Alqa approached Qotoioyan, holding the axe in her hands and knelt in front of him, extending the axe up to him. “Qotoiyanii Qutuqäz, will you accept me as your mate? Will you accept my devotion and obedience?”
Qotoiyan lifted the axe out of her hands. “I would be honored to accept you as my mate. Alqaiia Qutuqäsa. Will you accept me as your mate? Alongside my devotion and obedience?” Qotoiyan said, extending a small wooden box to her. It had a small iron loop and a thin leather cord to wear it around her neck.
“I would be honored to accept, Qotoiyanii Qutuqäz,” Alqa said, taking the box. She opened it by sliding the front side out of its socket and inside was an iron qumes. Alqa smiled, she remembered sitting in her mother’s yurt learning how to play the qumes.
People began to go get food now that the ceremony was over and Alqa took the Qumes and went and sat down next to her yurt. She took it out of the box and began turning it over in her hand, she ran her fingers along it, feeling the curve. Qotoiyan sat down next to her. “Do you want to get some food? Or dance, Yid is starting one,”
“I think I have some other ideas,”
“Not even supper?”
“If you really want supper, we can have supper,”
“I’m good without supper,” Qotoiyan said, smiling.
Three days later Alqa went to Rynyna’s yurt. “Rynyna, may I come in?”
“Of course Alka,” Rynyna said and Alqa entered. “Are you ready to continue?”
“Yes,”
“And how would you say it in Rovoai’Omila?”
“Na,”
“Very good,” Rynyna said.
“What are we learning today,”
“You can’t count yet, correct?”
“No, you haven’t taught me numbers yet,” Alqa said.
“Alright. Let’s start by counting to ten. Repeat after me. Onai,” Rynyna said, Alqa repeated every number Rynyna said.
“Onai, kha, rii, tik, kharii, kik, nyh, lai, noa, nia,”
“Very good. Make sure you emphasize the vowels,”
“Alright,” Alqa said. They worked on numbers for a long time before Aalqa left. Not long after she left, Buqutai stopped her.
“Alqa. Yesui wants to talk to you,”
“Is she in her yurt?”
“Yes,” Buqutai said and the two of them went to Yesui’s yurt. “Hey Yesui. I brought Alqa, may we come in?”
“Yes,” Yesui said. They entered the yurt, Yesui was sitting in the back on a pile of furs. “Sit please,” Yesui said to Alqa. She sat down cross-legged in front of Yesui and Buqutai sat down next to Yesui. “Alqa, how would you feel about us adopting you? You would still be the daughter of Tarmaagii Qutuqäz and Bortuiia Qutuqäsa, but you would be jirtseg. As well as Qotoiyan and your children,” Yesui said.
“Why are you offering this?”
“Because you are like a daughter to me,”
“May I speak with Qotoiyan about this?”
“Of course,” Yesui said. Alqa left the yurt and began to walk to Qotoiyan’s yurt. If she accepted, then she, Qotoiyan and any future children would be jirtseg. That was very desirable but she wasn’t sure if Qotoiyan even wanted this. She arrived at his yurt. “Qotoiyan? Are you in there?”
“Yes. We are,”
“We?”
“Dagan is here,”
“May I come in,”
“Yes,” Qotoiyan said. Alqa entered the yurt, Qotoiyan was playing ödsiriinoi with Dagan.
“Qotoiyan. Could you put a hold on your game for a moment? I have something I need to talk to you about,”
“Yeah, sure. Dagan, could you wait outside for a bit?”
“Yes!” Dagan said and left the yurt. Alqa sat down near Qotoiyan.
“Looks like you two are getting along. That’s good,”
“He’s very bright. Anyway, what did we need to talk about?” Qotyoiyan asked.
“Would you be interested in regaining your jirtseg rank?”
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“Not if it means leaving you,”
“It doesn’t,”
“So what is it?”
“Yesui asked to adopt me. Us and our children would be jirtseg,”
“What did you say,”
“I asked to talk to you about it first,”
“Why? It’s not my decision to make,” Qotoiyan said.
“We should make decisions like this together,”
“What do you want to do,”
“I think there isn’t a downside. Come with me to accept?”
“Sure,” Qotoiyan said. They left the yurt and Qotoiyan stopped for a moment. “Dagan, feel free to wait in my yurt, we won’t be that long,”
Dagan gave them a funny look and then went into the yurt. “Don’t hurt yourself!” Alqa called to him as he went in, there was no response. They went back to Yesui’s yurt and stopped outside. “I have Qotoiyan with me. May we come in?” Alqa asked.
“Yes,” Yesui said. They entered the yurt and sat down.
“I have decided to accept,” Alqa said.
“Wonderful. From this day forward, Alqaiia Qutuqäsa, daughter of Tarmaagii Qutuqäz and Bortuiia Qutuqäsa. You shall be counted among the children of Yesuiiia Qutuqäsa, Riidagakaa. You, any mate you are sworn to and any children you have, shall be jirtseg,” Yesui said. Buqutai handed her the drinking horn she had given him, filled with gusui. “Agaa Iija, Maisuya. I offer the white milk of the mare, purified and blessed, to my daughter. It shall be her first drink,”
Alqa took the horn and drank the gusui within it. She handed the horn back to Yesui. “Thank you, Iija,” she said. They left the yurt and returned to Qotoiyan’s yurt. Qotoiyan went in but Alqa waited outside. Before she could even open her mouth to ask permission to enter, Qotoiyan reached out a hand and motioned for her to come in. She entered, Dagan was sleeping.
