0 comments/ 9829 views/ 2 favorites A Way Out for Oyan and Mokonyi By: TaLtos6 ***This is a chapter of a Non-human story which also appears in that category as "Love as the Darker Binding Ch. 11. I put it here as well since it's really more of a lesbian thing between them. The only non-human aspect is that a powerful demon named Abi makes a brief appearance near the beginning to help one of these two meet the other. He does what he does for his own reasons and of course there's a bit of a bargain to it. What happens in this chapter is more about a couple of poor girls who find each other because each one of them just knows that she has to do something different if she's going to go on living at all and she's willing to take a chance in a place where your life doesn't offer much chance for improvement. Oyan was inspired by a photo of a Munsi girl. In her part of the world it gets way past only hot in the dry season. She was standing mostly naked, or what passes for dressed at that time of year. To me, she looked as though she was watching her family's cattle - with an assault rifle. Mokonyi came to me from a photo of a Surma girl on one of the days when everyone in the village paints themselves in amazing patterns. These two will play fairly large parts in the rest of the story. This is just how they met. They're also not exclusively into girls, but I liked the characters as they developed in my head and where it went. I apologize for turning off anonymous feedback. I've just grown tired of having to remove ads placed after my stories as comments.0_o -------------------- Late afternoon/early evening, Southwestern Ethiopia – not far from the border of South Sudan. She stood looking down the long slope with a bit of a thousand yard stare, her eyes taking in the pasture-lands where she and her husband had kept their cattle. Back then of course, they'd both believed in doing what was right, living one's life the right way, honoring Tumwi and remembering one's departed ancestors, and then with a little luck, one's life would perhaps turn out well. She sighed. It hadn't really worked out that way. Someone had come raiding for cattle in the middle of the night the previous year and her husband had done his best, but by the dawn, Oyan had found herself about seven head of cattle down and one husband short. Well, a living husband anyway. Her relations gathered around her and she allowed herself to be distracted only so much. As heartbroken and upset as she'd been, she set things in motion for her husband's funerary rights, but then she beseeched her brother and together, they began to herd her remaining cattle away toward where there was a trader to buy them. She bargained hard, sold about half of them off, and bought an AK-47, choosing one which was in 'as new' condition and included a web sling and she bought a long knife of the sort that the men of her village would buy. After insisting on it and after being taught how to shoot, clean and care for it, she slung the weapon over her shoulder and walked back, herding the rest of her cattle to her brother's land for at least a time. That night, the raiders came back, but there were a few changes from the previous night. Oyan wondered if anyone could really be that desperate or stupid. Did they think that the members of a household which had suffered at their hands would be sleeping the next night? That they'd come back told Oyan that they weren't from her own village, which was a relief for more than the obvious reasons. It meant that she wouldn't have to worry about killing them. She removed her clothing, opting for silence and ease of movement. The ones which she could get close to in the pitch darkness spent the remainder of the night on their faces trying in vain to hold in their slowly spilling guts. They cried out sometimes, and as more of their voices could be heard, Oyan smiled now and then as she hunted for as many as there were. The ones which could not be gotten close to easily were shot. The morning light revealed seven dead men from a tribe which had been their traditional enemies for several centuries. Since then, some people from her own tribe had spoken to her in accusatory tones, saying that her actions could have precipitated a tribal war. She sent them away and told them not to speak to her until they'd lost enough themselves to be able to see her side of things. Her mind came back to the present and Oyan looked up to see a large man walking toward her. She'd had dreams of meeting this one. He looked white in a way that also said that it wasn't all that there was about him. He smiled and set down a flat of twenty-four water bottles. "I can offer some coffee," she suggested and was relieved if not delighted to see that he understood her. The strange part came when he began to speak to her and she found that she could understand him quite easily. She indicated that he should sit and she set about making him some of her best and while that was going on, they began to speak together as though they'd already known each other, though they'd never met. They spoke of many things as they waited for the coffee to be ready. Oyan asked many questions and the demon answered them all. Oyan liked to look at him because he was different and she saw that he was not prideful. That was a quality that she'd grown very weary of. Her husband hadn't had much of it and what he'd had, he'd told her, was quiet and inside, and it related to his wife and their home and cattle. She'd never understood why the rest of the men couldn't have been that way. "I am almost at the point where I seek help for my family," he smiled, bowing deeply, "and I seek watchers and guardians, Oyan, fighters too. I sense that you do not wish for a man much anymore. I can offer the work and the place. We would travel to a degree, and if you do want for a man at some time, I think that I know the one or ones to make you smile again – when you are in the mood for it, of course." Her face broke into a grin then as she nodded. She'd never seen a man who looked like him, skin tone aside. He was made in a way that drew a woman's eye quite naturally. It helped that he stood well over six feet, closer to seven, really. And though there weren't a lot of African features in that face, it was the sort which was good to see and the way that his face fell to easy laughter helped quite a lot too. "What do you wish for?" She held out the steaming metal cup of coffee to him and she nodded when she saw that he had it, "I was at a Surma village last year. It was almost at this time, I know it. They do things a little differently from us, but that is alright," she smiled, "What is the good of us all being the same? They go to the river often and wash every day as anyone would, but twice in the span of a year, they paint themselves there; once for the planting and once for the reaping. Their stick-fighting happens for their men at both times also and at this time, the men also fight without sticks to determine who is strongest and can therefore be the chief for the next year." She smiled and he admired her beauty in that instant, knowing that she didn't do it as much these days as she once had. "From the youngest to the oldest, the people of that tribe gather and it is such a good thing to see," she said. She looked down and fell silent for a moment. Then she looked up at him. "I was not able to come very close, but there was one woman there that I saw. By the copper rings on her arms, she is not the poorest one there. She is like me in that she does not stretch her lips or her ears, yet I know that