The feast we had, had gone quite well and everyone ate ravenously meaning the Dulfar did not go nearly as far as I had anticipated, forcing us to cook some more of the meat that had been gathered. Which meant I would have to go back out to hunt for some food sooner than I had planned. I looked to the Brightside however, planning to use this upcoming hunting trip to train up Yesui’s three younger brothers with Ulgar on how to properly hunt. Once everyone had their fill of the fresh meat, everyone went their separate ways to bed down for the night since we would have an early start the next morning. At least everyone bedded down except for me. I stayed awake checking the surroundings for any danger and making sure Batzorig was alright. One thing I did not want to lose was my horse since she had become one of my most valuable companions and in my eyes even a member of my family. After walking the perimeter of the camp a few times, the fatigue from the day finally hit, so I headed back into the camp to get some much-needed rest. I had offered my new family to sleep beneath one of the lean-tos on the side of the Yurts since I did not feel like sleeping under the same roof as people I didn’t yet know well. I had also decided not to have my new wife until after we got back to my camp since I didn’t want another distraction with all that was going to be going on. they had agreed, and I slept in the lean-to where Yesui had first caught my eye. I didn’t expect it, but I slept soundly that night even if in the morning I awoke sore from sleeping on the hard ground with only my saddlebags and a small blanket as my only comfort. That just goes to show how tired I truly was. Even if I slept well that doesn’t mean that I slept comfortably and that was proven when I awoke with an aching back. I cursed myself for sleeping on the ground instead of one of the Yurts. Nothing to be done now I thought attempting to stretch away the soreness.

      I awoke as the sun just started to come over the horizon and by the sounds in the yurt beside me, I was not the only one awake. Which was good since I wouldn’t have to wake those inside and they could start getting packed as soon as possible. I immediately packed up my blanket and changed my rawhide shirt out for a new one before slinging my bags over my shoulder and grabbing my saddle to go call Batzotrig up. By the time I had Batzorig saddled and ready to go the camp was fully awake and in motion packing up and getting ready to move. I had pulled some jerky from my saddle bag and was chewing on it as I walked Batzorig back into camp. Yesui walked up to me and bowed her head before falling in line with me to my left. “You eaten yet?” I asked only sparing her a glance before going back to see what the others were doing and where they needed help. “Yes.” “You packed and ready to move?” “No sir,” She said in a almost inaudible whisper, “I came to see if you needed anything.” I stopped dead in my tracks and looked over at her causing both her and Batzorig to stop as well. “Why would I need help this is all I have with me?” I asked indicating to Batzorig. “Umm I-I just thought my place was at your side now.” She said nervously fidgeting with her hands. “Yes, you will be my wife soon meaning your place is at my side but I have yet to take you and right now we need to get moving so your place is helping your family pack, and then when we leave this camp you will be taking up your place at my side.” without another word Yesui bowed her head and hurried away to help her family pack the camp. I know she was just trying to be respectful and probably keep an eye on me so that I wouldn’t just up and leave but we needed to leave as soon as possible to get to my camp before nightfall we had little room for error and I would have everyone being productive to get us on the move. Since we were taking an entire camp, animals and all, it would take far longer to get back than it did to get here and being on the move in such a large group was very dangerous and there would be many opportunities for something to go wrong.

       I scanned the camp again this time looking for Yesui’s father or brother both of who’s names I didn’t know but I planned to change that soon. I needed to talk to them both about what to do with the new wolf and Dulfar hides we had. I want them to use their skills to either make something useful for us to use, or I could trade it. I saw her brother first and waved my hands to him to catch his attention. He noticed me, so I beckoned him over to where I had been standing since speaking with Yesui. “Yes, master Aridan?”           “first of all, what is yours and your father’s names?”                                “of course, sir my name is Od and my father’s name is Yul.” I nodded my head to him taking note to remember those names, before looking back over the camp as one of the yurts was being taken down, starting with removing everything from the inside next, they would begin to remove the hides around the outside of the Yurt then the support beams. “Thank you Od, secondly I wanted to talk about the new hides we now have.” “Yes, sir I figured you would wish to talk about that before we got moving, but I would like to talk to father about things first.” I nodded, “good, go fetch him I would like to get everyone moving out soon.” Od bowed his head before turning back to go grab Yul.

