Each day, she took time from her work at the pens to spend time with her sons. It was a delicate balance sometimes, but she worked on it. As they grew older, she was not their whole world, and that is as it should be, but she would tell you, that in a small way it was painful to watch your son taking those steps towards manhood, that you could not always guide. Some things were for men to teach, and not her.
She was sitting on the platform with the younger three when One, or as she still thought of him, Tug came striding up, with that stubborn set to his jaw that always reminded her of Tayco. It was evident that he had been in some sort of scuffle, but he was a boy, and boys did such. The urge to reach out and ruffle his hair had to be pushed down, as she asked him how his day was going. Was that a growl coming from her eldest son? Sure seemed that way.
Finally, she did get the tale from him. He, and one of his best playmates had gotten into a fight. The boys' name was Parsec and was the son of a hunter of the back wagons. When she asked what they had argued over, the answer just went all over her. It seems that her precious son had told his best friend that he was not Tribe. Her brow furrowed as she asked him why in the name of the Sky he would say such, his eyes held an innocent confusion in them as he told her that he had heard the Spex say such. He had heard her tell someone that the people of the back wagons were not Tribe, so to him, that meant they were not Tuchuk.
Closing her eyes, she took a few deep, cleansing breaths to calm her mind, and to think of how to address this foolishness with her son. Opening them, she looked at him, then stood. Hefting Two onto her hip, she held her hand out to One, then nodded for the other two to follow.
Steps took her away from the first wagons and deeper into the area known as the back wagons. She came upon a forge and stopped to greet the man working at it. He stepped away from his bellows, wiped his hands and nodded to her and the boys and returned her greetings. She asked him a couple of questions. Did he protect and serve the bosk? The man's expression changed and he nodded and said.....Of course. She then asked if he had shed blood for his people. Again he looked a bit confused, then straightened to his full height and pointed to various scars on his bare torso, and spoke of the battles that he had been in. He then looked her in the eyes and told her that he had lost two sons, one to the Kassar and one to the Vaci. She nodded, and told him she was sorry for his losses and thanked him for his honesty, then gave him her be wells.
With One's hand still in hers she moved on and spied an elder woman working at a loom beside her wagons. She stopped, and again greeted, complimented the woman on her work, then asked basically the same questions. Did she protect and revere the bosk, and had she lost anyone to the daily battles that they fought. A sadness came to the woman's eyes, then her shoulders squared with pride. She told of how she had lost a mate and a son to a skirmish with the Kataii long ago. Again she commiserated with the woman on her losses, bid her farewell and walked away.
Stopping, she knelt down beside her boys and spoke to them. "Ok, we are in the back wagons, do you feel any less Tuchuk? Do you feel as if you are no longer Tribe?" Her hand lifted to motion to the people around them. "Are there not scars on the cheeks of the warriors here? Do the women not work at their clan work just as those of the first wagons do? Do they not bleed and die for their people?"
She waited for these questions to sink into her son's brain. He turned and looked at the Tuchuk's all around them, then turned his gaze on her, and she could see the dawning of a realization come to him. His little chest seemed to swell with pride and his chin lifted, and there was that stubborn set to his jaw again. "We are all Tuchuk, and we are all Tribe!" At that moment she could have hugged him, had she not known that it would embarrass him to no end.
She did not take his hand again, thinking in her mind that this was one of those.....I am a man......moments, but turned to walk back to her own wagons with he and his brothers at her side. Once there, she sat Two down to the furs to play, and made a meal for them all. When they were all settled with their various bowls, cups and plates of meat and cheese, she asked him if he understood now. He nodded then with innocence in his eyes looked up and wanted to know why a grown up would tell such a lie.
Now, this was one of those areas where you have to tread very carefully. Thinking for a moment, she finally tried to explain it to him. "It is not a lie exactly, it is what is known as a misconception." Well, that word seemed to just confuse him even more, so she went at it from a different direction. "Sometimes people become so narrow minded in their way of looking at things, the fail to look up and see the full picture of what is around them. Unfortunately, you usually cannot widen their view unless they are open minded enough to allow such."
She allowed him to ponder on this for a time, then she spoke gently to him. "My son, anyone born on these lands and within these wagons are Tribe. The Tribe extends and wraps its' arm around all that are Tuchuk, around all that were born to our people. We are all as one, from the Ubar on down to the smallest babe that lives within this harigga. We stand together in all things, and anyone that says differently, has forgotten that perhaps, but you cannot fault them for it, for it is their opinion, however wrong and jaded it might be."
He ate slowly then stood, and in a surprise move, leaned to kiss her cheek. "I need to go find my friend Parsec and apologize." He ran off towards the back wagons, leaving her sitting there with a tear in her eyes. She looked over to Rook, and smiled.
"Now, that is a man." The elder Oralu simply nodded, but she did see a whisper of a grin on his wrinkled features.
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