Perverse

Writers: Miriah
Date Posted: 13th November 2013

Characters: Yriadha, Humari, Bortem
Description: Yriadha discovers something she never expected
Location: Sunstone Seahold
Date: month 4, day 1 of Turn 7

Yriadha

Humari

Bortem

"This hurts me more than it hurts you. Perhaps this will teach you
what words can not." Those cold words from her mother's lips still
reverberated as Yriadha's daughter lay face down on her bed, quietly
sobbing into her pillow. Her backside burned, her legs felt raw and
her back stung unmercifully. In the morning, her mother would say
nothing, but though the welts and bruises would fade, the memory never
would.

----

An hour earlier-

"Where is that girl?" Yriadha frowned deeply at her youngest son.

Bortem shrugged and scratched the light shadow along his jaw. "I don't
know, Mother. She said she was off to pick some berries. I told her it
was the wrong time, but you know Humari. She never listens."

Yriadha rubbed her temples. "I'm very aware. I don't know what I'm
going to do with that child."

"Marry her off." Bortem shrugged.

Yriadha frowned. "I've been trying to find her a suitable match. It's
not as easy as you may think. Go find her. It's getting dark."

The young man sighed and rose from his chair. "Yes, Mother. Really
though, something should be done. This is happening much too often.
She disappears for candlemarks and it just doesn't look good. Not for
her, not for you, not for any of us."

"I _know_that." Yriadha finally snapped. "I've been considering
fostering her. Perhaps it's time to send her to someone who won't be
as easy as I have been."

Bortem nodded and strode out of the door, taking a lantern on his way
out while Yriadha paced with growing frustration and unease. Her
youngest child had been growing more distant, more apt to disappear.
It was not made easier by the fact that Yriadha's duties often kept
her from her own home, but she had had little time to do any actual
searching for a possible match for her child. With her other daughter,
who was alike herself in looks (or how she had been in her youth), it
had been easier. Torinya was now very wed and heavy with her second
child. But Humari-Yriadha didn't understand the child.

She showed no interest in what she should; she would have rather
gotten lost in the woods or pretended to hunt of all things. Instead
of learning female duties, she wanted to be out watching runners, or
even worse, the watch wher! It was though everything Yriadha had
attempted to teach, Humari wanted to do the exact opposite.

It wasn't as though the child was ugly or ill-favored. Far from it.
She was a lovely young girl. Perhaps a bit too muscular and lean, but
still lovely in the face. Thankfully, Yriadha had been able to keep
her from chopping off that lovely thick brown hair; she had taken the
scissors away just in time. But she did not know what went through
that girl's head!

The door burst open and Yriadha whirled to see her youngest son drag
Yriadha in by her braid along with another sobbing girl. Her brows
snapped down. "What is going on? Humari, where have you been? We've
been.."

Bortem interrupted, which surprised the Headwoman; her son rarely was
so rude. "Mother-what they were doing! You're lucky I'm the one that
found them."

Yriadha went still and stared at the two girls before putting her
hands on her hips. "Sweet Faranth, if you two were breaking into the
stores or the stables?"

Again, he interrupted, his voice soft. "No Mother." He whirled on the
two girls and shoved them into seats. "Don't move from those spots."
Both wept softly and trembled, glancing at each other and then down at
the floor.

He pulled Yriadha aside and spoke quietly. What he said made Yriadha
blanch and swallow roughly. "Oh sweet Faranth, please tell me you are
lying to me."

"No. I caught them. Both of them. They were behind the barn.
Together..it was.." Bortem swallowed and closed his eyes. "Perverse."

The girl beside Humari began shaking her head. "No, it was nothing! I
swear! She made me do it! I didn't want to, but she started it and.."

Humari's head jerked up, her eyes filling with more tears as hurt and
betrayal filled her expression. Her voice was weak. "That's not
true? You said that you lo..."

The girl fired back. "Liar! You're a liar!"

"QUIET!!" Yriadha barked over the pair, her hands shaking from a
mixture of shock, anger and disbelief. "Bortem-take her home. I'll
speak to her father in the morning about this behavior." The girl
paled and began to shake her head frantically before erupting into
sobs.

Bortem grimaced and hauled the girl roughly out of the door by the
arm, leaving Yriadha alone with her youngest daughter.

--

The beating hadn't been savage, but it wouldn't be something Humari
would ever be able to forget. The feel of the belt and her mother's
harsh recriminations had struck deeply. She was disgusting. She was
horrible. She was a disgrace.

She hadn't been in love.

Last updated on the November 21st 2013

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Perverse