Talia Of Animalistic 7 A Mate

There's a bounce to her step as Talia strides past tepees heading for the long house. The tepees are for sleeping and individual family activities and privacy from the rest of the tribe. Not that free people have much use for privacy, but most tribe activities take place at the long house. She's most likely to find Roar there or in the vicinity of the long house since he's chief.

Talia spots Roar as he's stepping out of his tepee, but he hasn't seen her and the wind is heading toward Talia. She breaks into a run, leaps into the air and lands on Roar's broad muscular back. Roar is pleasantly surprised. He looks back at Talia smiling and she kisses his cheek. But there's something different about his little sister. Her smile is easy, not forced or strained. She's genuinely happy. But there's something else…

"Let me look at you," says Roar pulling Talia over his head and setting her on her feet in front of him. He holds her out in front of him by her shoulders and states, "You smell different."

Smiling, Talia tilts her as she looks up at Roar and asks, "Do I?"

Then Roar notices the hickey on her neck. He tilts her head up by the chin, touches it and states, "You've been with a man."

Talia is amused as she says, "So." But Roar's behavior is odd and her brow furrow as she asks, "Did you expect me to die a virgin? Did you believe the only male that would have me is Fjord?"

The last thing Roar wants to do is upset his baby sister. He didn't mean to make her uncomfortable. "Of course not, you've just caught me off guard. You've never come home smelling of a man or anything like that before." He hadn't known she had been a virgin all this time and he smiles broadly as he tells her, "I think it's good you met someone and long overdue… He scent marked you. Most wild males don't possess the glands necessary for actual scent marking. But your own personal scent is a little different too. It's a subtle difference, barely noticeable. I doubt if anyone else in the tribe will even notice. So, what's his name?"

Talia answers with a smile, "Richy."

Roar is surprised as he repeats, "Richy, ... a wild male with a tame name?"
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"A FREE male with a DOMESTICATED name," Talia corrects Roar. "But he has a tribe name too, Mist."

The name Mist is familiar to Roar and he repeats it to help jog his memory, "Mist, Mist… of the water tribe. I met him a couple of times years ago, before Fjord became chief. Fjord is going to be p.i.s.sed because if I recall correctly, he's not fond of Mist."

Talia shrugs. "I haven't seen Fjord. Richy lives in a house in Bayberry Falls. He's the sheriff there."

Again Roar is surprised. "Interesting… But when Fjord finds out, he's still going to be p.i.s.sed. He'll probably challenge Mist. And if I'm recalling correctly, Mist is an Alpha male, but he doesn't possess any wild abilities, not even the basic ones. He has too much tame blood… Maybe I'm confused, because only males with the gift possess scent marking glands. Mist doesn't have the gift."

"He does now," responds Talia with a shrug. Then Talia ask Fjord a strange question, "Have you ever mated with a woman for four hours straight?"

Roar is shock, not by the intimate question itself, but four hours. "Never… But the way he's marking you says he's very serious about you. Are you as serious about him?"

"Yes," answers Talia without hesitation and a smile. "When I'm finished with my visit here, I'll make my way to his house in Water Tribe territory."

"I thought you said his house is in Bayberry Falls," says Roar confused.

Talia confirms, "It is. On tribe land I recovered eight years ago."

Roar nods his understanding to Talia as his two sons come tearing away from their mothers screaming at the top of their lungs, "Aunt Tali!!!"

Talia braces herself for the impact of the two charging boys. Howl is ten and can already look Talia in the eye. Talon is six and his head comes up to Talia's chest.

The impact of Howl causes Talia to take a step back. And she catches Talon when he leaps onto her. Laughing, Talia hugs both boys tightly. She tells them, "If I didn't know better, I would think you guys missed me."

Both boys smile at Talia and shake their heads as they say, "Naw."

Howl sniffs Talia more closely and states, "You've been with a man… You've never showed up with a man's scent on you before. You even have a love bite."

Talia shrugs. "There's a first time for everything. I met someone and we like each other very much, no big deal."

Except Howl thinks it is a big deal and hollers for his mother, "Mom!!!"

"Howl," Talia whispers seriously, "you know your mothers don't like me."

Howl ignores Talia. He wants his mother to see and smell what he's seeing and smelling so the mean rumors about his favorite aunt will stop. "Mom, come here and take a look at this!"

Howl's mother doesn't look happy as she nudges Talon's mother with her elbow. If she has to go near Talia, she's not going alone.

Talia doesn't smile as she greets the two women, "Racc.o.o.n…," Howl's mother, "Squirrel…," Talon's mother. Both women nod to Talia in response.

Smiling, Howl points at the hickey on Talia's neck and says, "Aunt Tali's got a boyfriend."

Racc.o.o.n and Squirrel look at each other. Then they step close enough to touch and sniff Talia.

Racc.o.o.n's eyes grow large as she states to Talia, "You've been scent marked."

Talia rolls her eyes as she replies, "No s.h.i.+t, Sherlock."

Squirrel touches the hickey as she says amazed, "You've been mating with a wild male."

"Oh, and let me guess," says Talia sarcastically, "and you never have."

