The Field of Sorrow by Asher Z

Author:Asher Z [Z, Asher]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781733337106
Publisher: ALLABOUT BOOKS LLC
Published: 2019-11-24T05:00:00+00:00

XX. Among the Tents

The family is the heart of the tent, the tent the heart of the clan, the clan the heart of the people.

—Jef of the North Clan, Ha’Hannan

Borodon rose from a deep slumber, woken as usual by the quiet commotion of the children in the tent. He remembered his mother telling him, “Young children always wake early; they don’t want to miss anything in life, and everything is new to them. It is only later in life that you want to sleep all day, weary from the many problems.” She laughed and said, “I am told that when you get older you also get up early, but it hasn’t happened to me yet!” That was many years ago. With that memory he looked over at her sleeping pad and yes, she had risen before him and was sitting with the children around the low fire that was burning in the center of the family tent.

Looking across his own sleeping pad he saw that Sa’ando was still asleep, but that was not surprising. As high jef, he habitually had meetings and ceremonial duties that kept him busy most nights. With the coming conflict and the need to build consensus, to gather the People as one herd, he was seldom home before most of the extended family was asleep. Of late he had been far too busy to meld with his consorts. Last night then had been special. After dinner, the three of them, Sa’ando, Calafaa, and Borodon had each grabbed their blankets, donned their brown sleeping tunics, and started off to find a vacant melding tent.

With extended families living in close quarters, the Ha’Hannan had long evolved the custom of allowing people to seek physical intimacy in special tents, melding tents. Scattered across all clan camp settlements were small tents designed for lovers or would-be lovers to find time with each other. It was public knowledge who entered a meld tent with whom, but it was considered impolite to raise this issue with any of the people involved (unless you were also involved with some of the people). Indeed it was the custom not to speak to or even acknowledge someone’s presence if it were obvious that they were on their way to a meld-meeting. Thus it was that even the high jef could walk unhindered across the short distance to the closest of the meld tents. They were in luck. The tent entrance was tied open, and no one else was using it.

It had been at least a moon-month since the three of them had been able to make the collective effort to be together in this fashion. For all of them, but particularly the high jef, there was the looming conflict and the day-to-day pressures of bringing the clans to where they could fight as an organized force, able to meet the Eldroni on the field and this time emerge victorious. As consorts to the high jef, Calafaa and Borodon had many responsibilities—they carried his requests, his questions, to the clans.

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