"The island of many fruits. Nesting grounds. This is the freedom tree. This is where the redress brides have their first heat. Anna's heat came early.”
"What?" She said that word a lot.
"Anna, no hear?"
She couldn't tell if he was teasing or serious. "Nesting grounds, first heat, Anna's heat came early. What does any of that mean? First heat? You mean like animals? Coming into season? I am a human. I have a cycle, I don't have a heat."
"Every redress woman who drinks the milk of the sister will have a heat."
"I don't understand what you're saying to me."
"Women of the Valley drink the milk, ripen for the seed. One born redress. Anna drink Zerzer-tor-ur. You are mine. Doku-ni yours."
Annabell tried to translate that information into common. Milky sour fermented something had been in the red pouch, and she drank it, thinking it was ritual alcohol. In reality, it was a type of drug? He said the women from the Valley drink that milk of the sister.
"The women of the Valley drink the milk—the Zerzer-tor-ur, the milk of the sister from the red pouch?"
His brow lowered. "Eid tell better."
"I don't know Eid. I know you. Is there something special about the valley? The Peace agreement—I remember—my papa. Did you know him? He had a copy of that agreement because our family came from the steel cities. My ancestors owned a mine. They were rich, always fighting for power, warring, stealing, lying. No one was ever safe. My great-great-grandfather was an heir and his family had planned out his wife, his life, where and how he would live, and who he had to kill to establish himself. Even back then, the Orki Originals controlled most of the land on the planet."
"Yes," he said.
"My great grandfather would do anything to escape his destiny, so he sold his daughter for a new one. He promised the Orki a bride."
"Yes."
She searched his face for more. But other than to confirm the history as she remembered it, he gave her no more information. "The contract agreement between the Peace River Villages and the Orki says that women who drink from the Peace River, eat of the water and land, can all become an Orki bride."
"Only one. But, the land and the milk of the sister prepare the bride."
"The land. Is there something in the land?"
"Yes. Eid tell. Has words. Is in the heart and soul of the Dorsus earth."
She would be such a woman. She could be an Orki bride. Special. Adventures would await her. She would see and learn things few other women experienced. She would be like the great aunt who would become a bride of the Orki.
She saw the red bladder and knew it was important. Having always wanted to be a bride, to have an adventure, to be taken away from her dull farm life, to live in the wild of the Orki territories—she had reached for it with both hands. Causing the feverish and upset stomach of "sickness," the drink in that red container helped transform her. She had a heat, experienced intense desire and pleasure, and she was now a woman capable of birthing Orki children.
She placed her hand on her belly. Was there a child growing in there even now?
"Anna is a brave and unique woman." Doku-ni laid palm over hers. "Anna understands?"
"I think I understand. My father kept the history. There were books and he told me stories. I forgot most of them. But I always wanted to be a bride."
"My Anna." He pulled her against him, touched her face, her cheeks. Resting her hands at his waist, she basked in the exchange of contact. Having someone to touch and be touched was a lovely pleasure she would never take for granted.
"Come, let us wash. Anna needs food. We will be here another night. You have had your heat; the others have not," he said.
He wouldn't let her bring anything to cover up. She didn't need it. Anna wanted to argue. She never walked over three steps naked in a room with a closed door. He wanted her to walk through to a place to bathe, past others, parts bouncing and jiggling, skin exposed to little biting critters, to the sun, to the air. He had a waistcloth and belt; she didn't even get that.
"What do the Orki have against clothing?" she asked when he picked her up into his arms.
"Anna hide from Doku-ni?" he asked back.
"No, but— I don't like being naked."
"No hide from Doku-ni, my redress." He told her as if the idea of being clothed and hiding were the same. They were not, and she had a hundred ways to tell him this was so.
