Savages

4: Everything's for Sale

The night was drawing in on them, even though it wasn't late. There was no sunset—no sun—just a drop in temperature, a gradual loss of colour, an insidious encroachment of darkness.

They were all here, now, all eleven of them. They'd crowded into the blackhouse Gaen and Merle shared. Merle was stoking the fire, and faces looked eerie and fairylike, half firelight-golden, half white-illuminated by the solar power lanterns. The wind had picked up outside, and it played the cottage like a conductor plays an orchestra: rustling the thatch, rattling the door, howling in the stones.

It had been strange, divvying up the living arrangements when they first came here. It had been a given that Brock and Lintie would share, but that left an odd number of girls and boys to organise themselves around that. Each house had space for two beds, little boxes built into the internal wall, roughly made following the specifications in their big book.

The houses were arranged like a street, in a small dip in the middle of the meadow, protecting them from the extremes of the wind whipping off the sea. There were three on the wood side, facing the sea, though the dip meant you couldn't see it from the doors.

Two more faced these, huddled with their backs to the sea. The remains of further houses dotted around these, but they'd rebuilt the ones that had seemed in the best condition, and instinctively kept them close together, as if they were trying to cling to their own warmth.

Gaen and Merle shared the first house on the wood side, where they'd gathered now. Deera, Lulu and Pii lived together next door, in the middle house, the two younger girls sharing a bed. Then the two Native boys, Hegri and Jaddy, took the end of that row.

Sannah and Judit and Brock and Lintie faced them, looking away from the sea. Sannah glanced over at Judit, sitting close to the fire on the packed earth floor with Merle, their arms interlocked, and couldn't help feeling a twinge of jealousy.

She was sure that Judit would probably rather share a house with her friend—they were so close—but it wasn't like Sannah could share with Gaen. They'd been entirely limited by practicality when it came to living arrangements. Otherwise no-one would share with me, Sannah thought. I'd just be living alone. A wild woman, wailing in the woods.

Sannah shivered and wrapped her arms around herself. She hated big group get-togethers like this. She was always conscious how little she spoke compared to everyone else, how she couldn't seem to insert herself into the social dynamic. She tried to join in, but felt one step removed from everything. By the time she thought of something to say, the conversation had always moved on, and her interjections just interrupted its natural flow.

True to form, Sannah realised everyone was already discussing the food situation, without any need of her input.

"So what do we do?" Merle was saying. It was phrased rhetorically, ostensibly addressed to the whole group, but her eyes flicked only between Gaen, Brock, Deera and Judit.

That was the group dynamic they'd built for themselves. The five of them had formed a sort of informal leadership group, making most of the decisions. It wasn't the result of a power struggle—the others just seemed unwilling (or unable, in Sannah's case) to take on that sort of responsibility. The five leaders had naturally coalesced, sitting together at one side of the fire.

Sannah glanced to the rest of the group. Lulu and Pii were cuddled close, talking quietly in Tvu. Their Albian was licit amazing, but the language barrier was still noticeable in situations like this. It was only the force of Deera's personality that, in her case, knocked it through.