      While Od was getting Yul I went to go get the wolf and Dulfar hides which were still hanging on the tanning rack where I had placed them the night prior. I placed the hides over Batzorig’s back and began inspecting them one by one as I waited for Yul to show up. The wolf hides were all basically butchered so they would only be useful as tanning, but the Dulfar hides had some worth just preserving since they were pretty well kept except for the first one Yesui had worked on. I was brought out of my thoughts when I heard footsteps behind me. I grabbed up the one Dulfar hide and all the wolf hides and turned around to Yul and Od. I tossed the hides in my hand to Od, “you two can take these and do with them as you wish, they have little value in the state they are in.” Od caught the hides tossed his way and folded them up. “Yul what can you do with that?” I indicated the hides now folded and tucked beneath Od’s armpit. Yul was lost in thought for a minute before answering. “I’m not to sure at the moment they will have to be tanned first but most likely the leather will just be used to repair some of the equipment around camp before working on any bigger projects.” I nodded, “that is agreeable. That’s all I needed from the two of you at the moment. So, now let’s finish packing the camp, so we can get out of here.” Both Yul and Od bowed their heads before turning back to leave, leaving me alone with Batzorig once again. I decided to mount up and go round up the animals so they would be bunched up and easier to move once everything else was packed.

                             ...

      It took over two hours, but finally everything was packed and ready to move. Since I had already rounded up all the animals once everyone had loaded up the horses, with their necessities and whatever else could be brought, we could finally mount up and leave. I employed the same formation for moving everyone as I had when I first left the clan at the beginning of spring. We had someone at the head of the column and someone at the back with the rest interspersed between keeping the animals in check. This time I would ride at the head with Yesui while Yul came up the rear and Od rode back and forth between us keeping everything in line while the rest of the women and children stuck to the middle of the column where it was safer. Sadly, Yul and Od’s families were not as good on horses as mine was, or even as good as the children within the Dulfar clan, so they were constantly running down rogue sheep and goats meaning we were making slow progress. We had only been moving for a little under an hour and already three goats two sheep and a foal tried to slip away from the rest of the heard. Even the animals are poorly trained within this house. To say I was displeased with our situation would be an understatement. Apparently Yesui could see the displeasure on my face. “in our old clan others would always help us move.” “Then your old clan and your father are fools, moving camp is basic for our people and you cannot even do it. I fear for our future if such basics have been ignored.” Even with the excuses this was too much. Our people move camps many times in a year so how could someone be so unable to do it. This will be a long day, I thought rubbing my forehead due to the stress. “Maybe so,” Yesui said capturing my attention once again, “If father wasn’t a fool we wouldn’t be in this situation.” “Aye, we just have to make the most of it now.” I said looking back at the convoy. “You will all learn in time, especially the young ones. I’ll make sure they are useful to me in time.” We rode in silence for a while and finally things were beginning to smooth out with less runaways as time went on and people got used to their roles within the convoy. I felt it was time to talk to Yesui about her role since we hadn’t really talked about it, which almost caused a problem this morning. “when we get home, you will begin working with Kulan to run my household. You will not be going back to your father’s house again, from now on you are mine.” “Who is Kulan?” Yesui asked concern written on her face. I realized then that I hadn’t explicitly made it clear to her yet that she was to be my first wife. The title of first wife was one of the greatest honors a woman could have for our people, seeing as they typically ran their household and held great sway with their husbands. “Kulan is my sister who I brought with me from my father’s house to help me start up my own household.” I said trying to reassure my new wife. “You, Yesui will be