Any Port in a Storm: Chapter 14

(I edited this chapter.  Some changes but nothing major.)

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Ash's Story

“...and that is when I saw your sister watching us from the forest.  She brought us here and, well, you know the rest.”

The sisters had listened with keen attention as I told the tale of our journey and survival.  I could tell they were full of questions, Miru in particular, but I too had things I wanted to know.  Before I ceded the floor to questions I turn the tables.

“So that's how we got here.  What about you guys?  Where did you come from?  How long have you been here?”

Miru was plainly annoyed as she wanted to hear more of the outside world but Huali was more than happy to talk.

“We were born here.”  Huali says.  “Never left.  We are safe here, we are loved.”

“Mother was brought here when she was a young woman.”  Miru explains.  “Father was wrecked here, like yourselves, almost 30 years ago.  The only survivor from his ship.  Huali was birthed a few years after that.”

Cormac's story was what I expected, Leinani's sounded far more interesting.  “Your mother was brought here from somewhere else?  On purpose?”

Miru's tone is somber.  “Yes.  She was touched by sorcery.  A witch in the making but still an innocent, not yet ready for purification by flame.  This is...was...a place of banishment for such people.  A place so remote even the devil can't find it, unless we call attention to ourselves with sin.”

“Love hides us from the Devil's eyes.”  Huali says with grim seriousness.  “Sin is a beacon.”

While their superstitions were interesting I latch onto something far more pertinent.  “You're telling me that people are brought here from time to time?  Your mother's people sail here?”  I see a faint hope of salvation, but it is immediately snatched away.

Miru shakes her head.  “My mother was the last to arrive.  When she came here there were only two old women living here, they passed on before Father arrived.  Their graves are nearby.  This island has no name in my mother's language for it is a forbidden place.  A place for sorcerers and witches to find peace if they can.  Its existence and location was known by only a few wise women.  Mother wonders if the knowledge has been lost for it has been almost 40 years since she was left here and nobody has come since.”

My heart sinks.  “Forty years!”

Miru's dark eyes intently study my reaction.  “Does my mother being a witch frighten you Ashley?”

I shake my head.  “No.”

“As her children we might all touched by sorcery as well.”  Miru presses.  “Mother was not trained, but she is touched.”

Huali bristles and shifts uncomfortably.  She did not like this topic of conversation one bit.

“I don't care about that Miru.”  I sigh.  “I had hoped Tony and I might leave on the next ship.”

“Interesting.”  Miru's eyes narrow as she studies me.  “You truly aren't frightened.  No fear at all.  Father's weapon frightened you but not witchcraft.  You care for the body over the soul.  Fascinating!  Your souls must already be lost.  Father was right to worry about you.”

Huali stands up suddenly, her fists are clenched at her sides.  “Ashley is loved, she is safe!”

Miru looks to her sister.  “Don't you see Huali?  Ashley was banished.  She and Tony were running away.  Far, far away from Michigan.  They weren't wed by a holyman because no holyman would see them.  They were not loved by their people.  She is barren due to her use of magic.  Mother says children are a gift from God, the godless can't be blessed this way.”

I blink a few times as the words sink in.  “Wait, no.  You're twisting my words.  I told you what happened Miru, we are simple average people from Michigan.”

Miru's lips curl into dark grin.  “Don't worry Ashley, sorcery doesn't frighten me either.  You don't have to hide the truth with me.”

Huali looks at her sister with open mouthed disbelief.  She angrily admonishes her in the other language.

Miru ignores her huge sister.  Leaning in she whispers to me.  “Are you a witch Ashley Butler?  Can you work magic?”  She leans in even closer and her smile grows.  “Could you teach me?”

“NO!”  Huali's booming voice fills the hut.  Picking up her club she takes a stride toward me and before I knew it I was over her shoulder.  She handled my weight as easily as any man ever had.  She was not rough with me but her firm grip made resistance futile.  She points her club toward Miru.  “Do not say those things sister!”

Miru chuckles.  “Or what?”

“Mother and Father will be angry.  You will bring evil here.”  

“Mother and Father have lied to us.  I always suspected...”

“They love us!  They protect us!”  Miru goes to reply but Huali stamps her foot causing the whole hut to shake.  “I will keep Ashley with me.  You cannot be trusted.  You must pray for forgiveness for what you have said.”

Miru laughs louder.  “You are taking her?  You will disobey Father's command?  You!?”

