Amazon Chief (79 page)

"You're our mama now, too."

"Yes, Annalise," I said. "How do you feel about that?"

"I promise to try to be good," she said. "And when Mama is too busy to hug you, you may hug me." Then in emphasis, she stepped forward and wrapped her arms around my middle, squeezing me tightly. I dropped the hands on either side and wrapped my arms around her.

There was another collective, "aww" from everyone assembled.

It was a heartfelt hug from both of us, and then she pulled away. "Was that long enough?" she asked.

"That was wonderful," I told her.

She stepped backwards, almost tripping over Malora, but the queen caught her and helped her move into her position in the circle. We collected hands again, and then Maya said, "Joelle, you are the eldest daughter, and so we have asked for your patience. Beria wishes to join this family. We would now hear what you have to say."

Joelle stared at the ground for a moment, then she looked up, first with a glance to her mother, who nodded to her, then she looked at me.

"Chief Beria," she began.

"Tonight, perhaps 'Beria' is best," Maya whispered.

Joelle nodded once and started over.

"Beria, my mama loves you. Everyone I know loves you. Well, Aunt Zora doesn't love you, but she doesn't love anyone."

There were a few grins at that.

The girl looked around. "Yalta tried to tell me what I was supposed to say." She looked over her shoulder. The companions had all stepped backwards, but they weren't that far away.

Then she looked back at me. "Everyone thinks because we're kids, we don't understand what's going on.
Just because we're kids doesn't mean we're stupid. Well, sometimes Annalise is pretty stupid, but most of the time she's really smart."

She grinned at her sister, who stuck her tongue out, but then that was the end of it. Joelle turned back to me. "Sometimes, late at night, I could hear Mama crying. She cried a lot when Grandmama Warina died, but she cried a lot all the time. She hasn't cried at night for a long time." She looked at her mother, whose head was bowed, and I saw a tear escape. Then Joelle looked back at me. "She still cried sometimes after we got to Lake Juna, but then she stopped."

"Oh baby," Lia said.

Joelle looked at her. "You stopped when you realized you loved Beria, Mama."

"Yes," Lia said. "I did."

She looked back at me. "When we left White Pine, it was scary. It was even scarier here. And you scared Annalise and me. But I asked Aunt Tamma why you scared us, and she told us it was because you wanted us to grow up to be able to protect ourselves, and sometimes you have to be scared to try hard."

She paused, but it was clear she wasn't done, and neither Maya nor Malora rushed her.

"We saw the bear skin you gave to Ralla," Joelle said. "It was huge!" She dropped the hands on either side and gestured as widely as she could, then took my hand and her sister's again. "Tamma said it was from a bear. My grandpapa had a
bearskin, but it was small. That one was really big. Tamma said sometimes there are really big bears in the woods, and sometimes even worse things, and that's why we are not allowed to leave the village and go exploring. But I thought about that bear, and then I woke up crying that night, afraid the bear was coming to eat me."

"Oh honey, I won't let that happen."

"I know," she said. "Mama held me and said I didn't need to be afraid, because Chief Beria would protect us. We didn't have to worry about hungry bears or bad men or even Aunt Zora, ever again. And I asked Aunt Tamma, and she said the same thing, that Chief Beria protects all of us. And she said I was really, really lucky that you were helping me learn to fight for myself."

Annalise leaned over to her. "You talk too much. Just hug her and tell her you'll be good." It was meant to be a whisper, but everyone heard her.

"I'm getting to it," Joelle replied to her sister.

"Say what you want," Maya said quietly. "Sometimes a hug is all it needs. Sometimes it's words. Both are good."

Joelle looked back at me.

"I know you'll keep us safe. And I know you'll love Mama and me and Annalise. And you'll teach us to fight
and to ride a horse." She cocked her head. "But it was Nora who taught us to muck out the stable."

I smiled at her.

"I promise to do my best to learn," Joelle said. "And I promise to help Mama be your companion. You may hug me any time you want. May I hug you, too?"

"I would like that very much, Joelle."

And so she did, squeezing tightly, her head coming to a rest just below my chin. And then I held out an arm, and Annalise joined the hug, one on either side.

"I love you both," I whispered to them, just for them. "I will keep you safe, and I will teach you to keep yourselves safe. You may always come to me when you want to talk. Or just to hug."

The girls looked at each other, then Joelle said, "We love you too, Beria."

Malora grinned at me, having heard at least the last few words, then slowly I released the girls.

"Let us hold hands for one more moment," Malora said. "And then some of the companions are going to take Annalise and Joelle to help make a bigger fire for all of us to share."

We gathered hand, and when I looked at Lia, she was beaming, looking between
her daughters and me.

"Girls," Malora said. "You are now Amazons. Do you understand?"

They shook their heads.

"It means you must learn to protect Morehama. It means you must obey your mother and your warrior."

"And your queen," Maya added.

"And the senior companion," Malora added. "Maya is the senior companion."

"When you are older," Maya said, "You will be able to decide for yourselves if you wish to remain Amazons. If so, then you will each accept a warrior of your own."

"If not," said Malora, "then the queen will help you decide what you will do."

"Do you understand?" Maya asked them.

They both nodded. "Yes, Maya."

"If you have questions, you may ask either of your mothers," Malora added.

"Or me," Maya said.

Then Tamma spoke up. "Or you may ask me."

"Or me," said Yalta.

"Or any of us," said several of the companions together.

Then Malora nodded. Yalta, Rahna and Lin stepped forward, collecting the girls. I had wanted them here for the next part, but then they turned the girls over to several of the companions from Queen's Town.

