Questions flooded my mind; I wasn't sure what to ask first. “What does ɣʊwo mean?”
“That depends,” Ahmi said. She stood about as tall as my chest, but her presence didn’t feel as small as her stature. She wore a cream-colored cotton loincloth with sharp corners over a brown belt that also held a knife. Aside from that her dark-green skin was exposed from her hips to her bare feet and toned tummy. Her breasts were covered each by a lock of feral white hair and she gazed warmly at me through bright yellow eyes. “How is it used?”
I glanced at the paper where I’d written it down and said the whole phrase. “pʊ ɣʊwose xatʌ.”
Ahmi laughed hard, scrunching her eyes and smiling wide through her thick accent. “Who said that to you?”
“One of the girls in the medical ward said that to the guys that came in the other day.”
“Ahh,” she shook her head, still smiling wide. “Yes, Shamuni is quite eloquent. ɣʊwo is food, used as a verb here it means to eat. It is imperative, so… eat shit.”
“Oh, OK.” I couldn’t help but laugh at that.
“Next question.”
“The other day I was out with Miyani, and she said something to Blue, ŋʌvɪdeɣa. But I thought it was ŋʌvɪdesa?”
Ahmi smiled. “ɣa and ɣe are the familiar form of sa and se. Use them among family or your closest friends. I would recommend, for cultural reasons, that you avoid using them unless you hear someone use them with you, first. These are good; you are learning.”
I turned to the side and squinted. “Am I allowed to ask anything?”
She gave off a warm smile with a light giggle. “I trust you recall where you accepted that nothing sexual will ever happen between us. Please keep that in mind. Aside from that you may ask anything you like.”
I scratched my head. So many. “Miyani showed me a bird that made a peculiar whistle when a vita'o was nearby. It was uh…”
Ahmi pursed her lips and whistled the sound perfectly, up-down-up-down-warble.
“That’s it!”
Her eyes popped. “She showed you that?”
“Yeah. But the book had a bunch of other calls I couldn't figure out…”
“Come,” she gestured towards the gate, still with a warm smile.
And so we headed out. We made our way around the giant alligator. I looked behind us and saw Thunder and Lazybum racing one another. They zoomed past, one on each side of us only to jet across the field and scare some goats that were grazing about two-hundred yards down. The herder shouted some insults at them. They turned and rounded up the goats, snapping and hissing at the ones who refused to move, and brought them back to her.
“How long have you known Miyani? Was she one of your students?”
“No,” Ahmi smiled as she watched the two lizards play. “I have been acquainted with her for years, but she only came to Carthia a month ago. I can tell you she is very traditional; if you learn the language from her, she will not allow you to mispronounce anything.”
“Well that's good. Does she have a lot of family?”
“Not anymore,” Ahmi shook her head. “They were massacred by the sewu’oŋi.”
“What?” I said. “How? Why?”
“The saŋɪwesa were allied with the sewu’oŋi, and I don't know the whole story, but the elders ran afoul of kaxawi vi temper. To hear mɪyaŋi tell it, she understood they were about to be betrayed while the elders refused to believe it. Her brother stayed behind to try and convince the others while she gathered as many of her people as she could and led them to the only place she could imagine where they might be safe, here. I went back with her to help gather the rest, and everyone was killed. Everything was destroyed. Her whole family. Their houses were smashed and burned, and all their bodies thrown all about and covered in lye. That was what we found.”
I winced. “Her whole family?”
“Yes,” Ahmi said. “And also pay attention to this because you need to understand what we are up against. The burial rite for us ŋa’uxuwi is to feed our dead to the jungle.”
“Wait… you take their bodies and…”
“Allow the jungle to consume them; so that our spirits may return to where we came from. Do you understand?”
“OK? I think so?”
“Yes. So this is why she covers them with lye. No animal will eat them, no vine will touch them, they are trapped. This is what she means by this.”
“She wanted to make a statement.”
“This is what we are up against. Next question.”
