Closed Facing the Family (Shahar)

[Naiya]

Shahar did notice, or at least he noticed enough to realize she had no real seat. He signed quickly, a brief inquiry towards her comfort. Grattitude, reassurance, always comfortable near you. Whether or not her parents noticed didn't matter to her, and while she thought she might have caught a disapproving glance from Reiana as she returned, she did not mind.

She wasn't going to make things worse than she already had. Perhaps showing them how important Shahar was to her would be enough to make them understand her choice.

Shahar grew hesitant, thrown off by the question posed to him, and Rue rested a hand on his knee, offering what reassurance and comfort she was able to give without taking his hands and his preferred method of communication away.


"Your profession is hunting?" Disbelief colored Achaius's words, "So you spend entire days out away from your pavilion? What will Rue do while you're gone? Sit home and sew and hope you make it back alive?" He was skeptical, and perhaps mocking in his manner and tone. "What if you find nothing? A failed hunt. What will you eat then?"

His questions all came out in a burst, it was one of the first times Rue had ever heard him sound so fatherly. He was not the only one with questions, though, and Mayeve spoke before Shahar had a chance to do more than lift his hands.

"How will you support a family? The summers have been hot and dry, what will you do when there is hardly enough food to eat, let alone sell?" She was more concerned another surprise to Rue.

"He has done it before." Rue offered, her words causing a small silence to fall, "He fed two women, himself, and three hunting cats despite the harsh summer we had." She continued, coming to his defense. "Besides, it isn't like I am incapable of helping to support us."

Despite her words, they looked to Shahar for more answers, clarification. They were expectant.

[Colt]

The reactions to his answer came in a confused mass, one after the other without any pause for him to actually respond. First came Achaus, followed by Mayeve, firing off rapid, disbelieving questions that had Shahar’s hands hovering on the edge of a response he didn’t know how to give.

Rue, thankfully, managed to stem the tide; she defended his point, at least enough for quiet to descend and for Shahar to organize his thoughts.

“He has done it before," Said Rue. "He fed two women, himself, and three hunting cats despite the harsh summer we had. Besides, it isn't like I am incapable of helping to support us."

Her words had left a ringing silence, but the gazes of her family still returned to him; he was the one they wanted answers from, and so Shahar immediately reached back and ran through the questions they had posed, one by one.

You spend days away from your pavilion?

What about Rue?

What will you eat if a hunt fails?

How will he support a family through dry summers?

What will happen when there is not enough food to eat?

Even with the questions organized, Shahar could not find an easy way to answer them. His entire life had been centered around survival, through difficulty especially. The answers to their questions had been beaten deep into his bones for as long as he could remember; the idea that they were not immediately obvious to someone else was something he had never come across before. Unable to find an answer that satisfied all of them, he chose to take on the questions one by one.

Time away, he said first, turning to Achaius. I do not. Too far away, not safe; must protect family-pavilion. Far-away hunt unnecessary; what I need, I have. I am close, Rue does as she wishes. I am far away, Rue does as she wishes. Rue knows what she wishes; why do different?

Then, with a deep breath, Shahar spoke his words aloud. They weren’t quite whispers, and could be heard throughout the room, but they, like many other aspects of the clanless Drykas, were done quietly.

“Hunts succeed,” he said. “And hunts fail. It will never be one or the other every single time. And so I save, and I protect; do not all things do this?” Make it last. Keep secure. “When times are good, take advantage and keep what you have, to make bad time less hard. Good times will not last forever. Bad times will not last forever. Know the world, know yourself, and think well. If the summer is dry, we can find the Bluevein. If there are no animals, we can eat plants. If there are no plants, why are we there at all?” Treasure logic, treasure gut feeling, both. Does that answer your question?

[Naiya]

Shahar's voice was quiet, but steady, a reflection of his practice speaking more often, or perhaps the gravity of the task bolstered his ability. "Does that answer my- hmm." Achaius mumbled, mostly to himself, the words, seeming mildly offended. He shifted, smoothed his hands over his legs, and cleared his throat. Resetting himself in his seat and resuming his air of comfortable confidence, he addressed the most pressing matter first.

"We have Zibri for times of need, always they provide us with milk, wool, and in times of emergency, meat. With a large pavilion we can not rely on hunters and foragers to support us. Provisions can be saved, but is it not better to have sources of food at home? If provisions go bad, you have nothing." He cleared his throat, his impassioned speech leaving him mouth dry. "Family is too important to risk a failed hunt, or scant plants. Or are you so proud at to believe you will not fall on hard times?" He seemed to realize then, that the offer of tea had not been followed, and with a quick bout of signing he delegated the responsibility to his wives.

