The next morning when I woke up my tent was filled with women and commotion. Today was to be the last day of the trials. There were only a few men left from the trials. My Aries (or my story teller), a native from my tribe, a Viking, and two other natives.
I was not allowed to know all their names. It was a tradition in our tribe that the women did not know their husbands name till the night of their wedding. After their wedding night they were allowed to know other men's names. But it was considered unlucky for unmarried women to know too many men's names before marriage. After marriage though, they needed to know the other men's names in order to ask for any kind of help or to be helpful. Basically, before hand all the women referred to the men as hay you there.
Because today was the last day of the trials, the women decided to surprise me. They brought me breakfast, did my chores, and gathered in my tent. All the tribal women had gotten together and made me a brand new dress for my wedding. They were going to make me use today to get ready. For tonight would be my wedding.
They all patiently waited while I ate my breakfast. They told stories about their first nights with their husbands. My favorite was Callie's. She was a newly wed that had been a good friend of mine since I came here. She had long flowing locks that came down to her knees. She was pregnant now and looked like her baby could be born at any time. But she was so sweet.
Her story went something like this: when her and her husband entered their wedding tent, they both started out shy. They really did not know what to do. But Callie remembered her Meme telling her what should happen. So, Callie approached her new husband. He was stocking the fire. She laid a had on his back and he stood up. He threw the stick he was using into the fire and smiled at her. It was the beginning of winter but it was a somewhat nice day. As the sun was going down though it was getting cold. So, the fire was very nice. He placed a warm hand on her cold cheek and gave her a sweet deep kiss. He swept her off of her feet and took her to their bed furs. He laid her down gently and as they kissed he undid her strappings to her dress. Before she knew it he had her dress off and he had pulled off his pants. He got a good look at her and let her get a good look at him before he used himself as her blanket.
You see, she is maybe five feet tall and skinny, where he is nearly six feet if not over, muscular and broad. She was blushing so hard after telling that much, that the next lady took up the story line and told her own experience. Every one of the married ladies had adorable and sweet stories to tell. The young single women blushed and giggled as the stories were told.
The women had my entire day planned. The plan, as they told me, was first breakfast. Then a bath (one of the women held up a robe for me to put on). Then the women were going to dress me, and braid my hair. Each of the women were going to do one braid on my head. With each braid there was a story of marriage that needed to be told. The stories that were going to be told were to help me with future marriage issues. They would help me to learn how to deal with several and different problems.
I was not allowed to protest at all. Before I could say anything, I was being carted off to bathe. They sang songs loudly as they were pushing and pulling me along. The herd of singing women walked through the camp's; waking up all of the other remaining tribes. As a matter of fact. As we approached, walked through, and past the camp sites. Everyone that was with the remaining suiters lined up along the walk way, cheering, and clapping as we walked by.
I was so embarrassed! However, there were plenty of women mobbed around me. No one could see me from outside of the crowd. Even though I was sure the beam of red coming off of my face gave away my location. The women around me did not let it bother them. No, they just giggled and kept pushing and pulling me all the way to the bathing area.
Once there the women used flowers and scrubbed me from head to toe. They made perfumes and lotions right there by the water. Then they rubbed the oils and perfumes through my hair and when I came out of the water, they rubbed them all over my body. When they were through, I smelled like a freshly bloomed rose, and my skin glowed and was as soft as a baby's butt.
Then they started on the makeup. I could not get dressed quite yet. They took a powder and made it into a dying paste, and gently outlined the muscles in my stomach. Then they quickly washed it off. This left my muscles looking way more defined. They did this to my butt, and to my other lady parts too. This made my attributes stand out even more. It was kind of like accentuating and contouring with makeup, or I think some people call it sculpting and highlighting. All this did was to make my muscles and curves stand out better.
After this I was finally allowed to put my new underwear on. Which was nice. I did not feel so naked at least. You cannot imagine how embarrassing it is to have another woman touching you in your secret areas. It was not an enjoyable experience! I know there are women out there that would enjoy this, but I am not one of them. I only allowed it because I knew it was tribal tradition.