I am sure when I say that she was the most beautiful woman that I ever saw in my life. She has many of the little scars that both of our kinds seek to have in our skin. I do not really carry many, but she does; on both arms from her shoulders down and she carries more on her belly under her lovely breasts. I want her." He looked up from the steaming beverage, wanting to be clear, "In what way, Oyan? If I am to help, I need to know." She nodded, "I understand. I wish for the chance to win her heart. She is worth it and more to me. I do not know of these things exactly, but I think that in men, the chance to want something with one's own kind is a matter which comes from within one's body. Not in all cases, but I think most. I have also seen that it is almost natural for some men to want both kinds at once if they see beauty there. I think that in women, this comes from the mind and the heart much more. I only need to get her to look at things more in my way." She looked down again for a moment and he heard her quiet humility, "I only hope that I have enough beauty left to me for her to like me." She shrugged as she looked up and across the valley for a moment. "I fell for my man not long after I met him. Even so, I chose as carefully as I could. My man was large – almost as large and strong as you seem to be, but what I feared most happened anyway. I loved my husband with all that I had, but he was killed. Since then, I do not see most men in the same way as I once did. Often, for people like mine and those like us, I see fools among the younger ones. It makes sense in a way because in some things such as the stick-fighting of the Surma people, it is a way for a young man to be able to meet women if he has proven himself. I just see it differently now from the way that I once did." "I can see the one that you speak of in my mind," he smiled, "and she is very beautiful – as lovely to my eyes as you, Oyan." "You can?" she asked, smiling then, "I thank you for your kind words to me also. How can you see her when we sit here in the sunshine together?" He nodded, "Oyan, I am not all man. There is more to me. Perhaps I should let you see so that you know." She nodded eagerly and he allowed her to see what he was, hoping that it wouldn't be too much. She saw all of him at that instant – without clothing to get in the way. She found his hooves and his horns to be rather impressive, but she really liked his tail, once she'd seen past the long and thick maleness that he had. Before anyone could see - if there had been someone in a position to observe - he changed back. "You are very nice to this woman's eyes, Some people have gods who look like you," Oyan smiled as she nodded, "What is her name, the one that I would seek?" "She is called Mokonyi," Abi said, "She had a man, but lost him to the same cause which took yours from you. Soon, she will stand looking for ones to help her with the planting. She has other things to be unhappy over. Her man was very strong for such a young one. She saw him first the year before last. That year, he almost won the yearly fighting to lead the tribe and they chose each other, but waited in their marrying for the next year. Last year, he won. She became the new chief's wife. Now," he shrugged, "she loses her place with his death. The fighting is really a way for unmarried young people to meet and decide. She is about to learn that while she is still young, she is not considered unmarried. It causes her other issues. As a widowed woman, she is a household in the way that her people look at these things. It entitles her to a small field in which to plant and grow crops. But she is alone and will have to do the work of it by herself. For her, this makes being a widow even harder to bear. She had a larger one last year which came because of her husband. The land is given to women, not men. The working of it was hard. She has not thought that she will no longer need to work that one. It will fall to the wife of the new chief. All that she sees are things which do not please her, work that she does not have enough hands to do, someone else's cattle to care for and worst of all, no man to hold at night." "I must be there before then," Oyan said, "and I may need some help in stick-fighting." He tilted his head at that and asked her why. Oyan explained, "It is a game among them, a thing for men," she said, "but all of the women go to watch and cheer. I do not wish to have the need of it, but I know that she will be there to watch as well. I want Mokonyi to see me, so I will fight if I must so that she does." "I can give you the abilities," he nodded, "You can fight that way now and no one will best you, but you must be able to strike hard like a man and also receive punishment as they do. Do not let them strike your stomach." He set the cup down, thanking her and she stood before him, looking up and smiling, "Give me the way to win her heart to mine, to win at this sport of theirs if I must so that she sees me, and to show fearlessness when their enemies attack their cattle, and I will work for you – and bring her as well, for I see that she is one that you want for this like me." Abi smiled, "I will watch to see if you need my help, but Oyan, please hear me. You are very fine to look at, and I mean for both kinds, not only to the eyes of men. I think that you are right about the way that women are more prone to love others of their kind – if they are presented with the right reasons. I will help if I see that I must, but you should take a little faith and comfort from what I say to you. I do not think that you will need to fight anyone for her heart. She sees and knows the cage which holds her almost as clearly as you saw your own. If I am not needed, I wish for it to happen that way, but I will help if I must. If she comes to this by herself through your words and by your touch, it makes a better family for us all, you and her especially." He held out his hand and she grasped his forearm. When he felt what her heart sent, he smiled wider and held up his other hand and the AK-47 that he held with it. "A gift for her," he said, "The pouch on the sling holds gold for you Oyan, to give you back what your weapon cost." ------------------------- Oyan walked down the long slope to the river. It was late morning and most of the children that she could see were playing or clowning. She could already see the one that she was looking for standing ankle-deep in the shallows out in the middle and from this distance giving the impression of a woman with long blonde hair. It could have been the light and Oyan didn't understand it, but she smiled all the same. As she walked nearer, she began to attract attention, mostly in the form of young boys because she was not of the tribe here. The composition of the group changed almost continuously of course and by the time that she began to get a little near the river, the majority were hopeful young men. "Who are you?" one of them asked. It was the question asked most often, though Oyan hadn't answered to this point since there was nothing to be gained by her reply. Someone else would surely ask the same thing inside of a hundred steps, so ... She turned once to the most irritating one and asked the obvious question. "Why are you not working? At this time of day, young men have tasks to do or they are beaten because they are still too much like boys to think that the work feeds the village." It shut him up for a little while and then he was back, pacing her stride and almost getting in her way as he asked her again and again. Finally, she