Squirrel feels guilty. She's never partic.i.p.ated in the Talia bas.h.i.+ng like Racc.o.o.n has, but she's never offered a word of defense for the woman who was her best friend as a child. She starts to cry and apologizes, "I'm so sorry, Tali. Please forgive me, please."

Talia hugs Squirrel and ask, "What's to forgive?"

"Forgive me for being a bad friend," Squirrel tells Talia.

Talia has never been one to hold to grudge and tells Squirrel, "No friends.h.i.+p is perfect. So what's to eat around here? I'm hungry."

Hungry was always an understatement when Talia returned from spending two or three days in the big city. She was usually ravenous. Domesticated food just doesn't nourish free people properly. It would make a free person fat, because they would still be hungry after a meal of only domesticated food. But Talia isn't as hungry as she usually is when she gets back from the city.

Roar notices she's not eating much and ask concerned, "Tali, you're not eating much. When did you eat last?"

"This morning," answers Talia. "I grabbed a pero and a whole wheat English m.u.f.fin with egg, cheese and bacon."

Roar's pleased to hear that she didn't just grab pero, and that she had food with her pero. He knows Talia is usually so intent on getting out of the city as quickly as possible that she may consume nothing but pero and herbal tea for the two or three days she spends in the city.

"And yesterday," inquires Roar.

Talia tries to recall breakfast for the previous day. "Pero… and maybe a whole wheat bagel." She shrugs. But she doesn't have any trouble recalling lunch. She smiles and blushes as she squeezes Squirrel's hand. Normally, it would probably just be Roar, his number one elder advisor, Wildcat, and his two sons eating together with Talia because most of the tribe usually avoids Talia while she's visiting. Wildcat adores Talia like a daughter. But most of the tribe is hanging out with them this evening, their curiosity pus.h.i.+ng aside their suspicions and cautiousness. They're rediscovering Talia. And Talia is weathering the extra attention well.

So Talia happily shares as she's holding Squirrel's hand, "Richy brought me a picnic lunch with fried rabbit, his Aunt Seal's amazing potato salad, fresh fruit salad, mixed nuts and dried berries, and he baked a three cheese mac and cheese. And he gave me the most wonderful bouquet of fresh cut flowers."

Squirrel puts a hand over her heart as she says, "That's so romantic."

Racc.o.o.n approaches Talia with a brush and a comb. Touching is very important for free people and grooming each other is an integral part of establis.h.i.+ng and maintaining close relations.h.i.+ps. So as Racc.o.o.n gets down on her knees by Talia, she's afraid Talia will send her away. She's holding the brush and comb to her heart as she asks, "May I?"

Talia smiles warmly at Racc.o.o.n as she answers, "Yes of course."

Racc.o.o.n smiles relieved. Then she moves behind Talia and begins at the ends of Talia's past her waist length hair. It may be taboo and seen as a form of self-mutilation for free women to remove body hair like leg hair, underarm hair, etc. But tr.i.m.m.i.n.g the hair that grows from one's head is fine. Yet it's still rare for a free women to cut their hair short in most tribes. Except Talia's hair hasn't been trimmed for a long time, so it takes Racc.o.o.n a few minutes to work her way up from Talia's ends.

Racc.o.o.n grabs all of Talia's hair together at Talia's neck trying to decide what to do with all that hair when she discovers the fairly fresh angry looking teeth marks on the back of Talia's neck. Racc.o.o.n is horrified. How could Talia not tell anyone she'd been attacked? She was probably attacked by Fjord.

"Roar," Racc.o.o.n yells, "Talia was attacked and didn't say anything."

Roar and Wildcat rush over to see what Racc.o.o.n is talking about as Talia says, "I haven't been attacked."

"Everybody stay calm," request Wildcat smoothly. Then he asks Racc.o.o.n, "What makes you think she was attacked?"

"Look," request Racc.o.o.n and shows Roar and Wildcat the still vibrantly pink teeth mark scar she's found on the back of Talia's neck. "It tried to take a big bite out of her."

Roar's hand is shaking as he tentatively touches the scar. How could she not come to him for help? Did she just not want to worry him? Had their people made her feel like such a big outsider that she chose to suffer alone?

Wildcat pats Roar's shoulder and smiles. "Don't worry," he tells Roar. "She wasn't attacked."

"I said that," reminds Talia. "Nothing has attacked me," she chimes.

Wildcat points out to Roar, "See how clean the bite mark is. Talia's true-mate was very careful not to damage her tattoo as he marked her as his mate. The bite was clean and precise. An attack would have left a messy scar, torn up the back of her neck, not left a clean imprint of teeth like this lovely work of art."

"Mm-m-my, my," Talia stutters. She doesn't know what to think. "True-mate? I've never heard of such a thing. I only met Richy barely a couple of weeks ago. And so far so good, but we haven't discussed being mates."

"And you don't need to discuss it," Wildcat tells Talia. "Nature has decided this for you."

Talia's brow furrows as she says, "I don't get it."

