We arrived back at the palace maybehalf an hour later. Nobody had said a single word on the return trip, and I didn't dare interrupt the silence with all my questions. It didn't feel as though they were exactly keeping secrets from me, but more like they could hardly bring themselves to talk about what had happened. Hell, it was possibly a combination of both. I could understand on both accounts, but it didn't stop my curiosity, and it didn't stop my desire to help them in any way I possibly could.
I hung back at the entrance while Mira and Nerissa said their
goodbyes. After a brief, and forced, smile in my direction, the queen
disappeared into the building still clutching the broken spear. I
contemplated whether I should follow her and try to comfort her in some sort of fashion, but I still didn't know her that well, and then I saw Mira approach with a forlorn look on her face.
"Come with me, Ben," Mira whispered.
She took me by the hand and led me through the main foyer of the
palace and to a hallway on the eastern side of the building. We passed a few women going about their daily work. They smiled and greeted us, and Mira plastered on a fake smile and greeted them in return.
I did my best to do the same and was met with whispers and giggles from the women.
"Do I have something stuck between my teeth?" I asked Mira in a low voice.
"Don't mind the young ones," she replied. "They were very small the last time a man was around here, and they don't knowhow to behave."
"Gotcha," Imuttered.
"But, yes, you do have something in your teeth," she added with a grin. Then she stopped in front of a doorway a few yards into the hallway and turned to face me.
I was preoccupied with getting whatever was stuck in my teeth out and almost ran into her.
She looked at me, rolled her eyes, and laughed.
"I was jesting," she admitted. "You are fun to tease. So serious all the time."
I started to reply with my own comeback, but she cut me off.
"This is the room chosen and prepared for you, and I understand if you are exhausted and would just like to retire for the evening," she said seriously. "If you aren't, I would like to invite you to the home Talise and I
share. We have much to discuss, and some of it is unpleasant, so it is a conversation that can wait if you are not in the mood tonight."
I studied her body language for a minute and wondered what she
wanted me to say. The fire-light from the sconces on each side of the
doorway lit up her face, but gave me no definitive answer. There was such a mixture of emotions there, so I couldn't tell if she wanted me to accept or decline.
"To be honest, Mira,I doubt I will get much rest tonight without at least some of my questions answered," I said hesitantly. "If it's not going to cause too much trouble,I would be honored to accompany you to your
home."
She let out a breath she seemed to have been holding and nodded her head in response. Then she reached past me and turned a large seashell that embellished the door to my room upside down.
"This will let the palace know you are out for the night and won't need accommodations," she informed me. "This might be a long night, so you can sleep in our hut."
"Thank you for your kindness, Mira," I said to the beautiful warrior. "Don't thank me just yet," she grumbled. "You may wish you had never met me after you hear what I say. Now, come along. It isn't far, and I
sent word ahead to Talise that you might be joining us."
I wrapped one arm around this courageous woman and hugged her to me. I didn't know what else to do. She briefly leaned into the hug and then pulled away with a small smileshe managed just for me.
"I thought you would be housed in the palace, honestly," Itold the warrior woman. "You and Talise both, considering she is the main healer and you are head of the defenses."
"Of course, we could stay there if we wished, but all the warriors
have housing on the eastern side of the island, and I feel like that is where I belong," Mira told me as we made our way back through the palace and out the front doors. "All of our attackers seem to come from the eastern shores, so we are the first line of defense between the enemy and the palace. There is no way I would let my fellow warriors be at the front of the lines while I am safe in the palace."
The sun was close to setting, and the pink lights of twilight gave the whole village a rose colored hue. It made the whole place ethereal and
fairytale-like. It was super romantic, and I wanted nothing more than to
reach over, grab Mira, pull her into an earth-shattering kiss, bury one hand in her shorthair, and with the other grab a handful of her perfect ass. If I wasn't positive I would receive a few broken bones for the effort,I would
have done it right then and there. Instead,I forced myself to talk shop with her and save my fantasy for another time.
"That is very smart and well thought out, I should have known there was a very valid reason why you chose a hut over the palace," Isaid. "Do you keep an armory nearby?"
"We all keep weapons in our homes," she said, "but, yes, there are stashes of spears and swords kept throughout the village, just in case they are needed. We hide them in plain sight, so to speak."
"I will see if I can spot them while we walk," I challenged, and I was happy to have something to take my mind off her pert breasts that lightly bounced as she walked.
"Good luck, male," she grinned, "I hid most of them myself."
