“Aiyana shall teach you how to fight a woman,” Bear Claw said.
His sister did not look excited. He’d had to bribe with her a fur to convince her to teach Hannah. He felt it best that she practice with a man, and a woman of her kind.
“Okay,” Hannah said, flashing a smile at the woman. Aiyana returned it. She had not warmed up totally to her, but they were civil. On the other hand, White Dove was sweet to her, and they tried to have conversations despite the language barrier.
Bear Claw took a step back, watching them. Aiyana went for the kill, punching her in the shoulder.
“Ouch!” Hannah glared.
The woman smiled, perhaps the first real smile she had ever seen. “You learn. I teach.”
Bear Claw did not interfere. Despite her reservations towards Hannah, his sister would not hurt her. She knew better.
“Teaching the white devil how to fight,” Anika said, sliding next to him.
“Yes,” he said, his body going still. The woman had avoided him for some days after the incidence, as if fearing that he would retaliate. In the past days, she had been more daring, throwing him admiring looks. He simply ignored her.
“She’s weak.”
No, she wasn’t. She may not be hardened like the women of his clan. Compared to most of them, she had lived a luxury life in a house with a roof, with several amenities not in use by his people. However, she was not weak. She was a strong woman who had gone through a lot.
“Our women are taught at birth to defend themselves. She waits till she’s an old maiden,” Anika said with distaste. “You train her to protect herself from the enemies, but what if you are the enemy?”
He went still at her words, throwing a look at her. Anika smiled.
“She will escape again. She does not belong here. And this time, she will not return, for you have given her the way out.”
With that, she turned around and left, leaving the damage to his thoughts behind. He watched the women spur. Despite her intention to upset him, Anika was right. Her being able to protect herself would give her a better edge of returning home safely. What if she used the knowledge, he taught her against him? Against his people?
She would still escape. He expected this from her. And while she acted like she was a part of the clan, it was just a matter of opportunity and she would flee. He stared at her. They had shared a bed. He had tasted all of her. He had seen her in a vulnerable state. He would know her body in the dark. Yet, she sought to leave. The thought filled him with sudden rage. What more did she want from him? He had given her his body and his heart.
His head lowered, not in defeat, but in acceptance. He was not giving up on her. He never would. He loved her. He would try to convince her to stay. But if she left, then it was meant to be.
Aiyana was not taking it easy on her. She came at her with will. For the first few minutes, Hannah had fallen on her butt. And had retaliated with anger at the woman, only to end up on her butt again. However, she had quickly learned. She had looked at the steps she took, and imitated them. At her first punch, the woman had staggered. And then Aiyana smiled at her.
“You learn,” Aiyana said.
They practiced some more, and she ended up with several bruises and sores. She wished she didn’t have them, but they were a small price to pay for protecting herself. She looked around for Bear Claw when they were done, but he had left. The last time she had seen him, he had been talking to that woman. She wondered what they had been talking about. It was none of her business. She was not the jealous type. He could do what he wanted. Then why did she feel like pulling the other woman’s hair?
She wore a frown as she joined her friends. Deer Fawn had introduced her friend, Black Bird, and now the three of them hung around. She barely had friends back home, and although they taught her how to speak their language, and she taught them English, there was a bit of a language barrier, but they understood each other. The women had taught her how to cook their food, and she was teaching them how to make clothes, which was a bit of a task since they had no needle or a thread. However, the women were interested in learning and she was determined to teach them.
“You sore?” Black Bird asked.
Hannah nodded.
“Aiyana a fighter. A good one,” Deer Fawn said.
She had suspected the woman had taken it easy on her. Otherwise she would have more bruises and would not be able to walk.
The woman chatted, and she was lost in her thoughts. She had been here for almost three month. It still stunned her when she thought of it. That long and no one had come for her? Did it mean that her family had not survived and made it out of the trail? Or did it mean that that her family did not care to look for her? She had hoped if she was not able to escape on her own, a search party would be sent for her. None of the two had happened.
Would she ever leave here? Or she would spend the rest of her life here? Unlike before, the thought of it didn’t make her shudder, or leave her scared. There was just indifference, but she refused to accept the feeling.
What future did she even have here? An inner voice asked, what future did you have back home, or in California? Back home, before her mother had married Samuel, she had thought she would end up an old maiden, looking after her mother. And on the trail, she had no clear plan, but set up a seamstress shop when they got to California. Her future had always seemed uncertain and bleak.
A future here with these people and their ways? With Bear Claw, until he got tired of her? This made her frown. Someday, he would discard her. He would take one of the women like Anika as a wife, and she would be cast aside. Or worse, he would kidnap another woman like her. How would she fend when she was casted off? He had been protecting her, and when she was no longer under his protection, how would the people treat her? She was not blind to the fact that many still did not like her. Especially his friend Juh. He barely talked to her, and his gaze unsettled her. She was always eager to be out of his sight. Life for a white devil woman like her would be cruel, and she would be exposed to a homeless life, target to the likes of Chua.
She laughed, earning surprised looks from her friends. She had lived a quiet drab life with no action. She had hoped a couple of times to have an exciting life like those women who went undercover as spies, or who owned establishments. She had yearned for some sort of fun to shake up her too ordinary life. Indeed, her life had taken a different direction, it was one she had never seen coming, and one she was not excited with. With all that had happened, it seemed she would rather have back her ordinary life. The grass wasn’t always greener on the other side.
