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We have continued working, and Nilma have pretty much just been sitting on a rock looking out over the sea and shore, and we assume trying to come to grips with her new life. I have Kima keeping her eyes on her. We've discretely talked and pretty much accepted we will have a new group member. Reiley doesn't like Nilma because she seem spoiled, is pretty, and just a year older than her. Being married to a King it's safe to assume Nilma must have come from the upper strata of her society, and it might just be faulty assumptions from me, but as a sixth wife, I think it's likely that Nilma became so because she is 'young and pretty' and her King was older than her. Like a trophy wife or something. I get why Reiley might feel threatened by Nilma. It's just days since we learned how Bokyli's change have complicated our relationship, and yesterday Vekalie showed up. Today Nilma. It would've been easier for Reiley if it was a woman I wouldn't have any attraction for, or who is likely to develop a need like Vekalie. There are still hours of daylight left, but before heading down to the harbour I want to talk to Nilma. So I wash off and then I walk over and sit on the ground a couple of meters beside her. She have noticed me, but we sit in silence.
"We're going down to the harbour where we keep that ship you saw. You can come along or have more alone time. Before we go, I'm here if you want to talk and have someone listen." Nilma seems lost for words, and just very depressed and sad. Might be best to get her to talk a bit. "If you feel like it, please tell me about your life and your sisters."
She starts to sob again, but I wait.
"I no longer have sisters." Nilma hugs her legs and keep on looking out over the sea. Yeah, that is one way to handle her new life. "We had a pact. If one of us died for any reason - no matter if it was accident, sickness or something else - the others might get punished with torture or worse, so we made a secret pact to take poison or jump from the cliffs and let the sea take us. Since I have disappeared, it's likely to be taken as I've somehow escaped, and that would force them to take their own lives."
What?!? What the hell?!
"Why?!" Shit! I shouldn't have asked that.
"Our father lost the war, and a spy saved us so our treacherous mothers couldn't kill us. We had to watch as our brother were tortured, raped and made a castrated slave, and his old name forbidden to be spoken. King Dukos married me and my sisters Manyl and Afleg so no-one else could, and we were his war trophies. King Dukos consummated the marriage when we came of age, but we would never get pregnant, so our fathers bloodline would end. We lived in our family island fortress, and forbidden to leave. And I have left. Manyl and Afleg would suffer and so will people on the island have."
Holy shit.
What the hell do you say as a response to that?! No wonder she was desperate to get home. Nilma have had a hell of a life. 'Treacherous mothers', yeah right. Sounds more like a traitor caught them to stop their mothers from killing them since they knew what would happen. I look over at Reiley who of course kept an eye on me and Nilma, and it's clear she have heard what Nilma said. Not what we expected to hear. Did the damn alien bastards know what would happen when they took Nilma? Although it could be argued that they freed one of them from that life. Not that life here might be long and they should have lived fairly well. Did they take all three sisters? Unlikely, since they are cold hearted bastards, but where were Nilma when she was taken? With her sisters?
"Nilma, what is the last thing you remember before waking up here? Where were you? Were you alone?"
"Yes. I was looking out over the coast from my favourite spot on a cliff."
"Do you know where your sisters were?"
"Inside. We weren't allowed to be outside at the same time."
Yep, they really were prisoners. Actually that might explain her dress and why it doesn't hide anything. We should get her something else to wear. Something that will not be her prisoner clothes, that is more covering and protecting, and makes her feel like one of us. Oath binding is absolutely no option, but I wasn't really planning to.
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"You think Manyl and Afleg might be here too?!"
Nilma looks at me like she is grasping for hope, but lying to her about that?
