Asken is 35; Tia is 35: Briar is 12; Treneskris, Hatiro, Katari, Evrezeya & Kehansen are 3
narrated by Briar
Hey Aralata. I really need to talk to you right now.
You're not going to believe this - you're probably not going to like it either, I know I don't.
My mother came up to me this morning while I was doing my chores, and she told me that...
...well, remember just before the first snows came, when we were all out gathering our last winter supplies? That time I was down by the lake with my father, and Otolo zan-Avei overheard one of his jokes and thought he was hitting on me, and my father started yelling at him, and they had that big fight in front of half the village?
Turns out that when the elders sorted the whole thing out - you know they told my father to make it up to Otolo somehow for starting the fight, and Otolo's apparently been talking to Grandmother S'Ahmisa who's been talking to my parents...
Grandmother says Otolo has asked for my hand - once I'm of marriageable age, that is. And he's three times my age and really, really hairy. Gross.
But my parents agreed to it,
and Grandmother thinks we'll get on really well. As if.
I wouldn't have expected it from her, since Father was born because of a fling with some random city guy when she visited Bridgeport, but she said something about "I chose my own partner and look where I ended up - a single mother whose son had three half-siblings by the time he was twelve!" Elders.
So Otolo was invited to share a meal with us today. He kept trying to talk to me about the most stupid things, like actual wedding preparations and stuff. He's got years to fish up a bride price, why go into it now?
And I really wish they'd have talked about something else - anything else - over dinner. I was mortified, seriously.
I hoped the whole thing was just an elaborate joke.
Turns out I was wrong.
I know I have to listen to my elders, and they can blather on from sunrise to sunset about how Otolo's really reliable and a good provider and lots of other bird's teeth like that. But he's not you, Aralata. No one else could ever be you.
I really miss you. I'm so sorry about the fire.
**********
VT says: Yes, all this did happen. I'm back to playing the old version of KS while I work on the new one, and I was so shocked by all these sudden happenings that I forgot to take screenshots.
Oh man, poor Briar... just because it didn't turn out well for her Grandmother, doesn't mean that it would be the same outcome for her... I know that isn't how elders think though, always trying to save the next generation from making their same mistakes, but I doubt the Grandmother would have chosen a different path and gotten rid of her children if she really had the choice now. I feel for Briar, Otolo is not attractive, and I totally lol'd on the big and hairy... indeed he is!
ReplyDeleteOh, poor Briar, to have to marry an older hairy guy when she's already in love. It's really interesting that this is the way things panned out when you played, though. I really like the way Maisie said it, that the older generation is always trying to decide things for their children and grandchildren based on their own regrets, but would they really make the choice they're trying to force on them??
ReplyDelete