We are the Hikari, proud warriors of the
Cascadian Plains. Stupid southerners call us uncivilized
barbarians. If I ever catch one saying that to my face I'll shove
my uncivilized barbarian spear up their ass.

What do those bastards know about culture,
anyway?

I blew the hair out of my face and continued
whittling away at a block of wood, struggling with the exact
details I wanted to place on the totem. So far, I had carp for good
fortune, a bull for strength of will, and a hippopotamus for robust
health.

I heard the clinking of hollow beads as my
mother entered my tent -I made it perfectly clear to everyone else
that I'd knock their teeth out if they bothered me. As Shaman
Incumbent, my tribe had no choice but to listen.

She made a musing sound as I struck another
shaving off the piece. "It's quite... vague," she said. "Surely
your chosen mate has some more specific qualities?"

I snorted, "He is vague. Ah, that gives me an
idea!"

"Oh?" She sat next to me on the grass. "Tell
me. Let's see if I can finally guess which lucky man captured the
heart of my little Miraj'a."

"A legless lizard."

My mother sputtered. I raised my head to see
her face locked at the crossroads of a question and amusement. She
turned away from me, sucked her lips in, and finally shook her
head.

"I should have known."

"He is technically Hikari," I insisted. "Don't
tell me otherwise. It's our policy for any who we choose to take
in." I paused mid-strike, the paring knife lodged in the wood.
"Mother, you never told me what he said that made you adopt
him."

She was so still that the beads in her hair
were silent. Her eyes, with their bright indigo wings studied me,
grappling with her thoughts.

"It is not my place to say," she said
finally.

"But
Ma'man
!" I protested, calling her as
I did in childhood. "It was you who accepted him! There's no reason
you should have less claim than a man."

"Miraj, remember this," she said sternly, and
I recognized an incoming lesson when I heard that tone in her
voice. "Women rule in the west, it is true, but only because we
earn the respect of those we lead -men included. He has vowed to be
an asset to Hikari in exchange for relative peace, and Marvin has
kept his promise. The secrets of an honorable soul, man or woman,
are not mine to share."

I scowled, but took the words and etched them
upon my heart. I didn't always do well in following my mother's
wisdom, but it was my duty as her daughter to remember the
teachings.

She clapped the dust off on her leather
breeches, heading towards the outside. My mother stopped before the
beaded curtain, leaned back, and cupped my chin.

"You may choose whomever you please as your
spouse. Someday you will lead our tribe and bear many children of
your own. But never forget that no matter what kind of woman you
become, you will always be my darling Miraj'a."

I blushed, swiping her hand away. "Ma'man," I
whined. "You know I don't like it when you say things like
that."

She sighed dramatically, squeezing my face
between her hands. She rained exaggerated kisses upon my hair,
head, and cheeks.

"It can't be helped! This stubborn child of
mine is too sweet for me to resist!"

I laughed,
"
Ma'man
! Knock it
off!"

She chuckled, pulling away, my
face still snug between her palms.

"But truly, my beautiful daughter, be happy on
your most happiest of days, and may each day after be more joyous
that the one before."

I smirked at the paradox she presented.
"Ma'man, that's not even possible."

"Says who?" she scoffed. "The object of your
affection is an impossibility in and of himself; whoever heard of a
man who can stand without any legs?"

"
MA'MAN
!" I shrieked into a pile of
giggles, wondering at what has gotten her into such a brazen
mood.

Her blue eyes twinkled with mischief,
relinquishing me at last.

"Go to him as soon as you're done, my child.
You can't have a wedding without the groom."

2: The Happiest Day

I finished the totem an hour later, stringing
it through a leather band to make a necklace of my creation. It was
tradition for taken men to bear these symbols around their necks.
They were a badge of honor, establishing what qualities their wives
liked most about them.

I admit I'm embarrassed at how little I know
of Marvin. He's a good doctor. I've seen him save our riders from
the brink of death, swiftly and calmly snatching their spirits off
the edge to the Great Beyond. I recall seeing him the day he
stumbled into our camp during my fourteenth year.

He arrived on the back of another man,
followed still by a third, and I could see from the grassy knoll
that Marvin was missing his legs. I ran back into the hut to report
the strangers to my mother, who told me to stay as she went to
confront them.

I was never much good at listening, so I stuck
my head outside the tent. I watched as she held a conversation with
the three for the next hour, finally transferring Marvin into her
arms. The men that came with him left after that, and we Hikari
gained our crippled physician on that day.

The first few weeks Marvin was with us were
filled with curiosity. What man from the desert was so white in the
face? How did he know how to stitch up our bodies so well? I spied
as my mother dyed his gray hair black after she thought I'd gone to
bed, another bead in a string of mysteries surrounding this most
curious character.

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