One hundred and one questions

Mary had had a fun morning. She had chatted with the women in the family while learning how to prepare some of the things they would eat for breakfast. At one-point Nontuf had come in and tried to convince her to come and sit with him and his father. But after Mary had declined for the second time, his mother had chased him away.

Mary noticed that Tenac and his grandfather had come into the tent. She smiled at them and then she continued to help pile the thin, soft bread onto a platter.

“Good morning, Mary,” Tenac’s grandfather greeted her.

“Good morning,” Mary replied.

She helped the women to carry the food over to where the men sat and, like yesterday, Tenac’s grandfather insisted she sat next to him. The breakfast was boiled eggs, flatbread, roasted and raw vegetables, and a dipping sauce. No utensils were used. Tenac’s grandfather showed her how she should use the bread to pick up food.

As the breakfast was ending, Mary knew it was time to go. She would have liked to stay for longer. There was still so much to see and learn. But she also knew that she had an anxious father to get home to.

All of Tenac’s family walked out to say goodbye to them. Their horses had already been saddled and were ready to go.

“Before we leave, I promised someone he would get a chance to talk to you,” Tenac said, bringing her to a boy around seven years old.

“Hello,” she smiled.

“Hello,” he said, looking down at his feet. Mary squatted down in front of him.

“Did you want to talk to me?” she asked. He nodded.

“Thank you for the candy,” he almost whispered.

“You are very welcome. Did you like it?” she asked with a smile.

“Yes,” he said, nodding.

“Good, then I’m happy,” she told him.

“Really?” the boy looked at her.

“Really,” she nodded and stood up.

They walked over to their horses where Tenac’s grandfather and his uncle waited for them, both with a smile on their faces.

“Thank you for letting me visit,” Mary said.

“It was a pleasure. You are always welcome in our clan, Mary,” Tenac’s grandfather said.

“Thank you, I will take you up on that,” Mary smiled.

“I hope you do. There is still much we haven’t talked about. I would be happy if you would call me Ceran,” the man said. The people surrounding them exchanged surprised looks, and Mary understood that this was something out of the ordinary.

“It would be my honour,” she said with a slight bow, hoping that was the right thing to say.

“We can’t let you leave without a gift,” Tenac’s grandfather smiled. He turned around to Beruda, that handed him something. He turned towards Mary and handed it to her. Mary took the item from him and realised it was one of the woven wool blankets that were found throughout the camp. It was woven in the same colours that decorated the tents. The colours formed geometric patterns. It was beautiful and Mary was astonished that he was gifting it to her.

“It’s too much. I can’t accept a gift like this,” she told him.

“Nonsense. After the gifts you gave us, this is the least we can do. I won’t take no for an answer,” Tenac’s grandfather said.

“I’ll pack it for you,” Tenac said, taking the blanket and putting it into her saddlebag. It was his way of telling her to accept it. There was no point in arguing.

“Thank you, I will cherish it,” she therefor said.

Tenac said goodbye to his family, and they mounted their horses. Mary got an appreciative look from Tenac’s grandfather when she turned down help to mount the horse and did it on her own. As they rode away from the camp, Mary turned around and waved, and everyone waved back.

“Did you have fun?” Tenac asked as they had ridden for a while in silence.

“I did. I had so much fun. Thank you for bringing me,” Mary said excitedly.

“I’m happy you enjoyed it,” he smiled. “But you have questions, don’t you?” he then added.

“I do,” she agreed.

“Why didn’t you ask them before?” he asked.

“I didn’t know if they were rude and I didn’t want to take the chance,” she admitted.

“But you’re okay with asking rude questions to me?” he laughed.

“I know you will tell me I’m being rude and not be offended by it,” she said.

“That is true. Ask away. We have a couple of hours to kill,” he smiled.

“Why don’t Nontuf have his own tent? He looks old enough,” she asked.

“It’s because he isn’t married. You aren’t considered a man until you take a wife. The tent will be his wedding gift from his father. The only other way to get a tent is if you are the oldest son and are of age and your father dies. Then you will get a tent of your own to move the family into,” he explained.

“What happens to the tent when the owner dies if they can’t stay in it?” Mary asked.