"I don't want to lie to you, so sadly no. Everyone seems to be kidnapped when we are alone and outside." Nilma just turns back towards the sea, hugging her legs even more. "I won't pretend to know how you feel, and it's a terrible fate that have happened to the people you know, but that has happened and you can't change that. It is not your fault. You didn't choose to be kidnapped and taken here. If you want to blame anyone for those deaths and suffering, it is the so called Spirits, that I prefer to call damn alien bastards. As I see it, we have to accept reality, and just do the most of our new lives here. And in your new life here, you are free. Free. Mourn and remember your sisters, but live for their sake too. You can sit here and watch the sea, or you can follow along as we go down there and swim in it. Your choice."
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The sun is just about to touch the horizon as we make it back from the harbour cove. It took longer than expected, but that is partially because every time I walk that path, I see improvements, and since we have basic tools like a machete and such with us, it's so easy to get into a 'I'll just improve this before we move on' kind of mode, and those accumulate time. As Reiley and I shower and wash each others bodies, we agree that with a few exceptions it have been a good day. A very good day if you count the Star Fall stuff, and we have made plenty of project progress.
We have test mounted the sail on the catamaran and it should be much faster, but we of course brought the sail back up as we left. There is quite a few upgrades to do before taking the catamaran on our next journey. The harbour cove is protected and shallow water without much waves or current, so Reiley, Kima, Queral and Nilma have also gotten swimming lessons while I checked that Bokyli and Vekalie can swim good enough. Swimming and teaching someone that is not easy when body volume and body joints are different.
The bioluminescent algae is of course in the water even though we can't see it during the day, but we've been getting splashed during our travels and I don't think it is dangerous for our health. Might be long term, but so can pretty much anything we eat, so no point worrying about that. We still washed off the worst down in the harbour since there is a small creak where water collects in some deeper parts, and we made a small dam to increase the water level. We will store fresh water down there for washing off and other purposes. There will be many more swimming lessons, but just getting used to being in water and holding their breath and so on is very important. Next time, Queral will have sewn something more practical to cover the important parts of her body, as she obviously have cultural norms about being naked in the presence of a man she isn't married to, and swimming with too much cloth is just hard.
Nilma is the opposite. She have no qualms about being completely naked, but she have pretty much been naked all the time in front of the female guards since years back, and it was just females guarding them. This was the first time for years that Nilma have been allowed to swim in the sea, and she used to love doing that. Unfortunately she remembered playing with her sisters in the waves, and got sad again. That will probably happen for a long time and we let her have some alone time. We all feel a bit sorry for Nilma, and it's not her fault for not knowing a lot of basic things. She was literally forbidden from learning it, and it's clear there are some deeply ingrained indoctrination that will take time to undo, like she was not allowed to use a knife. As I offered her a small stone knife, her instinctive response was to pull away her hands and take a step back, like it was a dangerous poisonous animal. There were fear in her eyes, so I didn't push it. We'll have to teach her how to make a fire too, and so on. Reiley might have been the best to teach her, but since they can't talk it will probably be Vekalie. Nilma can sew as that was something she was allowed to do, and she can make crocheted lace like the dress she wore, so she will sew or modify something to wear. With someone else handling the knife or scissors.
Making the new small guard hut will not take more than a couple of days while we work on Xuela's hut too, and the project have been enthusiastically approved by everyone. Since it won't have much other daily use and Kima would really like to live there, we have officially decided that Kima will help design the guard hut to get it more like she want, and there will be a small fireplace and so on just if she needs it. We don't know how cold it might become and we might need fire for defence, so stupid to not include stuff like a simple fireplace, or a door and window shutters, with noise makers on them as alarm system, which is the reason that Xuela's hut also have that and a small water collection system.
With two electric lanterns as illuminating inside our hut, Reiley and I have a nice evening as we do a bit of crafting and talk, before we take the lanterns and go to bed. The decorated blankets and cloth covered pillows makes it feel like a proper bed, and as Reiley slip underneath her blanket in lingerie and cuddle in to be the little spoon, and I turn off the light, I'm kind of happy with the way my new life have turned out. It could be far far worse.
Still, I sure won't thank the damn alien bastards.