"What about archers?" Iasked. "Do you have stands or any elevated surfaces for them to get to quickly?"
"Archers?" Mira asked with a look of puzzlement on her face.
"That's a name for someone who uses a bow and arrow as their weapon," Itold her.
She stopped and looked at me like I had just sprouted another head.
"I don't think your words are translating correctly," she pondered. "I don't understand this bow and arrow weapon you speak of."
"A bow is a weapon you can use to fire arrows, like miniature spears, at an enemy from a distance," I explained as I mimed shooting one for her to help her understand.
"You mean we wouldn't have to get into close range to attack?" she asked,and her eyes lit up. "We could hurt them from a distance?"
"Yes, that's exactly what you can do," I said with a smile. "You won't stop all of them, but you can stop a bunch of them."
"Will you show me how to make this bow and arrow?" she asked as her eyes opened wide with excitement. "Will you teach me how to fire it?"
"Of course I will," Isaid. "It's really going to help with your defenses."
"You have made me very happy, Ben." She grinned, reached out, and then grabbed my hand.
"Just wait until you hear about catapults," Itold her with a grin. "Catapults?" she whispered as her eyes lit up with possibilities.
Just then, Talise opened the door of the hut about twenty feet away from us.
"I thought I heard the two of you," she greeted us with the warmth only a woman could possess. "You couldn't sneak up on a deadman!"
"We weren't exactly trying to be stealthy, Talise," Mira shot back with a grin.
"Come inside, both of you," the voluptuous healer laughed. "Our evening meal is almost ready, and I am sure you are both in need of
respite."
We entered the house, and the delicious smell of herbs, woodsmoke, honey, and the floral smell that clung to Talise's skin hit me, and I was
instantly comforted.
Next to the door was a small table covered in various materials that were obviously used to make and reinforce weapons. There was a basket
full of large, roughly shaped spear heads. Beside the basket were about a
half dozen long tree branches that had been sanded and smoothed, ready to be made into handles. There was also one slab of black stone about three
inches in width and about two feet in length. It had been ground down thin on each of the longer sides and to a point on the end, and there was a porous stone next to it that was most likely being used as a whetstone to sharpen
the rock.
"Is this the start of a sword?" I asked Mira, and I was fascinated by the rustic weapon.
"Yes," she said, and by her grin I could tellshe was excited to
explain. "The process goes much faster at the armory where their purpose is to turn them out quickly, but I wanted to take my time and reinforce this
weapon. The ones from the armory serve their purpose, but are flawed. I collected this stone myself and have been taking my time to sharpen it and find all the right parts for it. It has become quite the project."
"This is amazing, Mira." I had never seen a sword made from stone, but I couldn't think of any obvious sources of metal on the island a person could access without some kind of excavation tools, and I was really
impressed with the cleverness and ingeniousness of the design. It might shatter when she hit someone with it, but the blade looked surprisingly
stout.
"Thank you, Ben," she replied as her smile softened.
"Come sit, you two," Talise told us. "Our meal is ready. You can fawn over weapons as we eat."
Mira and I walked to the back of the hut where the dining table was located next to the fireplace. The walls were covered in dried herbs and
various plants and flowers. There were clay containers of all sizes nestled into shelves lining the wall, some with flat lids and some without. There were also spools of cloth I imagined were used as bandages, three different sized mortars and pestles, sharp instruments I assumed were used as
scalpels of sorts, and a stack of flat rocks that I had no idea what were used for.
This was definitely Talise's work area.
I pulled out the stool to sit down just as Talise lifted the lid off the pot over the fire. The aromatic smell of the sea and earth hit my nose and made my stomach growl loudly.
"I guess it's a good thing you are feeding me," Ichuckled. "I seem to have forgotten to eat much today."
Come to think of it, all I'd eaten today was the weird concoction Talise had given me to cure my hangover, but the potion had really stuck with me and energized me.
"I had a feeling the supplement I gave you this morning had probably worn off for both of you by now," Talise said "When it goes, it leaves you ravenous."
"That explains why I am so hungry," Isaid, "I feel like I could eat a whole--"
"Haeye?" Talise asked with a grin. "I heard about your adventure earlier today with the dangerous beast, especially about how large this particular one was."
"An adventure is one way of putting it," Ilaughed. "It was definitely not something I'd ever done before."
"Do you not have haeye where you are from?" the healer inquired with a curious tilt of her head.
"Uh, no," Ichuckled, "the closest thing we have is a shark, but it
doesn't have legs. It also stays in the water like it's supposed to and doesn't chase you across the beach."