“It is burnt at the pyre with its owner,” Tenac said.

“Then what happens if no son is of age?” she asked.

“The family will move to one of the father’s brothers. If he has none, they will move to one of the mother’s brothers. In the unlikeliness that she doesn’t have any, they will move in with the chief of the clan they live in,” he explained.

“So, a woman can never own a tent?”

“No, not according to the old customs. I know some women are objecting to this. But change takes time,” Tenac said. Mary nodded and thought for a while.

“That means that the woman always moves to the man’s clan if they marry?” she then asked.

“Not always, but it’s most common. There is an old saying that the true daughter of a family is the one that is born from other parents. It means that when you have a daughter, you must prepare to give her up as she will move to another family. But the woman that your son marries will stay in your family as a daughter forever,” Tenac told her.

“But not always?” she asked.

“No, if, for example, the family has no sons, the eldest daughter’s husband can become part of their family and take on the role as son if he is not the eldest son in his family,” Tenac nodded.

“The colours and patterns on the tents and blankets, do they have meanings?” she then asked.

“They do, but I’m not good at remembering them. You should ask aunt Beruda. She will happily tell you,” he told her.

The ride home continued with Mary asking questions and Tenac answering them. It took her almost two hours to run out of questions. She fell silent.

“Was that everything?” Tenac laughed.

“Just one more,” she smiled.

“Just one? I find it interesting that you can run out of questions. Let’s hear it then.”

“Can you teach me the language they were talking?” she asked.

“You want to learn Heulu?” he asked, surprised.

“Yes, if it’s permitted. I really enjoyed learning Salamis and now that I have gotten the hang of that, I miss learning it,” she tried to explain.

“I see no obstacle to why it wouldn’t be allowed. It’s not a secret,” he said.

“Will you teach me?” she asked again.

“Of course,” he smiled.

“Thank you. Do you use the same letters as Salamis, or do you have your own?” she asked.

“I thought you had run out of questions,” he chuckled. “But to answer your question, we use the same as Common. Don’t ask me why. We seldom use it though, our language is rarely written. The only time we use it is on the deeds for horses outside the clan,” he said.

The rest of the ride home, Tenac started teaching Mary some basic words. Mary found it to be a harder sounding language than both Salamis and Common. In places, it used sharp clicking sounds that were made by flicking the tongue against the teeth or pallet. So far, Mary had heard four distinct clicking sounds.  

As they arrived back at the grey rider’s headquarters, Mary dismounted gently. Her legs once again felt a little wobbly.

“You don’t have to take care of Fizz. I’ll have one of the prospects do it,” Tenac told her.

“But he is my responsibility,” Mary objected.

“He is, but sometimes, like when you go for your first long ride, you may skip a step or two,” he told her. “Do you want me to walk you home?” he asked.

“That is kind of you, but I know you will take care of Addon on your own, and you deserve to take it easy as well. I’ll manage.” She smiled at him.

“You are sure?” he asked as he undid her saddlebags and handed them to her.

“I am. Thank you Tenac for letting me come along. I have had an amazing time,” Mary said, giving him her brightest smile.

“It was a pleasure, Mary. I’ll take you back sometime,” he smiled back.

“I’m looking forward to it. Now I’ll be heading home, otherwise dad will send a search party to look for me,” she laughed. “Bye Tenac, I’ll see you around.”

“Bye Mary, take care,” he answered.

Mary walked home and tried to move as fast as possible. She wanted to tell her parents about all the things she had seen. As she walked into the house, she was met by Bettina and got a tight hug.

“Did you have fun?” Bettina asked.

“More than that, it was amazing. And they sent me home with a gift,” Mary told her as they walked into the kitchen.

“You must have impressed them,” her father said as he hugged her.

“And everything went okay with the ride and… everything?” he then asked.

“It did.” Mary nodded as she saw her mother roll her eyes.

“Mary, before you tell us all about it, we need to show you something,” Bettina said. Mary looked curiously at her. Kopa took a step to the side and Bettina led her to the table. On the table there was a letter with Mary’s name on it. She would recognise the handwriting anywhere. It was from Zerden.