Until the early hours of this morning I had considered myself a reasonably liberal and tolerant person. I suppose I must have been asleep for a couple of hours or so it being shortly after 1:30 in the morning before I first became conscious of the sound of a young girl thoroughly enjoying herself in the way that the exuberance of youth allows. I listened for several minutes before realizing that the sound was coming from very close by. Rolling over I saw Wind-Through-Moonbeams astride Yousheng who was blissfully unaware that I'd woken. I turned over and tried to pretend it wasn't happening which was pretty difficult given the volume of sound she was now creating. I imagined all sorts of repercussions as her father came storming in but other than the crescendo of her orgasm nothing happened. I'm sure my parents wouldn't have stood for such behaviour. The problem was I was now awake.
The minutes ticked by. Then the whispering and giggling started as she teased and coaxed Yousheng into arousal again. It was at this point I heard the curtains rustle and looked over to see the younger of the two daughters slip through them. She looked directly at me then pulled her dress over her head so that she stood naked. Dropping her dress onto the floor she slipped down beside her sister and put her fingers on Yousheng's lips, before straddling him. I was about to object when the elder sister, momentarily disentangled herself from Yousheng's hand and rolled over next to me.
"It is not your place to intervene. The moon is rising and Red-Stag-Takes-Hinds waits for you in the grasses. Your friend is perfectly safe here. Go now whilst he is unaware of your leaving".
Without giving me a chance to reply she returned to her former position. A strange feeling that I was a minor pawn in some great game crossed my mind. Grabbing my sword and dress I slipped out of my furs and through the curtains. As I reached the door a figure appeared from the right. "Take this. The night is cold and the silk of your dress thin." She proffered me a fur poncho. Despite the absurdity of the situation, I kissed her lightly on the cheek, thanked her and slipped into the growing pool of moonlight.
Now that I was outside I wondered what on earth I was doing. I slipped the poncho over my head and started walking. I had no wish to hear lightsup-the-nightsky making out with Yousheng neither was I going to meet red-stag-takes-hinds or so I thought.
I walked for some time, the moon reaching its zenith then beginning to sink. Every few minutes I'd stop thinking I'd found a place of peace and quiet only for my reflections to be disturbed by the unmistakable sounds of a couple making love. Apart from driving me nuts it was also triggering my own bodies natural response to the stimulus. Despite having taken a path to avoid the old-mans home I now found myself looking across a sea of gravel at a stand of bamboo and pampas grass the moon sinking slowly behind it. Picked out in the dying moonlight was the path of stones I had used to leave the grove earlier that evening, and standing watching me was a red stag. It tossed its large array of silver antlers and disappeared into the grass. I stepped lightly onto the stone path disturbing not a single pebble in my passing.
It is difficult to record exactly what happened in the grove, save I left more confused that I entered but at least understood Random's specific instructions and something of what I was supposed to do here. The first revelation had come as a complete surprise to me. Although, Red-Stag-Takes-Hinds was both an elder and a medicine man, he had never married, despite or maybe because of his relationship with the women of the tribe. Like all medicine men he was adviser and spiritual healer, but his realm and role was outside most of the normal activities of the tribe. He was also over 150 years old and it was only 10 years ago that a successor had appeared to him. Whilst the elders and medicine men directed the tribe and performed wedding and death ceremonies, it was the women who chose who they married, with whom they slept and how frequently, and who fathered their children which might not be who they were married to. The upshot of this was that it was a girl's choice as to the timing and manner in which she chose to enter womanhood. It was in these areas he was guided by the spirits and therefore guided others. He had then shaken me to the core by revealing that until a few hours ago both Wind-Though-Moonbeams and Lightsup-Nightsky had still been girls and that the spirits had determined that their path to woman-hood lay with a stranger from the East who would arrive with a medicine woman on horses marked by the horned beast. What the spirits had additionally revealed to him was that both would bear children as a result of the encounter.
I'd pushed him off and stormed outside at this point, but having left my dress and sword in the tepee I hadn't gone far. He'd found me some minutes later swimming in the lake which had turned from the icy pool of earlier to a gently steaming bath, it was not hot as such just gently warm. He'd said nothing, just sat on the rocks at the edge and watched me. This had infuriated me more and I'd stormed out of the water and pushed him to the ground, intent on taking my frustrations out on him. He hadn't resisted in the least which made me want to beat him to a pulp.
I'm not sure how at this point I'd got
from wanting to beat him to a pulp to taking out my frustrations in the
manner I did but he'd neither spoken nor resisted during the whole
episode. He'd then told me to stop trying to impose my cultural
standards on others or judge others by them. Accepting that
others were different and therefore behave differently was the path to
enlightenment and rebirth after a journey through the spirit realm.
