"She's awake!" a woman's voice yelled as she ran out of the room.
The stumbling of footsteps thumps outside and right before Giken walks in. He makes his way, slowly to my side and sits.
"How are you feeling? Giken touched my forehead and padded my cheeks.
I nod.
"That's good." he said as he pulled his face downward, towards mine. I brace myself for a kiss, but instead his lips touch my ear and he whispers, "Everyone is watching and waiting outside. Whenever you're ready, let's go meet them. There are very important matters to discuss." He then got up and left the room.
It didn't take long for me to get up and notice my clothing had changed, my hair done and all my cuts and bruises healed. I got up to walk and even my limp and period was gone.
I walked out of the tiny wooden room and met with a group of people standing outside in an open space, little campfires were going by each little teepee nearby. All eyes turned to face me and the crowded chatters grew quiet.
An older man approached me, his face angry and mean. He stared me up and down before saying, "I am Nishkaadizi. I am the oldest brother here aside from the Niiganii. Do you remember anything about your arrival here?"
I gave Nishkaadizi a bewildered look as I tried to dig up memories of that day, but to my dismay, I couldn't recall anything.
I stood there not saying a word. Nishkaadizi's seems to be fuming out hatred towards me. I noticed how similar he looked to Giken, however, Giken seemed much taller and less of a brute in comparison. He was shirtless, like most of the men here and wore a similar waist belt as the one Giken was wearing when we first met. Nishkaadizi did, however, have a mohawk instead of a head full of hair and an armband scar that had strange symbols wrapping all around his left arm.
"WELL?" Nishkaadizi yelled at me and I jumped.
"What if she doesn't know what we are saying?" The voice came from a beautiful woman amongst the crowd. She was tall, slim, lean and her muscles were toned. Her hair fell back, long and dangling below her calves and in it, white streaked patterns. She walked up and stood behind me. "You can't expect a foreigner to understand our tongue."
"Moojigizi, move out of the way. This person needs no defending when the sacred symbol is burned onto her chest." Nishkaadizi barked at the woman.
"Hush!" She put her hand up to Nishkaadizi, "We must not rush to know what the ancestors have in store for us. But we know that Niiganii isn't here anymore, for the blood moon had shown its colors and chosen it's our new alpha."
"I will bow down to no one until I find Niiganii's corpse!" Nishakaadizi shouted and walked off angrily, four other men following him.
The woman turns to me and apologizes, "I am terribly sorry for Nishkaadazi's behavior. He is what we called, the angry one. I am Moojigizi, but most people call me by Mooji. Come with me." She places her hands on my shoulders and walks me back onto a little shed like room they had made from wood.
The shed-like room looked as though the wood was assembled neatly next to one another, in a vertical position and moss, grass and dirt shoved into open crevices. The roof was angled and layers from long leaves, branches and sliced wood laid on top. It was much better than the other teepees.
We entered the room together. "Let me explain a few things to you, whether you understand us or not, you need to know this."
I nod.
"Good. There are five heads amongst us and one alpha. Each head leads a group of people, known as their followers. I am the healer and my group is the smallest of the tribe, we remain in the center of our borders. Nishkaadazi, has the second largest group with four henchmen that follows him around very closely at all times. They are the hunters and protectors of our Eastern borders."
Mooji takes out pieces of charred stick from one of her pouches and draws a circle.
"We move along the riverways but always together in a pact, like this." She points to the circle. "Here, to the Eastern borders is Nishkaadazi. The Southern borders is Gikendaaso's task to protect. He is also the son of Alpha Niiganii. To the Northern borders is Manji-Manidoo and his followers. Here, they have the largest group of followers. He can be a very unforgiving man, but his temper gets even worse as a wolf."
Mooji stares at me intently, "Beware of him and his followers. To them, all foreigners are the same regardless of their kindness.