Ahmi led me into a section of the forest not far from where Miyani had brought me. As we walked, I took a moment to listen for that bird. I heard it twice; once it was about fifty yards to my left, and then again ahead to my right. It was hard not to notice the way the muscles in her thighs flexed as she stepped up onto a massive tree root. Miyani had the same legs, only better. All the scouts had, it seemed, and I liked it. As in, really, really liked.
Then I heard that whistle, that up-down-up-down-warble right behind me. I turned quickly and saw the body of a bright green lizard flash between trees behind me. “I see you!”
Ahmi stopped and turned.
I spoke to the tree to my right. “Lazybum! Got you. That's a point for me!”
A squawk erupted from the trees, and a tall lizard bounded over, turning his eye towards me with his mouth agape displaying jagged serrated teeth. He ran up to Ahmi and nudged her chin.
“Yes,” Ahmi giggled. “I am impressed, too.” Ahmi stroked the beast’s neck and looked up at me. “You were listening for the woðæfifɪða?”
“Yeah,” I nodded, still admiring the smooth scales of our friend. “The wo-ðæ-fi-fɪða bird.”
Ahmi giggled. “fɪða means bird. You might as well say woðæ bird bird.”
“Oh.”
She still beamed. “Tell me, what else do you hear?”
I looked around me.
“Close your eyes. Close your eyes and tell me. What do you hear?”
I did. Chirps of some insect sang out in a rhythm. The trees rustled in the wind. Countless chirps, caws, and whistles filled the sky and seemed so entangled that I couldn't tell what was where or when. “I don't know. It just feels…”
“Do you hear this?” Then she whistled out a strange tune, like an up whistle that started off slow then rose up sharply, twice in succession. She repeated that, then paused, and again.
I listened. It wasn’t hard to find, and it was loud. I looked up and pointed, “it's right above us.”
Ahmi nodded. “That one means human.”
“OK, that's a good one to know!”
She smiled and turned. “Be warned that after six or seven people she loses count. So if she goes that high, just know it is a large group.
Then as I followed her, I thought about probing more about what she meant when she'd offered to answer any of my questions. “Do you mind if I ask you a personal question?”
She glanced back at me and smiled, then stood still for a moment for me to catch up to her. “As long as it is not sensitive information.”
“Sensitive information?”
“Commander Rayitiu told you explicitly not to discuss his ethnicity with anyone. You ignored that and blabbered to your friend and then to me. That kind of sensitive information.”
Oops. “Oh.”
She shook her head. “Right now, you are not the most trusted individual when it comes to sensitive information. I hope you understand.”
“I'm sorry about that. God, I feel stupid.”
“Don't feel stupid. Learn from it.”
I nodded and looked around, unsure what to fill the space with. Then I saw that black mushroom growing on a tree, pointing off towards the path behind us and to the left. “OK, so Carthia is that way. Right?”
Ahmi smiled and glanced at the mushrooms, then looked at me. “mɪyaŋi showed you that?”
“Yeah.”
Ahmi laughed for a moment, then smiled at me. “And what direction is that?”
I answerd, “West.”
“West?” Ahmi tilted her head, “what is that? I do not know that word? What is west?”
“Oh,” I needed time to think about it. “Uh… wait, don't tell me… nana?”
Her eyes beamed. “Very good! ŋaŋa. And which way is this?”
She pointed east. I scoured my thoughts. Nothing. “Ok, so I don't think it's xatu,”
“xatʌ!” She giggled hard. “No, it is not xatʌ!”
“I have no idea.”
“You will have to try harder than that.”
With that, we continued along our journey with her leading me along some unseen route through a dark canopy overhead with large, flat leaves that covered everything below our hips in mystery. Something punched into my back. It wasn't hard enough to hurt, but it was strong. I looked in that direction and saw nothing. Then I heard a low squawk grumble out behind me. It was a tall, heavy lizard with light green scales covering his body, standing on his hind legs and curling his long neck around to turn one side of his face to me, then he squawked again.
