"Hm, I don't think that this roof will keep out the rain." Kivi said to himself, but found slender arms around his neck. Thea giggled.
"The flat roof works with stone only because the Mirri use mortar, Kivi. Logs have such big gaps, and the mud will wash away if we put in a roof like this." He looked at the first one Thea's mother built, and nodded.
"You're other home has a round roof, so the water rolls down. I can't do that with such long sides. There would be too much weight on top."
"What about a roof like this?" Thea took her hands and put her fingers together, but held her palms apart. Most of the ceilings up north were either flat, or round, and the ones down south were flat, with short walls on top so the owners could sit up on the roof in the evening to keep cool.
"Like a mountain peak?" He asked. It might work.
"Yeah, but longer. Just two sides, front and back. The water would run down either side." He thought for a moment.
"Whole logs wouldn't work. Half logs, split down the middle?" She bit her bottom lip, and wondered if she was asking too much, but decided to keep going with her idea.
"Mm, maybe thinner? About as thick as your hand, three times as wide, and over lap them, that way the water hits the top and runs off to hit the side of the next one, instead of the edge." He cocked his head a bit.
"Really?" Then he thought about it for a moment. "That might work. A roof down south is sealed with tar, or bitumen. What did you seal your roof with?" Thea giggled.
"Wax! Hard to get because bees are real nasty when you try to take their honey! Just heat it up, let it cool, and take the wax off the top! We used the honey to preserve fish we caught because bugs don't seem to like so much sweet to get to what they want!" Thea had a way of talking that always sounded excited. She sometimes made him feel sluggish with all her energy, but he was happy to know her, and be here to protect her and her mother.
"We use smoke in the south. Makes the bees sluggish. If you make them a house to live in, and let them keep half the honey, you always have a source for honey and wax." He sighed heavily. "There is still a lot to do before winter hits, but this roof idea of yours sounds good, Thea. Lets get started!" Thea looked up at him in surprise.
"Really? You're so smart, I thought you would have a better idea." He shook his head.
"I know how to do things, like make metal, but there is a lot I don't know, little one." He turned his head when Thea sniffed the air. "What's the matter?"
"There are Mirri nearby." She shivered as she watched Kivi's eyes harden. She was glad he was kind to her and her mother, as she had already seen what he could do to people when he was angry.
Kivi stood outside the doorway, and searched the land spread out ahead. He didn't see them at first, but when he did, he realized why he missed them. There were three Mirri men, wearing packs, and walking single file. He also didn't sense any animosity from them, which was probably why he didn't sense them in the first place. However, he didn't relax.
"Hello, stranger. We're looking for the Mirri woman and her child." They looked around, then drew their swords. "You didn't run them off, did you?" Their animosity rose, but towards himself, not the ones he was there to protect.
"Put your swords away. The ladies are safe." He turned away from them and called out. "Thea? Find your mother, please." Thea poked her head out.
"She's bathing at the river, Kivi. I'll go fetch her." She dashed off, a bit frightened of the new arrivals, and hoped things wouldn't go badly.
"Why does she seem so scared?" One of the men asked. Kivi turned towards him.
"You dare ask that when it was your people who drove her and her child away first?" They lowered their eyes, and Kivi could see their shame grow. "If you hadn't done that, the other men would not have kept on driving them further north!" Kivi was angry, but when he saw Gita appear with her long thick mane slicked to her back, he started to relax. When the girls were away, he became someone he didn't like. She came up to his side, and he felt himself relax more as she pressed against him. It was for his strength, but still, her presence soothed the wildness in his soul that he still struggled to suppress.
"Why are you here, Juuka? We've not been back to the village in many years." Gita was a little bit stiff in her words, and her eyes were not unkind, just unwilling. She didn't feel she needed to be friendly to the people who made her life so hard in the first place. He lifted his eyes, and sighed heavily.
"We know." His discomfort grew, so he forced himself to break the tension. "Ah...well, we've come to make sure you were alright. We've also brought some provisions for you and your daughter, so you can better survive the winter." She raised an eyebrow.
"Charity? After all these years?" Kivi looked at her carefully, and discerned she was a little bit proud of how she had made their way all by herself. This must have felt like an insult. An idea popped into his mind.
"Gita, we have some things to trade. Why not make a deal for the food?" She looked at him and began to smile.
"Trade?" Juuka asked.
"Yes, we are not destitute, Juuka. We have some salt we can trade with."
"Not just salt, Gita. Why don't you men come inside and have some stew with us? We have a few things that might help you, and will have more in the future."
Things went as Kivi envisioned them.
