The Tribes of K'haren - Completed

Chapter 3.1

It was just before nightfall when Nume arrived at the Great Leader's tent. Her parents stood in front of her, ringing the tent bell nervously. Then a servant appeared and opened the large entrance for them to come in. They stepped inside and bowed to the family sitting in a large circle on soft pillows. Nume was supposed to take the seat next to Kran and for the first time in her life, she would have preferred not to sit next to him. Her parents sat to her right so they faced the Great Leader and his son.

'Welcome.' the Great Leader spoke. Only now were they allowed to greet anybody. The rules of behaviour were very strict, nobody spoke to the Leader unless spoken to first. Nobody started eating or drinking before the Great Leader did and nobody left until he did.

Nume felt how her mother took her right hand and held it tightly. Although she didn't like it, Nume didn't dare to pull the hand back. 'As you all know' the Great Leader spoke. 'I have invited you for us to celebrate. Tonight we celebrate an engagement and a blue moon from now, we shall celebrate a wedding.' he looked at Nume and Kran. Had Nume's mother not nearly been crushing her hand, Nume would have jumped up and ran away. Now she forced herself to if not smile at least try to look less sinister and angry.

A long silence filled the tent and, inside her head, Nume begged for somebody to say something just so everybody would stop staring at her. She felt a growing desire to look at Kran to see what he thought about everything but she didn't want people to interpret what she did so she sat as still as she could.

'So,' the Leader finally went on to say. 'Let our horns be filled for us to toast the future husband and wife.' With these words he rang a tiny bell and three more servants entered the room, all carrying already filled horns. They handed the biggest one to the Great Leader and the other ones to everybody else. Nume took one with her left hand. Then all servants left the tent.

'To Kran and Nume, may they have a good and long marriage!' the Great Leader spoke.

'To Kran and Nume!' their families echoed. Then everybody drank. Nume had never had such a drink before in her life but it tasted alright and she knew about its deliberating powers so she took a few gulps before lowering her horn. Maybe the drink's effect would help her survive the evening.

Then the Great Leader started a conversation with Nume's parents about just how great the two would be together. Everybody except for Kran and Nume talked and talked, nobody seemed to care about them or eating. When Nume's mother finally let go of her hand again, Nume rubbed it. Kran saw how red her right hand had turned and gave her a short pitiful glance. She just felt too awkward looking at him so she looked at everybody and everything else in the room until she'd seen everything.

The others were still talking and Nume wished she could have talked to Kran alone for a while. She wondered whether he'd heard about the trouble she'd got into earlier. And she would have loved to know whether he'd dared to speak his mind when he'd talked to his father and grandfather. But now that she hardly dared to look at him there was no way to find the answers to her questions.

Nume sighed quietly and rested her left hand on a pillow next to her. It took a moment until she realised she'd just put her hand into Kran's. When she did, she pulled her hand back quickly. The movement was a bit too sudden and Kran's mother noticed it.

'Oh, look at the two!' she said, watching them attentively with an expression of satisfaction.

'Don't be so shy, you can hold hands if you like.' an uncle of Kran's laughed. Nume blushed immediately. Anger filled her but the embarrassment lay heavily upon her so she lowered her head and mentally swore. She had no idea Kran had blushed even more than Nume had.

The others just laughed and kept talking as if nothing had happened but they did seem to be a little louder and happier than before. A thought came to Nume's mind but she pushed it away violently. No, she said to herself, no way, I'm not going to be a puppet, no matter how happy it would make them.

The evening went on and it was already completely dark outside when the servants finally served the food. The smell filled Nume's nose but it did not make her hungry. She felt so bad already that the freshly prepared food just made her feel sick. For a moment she wondered whether she could use that as an excuse but she knew very well that she'd have to stay and eat anyway. At least she didn't have to talk.

Nume forced herself to eat a few bites and then flushed the food down with some more of the drink. Her senses grew tired and her thoughts calmed down but her stomach rebelled. When she tried to have another bite, she nearly chocked on a bit of meat. Everybody stared at her worriedly.

'Are you alright?' Kran asked. Nume wished he didn't care so much, at least not when everybody was watching.

'Yeah, I'm alright...' she muttered once she'd caught her breath again. 'I just...'

'Let her get some fresh air.' the Great Leader ordered. A servant opened the tent for her. Kran wanted to help her get up and go outside with her but his father glanced at him angrily and made him remain seated. Nume's mother got up quickly and guided her outside.

// Hi there, as you can see, I've decided to split this chapter up because it is rather long. From now on, I will upload chapter parts of about 1000-2000 words but I'll only cut the chapters in parts if it makes sense and doesn't ruin the reading experience so I might not always be within that word range. Thanks for reading and don't forget to vote ;)