Ahmi laughed and turned to me, “he wants you to know that you are even, now.”
“Yeah,” I squinted at him and nodded slowly. “I figured.”
Ahmi gazed at me with a warm smile. “woðæfifɪða is not everywhere. If she does not announce your presence, that is something you should pay attention to.”
The lizard then gurgled out a strange string of chirps and clicks and darted his head about, ending that with a sharp hiss.
Ahmi laughed lightly and smirked. “He says that you lost one-to-three against the enemy soldiers in the medical ward.”
I held up a finger. “No, that last one didn’t count. He couldn't get his insult translated, so it was a draw.”
“I believe it!” She smirked and giggled. “Tell me something. What was it you wanted to know earlier? That personal thing?”
I stood still for a moment. There was a lot I wanted to know, but I had to start somewhere. “Um… what was it that, uh… let me think how to put this.” Then it occurred to me, “what was it that convinced you that your husband was the guy you wanted to spend the rest of your life with?”
Ahmi stood and looked up at me with a curious expression. “Well,” she said with a smile, “I suppose I felt like I could be who I wanted to be around him. That was it.”
“Can you explain?”
“Well… there is who I think I am and there is who I want to be. Life is difficult when these things are incongruous. When I am with him I don't have to pretend to be something else. He helps me find that, and I like who it is. That was what did it for me.”
“Oh. Wow, that sounds nice. I hope I find that someday.”
“You find it in yourself. Maybe you meet someone who shows it to you, maybe you don't, but it is already within you. Does that answer your question?”
“I think so.”
“Take a look!” She pointed.
I looked. Through a tunnel of canopy, perched on a tree branch high up was some furry, spotted creature. It was a cat. It had a dark yellow coat with black and green spots, and it was big. It lay across the branch licking its massive paws and yawned before turning to face us and resting its head back down.
“dægewa!” She whispered.
“Dagewa?”
“Yes. Now. Close your eyes and listen.”
I did, and focused my attention towards the direction of the monster. I tried to pick through the noise and guessed, “is it the high-pitch wavering?”
“Good!” Ahmi beamed. “You are learning!” Yes. When you hear that sound, do not walk beneath it. In case she is hungry.”
I nodded. “Ok, now that’s another good thing to know.”
She smiled and allowed her eyes to traverse my chest. “Next question.”
I paused for a moment and thought about it. “Do you know Commander’s ethnicity?”
She settled her eyes on the ear pendant Miyani had given me. “Yes. Behind you.”
I felt that tap against my back again. Then a squawk. I caught a glimpse of Lazybum wiggling his head at me before disappearing behind the bush.
Ahmi laughed. “That is two!”
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
I tried to grin that one off. “Mm-hmm!”
We resumed our trek through a thicket packed tight with reeds twice as tall as a man. Leaves were so dense as to cast the whole place in darkness, and several times my boot stuck in the mud. Ahmi turned and looked at me with a solemn face. “If you do not have mosquito ward, you must avoid places like this. This is very important!”
“Yes, my friend got the mosquito pox.”
“I heard. How is he eating?”
“Uh… sæwi brings him a feast for every meal. I’m a bit jealous, actually. This morning, I don’t know; it looked like pickled lemons stuffed with cheese curds.”
“‘esaðe!” she smiled. “Those are delicious. It is good for him to eat as much as he can; that is very important.”
“You didn’t quite answer me about Commander's ethnicity. Is it really that big of a secret?”
She smiled. “You asked me if I know, and so I answered your question—yes, I know.”
I scrunched my nose at that. “What is his ethnicity? His actual ethnicity?”
Ahmi let her mouth lightly open and passed her eyes up and down my body. “First tell me why it is so important to you.”
“Well, uh…. I don't know? I just want to know for some reason.”
“What is the some reason?”
“Well, for one, I had a friend back home who looked just like him. Same light yellow skin, same black eyes, same tight curly hair…”
Ahmi grinned wide. “Sarina.”
