The Lost Tribe: Maliha the Wanderer (Book 1)

Sisterhood

Maliha charged into the circle of women, her face a mutinous red and her hands shaking with anger. Her disruptive and aggressive energy surging into the air in forewarning.

"Why did no one feel the need to tell me that Ujrak and Ray'et are cousins?" Maliha growled.

One by one heads rose with interest, eyes gliding over Maliha's frustrated body before shoulders shrugged as they continued their sewing of materials and basket making. They moved as a unit, not one woman going against the group and responding to Maliha.

Maliha felt her blood boiling at their relentless silence but no one paid any attention to her flustering. Companionable silence surrounded them as they bowed their heads and focussed on their work. They communicated amongst each other with hand gestures and hushed sentences made up of broken words filled with grunts and incomprehensible sounds.

They ignored Maliha and her anger completely. Their day continuing as if she had never appeared before them.

It wasn't until Maliha collapsed to the floor in a defeated heap, that heads snapped back up and acknowledged her reluctant presence.

"Are you done with your anger?" Nahi murmured into her son's hair, still not making eye contact with Maliha.

Taking her greedy daughter off of her breast, Nahi handed her to Maliha before shifting her son into a more comfortable cradle.

"No," Maliha huffed sullenly.

She was clearly lying. All feelings of anger and frustration had begun to ebb away at their silent lesson but holding Namali closer to her skin was the final soother for Maliha.

The little girl and her milky, sweet, scent always had that effect on Maliha. She could never remain frustrated or sad whenever Namali was near her or in her arms. Perhaps that was due to the bond that had tied them together the moment she cut the umbilical cord, or due to her presence the naming ceremony. Maliha wasn't sure what it was, but Namali always managed to make her happy when no other baby could. Not even her jovial brother.

"We never told you about Ujarak and Ray'et because it never occurred to us."

Maliha's eyebrow shot skyward as she patted Namali on her back.

"It never occurred to you?"

That didn't seem right.

"Ray'et is Ujarak's closest blood relative barring my children but nearly everyone in this tribe is somehow related."

Heads nodded in agreement even as many of the females remained engrossed in their sewing.

"It has never stopped us before," added Mya.

"Especially not Miat," Chuckled Ciur, nudging the woman's arm.

"There isn't a family she hasn't been intimate with." Teased Nahi, earning clicks of tongues and scoffs of agreements.

Maliha was beyond shocked. She knew that this tribe flirted along the fence of sexual promiscuity. They had a freedom with bodies that she had never witnessed elsewhere. Girls were given the same sexual freedom as males and it was rare that a girl remained a virgin on her handfasting. Girls and boys were allowed to begin their sexual exploration with partners as young as fourteen, yet Maliha was still surprised by such blatant openness.

She had come from a tribe where women were seen as possessions, possessions that men did not share with each other. Though the women were opinionated and sometimes wilful, the Melikit tribe had not encouraged promiscuity. The same could be said for the majority of tribes she had visited in the past three years.