my first wife and soon you will run my house, including Yul’s house since he has joined with us.” Yesui sat there stunned for a time, clearly just now realizing that she was now more important than her father and older brother. This caused me to laugh at the situation. It was not often that someone so young took a position higher than their parents. “Yes, Yesui you will become quite important within the clan soon, especially with my position as a warrior.” Slowly she went from having a look of surprise to one of pride and joy. For this life we will lead we’ll both need a sense of pride, I thought as I watched her reactions take dramatic changes over a short period of time. “think you can handle this?” I asked. She jumped at my words coming out of whatever thoughts were going through her head. “I will devote myself to you and to not letting you down Aridan.” I cocked an eyebrow at her, “You weren’t going to devote yourself to me until you learned of your new position?” Yesui’s face went deathly pale which was quite a feat considering her tanned complexion and the smile that had been on her face just seconds before. “O-of course not I-I would never think of it.” She stammered. I couldn’t help but laugh at her reaction to my jest. It was quite refreshing and helped ease me out of my previously bad mood brought on by our slow pace. She began to look more and more distraught at my laughter which made me more amused causing me to laugh even more. “A-are you messing with me master Aridan?” she asked sheepishly. “Yes, Yesui I apologize, but your reaction was just too funny.” I managed between fits of laughter. My response just caused her to pout in her saddle which just brought on another fit of laughter since she just looked so cute pouting. Yesui harrumphed, at my continued amusement at her expense, and pulled back on her reins to fall back behind me to avoid me altogether. This marriage is going to become quite fun isn’t it, I mused. I waited for Yesui to come back up by my side but quickly began to realize she had no intention to come back to my side. This observation became quite apparent when I looked back at her and she quickly looked away to avoid eye contact with me. So instead of waiting on her to come to me I slowed myself down to match her pace and ride beside her again. To my dismay her response to my action was to speed up and ride ahead of me. “the hell.” I blurted out as she sped past me. She didn’t stop she just kept riding ahead of the column. Before throwing caution to the wind and chasing after her. I looked around and caught Od looking at both me and Yesui with an amused grin. “take the lead,” I said before chasing after Yesui without waiting for a reply from Od with the look on his face he seemed to know what was going on even if I didn’t. She may have had a head start but there was no doubt in my mind that Batzorig could easily catch her. Still that didn’t mean she didn’t give us a good chase. But after a few sharp turns and an all-out gallop Batzoirg got me up to the side of her horse where I grabbed Yesui’s reins bringing all of us to a stop. Honestly, I didn’t know what to do now that I caught her, so I just let my body move on its own since it was already moving before I could even think. I pulled both of our panting horses close to each other to where I was facing back the way we came and Yesui was still facing out the way she was going. This was when my mind completely quit working and my body took full control of the situation. And before I knew it, I had pulled Yesui up out of her saddle and placed her before me at the front of my own saddle. And I kissed my wife for the first time which just so happened to be my very first kiss. It wasn’t uncommon for unmarried boys and girls to mess around in the winter when the whole clan was together, but I had always been busy with Alton’s teachings so my only experience with this sort of thing was what I had seen others do. I was most definitely screwing it up with my inexperience as I fumbled around with my hands groping every inch of Yesui very aggressively. Our tongues moved between each other’s mouths entangling many times trying to imitate what we had seen our parents do in their passion. Even if we sucked at the whole thing one thing was for sure and that was the fact that this kiss lacked no passion or lust for each other. I was still tracing her body with my hands, but I finally just decided to rest my hands on her hips as the kiss got more heated. One thing I noticed was the taste of her, it was a sweet flavor that I couldn’t