There was a lull in my day and I thought to take a moment and ride out to gather a few plants that only flourished for short periods of time in certain places. Given the heat I did not ride with my usual flair for speed that allowed me to feel the winds around me gliding over me with their invisible fingers. Instead Mist Runner moved with a slow easy rhythm,I did not need to give any verbal commands he knew my every subtle nuance and movement and what it would mean. When we reached the destination it was odd that the plants were withered and dying, there was no life within them. This was yet another thing that revealed that the plains were screaming out in pain, what were we to be listening to, or was it just one of those fluke seasonal episodes in extreme temperature and weather that was draped about us. There were no answers, and in truth I did not expect any. Well maybe I expected to hear that familiar voice in my head that taunts me, but it was silent.
There was one less heartbeat on the plains but I did not speak of it, I would wait to be there for the two that would be needing me. My heart was filled with sorrow of yet another loss, knowing things can be a real kick in the ass, when the two learn of what they need to know, I will be here.
My thoughts were interrupted as I heard someone nearing I turned and saw Hallie and my youngest son riding towards me, Hallie had one of those looks which usually meant something was on her mind, and the youngest son had this look as if to say he knew and she didn't. I was not sure I was in the frame of mind to deal with anything complicated, today there had been many seeking answers and they laid their concerns and worries at my feet, I never refuse anyone help it isn't my nature, I will always listen,it is not my way to deny anyone something they needed. Sometimes the results are very intense and I feel as if I have been whipped or been caught in a tornado which left me twisted and turned around. With both the joy and the sorrows.
So I waited. With a teenager.. That is rather dangerous.
They came along side me and Hallie gave me one of those looks, yes, here it came and I tried to prepare myself, for all the possibilities, some warrior got a hold of her and hurt her feelings, or she didn't do something she felt was right within the clan, a fight with a friend, a crush gone wrong, or she had the wrong color skirt or vest or the boots just weren't right. All these things that seem to be on the mind of young ones flashed in a string of thought. But, no, it was not any of those. And her question I had not expected nor have I thought of it since Falon and Lochlan once asked me of their mixed blood if it made them less Tuchuk because they were half mamba.
"Mother," well, now there was my first clue.. the formal use of mother.
" Does it matter if a person has Tuchuk blood in them to be considered one of us. And would there be shame in a woman being with a warrior that has no Tuchuk blood or only a little." Now I had to look at her wondering why she asked this.
"Hallena, are you considering mating someone that I should be aware of?" I would ask her. She had the good grace to blush as innocents are prone to doing, and got flustered before she finally got out that long drawn out "Nooooooooooooooo! "
"I was asking because I was listening to two women argue over it, one seemed to think it is all or nothing and the other said it does not matter it never has."
I thought to this, some women argue over the stupidest of things was my thought, there were more important things in life, but I suspected the reasoning behind her question and I also suspected no one spoke of such, but knowing how teen agers are they never want to really come right out and say why they want to know something , or even what it is specifically they want to know, they always, always have to go the long way around things.
"No, Hallie, it does not matter." I would answer her. " If a person has a drop of blood he is considered to be of Tuchuk blood, but does this make him a Tuchuk of our tribe? Not at all. If a person has no Tuchuk blood then he may be whatever his blood is, however, could he be a Tuchuk? Very much so." She watched me closely as I spoke to her, and I really wondered just what was going thru her head. Girls, are worse than boys, and anyone who says different never had girls.
" Being a Tuchuk is not always about your blood, it is about who you are, what you are and how you live that defines this. We have over thousands of turnings had those from other places come here and live among us and become a part of us as if they had been born here, they become Tuchuk, they earn that honor and privilege. Then there are those who are of Tuchuk blood that seek to live in cities and adopt their ways, they are not Tuchuk. It is rather simple if you look at it beyond I am this or I am that as so many like to do, or you are nothing because you are only this or that. It is these thoughts that create rifts and ravines where there should be none. It is a persons heart, soul and spirit. That make him Tuchuk."
