We were eating more dear when Orpheus joined us. He brought two rabbits which he skinned next to me. A more squeamish girl would have protested but I was the girl who volunteered to dissect the frog in science class. The thing was already dead. Not like it would bite. I got plenty of wired points for that.
"Should I move away?" I had not realized I had been watching him skin them so intensely. Orpheus had stopped and was waiting for an answer with his head slightly tilted to the side.
"Oh no, I was just watching." I looked away quickly to my thumbs, I was now twirling around each other in nervous habit. "I wanted to watch in case I had to do it someday." Great, I was going to get more weirdo points. The last thing I wanted is for Orpheus to think me strange.
"Why would you need to? Females don't cook, that's their fathers and then their mates' job." I looked at him and then Dad. My father had heard about my life so he understood my reaction while Orpheus continued to look at me strangely.
"Where Amber comes from women take care of themselves. Cooking, cleaning, even hunting at a thing called a supermarket. The man earns cash through labor and knowledge. They use that to trade for food and furs. Did I get that right?" My savior, Dad explained that better than I could have. I had not gotten around to telling him girls work too. I also didn't tell him about my other dad's last words to me. I could only imagine his reaction to that.
I nodded "Yes that's right."
Orpheus seemed to be confused still. "So they are all like the healer who works for food or the market trade in the city" Oh so they had a form trade system here. A city market sounded like fun. I will have to ask about going later. Didn't dad say that Orpheus wanted to find females in the city?
I turned toward dad "What's the city like? You said Orpheus wanted to get females there." I barely registered that the wolf had frozen mid-cut. "Are there lots of females in the city? What's sold at the market?"
"The city is a large place to the east with many stone buildings. The city market is a place we trade for things we want or need with what we have. There are stalls for everything from rice to furs." He gave Orpheus a pointed look before continuing."As for females, I told you there are so few. In the city, there is a place where females go to trade themselves for what their family's or villages need." I felt my face fall. Please tell me he is not talking slave trade. Thoughts of girls in chains on a stage while men bid on them made me want to scream in rage.
Orpheus cut off my thoughts "It is completely of their free will. Females pick their mates and can't be forced. If a male forced himself on a female he would be severely punished. It's one of the few rules we have here. The female just picks which village to go to buy the goods offered to them"
Thank goodness. The last thing I wanted was to worry about slavers. "But wait, dad didn't you say that some male tried to force mom."
Dad let out a growl. "Yes, and as her mate, I took their lives for that and for them setting fire to the village."
"They deserved worse than death. They killed many including my parents." The two had dark looks on their faces. That day was horrible for them both. I took Orpheus's hand and squeezed it. His eyes softened when he looked at me. "I am sorry you lost your parents." I felt something spark in my heart at his softened expression.
"At least he had me, right boy." Dad interrupted our moment.
"Yeah because your daily disappearing act to go fishing was so great. It took me forever to figure out where you went to get dinner." Orpheus rolled his eye with a smirk.
Dad threw a bone at him " That's because no matter how much food I left your bottomless stomach finished before I got back. He ate three bucks before noon once." With that, the dark mood was gone as we all joked around the fire.
Before I knew it another day had passed. I have to admit I never thought when I turned 18 any of this would happen, but I was glad it did. I can't remember ever being as happy as I was today.