stopped and answered, trying to ignore the scowling glare of the beauty standing there in the river staring at her. Oyan looked the man right in the eye and said, "Shut your mouth, idiot. You do the same as any young man and try to guide me with your eyes toward the bushes for what you think of as a little loving. Fucking me is not what I hold in my mind as loving. I have been there and all that it gives a girl is a swollen belly and more things which must be done and taken care of. To answer your question and I hope to silence you for a little while, I am a Mun woman – Munsi we are to you. I am a dead man's wife. Men came to steal our cattle. My man stood them off alone and they killed him in the dark." "You should have married a stronger man," a different man said. Oyan made no initial reply, though her lightning-quick motions went a long way toward getting their attention. Her assault rifle was off her shoulder and in her arms, cocked and with the safety off as she pointed it at the man's feet. Her eyes looked cold and shone with a deadly light. "Can your stupid mouth stop my bullet? My man was stronger than you for certain, ... boy," she said dismissively, "But bullets in the dark do not care, do they? Are you so strong that you can stop this death? No matter how fast you speak your empty thoughts, you will not even slow down the bullet which comes for you. I heard the same talk from the same brave sort of men where I lived. I will ask you the same thing that I asked them. Since you are so brave and strong, will you come and watch my herd in the night? If you are still alive and I still have my cattle after a week, I might let you fuck me then." There was no reply. She nodded as she stepped forward once more, "There is the true worth of your words. I did what everyone told me not to do. I sold some of my cattle. I bought this gun. Now, no one steals from me." Her words seemed to impress the young men in the wrong way and it pleased her to see it. She glared at the man who had suggested that she needed a stronger husband, "Without a husband anymore, I did what he tried to do for me, what you do not even have the stones to lie to me about." She jabbed her finger at her own breastbone for emphasis, "I hunted after dark that night! I found them discussing how to take more from me – who had done them nothing! I killed and I took my vengeance!" She looked up and saw that many women were listening to her. Their languages were not that far apart, so she said the next part a little slowly. "And do you know what three things that I learned from it all?" She held up a finger and pointed to the men around her, "In any tribe, the loudest warriors are most often not the best or the brightest ones. They are only the loudest." A second finger came up. "A man does not always speak truth – especially if he is drinking, but a rifle does not drink and a rifle never lies." "Lastly," She held up her weapon with one hand and gestured to it with the other, "There is not one part or thing on this which actually needs a man. From this, I have learned that I am the same as a rifle. If you hold that in your heart, then killing a man is an easy thing to do, if he has killed yours." She looked ahead and stepped into the water. "How deep is it between you and I, Mokonyi?" she asked the woman in the shallows. By now, she was close enough to see the reason for the impression of the long blonde hair earlier. Mokonyi's face and a little of her chest were painted in enough white streaks to appear to be covered. She wore a bright plastic interconnecting-style necklace. Many women all over this part of Africa wore these things, and hers was a bright mauve color. She also wore about twenty-five long and thin necklaces which suited being worn that way. They were all plastic too. But in painting herself and her friends, someone had come up with the idea of the white face and brought forth the long strands of saved packing material; long, uniformly thin strips of something akin to fake doeskin in a dull yellow color and hung it from Mokonyi's head as though it was a wig, though it was not much more than the suggestion of one. At the moment, she stood with a sleeping infant on her hip, the child's face painted in white streaks and characters. Mokonyi's eyes lifted and her glare continued, "It is up to your hip – unless you find the hole in the middle that is over your head. How do you know my name?" Oyan smiled as she stepped out, "Not hard to learn the name of the beauty who was the chief's wife while he lived. I am Oyan and I have come to meet you." A Way Out for Oyan and Mokonyi "To meet me?" Mokonyi asked in a slightly suspicious tone as Oyan stepped up to stand with her. She was a little surprised at how tall the woman was, slightly taller than she stood. Her eye darted here and there and several things came to light. There was little scarification of the sort that many of the women in the whole area practiced. Also, Oyan's forehead, cheeks, nose and chin were painted thinly with a light brown on her dark skin, the lines left in it by the careful passage of fingernails to give the pattern. Mokonyi knew that this was not for the day, because the woman was from a different tribe. It was what would have been done anyway, something a little like makeup in a sense. Oyan was standing a little close, since where they stood didn't leave a lot of places to stand out of the stream. Oyan used the closeness to speak to Mokonyi quietly. Neither of them acknowledged the way that it felt to them to be this close and the sensation of one of their nipples in light contact with the breast of the other. Mokonyi wondered how far the woman had come. She smelled nothing of sweat on this one, but she did smell very warm and pleasant-smelling skin. It caused her to look down and she admired the difference in their skin, Oyan's being very much darker. She wore about ten loops of bright plastic beads around her left bicep and other than a thin wrap of cloth high up around her hips and between her legs, she was naked. The two women were dressed alike. It allowed Mokonyi to see that everywhere that she looked – or almost – the girl was carrying some serious muscle, though she wasn't actually heavy with it. She liked that for it said something about the woman to Mokonyi – that she was something of a kindred spirit – not afraid of work and even liking the way that it felt sometimes. She was built a little like that herself. "What for?" The question caused Oyan to look over a little questioningly and it also disturbed Mokonyi – though she's asked it. She'd almost forgotten why she'd asked it and now had to think for a moment, since Oyan's appearance had an effect on her. "I mean to say, why have you come to meet me?" Oyan reached across Mokonyi's front to remove a little bit of fluff which was adhered to the infant's face. The little one dozed with her forehead against the lighter woman's breast and she held the nipple in her mouth as she slept. Mokonyi watched as a soft smile appeared on the darker woman's face. "Such a beautiful little one you have," she smiled as she brought her hand back. "I saw you last year as I passed through. No one noticed me then and I did not mind it since I was grieving for my man. I think this one was in your belly and you had much the same look to your lovely face then. I think it was from knowing that you had a good-sized field to work and you had not learned that as who you were then, you could have just asked for aid. I think that came later." Mokonyi smiled thinly remembering, and she nodded at the infant, "Not my