Last but not least is Gimtimi, Western Border. Her followers do everything for her while she sleeps away her day. It's the most boring of the borders, since nothing really happens there, so they utilize their time for hunting games. Believe or not, Gimtimi's group are the best of hunters.
"Does everyone turn into wolves?" I asked her.
"Yes, everyone transforms, but it's the moon we should all be aware of and…wait" she stops her rambling, "…YOU CAN SPEAK OUR TONGUE?" she asked in amazement. "But how? Only Niiganii can give the speech… wait, did you meet Niiganii before her disappearance?"
"I would like to speak with Giken." I said.
Mooji gives me a suspicious look, "I will go get him, but we shall talk more and soon. I need more information so I can figure out what is taking place here." She touches the newly formed scar that's on my chest and gazes at it tenderly, examining its form with her finger tips. "I need to know who will be chosen, amongst us, to be our new alpha. I think you may have been given the powers to choose, based on this symbol." She swiftly removes her hand away and without a word, leaves.
I sat on top of a bear's fur that was spread out on the floor. Giken walks in and kneels down next to me and whispers in my ear, "Mooji can help us figure out what happened to Niiganii, that is what matters most to me. When you got here, you weren't yourself because a fever had taken over. The Tribe is concerned about you and what your presence here could mean. So I told them…"
"Told them what?" I whispered.
"That I am your onaabeman. Your destined partner. I am the tribe's laughing stock right now, but I don't care about that. I want to know what happened to Niiganii."
"She was attacked… I saw it, but then, I'm not really sure what I saw." I said but quickly recanted.
"The blood moon doesn't lie. The pact will summon the ancestors after the ceremonial binding of our engagement tonight."
"Ceremonial binding of our engagement… you mean like a wedding?"
"Yes." Giken answered.
"But I thought you couldn't wed… partner up with anyone outside the Ma'iingan tribes?"
"It's not that we can't. It's that it has NEVER been done before. The Heads think if we bound together, then it eliminates me from being chosen as Alpha. They've been waiting for you to wake up. It's been ten days since we've arrived. Mooji healed you as best she could. I trust her."
"She asked me if we've seen Niiganii before coming here. I didn't say anything to her, because I didn't want anyone to think we had anything to do with her attack."
"I trust Mooji. You can tell her anything."
*
The ceremony is starting and I can hear the drumming and singing. Their decorated clothes jingled as they as the beads collided when they danced. On foot in front of the other, they skipped and hopped to the music.
Mooji walks in to help me change into my new clothes and to paint my skin.
My shirt was thin and barely covered my skin. It rubs onto my nipples in the wind and gives them a discomfort hardening. The cleavage of the shirt is cut open, showing off my naked flesh from my neck draping open downwards below my belly button, where it connected again.
My skirt was more like a cloth blanket, wrapped around me, also thin like my shirt. Both are slightly transparent, giving observers a teasing sight. She braided my long black hair and added like flowers to create volume.
"I don't want to wear this." I said to Mooji.
"Hush, all women wear the traditional clothes to tempt their new partners for their night of consummation. You don't want to ruin that night by having him wooed by someone else."
I blush so hard at that word 'consummation' that my neck and chest all turned as red as my face.
"Unless, your chastity was taken…well, since you two have been along together for so long…are you a~"
"Yes, I'm a virgin." I interrupted her question. "He and I, we never did anything."
"Impressive." Mooji starts to put red and white paint on my skin. Giving me whiskers and a mask. "Now you're ready. Let's go."
We left together and as soon as I stepped out, all eyes glued onto me. Men eyeballed me, some drooling and some glaring. Mooji led me to Giken, who sat still with his eyes closed and his followers palm their hand prints on to him. I sat down next to him and he opened his eyes to look at me.
His expression changed from annoyance and frustration into happiness and contempt.
"Every man here wants you. They have the bride dress a certain way to prove her loyalty to her partner. Some of these men AND women will try to woo you, as they will try to do to me."
