Battavian tribal territories east of the Rhine River in the Germanian wilds at the northern borders of the Roman Empire, Europe
Mari opened her eyes slowly and experimentally wiggled her toes under the heavy skins. It was still somewhat dark outside, but she knew from experience that the sun was just a few moments from making itself known. Somehow she always woke up before it rose, and unlike her sister, she actually liked seeing a day being born.
Slowly, dim light began filtering in through the spaces in the walls. One by one she watched the spaces between the logs light upwards until the light reached the roof. It was a beautiful sight to see the room light up that way every morning, but the morning chill that filtered in with the light had to be taken seriously. Mari sighed, knowing they would freeze that winter if they didn't get someone to plug up the hut with moss soon. She looked over at the sleeping form next to her sadly. Danea had been sniffling the day before and the last thing she needed was to have her younger sister sick. With all the harvesting still needing to be done, they very well couldn't afford it.
Mari turned back to watch the light filtering through the walls intensify as the sun took its rightful place in the sky. Uncle Cloarin was entirely too busy to do it, but she had seen her father do it once before. Thinking over what she knew of the task, Mari decided she would moss the hut herself. It wasn't woman's work and Uncle Cloarin would have something to say about it, but she couldn't let Danea sleep in frigid air much longer. With father away and uncle working all day reinforcing Battavia's fence, Mari knew she was responsible for her younger sister and she would do anything for her.
Looking over at her sister's sleeping form, Mari let the tenderness she felt for the petite girl wash over her. They had shared a bed their entire lives and that would come to an end soon. The engagement hadn't been announced and they had been careful to keep quiet, but Mari knew once her father returned, Danea would be married immediately. It seemed incredible that she would be gone soon. Mari was truly happy for her sister, but the thought that she would then sleep alone scared her. Mari flicked a strand of hair from the girl's face. Danea mumbled a protest in her sleep and Mari smiled, knowing that if their days together were numbered, she might as well get in as much torture as possible.
Mari shifted slightly, jutting her hip into her sister's side. With a grunt of disapproval, Danea jabbed back at her and yanked the skins under her chin in an effort to prolong her slumber, but it was futile. Mari mischievously yanked them back with a smirk and started tickling Danea without mercy. The younger girl screamed and immediately sprung to her own defense and giggling and tumbling, they went over the cot with a loud thump and landed on the bear-skin rugs covering the dirt floor. Having landed on top, Mari kept up her attack to Danea's sides.
"Say it!"
"No!!"
Mari staggered back when Danea sat up, but quickly retaliated by throwing the skin they had slept in over her sister's head. Danea screamed in laughter when Mari tackled her down again.
"Say it, Danea, say it!"
The sixteen year old stopped struggling when it started becoming hard to breathe and gave Mari a big shove. Mari giggled from where she landed on her behind and watched her sister struggle out of the skin. Giggling again at the sight of Danea's blondish hair sticking up all over the place, she wiggled her big toe into her sister's side.
"Say it."
Danea swiped at Mari's foot and brushed her messy hair out of her face. Crossing her arms over her chest, she gave Marie a rueful look before pursing her lips disdainfully.
"Fine! I'll say it!"
Mari raised her eyebrows expectantly and gave her a toe nudge to encourage her sister along. Danea looked down as a smile slowly grew on her face.
"I love Geterian."
Mari jumped up triumphantly and tackled her sister with a hug.
"Ha! I knew it."
Danea giggled along with her and settled down again in the cold of the room, both sisters hugged to keep their bodies heated. The skin lay askew on the floor, but neither went to reach for it, too lost in their girlish thoughts to care. Eventually it was Danea that spoke first, her breath making a faint trail of vapor in the cold fall air.
"You think father will like him?"
Mari sighed heavily, her own worries about being seventeen and unspoken for resurfacing temporarily.
"I think he'll love him. Why else would he have told him to keep an eye on us while he was away? He trusts him. Uncle Cloarin likes him too."
Danea thought that over. Uncle Cloarin was hard to read sometimes and she didn't know what she'd do if their father didn't approve.
"I hope so. Do you know when they're coming back?"
Mari hugged her sister a little tighter, ignoring the chill she was feeling through her stockings. Since they were little, Danea would ask the same question every morning that their father was away on a campaign against the Romans and everyday Mari answered the same thing.