She would ask of her father Shi, "Your father has no memory of who he was before he was brought to the plains, he was from else where but he is still very much a Tuchuk warrior, just as Garyx was, and he was not born of the plains and he had no Tuchuk blood in him, yet he was a part of us as if he had been born and raised among us, he shed blood and stood by tribe, and he died for this tribe, just as your uncle Lochlan did, many people forget that my father is part turian. We have had people from various tribes embraced and brought into the tribe. I do not think I have ever been mated to a warrior that was as some like to call themselves a pure blood, There is no such thing, because the blood of the plains has been mixed for thousands of turnings. So anyone to say they are pure is clearly not knowing of our history." I could see her mind working and turning.
"Would you mate someone who was not a full blood?" I had to blink at that, come on now, me of all people. I smiled a bit, "Hallie, what kind of question is that when most know that I have been mated to a rarius from treve, to full blooded mamba from the schendi jungles, to an assassin that was half mamba and half Tuchuk, to a karian pirate, and then to two tuchuks of this tribe neither of which are what you call a full blood.. These are things that have no importance and whatever it is that has you asking these questions, I would tell you this, it is what is inside that matters. "
"Nothing else."
I placed my hand to my chest, "it is the heart, the soul and the spirit."
I saw the youngest son smile he understood but then he was like me in some ways and yet more like his father in others. "Do you think you will ever remate and have more children."
Now this was getting tricky, children can be funny at times when it comes to their parents. I shrugged a bit in truth I did not know the answer, it was something that always just seemed to happen without me realizing it until someone asked. Most seem to think I am to much of a challenge or something that they do not bother, or I am not considered delicate enough or , clingy or needy to the point that I have to be carried and coddled, or look at a warrior with such awe that it puts them high into the clouds, I relate to a man as just that a man, to talk to not at, to share things with not hide, and so many other things, but, her question gave me pause as it was not something that has been the focus of my attention.
"Perhaps someday the skies will gift me with a warrior that would like to share his life with me and mine with him and to savor and enjoy the blessings of children. Yes, Hallie, one day I would like such to occur."
Now this seemed to amuse her, why do I have a feeling just by the look she gave her brother that somewhere in the greater scheme of things there was a wager. The question is what and who won it. In truth did I really want to know.
She hugged me and raced her brother towards the kaiila pens she was going to help Cana with something, Hallie has become a mother vulo, but I was secretly pleased I knew she would watch Cana and let me know if anything was out of place or she was doing to much, that is the one time you appreciate the beauty of children and their mouths.
Now Cana gets to deal with her. Which brought a smile to my lips, you know there is something to said for second mothers. At least that is what I call her and that is how Hallie sees her.
There was one less heartbeat on the plains but I did not speak of it, I would wait to be there for the two that would be needing me. My heart was filled with sorrow of yet another loss, knowing things can be a real kick in the ass, when the two learn of what they need to know, I will be here.
My thoughts were interrupted as I heard someone nearing I turned and saw Hallie and my youngest son riding towards me, Hallie had one of those looks which usually meant something was on her mind, and the youngest son had this look as if to say he knew and she didn't. I was not sure I was in the frame of mind to deal with anything complicated, today there had been many seeking answers and they laid their concerns and worries at my feet, I never refuse anyone help it isn't my nature, I will always listen,it is not my way to deny anyone something they needed. Sometimes the results are very intense and I feel as if I have been whipped or been caught in a tornado which left me twisted and turned around. With both the joy and the sorrows.
So I waited. With a teenager.. That is rather dangerous.
They came along side me and Hallie gave me one of those looks, yes, here it came and I tried to prepare myself, for all the possibilities, some warrior got a hold of her and hurt her feelings, or she didn't do something she felt was right within the clan, a fight with a friend, a crush gone wrong, or she had the wrong color skirt or vest or the boots just weren't right. All these things that seem to be on the mind of young ones flashed in a string of thought. But, no, it was not any of those. And her question I had not expected nor have I thought of it since Falon and Lochlan once asked me of their mixed blood if it made them less Tuchuk because they were half mamba.
"Mother," well, now there was my first clue.. the formal use of mother.
" Does it matter if a person has Tuchuk blood in them to be considered one of us. And would there be shame in a woman being with a warrior that has no Tuchuk blood or only a little." Now I had to look at her wondering why she asked this.
"Hallena, are you considering mating someone that I should be aware of?" I would ask her. She had the good grace to blush as innocents are prone to doing, and got flustered before she finally got out that long drawn out "Nooooooooooooooo! "
"I was asking because I was listening to two women argue over it, one seemed to think it is all or nothing and the other said it does not matter it never has."
