Maliha

Maliha followed Ujarak outside to one of the larger pits of fire, his hand waving and motioning for her to step to the largest one.

Abazz’ head tilted in their direction as she silently moved closer to the campfire, faces gleaming back at her from the burning flames. Xiuri was seated rather close, her deep black skin matching that of the female who sat beside her. They almost looked identical save for the lightness that was in the woman’s eyes and the glow that lit her skin. Her stomach was rounded with pregnancy though the bump was nowhere near as large as Nahi’s, it was still clear that she was pregnant.

Xiuri met Maliha’s eyes for a split second before she was lowering them away, her brows knitting in self-reproach. Maliha wanted to go and sit by Xiuri, to reassure the woman that there were no hard feelings for the words she spoke. That Maliha did not blame her for the marks along her skin. The guilt was not for Xiuri to carry but Ujarak’s large arm pulled her towards him.

Urging her down into one of the low cushioned seats. As she sunk into the chair and crossed her legs at the ankles, he gave her a thin blanket to ward off the light chill that had filled the night. The chatter around the he campfire quietened down as all eyes lingered on them with apt attention. Maliha’s hands fidgeted with nerves, her twitching fingers ground to a halt at Ujarak’s heavy stare. His large rough hand smoothing over her fingers subconsciously before he snapped his hand back.

His body shifted slightly away from hers, the side of his arm and back greeting her instead of what was once the side of his body and face. Her teeth gritted in annoyance, but she made no visible sign of her feelings, she just sat there waiting for the eating to begin.

Bodies moved around the large fire pit as they prepared pots of meat stews, roasted vegetables and breads sweetened with honey. She had never sat at the main fire before. In her short time here, she had sat at one of the smaller fires where a lot of the younger men who hadn’t become warriors and the women who weren’t old enough to have a lover sat.

Though everyone ate, she noticed that the foods that they ate were different from those at the larger pits and now that she sat at this fire she could see how much they had missed out on.

Her typical meal was filling but it was predominantly based around vegetable and breads with a small slather of meat and cheese, however sitting at the main fire pit she could see that though the foods were the same the quantity of meat and vegetables were a lot larger.

The tribe worked on a basis of ‘what you worked was what you were entitled to’. So, if a woman only worked the land then that was all she would get. However, if she was married to a warrior who hunted then she would be entitled to his share and vice versa. If she also milked the cows in her spare time or tended to the chickens or pigs she would be entitled to any food, they produced.

The rule worked well for those who were coupled together but for the widows of the tribe their meat portion was dependent on the charity of others. Though no one was ever left to starve and produce from the harvest were always shared equally, the quality of meals differed depending on what you did.

Maliha supposed it was fare because ultimately you worked for what you earned but those females who had been widowed were always that little less disadvantaged. If they did not hunt enough then women without a man would simply go without meat, unless she caught fish by the stream.

There wasn’t a large number of females who were unattached. Women who took the intimate role of a knar to a warrior was often given the fruits of his labour and him, hers. It was not a necessity, but it served well for the men to have eggs and bread for breakfast and the women meat for dinner.

As a result, the widowed women of the tribe who were not in sexual liaisons gathered together to rotate the duties. That way when a selection of females tended to the kept animals in the stalls or washing clothes the others were trying to catch fish.

It was a hard life for those who were without a man and even harder for those who had not been accepted into this female companionship. Maliha was not included in this exclusive group, nor was Xiuri.

That was why she felt such humbled pride at sitting by this fire and watching the meats boiling in brown pots with scorning patterns. Even though she knew that she hadn’t earned her place here this is where she would sit from now on and she couldn’t wait to taste the meat that was stirring over the fire pit.

The women finished cooking the meat and then took their seats on the cushions. Their hands resting as they waited for something. There were a lot more people around the camp fires then she had ever seen before. The tribe was clearly larger than she had anticipated especially because not all of the children were here.

They had been fed and put to bed a while ago, as was the usual dinner arrangement for this tribe.

