Maggie almost exploded when she came around the corner of the cabin to hear
her father and old Bear Tracker hatching up some cockamammy thing like betrothal between
a young girl and a young man still in his own training period.
But she stifled herself, and slipped back around the corner and went to sit on the front
porch.
"The last thing those two know is anything about marriage", she thought. "The last thing I knew was about marriage, only that I wanted to get married so bad, and all I got from that was two babies and a no good husband that vanished into thin air and left us practically
begging for food."
Her memories came flooding back, Luca just left one day, walked off, took his pack , she realized later, all his clothes, just had it stashed, planned it. Her mother who was alone with all the little ones, and their best friend, Alma Golden Moon BearScratcher, got her started on learning to spin and weave so she could earn a little trade goods to get by on. She helped in their gardens, milked their goats, went out with the dogs and fetched in the sheep every night, while they watched the girls. All so they would survive, have some food, some milk, some wool.
Idana was the oldest, and she learned to cook at a very early age, along with Maggies youngest siblings. Learned to dry meat, vegetables, any thing for winter.
It was a hard way of living, water had to used and not wasted. They were in the desert, and not used to the heat. Old May-Ling Chang, Maggie's grandmother suffered the most. She had spent her life along the coast, in moister warmer temperatures. The dry heat only spared her arthritis some, but left her lethargic and always complaining.
Sheila McGilroy Chang was a tough no nonsense woman, who managed the family with
lots of love backed up a firm hand. Maggie learned alot by watching her with the younger children and applied some of it to her own daughters.
But she constantly dealt with a deep burning anger over the desertion of her husband.
And with the anger came a resolve to never have to expose herself to pain like that again.
When unattached men came into camp, didn't matter who they were, she never smiled, never
laughed, didn't look their way, and finally it seemed to have become a habit with her.
By the time the two wandering husbands came back. though always prosperous with newly acquired goods, which no one asked in what manner they came by them, Maggie was ,
and she sighed at this, a sourpuss.
When her mother put down her foot and demanded that things change, Jack got a spot
teaching magic in the Sacred Village. And both Sheila and Maggie cried at having to leave their
dear friend Alma.
Charlie and Alma had five children, all girls, walking out of camp the Changs cried
sadly, hardly daring to turn and look at their counterparts standing in camp crying just as heartily.
Charlie and Alma were from the desert tribes and torn, between family and beloved friends, and it was a long journey of over two weeks of walking to reach each other, so as the years flowed past the pain dimmed into a fondness when they all thought of each other.
Charlie would pass through on one of his expeditions, finally crying on the cabin porch with both Sheila and Jack over Alma's death. The next year, her mother passed. By that time
all the little Changs had grown up, and went onto their chosen path or married and were raising
children while being employed by their prospective camps and clans.
Three of them lived in the village, Maggie saw them now and then. Her father would make the rounds to visit his grandchildren and great-grandchildren, coming back with tales of who was doing what, or fighting with who, or getting married.
Maggie would listen and shrug to herself. She had to grow up so fast, it seemed like she was never a child playing with all of her much younger siblings. She felt detached.
But her own grandchildren, even though she was stern with them, they filled her life.
Idana's girls and the one boy had talent, but not as whale singers. They took after their
greatgrandfather with his conjuring. Idana did too. Much to the delight of many of her neighbor
children. She would tell them stories and embellish them with the characters riding along on a horse, or a fierce eagle flying right through where they sat, or over their heads.
She was a huge success at birthday parties, and gatherings of a celebratory nature.
Then there was Vincenza and her husband. Because he disliked all things magical heartily which he did not understand, he forbade them to his children. No wonder that none except Rosemma
had shown any signs of a gift. Closed minded, and the older girls were going to get themselves in trouble. Oh, he stood over them like an farmer over his best heifers, but May-Ling and
Soledad were the most determined flirts, teasing and then snuffing out any hope in the hearts of more young men their age than Maggie could count. Sometimes beauty was just skin deep, and that was all.
She though of Rosemma then, hoping that the test had gone well, and she hadn't
come out of it tramatized. Young Charles seemed like a decent young man. She remembered him from his visits to the village with his grandfather. Son of the youngest daughter. Who tried to look after Charlie. Oh good luck, just like Jack, irrascable to the core.
She broke out of her revery at the sight of Charles and Rosemma walking up the path.
Rising, she saw the two of them exchange glances. "Oh, oh, now what is this?"
Charles cleared his throat,"Grandmother Magnolia, I would like to speak with you, your
father and my father if it would be possible."
" The elder gentlemen are just around the back" she replied, " I think we will just go there and make it easy for them." She grimaced to herself. What she didn't say was the elder gentlemen had about three mugs of ale each and at this point pretty satisfied with themselves.
Jack and Charlie looked up at their coming and motioned for them all to sit.
They both smiled with this look on their face that to Maggie spoke volumes.
Charles pushed his glasses up his nose, glancing at Rosemma.
"The test was a great success, we made contact with the Nommos, both of us, they
came through Rosemma and included me in what they came to show us."