“Yes.”  Huali says grimly.  This was obviously a big deal for her.

Miru nods knowingly.  “She's cast a charm on you.  You weak fool.”

“She hasn't!”  Huali growls.  “She is not as you say!”

“You just want her for yourself.  You said yourself you wished to battle Tony for her.  She made you want her.  Clever of her to charm our best fighter with Tony injured, don't you think?  I felt her charm too, but unlike you I can resist it.  You are so stupid not to see the obvious.”

Huali sputters with rage.  “Hold your tongue!  I am your elder!”

“You are a fool.”  Despite their difference in size Miru was not intimidated by her towering sister.  Her dark eerily calm eyes did not flinch to Huali's hot anger.

God damn it!  I just wanted to get along with these women then smooth everything out with their brute of a father.  None of this conflict was going to help my cause!

“Let me down!”  I struggle hopelessly against Huali's strength.  “Stop this!”

Instead of letting me down Huali turns on her heel and marches out of her sister's hut with me held over her shoulder like one would carry a sandbag.

Miru watches me as I am taken away.  “We will speak later Ashley Butler.”

Huali breaks into jog as we clear the door heading for hut that was set a bit further from the others.  This was madness.  All of it.  I prayed things settled soon as I wasn't sure how much more stress I could handle right now.

Tony's Story

Kea eventually returns and my wound is cleaned, coconut oil rubbed into and around it, and then it is dressed with a banana leaf.  I had no idea whether this primitive treatment was going to make things better or worse but I trusted that these people had experience with such things.

By the time Mara was finishing the mood had eased once more.  I had been short with her because I was attracted to her, but that wasn't her fault.  She could not control my attraction towards her, that was all me.  She was trying her best to help me and I couldn't help but feel guilty about my curtness.

A fever chill runs through me and an off white blanket with a black crisscross pattern on it is pulled out for me.  The strangely waxy material was new to me and I am told that it was tapa, or bark cloth.  Makea, despite her limited vocabulary, communicates a expertise on it's creation.

“Did you make this?”  I ask.

She nods.

“It is beautiful.  You are a good craftsman.”

Her cheeks darken with a deep blush.  “I will make one...for Tony.”  She tells me.  “Gift.”

I smile are her adorable awkwardness.  Despite her size she was obviously a sweetheart of a woman, and a handsome one as well.  “I would like that.  I am sure Ash would as well.”

She says nothing to that.  I pull the blanket tight around me.  I was feeling faint, the fever was definitely setting in, but these attentive sisters had waited patiently for their stories and I wasn't about to disappoint.

“Tell me what you want to know about...out there.”  I motion toward the window.

Kea takes a seat on the bed at my right while Mara kneels on the floor to my left and rests her arms over the side.

The excited sisters pepper me with a lifetime's worth of pent up questions.  I barely get one answer out before I am asked the next question.  I answer each time plainly and honestly.  I could tell they weren't understanding even half of what I was saying, Kea in particular couldn't grasp most of what was said.  They simply hadn't the experiences or context to put things together.  Every answer brought up ten more questions.  The little bits they did know of the outside world from their father was hopelessly dated.

At one point I cannot help but laugh.  “The world has changed so much since your father arrived here.  He wouldn't even recognize it out there now.  It would be as alien to him as to you guys.”  I think back over my life.  “God, thirty years!  The internet, social media, smart phones, YouTube, 9-11, the first Black president, gay marriage...  He's missed so much!”

In that way they had of just grabbing onto the last thing I said Kea asks.  “What is gay marriage?”

Again I answer directly.  “That is when someone marries another person who is the same gender as them.”  Seeing blank stares I simplify it.  “Back where I come from men can marry men and women can marry women.”

Their eyes widen in shock.  “Men...with men!?”  Kea gasps.  The sisters look at each other in disbelief.  A stunned silence fills the hut.

Of all of the amazing things I had told them this one had left them speechless.  Some part of me reveled in the fact I was broadening these girls horizons past where their asshole father could.  I dare to wonder if I might even be able to turn them against him eventually.  I continue blowing their minds.

“It's true.  It's not even a big deal anymore.  When Ash and I get out of here I hope you'll all come with us.  You would be most welcome by everyone.  If you come to America you could marry anyone you wanted to. What do you think about that Kea?”

“Anyone?” Kea says dubiously.

I laugh.  “Well, they have to agree to it obviously.”  

