. She then cut some slices from the bread rolls and slathered on something smooth and purple, with dots of stuff throughout. And this stuff, let me tell you. It was like butter, but creamier, and had a salty, slightly fishy taste. And it was gooooood.

It was my turn. "Yumi. Why did you refuse to translate for me and Miyani the other night?"

She smirked from one side of her mouth. "Because if she breaks up with you, I'm out six-hundred-thirty-five kren. Hell no, I'm not going to translate that!"

"What!"

Geraln nudged, "you bet that on what, exactly?"

Davod raised a finger. "Protest. Follow-up."

I answered him, "clarifying."

Geraln added, "second. Overruled."

Davod quietly explained, "sorry, you have to answer that one."

She looked between the three of us once more and giggled. Then she settled her smiling eyes on me. "OK, so technically if she breaks up with you I make a hundred-twenty-three. If you're still together come dry season, I make seven-hundred-fifty-eight."

Geraln leaned in, "how the hell did you manage that?"

She shrugged. "Gotta know the numbers. ʃevi and Borel, even money she forgets him as soon as he leaves the tower, three-to-two she gets her baby. One-to-fifteen he pledges his undying love and can't live without her. sofiya and Northstar…"

Davod raised a hand, "I forfeit to follow-up. What, exactly, did Miyani say?"

Yumi furrowed her brow and stared at him. Geraln explained, "it means he skips his next turn because we need to know this right now."

I added, "and you're only allowed to do that once."

Yumi smirked. "You want to know what she said?"

Davod grinned and the two of them seemed to be making a lot of eye-contact. "You have to tell us."

Yumi laughed and squinted at me. "She said that you are a worm that lives beneath the shit that the fly is on."

I shrugged and glanced at Geraln. He laughed. "That's it?"

Davod nodded to me with a grin, "what was it Juliara said to you?"

I scratched my head. "I don't remember."

Yumi laughed and shook her head. We shared some of the grapes, which would have been way too sweet to make a decent wine. I wasn't sure what I'd have brewed them into, or if that was even possible, but they were sweet.

Geraln held up a finger and looked at her. "It's your turn."

She nodded and turned to Davod with a sure smile. "Who is Runya, and what promises did you make to her?"

Geraln huffed while I explained. "She's his Naveris."

Davod bobbed his head back and forth. "She and I talked about where things were going between us, and we decided it would be best if we keep our options open. If we find our way back together, if that's what Falcon wants for us, then it'll turn out that way."

She grinned slightly. "Options open, huh?"

He chuckled. "Yeah, something like that."

Yumi leaned in some more. "She wants to play around!"

"Well…"

"Yes," Yumi insisted. "She doesn't know if you're going to come back. I understand."

Davod then raised a finger. "I have a disclosure."

Geraln and I turned to face him, but his attention was on Yumi. He scrunched his lips and took a deep breath. Then slowly, he continued. "My parents would reject you."

She popped her eyebrows. 

"I wouldn't… just… so that at least once thing you mentioned earlier, I kinda like the idea of that, but in case there is anything beyond, you should probably know this. My parents… I mean… part of what they like about Runya is she's a 'true Herali girl.' If I brought home someone like you, they'd…"

She nodded and pursed her lips. 

He waved his hands before him and shook his head vigorously. "I don't have any problems, believe me. But they…"

I nodded. "They would need time to get used to the idea."

She faced me directly. "What will your parents say if you brought Miyani home?"

Geraln answered for me, "He's got no parents; he's an orphan. But point of order," he raised a finger, "it's my turn. Yumi. Where are you from?"

"Carthia, born and raised."

I followed that, "were you returned there?"

"No," she shook her head. As she spoke, Davod's eyes took a nimble walk around her breasts. "The story my parents told, some elder discovered that some person long dead did something they didn't already know about, and they decided to kill all their descendants. My father escaped to Carthia with my mother's help. They were just friends, but then they stayed and made a life together."

I took my turn. "Yumi. How did you become a scout?"

She shook her head. "I hate that word. It's such a bad translation; we are so much more than scouts."

"sekɪwa, sorry. How old were you? What was it like? What drove you?"