"Let's go make a fire," Lorith told them. And a few moments later, they disappeared along the path back to the village.

Malora and Maya dropped hands with Lia and me, then Malora stepped
forward. "Well," she said. "We've never done that before. Beria asked we include her new daughters for the ceremony, and I am very pleased we did." She looked around. "The relationship between warrior and companion is sacred amongst Amazons. It is closer than marriage. It is closer than being lovers, although that happens often." She turned to Lia.

"You represent a special case. Most companions arrive with little knowledge and no experience of living with us. She comes wearing the clothes from her original home and has probably not worn the clothes you have worn for the past year. And so this ritual begins with a girl of the world west of our forest, dressed as we have asked you to dress tonight, not yet an Amazon."

And then she began a speech many of us have heard before.

Then she said, "We have a tradition during this ceremony. We ask the warriors why they chose their companions. But tonight, we're also going to ask the companion why she picked her warrior." She smiled at both of us. "Beria, please step forward and introduce your new companion. Tell us why you selected her."

I stepped forward and took Lia's hands, then turned her to face the assembled Amazons. "This is Lia. She is the older sister of Tamma, companion to Badra. Many years ago, Tamma and Lia met some of us here. They both considered joining the Amazons, but their mother begged for only one to go. And so Lia, although she very much wanted to become a companion, gave her sister first choice. Her choice then is my good luck now."

I paused and looked at my new companion.

"I first met Lia far more recently, but it was still a year ago. I may be the only Amazon who knew not one, but two companions for more than a few hours before begging her to join us."

Lia squeezed my hand.

"I was quite taken with Lia from the first moment we met. I had already agreed with Tamma we would make room for Lia, Joelle and Annalise, but we didn't know what we might be getting into. But I met Lia and I met her girls, and, like many of you tonight, I was taken with all of them.

"But I didn't know I wanted her for some few weeks after that. We returned to Lake Juna, and I had offered my hut for their use while I completed a trip to the southern villages. When I returned, I discovered a prank waiting for me. Lia had already heard I was fond of pranks upon my warrior, and so I was quite sure the prank was a gift from her."

She grinned at me.

"That evening in my hut, she came to me, as she has every night since, to hold me in her arms and to calm my soul. And I sought to entice a confession from her, suggesting any punishment I may be forced to mete out would be far less than if I found misdoings and confronted her. Do you think she confessed?"

"Not my sister," said Tamma.

"Tamma is right. She did not confess. Instead, she lowered her hair, which I had not yet seen in its full glory, and she encouraged me to run my fingers through it." I stepped closer and let her hair, still a little damp, cascade through my hands. "And then she told me if I ever accuse her or her daughters of misdeeds without ample evidence, she would cut her hair."

The Amazons laughed and Lia grinned. When it was quiet, I went on.

"I knew then I wanted her. Oh, I wasn't ready to speak it out loud, not even to myself, but I knew. I had met my match, and I knew."

Malora let that settle in before she said, "Lia, have we given you sufficient time to explain why you have chosen your warrior?"

"I didn't need time," she replied. "They day I met Beria, she was one face amongst many Amazons. My sister was there, with her warrior, and Queen Malora and Maya. I knew Beria would be the village chief, but she seemed so young. Oh, certainly dashing, but you are all so dashing in these clothes you were. But she was one Amazon of nine, and I was quite overwhelmed by the experience."

She paused, her voice growing quieter. "I was not in a good situation. My mother had died recently. I was the eldest child, but in White Pine, inheritance goes to the eldest son, my younger brother. My sister-in-law does not like me, but I had nowhere else to live, and thus my daughters and I lived under her house. And she was worse than a shrew.

"She was quite rude. She was rude to Queen Malora. What foolish woman is rud
e to the queen of the Amazons? But I went to the kitchen to prepare dinner anyway. And a few minutes later, I heard Beria screaming at my sister-in-law. She screamed at her not for treatment she herself had received, but treatment I had received, and treatment Queen Malora had received. And then she calmed down and dictated exactly the behavior she expected from my sister-in-law for the next two days. After that, the house grew quiet, but a few minutes later, Zora came to the kitchen. And my sister-in-law, who has never in her life shared a kind word with me, apologized for her behavior and asked what she could do to help."

Lia beamed at me.

"I wouldn't say that was the moment I knew I wanted her, but it was the moment I knew I had a protector, someone with honor. Since then I have learned that she is fierce and funny. She is playful, and she challenges me, but she doesn't mind when I win. Which, I will point out, is most of the time."

That earned her laughs.

"I look at how all of you treat her. I look at the respect so many of you have for her. And I know it's not because she carries two swords and knows how to use them. It is because she knows when to use them."

"Hear, hear!" someone said, and I saw Vorine grinning at us.

"I don't know when I began to love her," Lia said. "But I know this. Even if I didn't love her, I couldn't have a better warrior. And to share love besides." She smiled before looking at me. "Thank you, Beria."

She received applause. Malora let it settle before saying, "Oh, I think I like doing it this way. It may be too difficult for our younger companions, but perhaps we should offer to let all of them speak."

"If they all speak as long as Lia and Beria did, we'll never wrap up with a full team of them," Maya said.

"We had to make it worth coming all the way from Lake Juna," I said. And then I stuck my tongue out at her. I hadn't done it in years, and so I earned more laughter.

"Knock it off, girls!" Lia said to us.

"All right," said Malora. "Now we have the more serious moment of the ceremony." She nodded to me. I turned Lia so her back was to the Amazons. Malora and Maya stepped away to the sides.

"This next part is for us," I said quietly. "You must close your eyes and do exactly what I say."