Talise giggled at my description before setting our supper dishes in front of us.
"Well," the healer announced, "tonight you get to enjoy your first
haeye, to celebrate your first successful if unwilling hunt on the island. It is very large and is going to take Hali, the woman who oversees all our food, a good while to break it down, but she made sure I had some for your evening meal."
I looked down at the bowl to see what seemed to be a fish chowder. There were large chunks of a whitefish which I assumed was the haeye, a green leafy vegetable I guessed to be seaweed, small chunks of what looked like a potato, and a creamy white broth. I picked up the wooden spoon next to my bowl as Talise set a thin piece of some kind of bread down in front of
me. I was surprised by both the bread and potatoes, but was too hungry to ask questions right then.
Once I had enough food in me to calm the hunger growling in my belly, I really took the time to enjoy what was in front of me. The soup
reminded of a chowder you would get served in most any coastal town. It was creamy, slightly salty from the seaweed, and the fish was tender and delicious. This was definitely something that would stick to your ribs for a longtime. The bread also reminded me of Native American fry bread that was tender in the middle but a little crunchy on the outside. It went
perfectly with the fish chowder.
After several minutes of quiet eating, Talise set her spoon down with a sigh of contentment.
"I apologize for the sparse tubers in the soup and the meager bread," she told me with a look of concern on her face. "The fields we grow the
crops in are not producing much these days. It is like the earth is dying."
"The nutrients in the soil may just be depleted," Isaid after swallowing the last spoonful of soup. "There are ways to fix that."
"There are?" Talise inquired. "How would we go about doing that?" "With the right combination of compost and fertilizer," Itold her as I used the bread to sop up the soup from the bowl. "Do you know what I am
talking about?"
"Yes, Ido believe I know what you refer to, at least with the
fertilizer," she said. "I would like to hear your ideas for this. Our crops are meager and likely won't outlast the storm season if we don't do something quickly."
"How about you show me where the crops are grown tomorrow?" I asked the beautiful healer. "We can discuss possible steps we could take to repair the earth and encourage the crops to grow abundantly."
"That is a wonderful idea, Ben!" she said as she gave me a broad smile. "I would like that very much."
"Then we will set out in the morning whenever you are ready," Itold her.
My list of things to do was growing longer and longer by the minute, but it was also a relief to be a part of something positive and helpful. The defenses were very important, but so was not letting these women starve to death when the storm season came. I wish I knew which was more dire, but there was no way of knowing. I was just going to have to take my chances with it all and do my best. It was comforting knowing Mira and Talise
would be by my side, though. They seemed determined to help their people,
and already seemed to trust me a lot more than they had the first day, so I figured things would go much more smoothly.
"Thank you, Ben," Talise said tenderly. "You are the answer to our prayers."
"I haven't done anything yet." Ismiled.
"But you will," the beautiful healer said with a decisive nod. "I just know it."
"That's my plan," I said as my grin widened, but then she stopped smiling and looked at my mouth.
"Uhh, Ben, you have something stuck in your teeth," Talise informed
me.
Ishot Mira a death glare, and she simultaneously started choking on the bread she was eating. Talise patted her on the back hard and gave me a quizzical look, but I just crossed my arms and glared at the gorgeous
warrior woman while she caught her breath. I knew she was going to
survive the minute the choking turned to laughing, and I had to fight back the laughter that was about to creep its way out of my own throat.
"Come here, Ben," the warrior mumbled as she stood up from her stool.
She walked over to me, pulled on my upper lip, and actually reached into my mouth, and then she pulled a piece of mint out from between my two front teeth and put it in my hand.
"That was there all day, wasn't it?" Iasked.
"Pretty much," Mira snickered.
"The queen saw it there?" I asked again. "Oh yes," she burst out with more giggles.
I wanted to be mad, but she laughed so hard she actually snorted, and it was infectious. Then I looked at Talise to see her body also shook all over with the struggle not to laugh. She even intentionally avoided eye contact with me and covered her face with her hands.
"Go ahead," Ichuckled. "It's pretty funny."
That's all it took to release the precarious dam on Talise's laughter, and she almost fell over with the force of it. I finally gave in to my own
mirth, but not before Iflung the mint from my teeth at Mira. This just made her laugh even harder. I was glad to be a source of amusement for these two beautiful women, not that I would ever admit to it.
"When you can pull yourself together," Inagged, "I will explain to you about the bow and arrow."