3.44.

Towari blushed as he threw out the absorbent material that someone had put in his hunting supplies. It was the material that women used when it was their time of the month. Whoever had put it there was mocking him, he knew, but he didn’t know how to respond.

It was friendly teasing, he knew. His wife was stronger than him, a better warrior than him. She was even a better hunter than him, he was certain, although she’d only demonstrated her skills on the subject once.

It was emasculating to have her be so much better than him at the masculine activities that he was supposed to contribute to their household. It was almost more emasculating for everyone to know that she was better than him, but that she continued to watch the children and do the weaving and curing of meat and leather and other tasks which were traditionally women’s work.

And everyone was outright calling him Enidi’s wife. To his face , although not to hers.

When he’d confided his struggles to her, she had simply smiled at him and asked “Want me to beat them up for you?”

Because that wouldn’t only make things ten times worse for him.

He loved Enidi. He wanted to continue to be her husband. But he wished that she’d never revealed her power to the tribe, because it was just so embarrassing to know that she was a great warrior and he was … he was an okay hunter. Yes he wasn’t a great warrior. He had shot down some of the ‘evil spirits’ as they had flown over the valley, yes. But that was with the use of Enidi’s god-powered weapons.

Enidi had saved not only the Mokoari tribe, but the nearby tribes as well. She was a great warrior and a hero to the Mokoari people and the entire basin.

He was just …

Her wife.

He sighed and packed the rest of his hunting gear to go out into the jungle. Enidi smiled at him over the stinky baby Hope that she was changing as he left. He smiled back.

He did love her. He just wished that their relationship was … simpler? More traditional? That the others did not tease him for being weaker than a woman?

Yes, all of those things.

Still, when he thought of the alternatives … having her denounce him and break their marriage would be even more embarrassing than being called her wife. He didn’t want that.

No, he’d put up with the teasing. Everyone would get bored of it eventually, wouldn’t they?

~~~~~~

Enidi watched her husband disappear into the jungle outside the village with a smile. She heard a snicker from one of the children and shot the boy a dirty look.

“And what are you laughing about?” she demanded with semi-mock sternness.

“Towari. I put absorbent padding in his pack,” the boy admitted. “You know, because he’s your wife.”

Enidi scowled at the nine year old for a moment. Then she pulled him over her lap and spanked him until he hollered.

“When you mock my husband you mock me,” she told the sobbing boy afterward. “Do you think that I would enjoy you humiliating the man to whom I am married?”

“I’m sorry,” the boy sobbed, rubbing his sore behind. “I won’t do it again.”

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“And you’ll apologize to him when you see him next,” she said sternly.

“What if he spanks me too?”

“Then you’ll have been well chastised for your crime,” Enidi said mercilessly. Although she did not think that Towari would punish the boy if he apologized. “Who else has been mocking my husband behind my back?”

The boy’s eyes went wide with fear. He did not wish to be known as a tattle-tale, and he ran and hid from the wrathful goddess who hid in their village.

Enidi sighed and watched the boy scramble away. She knew better than to pursue the topic too hard or she’d only cause her husband more embarrassment.

The egg-shaped object in the pouch she kept at her belt chirped and she pulled it out, tossed it in the air, and observed as Trewali appeared. He was wearing a black T-shirt with a skull on it and ripped jeans. He seemed to be enjoying himself in America.

“Enidi. The Earthlings are talking about doing Korjakala. Do you think that you could convince your tribe to get on a spaceship?” he asked in High-Yonohoan.

Enidi frowned as she considered it. “You want to send hunter-gatherers on Korjakala?” she asked.

“Yes. It will be hilarious, and it will also make the wider galaxy value Earth a thousand times more to know how diverse their culture is,” Trewali explained. “So far they have only seen the developed regions. They have no idea of the gems hiding in the rough.”

Enidi scowled at him. “I do not know if I approve of this. Is this an order from Command?”

“No. I am trying to arrange it on my own. But Enidi, you are the one who wants to give the Mokoari a voice in the universe! Just imagine if they showed up in another galaxy and started showing off their hunting weapons and speaking their language and asking about what sort of game animals and fruits the other worlds had! The Brightworlders would hang on every word they had to say, regardless of whether they understood it or not! And everyone would ask the people piloting the spaceship where these magnificent people came from, and you could tell them Earth! They came from Earth!”

Enidi continued to scowl.

“I will think about it, Trewali,” she said at last. “Maybe I can convince them, but maybe not. I am not certain they will understand what I am asking of them. But I will bring it up at the next village council and see what the elders say. Maybe they will send some of their warriors, maybe they will not.”

“All I can truly ask is that you try,” Trewali admitted. “As I said, this is not an order from Taskforce Ragnarok.”

Enidi tried to imagine the Mokoari tribe appearing in an advanced world like the one where she’d been born. She knew things were different now. That humans were not afraid of the Punokotoko anymore because the Punokotoko were extinct. Her former masters would not have appreciated the wonder of the Mokoari. She understood these people and loved these people. Perhaps other humans would as well?

“They will not come to harm if I send them into space, will they?”

“No, of course not. It will be as safe as a Toormonda.”

“Earth is at war.”

“The enemy is suing for peace. Desperately, if my reports are accurate. They are neck deep in shit creek without a paddle, and the other galaxies are talking about sending punitive forces to make an example out of them,” Trewali explained. “And anyway your tribesmen will not be going to that part of the galaxy. I’ll make certain of that.”

Enidi scowled at him some more, then sighed. “I will talk to the council and see what they say, Trewali. Goodbye.”

“Goodbye Enidi,” Trewali said, and they ended the call.

She continued to scowl at the air where Trewali had been. The other villagers looked away from her display of magic, pretending that it did not exist because that was the easiest way to address it.

She couldn’t leave the valley. She needed to stay here for multiple reasons, not the least of which was to secure it from possible future invasions.

But she could send Towari on Korjakala, she realized. When he had seen the universe and come back to his people, he would truly be a man. Not the teenage boy that he was now. His tribe saw him as a man, yes, but he was still a boy in her eyes. Husband or not, a little seasoning would do him good. And it would give him a chance to see the universe through her eyes.

She had already been planning to try to get some of the younger children on a Toormonda with John’s help. Was this really so different?

She sighed. Why did things have to be so complicated?

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