POV: Natasha
“Yo Tom.” Julun calls him.
“Yeah?”
“Pass those cards. I am feeling like robbing you.”
“We’re playing with silver?” He pulls out his wallet and draws a silver pint.
“Well, it can’t be fucking bronze.”
Merkerthy looks at them with raised eyebrows. “Raise that shit to the onyx level.”(A thousand silver pints = one onyx pint)
The other two look at him like he is stupid before laughing.
I sit there, listening to their gambling and nonsense talk. I did that a lot when I wanted to learn as much as possible about everything.
There were so many different dialects, cultures, taboos, languages, accents, animals, types of technologies, terminologies and so on that it felt frustrating at first.
For example, in Retuia(On the edge of the east of Terrafall’s border), apparently, it’s a custom for the parents to show their children the expenses spent on them(and go into detail about it), especially when they are closer to becoming adults.
The idea is basically to make them feel indebted to them, and loyal and teach them the value of money. I heard it’s a tradition among Julioes.
And then I also heard it’s based on punchio’s culture. But that’s probably just racism because of the money-loving stereotype. But I don’t know.
Tom draws the last card, losing. “One of you guys set me up.”
“Or you just suck.” Julun grins as he picks up all the money. “But I am glad you do. I am glad indeed.”
Merkerthy yawns. “I am done. Pass one of those magazines.”
Julun replies, “Don’t have any.”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“Rets-agyi-meui made me burn them.”
The two stare at him. “Tell that girl of yours to get a proper fucking name instead of that brain-dead shit. ‘Agyi…’ how do you even pronounce that?”
“I think with two ‘r’s and… a ‘e’ then…” Tom thinks.
Julun cuts them off, “It’s ‘a,g,y,i’ ”
“Why the hell does it sound like it doesn’t even have an ‘a’ in it?’
Julun shrugs. “Ask her when you see her.”
Tom shakes his head. “Whatever. Anyway, lucky for you Merk, I got the EX DEL 1536 SEXY SHOTS…. Give me twenty-five silver for it.”
He flips a thick magazine with a naked blonde woman lying down on the sand with vanilla ice cream covering her nipples and neither region.
“Wait, 1536 sexy shots? In that small thing? They scammed your ass.”
“No, dumbness. It’s a compilation of everything that came out this year”
“Oh… You got the vlandos one?”
“Fuck no. Why the hell would I want to see those damn giants naked?”
“But you only bought it to sell the shit, so why would you care? And why are you reselling it for so much?” The original price tag of two silver pints is on it.
“Work smart, not hard.”
“Motherfucker, you said—”
“Shut up. You only want it to resell it outside of the city anyway.”
Bahmos says, “Shut up already. You all are loud for no reason.”
“Kay kay.”
Yeah, absolutely nonsense.
Their talking goes out when a loud shriek passes over us.
A sharkcrow. Vernisha who is sitting near Ulah jerks her head up and looks through the window above the carriage to watch it.
A feathered winged shark that’s the size of a full-grown bull. It flaps its wings and flies away.
It’s one of those animals that was driven to near extinction three hundred and four years ago. For food for wars on the continent and for stupid ritual purposes.
Vernisha returns to holding Ulah's hand, comforting him, saying, he is going to be okay.
She even does something similar for her father. So I guess she honors our promise.
Still, I am surprised she can honor it.
I actually thought she probably had chosen to poison them. I didn’t get why she would want to kill Ulah. Her father, I understand, it makes sense.
I think it does. But it just didn’t make sense with her personality. If she wanted him dead, she would have tried to make him have an accidental death, like she attempted in the past.
If I was sensitive I would have done it myself.
He’s so descriptive and explicit with his words and so quick to anger. Everything gets his blood boiling. It’s like he is always bothered by something, and if he gets a little more bothered, it sets him ablaze.
But he only shows that anger in the house. He must think of me as a verbal punching bag.
That really does something to my ego. Him thinking I am his. His words? Like I have said a million times, I am not affected.
But whenever I think that he thinks he can treat me however because he thinks he ‘owns’ me, a type of anger boils in me.
If I weren’t a mother, and for other reasons, I would have definitely killed him.
Sigh.
I am a mother. I have been one for twelve years, but it doesn’t change the weird kind of happiness I feel when I think about it.
A slight cold chill down my spine and a knot in my stomach. I have carried a child for nine months, not once but twice, and given birth, and nursed those kids.
And I saw them go from being incredibly stupid to learning to speak and functioning semi-independently, along with the changes in their bodies.
It’s an interesting thing to go through.
Tch.
How did Vernisha just come across some weird mutative bread in a damn Balash temple?
“Ma…” Ulah awakens from his sleep, but unlike before, he can communicate.
I rest my hand on my chin.
I wonder—
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Vernisha looks at me expectantly. “I think… he wants you.”
…
My heart skips a beat, and I move over quickly. “Yes, I was just in shock.”