"He'll be back sooner than you think."
Taking one more minute of reverent silence where both girls recalled last spring when their father left with hugs and kisses, before slowly disentangling themselves from the other and getting up off the floor skins. Knowing that their chores would not wait and that thinking about him would only make them miss him all the more, Mari spoke up in a more chipper voice.
"We have more harvest today, and we have to make soap so we should get the fire started."
Danea nodded and flicked a tear from her cheek while folding the bedskins. Mari saw this and walked over, suppressing a shiver, and pressed a kiss to her sister's head from behind. They had all heard the latest rumors from the neighboring villages and it was not very good. The Romans were advancing through the border forests with entire legions intent on wiping out the Germanian threat once and for all. Although Mari had never seen a Roman soldier, her dreams were full of them. She wondered briefly if her younger sister dreamt about them too.
"It's freezing, Danea. Go start the fire, I'll get the bread. Maybe we'll see Geterian at the fields today."
The younger girl smiled sadly and hugged her slightly taller sister back tightly before walking off. Mari looked after her and finished fixing their cot. By the time she was done, Danea was on the other side of the hut, raking the ashes left in the stone hearth. Braiding her long, thick wavy hair halfway down her back before securing it with flax string, Mari eased her cloak dress over the course cotton gown she slept in and moved to secure her knee high deerskin boots.
Instantly warmer, she moved to the storage clay pots where they kept the wheat flour and measured out a portion with a gourd onto a wooden bowl. Keeping an eye on Danea fanning the embers to life in the center of the small log and mud hut, Mari thought over the chores she had that day while singing. By the time the bread was rolled and baking in the stone hearth, Danea was singing too. Knowing it would make her temporarily forget their father's plight, Mari offered to put ribbons in her sister's hair. When the bread was done, the girls threw on their pelt coats and went out to face the day in considerably lighter moods.
Walking almost three miles, past the few neighboring houses interspersed in the forest, the two sisters waved high to everyone they knew and shared gossip and stories all along the way. Very few girls were allowed to wander around as they wished, but since their mother had died during Danea's birthing, their father was always away and their uncle spent most nights guarding the village, the girls were pretty much on their own most of the time. Nevertheless, they reached the watchtower at the center of Battavia rather quickly and giving their uncle his breakfast, Mari and Danea hung around watching him eat and chatting idly, until it became clear to the old ex-warrior that they were up to something.
"You have ribbons in your hair."
Caught off guard, Danea blanched and Mari blushed.
"Is it a special occasion or something?"
Mari regained the ability to speak first and chuckled at an unusually high pitch.
"No. No. Just thought we'd look nice today."
Cloarin nodded sagely into his gourd of ale.
"So why don't you have any on?"
Mari's smile faltered and she nudged her sister, who stood mutely and offered no support whatsoever.
"Well, it's just that……mine fell out……because of the wind."
The old warrior raised an eyebrow and considered his two nieces carefully. His bushy eyebrows and long beard hid a truly jovial soul, but he could still look very intimidating when he wanted to. He flexed his enormous hands and looked to the forest edge about a mile away. The tall spruce were flexible enough to wave with the slightest wind.
"I see."
He finished his breakfast and the girls silently packed away everything back into their baskets. Still unable to talk, Danea shoved at her sister, who gave her uncle her biggest smile.
"Well, uncle, we know how busy you are and……we should leave, because we're going to pick in the fields…so bye."
Cloarin grunted an approval and both girls waved quickly before running off. They were almost out of range, when his deep voice stopped them.
"Girls."
They turned around slowly, holding each other's hand tightly.
"Yes, uncle?"
Trying not to laugh at the timid squeak of their voices, Cloarin pointed to his left.
"Geterian is overseeing the western fields today."
Danea's eyes bulged and Mari's mouth fell open. Unable to hold back any longer, the old warrior laughed out loud. The sisters looked at each other before turning matching shades of red.
"Go on and be careful, girls, I'll be home late."
Mari swallowed her pride and smiled weakly. Danea looked at her boots, completely mortified.
"Yes, uncle."
Still blushing furiously, both girls headed off in the direction of the west fields. They were in chest high wheat rows when Danea finally found her voice.
"I can't believe he knew!"
Mari smiled as she wove her way through the tall swaying grasses.