“Maybe we go somewhere else?” Qotoiyan asked.
“Good idea,” They left the yurt and went to Alqa’s yurt. They went in together and sat down.
“What do you want to do?”
“We could go riding?” Alqa suggested.
“Sure, I’ll meet you there. I need to get my stuff,” Qotoiyan said. He left and Alqa attached the quiver, full of arrows, and her bow case to her belt and picked up the saddle, bit and bridle. She walked out to Bege. She greeted Bege with a head scratch and slipped the bit and bridle on. She began to put on the saddle when Qotoiyan arrived. He quickly prepared Tagdur as Alqa finished preparing Bege. They mounted and began riding. They first rode to the stream but spent the day riding around, mostly aimlessly. An idea crossed her mind, what if the Baltui hadn’t taken everything? It wasn’t uncommon to leave some things behind. Maybe she should go back and see if there was anything she could find. Or at the very leastAs they got back, Qotoiyan turned to her. “Do you feel any different?”
“No, why?”
“You look distracted,”
“How would you feel about a few days of travel?”
“To where?”
“Home,” Alqa said.
“Home as in… your Yisra?”
“Not mine anymore. The Yisra of Maqudan,”
“You want me there?”
“Yes,”
“Alright,” Qotoiyan said.
They left the next day after collecting rations and preparing the horses. They began to ride at around midday, bringing one medium sized wagon for each of them. They traveled for four days before Alqa saw yurts in the distance, but no light or movement. She sped up and they arrived not too long later. Alqa dismounted Bege and approached the closest yurt. She knew she had seen it before but couldn’t remember who it belonged to. She entered and it was almost completely bare inside. There were furs strewn all about and nothing of any value looked like it had been left. She moved on to the next yurt and same thing. Then she saw her own yurt. She ran over to it and went inside. Like the first two, only the furs had been left. But she began digging through them, desperate to find anything. Eventually, her hand hit something hard. She uncovered the object, it was a small ivory carving of a horse, very small. It was one of the pieces to her old ödsiriinoi set. She dug some more and found the small leather pouch, it still contained the three other horses and the four wolves, all carved from ivory. No matter how much she dug, she never found the actual board though.
Eventually she gave up, and stood up. Qotoiyan was standing outside. “Nobody lives here, you don’t need permission to enter,”
“I thought that was yours?”
“It was, but I have a new yurt now,”
“Do you want to keep it?”
“If we have room we can take it,” Alqa said. “Help me search yurts, we can search faster that way,”
“Alright,” Qotoiyan said. They split up and Alqa found nothing in most of the yurts she searched. She found a couple small pieces of jewelry, which she kept. Qotoiyan approached her when they were almost done, “I found this hidden in a yurt,” he said. Showing her a necklace strung with four canine teeth.
“That was Maqudan’s. He claimed that his father had killed that wolf without a weapon,”
“Do you want it?”
“You found it,”
“Necklaces aren’t my thing,” Qotoiyan said. Alqa smiled and took the necklace from him.
They spent the night in the abandoned Yisra and Alqa woke Qotoiyan up early in the morning. “Help me tear down my yurt?”
“Of course,” Qotoiyan said. They took down Alqa’s yurt and loaded it into one of the wagons.
“We can’t just leave these yurts here,” Alqa said.
“What do you propose?”
“Set them on fire?”
“If you want,” Qotoiyan said. He started a fire on one yurt after another, the sky began to be blocked out by ash and glow reddish from the fire. Alqa mounted Bege and Qotoiyan mounted Tagdur. The return journey took four more days. Alqa spent the next nine days doing odd jobs around the Yisra, but she began to notice things. She came to the realization that she was pregnant. At first she was scared, but this was a net positive right? Wasn’t it? Whatever her opinions on the matter, she had to tell Qotoiyan. He was sitting right outside his yurt, oiling his equipment, when she found him.
“Hey. Qotoiyan, we need to have an important conversation,”
“What important decision this time?”
“No decision. Just information,” Alqa said.
“You’re worrying me,” Qotoiyan said as Alqa sat down next to him.
“I am pregnant,”
“Oh, are you ready?”
“No. But I am not sure if I am more nervous or more excited. I have a new home, my old cleansed with fire. I am gaining a new family, my old cleansed with the sword and bow,”
“I think you’re ready. You are brave and strong. You are ready, whether you believe it yourself or not,”
“Really? Thank you,” Alqa said. “I want to take you to watch the sunset at the stream today, I think it’s the most beautiful thing in this area,”
“Tell me when you’re ready to leave,” Qotoiyan said. Alqa walked away. She came back some time later and they went to the stream. The sky turned a brilliant shade of orange as the sun began to set on the horizon, Alqa heard the screech of an eagle and looked up. An eagle, black against the setting sun flew over their heads, she watched as it flew off into the sunset. There was one thing on her mind. Turqa.