I sit near him and cradle him. He makes expressions of pain while saying random things:
“Two times three… is five? No… six.”
“Vernisha what’s division…”
She says, “It’s weird that he is thinking about such things right now.”
“Maybe it’s just his custom.”
“Yeah. He was somewhat excited to learn about division.”
“I guess you will have to remember to teach him it when he recovers.”
“Yeah, for sure.”
Caren makes slight movements and even sleep talks. “Benji… listen to me. If we all put our money together, we can buy it…”
Benji, that’s his brother.
He continues, “Come on… Granddad meant that land for us! How can we just let someone else keep it?!”
Oh, that. He did tell me about that. His parents sold a lot of land that was passed down in the family. He thought it wasn’t fair and that the land was only meant to be held by Holinestones.
Julun says, “You think the head wounds made him…” he taps his head.
“Crazy?” I ask.
“Yeah, something so. Thought it would be rude to say it since he is your husband and all.”
“Oh. I doubt that’s the case. He’s probably just sleep-talking. Relieving memories,” I answer.
Tom joins the conversation. “Was he talking when they fell sick?”
None of them knows they turned into cannibals.
Vernisha answers, “Somewhat. But nothing like this. It almost seems they are mentally getting better.”
Or the opposite.
Tom replies, “I hope that’s the case. Growing up without a father is hard. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone.”
Merkerthy nods in agreement.
I ask him, “You don’t have one?”
I knew him since he was a teenager, one of the annoying ones who would try their best to get with women twice their age(unlike most, he didn't grow out of that), but I don’t recall ever seeing his parents.
He shrugs. “You saw him a couple of times. He’s just a druggie now. Only knows me when he needs money to get a fast high.”
I don’t understand it. He clearly has a father— Oh. I get it.
“I see. Sorry to hear that."
He shrugs. "It's whatever. Little Verni did meet my mom at a market square once, though."
"Oh. How'd that happen?"
He starts smiling, holding back small laughter like he is remembering an embarrassing moment.
He gestures at Vernisha and says, "She tried to sell her a pink-terra for triple the market price."
Vernisha shrugs. "I needed the money. And I got the money"
I half smile. "Interesting to hear."
More time passes and I find myself staring into nothing.
Vernisha gets up and sits near me.
She doesn't say anything, but I can tell she is uneasy.
Then she starts taping the floor like she often did when bored or worried.
After about five more minutes, she asks, “Why aren’t you angry with me?”
What a weird question.
“Why would I—" Oh right. "—It was an accident.”
“When I get into accidents you get angry. Ridiculously angry.”
“The difference is that… It’s different.”
“How is it different? Isn’t this worse?”
“Vernisha.”
“Yes.”
“Stop worrying. You will give yourself high blood pressure.”
“It’s hard not to when I can remember how you always reacted when I badly injured myself. Like when that boulder crushed my legs. You were angry, angry that I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Angry for something you didn’t warn me about, that I didn’t know about. Something I wasn’t responsible for at all.
“If Caren was the only one who got messed up because of me, I would understand your calmness, we don’t give a fuck about him. But Ulah? You love him.”
“Do you want me to scream at you? Call you foolish? I don’t understand why you are complaining. I see that it was an accident, so I accept it was an accident. What’s your problem?”
“I just felt uneasy.”
“Well don’t.” I scoff.
She doesn’t reply. Instead, she appears sulked, harmed by my words.
I run my hand through my hair and say, “Look, I understand why you did it. I can relate to it. When I was much older than you, maybe fifteen, I brought a fruit to my sister. It looked nice and smelt so too. But I didn’t know those fruits held a lot of parasites. My sister died because of me, a painful death, and my parents blamed and hated me for it.” I look her right into her eyes. “I don’t want you to feel that kind of pain. To feel like you are responsible for the suffering of others because your kindness betrayed you.”
Vernisha's lips purse open and she finds it hard to get the right words. “I didn't know you had a sister."
“I don’t like to talk about my family.”
“Oh, right. Sorry.”
“It’s okay.”
Unfortunately, the three were listening, but all they do is offer words of comfort.
After an hour, the Lizard movements become slower. Then it becomes still and is panting.
The three younglings are fast asleep, but Bahmos wakes up. In his hand is a pyramid communicator.
He forces his tired self up and reaches for the carriage walls for balance like a drunkard at a bar.
“Dreamy?” he calls out.
The Lizard responds like a small cat.
“Ah...”
I ask him, “It’s tired?”
He snaps his eyes open in surprise like there is an intruder in his house. Then he realizes it’s just me.
He says, “Damn, forgot you were there. Yeah, it’s tired. Give it about twenty minutes.”
“I see.”
He slides the carriage door open and hops out. “I will be out for a while.”
Vernisha is leaning against my shoulder. She says, “I want to go outside.”
“Why?” I ask.
“I feel like my bladder is about to burst.”
I exhale then stand up. “What if the Lizard didn’t stop?”