I raised an eyebrow at that. “You know about her?”
“Davod spoke at length about her. I believe he has a secret crush on her.”
“Does he?” my eyes went wide.
Ahmi chuckled lightly. “He refused to admit it, but you can tell. The way he spoke of her, you can tell.”
“OK,” I nodded. “Well, I don’t know about that, but we always wondered where she came from. Mother Searnie brought her to Gath when she was a baby, that’s all anyone would ever tell us. I don’t know, I just…”
“Listen. This cannot come out, even in casual conversation, even when you think you are safe and among friends. Suppose you incidentally mention that you met someone who was Umeazi, and someone else overhears you. This someone else, or it could be someone you thought was a friend but they are from the Invisible Hand. And now, you will have to answer a whole lot of questions you may not want to answer.”
“Yes, but… Umeazi? Weren’t they all killed in the plague?”
“A lot of them, yes, but did you hear the part about having a conversation with the Invisible Hand?”
“Oh, that,” I took a deep breath.
“So listen. Here is your test. And the consequence of failure are that. The plague did not come first. I was only ten when it swept through here, but even I was aware of the rebellion in Umaz. They were winning. There was open talk about getting rid of the Emperor, and the plague erased all of that. Now the leaders of that rebellion, you know that the plague did not kill everyone, but it is impossible to know who survived and who escaped. So for that reason, the Invisible Hand would like to have a conversation with a man who was in his early twenties at the time, who despite never serving in the Imperial Army seems to know an awful lot about arms, tactics, and strategy. Come to think of it, where did he get those scars from? I don't know… maybe they would not want to talk to him, in which case, go ahead and tell everyone what I said to you.” She looked up at me with a cat's face, “but I'm sure they will want to talk to you, either way.”
“No, I'm good.” I shook my head and looked out at a tree half fallen, with new growth towering up into the canopy while the broken piece sent out its own roots where it fell and grew from there, still with the broken truck angled up and not-quite torn off from the rest.
Ahmi nodded. “Of all secrets, this one is minor—it was so long ago. But you now have a second chance to prove to me that you're capable of keeping sensitive information sensitive.”
“I can handle that. Thank you. Uh… nuvidesa.”
Ahmi looked up into my face and smiled with her cheeks, casting her eyes between mine. “Next question!”
We took a step down over a broken, rotted-out tree stump, then over several others with dark branches that crumbled in my hand. We skidded into a puddle of mud and dredged our way through. She turned back to me, “this is how you get kiʒeθu eggs. We will stop soon to check our feet.”
As we stepped up on the other side, I said what I really wanted. “What can you tell me about Miyani?”
Ahmi smiled and pointed, “'ʊŋe zɪvɪ?”
“Uh…”
“Which way is that?”
I looked where she pointed. I looked around for the mushrooms and found them easily. Ahmi pointed in the opposite direction. “East.”
“ŋuve. 'ʊŋe zɪvɪ?”
I stood up straight. “Oh, uh… I really don't remember.”
“Hmm,” Ahmi nodded. “vʌ.”
“vʌ,” I repeated. “You mean like no?”
“I mean like if you want me to tell you anything about Miyani, you must first tell me what direction that is.”
I sank in that. “But I don't remember!”
She lifted on her toes and set her hand on my chest, leaning into me to whisper, “neither do I!”
And she walked off.
“But that's not fair!” I followed.
I scoured my mind. It had to be in there somewhere.
Ahmi stopped and set one arm out towards me with one finger over her lips as she studied a bush off to our left. Then she looked at me with a wide smile and cocked her head to that side.
I looked. I studied it close. It was some feet taller than a man and covered in leaves that ended in a red stem. It had flowers of yellow spikes in some areas and clusters of round, black berries.
She whispered. “Do you see anything?”
I shook my head.
She shook hers as well. Then she grabbed a small cluster of berries and continued walking, stuffing one of them into her mouth.
“Are those any good?”