"Dearest," Wildcat says understandingly to Talia, "you've missed so many lessons with me while you were living with your grandparents and getting that fancy education for all of us." He pats Talia's knee. "This is a rare blessing finding one's True-mate. Mother Earth has decreed that you and he belong together. And true-mates are usually the beginning of a new tribe. He has his own territory, right?"

"Yes," confirms Talia.

Wildcat tells her, "And when you met him, the attraction was nearly instantaneous."

"Yes," Talia confirms to Wildcat as her confusion and unease scent the air.

"Don't you worry none," Wildcat tells Talia stroking her hair rea.s.suringly. "Nothing's wrong. It is as it should be. You found a mate, your true-mate. He will stand by your side, all of your days together. I bet even though you just saw him yesterday, you miss him very much and are eager to get back to him.

There are tears in Talia's eyes as she nods and tells Wildcat, "Yes."

Wildcat smiles rea.s.suringly as he tells her, "And I know he is just as eager to have you back with him. Finding a true-mate is a great blessing."

"I don't know if I'm ready for a committed relations.h.i.+p," says Talia as she hugs Wildcat like a frightened child. "What if Richy doesn't want a committed relations.h.i.+p?"

Wildcat laughs. "Dearest, you have too much tamed education. You may not want to hear this, but neither of you has a choice in the matter. Mother Earth has decided this for you both. You can try to fight it, but that would only cause you and him unnecessary discomfort and suffering when nature will win the fight anyway. So let nature take its course and don't try to fight it. There's no sense in fighting a losing battle, especially when you've already won the prize."

Talia nods her understanding to Wildcat as Squirrel takes her hand. She says to Talia softly, "You don't really understand what a wonderful thing has happened. It's like an ancient fairy tale. You've found your Prince Charming and without kissing a lot of toads."

Talia hugs Squirrel tightly. Talia knows many ancient fairy tales and the romantic idea that she has found her Prince Charming appeals to her. As Talia sits back from hugging Squirrel, Racc.o.o.n resumes fixing Talia's hair. Racc.o.o.n skillfully begins to put tiny braids into Talia's hair.

As she's skillfully putting the braids into Talia's hair, Racc.o.o.n decides to breach a topic that has been part of the vicious gossip regarding Talia and asks, "Wildcat, you said Talia got all her fancy education for us. What did you mean by that? I know some tribe members believe Black Bear and Doe may have believed that Talia was too good for wild life."

"Nonsense," says Wildcat who was often consulted on what would be best for Talia and the tribe, "we are a blessed tribe. Our tribe is large with many guardians. And our guardians are excellent protectors in a physical fight. Except tamed folks have not just attacked us physically in the past, they have also used our lack of knowledge about their laws against us. They think we're less than human and not as intelligent as them. We needed a guardian who could do more than just fight physically. We needed a guardian who could also use their own laws to our advantage. Black Bear and Doe sacrificed much so we'ld have such a guardian. Talia was denied the option of choice in many things so we would have such a guardian. Talia is that guardian. And when they tried to shrink our territory again, Talia not only kept it from happening, but used her knowledge of their laws to regain lost territory for us. She's our s.h.i.+ning example that we're not less human and possess the same intelligence…

The lack of grat.i.tude I've seen displayed for Black Bear, Doe and Talia's sacrifice is shameful. She's a guardian just like Roar, Greywolf, Savage, Hunter or Angel and yet you've all been shunning her for years, treating her, one of our most valuable guardians, like a criminal. It's simply shameful."

There's an uncomfortable silence and the nearly overwhelming combined scents of shame and guilt.

Talia tells Wildcat, "Wildcat, we need to stop referring to ourselves as wild. That's domesticated people's way of saying we're not human like them."

Wildcat nods slowly to Talia and ask, "How do we call ourselves then?"

"Free people," answers Talia, "Free people, that's what Richy uses because we don't complicate our lives with things that don't matter."

Wildcat and Roar nod to each other smiling. Roar says gladly, "Free people it is."

"Talia," Squirrel asks curious, "how did you mark your new mate? Did you bite him somewhere like he did you?"

"I didn't…" Talia starts to say that she didn't mark Richy, but she covers her mouth and her eyes grow large as she realizes she did mark him. "I… I clawed his back."

"Why are you shocked," Angel, a tall female guardian with medium brown skin and cornrows in her hair asks as she joins Racc.o.o.n in braiding Talia's hair.

"Consciously, at the time," Talia explains to Angel, "I didn't know that's what I was doing. I just thought I'd gotten carried away in the heat of the moment."

Squirrel adds her nimble fingers to Talia's hair and tells Talia, "I'm so happy for you. It's a great blessing to have found your true-mate."

A few hours later, Talia's hair has been braided into many little braids and is sleeping wedged between her two nephews as usual. But Roar finds his tepee a bit crowded this night. Normally, when Talia's visiting, it's just him, Talia, his sons and sometimes Wildcat. But this night, besides Talia sleeping wedged between his two sons, behind each son is his mother. Each woman has an arm stretched over her son with her hand touching Talia. Angel is at their feet with a hand on one of Talia's ankles, and Roar finds himself very scrunched and squished this night.