Reiana stood and made to exit the room, presumably to make tea for the gathering. The motion seemed to remind Achaius of his next point.

"Women who are left to their own devices often get themselves into trouble." Achaius warned, glancing from Alana retreating form to Rue, who grew tense and embarrassed by the barbed comment. "Maybe you ought to take her with you, teach her to hunt. She might prove useful, then, and she won't get herself into trouble." He paused, allowing Shahar time to respond.

Rue grew flushed, a combination of both anger and embarrassment. She was not useless, her skills just lay outside of what her family considered acceptable. Regardless, the words were plenty to cause her upset.

She was not her mother, to go off and find another man, regardless of the situation. She knew the consequences of such actions, and she would not risk them for her self or her children. Not that any of that mattered, she would not leave Shahar, or go behind his back, she was not such a woman. Shahar would know that, surely.

[Colt]

Achaius drew back to consider Shahar’s words with half-voiced words of his own, apparently more to himself than to Shahar. His posture seemed to be slightly miffed, which wasn’t a stunningly unusual posture for Shahar to be faced with, but he was unsure of how much emotion it actually represented, made only more confusing by the fact that he wasn’t sure what it was he’d said wrong.

“We have Zibri for times of need,” he finally said. “Always they provide us with milk, wool, and in times of emergency, meat. With a large pavilion we can not rely on hunters and foragers to support us. Provisions can be saved, but is it not better to have sources of food at home? If provisions go bad, you have nothing." He cleared his throat. “Family is too important to risk a failed hunt, or scant plants. Or are you so proud at to believe you will not fall on hard times?"

Had Shahar not already been hyperaware of his own signs, his body would have likely said something along the lines of that is what I just said. As it was, however, he kept hold of the heavy armor of politeness and respect, watching wordlessly and signlessly as Achaius remembered the issue of tea––one which Shahar himself had forgotten completely–and delegated it to Reiana. As she departed to track down the elusive liquid, Achaius continued.

"Women who are left to their own devices often get themselves into trouble." He glanced at Rue’s mother. "Maybe you ought to take her with you, teach her to hunt. She might prove useful, then, and she won't get herself into trouble."

“Cannot the same be said for men?” Shahar asked, baffled at the concept that Rue could not handle her own trouble. “Hunt,” yes. “She and I have discussed.” Agreement made, looking forward to it.

The subtext that passed between Achaius, Alana and Rue flew completely past Shahar’s head; without knowledge that the Ankal was referring to something specific, the hunter assumed ‘trouble’ meant something more along the lines of ‘danger.’ And danger was something he assumed all people held some degree of common sense about.

Returning to the previous topic, and the one Achaius seemed most interested in, Shahar tried to elaborate on his point. “Hard times come, yes.” Understanding, acceptance. “I am not a stranger to them. I save, prepare before it happens.” Don’t wait for it to come. “Hard times come,” I weather them. “When they are gone,” I prepare for them. “I have seen hard times, and I am still here. My family is still here.”

[Naiya]

"It would seem you do well enough for yourself, Shahar." Mayeve spoke, inquiry in her hands. "You and your family? Are there a great many people you care for?" She waited a moment, allowing Shahar to speak before her next question came.

"You don't have children, though? Are you unable to have children?" The question seemed entirely out of the blue to Rue, just because he didn't have children with his first wife yet didn't mean he was infirtle, perhaps Khida did not want children, such a thing would not surprise Rue, she didn't really seem ready to change her habits. Could the woman even have children? She wan't human, not really, perhaps that was the reason.

Despite her defensive posture, she did not voice any of her thoughts, leaving Shahar the freedom to speak for himself. Rue did not know the reason, so jumping to his defense might be more harm than help. She would help him instead with her silence, offering him a softly supportive, reassuring sign. A sort of helpless offering, but there all the same. Still she was confident in what ever answer he gave, and she told him that as well in her posture and in the motions of her hands gentle and steady between them.

She hadn't discussed children with Shahar, she really just assumed they would have children eventually. Even if that was not the case, her mind would catch up to her heart quickly enough. Her heart wanted Shahar and even Khida, different and difficult to understand as the woman was, as her own. As her family. Children were not a reason to marry, they were a product of love between two people, and love didn't need anything more than the people involved.

She was distracted now, lost in her own head, completely thrown off by a question she wished had remained unasked. Or at least a question that she wished she had discussed privately with Shahar before hand.

She had not asked, though.

Instead she would listen. Listen and accept whatever his answer may be.