She peeked over her shoulder and smirked. “There is one way to find out.”
I took one. It wasn't juicy so much as fleshy, with a strange after-sweetness that lingered on the tongue. “Alright, so what about Miyani, though?”
She pointed off to the left and slightly towards me. “'ʊŋe zɪvɪ?”
I pushed out an exasperated breath. “I don't know!”
She turned around and kept walking.
I had to remember. With stakes like that, I needed to. I tried to settle my mind back to that moment I stood with her in the grotto, her trying to be serious while I tried to not be so enraptured by those glorious legs. Dear God, please help me remember the word that came after nana. “Wushi?”
Ahmi laughed. “No. That is ŋaŋa,” she turned around, “and that is wuʃi. But very good you remembered. And this?”
I shrugged, lifting my hands. “I…”
Ahmi nodded. “Try to remember.”
“Wait… ɣaze? North? ɣaze?”
She popped her eyes and smiled. Then pointed opposite. “And?”
I had nothing. I shook my head.
“væfa,” she said. “ŋaŋa, wuʃi, ɣaze, væfa. Got it?”
“Yeah.”
“Say it.”
I did. “Nana, wushi, gaze, vafa. Nana, wushi, gaze… uh, ɣaze, and vafa. væfa.”
Ahmi nodded. “Very good! Now. What would you like to know about her?”
“Well,” I got excited. “How is she? What is she like? Does she say anything about me? I don't know. Anything?”
“Well,” she thought about it for a moment. “She says she can teach you.”
“Huh?” I sneered. “What does that mean?”
Ahmi nodded lightly and smiled. “It is a good thing. Next question?”
“No, wait. What do you mean it's a good thing?”
She looked sharply to the right, then leaned to her side, stretching her neck out to see. I didn't see anything, so I looked around behind us. Then I heard that bird again. Up-down-up-down-warble, perhaps twenty feet directly in front of where I was looking.
I felt Ahmi stand next to me and lean in. “You have a good instinct!”
We kept walking and she continued. “You come here with a lot of very difficult things to work with. Men of your culture often refuse to understand.”
“Understand what?”
“Well, your people often have some very toxic ideas about sex. We see it as a partnership—we together are working to make this the most pleasurable experience for us both. Your people consider it a means of dominance and control. You count your conquests like victories and treat your lovers with contempt, like you take something from her. It is difficult to explain, but a lot of men from your culture do not want to change this mentality. Miyani believes she can teach you, and if you are serious about her this is a very good thing for you. For what it's worth, I felt the same way about my husband—and you were asking earlier—that was very important to me. Next question.”
Behind me, I felt that punch again, only much harder. It hurt this time, and I had to take a minute to let that settle. Meanwhile a blue-green vita’o settled up to her and dropped his neck below her face only to lift his head on the other side and squawked.
Ahmi giggled, “we are losing points!”
I grinned and gazed at the ground. “So it seems.”
“Tell me,” Ahmi said. “What do you like about her?”
Wow, what a question. I dropped my gaze to the ground and tried to hold back the flood of shame. “Well, uh… we can't talk much, I know that. But, I mean…” I shook my head. “I mean she's very… pretty.”
Ahmi laughed. “OK, you like her ass. But what do you like about her?”
I tilted my head. “What do you mean?”
“I am sure there have been plenty of girls who pleased your eyes, and I am also sure that some of them you did not want to see a second time. So then, what do you like about this one?”
I hadn’t thought about it before, but it wasn’t a difficult task. “It seems like she welcomes me. It's hard to explain. I know there’s so much we can’t talk about, and I wish we could, but there's a part of her that just… welcomes me, and I like that.”
“Ahh!” Ahmi nodded. “That is good!”
Then she held up a finger and tapped her temple, gesturing for me to close my eyes.
I listened. Those birds were all over. “It's like a chorus of them. A multitude fanning out in all directions, and they're all singing the same tune. It's everywhere, and it's loud. It drowns out everything else.”