Imposing your cultural morays on others, denying their rights, or
exploiting others through the wanton abuse of power caused
the darkening of the spirit and eventually the inability to enter the
Hunting Grounds, forever forced to wander in limbo neither able to
enter and cross nor return to a material existence, destined to be
destroyed forever by the Dark One, or consumed in the fires of the
Thunder Bird.
It was this path that the Stands-Under-Uketana-Shadow, the native name
for the ambassador from Amber walked. His crimes were defiling native
girls then casting them aside, and murdering those who got in his way.
This had been happening for several years, the dark spirits hiding his
actions, until the medicine men noticed and began using their own
spirits to reveal the truth. When I asked why they
hadn't done anything about it he'd said that the spirits had shown them
a path and they now walked upon it.
So it was that I left the grove several hours later, tired and somewhat at a loss what to do. Every time I threatened to go off the deep end he had forced my anger and frustration down a different path, until I had accepted that the solution was bound within their culture and beliefs and that I too would have to walk the path the spirits had laid out.
By the time I arrived back at the lodgings I was quite tired, but had no desire to sleep. Depositing the poncho, which I'd not required on the return journey, just inside the door, I'd entered our sleeping area to find Yousheng fast asleep, partially covered by a sleeping fur, which also partially covered both girls. He stirred slightly as I changed my dress, causing lightsup-the-night to wake sleepily. When she started to lazily stimulate Yousheng further I decide it was time to leave and headed back into the warming morning air in search of a quiet breakfast.
It took me a little while to find a place I liked the look of, before settling in for a leisurely repast. The sun was warm and I was in no hurry. Time ticked by as I considered what to do next but nothing presented itself. I need to catch the Ambassador in-the-act so to speak before I could do anything about it. I was also unaware as to the strength of any assistance he may be able to call upon and still lacked a suitable method of punishment - removing his head whilst quick and simple seemed somehow to be lacking in commensurate justice.
I spent a further hour or two wandering through various markets, window shopping for the most part, although I did end up buying two dress rings, a pair of ear rings, a woven silver choker, and a dream catcher. I still can't explain why I brought the latter. I'd walked past several stalls selling the same sort of thing, obviously aimed at travelers, and at first didn't pay this one any particular attention. In fact I'd been several stalls down, and happened to turn and look back the way I'd come before I saw it. The stall itself wasn't even on the main street but tucked back, partially hidden by other stalls and a pair of small trees. I'd stood for several minutes debating before I'd partially retraced my steps and threaded my way to the stall. The stall way quite sparse, only half a dozen Dream Catchers, a few charms, and a single horn knife. Both this particular Dream Catcher and the knife had attracted my attention, but the old Shaman had refused to sell me the knife. He'd said the knife had another destiny. When I'd tried to argue it was for somebody else, which indeed it was, he'd said that the party with whom it's destiny lay would claim it of their own accord. I did not feature on that path. So in the end I bought just the Dream catcher for the price asked - I'm sure that it was worth several times what I paid for it but the seller refused to take more than his original asking price for it.
I had intended then to return to the lodgings but had been stopped by the appearance of a large eagle owl, which landed lightly on a dwelling a short distance ahead. It regarded me for a few seconds before flying a short distance down the path to my right where it stopped regarding me once more. Aware that I was watching it it flew a few more feet down the path then stopped again, waiting. I considered. Was this the path that Red-Stag-Takes-Hinds had alluded to or was my imagination just playing tricks on me. The owl became agitated, flew towards me, screeched then flew back the way it had come before alighting once more with another screech. I turned down the path and it took wing once more. I followed it for nearly half an hour, covering approximately a mile and a half, until it stopped above what appeared to be an Chinese coffee house. I was now in what appeared to be the foreign quarter. There were far fewer native buildings here, although in this market area the mix was about even. Several hundred yards away I could see large structures that marked the embassy district, one building in particular standing out amongst the rest. I knew immediately that this was the residence for the ambassador to Dakota of the Amber Royal House. As I made my way up the front steps and onto the front terrace the owl took wing and disappeared into the midday sun.
Exactly what I was doing there I had no idea. I found myself a table and sat down. An elderly woman who spoke with a Cantonese accent took my order then disappeared inside. I waited and watched still wondering why the owl had led me here. The old lady returned, laden with tray, and so as to serve me without the sun in her eyes, stood between me and the road. I heard them first, drunk I guessed, at least 6 of them making their way up the street, picking on those unfortunates who failed to get out of their path in time. She had her back to the street and I could see the fear in her eyes. I put my hand on hers fearing that her shaking would break the teapot it held. The slight change in position meant that I could see some of them now, their bright red and black jackets with its distinctive Unicorn motif identifying them as ambassadorial guards. They continued up the street stopping almost outside the tea house, but they didn't enter. Instead they turned to their right, attracted by a Dakotan peddler and his litter who had stopped to give them room to pass. Who ever he was they seemed to know him, for they made a beeline for him, their taunts and posture clearing a path around him. I was about to intervene when I felt a firm hand on my shoulder and a familiar voice said "Now is not your time. The path must be walked. You are but an observer here. When the moon rises we will talk again". Then the pressure lifted and he was gone, a red stag disappearing into the bamboo behind the tea house.