“Today we welcome two new people to the heart of our fire and welcome all the new warriors who made it back from the beyond”

“We will eat well tonight and celebrate heavily for soon we will prepare for Sanfr Nafti”

Hoots and hollers followed Ujarak’s announcement and then the men were climbing to their feet all around them and heading towards the fires. The women sat back and let the men go first, they mounted their plates with huge heaps of food leaving hardly any scraps left.

Maliha’s eyes bulged wide at the tiny scraps that they would be left to eat. Her nostrils flaring as she looked around at the women who sat by, seemingly content.

Abazz winked at her as he took his seat and placed his food on the small wooden stall that sat between him and Nashi. Once he was settled with Nahi in between his legs, he leant forward and began picking up the juiciest parts of the meat and the softest parts of the bread. His thumb and fingers pinching it together as he dipped the food in the gravy. Then he brought the morsel to Nahi’s lips and she ate from his fingers. Munching on each piece he gave her, her hands pushing every other handful away from her lips, so he could eat too.

Maliha’s eyes moved away from the couple and noted that each couple were sitting in similar arrangements and sharing from the plates. The women always eating first and then the men second. The only people who weren’t eating were her and Xiuri, that was until a man with deep fire hair and freckled skin approach Xiuri with a mountain of food.

“Would you like some meat Xiuri”

His soft voice drifted over the antsy woman as he gestured to his heaping plate of meat and vegetables. Xiuri’s head tilted low as she tried to look at anything but the man.

“Why don’t you sit, Kamir” smiled Xiuri’s sister, her body shuffling along in order to make room for the male.

“Thank you, Ciur,” he grinned, sitting beside Xiuri and whispering something to her. Maliha couldn’t hear what he said but it was enough to have Xiuri’s lips tilting slightly as her head nodded. He heaved a sigh of relief and then motioned to his plate, allowing Xiuri to pick at whatever she wanted before he started.

“What has you enraptured” grunted Ujarak’s gruff voice.

The cushions beneath her shifted as he sunk down into his seat and placed his plate onto the small block of wood in front of them. He wrapped his arm around her neck and pulled her closer to him and the food. His right hand reaching out as he began picking at the juicy lamb meat. He gathered some aubergine and carrots as well, squashing them into the bread as he brought it to her lips.

Her tongue flickered out as she stared at him with nervousness. She was extremely hungry but feeding someone was an intimate move, even Xiuri had been allowed to feed herself.

“Can I-” her words were cut off and her cheeks rounded as he shoved the food into her mouth.

His lips quirking in mirth at the way she glared at him with a mouthful of food. He picked himself up a small bite as he waited for Maliha to finish chewing.

“Why can’t I feed myself,” she growled.

“It’s not done,” he dismissed, leaning over the small wooden block and preparing another handful, his fingers nearing her lips, but she pushed the hand away.

“But Xiuri is allowed to eat her own food and the women at the furthest fire can eat for themselves.”

“In this fire our women are fed, Xiuri is the only woman who isn’t and that is because she is more delicate than you,” he huffed in annoyance, motioning to all the women who were being fed by their males.

She supposed it was a way to show that they provide for their Solah or Knar, but it was a primal thing to do. To feed your mate or woman from your very own hand. Maliha didn’t like it especially as she was not his woman.

“I just don’t see why you have to feed me. I am not your woman” she huffed petulantly even as her lips opened for the bite off food Ujarak was preparing for her.

“You’ll be staying in my house and sleeping under my roof, for all intents and purposes you are my woman,” he growled heatedly, placing the food on her tongue.

His finger touched the wet muscle in an intimate moment that had Maliha blushing a bright red and Ujarak grunting under his breath.

“But we won’t-” she hesitated, not wanting to say the words in both embarrassment and fear at what her voice would convey.

“No, not now maybe not ever but you will be afforded every luxury as if you were and one of those luxuries is being fed by me.”

He stared at her languidly, watching as her throat bobbed with each swallow of food and the way her small pink tongue flickered out to lick away the sauce.

“Now open up Maliha, I am ravenous”

But the way he said it suggested that he was hungry for so much more than food.

They sat around the fire feasting on the roasted meats of foot and singing bawdy tune after tune. The men feeding the women who sat on their laps in erotic displays of affection and ownership. Maliha couldn’t quite understand this tribe.