child. She is my sister's girl. I lost my unborn child the day after I lost my man. I wanted to die." There were only the soft sounds of the river between them for a time and Oyan stood with her hand lightly resting on Mokonyi's shoulder. Finally, she spoke again. "In the year since just before I saw you, we have both had our sadness to lose the one we loved so. I rose out of my sadness and I thought of you. So I have come to meet you and ask if you need help with your field. I would work for you for a share – less than one fourth if you work beside me; half if you do no work at all, and I would work all of it for nothing if we can grow a close friendship with each other in the quiet of the darkness." Mokonyi looked up, her eyes locking onto the dark ones before her. She'd learned a few things in her time as the chief's wife and one of the most important was the ability to be a little tactful. She knew that they were bargaining in some concealed way inside of their conversation. She didn't know this fine-looking woman at all, but it didn't change the fact that she'd obviously come a long way to meet with her. The fact that this was going on while they stood as though they were exchanging pleasantries while standing in a river changed nothing. When a man seeks a woman, no one much cares how many circles she makes him dance through. When two women bargain over anything, it is appreciated by them both and they can be much more direct in hidden ways where men just lay it out and speak plainly. She was trapped here, almost alone and unwanted, no matter how she looked. She was used goods, last year's news. If she'd never been married, men would have stood in a crowd before her to ask to help her with the planting. This woman was the only one to even ask her about her field. She thought this through for a moment and then she smiled very cautiously, not wanting to appear rude. "Oyan," she began quietly, "Forgive the way that I must seem to know little of the Munsi people and their ways. My man is dead. But that does not make me suddenly unattractive. The fighting to decide the new chief begins soon and – " Oyan nodded though she said nothing. She saw that Mokonyi was running down lists of possibilities in her mind and they seemed to disturb her slightly. As the lists began to run dry, Mokonyi looked up into Oyan's eyes again. Oyan smiled once more; a small, friendly smile as she almost whispered, "All of this is for unmarried girls. A girl who has made her choice and lost the one which she chose is suddenly invisible to all but those in her family – and that is very wrong to my eyes. It is what happened to me. I see many fine unmarried girls in your village," Oyan nodded, "Also; I have heard that the previous chief has returned by regaining his fighting trim. He is older, but with no young powerhouse before him such as the man which you lost, he will likely regain the position, and he already has a wife. You might come to the attention of an unmarried brother of your man, but I see little in the way of thought there. He told me that I needed a stronger man. My husband could have folded him up and hung him like a cloak from that tree, the same way that yours could quite easily from the look that I had of him when you were together. A better choice might be the stick-fighting matches with the neighboring village. You might find a champion there, but there is still the unmarried aspect. Sad to think that no one but a widow thinks of another widow. " She grinned as a thought came to her, "Perhaps I should fight for you to show them all that you are very desirable. I might have to kill a few fools, but you might see that I am serious then. I have come to offer myself to you Mokonyi, and if I must kill to show you that I mean the words which I speak, then I will." Mokonyi stared openly now. "You cannot fight in the matches. You are a woman. They will not allow it." Oyan only smiled then as she leaned a little closer to say, "Who are 'they'? 'They' told me that I could not sell my husband's cattle – though they were mine more than his. 'They' told me that a woman cannot avenge the death of her man. Even I have seen women with rifles before, yet 'they' told me that no trader would sell me a gun, because guns are not for women to use. Yet 'they' were as wrong about that as anything else. 'They' grow angry with me when I tell them what a woman sees as a simple truth – that 'they' are being stupid. The leadership of our tribes – yours, mine, and many others is settled in the same way that animals decide things about which male can mate and which cannot. Your man was very strong, Mokonyi, there is no doubt, but can you tell me as a woman that he made the best decisions as a chief? That he had wisdom?" Mokonyi wanted to answer yes of course, but she knew that it would not be the truth. A young man thinks like a young man, but he cannot see far down the road. She shook her head and looked up sadly, "He wanted to be chief – because he wanted to be chief. He did not think of what would happen after that. He did not like the job. He hated how everyone came to him with their troubles and yet no one liked his answers. He drank an awful lot then." "Are you tired of living here where there is little choice given to you?" Oyan asked. Mokonyi looked over with a smile, "Yes, Oyan. I can say that easily, but I do not think that I am ready to lie with you in the night just yet. I do not mean to offend. You are very beautiful to me, but I do not - " "Want to be held the way that a woman wants to be held?" Oyan interrupted, "Need to feel EXACTLY the way that a woman knows how to touch another one?" Oyan smiled warmly as she leaned a little closer to whisper, "Are you the only woman in the world who likes the way that a man fills her and then forgets her as he rolls over to snore in her ear?" Seeing no one in the direction that she was looking in over Mokonyi's shoulder, she drew her head back just a little to kiss the woman's ear very subtly and then she let her smile grow against Mokonyi's ear so that she could feel it, "I would never do such a thing to you. I see nothing but the beauty of a widow because I have the eyes to be able to see it as clearly as she can herself. Everyone here looks at Mokonyi and sees her beauty – and yet, no man will take her for his wife, other than as perhaps a second wife who must then fight the other one all day long to make her place in the home where she is not wanted. Imagine that one night; he takes you first over her. What would happen then? I know, Mokonyi. You would never be able to sleep in peace again. The other wife would spend every waking moment arranging for your murder. I see Mokonyi differently," she whispered, "I see the beauty which takes my breath from me every time that I look at you. It is something which I would never give up if only I might win it once." She chuckled quietly, "I can offer another choice. Forget the land and the planting. Come with me and watch as I sell the last of my cattle so that we both have some money. I have a friend – a man friend – who seeks to build his family in a different way. He offers a moving place to live most often, I would guess, and though he has the love of the woman that he has wanted for many years, he has told me that if we need a man – you and I – that he would help." Mokonyi tilted her head, "He said that he would help ... me? How does he know me?" Oyan grinned and spoke quietly, "I would love to tell you that it is because your beauty is so widely known – and it is almost that way, but he is very wise. He seeks widows to guard