"Two swords, one bow, with a full quiver, one dagger, one horse with full tack, and two large barrels of salt." Juuka's jaw dropped.
"Gita, how did you come by all this? The village could make good use of the weapons at this time, and the salt will help us immensely!" Gita smiled.
"Our protector, Kivi, dispatched the king's patrol sent north to drive us off our land again. They will come again, with a bit larger force, but will meet with the same fate." Her eyes reflected her pride in the one who protected them.
"Never again will they drive Gita and Thea away, and steal what they worked so hard to build!" She laid her hand on Kivi's shoulder. He instantly calmed at her touch. He was seated on a stone to the right of the table he built for them, and she could see bits of the stone crumbling as his grip increased.
"You did that?" She nodded. "Then you have my respect, young man. We faced a large force not that long ago, and took some casualties as we were not prepared for their numbers. By facing that patrol, you've made sure they can't make a camp behind us." He looked thoughtful for a moment. "But you offer far too much for what we've brought. Even half the salt would more then pay for twice the amount of food we have to barter with." Gita smiled.
"Then, consider it an advance payment for what you can bring us. More root vegetables, the ones that can keep through the winter, and some wax. To seal our roof." Juuka appeared thoughtful again.
"That might come up to the cost of the salt, but the weapons?"
"I have an idea about that." Kivi said, a small grin on his lips.
What are you up to, Stone Man? Gita couldn't help but wonder what this beautiful man had in mind.
"I don't believe you asked for those things!" Thea said softly. "You could have asked for something for yourself, Kivi." Gita nodded, but knew that he would not do that. It wasn't in his character to be selfish.
"Leather for clothes, a potter's wheel so I can make some jars for the food, and a few more pelts for our bed. What made you ask for the furs? You hunt so quickly that I didn't expect that." Kivi shrugged.
"As the snow starts to fall, it will be easier for me to hunt them, but we'll have enough meat to last through the winter soon. There would be little reason to kill the deer other then their hide, and that feels wrong." Gita smiled, and though she was already attracted to him, her respect just took another large bounce higher.
"Are you sure you're not of the Mirri? Or one of the Elluka? Your southern people don't have that much respect for life."
"Some of them, that is true. However, my mother and father taught me respect for other living things. If we didn't need all of the animal, the meat, and the skin, we didn't need to kill that animal." Gita sighed and hugged him lightly.
"I hope I get to meet your mother and father one day. They sound like good people. We don't meet enough of those." Thea saw his eyes lower, and instinctively wanted to stop the thing that did that to her friend.
"Kivi!" He lifted his eyes quickly.
"Yes, Thea?" She giggled.
"We have to work on the roof, remember?"
"They're coming, aren't they?" Gita said softly. He could feel her fear.
"They are just over the hill. A larger group this time. Maybe an entire company. More armor too. They aren't taking chances this time." She put her hand on his shoulder.
"Are you sure we should stay, Kivi?" She looked to the north, away from their hill, their home. "We can....."
"No! I will not allow that monster from the south to keep pushing you to your grave!" She drew back at the energy she could feel roiling within him. Angry waves that felt like thick black hatred. As suddenly as they appeared, they disappeared. "I'm sorry, Gita. I don't want to frighten you. Please. Stay inside. I won't be long." Thea took her hand and watched a man who was near to her age, someone her mother would normally try to protect, walk out their door to face armored enemy soldiers.
"Mom?" Her mother didn't respond. She sat quietly at the table, and held her hand. Within less then half an hour, Thea could no longer stand the quiet.
"Should we....." The gallop of horses filled their ears, and though Thea became terrified of what they might do to them, the screams that followed were worse. Screams that were cut off as quickly as they started. One after another, cursing and swearing, followed by the clash of steel, the frightened whinny of a horse, then a yell, then silence.
"Oh no. Kivi." She said softly. Her mother grasped her hand and knew the mental anguish that she felt. Their beloved protector had to use his strength to kill, and that felt so wrong to them. He was someone who cared for them, and used his strength to help, not to kill.
Again and again, those sounds played. Curses. Metal on metal. Angry yells followed by painful screams as they realized what they faced. The horses began to gallop again, but fewer of them. One by one, they were cut off as well.
It was followed by a deathly silence that felt much much worse.
There was a knock at the door.
"Gita. Stay inside. I'll burn the bodies this time. Please. Don't come out. You shouldn't see this."
Gita went to the door and opened it. Kivi stood there, blood spattered clothes, and one lone cut on his cheek. She hugged him tightly, and stepped outside.
"Thea, stay inside, please. I have to help Kivi deal with the mess."