When I looked back they were moving on laughing. The peddler lay in the road, his litter over turned, its vegetables and herbs scattered in the street. He clutched his side, his tunic slowly reddening where he pressed it with his hands. People were moving again, gingerly stepping around the peddler. I vaulted the table and railing, surprising both the old lady and several of those attempting to skirt the body. His breathing was becoming more labored now. He coughed, spraying blood across the cobbles. I knew then there was nothing I could do for him. He was far beyond my feeble skills. I sat down, turning him so that his head was slightly elevated and cradled in my lap. He coughed again, spraying my dress with blood, and opened his eyes. Some understanding passed between us. With a bloody hand he reached inside his tunic, and pulled a charm from around his neck, the blood from his hand soaking and staining the three feathers. He pressed it into my hand. "For my daughter." It was all he could manage. His head rolled sideways and his body went limp its last energies expended. I looked around. People had stopped moving now watching intently. I stood, picking up the body as I did so. Somewhere in the distance a Coyote let out a single howl and a crow swooped low opening a path through the silent onlookers. Slowly I made my way out of the throng in the direction the crow had flown. When I reached the edge of the wheel a young girl whom I guessed to be about 16 appeared from the border thicket. Her dress was plain and threadbare and she lacked any of the decorating jewelry worn by all the native women and girls I had so far come across. She was also obviously undernourished. She indicated I should take the path she had appeared from, then disappeared into the thicket once more.
I followed her, based purely on the instinctive feeling that I should. Beyond the thicket the path was a little clearer and ended after a couple of hundred yards in a small clearing, at the western edge of which had been erected a ramshackle tepee. It was obvious from its construction that it had been put together from whatever could be scrounged or stolen. As I entered the clearing half a dozen more girls emerged from the tepee, one of which carried a buffalo skin which she placed on the ground. The girl I had been following indicated I should place the body on the skin. Once I'd placed the body on the skin, the girl who'd placed the skin in the first place began issuing orders to the others, assigning tasks necessary to prepare the body for cremation. She then turned to me and requested my dress so that it could be cleansed. This posed a problem - I had no change of clothes and wasn't wearing anything underneath it. Sensing my quandary she pulled her own dress over her head and offered it to me. She too was naked underneath but I could now see she bore numerous scars, and judging by their viability all were less than 2 years old.
Whilst shorter than me she was larger boned, so it was likely that her dress would have fitted. Instead of accepting I loosened my sash, removing my purchases, including the now blood marked dream catcher, and placed them on the ground. Placing my sword on top of them I removed the dress and handed it to the girl I'd followed into the clearing. There was then a rustling in the bushes directly opposite the tepee and Crys-Like-Owls emerged carrying a large bundle of items. Ignoring me he crossed the clearing and put the bundle down in front of her. I was struck by how alike they looked. He turned then, and moved to where the remains of a fire were smouldering and sat down. The girl picked up the bundle and moved to the fire, putting the bundle in front of him then sitting cross legged on his left. He indicated that I should join them, sitting on his right.
I hesitated. I'd been naked on numerous occasions, often with a person I'd only met a hour or so before hand, and whom I never saw again after that night. I'd also stripped off on one or two occasions and threatened to on several others to prove a point, but this was something completely different. The girl who'd taken my dress handed it to another then took my hand and lead me to the fire indicating that I should sit as indicated. She then pulled her dress over her head and sat so that she was tangential to both me and the fire, which was now having wood added by another of the girls. Crys-Like-Owls would now not be able to either look at the fire or the bundle without looking directly at her. Embarrassed by her behaviour I sat as indicated, noticing as I did so that she had several wounds in a similar places to the older girls scars. Unlike the scars the wounds were still very pink indicating they were only a few weeks old. Crys-Like-Owls unwrapped the bundle and extracted 3 dresses from the top of the pile. Two were of foreign cut, one definitely being of Ashan origin, whilst the third was of native origin and highly decorated. All were in my size. He proffered them in my direction. If this were a test then I passed since the native dress had caught my eye the second I'd seen it. I took it thanking him and pulled it over my head. He smiled then handed the other two dresses to the girl in front of me. She selected one and handed the other back. There was another dress in the bundle which he handed to the girl now sitting on his left. She put it on the ground beside her, choosing for some reason to remain naked. Crys-Like-Owls then rose to his feet and began handing out the remaining furs and blankets to the other girls. Delivery completed he returned to the fire "Be at the place when the sun sinks from the sky. Bears-Thunderbirds-Claws-by-Moon-Shadow will lead.". He then turned on his heals and disappeared back into the bushes from which he'd originally emerged. Less than a minute later an Eagle Owl took to the sky.
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