the ones that he loves when he cannot be there." She leaned closer, "Mokonyi, you may laugh if you like now, but the job earns pay besides and I can tell you that once you see my friend, the only laughter from you will be at your amazing fortune." Mokonyi was grinning now, plainly entertained but believing little, "What is the task? What is to be done?" Oyan shrugged, "You and I are to guard the rest. Sometimes we are to help my friend as he hunts for bad people. I have not seen it, but I know that when he hunts, it is final. There is no return from it. There is Abi, my friend, his woman, Evaine – and I have never met her. Abi is not completely a man and from what I have heard, Evaine is not completely a woman. There is another male – another who I have not met, and he is called Theuderic. He is as Evaine, not really human, I am told. He is her brother. Abi takes them both to his bed. Evaine is something that Abi says is an operator. As he explained it to me, she will stay with us all most of the time. She makes the way that we pass through the world go smoothly. She changes things as she is needed and she is a very powerful healer. What we are to do he said, is guard. He said that we are not to fear men at all, and that Evaine can help us to learn the ways of the world in the bigger places and not just the way that these foolish men say that it is." She reached behind herself and brought forward a rifle like her own with a collapsible stock, "This is yours as a gift from Abi if you accept the work." She guided the web sling past her own plastic jewellery and brought it up over her head so that she could hold it out. "I will teach you how to use it. I ask only for the chance at your friendship, though I hope that we might have more than that together." Mokonyi took the heavy weapon from Oyan and looked at it with a little awe. "This is a fine gift to one such as me," she said, "A thing such as this is something which a poor girl can never have as her own." She didn't say the rest of her thought; that no man, no matter who he was or how rich he might be would ever give her a weapon – and never one like this. "Yours now," Oyan laughed softly, "A thing which frees us both. I am happy to have the weight of it off my back and my neck feels happiness to be rid of the sling around my throat. Tell your sister goodbye and walk with me and so we may begin. I know that you do not know of these things – and I can say that I do not know fully yet either, but Mokonyi, I have been certain of how I feel for a year, and it is what I want with you. Only say that I might have my chance." "Well," Mokonyi laughed quietly, "I know that I like to look at you, and the way that you speak makes me have hope where I have not had any for so long. It cannot be a bad thing to try, can it?" Oyan shifted her rifle to her right hand and slid her left arm around Mokonyi's waist to hold her gently. "I do not think so. Come and guide us out of the stream here. I know the rest of the way to our new lives. We will have to walk more than a day to get there." As they walked out of the river onto the bank, Oyan laughed as they found themselves surrounded by young boys, ranging in age from maybe three to about ten or eleven years of age. All of them wore the elaborate and colorful body painting which had obviously been done for them by the women in their lives who loved them, mothers and aunts and grandmothers. They were all very proud of the way that they looked. Not one of them wore more than a thin thong of leather around their slim waists. What hung between their young legs showed none of the promise of what might be there one day, since they were only young boys after all. Oyan laughed and the sound caused Mokonyi to smile along. "I like boys at this age the most," she grinned, "They are so easy to fall in love with – even if they are not your own relatives. Their hearts are so pure and it shows in their smiles." Mokonyi nodded, "And the ones who are my relatives make me love them even more in my pride of them," she said as she kissed three of them goodbye and handed the infant to her sister. "They are still little boys and they are not shy to show it," Oyan chuckled as they walked out of the village a few minutes later, "You kissing a few of them goodbye caused them all to want our kisses. I do not even know them but I like the boys of your village. It is little wonder to me that they grow so large and strong when they are older." Mokonyi began to laugh and nod as they walked, "Well if you hold such nice thoughts of them in your mind Oyan, then perhaps it is best that you do not look down at yourself. They are still boys and that makes them mischievous at the heart of things." Oyan looked down and she threw her head back to laugh even more. She wore several bright streaks of the many shades of river mud used for the body painting on her skin, showing exactly where she'd been touched from her breasts to her navel and a little lower. Her mouth fell open in amazement and she spun on her heel to look back. The same boys stood waving at them with angelic expressions on their faces. She waved one last time and turned away. "How did they even DO that?" she asked, smiling. Mokonyi shrugged, "I do not know either. I only wish to know how they could do that and not leave a single mark of it on themselves." "They must have had some in their hands," Oyan said as she leaned back a little to look over, "They left you with a handprint or two on your bottom." Mokonyi nodded with a smiling sigh, "They left quite a few on yours as well. They only dared to leave a few on me because they know that I am very fast with a slap. They knew that you are a visitor and probably not as quick because of it." -------------------------- They walked until they reached Oyan's village by the evening and she was able to cobble together a meal for the two of them as she introduced Mokonyi to her family. Mokonyi was impressed with Oyan's brother and his attitude and view of things. "Your family loves you so much," she said, "and they accept anything that you say that you will do, your brother most of all. It is very good to see." Oyan laughed a little as they both saw the shy smile on the man's face, "That is because they know me. My brother would do anything for me just as I would and have for him since we were children. I was once like almost every other woman, doing what I was supposed to do for my family. Many people of all sorts just place a girl in the way that they think that everything is supposed to go. That is fine for most, Mokonyi, but it is not fine for me anymore. When I lost my husband, I lost the world - everything. It made me look at things. A girl is supposed to meet a boy that she likes and they marry and go on together. But things are not like that for my people and many others any longer. My husband died for nothing. He lost his life to thieves. I was still breathing and walking, but I lost everything as well. I was only still here; needing to eat the same as anyone else, having the same tasks which anyone does, cattle which needed my care and watchfulness, but in my heart, I was as dead as my man. Well you cannot live like that and I could see it clearly. I needed to change something. Mokonyi, I know that I am still good for a man to look at, but what can come to me from it? It was hard enough to find the man that I had. A lot of men are selfish, but he was not. How to find another like him? Everywhere that I looked, I saw no man even a little like the one that I loved. I wanted to cry but I had already done enough of it. I looked at my