Grandmother gasped,"Showed you, what did they show you?" She forgot the
tipsy old men and her annoyance with them at this news.
" They took us to the far north, we saw something we can't explain quite yet, it was a beam of light, and from the perspective of time, it seemed we had gone back to when the time of the dying happened." Charles swallowed hard at the memory. This he knew was possible, to
journey in time, but it still gave him pause. But at least the first to hear this information were
well versed in the eosteric ways of life.
"What did you see, how did it happen?" Jack leaned forward on his cane, a little wobbly but excited and focused on Charles.
Rosemma spoke up,"There were many men in strange clothing, and machines that worked, so we knew this was not in this time and day, they were busy moving around in their machines, and when this huge beam of light came on and shot up into the sky, it killed almost everybody, just like the histories tell, us. Only a few got back up after a while, and then we were shown that it began to snow a lot. Things changed and we saw many dead Nommos and their cousins in the ocean, and more snow untill all the northern coast were covered over and
cold. I am not sure how far down this was to be honest. But from what I and Charles were shown it was still going on."
She swallowed, and went on"And Charles would like for me to be his apprentice." She saw that this was a shock by the looks on their faces. Best to get it over now.
"I said yes", she added. Hardly daring to look at her grandmothers face.
Magnolia was a little taken aback, but thought she wasn't too surprised.
"Jack chuckled, and Charlie smiled. Magnolia spoke up.
"Rosemma, the hardest part will be telling your father this, you know that."
She continued, "you are old enough to get married, but if he objects to your
apprenticeship to Charles, you may have to wait two more years before you can have the way
clear."
Rosemma burst out, "What, why is that, my father would not even let me
get married to anyone unless he approved of some match in his favor, he still has my sisters to marry off, he wouldn't stop my apprenticeship, would he?"
Jack spoke, "Here is this village, a senior member of a family has the right to approve a marriage in the presence of a council person, at the age of 16 or older, but if there is an apprenticeship that may impact the livelyhood of the whole family, it has to be considered by
the whole family and brougt before the council to determine the outcome."
Rosemma felt a lump rising in her throat, why had the subject of marriage come up in all of this, when all she wanted was to be an apprentice. Oh she thought, marriage involves some kind of
material goods as a good will gesture, but taking a young worker from their clan involved no such thing. The clan would come away less unhappy if she married, she suddenly realized.
The faces of her parents came into her mind, as she thought about them, then realized she was being addressed
"So, you may have to wait and see how your father reacts."
She drew a sharp breath.
her father and old Bear Tracker hatching up some cockamammy thing like betrothal between
a young girl and a young man still in his own training period.
But she stifled herself, and slipped back around the corner and went to sit on the front
porch.
"The last thing those two know is anything about marriage", she thought. "The last thing I knew was about marriage, only that I wanted to get married so bad, and all I got from that was two babies and a no good husband that vanished into thin air and left us practically
begging for food."
Her memories came flooding back, Luca just left one day, walked off, took his pack , she realized later, all his clothes, just had it stashed, planned it. Her mother who was alone with all the little ones, and their best friend, Alma Golden Moon BearScratcher, got her started on learning to spin and weave so she could earn a little trade goods to get by on. She helped in their gardens, milked their goats, went out with the dogs and fetched in the sheep every night, while they watched the girls. All so they would survive, have some food, some milk, some wool.
Idana was the oldest, and she learned to cook at a very early age, along with Maggies youngest siblings. Learned to dry meat, vegetables, any thing for winter.
It was a hard way of living, water had to used and not wasted. They were in the desert, and not used to the heat. Old May-Ling Chang, Maggie's grandmother suffered the most. She had spent her life along the coast, in moister warmer temperatures. The dry heat only spared her arthritis some, but left her lethargic and always complaining.
Sheila McGilroy Chang was a tough no nonsense woman, who managed the family with
lots of love backed up a firm hand. Maggie learned alot by watching her with the younger children and applied some of it to her own daughters.
But she constantly dealt with a deep burning anger over the desertion of her husband.
And with the anger came a resolve to never have to expose herself to pain like that again.
When unattached men came into camp, didn't matter who they were, she never smiled, never
laughed, didn't look their way, and finally it seemed to have become a habit with her.
By the time the two wandering husbands came back. though always prosperous with newly acquired goods, which no one asked in what manner they came by them, Maggie was ,
and she sighed at this, a sourpuss.
When her mother put down her foot and demanded that things change, Jack got a spot
teaching magic in the Sacred Village. And both Sheila and Maggie cried at having to leave their
dear friend Alma.
Charlie and Alma had five children, all girls, walking out of camp the Changs cried
sadly, hardly daring to turn and look at their counterparts standing in camp crying just as heartily.
Charlie and Alma were from the desert tribes and torn, between family and beloved friends, and it was a long journey of over two weeks of walking to reach each other, so as the years flowed past the pain dimmed into a fondness when they all thought of each other.