seem to get enough of as I began to get more aggressive with my tongue chasing after the taste and feeling of my wife’s mouth. I tried to exert control with my tongue as I moved it around her mouth and tangled with hers even more. I wasn’t the only one being aggressive either, Yesui was running her hands all over my body and groping the muscles on my arm as she let out gentle moans into my mouth which just made me more and more ravenous, her tongue was also fighting against mine, trying to wrap itself around my own. She was clearly teasing me, but I didn’t care I was in bliss enjoying the kiss and her embrace. The longer we kissed I became more and more confident and less nervous. All I could think was that I wanted more. I wanted to take her right there on Batzorig’s back. Thankfully my mind finally came back to me and I pulled away from Yesui’s lips before I took things too far. Even after we broke off the kiss Yesui continued to fondle my arms. “we will finish this tonight,” I said which got another pout from Yesui who apparently didn’t feel like stopping. I turned Batzorig around to head back to the column that was most likely waiting on us. Even as she was pouting, she was panting heavily from the kiss, as was I. I didn’t realize until now just how exhilarating a kiss could be. Instead of putting Yesui back on her horse I left her sitting there in front of me where, after she finished pouting, she leaned back into my embrace after she adjusted to get more comfortable. Batzorig would just have to deal with the added weight since I did not feel inclined to let Yesui out of my arms for the moment. Yesui’s horse followed closely behind Batzorig as we made our way back to the rest of our people to continue the journey. When we got back Od just smirked. Od was just making the entire situation awkward. Making me quite aware of how things looked with Yesui in my arms. Even if she was to be my wife this was still all a first for me making things that much more awkward. I ignored it as best I could, “we will take over things here Od.” Od left without saying a word still smirking all the while. “I will have to go hunting tomorrow.” I said trying to clear the awkwardness from the situation. “But you just killed three Dulfar last night.” “Yes, but I now have to feed a much larger family than I did in the past, I intend to get ahead so we have to slaughter less of the livestock since that will just cause a strain on our limited resources.” “Will you go alone?” she asked looking up at me. “No, I will take my brother Ulgar and your three younger brothers.” “You’re going to take my brothers?” Yesui asked concern written all over her face. “yes, they need to learn soon,” I said resolutely, “They should have already learned how to hunt, and I plan on making them warriors in the future anyways. They will follow in my footsteps and not in Yul’s.” “why’s that?” “because we need to strengthen the house and the quickest way to do that is to have more warriors within the house and more leather workers will do little to help us in the near future.” “I-I see.” She said looking back to the front. “They will learn quick and soon will be able to hunt alone so that I don’t have to so much, and can focus on other things.” “But hunting is dangerous Aridan and they are young.” “ha they are older than I was when I was first taken out on a hunt, if anything Yesui they are a little too old to just now be learning. Like I said they should have already learned” Yesui just sat there staring at me for a moment thinking over what I had just said. “how old were you when you first went out?” “I was six when I first took up a bow to hunt and I was eight when I first began to wield a real sword in training.” “That seems young,” she said shaking her head in disbelief. I do have to admit that Alton did start all my training a little earlier than most even earlier than my own brothers, but it is because of that training that I am still alive today, so I cannot blame him but instead thank him for the lessons he taught me even if they were harsh and I hated him for it at the time. “Maybe it was a little young, but I am stronger for it and will very soon surpass my father.” Yesui just nodded her head in response not wanting to take the conversation further which was perfectly fine with me. It is always a young man’s dream to surpass his father, to be stronger and more powerful than him but I was patient and I could wait for now, rushing things too much could lead to disaster and I was already courting disaster with all of my recent decisions.