rifle, and after some thought, I changed myself," she said, pointing to her heart. "I saw that I need to be able to take care of myself alone. It is not the best way, but it is at the bottom of everything," she said. "A grown woman can take care of herself. After that, any person wishes and needs to be loved. I am no different. But the men that I see are not what I would want anymore. So I saw my choice as finding a man who would have me and needing to make do like that, or doing something different; finding another heart like mine and if it could be done, then I would see my good luck and take care of that heart for as long as I could." She fell silent then and Mokonyi said nothing. She was thinking. "So," she began, "you saw me, and then you heard that my husband was killed as well." She wiped her eyes for a moment and then she looked at Oyan, wondering what they might have and whether it was what she could make a life out of. "I make it sound cold and I do not mean it that way. I know what you wish for with me and it is not such a strange thought to me anymore. I come from a poor tribe of simple people," she said quietly as she looked down. "I have nothing if one lays the worth of my life against what many people have. I would give all that I have – everything and more - if I could change what happened on one day." Oyan said nothing. She only sat and watched the other woman's tears stream down for some minutes while trying to keep her own from trying to join in. A Way Out for Oyan and Mokonyi After a time, Mokonyi looked up and tried to smile, "I think that we are both broken and that some of the broken parts will never heal, Oyan." She reached for Oyan's shoulder and after laying her hand there, she began to stroke the skin there very softly with her thumb. "But I finally see what is in your heart clearly. We are only partly broken inside, Oyan. I can tell that you like me, and I can say that I like you. You were only the first one to see that we can go on if we need and care for each other. Teach me what I must know about this gift that I hold, and I will try to live with someone who cares for me as I try to learn the way to care for her." Oyan couldn't reply. She could only nod through her own tears. A moment later, the two women sat holding on to each other as they wept quietly. Oyan's brother came out to them many minutes later, carrying half a dozen full magazines for the weapons. He set them down and smiled, "I do not know where your path will take you, sister. I only hope to see you alive again someday. Take these. I bought them for you and I hope that they keep Oyan and her friend safe." The two women slept near to each other that night in the hut where Oyan had lived with her husband when they'd been just starting out and didn't have enough to really live together on their own. That was where Oyan and Mokonyi bedded down for the night. But they didn't intend to sleep together. At least, it hadn't been their intent. Mokonyi wasn't quite certain if it was what she wanted beyond friendship, though she kept up a bit of slightly hopeful chatter and Oyan wouldn't have pushed it for anything, because she knew that no matter which way that this went, there was a fairly good chance that she'd at least have a friend to live with and they could hopefully care for each other in some regard. The thought of trying to begin something wasn't really what either of them wanted in that place, though they spoke in quiet whispers to each other and held hands in the darkness for a while waiting to fall asleep. After trying twice to get comfortable and not really meeting with much success, Oyan opened her eyes. Mokonyi was lying on her side facing her with a soft smile on her face, but she said nothing. When Oyan saw it, she raised her eyebrows quizzically and Mokonyi moved herself forward to place her arm over Oyan's shoulder. Oyan only looked, afraid to say anything as Mokonyi inched slowly closer until their breasts found their own gentle fit between them. "I am one who has always had the luck to be able to make a friend easily, so I have never put much on it." She smiled and sighed as she continued, "But I have never known one such as you, Oyan. Such things you say to me – wild and fanciful things to my ears – and then you take my hand and lead me away so that you can begin to make those things happen!" She pulled them even closer together then and she kissed Oyan's lips very softly for a moment. "I still do not really know if I am ready to lie with you in the night as a lover, but Oyan, I do know that I now wish to try to sleep against my friend who has made my life feel better in a single day only to walk beside her. Come," she smiled, "Hold me to at least begin. I want to kiss you." Oyan said nothing. She only placed her arms around Mokonyi's neck and kissed her for a few moments. But it changed between them in under a minute. Oyan groaned and sighed as Mokonyi's soft and gentle kisses just took her away. It was better than she'd ever hoped that it even might be. Mokonyi seemed to grow hungry somehow, and her kisses went everywhere, each one worth gold to someone such as Oyan. "Beauty," she gasped, trying for a little breath, "Oh, you sweet girl, where did you learn to kiss this way?" Mokonyi rose up to sit on her hip, looking down at Oyan and feeling herself being taken as well. Oyan had her own brand of beauty and here in this dark place, her ebony skin seemed to shine and almost glow for only her. "Is it important to you that you know this?" Mokonyi smiled, looking every bit as mischievous at the pack of young boys in her village earlier. Oyan nodded, "I have never felt kisses like yours in my life." "Have you ever done this with another girl?" Mokonyi asked, tilting her head a little coquettishly. Oyan only shook her head and felt a little ashamed for it for some reason. But Mokonyi wasn't having any of that and she made it clear as she leaned in to kiss Oyan again until she gasped once more, "They grow better each moment!" Mokonyi almost beamed with pride to have been able to please Oyan so well with only her kisses. "My sister and I are not from the village where you saw me," the lighter-skinned girl whispered, "we come from the next Surma village to the north along the same river. At the time, there were almost no men to be seen in the daytime. They all spent their nights guarding the cattle. My sister and I grew a little desperate for almost anyone's touch that summer and the heat at night only made our longing worse. It began as a light-hearted joke from me that with no men around, a girl's life was awful, and with no prospect of any good fucking in the near future, soon the women would be reduced to fucking each other. I didn't mean to say it in quite that way, but it was so hot that you would sweat only lying on a mat outside in the darkness since there was not even a hint of a night breeze, and I guess that the words just came out of me like that. We looked at each other for a long minute, I would say, and then my sister jumped up and pulled me to my feet with her. Before I could even ask, she held her fingers to my lips and told me to be still. We stood there together for long enough to be sure that no one had heard us and then she pulled me by my hand into her hut. Neither of us knew what we were doing or even what we could do, but it had gotten to a point where anything was better than aching for something which would never come to us that night, so we taught each other what felt good and we learned as well. She and I left a few weeks later to seek for men at the village