Vernisha grabs my waist to help her stand up. “I would just die holding it in.”
“You were that afraid to ask them to stop?” I ask as I get out of the carriage and stand on the paved dirt ground.
I look at the tall grasses and white flowers among them.
“A bit so.” Vernisha jumps out and nearly trips and falls, but she catches her balance.
“Stop being so reckless...” I mutter.
“I am hungry, want to pee, and sleep-deprived.”
Vernisha yawns and then walks deep into the grass field. I follow her to make sure she will be safe. She finds it annoying, saying I am treating her like a child, I ignore her comments.
While walking her movements are cautious, like a blind person’s.
She complains. “It’s so damn dark…”
I smirk. “So you ‘can’t see’.”
I think she is trying to understand my joke since she is taking so long to respond. “I don’t understand. Explain.”
“No.”
“Whatever.”
Once she is done doing her business we walk back. She steps on something soft and hurriedly moves her feet from it.
“I hope it’s just a fruit…” she mutters as she aggressively drags her sandals on the grass to get rid of what she thinks can be animal shit.
I stare at what she stepped on.
A bloody human hand with a bite mark. A fresh one at that.
I ask Vernisha, “Does it smell like shit?”
She shakes her head. “But it doesn’t smell like fruits either.”
I shrug and walk forward for her to follow me. “Oh well.”
Bahmos is in a little distance, talking, “You are joking, right? What do you mean she quit?”
He waits a while for a response then ask, “So you’re working on fixing this? We need a vlandos by tomorrow.”
“Well work on it!”
I guess the vlandos was to be a bodyguard while doing drug business or something so. That’s the only reason he would hire a vlandos mercenary, which is very very illegal.
Bahmos returns, stomping on the ground, cigar in his mouth blowing out blue smoke.
He sees us and asks, “Getting fresh air?”
“Something so,” I reply.
He nods and looks at the moon. He looks down at Vernisha and says, “You know, monsters originate from the moon.”
“Stop spreading such myths,” I tell him.
“It's not a myth. I learned that in school, Brightmore school.”
“You should sue them for teaching you such lies.”
He rolls his eyes. “Let’s start moving again.”
We get on board and the Lizard starts back moving.
I lean against the side of the wall and think to sleep. I don’t feel tired, but I don’t want to think much right now.
So I close my eyes and relax.
POV: Vernisha
I check the map to see how far we are way from the capital. Interesting thing, we were near a small monster zone.
Another hour past and I struggle to keep awake. For some reason, Bahmos is up. I think smoking is keeping him awake.
He randomly starts a conversation. “Why are you still up?”
“I think everyone should stay up when you are around.”
His eyes widen a little. “Must have heard rumors.”
“A lot of them.”
Like his father trafficking kids to Holvious.
Unlike Holvious, child marriage is legal here, so there isn't much of a demand for it in Terrafall's black market.
"Is that why you tried to sabotage my carriage a while back?”
Eh…
“I am not going to do you anything. If you weren’t a child, it would be a different story,” he continues.
“So you are not going to kill me?”
“Exactly.”
"Because I am a ‘child'?"
"Isn’t that what I just said?" he replies.
I find that hard to believe.
I ask, “So it isn’t because I am Natasha’s child and you so badly want to get into her dress?”
He blows a big puff of smoke. “My fucking God, I may be a piece of shit, but I got some damn morals. Also, don't talk like that. You are a kid."
Him telling me 'don’t talk like that' and calling me a ‘kid’, really annoys me.
I stare at him. He stares back and says, "What?"
"Please don't tell me how to talk. I am not a... I am not your child or a child that wants advice from you."
It’s annoying, but until I am twenty, I am considered a child. A big child, but a child nonetheless.
He leans forward, wearing an expression like my request is absurd. "Were you never taught manners and respect?"
"I was being respectful. I said 'please'. Or do you think it's because you are an adult I should do as you say?"
He looks at me like I am something hateful then shakes his head.
He grumbles, "You little…” he stops himself from finishing. “I swear to the stars... I am glad I no longer have a kid."
He angrily pulls on his cigar and coughs. "Fucking ungrateful little shits... Always so fucking ungrateful."
He says this for a while then starts saying, "If it weren't for me, you probably wouldn't even be with your family. Some fucking dumb fuck would have probably totted his ass here and buy you off your father when you were ten or something."
He bites on the end of his cigar, crushing it. "Or maybe they would be bought you for their deformed sons or daughters. Forced to live your sad life with a fuck that can barely form words or even fucking move. Like a slave, wiping their ass every day. And you know who prevents this shit from happening to all you kids in this village? Me." He takes a deep breath before angrily whispering. "Fucking... me."
I don't say anything. I choose not to believe it. Even if it is true, it wouldn't change how much I dislike him.
He throws the cigar and goes to lie down, muttering, "Ungrateful..."
That rage is definitely meant for someone else. Like pent-up frustration.
I try to keep myself awake. But, I basically fall asleep on Natasha’s side.