Silence stretched out and the females seemed uncomfortable as they waited for me to speak.
“I’m sorry,” I finally whispered. “I didn’t mean to snap.”
Again they seemed uncomfortable, even with my apology. “You are ourMissiki. You should not apologize to us. We are here to serve you. It gives us purpose and is a great honor bestowed on us by theVorakkar,” the female repeated.
This was going nowhere. For whatever reason, these females thought they should obey me. Theywantedto.
I sighed, looking at the brush the silent female had grabbed. “Very well,” I said softly. “No cosmetics, but will you brush my hair out and pin it back?”
“Lysi,Missiki,” the female breathed, seemingly relieved.
“Will you tell me your names at least?” I asked next, sitting on a nearby cushion. “Or is that forbidden too?”
“We are onlypiki. You may know our names,” the female said, though hesitantly, as if I wasn’t supposed to ask, as if it was strange. The customs of this culture would be difficult to learn, I realized. And what werepiki? “My given name is Mirari.”
Mirari said something in Dakkari to the other female, who finally spoke, meeting my eyes for a brief moment before they darted away, and she said softly, “Lavi.”
It was then I realized that the silent female simply didn’t know the universal tongue, which was why she hadn’t spoken.
Nodding, I gave them a small, strained smile in return and felt Lavi move behind me to brush out my hair.
“What arepiki?” I asked Mirari.
She was fiddling with the gold pins as she replied, “We are like…helpers. We are unmated females that travel with the horde. We help the wives of horde warriors with these things.”
“Youliketraveling with the horde?” I asked, hoping that my question wasn’t offensive. It seemed like a hard lifestyle to me, constantly on the move, no permanent roots.
Mirari said, “Lysi. It is our hope to become horde brides one day and this is how we attract warriors. It is how it has always been done in the hordes. One day, we will havepikiof our own.”
I nodded, but I didn’t truly understand.
Mirari continued, a thread of excitement in her voice, or at least what I believed to be excitement, with, “Now that theVorakkarhas given us this honor, surely we will be brides soon. All of the horde will know us.”
Was this about the ‘queen’ thing?
Wisely, I kept my mouth shut, though questions raced in my mind. Truthfully, I wasn’t certain I wanted to know the answers. A part of me was still hoping the horde king would tire of me when he realized just how inexperienced I was when it came to sex and would allow me to return to my village. And, well, if what I feared he’d meant came true, then I knew he wouldneverlet me return.
The domed tent was silent as they finished brushing my hair. A few moments after that, Lavi had my hair braided and then pinned up in an intricate way, so it was off my face and neck.
“Will you eat now,Missiki?” Mirari asked once Lavi was done, casting a glance over at the food, still on the tray though it had gone cold. “You must be hungry now.”
I was famished. But the thought of eating made acid burn in my belly.
“No,” I said, shaking my head.
Mirari looked at the food and then back at me. “TheVorakkarwill be displeased if you do not eat. He told us specifically that you needed sustenance.”
Closing my eyes, I asked, “Have you ever been hungry, Mirari? Truly hungry?”
The Dakkari female seemed surprised that I used her given name but she answered, “In the mornings after I wake,lysi.”
I shook my head, but she had answered my question regardless. The hordes had never known the hunger that plagued the settlements and villages spread across Dakkar. Of course they wouldn’t know. They fed fresh meat to their beasts, which told me they had meat to spare. They were nomadic. They followed their game across Dakkar, while still denying that opportunity to the settlements under penalty of death.
Though the foreign races had begun to settle on Dakkar over thirty years ago, we still struggled to produce crops and find fresh water. We still had an elementary knowledge of the land. All we knew was to never destroy it or else the Dakkari would come.
Mirari said something in Dakkari to Lavi after several moments of silence. Lavi stood and left the tent once again.
“What was I meant to do today?” I asked, exhaustion weighing on my shoulders again. I felt the collar around my neck whenever I swallowed.