Charlie would pass through on one of his expeditions, finally crying on the cabin porch with both Sheila and Jack over Alma's death. The next year, her mother passed. By that time
all the little Changs had grown up, and went onto their chosen path or married and were raising
children while being employed by their prospective camps and clans.
Three of them lived in the village, Maggie saw them now and then. Her father would make the rounds to visit his grandchildren and great-grandchildren, coming back with tales of who was doing what, or fighting with who, or getting married.
Maggie would listen and shrug to herself. She had to grow up so fast, it seemed like she was never a child playing with all of her much younger siblings. She felt detached.
But her own grandchildren, even though she was stern with them, they filled her life.
Idana's girls and the one boy had talent, but not as whale singers. They took after their
greatgrandfather with his conjuring. Idana did too. Much to the delight of many of her neighbor
children. She would tell them stories and embellish them with the characters riding along on a horse, or a fierce eagle flying right through where they sat, or over their heads.
She was a huge success at birthday parties, and gatherings of a celebratory nature.
Then there was Vincenza and her husband. Because he disliked all things magical heartily which he did not understand, he forbade them to his children. No wonder that none except Rosemma
had shown any signs of a gift. Closed minded, and the older girls were going to get themselves in trouble. Oh, he stood over them like an farmer over his best heifers, but May-Ling and
Soledad were the most determined flirts, teasing and then snuffing out any hope in the hearts of more young men their age than Maggie could count. Sometimes beauty was just skin deep, and that was all.
She though of Rosemma then, hoping that the test had gone well, and she hadn't
come out of it tramatized. Young Charles seemed like a decent young man. She remembered him from his visits to the village with his grandfather. Son of the youngest daughter. Who tried to look after Charlie. Oh good luck, just like Jack, irrascable to the core.
She broke out of her revery at the sight of Charles and Rosemma walking up the path.
Rising, she saw the two of them exchange glances. "Oh, oh, now what is this?"
Charles cleared his throat,"Grandmother Magnolia, I would like to speak with you, your
father and my father if it would be possible."
" The elder gentlemen are just around the back" she replied, " I think we will just go there and make it easy for them." She grimaced to herself. What she didn't say was the elder gentlemen had about three mugs of ale each and at this point pretty satisfied with themselves.
Jack and Charlie looked up at their coming and motioned for them all to sit.
They both smiled with this look on their face that to Maggie spoke volumes.
Charles pushed his glasses up his nose, glancing at Rosemma.
"The test was a great success, we made contact with the Nommos, both of us, they
came through Rosemma and included me in what they came to show us."
Grandmother gasped,"Showed you, what did they show you?" She forgot the
tipsy old men and her annoyance with them at this news.
" They took us to the far north, we saw something we can't explain quite yet, it was a beam of light, and from the perspective of time, it seemed we had gone back to when the time of the dying happened." Charles swallowed hard at the memory. This he knew was possible, to
journey in time, but it still gave him pause. But at least the first to hear this information were
well versed in the eosteric ways of life.
"What did you see, how did it happen?" Jack leaned forward on his cane, a little wobbly but excited and focused on Charles.
Rosemma spoke up,"There were many men in strange clothing, and machines that worked, so we knew this was not in this time and day, they were busy moving around in their machines, and when this huge beam of light came on and shot up into the sky, it killed almost everybody, just like the histories tell, us. Only a few got back up after a while, and then we were shown that it began to snow a lot. Things changed and we saw many dead Nommos and their cousins in the ocean, and more snow untill all the northern coast were covered over and
cold. I am not sure how far down this was to be honest. But from what I and Charles were shown it was still going on."
She swallowed, and went on"And Charles would like for me to be his apprentice." She saw that this was a shock by the looks on their faces. Best to get it over now.
"I said yes", she added. Hardly daring to look at her grandmothers face.
Magnolia was a little taken aback, but thought she wasn't too surprised.
"Jack chuckled, and Charlie smiled. Magnolia spoke up.
"Rosemma, the hardest part will be telling your father this, you know that."
She continued, "you are old enough to get married, but if he objects to your
apprenticeship to Charles, you may have to wait two more years before you can have the way
clear."
Rosemma burst out, "What, why is that, my father would not even let me
get married to anyone unless he approved of some match in his favor, he still has my sisters to marry off, he wouldn't stop my apprenticeship, would he?"
Jack spoke, "Here is this village, a senior member of a family has the right to approve a marriage in the presence of a council person, at the age of 16 or older, but if there is an apprenticeship that may impact the livelyhood of the whole family, it has to be considered by
the whole family and brougt before the council to determine the outcome."
Rosemma felt a lump rising in her throat, why had the subject of marriage come up in all of this, when all she wanted was to be an apprentice. Oh she thought, marriage involves some kind of
material goods as a good will gesture, but taking a young worker from their clan involved no such thing. The clan would come away less unhappy if she married, she suddenly realized.
The faces of her parents came into her mind, as she thought about them, then realized she was being addressed
"So, you may have to wait and see how your father reacts."
She drew a sharp breath.
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