"Well, I can assure you that I have a very strong will and restrain myself from being wooed by everyone here." I said to Giken while observing the dancers and drummers.
"Everyone, including me?" he said into my ears, his breath tickling my neck.
I quickly turned my head in surprise to his question and our lips touched. I pull back a little bit and then hear a loud outburst of laughter.
"AHHHHAHAHAHA!"
I glanced at the woman laughing. She fully clothed, unlike some of the women here. Her figure speaks loudly just like her personality. It's basically shouting, TOMBOY ALERT!
"Hey Giken, couldn't wait until after the feast, HUH?" she shouted.
Giken rolls his eyes at her, "Gimtimi, you're drunk and being stupid. Now, go sit over there and watch. I don't want you near my uh… my~"
"Partner" I coughed an answer to help him in his brain fart.
"My bride!" Everyone nearby gasped.
"Well, I guess you can say bride since she's not Ma'iingan. But she is gorgeous and I would very much like her to dance with me."
The music changes and the ceremony starts.
"It's the dance of belonging!!" Gimtimi shouts, "Bring the scarfs!"
I am blindfolded and Giken is gagged. He couldn't speak nor I could see. We are to dance with everyone who wants to play a part in this ceremonial dance. The trick is, we have to find each other.
I am brought into the circle of dance and from one person to another, they hold my hands leading me in a hopping dance. I tap to the beat of the drummings and swing to the sides of the crescendo of singing voices. No one makes a sound when they are partnered with me. Everyone is touching my arm, hands, waist and hips. But I couldn't tell which one was Giken.
After a long while, a man put his arms around my waist, palm on hip and drew me close to him. He was the same size as Giken but I still wasn't sure of him. I squeezed his hands and he squeezed back. He held me tight, so very tight, pressing my body into his and that's when I knew, it wasn't Giken.
I was quickly passed on to another and another, still trying to find Giken in my blindness. Until finally, a man grabs a hold of my hand and gently eases me into his arm. His scent was so specific that I knew it was Giken right away. The tenderness of his touch, the softness of his skin, and the smell he projects out to me is deafening.
I reached my arms over and wrapped them around his neck. Everyone shouts in laughter, " YES!!!"
I removed my blindfold and saw Giken in front of me as he removed the scarfs around his mouth. My connection had just been tested and it's real. Gimtimi grabs my hand and pulls me away, Giken gives her a frown.
"Gikendaaso, I shall return her for she must try the fermented fruits." Giken tries to follow us but is blocked by a group of people serving him drinks.
Gimtimi brings me over to join a women's circle smoking from a long pipe and drinking from a bull's horn.
"Now, the night is young! We women must not let them bed too early. LET CHEERS!" The horn is passed around as everyone takes a sip. I gets to me and I take a sip. Gimtimi pushes the horn up and I find myself chugging more than a few sips. The alcohol of the fermented fruit was so strong that I struggled to breath for a moment.
Then came the pipe. Everyone did a puff and passed it on. I pretended to puff it, but Gimtimi padded my back pushing me forward and my reaction sucked in the smoke from the pipe in a gasp. Upon exhaling, I felt like I was coughing my lungs out. That's when everything started to get a little foggy.
I was in and out of my lucid state as the night went on. There was more drinking and smoking but I had to decline.
I was starting to feel ill, so I snuck away into my little shed-like room. I laid on the fur bear skin, that was now cover in a white-beige cotton sheet, and just stared up into nothing until I fell asleep.
*
The blood moon is upon us again, and a new ceremony takes place.Everyone is drunk and sleep in their own teepees while the Heads join together.
Giken can no longer be a part of their summoning ceremony for it is his special night.
They summon the ancestors in a praying chant.
I can feel the Blood Moon shining down on me and my body heats up. I wake and next to me Giken is leaning back onto the column on the shed as he sleeps. I want him. I walked up to him, spread my legs and sat on his lap. He opens his eyes to look at me.