where you first saw me. I learned from her, Oyan; how to kiss in the way that you seem to like. I learned that from her and much more. Kisses like the ones I give to you are not for any man. Men always like it their own way. I do not mind it if I am in the mood, but there is not any way to say the quiet things that are passed by quiet girl-kisses quite easily." She nodded, "This night, I am tired from all of the walking. I want to be here where I am with you. I want to taste your sweet kisses in the darkness. I hope that the next night, I will be a little more brave for you. I do not know everything, Oyan, but I want to be with you. I want to try with you," she smiled as she reached to place her hand over Oyan's breast. "I can already say that you kiss better than my sister. I love your kisses because you make them as much like my own as you can. Something like that means much to me. " Oyan smiled and nodded, also meaning her agreement that they just rest, but it didn't work out that way and it had little to do with intent on either one's part. Mokonyi was very passive as Oyan's soft kisses began in return, but she found to her slight amazement that those kisses roused her and she didn't really know how to handle the way that she began to feel. She kept asking herself if it was wrong and though she thought that she had an answer to it, she soon felt herself thinking about how good it was to only trade kisses with Oyan. What could be wrong in doing this? "What are you doing to me?" she asked, and it brought her Oyan's soft and quiet laughter. "I do not know, Mokonyi. I really do not know. But I know that I do not wish to stop now, do you?" Mokonyi chuckled in the darkness and Oyan felt her shake her head a little bit, "If you truly care for me, then please do not stop now." The kisses went on and before long; both women were a little amazed to find themselves even more out of breath, though they were happy. Mokonyi felt it as her friend moved to lie on her with her thigh up against her mound. "And now?" she asked, "What will you do to me now?" Oyan shrugged, "I still do not know, but I am hopeful to try something which might give you happiness if it works." She began to slowly rub herself against Mokonyi, who told her that it was good and to please not stop. Oyan said nothing in reply, hoping that her heart wouldn't burst with the feelings that she felt there in her chest. She lowered her head and began to kiss and suck at Mokonyi's breast and in minutes, Mokonyi held Oyan tightly and whimpered as she came. "Do not , ..." she gasped and groaned softly as she pulled Oyan's hips again and again very slowly, "do not stop even now, Oyan. I hold the finest ass in my hands now. I have been looking at it as much as I could all day and to feel it in my hands, ... ah, I love this with you." "Fine," the darker girl sighed in feigned exhaustion, "I will go on until you tell me that it is enough for the moment." She lifted her head a little higher and kissed Mokonyi very slowly, trying to be as wet about it as she could, and the result was their soft moans into each other's mouths for a long time until Oyan found her voice once more. "Then it will be your turn, sweet Mokonyi. I almost cannot wait to feel what you will do to me." "But, ..." Mokonyi whispered, "I do not know what to do, not really any more than I have done! Well, ... perhaps a little." "Oh, I don't care," Oyan chuckled, "I had no plan for what I did. I only thought of how good it feels to rub against something with that part of me. Why not try to roll me over and do the same thing, but try to rub against my leg at the same time?" She reached to hold Mokonyi's face, "This is so good for me, I do not think that there is anything that we could do wrong for each other." "Ohh, I must think of something for my Oyan," Mokonyi grumbled to herself before she pushed for a moment and rolled Oyan over. "We probably cannot do very much wrong," she giggled very quietly, "but give me a moment to find the right place and then try to move your hips against mine. I will rub my leg against you and also try to rub myself against your thigh. It sounds complicated, but ... my heart sings right now, Oyan. It feels so good not to feel dead anymore. Do you like my idea?" "A wonderful idea, and you can take as long as you need, now that you have named me as yours," Oyan smiled up as she reached for Mokonyi's bottom, "I love this with you too, Mokonyi. I hope that we never stop." "It is already my hope that we never even sleep apart," Mokonyi moaned into Oyan's ear. "It is not the same as with a man, but I do not care. It is even better in many ways." "And I will keep my promise to you," Oyan's whisper came to Mokonyi's ear as she dragged her lips there. "I am ashamed then," the lighter one sighed, "I have forgotten your promise to me, whatever it was. I only know that I feel so much for you even now, so I make my apology for forgetting." "Shh, sweet girl," Oyan sighed and Mokonyi swore that she heard the smile in Oyan's voice, "It was nothing so important. I promised not to snore in your ear, that was all." "You can snore if it is not too loud,"Mokonyi sighed back, "I cannot promise that it will not happen, but I have heard it said that I snore myself." Oyan lifted her head up to stare at Mokonyi, "Really?" Mokonyi didn't know how to respond, but she nodded a little guiltily, "Yes." She felt a little of Oyan's strength then as she felt the most pleasant and reassuring hug, "Then you must snore as softly as you can for me, Mokonyi. My husband was never loud, but he often snored softly in my ear. I loved to hear it if it was not loud. I always slept best when he did that. Try to do that for me if you can, and you will already have me building my love for you higher." There was a comforting almost-silence between them after that. By some unspoken agreement, they held each other while one's fingers toyed slowly and gently with the other's labia in a wonderful little exchange which went back and forth between them. Sighs and kisses were the measure and commodity traded between them in the darkness for a long while. "I must apologize to you this time," Oyan said very quietly, "I do not know everything about Abi, but I do know some things. I have wanted this with you for so long and, ... Well, Abi is one who can be bargained with, Mokonyi. He is very powerful and he can make things happen." Mokonyi placed her wet fingers against Oyan's lips and she licked them and Oyan's lips for a moment, "Shh, Oyan. I know what you would say. Only, ... only tell me if it happened." Oyan shook her head, "No, it did not happen. But I asked for it. I asked for his help to pull your heart to mine. But Abi is wise as well as strong and powerful. He told me that if it was really needed, then he could help, but he steered me away from the notion. He said that I should have faith in myself with you. He did not think that his help was needed. I am sorry." The last sentence sounded a little rough to Mokonyi's ears and so she rolled onto her side and she hugged Oyan tightly, shushing her before she could begin to cry out of her guilt. She pulled them closer together and she wrapped her leg over Oyan's hip to pull her as well. "My beautiful Oyan," she whispered, "the Surma have always been a very poor group of people. I have been as poor as the rest of my tribe for all of my life, yet I have always known that I have some beauty. Even as a little girl I knew this and I used it to charm anyone that I could. I learned from my ability. One thing that I learned from it was when it was the wrong thing