Run Away With Me

Run Away With Me

Once the Singer had gotten herself dressed, she left my wagon and started heading off... to her own wagons, I knew. Out of compulsion I walked with her. Hoping perhaps to make her see things reasonably.

"Come away with me, T'zuri." It is best to just run like hell when you're in that much trouble. A month on the open plains and they'd forget all about her... about us.

"You have nothing to hide. You only helped me, you know.. or did you.. enjoy looking at me when I was naked?"

I had a month off from my outrider patrol duty afterall. I could spend it out on the Plains if I so desired. Who is there to tell me I have to spend it at home inside my wagon? No one. No mama, no wife. Not even Mrs. Cornwall can boss me that way. Even if she does try to nag me a little whenever she gets the chance.

"Well... I'm going anyway." With or without you, girlie girl. And I had everything to hide! Especially if I wanted to get over all these thoughts continually plaguing me... Naked. Boobs. Belly. Thighs. Naked in my furs. Naked inside my clothes. "If you want to stay naked... I mean here!" Shit... hate when those verbal slips happen! Maybe she didn't notice? "You go right ahead."

"You did like seeing me naked, didn't you? That's why you want to leave so badly! Well, you can go Kazhuye.. but I have to stay here."

Ohhh! She was trying to guilt me with shame. And it worked. Strange that! Even though I cannot possibly be the only man alive who likes the way a naked woman looks! Wondering what she feels like; smells like, etc. And here she was dogging me for it too!

I hung my head down. Busted! She doesn't like me anymore. She is disgusted with me. I can tell. And this only furthered my need for some man space. Man time. To do man things. I turned around suddenly and took off running... back to the outer outskirts of the vast Tuchuk wagon camp where my Necessity was tethered near my own wagons.

[ ... ]

Do You Have To Tell Him?

Do You Have To Tell Him?

"Who cares for you now... with your papa gone?" Men don't really need women, you see. But women... they sure need men. Don't they?

"Well.. The Ubar is my guardian, if that's what you mean. I live with Mama and an elderly woman who I care for.. she is Letti."

I had been younger than her when I'd lost my own father. A fledgling adolescent at the age of fourteen. I'd only just earned my name and my very first courage scar when it had happened. And right up to that point, I'd been at my father's side almost constantly. We two were inseperable. Make that three... counting Necessity, who'd been the elder Year Keeper's mount for a few decades. When he died, I didn't have the luxury of running to find another man for help. I was forced to become that man. Overnight. It was do or die.

Now the mention of the Ubar being her guardian made me stop dead in my tracks. For there she was, wearing my clothes after having been out all night long. All night long, drinking paga and... being generally naked in my wagon!

What is it, Kazhuye? You knew I sang for the First Wagons, yes? I'm sure I mentioned it before."

"Well..." Now Mrs. Cornwall's snooping might've been easily fended off, despite her apparant reluctance to believe nothing had happened between us all night in my wagon. Despite the fact T'zuri had spilled out of it early next morning... dressed in my clothes! But another man? Pfft. He wasn't going to buy it. Men always believed the worst... mosreso when it came to their own dotters. Or... little girls they guarded like surrogate fathers.

"Are you... do you have to tell him?" Naturally her mother and the other woman she lived with, might demand an answer. But was she gonna tell her guardian... the Ubar??

I was already backing away from her, dreading deep down the answer had to be 'yes!' I knew I'd be in for an ass kickin... sleeping all night with a woman whose guardian is the Ubar himself!

[ ... ]

How Much Did You See?

How Much Did You See?

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"What are you looking at, Kazhuye?" She had that accusing look on her face as she crossed her arms over her chest after turning her back to me and rummaging through my clothing... apparently looking for her clothes. She gave up and put on my shirt. My only other shirt besides the one I was still wearing.

"My shirt... " My gaze snapped right back to her face. "Nothing!" I wasn't starting at her chest! Alright, yes I was.

Clothes made of leather might take... ohhh... about a month to dry. "Do you think you can get them on?" Did she know how... beautiful she was... wearing my shirt??? Evil..evil. I reached down and kind of... tossed her wet things to her. No way in hell I'd go near though, and actually hand them to her. Afterward I turned about face. I expected she'd want a little privacy while changing into them. Or... trying to, anyway.

"How many times.. are you going to say.. nothing? Just let me get dressed and I'll walk home." She paused for a few ehn "Do you think I could.. borrow your clothes?"