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      We rode in relative silence the rest of the way to the camp. Thankfully we had no major incidents and just the minor annoyance brought about by the goats and sheep. The horses are smart animals, and generally do as they are told and don’t try to run away and die like their smaller counterparts. Before nightfall my camp came into view causing Yesui to gasp. Well the camp wasn’t in view since it was well hidden and couldn’t really be seen from this distance, but the animals were in view and they were being worked by Ulgar. “you have a lot of animals,” she said still watching Ulgar working the animals in awe. “we have less mouths to feed than your family did, and we have also had a lot of luck hunting, so we haven’t lost much of our livestock to us eating them.” “we will have plenty of meat.” “Haha yes, Yesui we will have plenty for the near future, but we can’t get complacent.” Yesui nodded, “yes we will have to work hard to keep the heard healthy and let it grow.” I liked her talking about the animals and camp as hers as well as mine it would make the integration of her family go smoother. “Yesui,” I said trying to get her to look up at me, “welcome to your new home.” She smiled up at me with a look of pure joy on her face. I leaned in and gave her a kiss. This kiss was much less passionate than our first kiss but to me it still felt amazing. We broke off the kiss and I spurred Batzoirg on to go faster to get to Ulgar. “Ulgar!” I yelled waving my hand over my head. He saw me and stopped what he was doing to come over to me. Ulgar rode up on his brown mare eying Yesui and the rest of the convoy behind me curiously. “You just went out to do some hunting so what is this Aridan?” “I only feel like explaining myself once so let’s get back to the camp and all sit down and have a little talk.” I said bluntly. “Very well.” He said pulling his horse alongside mine. “good hunt?” Ulgar smirked looking at Yesui who was curled in my lap like a small animal sticking close to its mother for warmth and protection. “I hope so.” I said cautiously. It was true right now things seemed like they might workout, but only time would tell. Ulgar looked back at the herd following us, “you seem to have gotten a few more animals than usual” Ulgar said surveying everyone behind me. “Yes just a few.” I said with a smirk of my own. We made it over the hill and into the camp shortly after. I was greeted by Kulan whose face went from joy to aggravation shortly after seeing us arrive. “what is all this Aridan?” she asked accusingly. “gather everyone up so I only have to explain myself once.” Kulan rolled her eyes and reluctantly turned to do as I asked as Ulgar got off his horse. I sat Yesui on the ground before dismounting Batsorig myself. “go get your horse taken care of.” Yesui bowed her head and walked over to her horse to remove its saddle and brush it out after the days trek. I did the same for Batzorig, I took off her saddle bags and set them off to the side I was about to take off the saddle when Od and Yul rode up to me. “what should we do?” Yul asked pulling his horse to a stop. “set the animals out with mine and then start making camp here, there is plenty of room for two more yurts and a few more animals.” “Od put up the animals I will start on the Yurts.” Od nodded to his father and bowed his head to me before leaving. “while you do this, I will talk to my siblings about our situation.” “very well we will start work right away.” “Oh, and Yul,” I said catching his attention before he left, “There will be a celebration tonight just let your family know.” Yul bowed his head and left to get to work on putting up the yurts and I got back to cleaning up Batzorig. I had just gotten the saddle off of her when Erdin ran up behind me. “Aridan let me clean her please.” Hearing his voice made me remember what had happened when I left the day before. The guilt hit me again, Erdin was one of the only people I didn’t want to hurt and yesterday I had done just that even if it needed to be done. I had also stated he couldn’t take care of Batzorig anymore, but I don’t think that rule would be lasting too long. I turned around and Erdin was smiling up at me expectantly. Yes, I definitely can’t deny him, I thought. I handed him the Brush, “here finish up, and be sure to get her all brushed out before setting her loose and remember absolutely no meat as treats.” “of course, brother I will get Batzorig all cleaned up and taken care of.” I left Erdin to finish up with Batzorig who seemed quite happy to be with Erdin again, and went to pick up my saddlebags and saddle to put them away so they weren’t just lying around in peoples way. Once I was done Kulan, Erhi, and Ulgar were waiting for me, Erdin was most likely still messing around with Batzorig and I didn’t feel like it would matter too much if he didn’t hear what I had to say. “well I have a wife,” I said bluntly. “What!” they all cried out in unison. “her name is Yesui and her family has joined ours of which I am the head, so our family just grew by twelve members and we will have to work hard to provide for everyone.” “have you thought this through?” Ulgar asked. “Yes, have you?” Erhi chimed in. “Yes, I have put some thought into this and the decision has already been made.” I really hadn’t put in too much thought, but I wasn’t going to tell my siblings that much. “so, from here on out our family has grown by twelve and we