The three of us Gathi all leaned back some and rested on our hands for her to explain. 

"When we are very young, we are mingled with vita'o of the same age and told to play together. When they see a good match, we are tested to see if it is possible for us to become sekɪwa. Then, it is a lot of training! It was very difficult. Look…"

She pushed out her leg and showed us a scar in the shape of a small arc on the back of her leg just above her ankle that must have healed a decade ago. "I was very frustrated. I felt like I couldn't do anything right, so I quit. Queen wouldn't allow it. Then, there are rules."

"Like what?"

She took a deep breath and leaned in to the three of us. "You have to stay small. The vita'o cannot carry heavy passengers, so you must remain small. If that means going without food when your body is growing, then that is what it means. The other thing is you also must accept the bond as your life blood, and there is nothing that can break it. No boyfriend or husband, nothing, no one. A lot of men don't want to involve with a woman with a vita'o; they have to be the center of her attention."

I twisted my arm around to look at my own scar. "I like Blue. We get along pretty well I think?"

Yumi nodded. "That's good! But now it is my turn. Geraln. Why did you take Davod's bow?"

"Gods!" Geraln shook his head and nearly laughed. He turned to Davod, "you're still on about that?"

Davod laughed. I held up a finger, "I'll take this one. So basically, Shaynem, he's this old guy in the village where we grew up. He was teaching us all how to use the etching tools, and we all worked together to make that bow. We decided on calligraphy from the ancient Falcon text, and we all did it. I can show you the part I did. Anyway, he kinda promised it to Davod…"

Davod interjected, "he did promise."

"...but Geraln's mum bought it instead. And… you know… money."

Yumi looked at Geraln and followed up, "what does it say? This ancient calligraphy from Falcon text?"

Davod answered, "for every flower a place to bloom."

She squinted her eyes around at each of us. "I've heard that before. What does it mean?"

I shrugged and smiled, "depends on who you ask, really."

She asked me, "what does it mean to you?"

I breathed in deep and thought about it, but it was Davod who spoke first. "OK, so the story goes that Elk, after the big fight… OK, so there was this big fight between Elk, and Falcon and Cougar allied against Elk and all his friends. This was after the fight between Cougar and Bear…"

Geraln explained, "there's a lot of fights in the Epic."

Davod continued. "Right, so in the end, Naveris comes down and tells them all, for every flower a place to bloom, and when they all understood that, there was peace."

"Balance," I corrected him. "There was balance, not peace."

He looked at me, "same thing."

"Not exactly."

Geraln lifted up his hands, "it's the end of the epic, basically."

Yumi laughed. "I am still confused!"

I tried to clarify. "After the doom was opened, all the animals were scared. Elk told them that he would put everything back the way it was. He couldn't, obviously, but Rattlesnake believed him. Rattlesnake was, uh…"

I looked at Davod, who took the baton. "Rattlesnake was the first one to follow Elk. He started going around and threatening the others, one by one, until they believed in Elk as well. Cougar wasn't having it. He saw that Falcon didn't believe in him either, and they made a pact to gather up everyone who wasn't part of it and forged an alliance against Elk. That's when things got real nasty. It's poetic, but it's tragic."

Geraln explained. "The war destroyed everything and everyone, and it lasted their whole lives—they kept fighting until there was no one left to fight but their children. And so their children don't even know how it started, but they're fighting because that's all they've ever known. Naveris is Falcon's daughter. She woke up one day and sought the Wandering Star for answers. Dali told her," 

I added, "that's our name for it, by the way."

Yumi smiled at me. "Shimani, the wandering star, yes."

"Anyway," Geraln continued, "so basically Dali tells Naveris that she should teach the children everything, starting with for every flower a place to bloom. Now, whatever that means to you…"

I raised my hand, "forfeit to follow-up. Yumi. What kind of mythology did you grow up with?"

Davod sneered, "it's not mythology!"

Geraln shook his head and frowned at me. "Come on, man. Really?"

I cocked my head. "Religious stories?"