After this they went forward and began doing my hair. They interwove flowers into my braids to help me to keep the floral smell. There were sixty women there, so I ended up with sixty braids. I do not know how they did it. But the rows were even and my lines were straight. Once the smaller braids were made, they interwove them together. This knocked down my braids to twenty. Then they wove these braids together. Giving me six full braids. They left one smaller in back. Then they wove these together leaving two braids and a smaller braid in back. Then they wove the remaining three braids together. Making one large braid. With the way they did it, it looked like a French braid. I did not have any ghost hairs at all! I think it must have been due to the oils. But it looked so pretty, especially with all the flowers.
My dress was brought forward, and the women helped me to darn my dress. My dress was made out of deer hide. I do not know how they did it, but it was ultra-thin. The material breathed very well. The skirt was lose from my waist down. The skirt came down past my knees. It was form fitting at the waist and around my breasts. Then it came down to my elbows. It had tassel's that came down like a main from my shoulders in a straight line down my arms. Then around the hem's and waist there were more tassel's. Under the tassel's was a ton of bead work that looked like flames. Across my chest and waist was a beaded tapestry showing my tribe as my family.
It was so pretty! When Memaw had me fire up and twirl, all it did was fit the dress to me better. Which made me feel so much better. Memaw put a pair of extremely padded and soft shoes on me that matched my dress. Then we headed back. By the time we headed back the other tribes were readying for the noon meals. The food cooking made my tummy rumble.
A couple of the girls laughed and went to go get me some food. As they did Pepaw came back, along with the other men. There were two fights in the trials this morning. Two men were hurt badly enough they could not continue. Their campsites were in the process of packing up and leaving at this point. The very last fight would happen just before dusk tonight. Then just after words I would be married to the victor.
The final two suiters for the last fight were my story teller (aka Aries), and a man from the Viking tribe. Everyone that was left would be there for the final fight and the wedding. I was so excited! I was ready to go home with my husband. We had a lot to talk about. I think I am ready to tell him about what happened and why I left to begin with. I am just honestly afraid of what Aries will think of me. After last night though I do not think there will be any problem. He really truly did miss me. I just hope he does not think badly of me for what happened. My greatest hope is that he will never leave me alone like that again.
I know Aries is going to win. I wish they could go ahead and have there little fight and we could go on from there. But Pepaw insists that they have this afternoon to rest. Only rested warriors fight. There is no honor in defeating an exhausted foe.
I had a few of the women take both of my suiters food from our fire. I did not want it to look like I had a favorite. So I sent a special gift with both plates. On the Vikings plate, I cut off the end of my longest braid and laid it next to the food with beads at both ends to hold it together. On Aries's plate, I sent an arrow with the tip cut like a heart.
The hair was the traditional symbol of my tribe for women to give their men. It was like a good luck charm. Where as the arrow was a little different. I could not send a love note or tell Aries I loved him and missed him. So, I did the next best thing and sent him a cupid arrow. The arrow head was shaped like a heart. I even used some of the makeup dye and dyed the arrow head red. I thought that after our run in's with cupid this would have to make some kind of point to him.
The girls in the tent thought the differences meant that I was rooting for the Viking. They even told me that after they delivered the food and gift that the Viking asked about the gifts. When he was told what they were and who they were too, the Viking thought I was rooting for him too. Aries however smiled and kissed the arrowhead on the arrow he received. Then he sent the arrow back to me. He told them to tell me that he loved me too.
When they gave me back the arrow and gave me his message I smiled. I undid the wrapping that attached the arrow head to the arrow. I put the arrow head on a string, and wore it around my neck. I hid it under my dress. I did not want to show my favorites. But I really wanted Aries to know later on that I was rooting for him the whole time. I know he is going to win.
This morning went by so fast. But this afternoon was going by really slow. That is until the entire camp heard a loud commotion going on in the suiters camp. It was coming from the Vikings side. There were large flashes of light and screaming that followed. Several of my tribes men ran down to the camp to see if everything was alright.
When they came back they had interesting news. Apparently, one of the suiters that had gone home at the beginning of the trials, really he left before they began, had returned. Him and the current suiter got into a huge fight. The Viking prince that was the suitor did not survive the fight. Now the new suiter wanted to be allowed to compete in the last fight.
It was going to be up to my father, whether or not the newcomer was going to be allowed to complete the trials. From the sounds of things my Pepaw had no choice. The previous suiter was defeated by the new suitor. Therefore, if he would have fought he would have won each and every fight the other man had won, or so was the view of my tribe. My Pepaw was now consulting with the elders and they were making up their minds.