Claris had hoped that in honour of her eighteenth ritual of fire, she would find a gift under her neatly folded bedding.
"Ooh, there is a package there, I can feel it."
She breathed a prayer to Mother Earth,
"On this steam cycle, I offer you thanks, for on this steam cycle, from your bounty flows."
She lifted her hammock-bedding cover to find a loosely wrapped bundle, tied with a vine and covered with the seal of her tribe, The Under Strata.
Claris did not know what to expect but she had dreamed of a flowing dress or some soft material that she could fashion into a garment to wear at the honour Mother Earth tribal gatherings. For the Unders, attendance at this event was a family and tribal tradition: Women and girls would don their best clothes while men and boys wore more formal attire such as a body-length moss tunic or for those members who traded with the Overs, an animal pelt vest.
Claris felt stiff and less than feminine in her usual mud-coloured outfits and so this bundle could be just what she needed to spruce up her appearance and attractiveness, especially to her male contemporaries that would be in attendance at the gathering.
Her fingers trembled as she pulled on the vine knot.
"Come apart now. Don't keep me waiting any longer."
After a tug and a rip or two, she held her new body armour vest in her hands.
"Mother Earth, what has flowed, and what you have bestowed, oh oh oh, I really can't claim to know."
YOU ARE READING
SABIS the SURVIVOR
Science FictionThe warrior affliction had taken another life. Tasked by the Elder Council to find a cure, Sabis set out from the underground caves into SkyGod's domain. He faced SkyGod with only his deep respect for Mother Earth, the love and rituals of his tribe...
