A Place To Bloom

Ranía

I didn't know what witchcraft enabled me to talk to those vɪta'o in the jungle, and I was afraid to ask. That the wrong people, whoever that was, would burn me at the stake for it didn't make it any easier.

Ranía stood in the center of the sitting area being drooled over by young conscripts. She was a textbook beautiful woman—generous curves, plush lips, and large, doe eyes like emeralds. Like Bilal, she was Goloagi; dark green hair cascaded behind her back in curls, and on each arm was a brand, 773-614.

"You promised to tell me later," I said.

She gazed up at me with a warm smile that exuded inner contentment.

"It's later."

She giggled lightly and turned her attention to the castle grounds.

It was mid-to-late afternoon, and hot, humid air lingered like a furnace between the high stone walls.

The mat of grass runners across the ground was shredded in some places, and in the center of the courtyard it was worn through exposing dry dirt. The important-looking native woman I'd seen the last time I came through was shouting at some men who all lowered their eyes. The older Herali man in charge of the place was among them; his eyes were the lowest of all. To our right outside the kitchen, a line of older Na'uhui men faced off against three recruits, everyone waving fists and shouting obscenities.

Beside the mud huts, several local women had gathered with knives, and I could smell the mold in the barracks from here.

"Hoden asked me to come and help... domesticate these... men." She looked up at me with a sly grin. "I wonder how a good captain would handle this situation?"

My stomach tightened. Did she just...

"Excuse me!" The important-looking woman in red silk elbowed her way between two others beside us. She came to the center of the gathering and held up her hands, looking around. "I have an announcement!"

"Wait!" I held up my hand. What, exactly, would a good captain do in this situation? "We'll gather everyone together!"

I checked Bilal, who nodded back to me and directed Ta'o towards the mud huts. "You check down there. Renou..."

"I got the stalls."

Ranía chirped, "I'll check by the armory!"

I called Bilal over to me. "You and I deal with this shit."

Outside the kitchen, a ring of men stood around as one recruit straddled a Na'uhui man who had to be well into his forties. The youth raised his fist in the air, and the old man beneath him held his hands up as a shield.

"Yo!" Bilal shouted. "Let's go! There's an announcement!"

The Herali looked up, then stood and approached us.

"No," I said, "help him up."

The man sucked his teeth and sneered. "Fuck off!"

When he tried to step past me, I blocked him. "No, you need to help him up."

"The fuck?" his hands were still balled into fists, and he had a line of blood on his lip. His chest heaved, and he stepped up to me.

Bilal stood beside me with his hand up. The Herali clenched his jaw, and his brow was furrowed. The other recruits pointed and sniggered at him, and he glanced between me and Bilal.

My fingers trembled. I wasn't Father Yewan. I could never fill his shoes, but if there was a page I could borrow from him, then perhaps God would find me worthy of reading it. "What's your name, man?"