Walls

Now I was at the Main fire when the incident occurred. The Incident with Silken and Sef. The incident with the blade. The incident with Silken's blade stuck in Sef's leathers. That .. incident.

I considered it good foreplay. Figured there was some spark between the two of them.

Sef handled it the way he wished to. I had very little opinion of the outcome other than it was amusing to watch. Silken has never been anything but a handful. But much like a spirited kaiila I have seen men with the ability to control her without breaking her spine.

It was a couple of days later that I heard of Silken being confined to a wagon under guard of the Ubar. Until such a time as the Ubar and Shi and Silken and Sef all got together to parley. Considering the Ubar and Shi were not around due to other duties .. Silken's confinement was stretching on some.

Now I heard that she was to be seen by Healers and Spex. Took a chance on being allowed to speak to her and I went to the wagon where she was being kept. Now .. a Tuchuk does not like walls. We live mostly under the Sky and we take shelter only under the leather of our bosk. Leather .. the only thing that stands between us and the wind and the rain and the Sky.

If I could devise a torture .. specifically designed to drive a Tuchuk insane. It would be to lock them up somewhere away from the wind and the rain and the Sky. Force them to stay beneath .. within ... like dwellers. One look at Silken and I knew she was feeling the punishment. And I say punishment because I saw nothing natural in the consequences.

Now since I have been back I can tell you that I may not have a lot of distinct memory of the time I was gone .. but I can tell you one thing. My claustrophobia is even more intense. It ate at me to see her .. like that. To glance to the wagon .. to know there was no escape .. no wind .. no rain .. no Central Fire on your face. Just .. inside. Like a hole. Like a dweller hole.

Silken is not mine to care for nor to judge beyond what is given to all men and to all women in Tribe. But Silken had reached out to me upon my return and it had touched me that she cared. I would return that favor .. we spoke. I gave her some advice and I told her I would give the children word from her. It was such a small thing to do .. and yet seemed to be the most important thing to her at that moment.

She went back inside because she had to. I strode away with cold clammy fingertips running up and down my spine and a dark haunted shadow in my gaze. It was going to be a long time before I suffered the leather walls of my wagon again.

I hate walls.