“What about breeding?  What about children?  Marriage must be fruitful.”  Mara says in a hushed voice, as if she was speaking of something shameful or not allowed.  I actually HOPED this topic was forbidden.  I wanted to poke holes in Cormac's authority in every little way I could.

“People don't marry for children where I come from.  They marry for love or attraction or because they are a good match.  Children are...optional.”

“But...but...children good!”  Kea protests.

I smile patiently.  “Then Kea could have children.  You can have them if you want, but you don't have to.  Ashley and I have no children and we've been married a long time.”

Kea straightens up.  “I am strong.  Work hard.  Find a good mate?  Like Tony?”

“I have no doubt you would find someone Kea.  You are attractive and you have a good heart.”  I say as she blushes again.  “You would easily find a mate.”

Mara sighs and lays her head beside me.  “I am weak and useless.  I would be a poor husband.  Nobody would have me.”

I smile warmly at the beautiful Mara.  “Wife.  You would be a wife Mara, not a husband.”

“I would?”

Kea giggles and covers her mouth.

I nod.  “Yes.  And you would have NO trouble finding a partner.”  I stroke the tips of her soft hair.  “Back home we have all we can eat anytime we want.  We have hospitals and house builders and clothing stores and optometrists.  Other people do those things for us.  Everything is taken care of with money.  Basic survival skills aren't valued highly, other things are.  Beauty perhaps most of all.  It wouldn't matter that you are weak or that your eyesight is poor.”  I pause a moment before saying the words that my heart begged me to utter.  “You are very beautiful Mara.  Very, very beautiful.”

She was flummoxed as she wrestled with these new ideas.

“Ashley weak and small.  She has Tony.  She is weak wife giving no children.”  Kea says, supporting my point in her own way.  I could sense Mara finding a mate was a topic these two had talked about often and Kea was feeling good about comforting her sister about it.  “Mara could be wife.  Not need strength.  Like Ashley.  Husband strong.  Wife weak OR strong.  Mara could be wife!”

“Exactly!”  I say.  “I mean, not really but kind of.  You are getting the idea anyway.  You are very smart Kea.”

Kea grins proudly.  Though Mara still looked terrified.

I try to explain yet another way.  “Where I come from most wives are smaller and weaker like you Mara.  Your sisters would be very, um, unique back home.  Most wives are not strong like them out there.  Generally the husband is stronger.”  I say sincerely.  “Many husbands prefer smaller weaker wives Mara.”  I pause then add.  “I prefer it.”

She looks at me with wide scared eyes and whispers.  “You do?”

I nod.  “Very much so.”

Kea says softly to her sister, her emerald eyes gleaming happily.  “Mara could have man.  Husband.  Like you always talked about.”

“Shhh.”  The slender girl shushes her sister and wilts with shame.  “Secret!”

“It's okay to want that Mara.  Don't be embarrassed.  At your age this sort of stuff was all I could think about.  It is perfectly natural and normal.”  I pat Mara's slender shoulder gently.  “I told you Mara, you would be a star back in the real world.  Men, or women if that is what you like, would do anything for a chance to be with you.  You could have many friends and partners and lovers if you wished.”

Mara shakes her head.  “That's not right.  That is sin!”

I smile patiently.  “How can love be a sin?”

Mara is shook as those words hit home.

“Don't you want to be a wife Mara?  It's okay if you don't.  Many people don't get married at all.  You can do anything you want out there, as long as you don't hurt other people.  And other people won't hurt you either, they couldn't push you down like your father did.  We have laws to protect everyone.  The strong and the weak are equal.”

“I am strong.  Can I be husband?”  Kea interjects, still trying get things straight in her head.

I look back.  “Actually...technically...nowadays...yeah, you could.  If that's how you...erm...identify.  Everything is up for grabs now, it's a lot more complicated than it used to be.  But I think Kea would be a fine wife for some lucky guy.”

“Kea would be wife.”  Kea states emphatically and slaps her chest.  “Work hard.  Find strong man.  Make many children.”

I chuckle.  “Then that is what you could have...if we can ever leave this island.”

I look back to see I'd lost Mara along the way.  She stared into the distance with the most peculiar and fearful expression.  “How can love be a sin?”  She whispers to herself, repeating my words from moments ago.  I had rocked Mara to her core with these revelations.

“Hey, lets talk about something else.”  I say, wanting to lighten the mood once more.  Another chill runs through me but I pull the blanket closer and soldier on.  “Let me tell you about...video games!”