“Yes,” she nodded. “There is a confrontation in the forest below.”
Then she teased her eyebrows at me and glanced to her left, resting one hand on her arm while subtly pointing her finger in that direction. I looked, trying to figure out what she saw when she whistled. Like a super-high wavering that she held for a few seconds. Suddenly the whole chorus stopped and the jungle fell silent all around.
Where I faced, a snapped twig directed my eyes at a narrow gap, through which I caught a glimpse of light-green scales. “Lazybum, got you!”
Ahmi stood facing a twisting vine with fanned leaves like a palm tree that hung over a fallen log and ended in the only bush around. She had her hands on her hips and said, “come now. You really think I don't see you?”
Thunder squawked, then hissed and ran off.
Ahmi and I then walked over towards a small cliff and sat down on a tree that had grown sideways. I watched the forest for anything I could discern about anything, while Ahmi lifted one foot over her knee and studied it. “Look here!”
I leaned in. Clustered around her ankle, in clear contrast to her dark-green skin were about a dozen tiny white pellets that stood up from just beneath her skin.
“kiʒeθu eggs.”
I winced. “Those are eggs?”
“You will want to get these out. I will show you how to do that.”
“Wow,” I keep looking at it.
She looked up as she spoke, “tell me something. What is the most pressing question you have for me? Anything.”
I thought about it. I tried to think of something deeply profound, or perhaps even appropriate. Instead all I could come up with was, “why did you wear a dress the day we met you?”
Ahmi sneered and shot back, “and first, why do you truly want to know this? I will answer you, but the why depends on why you need to know. I know that does not sound right, but that's it. Think about it and tell me..”
It was an important question that gave me pause, but I already knew the answer. “Everywhere at Carthia, we see women with their breasts out. Except you. Take away the whole ‘oh my holy got I'm surrounded by naked breasts’ phase, and it still stands out as unusual. I just want to know why.”
“Hmm!” She shrugged. “Let me tell you this. Some years ago, one of your people told me that your kind would show me more respect if I covered up when I greeted you. That was the bet.”
“The bet?” I laughed.
“Mm-hmm,” she smiled wide and looked off for a moment. Yes, the bet was that if he was right, I had to kiss him.”
“Oh really?” I nearly doubled over. “And if he was wrong?”
She smirked. “Then he had to kiss me! So the stakes were very high!”
I laughed. “I can see that!”
Then she rested her hand on my arm and looked back and forth between both sides of us. Then she shook her head and turned. We climbed over a pile of mossy stones with scant trees on all sides that split the horizon perfectly between upper and lower canopies and gave us a decent view for hundreds of yards in all directions. We even had a few windows to the clouds above.
We sat and looked around for a moment. “What do I need to know about her?”
Ahmi glanced at me with a serious face. “Can you explain the question?”
“Well, you know her better than I do. What, in your opinion, is the most important thing about her that I probably should know in case I don't?”
Ahmi scratched at her head and looked around. Then she pointed off to one side, “Thunder, I see you! That's two for us, don't make this so easy; you know we are up here!”
Thunder chirped and let out a string of clicks.
“No, I expect better from you!”
She looked up at me sheepishly and giggled, “was that too much?”
“Not at all,” I shrugged. “It's about learning, right?”
“Exactly!” She grinned with eyes wide.
Then she nodded. “One thing you should probably know about Miyani. How's this: she believes in you.”
I furrowed my brow. “What does that mean?”
“It means she believes in you! Beyond the physical attraction which I can tell you she feels very sharply, she believes in you. In every way, she feels no caution with you. None. I find that hard to accept given how much you two have spoken, but she does. Now I am not equipped to tell you how you should feel about that or what you should do, but there it is. She believes in you. That is what you need to know. Now, watch.”
With that, she lifted her ankle to me and showed me how to get my fingernail under the egg to pop it out. Then she directed me to take off my boots and examined my feet, only to find two clusters of those eggs on my skin, one just above where the boots ended, and another one on top of my foot right where my big toe began. We worked on those as well.