must work hard to ensure our survival.” I repeated. “brother have you seen them?” Ulgar asked almost in a whisper trying to avoid being overheard. “they don’t seem all that competent.” “I agree,” added Kulan, “they seem soft especially the men.” “If they were competent do you think they would have so easily offered themselves up to me?” I asked with a sigh. “the two men are leatherworkers, so they aren’t good in a fight, but the three younger boys will be trained as warriors starting tomorrow.” “you have to be kidding us Aridan.” Ulgar said clearly aggravated. “You just added on a load of deadweight that will drag us all down.” Kulan added. “How can this be a good idea?” asked Erhi. “I understand your concerns and yes, at first things will be hard but I forsee the payoff being far greater than the immediate cost. I really just need all of your help to get our new family situated and to work towards bettering our lives.” “I hope for all of our sakes you’re right brother,” Erhi sighed. “agreed,” added Ulgar while Kulan just stood there looking at me angrily. “I will leave the women with both of you Kulan and Erhi while Ulgar and I will train the boys to hunt and fight.” “what about the men?” asked Ulgar accompanied by a nod from Erhi. “I will let them do what they are good at, and that should be making leather if anything we can use it but hopefully it is at a quality that we can trade to the Mansurians. That is all I have to say about it. We will celebrate our union tonight so go get working on it.” Ulgar nodded and walked off followed shortly by Erhi leaving myself and a very pissed off Kulan standing there. Well this is awkward, I thought as we both just stood there staring at each other. “why did you do this without consulting us?” she asked clearly upset, “this affects every single one of us and you made this decision on your own.” Is this why she is mad? I thought confused. “do not forget your place Kulan. This was my decision to make and it has the ability to propel our house into prosperity very quickly.” “you’re bringing up rank now Aridan?” “You’ve never questioned my decisions before and I won’t have it happen here right now.” “you have never made this kind of decision before Aridan. We are barely out of father’s house this is a huge decision I thought you would go to him first before finding a wife and now you just got one that came from who knows where.” “I do not need Alton making decisions for me anymore, I am no longer a part of his house I am my own man, and this is my own house.” “You don’t get it Aridan,” Kulan fumed turning around storming off. “watch your tongue with me Kulan.” I said to her retreating back. What is her problem? I asked myself still watching her leave. I stood there for a moment mulling over what was just said, and yes, my siblings had made some good points, this could end up draining us, but the decision had been made and there was no going back now all that could be done was get everyone situated and survive. Luckily, we had plenty of livestock and could survive through winter at least and I could prove myself in the next battle getting us more resources to survive on and I planned to go to the Mansurians to trade soon anyways so we should be fine.

     I was still standing there thinking when Yesui came up to me drawing my attention away from my thoughts of the future and back to the present. “they don’t seem very happy.” She said from behind me. “They are just worried about our future is all.” I said still gazing before me. “their lives are changing, that is hard for anyone don’t you think?” I asked turning back to face her. she just laughed, clutching her stomach in her mirth. It took her a minute to get herself composed enough to speak, the whole time I just sat there watching her let loose and release some of the tension she had built up over the last couple of days. “Yes, Aridan change can be hard and even downright stressful but still we need change in order to grow.” “You’re right Yesui, without change we just stagnate and eventually fade away replaced by an ever-changing world.” I began gravitating closer to Yesui as I spoke. “this will be hard but me and you will have to make it work.” By the time I finished speaking I was standing mere inches from her. I could feel her breath against my skin and I was tempted to just take her right there in the open but luckily, I was able to hold back my urges enough to leave it to a heated kiss. I lifted her chin up to me and our lips met. Within seconds the kiss went from a peck on the lips to one born of pure passion. We were both using our connection to wash away the stress that had been building up, this showed with how ravenously we were going at each other. She began to fumble with my clothes attempting to remove them. I wanted to let her continue but I knew I couldn’t, at least not yet we needed to celebrate with the whole family first. I removed my hands that had been fondling her hips and used them to take up her hands that had nearly gotten my pants off. I broke the kiss panting heavily from the heated encounter. “we have to finish making camp and celebrate our union before we can continue.” I said still very much out of breath. She looked put out and not happy with being stopped from stripping me, but she still nodded before slipping out of my grip to return to getting the camp put up and her family situated. Before she was gone, she turned back to me and gave me a playful wink. This will be a fun night.