to do and another thing was the knowledge that it was not working when it wasn't." Mokonyi ran her hand over Oyan's very short hair and she looked into that worried face in front of her in the darkness. After a moment, she kissed those sweet lips and smiled softly. "I knew that you had no help as you spoke to me by the river. I knew that your heart was singing it's own true song to me inside of your words. They might have sounded poorly in your own ears, but I knew it for what it was, my sweet friend, and it did not sound poorly to me at all. I have heard the song many times in my life when someone tries to tell me of their love for me in so many other words to hide the meaning. I also know the difference between wanting me for no real reason, wanting me for all of the wrong reasons, and wanting me because one wants to really love me. Mostly, I am unaffected by all of it – more so since my husband died. I was also someone who felt as though she was dead but walking. But I have never heard the truth in anyone's soft words to me as I heard it in the quiet talk of another woman as she wanted to show me a way out of my trap. I heard the words Oyan, just as I felt your nipple laid against mine so very carefully in your hidden way. That is a large part of why I am here. I heard your heart's song in the words, and that is why I finally chose to walk with my hand in the hand of another girl for once in my life. I knew at once that you do not lie." She kissed Oyan again for a moment as softly as she could and then she drew her head back a bit to smile. "Abi must be wise. He knew that you could hold my heart by only being yourself. He must also know that I would know it as soon as you opened your mouth if what I heard was not from the heart underneath these lovely tits." She stretched for a moment, groaning in pleasure as she tightened her own powerful grip on her new lover. "So I wish to hear no sad apology from you over what did not happen anyway. It is now my hope that you and I make a love between us which lasts. That is what I really want with you. I just did not have the way to say it to you until now." She smiled in a way which reminded Oyan of the impish little smiles on the faces of the young boys back at Mokonyi's village and Oyan's heart threatened to tear loose in her chest. "Hold me, Oyan. Hold me so that our breastbones touch together and we can feel our hearts beating. You have won your girl." She kissed Oyan as she felt the pull of her embrace and saw the hope in those eyes. "And I have won mine." Their embrace was slow to start, but it became almost desperate after a minute as two hearts found each other and gave themselves away in it. Oyan and Mokonyi held onto each other as though their lives depended on it and though neither of them noticed it right away and it was not desired, they each squeezed a few silent tears from their closed eyes. Just to know, ... just to hold on and feel this. It was worth everything. After a time, Mokonyi pulled back and looked down with a soft smile as she whispered, "I think that it is time to show you something else that I learned at my sister's hands. Well, ... not her hands, exactly." She sat up and leaned over Oyan. "See my eyes, Oyan. Watch them and I will show as much as I can." Oyan didn't understand what was meant, but she looked into Mokonyi's soft eyes as she eased herself back a little more and lowered her head to kiss and suckle the darkest nipples that she'd ever seen. Mokonyi had seen many, but few if any were this lovely shade to her eyes. Oyan seemed to need to stretch back and Mokonyi allowed it though she never stopped or even really changed her pace at all. Her wet kisses left saliva which ran down in the darkness and tickled Oyan in the sweetest way. Oyan watched everything and Mokonyi's eyes never left hers as she trailed her kisses all the long way down, over the hard, ridged abdomen and across the flat of her girl's belly until at last she paused and she still kept her eyes locked on Oyan's. Mokonyi laid more of her soft kisses on the sodden lips there between the long and shapely legs of her lover while Oyan writhed and moaned softly. She stopped then; still looking, still maintaining her lock. Oyan wondered what would happen next. She'd never had much hope to have anyone do what Mokonyi looked to be readying them both for and her heart was in her throat, wishing, wanting, and most of all needing. "So good to learn the taste of my woman," Mokonyi smiled very wetly as she gently took hold of Oyan's flanks and held them so that there was little movement possible, "At last, I come to what I have had in my mind for all of this day. I did not think that it would happen, Oyan." She nodded once and grinned, "But I really have wanted this so much." She lowered her head and licked softly, preparing to increase the pressure on Oyan's clitoris very soon, still watching, and then there was something of a moment to it for them both. When she felt the moment end, Mokonyi lowered her head further and ran her tongue in as deeply as she could. She almost lost sight of Oyan's face due to the angle, but by then it didn't matter much anyway. Oyan's eyes were closed and her hips were already off the mat as she reached for Mokonyi's head and groaned so very softly. --------------------------------------- In the morning, Oyan felt a wonderful warmth near her lower belly. It took her a moment to know that it was Mokonyi's breathing. She listened and began to smile. Her beautiful Mokonyi, the finest woman that she'd ever seen was snoring softly. Her smile grew wider in spite of herself and her attempts to keep it from growing into a grin. But it did anyway and she reached very carefully to softly caress Mokonyi's ear. As the snoring stopped, Oyan chuckled softly and Mokonyi asked. "Nothing, Mokonyi. I only laugh because you were supposed to snore in my ear, and you have missed by a little." A Way Out for Oyan and Mokonyi Mokonyi shifted just a little very carefully and settled again after leaving a kiss on the inside of Oyan's thigh, "I will try to get closer tonight if I can. Tell me when you need to get up and make water." It happened a few minutes later and Mokonyi moved to let Oyan up. But once she was standing, Oyan didn't feel all that much urgency to it and she watched as Mokonyi stood up as well. There was no stopping the way that Oyan's heart swelled in her at that moment. She stepped in front of Mokonyi and kissed her good morning, but she didn't move after that. "Is something wrong?" Mokonyi asked and Oyan shook her head, but she still did not move. She glanced behind Mokonyi and saw her pack lying where she'd left it on a pile of clothing which had been set aside for the colder months. "Can you hold your water for a few minutes?" she asked. "I guess," Mokonyi nodded, wondering what was up and trying to listen for anything untoward from outside. All that she heard were the early morning birds chittering. Oyan smiled and she kissed Mokonyi again for a moment before she gently pushed back until Mokonyi was half-sitting on the pack and the clothing. She sank to her knees then and looked up, "I wish to learn the taste of my woman," she said, "And I promise to learn this as quickly as I can for her." Mokonyi wanted to say that it was alright and that it could wait, but she saw plainly that it couldn't and that Oyan wanted her now. Deciding that this was a tendency which she really liked about her girlfriend, Mokonyi made a silent promise to never refuse her if it was at all possible. She sighed and reached for her lover's head as Oyan began.