#selasna5

As the long winter passed, the families started thinking about moving on. However, the signs weren't great, there were too many small children and not enough food. The island was, if nothing else, relatively protected. Not many hungry, desperate wandering tribes had found them on these shores. Khión painted little murals on their shelter's walls and dreamt of easier times. Doríphoné was her first girl to make it out of her first year, which would normally have been a cause for celebration. Now, it only seemed like disaster simply hadn't struck yet, but wouldn't take too much longer to show it's ugly face.

Dôron had different worries. Boys were no longer blessed by Atemito, virgin goddess of the hunt, if they started to leave childhood behind. This was known. Dôron had the body of a boy. This was also known. Dôron had been blessed by Atemito. This had been known for years and Dôron very much felt that it was still true. Something didn't add up. Something seemed like a lie.

Har-sef was an unlucky man. His crops had all died, that had been bad. His beautiful wife Hapu had ran away with their two children - very bad. But he couldn't even blame her, since they had been starving at the time. Her father Usi had been extremely angry with Har-sef and come after him with a whip at night. Unfortunately, he had carried a torch to light the way, and had carried the torch into Har-sef's home, and suddenly, the house had caught fire. Har-sef and his father-in-law had tried to control the fire, but there had been a strong wind that night. As they, standing on top of a hill, watched the village burn together, Har-sef had decided that he had nothing left to loose. He had told Usi that, in all honesty, Hapu was better of without them. Then he had fled. This had been three months ago, and Har-sef had been on the move the entire time. Somehow, he got more muscle as he roamed from place to place. Maybe he had just been bad at farming.

He had not expected there to be people on this remote island, but their chief seemed ... not friendly, not welcoming, not wise. In fact, he seemed mostly annoyed. While Har-sef's presence clearly was irritating to the man, he also told him that he was welcome to stay with them. Har-sef was confused by his manners and they had a language barrier to boot.

What a strange man.

All too fast, summer came, and went.

With her youngest not even three months old, Khión found herself pregnant again. Hédomai did most of the work around the kids, and proved over and over exactly why she had married him. Certainly, others called him unmanly, said he was odd and quirky, but they couldn't deny that his self-assured softness had a certain charm. If Khión had been asked, she would have openly admitted that she found him so ridiculously pretty that she couldn't keep her hands off of him.

But there were consequences to that.