“She’s trying to make wool! Which will be very useful to my tribe. Especially with these cold ‘ribbons’ of yours.”
“My men worry about how your women react to them.”
My jaw drops. “They’re ice cold chills that last for several seconds. Sometimes I feel like I’ll get frostbite.”
He frowns. “What is this frostbite?”
“It’s when you get really cold, and it hurts your fingers, toes, nose, ears. They can even fall off.”
His brow shoots up.
“Don’t you dare call that weak! We survive in snowy climates, but we have warm clothes, castles, and houses to help us.”
“Hopefully, she’ll have something to show for this ‘wool’ soon.”
“Are we gaining any support?”
“Ulof seems smitten with the one called Fiona. There are at least three vying for Amber’s attention, including Ramsey.”
“Great.” I sneer. “He hates me and she’ll forever be a thorn in my side.”
“You don’t have to worry about her. She is bossy, but not intelligent.”
I chuckle, relieved that Grixis feels this way.
“How old are your people?” I ask. “I can tell Eddard is a bit older, and Ramsey, a bit younger. You’re in the middle.”
“That is hard to say, as we measure time differently than you do.”
“How so?”
“I’ve heard your people talk of turns around the sun and changes in the season. We measure…differently.”
What he’s saying makes little sense, but I know he wholly believes it. We have one sun, which should mean we experience its traveling in relatively the same manner.
I decide not to press him on this, as there will be time to talk of these things in the future.
“I’m going to assist with smoking some fish before our meeting. We’re catching a lot.”
“That is good.” He smiles warmly at me, and I can tell that he wants a kiss, but we keep our affection at a minimum out on the shore, because we don’t want to appear too biased to our tribes.
The preserving process for the fish goes well. Back at their village, the men use wine to make vinegar, which will be another method we will eventually employ with vegetables, but for now, smoking works and we’ve already started to stockpile stores.
But despite our successes, living in harmony with Grixis’s men is the only way we’ll survive, and with how some of the men act, it’s likely that we’ll achieve that. Dogan, one of Grixis’s strongest men, follows Nori around like a puppy, and even though I know she’s vaguely aware of his interest, she acts oblivious, which makes the interactions between them entertaining.
Meg approaches, and I see that she’s gathered the women for me.
She’d make a great leader.
Again, I question how long I can manage to keep this up.
“Follow me,” I say, and I start towards the cave.
19
ELENA
It takes us longer than I’d like to get inside, and I halfway understand why some of the men are so against taking all of us. I almost want to yell and light a fire under some of their asses, but as leader, I have to lead all. Not just a few.