"T'zuri... I'm sorry. I saw you... and I didn't mean to." Time for truth while I had my back turned to her. "I think it was an accident." Drunk or not, I was sure she had not meant for me to see her naked. "Do you remember? Anything?" I peeked back, very slightly turning my head to catch but a mere glimpse of her from the corner of my eyes. "You... you don't have to leave."

I wanted her to go. But I wanted her to stay. I've never been so jumbled in all my life. For the first time ever, not knowing what I wanted.

"What did you .. see? I don't remember anything that happened after we got here, Kazhuye."

She caught me peeking, but didn't yell at me.

"Everything?" I turned my eyes back to the wagon wall again. "You drank a lot of paga... for a girl." I let her off the hook with a plausible alibi. Of course. She was just drunk. Didn't know what she was doing. The first woman I'd come even remotely close to... well... nevermind. She didn't remember, and so it was as if it never happened. But how in the world had I wound up curled right beside her in the night?

[ ... ]

Who's Been Sleeping In My Bed

Who's Been Sleeping In My Bed

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I do not remember ever falling asleep. I only remember waking. In the usual place.


"Kazhuye! What are you doing in my bed?!"

But that was not the usual sound I awoke too. I pulled to rub the sand from my eyes, only to find my arms and legs quite tangled around... T'zuri's. And me... staring at the shining gold ring in her nose!

"I didn't do anything!" Did I? Hard to think straight when you're full of morning grog. I never pulled away from someone so fast in my life... only to retreat to the far side of the wagon again.

It was then that the Singer realized she was in my bed.
"Kazhuye! Where are my clothes??!"

[ ... ]

Keeping Watch

Keeping Watch

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I could not make her sleep outside. Nor could I take her home to her own wagon in such a compromised state, (even if I knew where it was!) Who would ever believe me that nothing happened? Come to think of it, I wasn't sure I wanted people's disbelief. Especially Cornwall's! No, it was best she stayed here and out of site. That way no one asked any questions that I'd have to explain. And that way, neither of our reputations were laid to the line.



I reached over and closed the fur around the Singer to hide her nakedness before glancing around to make sure no one had seen what she'd just done. Somehow... I knew I would be blamed for getting the woman drunk and taking advantage of her. And damn! She sure was pretty without her clothes on. Prettier than I ever imagined she'd be. Not that I have been undressing her in my mind all the time since I've known her... because I haven't! At least... I don't think I have.

From the doorway I watched T'zuri sleep for quite a long time it seemed. And all the while I could not get the image of her... nakedness... out of my head. Nor that fact that she was naked in my bed. My bed! Naked.

[ ... ]

Women and Paga

Women and Paga

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T'zuri spilled out of my wagon wrapped in my fur, only to stumble across the wagon camp enclosure to the fire again, and plop right on down to the ground. Following her cue, I too, crouched down and handed her the cup of paga she had wanted. And then I spoke as gently as possible to her, whispering while she gulped down her second cup, "You should go back inside, Singer. You're naked."

I didn't want to embarrass her or anything.



"What do you mean I'm naked? I not naked, Kazhuye."

The Singer suddenly opened the fur she'd had wrapped around her and stared down at her naked self in disbelief. And I stared too. I... could not help it!

[ ... ]

House Guest

House Guest

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When I had returned, I stood there holding the second cup of paga... watching in near disbelief as she crawled right up into my wagon. Ahh hell... this was just not good. No... not good at all. Was I gonna have to camp outside now? I'd sure looked forward to the creature comforts of my own wagon, after having been out on the furthest edges of the plains for at least four hands. For the moment, I simply stood there. Holding the cup. And waiting.



That's when the leather flaps parted and the Singer started throwing clothes out onto the ground. Not my clothes, but hers! She was stripping down to bare inside my wagon, and there I was, still standing there with her untouched second cup of paga. Was she... moving in?

[ ... ]

Drinking With Men

Drinking With Men

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I felt doubly bad now. First for the fact Necessity had been the culprit in making the girl cry. Secondly... for damn near drowning her. But more and more she seemed to give in to the numbing effects of the icy cold water she had fallen into, losing her coherence and the abilty to form complete sentences.

I don't know what I was thinking. I don't know what came over me. But after I mounted my kaiila, I reached down and hauled the Singer right up into the saddle with me where I wrapped her in the blanket. I did this even though she had once said she did not ever want to ride in the same saddle as me.