“What happens if you don't get them out?”
She smiled. “They hatch.”
“And?”
She humphed. “You will feel very, very sick for a very, very long time. They say that you have twenty-four hours, but I don't like to push my luck.”
“Yeah, that doesn't sound like something to test your luck with.”
“No.”
She continued to coach me on getting the eggs out when I asked, “so what happened to that guy?”
“What guy?”
“The one you had the bet with. Is he your husband?”
“No,” she shook her head. “No, he was killed.”
“How?”
Ahmi’s face grew solemn as she spoke through the memories. “The Mewi'ishi offered us a deal, these are the same people who met with us yesterday, that you came to ask about. They offered us safe passage to the salt mines along the ridge in exchange for safe passage along the river. They double crossed us and sent back the severed heads of every man in his company—a hundred-fifty men. Later on they claimed it was some radical extremists.”
“Ouch!” I couldn’t tell where to look.
“War sucks,” she smiled from one side of her lips.
“So, wait… I'm sorry, change of subject. What did happen yesterday?”
Ahmi huffed. “They came to offer the same kind of deal.”
“Oh.”
“Don’t waste your time on the details; it is a trap, and they want to kill you. Next question!”
“How’d you meet your husband?”
She smirked. “Same as how I met you; he was summoned for war. We got along very well, he finished his tour, then said to me that he cannot go anywhere where I am not. So we got married. Now, here is something you need to know. It is very disrespectful for you to go flirting with a married woman; please do not do this again.”
I lowered my eyes. “How was I supposed to know?”
“Look,” she pointed at the round, thumb-sized scar on her hip
“If you see a woman with this scar, she is married. During the marriage vows, they will carve a piece of your flesh for her to eat, and they will carve a piece of her flesh for you to eat.”
“To eat?” I pulled my face back in disgust.
Ahmi smirked.
My eyes popped. “You're joking!”
She laughed. “Whatever you do, don't vomit!”
I nodded. “Good to know.”
“Now it is my turn. How far could you conceivably go with Miyani?”
“What do you mean?”
“She is not of your ethnicity. Could you—hypothetically—commit your love to a woman who is not of pure Herali blood?”
“Oh, that.” I looked away towards a bare tree branch nearby.
“Have you thought about it?”
“I don't need to. I feel like if it's right, it's right; I'm not going to let something like that get in the way.”
“I've had men say this to me only to later on cite it as a reason why it would never work.” At that, Ahmi fixed her eyes at me in stern inquisition.
I tried to give her more. “I suppose you never truly know until you're in that situation, but I'm also an orphan, so I have no family to appease. Also, you know what? There is that friend I told you about.”
Ahmi laughed. “Sarina?”
“We were serious.”
Ahmi grinned. “Uh-huh? Go on?”
“Why do you say it like that?”
“Davod has a very different view, but go on?”
“What view could he possibly have? What did he tell you?”
“It is OK, go on? You were serious?”
“Well…” I shrugged. “I was serious.”
“Uh-huh,” Ahmi kept grinning, “go on?”
“OK, what did he tell you?”
“Don't worry about it,” she laughed.
I laughed. I tried not to, but whatever Davod told her was probably true. “Look, the part you're talking about, that was never an issue. Yes, we heard it all the time. When we were kids it was ‘whose mutt is this?’ shit like that made me so angry. There was this one kid, Shonan, he was especially mean so Davod, Tor, and I messed him up real bad. He went to go live with his aunt in another village after that. And I loved her. It took me way too long to see it, and by then it was too late. But no, that Herali blood bullshit was never a problem between us.”
Ahmi nodded. “OK, then. I have one more for you. Are you hungry?”
My eyes lit up. “Very much so!”
She smiled wide and we stood. We stepped down and back into the dark forest when she turned back to me, “we must be cautious. They have a very nice ambush for us, and I would hate to disappoint them!”