Previously: Luciene and Marie went into the woods to go hunting together. Over the course of their conversation, the significance of the yellow ring Marie received when she and Bahr met was revealed.
"Excuse me?" I spluttered.
"I said you've been married to Bahr for weeks. Congratulations." Luciene’s voice was cheerful but clipped, like she was commenting a particularly good round of target practice.
"I heard you, but... That can't be right?"
"I am completely sure. Do you still want to live with him? I'm sure we can find another room in the village, you were just put together because, well, we all assumed you knew you were married." Luciene started to head towards her catch.
"That makes sense now," I whispered. "But why wouldn't Bahr tell me? Did he... did he ask to marry me?" For a moment I wanted to tell her that I was already betrothed, but that was hardly relevant. Edmund was a galaxy away now, and I never liked him much anyway.
"When did you get the ring?"
"There was a festival... I think that's what it was. There was a ..." it occurred to me that Luciene may have never seen a jump rope. "There was a rope that we jumped over."
"Oh, and then he invited you... and I assume you took his hand?"
"Yes. Should I not have?"
"Probably not. That was when you got married."
"Why would he propose to me? We'd known each other a couple of hours!"
"Technically, he asked you out on a date. You said 'let's get married,' when you took his hand. You were supposed to just stand up. That's the tradition."
"How would I have known that? Why would he think I would know that?"
Luciene shrugged. "Well, he was hardly going to bring it up in front of all those people."
"He must have realized by now that I didn't understand what happened?"
"I can't answer that. You'll have to talk to him," she said with a shrug. She turned and started walking further into the trees, ending the conversation. I followed after her, running the events of that day over in my head. Bahr had seemed shocked - a reasonable reaction in hindsight. Ghara had behaved exactly like a woman hearing that her friend got engaged. I smiled to myself slightly, now knowing the reason for her excitedment. Her reaction had been genuine even if the circumstances hadn’t been.
I'd been betrothed for political reasons back home. My engagement to Edmund would never have granted me such a reaction.
A minute later, there were three short bursts from a whistle. Luciene reacted first, and I almost walked into her. "Does that mean someone caught something?" I asked. Luciene shook her head, as I'd suspected she might.
"That's the signal to go back to the village. It could be for a number of reasons..." She looked to the sky. "Maybe someone saw lightning. It does smell like rain." I followed her gaze upwards to a layer of rolling grey clouds.
Luciene started walking in the direction from which we'd come, and I hurried after her. "You are absolutely sure that we're married?"
"Yes, I am sure. I thought it was weird, how quickly you got married. I didn't want to say anything..."
"Thanks, I guess." I paused. "This explains why he's stuck around for so long, but he really doesn't have to. I suppose I'll have to ask for a divorce."
"I think only the leader of his tribe can grant him a divorce. I may be wrong though."
"I'll just tell him he should go home, then." I promised myself, out loud so Luciene was witness to it. "I'm sure he wants to go home. I'm sure his people will understand the unusual circumstance."
I ran the conversation over in my head as we made our way back to the village. Every iteration of my planned speech was as awkward as the last, and I was relieved to not run into Bahr immediately as we exited the forest.
This relief was short lived. Bahr was there, in the center of the village, lying on a mat near the well. He'd been the reason we'd been called back. It was his emergency. People made room for me as I hurried over - I was his wife, after all. His eyes were closed, but he seemed to be somewhat conscious, flinching slightly as I sat down next to him. There were beads of sweat across his forehead. He was burning up with fever.
I jumped as someone put a hand on my shoulder, and looked up to see the man who'd gone out with Bahr on the hunt. "I'm sorry. You should be ---- ---- him. He took a bite that was for me ----. One of those river ----- . Dangerous little things. I didn't even see it. He pushed me out -----. I'm so sorry." My eyes drifted down to Bahr's arm. I was smeared with blood - his, presumably - and was beginning to bruise. Someone had put a wad of fabric under it to support the elbow joint.
"Poison?" I whispered, trying to follow the words I knew. Luciene was at my side now.
"There's a .... a medicine. But..."
"But what?"
"But the plant is rare. It grows on an island, out in the lake. It's very difficult to get to. It's one that we ran out of recently, when we couldn't get to the supplies on the ship. There's a boat..."
"I'm going. It's my fault he's here, Luciene. Where's the boat?" There was a lake, north of the village, near the mountains. I'd been out there a few times before to gather fruit for the village. I couldn't remember seeing a boat or an island.
"It's by the lake right now..."
"How long does it take to get to the island?"
"Not long, but there is a..."
"It's my boat." Luciene's twin, Valentina, had pushed her way through to us. "There's one boat and it's mine. You can't sail it." I blinked, registering her accent first before the words themselves. Her English was better than either Luciene's or her mothers. Then I registered the words themselves.
"I have to..." Valentina started walking away, forcing me to scramble after her to continue the conversation. "I have to get that plant, I have to..."
"I know. I also know you can't sail. It's my boat and you don't know how to sail it. Do you have a bow?"
"Do I... it's in the house..."
"Get it. I've seen you shoot that little gun, it's nearly useless. Meet me at the lake shore. You've got ten minutes, or I'm leaving without you." She glanced back at me, before jogging off into the woods. "You don't have a lot of time. Start running."