"Well, uncle is the smartest person we know. And he has seen how silly you get with Geterian around. "
Danea fussed with her pelt skin coat and gave her sister a half smile.
"I guess he thinks it's a good match then."
Mari stopped and helped her sister straighten out. They were almost to the west fields and Geterian always kept careful watch for who entered them. Flicking the dirty-blond strands away from her face, she smiled sadly at her younger sister.
"Of course he does. Geterian is wonderful and he cares for you."
Danea caught the sadness that crossed Mari's face and reached out to catch her hand.
"Maybe it's time you find someone, too. It's not right that I marry before you."
Mari took her hand back and shrugged noncommittally. They had broached this subject before and it still hurt to hear about it.
"I don't care about tradition as long as you're happy, Danea."
"I'm talking about moving on. It's been a year and there are so many people interested in you. When father comes back, I'm sure he'll love to hear that you found someone."
Mari stared at her sister's wide green eyes. She was right of course, but it still hurt and she wasn't ready for that kind of pain again.
"I love you for caring so much about me, but I can't, Danea. Every time father goes away, a little bit of me dies. When Herriun didn't come back, I knew I could never marry a warrior."
"Mari, it wasn't your fault. It was a difficult battle and he was really brave."
Marie snapped her hand back and threw her basket down to the ground in a sudden fit of anger. The birds that were on a nearby tree dispersed into the cold, grey sky.
"I'm sick of people saying that! It wasn't true. He told me the day before that he was terrified. That he didn't want to go. The only reason he went was to please father!"
Danea stared incredulously at her older sister, never remembering seeing her this livid. Her voice was barely a whisper. In all their talks, Danea had never thought to ask.
"I didn't know that. I'm sorry."
Mari blinked back her tears. They were right at the edge of her eyelids, but she didn't want them to fall. She had cried many nights for the boy that never got to be her husband and she had promised herself, no more. Seeing her sister's tears well up though, almost undid her. She looked to the ground, consumed with an old guilt.
"It was my fault he died, Danea. He wanted to show me that he could be just as brave as any of the other men…and, and I never even loved him. He died and I never even loved him."
Choking on a dry sob, Mari put a hand to her mouth. Danea's own tears streaked down her face and she moved to hold her. The sisters held each other in silence and understanding, trying hard to think of their father not ever coming back, when a snapped twig alerted them to a new presence.
"Are you two okay?"
The two sprung apart. Mari turned to pick up their baskets while Danea flustered to wipe her tears away. Geterian frowned and asked again.
"Something wrong?"
Danea brushed her hair back, positive she looked awful to the handsome young overseer. She never thought about it before, but she was glad he was one of a few men that were left behind to care for the village and the women and children, instead of fighting. Those men left regularly until one day they never came back.
"No, no, just thinking about father. We're okay."
She looked unsurely at Mari who was smoothing back her hair as well. She smiled slightly at her sister and handed her her basket.
"Yes, thank you. We were on our way to the fields."
Offering him her best smile, Mari waited for her sister's intended to move. Looking back to see Danea, Geterian figured they were fine and slowly let his jaw relax.
"Okay, umm, there's not that many people out today. If you want, I could come along."
He said it while looking straight at Danea, and smiling at the blush that overcame her younger sister, Mari quickly agreed for her, knowing that their uncle would love wild currant sauce with his dinner that night.
"Thank you."
Taking both their baskets in a sweeping gesture, Geterian pulled up the collars of his fur coat and walked back towards the common fields in the company of what many considered the prettiest girls in Battavia. He was a man, so he didn't pick the bright berries with them, but content to watch and follow, he regaled the girls with exaggerated battle stories. Despite the early chill in the weather, the three spent an easy morning in the fields, talking and eating berries.
By noon, they had to go and giving them time to talk alone, Mari went to the village center to trade the last square of soap they had for dried venison. Returning to see Danea kissing with her intended, Mari elicited a promise from an embarrassed Geterian to come by that afternoon to help them moss the hut. In a delirious mood, Mari and Danea then went to give their uncle his midday venison before happily making their way back home with heavy, full baskets, completely oblivious to the approaching army of red and gold dressed Romans fast approaching through the surrounding forests.
The Wolverine & Rogue Fanfiction Archive
Barely Legal Since 2000