I thought to this, some women argue over the stupidest of things was my thought, there were more important things in life, but I suspected the reasoning behind her question and I also suspected no one spoke of such, but knowing how teen agers are they never want to really come right out and say why they want to know something , or even what it is specifically they want to know, they always, always have to go the long way around things.
"No, Hallie, it does not matter." I would answer her. " If a person has a drop of blood he is considered to be of Tuchuk blood, but does this make him a Tuchuk of our tribe? Not at all. If a person has no Tuchuk blood then he may be whatever his blood is, however, could he be a Tuchuk? Very much so." She watched me closely as I spoke to her, and I really wondered just what was going thru her head. Girls, are worse than boys, and anyone who says different never had girls.
" Being a Tuchuk is not always about your blood, it is about who you are, what you are and how you live that defines this. We have over thousands of turnings had those from other places come here and live among us and become a part of us as if they had been born here, they become Tuchuk, they earn that honor and privilege. Then there are those who are of Tuchuk blood that seek to live in cities and adopt their ways, they are not Tuchuk. It is rather simple if you look at it beyond I am this or I am that as so many like to do, or you are nothing because you are only this or that. It is these thoughts that create rifts and ravines where there should be none. It is a persons heart, soul and spirit. That make him Tuchuk."
She would ask of her father Shi, "Your father has no memory of who he was before he was brought to the plains, he was from else where but he is still very much a Tuchuk warrior, just as Garyx was, and he was not born of the plains and he had no Tuchuk blood in him, yet he was a part of us as if he had been born and raised among us, he shed blood and stood by tribe, and he died for this tribe, just as your uncle Lochlan did, many people forget that my father is part turian. We have had people from various tribes embraced and brought into the tribe. I do not think I have ever been mated to a warrior that was as some like to call themselves a pure blood, There is no such thing, because the blood of the plains has been mixed for thousands of turnings. So anyone to say they are pure is clearly not knowing of our history." I could see her mind working and turning.
"Would you mate someone who was not a full blood?" I had to blink at that, come on now, me of all people. I smiled a bit, "Hallie, what kind of question is that when most know that I have been mated to a rarius from treve, to full blooded mamba from the schendi jungles, to an assassin that was half mamba and half Tuchuk, to a karian pirate, and then to two tuchuks of this tribe neither of which are what you call a full blood.. These are things that have no importance and whatever it is that has you asking these questions, I would tell you this, it is what is inside that matters. "
"Nothing else."
I placed my hand to my chest, "it is the heart, the soul and the spirit."
I saw the youngest son smile he understood but then he was like me in some ways and yet more like his father in others. "Do you think you will ever remate and have more children."
Now this was getting tricky, children can be funny at times when it comes to their parents. I shrugged a bit in truth I did not know the answer, it was something that always just seemed to happen without me realizing it until someone asked. Most seem to think I am to much of a challenge or something that they do not bother, or I am not considered delicate enough or , clingy or needy to the point that I have to be carried and coddled, or look at a warrior with such awe that it puts them high into the clouds, I relate to a man as just that a man, to talk to not at, to share things with not hide, and so many other things, but, her question gave me pause as it was not something that has been the focus of my attention.
"Perhaps someday the skies will gift me with a warrior that would like to share his life with me and mine with him and to savor and enjoy the blessings of children. Yes, Hallie, one day I would like such to occur."
Now this seemed to amuse her, why do I have a feeling just by the look she gave her brother that somewhere in the greater scheme of things there was a wager. The question is what and who won it. In truth did I really want to know.
She hugged me and raced her brother towards the kaiila pens she was going to help Cana with something, Hallie has become a mother vulo, but I was secretly pleased I knew she would watch Cana and let me know if anything was out of place or she was doing to much, that is the one time you appreciate the beauty of children and their mouths.
Now Cana gets to deal with her. Which brought a smile to my lips, you know there is something to said for second mothers. At least that is what I call her and that is how Hallie sees her.
Why in the name of skies did she give me things to think of. Now the thought is lingering in my head. I will have to go find a way to redirect my thoughts for they are intertwining with images and bits from visions. Why does it feel as if the sky is trying to make me crazy.