They fed their women first which was clearly a sign of respect and affection but the manner in which they did it belied a level of ownership. These men sat with their arms cuffed around their patterns or the females balancing on their laps like sexual property.

She couldn’t quite understand this tribe and she could t quite understand Ujarak. Just an hour or so ago he had been berating everything that she stood for but now he was sitting here as if he wanted her. Maliha couldn’t deny that she was sexually attracted to the man or that there was some chemistry between them, but she wasn’t prepared to give Ujarak whatever it was he thought he would receive.

She would not sleep with the male, not even as couples began to dwindle off together and the humid air was filled by the lusty moans of their languid rutting. The hoarse cries echoing on until Maliha forced herself to block out their joyous unions in fear that her body would respond.

She tried to block it out but the warmth emanating from Ujarak’s big body was heady. It made her remember how it had felt to be at the pinnacle of a man’s world even if it was for a short while.

Slurping down her glass of water and chewing the soft meat, Maliha tried to keep her eyes away from their open displays of affection. This tribe never failed to surprise her, they had no barriers or concept of appropriate behaviour.

Sex was not a taboo subject no matter where she travelled, each tribe allowed and sometimes even encouraged sexual promiscuity when unattached. The act of it was always kept quiet though, a man and woman no matter how intimate behind closed doors, did not display this affection unless they were married. In the Der Surjaz land men and woman passed their Knar’s around with little regard to the children.

It was deplorable behaviour and yet Maliha felt envious of the women who were being pawed at by their partners. She did not want to be passed around like a loaf of bread, but she wanted the open affection these men seemed to give their partners. There was no boundary they did not cross. Women with women, men with men and sometimes some formed a trio. Hands clasped and bodies gripping each other.

“Does it make you uncomfortable Maliha?” Ujarak’s warm breath tickled her neck, heating her skin against the chilly night’s air.

“Yes, I’m not used to this,” she murmured softly, her pulse racing as two males took to the centre of the fire and began twisting with each other. Hips rolling and tongues duelling.

The few people at her camp fire hooted at them, hands clapping as they chanted the couple on. A few other couples climbed to their feet and began twining their hips together, a soft melodious beat rising from somewhere in the camp.

It was an erotic sight. The way they groped at each other as if no one was watching and their passion was only heightened by the cacophony of crying lovers who were in the throes of passion.

“This is why I have my own house, I get no sleep otherwise,” he grinned, chuckling over her shoulder.

“I’m sure you were previously one of the voices to this lover’s song,”

He laughed heartily, his head tilting back as he roared with her coy words. He leaned closer to her, his thick thumb swiping against her bottom lip as his eyes became a dark pool of molten fire.

“Perhaps I was but I doubt my song was as sweet as yours would be Maliha.”

Her cheeks burned at his words, her pulse thumping along her chest a she stared at him.

She was breathless, he made her breathless.

Her body felt twitchy and achy. She ached for him. For something that o lay he could give her, but she wasn’t sure if she was ready for it. Not when a few hours ago he had revealed how he truly felt about her.

Sex was one thing and for a tribe like this it could be meaningless. Ujarak probably didn’t even have to like the person to have sex with them but for Maliha’s it was so different. She wasn’t one of those women who could have sex without emotional attachments, she needed to feel secure in what they had before she could go down that path.

The only male she had vet lay with had known that about her. He had understood that though they were not meant to be -in the time that they were intimate- it was more than just sex. It was friendship and caring.

It was something she needed and Ujarak would not give it to her.

“I’m going to wash our plates,” her tongue ghosting along his thumb that still rubbed along her lip.

At her words he withdrew from her, the lusty look that had been in his eyes drained out as he physically moved away from her.

“Leave it,” he husked, coughing lightly as he cleared his throat.

Climbing to his feet and dusting himself off, he outstretched his hand and motioned for Maliha to grab it.

“You can tidy in the morning, for now we go to bed,”

“Alone,” she muttered sultrily, shooting down the dark promise that had been hidden beneath his words. Pulling her to her feet, her chest thudded against his as his arms wrapped around her waist.

“For now,” he winked, slowly releasing her burning body from his fierce grip and forcing her in the direction of his house.