"Ahh?" Yumi raised her eyebrows and smiled. Then she reached into her bag, dug through to the bottom, and pulled out a book with several places marked and some pages worn through. She opened it and skimmed through until she found the one she was looking for, and flipped to it. She looked up at us with a smile. 

"I like this one. Yasi is the prophet. She asks Mother, why is there so much suffering in the world. That night, she dreamed and she wrote down what she dreamed. 

"I was with Her. Everything was dark and formless, and I was with Her. And her presence spoke through my spirit, create. Enjoy your creation, and deny yourself no pleasure.

"And so this, I did. In my dream I created forests and mountains and hills, valleys, rivers, the sea. Snow in the high mountains I put, fish in the rivers, everything I could imagine I created, and it was all there before me. 

"And I remembered what Mother said to me, that I should deny myself no pleasure, and I created a lover. He was tall and strong, and handsome, and he did for me everything my body desired. And I enjoyed myself. But it was not long before I bored of him; he did exactly everything I wished, and nothing more.

"And so I created another lover. And I bored of him and created another. I had a library of lovers to choose from depending on what mood I was in, and I was bored with all of them. And so, I created a new lover and gave him the ability to choose his own path. He became jealous and killed all the others, and when I chastised him for it, he sought to destroy everything I created. 

"I had to start over. I set fire to the world I created and destroyed everything in it. I created everything new. Only this time, the lovers I created would all be able to choose their own path. I didn't want them to choose me simply because they had no other options, so I created other lovers for them to choose from."

Geraln raised a hand. "So wait, God allows suffering because otherwise it would be boring?"

I nodded, "that makes sense!"

Davod laughed, "it sure does explain a lot!"

Yumi pursed her lips and squinted at us. "Some of it may be lost in translation," she looked down. "That is basically that story. Davod, is it your turn?"

Yumi shot a glare at something behind me. I turned, and one of the other prisoners had slunk back into the corner.

Davod looked around nervously before settling his eyes on me. Then he twitched as though trying to control a blink. "Caleb. Have you thought about… um…" he twitched again. "Have you thought about touching the vine?"

"Uh…"

Geraln threw his hands up, "really? Come on, man!"

Davod lowered his eyes. "I'm sorry."

I shook my head. "No, I haven't. Not seriously."

Geraln stood.

Yumi started packing her things up. "It's fine, I have to go see Pu'iyo anyway. 

Davod reached out and grabbed her wrist as she took his plate. "I'm sorry."

She held still, her arm locked in place by his giant hand. "Um…"

"Please?" he begged. 

She looked at his eyes, then back and forth between his hand and his eyes, without speaking a word. He loosed, and she pulled away to pack up. She then smiled at him. "Davod, Geraln, Caleb, this has been a very pleasant conversation, and I hope we can do this again soon."

Davod waved, "bye."

"Bye," she waved back with a warm smile. Geraln waved as he walked off with her, but I didn't get up. 

Davod turned to me, nearly crying. "I'm sorry."

I tried to smile with him, but all I could manage was to take a deep breath. 

Davod hunched over and looked into his lap. "I'm sorry."

I nudged towards him. "You got that vine in you, man."

"I know," he shrugged. "I'm trying."

I started. "So, look…"

Behind me, Yumi's distant voice echoed across the stairwell. "Caleb, Miyani is looking for you!"

I smiled. "In response to your question,"

He relaxed and looked at me

"I have not considered it. The moment I saw what it was doing to you, I was terrified, and I'm still terrified. I have not considered touching the vine."

Davod took a deep breath and smiled. "Go on, win Yumi some money, then."

I pointed at him and laughed as I stood, "I'm going to remember that!"

He smiled, "you'd better!"

I climbed up through the stairwell and down the hall, and found Miyani in the covered area just outside the courtyard before the mess hall. I lingered a moment at the round bite scar on her left shoulder, but her face just took me. I wanted to slurp her body up with my eyes, but the way she looked at me, I could not remove myself from those bright yellow eyes.

Her smile reached across her beautiful face. "I dibs you!"

I smiled. "You what?"

"Tomorrow," she stepped forward and laid her fingers up along my chest. "I sekiwa you."