"Mom, I can help!" Just as she shook her head, Kivi breathed heavily, then fell to his knees, and his eyes closed without his permission. She looked down at his still form, and shed one lone tear.
"I have to help, Momma. He needs us."
Gita and Thea worked long into the night before she was assured that all the bodies were properly prepared. Any good clothing was stripped off, along with any armor. They wore mostly metal armor, so she was sure Kivi could either fix it, or make it into something new.
They had ten new horses, so Thea worked hard to give them grass to eat, and brushed them down. She also took their tack and any bags off their backs. She piled up the bows, daggers and swords inside their old house. Kivi had built a paddock for the horse they kept, so she put the other ten in there with him, and closed the gate. That would make it easier on the horses as they didn't need to have a bridle on all night to keep them from running off.
"We'll need to set up torches around the pyre, and keep adding wood as long as necessary to burn the bodies into ashes." Thea looked up at her mother.
"Why, momma?"
"We don't want any wolves or bears to come along and try to taste the men. That would give them a hunger for us, and I don't want to make it any harder then it already is."
"Will Kivi be alright?" Gita lowered her eyes.
"Yes, baby. He'll be fine."
"Momma? Are you using the bad words?" Gita smiled a bit.
"Maybe stretching the good ones, baby. Just a bit."
"We need to go north and check on them!" Juuka said fiercely.
"Not tonight. We'll gather the supplies we promised, then go." The elder said flatly.
"But they could be run off their lands!" The elder nodded.
"And if they are, there is nothing you can do about it in the middle of the night. Take five good strong soldiers with you, fully armed, and what you promised to bring them. If they are alright, you can finish your trade deal. If they are not alright, you can drive that group out of there, and set up some more sturdy fortifications to prevent them from trying again. That is my word." Again, no modulation in tone, but when an elder said it was his word, it was Juuka's job to listen.
"As you speak, elder, we obey." Juuka said firmly, but closed his eyes.
"It does not sit well with you, young Mirri, but obey anyway." He nodded.
"I know my duty, elder. I will not abandon it." The elder looked at him with a look as strong as steel.
"I hope you do. It is not to the widow. It is to your village first, your family second." Juuka's posture went slack when he realized that the elder was far more experienced then he was, and could see his set of planned actions.
"I understand, elder. I just....." The elder lifted an eyebrow.
"Speak."
"I just feel the Creator's displeasure upon us for abandoning the widow for all this time! I feel his eyes upon me for our failure, and every day that passes and we don't help her properly.....I feel it will only grow worse for us!" The elder closed his eyes for a moment. There was no other alternative then what he had already put forward.
"I understand your words, young Juuka, but also hear mine. I am not wrong. If she is alright, and you rush off without preparing yourself, or bringing her what you promised, you'll be breaking your word." He sucked in his breath in surprise. That was not something the Mirri did lightly. It would mark all their dealing from that day forward. "If she is not alright, there is nothing you can do for her. Go with the hope that she still lives, and that your dealings with her will continue long into the winter, and the years ahead."
"I understand, elder."
"I see that you do now. However, to make it so your energy will not be wasted in foolish steps, start your preparations now. When the light starts to break the sky, set out. Do not set out without what you promised her though! It will not do for a Mirri to break his word!"
Foolish steps. A waste of energy to pace back and forth when you couldn't sleep. It would be better to put the energy to constructive use and prepare for their journey.
"I will not break my word to the widow, elder. She has had enough disappointment in her life that I don't have to add to it." The elder smiled a small knowing smile.
"That is true. That thorn is now beneath the nail." Juuka left the elder's home with energy enough to get the things they needed together. The things he promised.
He was also happy he was the one who was able to push that thorn beneath the elder's fingernail.
"He defeated them?" A hooded figure silently moved through the forest high on the mountain.
"Yes. They will not be pushed further up the mountain." He turned his back, the hood slid off his head and revealed grey fur and sharp pointed ears.
"Good. We don't have to get involved yet. Have the scouts keep an eye on their farm. If things get too out of hand, we might have to offer some assistance." A furry eyebrow lifted.
"Really? They are the Mirri!" He superior turned towards him.
"They are Elukka." That was all the answer that was necessary. If one of their kind needed help, no matter which clan they descended from, it was their duty to assist, even if it was in the background.
They were the Hukka, the wolf clan of the Elukka. The Mirri were not their prey, so it didn't matter if they helped them or not. As long as they didn't invade their territory, they could help.
"The first snow of the year." Gentle flakes floated in front of their eyes. "The storms are not far off."
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