I took T'zuri home with me, because I did not know where her own wagon was. I do not think she was able to even tell me where, either. When we reached the group of wagons in my own camp, I hopped down and waited for her to hop down too, unsure whether I should touch her again. You know, in case she might accuse me of being some kind of letch.

"I need help, Kazhuye. I can't feel my legs." Touch me, it's alright.

For just a brief moment I had her in my arms, and I do not know what I was thinking, nor what came over me. Because... I liked it.

But I put the Singer down by the still-smoldering campfire, around which others had already either passed out cold or stumbled on home. And then I gave her paga. Only half a cup though, for the other half I drank myself.

The Singer gulped it down and asked for more. I wondered if she'd had paga before.

[ ... ]

Girl, Don't Cry

Girl, Don't Cry

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The Singer started to cry. I mean really cry... like a girl! It made me uneasy suddenly, because I have no clue what to say to a crying girl.

"Stop crying, T'zuri." I feel like a damn heel now, and I didn't mean to knock you down. Actually, I didn't do it! Necessity did! It was right about then that the leather worker came bounding up the stream, trying to stab at fish in the dark with a knife. I'm positive there are much more efficient ways to catch a fish.



The Singer just cried harder, even though I did my best to apologize for knocking her down. And yet the very moment the newcomer approached, Necessity bobbed his big head down and knocked the singer right over into the icy cold stream. Sometimes I get the feeling my kaiila is a bit possessive of the Singer. But then... nah! Can't be. He dislikes women almost more than I do!

I reached down and pulled the Singer from the water immediately. And well... that sudden frigid plunge sure stopped her from crying. But now she was in danger of freezing. Hypothermia, I think the Healers call it. Just as I had turned to tug the saddle blanket off Necessity's brawny back, the leather worker was stripping off his clothes. And I'm certain he was trying to impress T'zuri with his flexing. But her lips had begun to turn blue and I think she was already finding it hard just to keep her eyes open.

The leather worker left, stating he had some important business to attend to, and gave T'zuri his shirt as a parting gift souvenir. But within moments, it too became soaked when she wrapped it over her leather skirt and tunic.

[ ... ]

Streams

Streams

Following the story I told... which was a rare thing in and of itself as Singers tend to be the storytellers that entertain Tuchuks round their campfires... Sakmeta had come around to talk to me. I think. Actually she'd been there all along and had not stopped chattering the entire time the story was being told. Cornwall had tossed a stone at her a few times, as he is fond of throwing rocks. But that Bead Maker is not much phased, even when hit in the head.

I had taken off with Necessity on a run, and not returned for nearly four hands. I lose track of time when I am out on the wide open plains; beneath the great big sky. I lose track and the time seems to fly away.



When I did finally come home, it was T'zuri I passed by along the stream. Out alone past dark by herself. Again! Had I not warned her last time over a month ago about being out at night by herself away from the protection of the Tuchuk wagons? Kurt the Kassar is not the only predator on the Turian Plains.

"Now do you mean.. do I get my way, these days? I live with two women older than I. My mother and an elder. That should tell you all you need to know to answer your question nicely. You are not irate with me, are you? I just .. needed to.. something. Away. Away from all the people oggling me."

"No, I'm not irate." It takes a nagging shrill voice with an obstinate attitude to make me irate. I circled Necessity around and around her without relenting. Not much differently than I and several other outriders might circle a stray sleen among the bosk herds, boxing it in before killing it.

"But it is dangerous for a little girl to be alone in the dark, far away from the wagons." The emphasis upon 'little girl,' it is my way of keeping her at bay... lest I fall into one of her traps and become a blubbering fool again. She has this way of fingering the little ring in her nose whenever I call her a little girl. I looked away when she did it, because I knew what she was trying to imply!

Now on the one hand I could have punched my kaiila in the snout many a time for interrupting at a pivotal wrong moment... and yet again, sometimes I could hug him for the same exact reason. Man's best friend! It has a certain ring to it, doesn't it? It was right about then that T'zuri took off running the opposite direction... right when I had looked away. And before I could get ahold of the reign, Necessity took off like the dart sprung from a tightly wound bow, chasing after her. I was nearly thrown from my saddle in the process!

Within moments my beast had cut her off at the quick and jousted her flat with his large head. The Singer landed flat on her back in the dirt.

[ ... ]